Like I mentioned in a previous Juice article, rising gas prices has increased the number of bicycles on the road.
I was in Portland, OR last week (one of the best places to ride) and saw at least double the riders on the streets compared
to here in SD. But with the increase in cyclists, comes an increase of road rage vs. the all-mighty car (or at least
with their cell-phone using driver!). Here are two interesting articles (submitted by Anthony H. and Kim R.) regarding
this:
Looks like we had a pretty good demand on new kits. I don't have the official tally (and probably shouldn't
publish that), but from what I can tell, we have more kit orders than members! That means members are either ordering
multiple kits and/or non-members also pre-ordered. In either case, that's great news.
I plan to put the
order in this week ASAP. I was out of town W-F last week, so its gonna be a busy week.
Sidenote...I just
realized that the Amtrak Century is about a month away. This is scary considering my longest ride this year has been
about 45 miles. I think I should start riding more now. :)
Gotta love the Versus channel's commercial called 'Taking Back the Tour'. I know you've all seen it.
It's the one where they have Pros that were on the 'Juice' (not the Orange flavored kind) all going backwards
as to say they are going nowhere fast. That's all great...except they need to add 3 more to that list. Here's
the latest Juicers at the 08 Tour de France:
The Tech Corner will be going on hiatus for a bit. Traffic has gone down significantly on that
page due to lack of new reviews. Since I do not have any new bike gear (but lots of new baby gear), I cannot provide
new content regularly. I know everyone's too busy USING their new gear to write a review. So for now, the
Tech Corner will sign-off until I can figure out what else to do with it.
Any suggestions??
Hey
Scott - my offer still stands...if you let me borrow your new Orca for a week, I'll do a review on it!!
So I read online that the 56 Bike Path now goes over the 15 freeway. For those familar with the
56 Bike path (who in MMCC is not??), the 56 overpass has been under construction for what seems like a decade! Well
it still looks like its under construction, but I confirmed that you can now ride over the 15 freeway on the newly built bike
path. Just in time for all the bike commuters out there (seems to be alot more now) who are tired of seeing this:
So yesterday I rode towards the new section of the bike path. If you're heading East
on the bike path towards the 15, the path use to end right at Rancho Penasquitos Rd. Now, to continue on, cross the
street onto Azuage St. On that street you will be faced with a nasty 9-10% climb for about 1/4 mile on really rough
pavement. Who the heck put that there?? Once you reach the top, you go for about another 1/4 mile or so until
the street ends. The 56 bike path continues on your left where there is a new entrance.
You will now
be riding on the new section until you hit a stoplight where the 56 and 15 junction is. This intersection is EXTREMELY
dangerous!! Even with a working stoplight / crosswalk / cross button, drivers here barely yield. Heck, they barely
even see you since the corner is hindered by dry brush. It's basically a blind corner. Doesn't help that
drivers are going at full freeway speeds as they make their way onto the Southbound 15 onramp. So I essentially waited
3 light-cycles before I felt safe enough to cross. Once over the 15 freeway, you are faced with another dangerous intersection...this
time the Northbound 15 onramp from the 56!!!. Again, be very careful crossing this intersection especially during commute
hours (I was there around 3pm-ish and it was already busy). If you survived those two crossing, you'll be safe again
while you ride on another new (dedicated) section that ends on Rancho Carmel Dr. / Saber Springs Pkwy.
Though
it sounds dicey (it is), its a great route to do a loop around the area. It would be better to do this route in reverse
and off-hours. That way when you do have to cross that freeway junction, you will be against traffic during that section
(ie. drivers can see you BEFORE they run you over!!). :)
You don't have to be named Armstrong to be famous around here. Floyd's name will now
be officially 'infamous' in cycling lore and US History. Unfortunately for Landis, that means he no longer has
any hope of regaining his 2006 Tour de France title. His appeal was denied this past Monday by the CAS group.
If you remember, Floyd bonked on Stage 16 of the 2006 Tour, lost 8 mins to Oscar Pierero, then supposedly did
some Testosterone drugs, then won Stage 17 in an EPIC solo breakaway. Then capped it off with a strong TT finish
to seal the Tour win.
But can taking drugs for 1 day really give you super cycling strength? He
only tested positive on one stage (ironically, Stage 17). So was he clean during the other 20 stages? But who
knows...it's just a shame it happened to Floyd. I met and took pics with Landis several years ago when he was still
with US Postal.
I even told him he'd win the Tour someday. After he won the Tour in 2006,
I was proud that I met him as I have never met a Tour champ. Sadly after this past Monday, I still have NOT met a Tour
champ personally.
Hey Floyd - you're always welcome to ride with MMCC. We'll save you a kit too!
