Miscellaneous

Ok, it's official. I have paid the entry fee for a triathlon in August and there is no turning back now. This will be my first and I'm nervous already.

I consider myself in pretty good shape. I run about 30 miles a week and try to get a mountain bike ride in at least once a week. But now, it's go time. I have to turn up the biking notch and get serious on my runs. Now, I ride my patrol bike on the pavement most of the time but there is alot of stopping, watching, going, sprinting, sneaking, in a shift. I'm not used to going full on for 2 hrs on the pavement.

I don't have the funds for a road or triathlon bike so I have converted my 2004 Trek Fuel 98. I have a triathlon seat, 1.5 road tires, and bar end and that is about it. I got the suspension a hard as it will go and my fingers crossed.

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A great story about how mountain bikes can change a person's lifestyle and influence thier lives!

Story by kcra.com

A new biking program hopes to provide students in Sacramento with an alternative to drugs and gangs.

Wednesday afternoon, officers rolled out mountain bikes, helmets and knee pads for the after school program at Goethe Middle School in Sacramento.

School Resource Officer George Martinez came up with the idea for the program to give students structure outside of class.

The Sacramento Police Department made it a part of the Gang Resistance Education and Training, or GREAT program.

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Have you ever ridden so hard that you start to hallucinate, see weird stuff, or become delirious?

During a bike training class, we were at the end of a 40 mile fitness ride, and the last 5 miles was steep climbing in 90 degree temperature. When we got to the top, we all were feeling a little queasy, light headed, and rubber legged. One of the riders said that he pushed so hard that he became light headed while making the climb, he imagined that a Leprechaun was sitting on his handlebars and making fun of him. He told us that the Leprechaun was teasing him in a little Leprechaun voice, and saying "COME ON, KEEP PUMPING THOSE LEGS". The rider then puked and turned pure white. Yeah, pretty weird.

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As you can tell from some of the photos I have posted, I am a Police Sergeant assigned to a mountain bike patrol unit. I work for the City of Central Point in Southern Oregon, about 24 miles north of the California border on I-5. I have been assigned to the bike patrol team for 4 years now, 2 as a supervisor. I am also a certified Law Enforcement Bicycle Association, (LEBA) instructor. I train other bike patrol officers in slow and high speed handling drills, mounting and dismounting the bike quickly, nutrition and fitness, bike fit, firearms, basic maintenance and other topics. The course is 40 hours long. (more information is available at www.leba.org)

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Sarge and I took off to Applegate for a nice Sunday ride. The day started out wet, cold and nasty... but that was here in the valley. Once we reached Applegate, it turned into paradise. Although it was still cold, it was sunny and clear. The good Lord blessed our trip with excellent weather. We discovered a new trail and rode our epic speed trail as the finishing touch. Applegate is a great ride for both novice and expert riders. It's kind of our 'reward' ride for getting out and having fun. No serious wrecks, but the trail was blocked on two seperate locations. All in all, it was a great ride.

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Well, Sarge, Lil' Fella and I took a trip up to Ashland to have a ride down Hitt road. Of course the snow was so deep up near the top, we finally had to turn back. It was Lil' Fella's first time riding with us and hopefully not the last. We're gonna shoot for another ride this Sunday, hopefully at a lower elevation so the snow doesn't interfere.

Has anyone seen the new HG TV dream home. It looks awesome. It is in winter park Colorado right next to a mountain. It is a ski in ski out house and has down hill biking in the summer. It says that it has like 600 miles of trails all near it. Go check it out it;s really cool.

The latest issue of IMBA's Singletrack News had a link to an accident-insurance program done in partnership with Adventure Advocates. It's a low-cost insurance policy that pays some of your bills if you get into an accident (whether MTBing or something else).

The webpage about the program notes, "For those currently without health insurance, this coverage is critically important."

Seems like every year I read about mountain bikers -- especially guys in their 20s -- who get in some horrible MTB accident and then their friends do fund-raisers to pay off the medical bills because they're uninsured. It's those guys who live to ride and can't afford health insurance who should consider something like this. (I have no connection to Adventure Advocates.)

Programs like this seem like a smart bet. The IMBA policy has a limit of $25,000 per accident, so don't crash too badly!