It will quit raining…..

Randy will be co-ordinatng this ride with the June 11th downtown Victoria activities.

Like many of you I was stunned to watch 60 Minutes and to see Tyler Hamilton and also learn that George Hincapie had confessed to the use of drugs and more in their quest to win the Tour de France. This is yet another example of America’s loss of faith in our heros and institutions.

I am sure we can all think back as to what we were doing and thinking….during Lance’s runs for the Tour de France. At that time,  I had the privilege to know a Doc in Iowa.

In his last years we spoke many times about Lance during the Tour…. he was delighted but would always add, there is something special going on here. Lance is special. “I can’t understand how the human body can do this.”

You see, this physician was a highly trained cardiologist. He knew what the heart could do and what it took to do it. He did not wear his talent on his shirt sleeve either.

I can only wonder what this kind physician would have thought tonight. I suspect we all wonder, how could this happen?  How could not only the athletes, but the regulatory community miss what one guy in Iowa, watching from afar, suspected ?

Cycling remains a great sport and this too shall pass.

Let’s hope it quits raining on weekends and we can enjoy again a sport that has done so much for so many.

I hope to see you all soon.

Jim

Cycle Victoria Trail Ride

Experience Carver Park Reserve

All Riders/Family Welcome

Saturday

May 14^th

Two Rides

Group 1

Time: 9:00 A.M.

Meet: School of the Wise

Group 2

Time: 1:00 P.M.

Meet: Victoria House

&

Vic’s Bar & Grill

May is Bike Safety Month

A properly fitted helmet should ride on the head and not move. If it does move, adjust side and chin straps and add sizing pads to prevent the helmet from sliding.

Also, bicycles are vehicles and riders must follow the rules of the road:

• Stay to the right and ride with traffic.

• Stop at all stop signs, red lights and yield signs.

• Use the proper hand signals when turning and stopping. Look behind before turning across traffic lanes.

• Pedestrians always have the right of way.

• Don’t assume motorists can see you.

• Avoid riding at night if possible. If you must ride after dark, use reflectors or reflective material (vests, straps, patches) and use a front and rear light.

Keep your bike properly maintained. Have it professionally checked at least once a year.

Avoid wearing headphones or ear buds while biking because they can impair your ability to hear traffic noise.

One of the best parts about trying to establish CycleVictoria is making the rounds of the local and not so local bike shops and gaining their perceptions of Victoria. You don’t have to say Victoria twice. They know our roads, the RecCenter, Fresh Seasons Grocery, Floyds, School of the Wise, Vic’s Bar.

Victoria is an integral part of their routing and is the gateway to the Minnesota River Valley and its miles of low traffic, great pavement and some really special small river towns like Henderson (65 miles round trip from Victoria). If Henderson was a stock, you would buy it.

I hope to see all of you at 8:00 a.m. on  Saturday at the Rec Center

We hope that you can all make it to our first scheduled event in a couple of weeks.  It can be as short or as long as you wish. Don Uram and Greg Karowski will lead the the ride south out of Victoria past Deer Run Golf Club….Fresh Seasons will be providing Gatorade, Vitamin Water and energy bars…get ‘em while they last….

This first event is about riders meeting riders. You should feel free to ride only as long as it works for you. Do what feels good; that is the only standard that matters.

We can all learn from each other, so if you better riders see a rider struggling with their technique or equipment, please assist and make their day better. Do for them what you would want somebody to do for you. Let’s start the year with a bit of aerobic interval training.

It is hard to imagine anybody who is more committed to the development of downtown Victoria and who knows more about the local bike trail scene than Randy Miller.  He has graciously agreed to focus his ample energies to bring more riders to downtown Victoria and get more riders from Victoria to places they never thought possible. No kidding, how ’bout a Minnesota Twins game? Follow Randy.

Randy is developing a summer program that he will announce in early May, perhaps earlier.

So let’s pump up and get ready for a great summer!!

Randy can be reached at 612-554-7932 or rmiller_ent@yahoo.com

Our first  meeting was quite productive.

There is a great deal of energy in trying to foster more trail riding-especially with families. Trying to increase the number of trail riders leaving from downtown and experiencing the Lowry Nature Center is very high on the list.

For the road riders we are in the process of  working with the Excel Cycle Store to schedule both mid-week and weekend rides.

In the interim, please feel free to join me at 8:30 Saturday morning at the Rec Center for a spring ride.

The city of Victoria is in the process of applying for a trail grant to link Victoria to the Arboretum. A key component has been Chanhassen’s effort to link to the Arboretum with an underpass under Highway 5. Almost 2 years ago. Victoria supported Chan’s efforts from minute 1, period end of sentence.

This is a real time effort by Holly Kreft and Team Victoria. Cycle Victoria supported the current cause with a letter of support to the MN Department of Natural Resources which was part of the actual grant application.

The underpass at Minnewashta Parkway will be constructed next year while TH 5 is getting the face lift.  The Arboretum will be upgrading their internal trails to connect to the underpass.  It will be the gravel road that they used for the compost site next to Boormas’ farm.  If everything falls into place, and this is key, by the fall of 2012 you could get from downtown Victoria to the 3-mile drive at the Arboretum and only have to cross County Road 13 (Bavaria  Road / Rolling Acres Road) where there is a fully signalized intersection.

Please take a look at the plan located under Pages on our home page.  This plan and others will be available at our meeting next Thursday. I hope to see you then.

Jim

We have been fortunate in being able to get Michelle Aspelin from locally owned Mindshare Marketing to work on our web site.  I hope to have Michelle at our first meeting so she can explain what we have and you can share with her where you would like to go.  We are  adding specific pages such as Trail Conditions and Find a Ride so that people can connect as directly as possible. So please don’t keep your thoughts to yourself….this is a team sport and we need participants.

Sue Orson has been very helpful.  There will be a piece in the Victoria Gazette this week.  Flyers will be up around town on Thursday.

Have a good day

Jim