Let Levi Ride

 

Most cycling fans know who Levi Leipheimer is, but I’ll give his bio for the benefit of those of you that aren’t cycling enthusiasts. Levi is an American professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for Team Astana (last year Levi rode for the now defunct Discovery Channel team).  He is arguable the greatest American cyclist today with a  1st overall in the 2007 Tour of California (winning the Prologue and Stage 5 time trials), 1st overall in the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré, 1st overall in the 2005 Deutschland Tour, 3rd overall in the 2001 Vuelta a España, and three top-ten finishes in the Tour de France general classification, including 3rd overall in the 2007 race. He is also the reigning USA National Road Race champion, finishing 1:11 seconds ahead of Discovery team mate and defending U.S. champion George Hincapie. However, he is not being allowed to compete in several top races this year - including the Tour de France.

On February 13th, the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) barred Team Astana from competing in any race or event organized by the ASO in 2008. The ASO owns premiere cycling events like Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, and the famed Tour de France. The ASO cited the doping scandals of last year’s Tour de France as justification. The politics of professional cycling are confusing (even for those of us that follow it closely), but this decision

Astana is a totally new team in 2008. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the name. The entire organizational structure has been rebuilt under the direction of the team’s new General Manager, Johan Bruyneel, who basically cleaned house (bringing over many former Discovery Channel riders). In addition, Astana has adopted the rigorous doping controls developed by anti-doping expert Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard, and Astana now spends more money on anti-doping controls than any other team in the pro peloton.

By barring the entire team from competing in ASO events, outstanding athletes like Levi Leipheimer, who was not a member of last year’s Astana team and who has never been implicated in any doping affair, are forced to sit on the sidelines while their life’s work passes them by.

I had the opportunity to have dinner and ride with Levi last year. He is a genuinely nice guy that is totally passionate about cycling. As he talked about the Tour de France, it was clear that he loves the event and would like to have another chance to win it after coming so close. I’d rather not see politics get in the way of him having that chance, so you can support his cause by signing the petition here. I think the Tour de France this year would be a less compelling race without him.

Another pic with Jason and Levi

Got a great new pic from my ride with Levi Leipheimer and Jason McCartney so I thought I would put it up. Again, great job to Carol and everyone at the FW Museum of Science for putting on a great event.

Hills, hills and more hills

 

Cyclists and runners in the North Texas area know that we don’t have much in the way of elevation change. There are no 4-mile hill climbs for us to train on (heck I can only think of a couple of climbs withing a 2 hour drive that are over 1 mile). This forces us to get very creative with our local “climbs” in order to get in some “hill work”.  Luckily in Fort Worth we have a few more options than the folks in Dallas. Today I went out with my GPS to map all of the hills I could think of in the area in order to determine the actual distance, elevation change and average grade of our local climbs. Is Hidden Road steeper than Ranch View? How long is Rogers Road? What’s the change in elevation on Nice Hill? I’ve got all of the ones that I could think of (and had the time to ride to) below. Click on the links for directions to the hill or for the profile from my GPS.

Deerwood Forest Right

Taking first right off Drop Time after main entrance

.70 miles – 167 ft – 4.5% avg. grade 

Legend Drive

Starting at Mont Del Drive and Park Lane

.79 miles – 156 ft – 3.74% avg. grade 

Burton Hill

Starting at Merrick and Burton Hill towards Byers.

.53 miles – 135 ft – 4.8% avg. grade 

Merrick Road

Starting at Merrick and Burton Hill

.29 miles – 134 ft – 8.8% avg. grade 

Hidden Road

Heading towards Alta Drive

.35 miles – 131 ft – 7.1% avg. grade 

Ranchview West

Starting at Bellaire Drive South

.26 miles – 126 ft – 8.8% avg. grade 

Deerwood Forest Left

Turning left on DropTime at main entrance

.38 miles – 120 ft – 6.0% avg. grade 

Ranchview East

Starting at Overton Park towards Bellaire Circle.

.17 miles – 82 ft – 9.1% avg. grade 

The Wall – Aledo

End of Underwood Road

.12 miles – 83 ft – 13.1% avg. grade 

Rogers Ave.

Starting at Rogers and Colonial Drive

.26 miles – 80 ft – 5.8% avg. grade  

Nice Hill – Benbrook Lake

Coming from the South

.24 miles – 62 ft – 4.9% avg. grade 

Nice Hill – Benbrook Lake

Coming from the North

.17 miles – 57 ft – 6.4% avg. grade 

Ride of a lifetime . . . just your average morning ride with top pros Levi Leipheimer and Jason McCartney

So on Friday I had a really interesting opportunity to participate in the Cycle for Science benefit (benefiting the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History). The benefit offered the rare opportunity to ride shoulder-to-shoulder with 2 top pros (Levi Leipheimer and Jason McCartney - both formerly of Discovery Channel) while supporting a great cause. The benefit also included performance testing from Carmichael Training Systems and dinner with the riders the night before the ride.

The ride was a great time and really let you see just how strong pro riders are (they picked up the pace a couple times - several stretches of 30+ mph). We also stopped at a local elementary school along the route and the guys spoke to the kids for a few minutes about the importance of being active and healthy, etc. These kids had no idea who we were, but in our flashy cycling kits and $5,000 carbon bikes, they were still pretty impressed.

What really became clear is that these guys are just like the rest of us (recreational cyclists and amateur racers) - guys who just really love to ride their bike. These guys just get paid to do it, have more drive and more genetic potential than the rest of us. However, they have definitely made a lot of sacrifices to get where they are today. I’m glad to see both of these guys land good contracts (Levi with Astana and Jason with CSC) with Discovery coming to an end.