Some updates on this year's Lake Sonoma Series:The Lake Sonoma Series Is Back! Rollercoaster fun at Liberty Glenn Campground for 2008. Sign up for all 6 races and knock off $20! This year Bike Monkey is hosting 7 races at Lake Sonoma. The April race is a NO-POINTS race that will cover a brand new 15-16 mile loop course and offer a $20 alternative to the Sea Otter madness on April 19th.The only real change here is the August race, which was moved to August 16th so that it won't conflict with the Singlespeed World Championship. I will update all the races listed on the sidebar and over at MTB Calendar.
"Clothing manufacturer Pearl Izumi has been bought by Shimano American Corporation, the US wing of Shimano. Pearl Izumi, previously owned by Nautilus, Inc., will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shimano American but will be run independently and will continue to operate from its facilities in Broomfield, Colorado and Kirchzarten, Germany." (Via Shimano buys Pearl Izumi - BIKEmagic Gear News)
The Collective, filmakers behind "Roam", have posted teasers for their next film:The new "Seasons" site and trailer are now online. Check it out here: www.thecollectivefilm.com.You can download a trailer for the movie at the website.
The first screenings of "Seasons" will take place in Whistler, B.C. and Monterey, California in April. The Whistler show is scheduled for Friday April 11th at the Whistler Conference Center and the Monterey show is on Friday April 18th at the Portola Hotel as part of the Sea Otter Classic. The "Seasons World Tour" is in the works and will start shortly after the Monterey premiere.
On February 13th, the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) barred Team Astana from competing in any race or event organized by the ASO in 2008. The ASO owns premiere cycling events like Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, and the famed Tour de France.You can let your voice be heard over at Let Levi Ride.
“When I saw the Tour de France on TV when I was young,” laments Leipheimer, “I knew that someday I wanted to do that race. I sacrificed my life to participate. After finishing on the podium last year I want to do even better. Now I’m a victim of an illogical decision and have been excluded from the race."
Help put Levi’s dreams back on track by signing the petition to Let Levi Ride. Petitions will be sent directly to Christian Prudhomme, Director of the ASO, as well as to VS, the official US media partner of the Tour de France.
"The next Tour de France is still five months away, but the 2008 pro cycling calendar is already in full swing. The week-long Amgen Tour of California, one of the first big races of the year, is currently making its way down the Golden State's coast. You can catch nightly coverage of the bike race on the cable network Versus, or you can follow along online using some very cool Adobe technology.Via TourTracker: Follow the 2008 Tour of California Online | Compiler from Wired.com
The Adobe TourTracker is a Flash-based multimedia feast. You get a big window showing the action in Flash video (like Kelly Benefits' Jonathan Sundt taking a solo flyer on the rainy roads of stage 2 as he tries to catch BMC's Scott Nydam, shown above) with the ability to switch between two camera angles on the fly. You also get a text feed for updates, overhead and elevation maps of the route and the ability to track the locations of any of the 136 riders on the roads."
I found a awhile back that Karl Rogne, a pro rider from Go Ride, has cancer...Quick background. A group of us were riding late last november on a section of trail we all knew pretty well. Karl went pinning it into a section he'd ridden many times before but with the ground frozen and being a lot faster than normal got caught up over the front of his bike and faceplanted HARD. He broke his jaw, his right arm and tore up his face pretty badly. When doing some scans on his spine to check for any other damage, the radiologist noticed what turned out to be lymphoma around his heart. A few biopsies later, revealed early stage 2 non-hodgkins growth.........just in time for the holiday season .... He's been getting chemo at stanford once a month (two treatments now) which is essentially just an IV drip. He's rocking the mandatory mr clean hairdo and his energy levels are in the toilet. He's a great guy with one of the most positive attitudes on life I've ever met. You can hear the sincerity in his voice that there's no doubt he's going to beat this but with the medical insurance 'system' in this country being what it is, the financial side of this will kill him before any disease will. Again......he HAS insurance. This isn't the guy who doesn't cover his ass when going out racing professionally.Donation can be sent via paypal to karlwithkancer@gmail.com.
"I am sorry to announce that our traditional Spring Gravity Series will not run this year. Too many factors have come together to make it too difficult for us to run a quality series ... We will still be open for regular weekend practice from 10 am to 5 pm. Perhaps we can set up the starting gate and timing system on a few of those practice days so that you guys can practice your starts before Sea Otter. (I'll start to work on this, stay tuned.) " (Via Sand Hill Racing)
