It really sounds like Lance Armstrong’s return to the peloton next year is going to be limited to a few races. Doubts are continuing to mount on Lance returning with Astana to the 2009 Tour de France. Then again, we’re talking about Lance. Only time will tell whether we see Lance again in the premier cycling event in the world in ‘09.

Tour Plan Raises Armstrong Doubts

Cycling on an indoor trainer isn’t the end of the world, but it sure as hell isn’t the same as hammering through the miles and minutes outdoors on your local roads. Below is a great writeup on mixing up and simultaneously making the most out of those indoor sessions.

I’m holding onto the outdoor workouts for as far into the autumn days as possible (shooting for 4 or maybe 5 bike commuting days this week)

How to Spice Up Your Indoor Workouts

Tonight’s sunset was 6:50 – just over 10 minutes earlier than the previous Tuesday. As I rode out for the final Gyros Tuesday night ride (which has had an earlier start time the past few weeks cause of the earlier sunsets), my knees and arms ached a bit. As I rode over solo to meet up for the group ride, I questioned whether or not to even ride with the group. But with it being the final Tuesday night ride till the Spring, I powered through.

As it turned out, the ride for the most part was pretty leisurely and my pain and discomfort quickly faded away.

(more…)

This time a week ago, I had returned from my final crit of the 2008 season in Jacksonville, NC, satisfied with my results on the year. I’ve kind of relaxed and have put in less training in the past week – a little sore from a lot of miles in 2008 – substantially more than 2007.

Anyway, I’m in the position to do a free fitness assessment at the private gym in the same building I work in. I’m going to do that to setup some goals and training for the offseason. Here’s my preliminary plan for ways to make 2009’s bike racing even more successful than 2008 (possibly upgrading to Cat4 racing):

(more…)

Even though many bike commuters, myself included are about to give up their bike commuting as the days get shorter, the sunrises later and the sunsets earlier until 2009, this is a good tip for commuters and road riding in general. Honestly, I’ve been cycling on the roads of North Carolina (and a little in D.C., Virginia and Florida) for about three years now and I didn’t know until recently that we as cyclists had any chance of triggering signals.

On my commutes, training rides and the like, you’ll see me stopping for signals for my own safety and so that motorists don’t see us all as taking up their roads at slower speeds and not abiding by the laws of the road. Everyone bends the laws on the road on occasion (when’s the last time you went above the speed limit), but the explanations and instructions in the link below should help cyclists be able to safely and legally navigate roads with traffic signals.

How to Turn Signals Green

I just saw this on one of my cycling email lists and wanted to share with all the fellow bike commuters out there. While not substantial, $20 a month would offset those tire repairs, and the occasional maintenance or clothing item needed for a regular bike commute. I’m psyched!

The bill would add an employer-paid qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement fringe benefit as a qualified transportation fringe benefit. A qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement fringe benefit would mean any employer reimbursement to an employee for reasonable expenses incurred by the employee during the calendar year for the purchase and repair of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, and bicycle storage, provided that the bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment.

The maximum amount that could be excluded from an employee’s gross income for a calendar year on account of a bicycle commuting reimbursement fringe benefit would be the applicable annual limitation for the employee for that calendar year. The applicable annual limitation for an employee for a calendar year would be equal to the product of $20 multiplied by the number of the employee’s qualified bicycle commuting months for the year. The $20 amount would not be indexed for inflation.

A qualified bicycle commuting month would mean, with respect to an employee, any month for which the employee does not receive any other qualified transportation fringe benefit and during which the employee regularly uses a bicycle for a substantial portion of travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment. Thus, no amount would be credited towards an employee’s applicable annual limitation for any month in which an employee’s usage of a bicycle is infrequent or constitutes an insubstantial portion of the employee’s commute. A bicycle commuting reimbursement fringe benefit could not be funded by an elective salary contribution on the part of an employee. The provision would be effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008.
From hr.cch.com

Wow, I never saw this commercial back in 2001 when Nike first released it. I’m not sure how I missed it, but thought it was relevant again as Armstrong is about to make his comeback into the professional peloton!

So this morning marked the official end to my first full racing season and the 2008 racing season overall, that is unless a crit or road race creeps into the schedule for here or down in Florida over the holidays.

My teammate Greg and I did an overnight down in Jacksonville, North Carolina for the Warriors Criterium at the Coastal Plains Raceway is a .4 mile paved oval raceway – familiar territory for Greg and I, after many Tuesday nights this season out at Ace Speedway.

The Coastal Plains Raceway was a slightly larger track than its Altamahaw, NC sister, but had a very similar feel. Our arrival at the track was met with a closed gate. Several of us were raring to go at that front gate and ended up having a fair amount of time to wait around for the first race of the day.

(more…)