Bike Guy LLC is happy to annouce that Jeremy Powers a home town boy from Niantic who races professionally for Jelly Belly Sports Beans Professional Cycling Team has freed himself from previous race committments to race here at The Whaling City Cyclone presented by Dime Bank.

For those not familiar with the race circuit in the USA let me assure you that there are many huge races around the country and getting a top pro like Jeremy  to come home to race in our event is very exciting for those involved directly with getting this event off the ground in our first year.

Attention MCRA members & friends

Three-time Tour de France Winner Greg Lemond

 In New London, CT

Press Conference

Thursday, May 22, 2008

To Help Promote The Whaling City Cyclone Bicycle Race

This Press Conference, open to all media, sponsors and supporters will be held at the race site on Fort Trumbull in New London at 11am on Thursday May 22^nd, New London Ft. Trumbull State Park, 90 Wallbach Street, New London CT 06320.

Race promoter, and former coach of Greg Lemond, Bill Humphreys of Bike Guy LLC, is thrilled to announce that his former charge, is taking the time out of a busy schedule to help support cycling in the New London area and the first annual The Whaling City Cyclone.

Greg, and Bill will take a few laps on the one-kilometer course to give the Media an idea of what will take place on Race Day which is Sunday June 22^nd from 8:30am until 5pm.

end

About Greg LeMond            In sport, there are those who make their mark and those who mark their time. Greg LeMond's career is one of the most incredible stories in cycling history, a saga of arguably the most talented rider of his generation. Very few athletes have transcended sports and Greg is one of the exceptional few. LeMond's legend is measured not only by his stunning cycling feats, but also by his historical and inspirational impact.

In 1986, Greg LeMond, despite being constantly threatened by his own teammate, Bernard Hinault, became the first American to win the largest single annual sporting event in the world, the Tour de France. Millions watched on CBS Television as Greg's historic victory catapulted him into the media spotlight.

In the midst of his run of success he was involved in an appalling accident which almost cost him his life and left him in serious danger of never being able to ride again, let alone compete and win at the top level of the sport. This tragedy struck on April 20, 1987, when his brother-in-law accidentally shot Greg while hunting in California. Over forty shotgun pellets ripped through Greg's body, lodging not only in his back and legs, but more critically in his small intestine, liver, diaphragm, and heart lining. While waiting for rescue, his right lung collapsed and he lost three quarters of his blood supply. A cell phone, a police helicopter and nearby hospital that specialized in gun shot wounds saved his life. Because of the dangerous locations, surgeons were forced to leave over thirty of the pellets imbedded in his body.
After the horrific shooting accident, LeMond put together a comeback, which went beyond the limits of the average man. Greg's long rehabilitation process was both painful and frustrating.. While many people admired his bravery, only Greg's supportive wife Kathy and a few close friends believed he could do it. In engineering this comeback, Greg overcame reduced physical capability by enhancing the innovations that helped him win the 1986 Tour. These cycling breakthroughs, all which have become commonplace today, include: wind tunnel testing, aeroframes, heart rate monitors, human power output measuring devices, protective eye wear and helmets that worked.

That LeMond did make it back to winning ways says volumes about his determination and skill, characteristics which had become evident when he won the 1986 Tour de France. Blending this cutting-edge innovation with unrivaled levels of courage and tenacity, Greg went for it all in the 1989 Tour de France. He fought to stay competitive through the grueling 21-days of racing, which ranged from 100-155 miles each. Right out of a Hollywood movie, Greg overcame a seemingly insurmountable lead by Frenchman Laurent Fignon to win by a mere 8 seconds, the narrowest margin of victory ever in the Tour de France's 87-year history! The  resurrection of LeMond's career was capped by victory a month later in the 1989 World Championships. Many awards followed, including being named the 1989 "Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year".

To prove his return to the top was no fluke, Greg won another historic Tour de France for the third time in 1990, before retiring from competitive cycling. Greg LeMond remains, as ever, friendly and accessible, charming and unpretentious; a true gentleman champion.
Greg's persistence and physical ability enabled him to not only win the most difficult and prestigious bicycle race in the world, the Tour de France three times, but also awarded him the title of World Bicycle Road Racing Champion three times. These victories, along with several others, brought him much deserved recognition: Sports Illustrated named him one of the 40 most influential people in sports over the past 40 years; he is a two-time ABC Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year; he received the prestigious Pernod Trophy awarded to the best cyclist in the World, and is a member of the Cycling Hall of Fame.

The first (ever) statue of a cyclist in the USA will be dedicated in Worcester, MA. on Wednesday, May 21.  Read about it and the significance of this event and the man it honors.

www.majortaylorassociation.org (go to website and check out events)

www.telegram.com (go to website and perform search on Major Taylor)

Timing is everything, and the bicycle is coming back! 

Carpe Diem!

Notes from the Friends of the Trail meeting on April 22nd

As the season is well underway,  please remember to think safety first by following the "rules of the ride" that we all pledged to adhere to when we became MVC members.

These rules should be followed at all times, whether you are out riding solo, or are on any of the group rides listed on our website, or any ride you participate in. 

This just in from David Reed.  We wish you a quick recovery!!

Hello all.  Here’s the story --

     A couple of weeks ago, I had one of those unfortunate encounters with a pickup truck.  The guy was coming out of the South bound I-95 entry ramp on to Four Mile River Road -- that's right out of the entry ramp!  I swerved to the left to avoid him, but he kept coming, and I hit him amidships.  He got a ticket for going the wrong way on the ramp, and I got a ticket for failure to keep to the right.  14-286a/b The applicable section of the vehicle code does allow cyclists to move from the right to avoid things, so I sent the ticket back with a not guilty plea.  We’ll see how that goes.

     The good news: my old J.P. Weigle had only minor damage (nothing to the frame) and is back on the road.  And now the bad news:  The hit aggravated some old damage to my right shoulder.  I am scheduled for surgery on April 1st, and apparently will have a protracted recovery period.  Reattached tendons take some time to heal properly, so I will not be racing this year (no time trials, either).

     I will be able to volunteer my time to the club in general (no heavy lifting please), and of course coach the Juniors.  My goal now is to recover in 2008, and then go after those other old guys in the 70+ age group in 2009.

See you at the races, Dave Reed

Jr team news as forwarded from Bill Humphreys on 3/7/08:

Imagining ourselves in the position that the organizers of the Tour de France are in regarding the doping scandals and the validity of this great event, it is understandable that they want to DO SOMETHING!  According to ingrained French thought process, this means making "the grand gesture" - "le grande geste". Here is how that works in the world of  pro bike racing - French style:

Since pro cycling's continuous string of doping scandals has chased the organizers of the world's greatest bike race to the very brink of losing status as one of sport's greatest events, the enormity of this threat must be countered with symbolism and gesture - the French equivalent of strategically conceived, targeted action.  Therefore, ProTour Team Astana, with a new "boss", new tour GC riders, but with none of the riders who disgraced the team in '07, has been refused entry in the '08 TDF.  With what is arguably the strongest Grand Tour roster in pro cycling. including Johan Bruhneel and his entourage of expert directors, and two of the top three podium finishers from TDF '07, the stark fact that none (zip, nada, zero) of these guys has been convicted of any doping violation is of little consequence, since the real issue here isn't guilt or innocence, but the need to flex muxcle.  If the gesture can't be meaningful, then at least make it BIG!

A non-French-thinking adult might wonder whether this move is tantamount to pouring fresh fuel on the same fire that we are all praying will finally burn itself out.  Mon Dieu, does picking  zis scab make zee wound heal? If you and I were running their grand show and we were concerned that doping scandals were causing the legiticimacy of our event to be doubted, would we conclude that our event's legitimacy would be restored if we banned the best team in the sport from participating - after they fired their guilty parties and hired new people?  Incroyable, Monsieur!  One presumes that Spock isn't the only half-Vulcan who finds this highly illogical (?). OK, TDF folks, we get it loud and clear - it is your enterprise to run as you see fit!  But we mere cycling fans are left wondering that there are probably ten far better ways of legitimizing the TDFas the world's greatest sporting evet; all involve catching cheaters, but none involve banning champions who didn't cheat!

It could be worse.  We must suppose that when you rule over your domain as the great riders and staff of Team Astana have, and you must deal with the French, then any outcome where you can shake your head in dismay without it rolling to the floor could be deemed successful.  Living to fight another day is no mean feat in this case.  

The French: Surely they gesture!

The last  remenants of our 3-hour Sunday "hills" training ride rounded a curve and closed in on the former steroid user.  I could easily recognize the rider's form from a distance, even from behind. "Get out of the road - roads are for cars!", I joked, as we checked our six for traffic before we swept past her.  She didn't even look back as she instantly rejoined with some clever come-back.

Steroid use was many years behind her.  It had been necessary to keep up with her peers whose lungs were better able to transfer oxygen and remove waste gasses from her bloodstream. It had been a simple matter of staying with her pack and not being dropped.  Others in her group took their drugs for their particular medical shortcomings - in fact, almost everyone did it - including my father.

We caught up to dad around the next corner. I mock-scolded him, "You're dropping mom again!" 

He gave a few hard pedal strokes and shot ahead of us, then removed his feet from the pedals and stretched his legs out to the sides like a 6-year-old showing-off on his new BMX ride.  "Im a year-round rider", he explained to my training partner as we pulled along side him.  His insulin injection requirements have been lowered since he bagan riding regularly, probably because his body is now producing just a tad more of its own.

Two day before, my sister had joined me for her first road ride in clipless pedals.  She is winning tennis matches now that her leg muscles are strong enough to keep her floating kneecap in psoition. Steady doses of mountain biking was her perscription. Marin county, dudes. Road WHAT? To be expected, I suppose.

Cycling heals. 

50+ and formerly 2-packs-a-day, mid-seventies with diabetes, mid-seventies with 50% lung capacity, late forties with a chronically displaced patella - two generations of aging middle-class former couch potatoes healing themselves on their bikes.  Only one of us understands Bob Roll's humor, but that is OK.

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