Upcoming Events

A handful of events are scheduled for later this summer and fall.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Shop:

• August 1-2: Specialized demo truck with plenty of bikes and accessories for you to try out. If you plan on test riding a bike bring along a driver’s license and major credit card.
  Sat.: 10 a.m – 5 p.m.
  Sun: noon – 5 p.m.
• August 2: Columbia County 50 celebration ride. Calling all current and past Dutchies, family, friends, neighbors, you name it: we’re riding the old race course in celebration of the past 25 years in business. Riders will roll out at 8:30 a.m. from the Bloomsburg Town Park. This ride is free.

October 10: Ride for Awareness – Breast Cancer Awareness Ride. Trek would like to invite you to be a part of the Annual Trek WSD Breast Cancer Awareness Ride. The Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Shop is one of over 100 Trek dealers participating in this nationwide event. Rides of 10 and 20 miles will be offered.

October 11: 3rd Annual Covered Bridges Tour - The Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Shop will host the 3rd annual Covered Bridges Tour in conjunction with the covered bridge arts festival at Knoebels in Elysburg. The rides will be 25, 62 or 100 miles. The scenic routes take you by and through covered bridges in Columbia County. The 100 mile ride is considered one of the toughest with about 7000 feet of climbing.

Monday Evening Ride Time Change

Our Monday evening rides from the shop will be leaving at 6:00 p.m. instead of 5:30. See you there!

Rochester Omnium – being a fan of the road race

Riders cresting Canadice Hill Road early in the race.

This weekend, Aug. 8-10, was a big weekend for road racing in Rochester. 2008 being the fifth year of the Twilight Criterium promoter Scott Page and crew decided to make the big step from a one day to a three day event. By all accounts (from what I could see) it was a huge success for cycling and the entire Finger Lakes region.

I didn’t make it up to the crit on Saturday, but Sunday my wife and I decided to take advantage of a beautiful day and trek out to chase the race. We watched the riders roll out in Honeoye, greeted them high above in Canadice, cheered them on at the KOM in Nunda, watched them scream through Mt. Morris, and cruise north of Avon. We were in awe of the talent on the road and were proud to see everyday people line the roads to see what this bike race thing was all about. There were fans all along the 101 mile route – in village downtowns, lining the big climbs, watching from closed intersections, and sitting out on their front lawns ranging from neighborhoods to the most remote areas of the region.

The New York State Troopers got behind this event 100-percent. Eavesdropping on a conversation between a trooper guarding an intersection and a fan, the trooper mentioned they had over 50 officers assigned to the event and that their Lieutenant made a trip to the Tour of California to learn how to cover a pro bike race. All the troopers seemed excited about working the race and more than one talked about this being the first of many omnium road races to come. I thought it was cool to see the police flying a plane over the race, serving as both a radio repeater and overhead spotter.

Sunday was a great day to be a fan of professional cycling and I was proud to see all the people come out to support the event throughout the region. Chatting with one of the race officials I learned that Saturday’s crit drew approximately 50,000 spectators. That’s great news for western NY and pro cycling.

Here’s a few photos from event including a couple of nice shots of eventual race winner Antonio Cruz.

It’s March and I Hate Bike Racers

Last week the clocks sprung forward giving us an extra hour of daylight in the afternoon. Great news, right? Now I can squeeze in a few miles of riding after work. With the time change my mind tries to convince me it’s spring, but my eyes (and skin) tell me different. Last Tuesday I pack my bike to take to work – I have great routes around campus (Keuka College) to ride. So, I head out for spin but everything is still frozen over – ice jams on the lake, and a full covering of icy, crusty, snow on the ground. Oh, yeah its still in the mid-thirties too. If road racing is a spring/summer sport, then what’s wrong with this picture? But with less than a month until the Wheelman’s Cup, I HAVE to get in road miles – the rollers can only provide you with so much.

So off I go. My joints never really loosen up. All the layers of clothing end up pinching, pulling, and feeling too constrictive. My nose becomes a spigot of snot – valves open wide. This is not fun. Maybe it was when I was younger but at 44 years of age, this starts to become a chore. But I have to do it. I can’t not ride when the opportunity presents itself. I have to ride only because the other guy is out doing the same thing, except probably twice as hard and twice as long. If I didn’t ride now I hate myself even more a month from now.

It’s all your fault. You eager-to-race-gonna-kick-some-butt psychos on the bike make it so I have to do the same.

Yes, it’s March, and I hate all you bike racers this time of year.

Let ‘em Ride – Levi Launches an Online Campaign

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you should know by now that Team Astana has been barred from competing in any cycling event promoted by ASO as punishment for last year’s doping scandals. This means big events such as the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, and Paris-Tours. Equally important, this means last year’s tour winner will be unable to defend his title.

In reaction, Levi Leipheimer launched an online petition at www.LetLeviRide.com where hopefully an American market of cycling enthusiasts can persuade ASO to find a small whisper of common sense. If you want to ignore the total lunacy of allowing a promoter, and not the sanctioning body, set the rules of competition, then at least let your wallet lead your way – hey ASO, you’re leaving a bucket-load of cash on the table by snubbing the American and Spanish markets. And what about the other teams – hey guys, wake up – you’re loosing too. When cycling fans turn their backs on these great events, they turn their backs on your sponsors as well. Maybe some of the other teams should return the favor and snub ASO (wishful thinking, yes, I know).

Until riders have some sort of legal representation in professional cycling we will continue to see acts of sheer stupidty by men who shamefully have plenty of cash but remain morally, ethically and intellectually bankrupt. Or so that’s just my opinion. If you think, or hope, that 2008 will be the last you’ll have to put up with such antics, think again. With such precedence now established, ASO and others will find reasons each and every year to pick and choose who they want to compete in their races. Professional cycling will continue its downward spiral into laughable mediocrity. Gob bless the poor bastards who spend their entire lives dreaming of the pro peloton, only to be rewarded with…nothing. Better yet, join the circus – at least you’ll know what to expect.

Looking for a new route to ride? Look no further than the Web.

The online social networking scene seems to really have taken root on the Web. For every hobby, interest, political position, there’s 10o0 MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, you-name-it site available. Every so often you come upon one that’s actually useful. For cyclists Bikely seems to fit the bill. Bikely takes advantage of the key elements inherent in today’s social networking technologies to provide a meaningful way to share your favorite rides. Riders post their routes using the latest Google Maps technology making them available for others to search for, ride, and comment on. Ultimately, the community of cyclists determine the quality of ride by their comments. Maps can be viewed, printed, downloaded to GPS units, cue sheets printed, etc.

The key to success for online communities is the quality and quantity of user-supplied content. It’s a grassroots movement were the expert in all of us has a place to shine and share our best. So the next time you experienced a great route, take a moment to log it into Bikely.com. Conversely, looking for a new route to ride in your back yard? My bet is you’ll find one there too.

Rationalizing the consumption of beer and pizza

On Friday evenings a group of Dutch Wheelmen get together at the shop to drink a little beer and eat lots of pizza. In order to rationalize such glutenous activity they burn down a couple of hundred calories riding rollers and trainers in the shop beforehand.

Seriously though, group roller rides are a great way to make a completely boring training regimen fun and fly by quickly, so don’t be shy and stop on by. Don’t be like Shultz and confine yourself to the basement for your indoor rides. But if you really want to be silly do as I do and drag yourself out to an un-heated garage at 6 a.m. and spin in 15-degree temps before lumbering off to work. I can’t understand why my wife doesn’t want a bike, rollers, smelly shooze, and muskie jerseys laying around our living room!

I’m out – have a good weekend!

Welcome to “Rolling on the Blue Train…”

Hello, and welcome.

Our new blog, “Rolling on the Blue Train…” serves to share the war stories of the Dutch Wheelman/Susquehanna Bicycle Racing Team – our rides, races, training, and charity events. A lot of the team are masters category cyclists and we old guys like to tell a story or two. In fact, some of us tell a story better than we can race a bike (or so it seems at times).

Our club’s page (www.dutchwheelman.com/sbrt) used to host a race review page. It worked pretty well, but in this day and age of the Web 2.0 world, it became a bit long in the tooth. So, by using this blog we gain the full list of advantages inherent with contemporary content publishing and syndication. Readers can subscribe to our news feed, Web sites can pull our content into their sites, posts can be about most anything (not just race reviews) and most important, you get a chance to speak up through comments to our posts.

I promised I keep it short… Later,

Fred Hoyle