Category Archives: Cycling News and Events

Day at the Races, 2013 Bikes, Hybrid and Misc.

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It’s been a while since my last post here and there have been a lot of little things that I wanted to mention or write about that were not really enough for a full blog post by themselves so I decided to include them in this multi-topic blog post.

Bike and Horse RaceI’ll start off with my Day at the Races. My wife and I went to Arlington Park race track this weekend for something fun to do and, in my case, to get some photos too. This is not really a bike related topic but when I was there I noticed a lot of similarities in the racing scene between the horse race and the bike races that I was at this summer (the Tour of Elk Grove specifically).

OK, well the horse race scene is much more about gambling and there are plenty of other differences too but for some reason there seemed to be a lot of similarities too. They are both colorful events that draw large crowds (and are good photo ops 🙂 ). Both events share the anticipation of the race itself, a similar speed/pace, and the excitement of the race and competition are similar.

Well, this is a stretch but I had some Photoshop fun merging one of my photos from the horse race this weekend with one of my TOEG photos (the photo shown here). I also just looked up the average speed for horse races and it is very close to the speed of professional bike races at times so the photo may not be as obscure as it appears at first (well, maybe if the cyclist had a paved track).

2013 Bikes Available Online

In other actual cycling news, I wanted to mention that I have discovered that there are now some 2013 bikes for sale online. Specifically, there are some 2013 versions of the popular Cannondale bikes for sale at REI like the Cannondale Quick, CAAD10 and CR1 for starters.

Hybrid Elliptical and Recumbent Bike

As we start falling into a little more of the indoor fitness season, I have been looking into the latest fitness products out there and found an interesting new product from Proform. It is a hybrid elliptical trainer and recumbent exercise bike. This is not going to be for everyone but since hybrids do typically meet the needs of some people that are looking for a combination of two (or more) products in one, this may be perfect for some of you. You can see my review on this fitness product at the Proform Hybrid Trainer Review on this site.

Helpful Information about your Social Security Statements

And finally I want to mention one more topic that is not even bike related but I have found this information to be very valuable and since this blog has a large number of readers and subscribers I wanted to post it here (as well as on some of my other sites). If you are here only for the Bike Info and/or if this does not apply to you then please feel free to skip this one.

This is not real new but many of you may have noticed that the government does not send out the hardcopy Social Security Statements that show your entire working history, earnings and potential retirement benefits from Social Security anymore.

What you may not know is that you can now get the exact same Social Security Statement online at: www.ssa.gov/mystatement. You will need to setup a login  account which will require your SSN (of course) and additional personal tax information that only you should have. It looks like the security is pretty good and I am glad about that. You may need to look some stuff up in order to setup the login account.

Anyway, once you set this up, you will have access to all the SS Statement info that you used to get in the mail.

Schedule for 2012 Tour of Elk Grove on CSN Chicago

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I did some digging and found out when the 2012 Tour of Elk Grove show will be televised on Comcast Sports Network (CSN Chicago). The TV listings online only go out a week or two and I could not find a schedule for the airing on the tourofelkgrove.com website or in a general Google search.

2012 Tour of Elk Grove on Comcast Sports Net Chicago

2012 Tour of Elk Grove to air on CSN Chicago

Since I wanted to know when this would be on, and mentioned that I would post the schedule here once I knew the dates, I called one of the organizers in charge of the TOEG and he was very helpful and gave me the full schedule.

The 2012 Tour of Elk Grove will be televised on CSN Chicago in September as follows:

  • Sun 9/2/12 at 4pm
  • Mon 9/3/12 at 3pm
  • Sat 9/15/12 at 4pm
  • Sun 9/23/12 at 1pm
  • Sat 9/29/12 at 4pm

All times specified are Central Time Zone.

Obviously, I believe these dates and times to be completely accurate at this time but if I find that there have been any scheduling changes or if I find any errors in the schedule above I will make the change here as soon as I become aware of any changes.

The organizers of the TOEG are hoping to get the event televised nationally in the future but this has not been arranged yet.

For those of us who were at this year’s TOEG,  some of the scenes should look familiar (and maybe we will show up as an extra in the crowd). For those who did not make this year’s event, maybe this will help inspire you to make it to next year’s Tour of Elk Grove ~ as a spectator or even as a participant!

Note: The photo above is not from the actual CSN show but a composite of one of my own photos of the TOEG pasted on to a blank TV screen to convey the message of this post.

 

2012 Tour of Elk Grove Review, Photos and Video

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As I mentioned in my previous post, the Tour of Elk Grove (TOEG) bike races were held last weekend and I did end up going to the event all 3 days (Fri, Sat, Sun). We did not get to the Tour until later in the afternoon on Saturday which was just before a big thunderstorm hit so I did not get to see anything on Saturday. Fortunately a friend of mine was there earlier in the day and contributed many of his photos, of  Saturday’s events to the about-bicycles.com website. The photo below was contributed by Dale Kiffel.

2012 Tour of Elk Grove, TOEG

2012 Tour of Elk Grove Race

I ended up taking a ton of photos at the TOEG and even a few short video clips on my camera. Between all of my photos and all the photos that my friend contributed it has taken me quite a while to filter through them, select the best ones and format and post them on the website but I am finally finished.

You can read the Tour of Elk Grove recap and see the photos and video on this site at the Tour of Elk Grove page. There are links to all of the photo pages and the short video at the bottom of the page.

As for the Tour of Elk Grove itself, this is a big event with professional cyclists from around the world as well as races for entry level riders. There’s even a Big Wheel Race for the Real Entry Level riders! I’ve included a few photos of this big event too :-).

This is a 3-day event with time trials on Friday, multiple stage Mens and Womens professional and amateur races on Saturday and Sunday and prize money somewhere around $75,000.

The start and finish line and main stage is located on Elk Grove Blvd at Audubon Park. The event is free and parking is where ever you can find a place (mostly in the neighborhoods on one side of the street)). The races take place on the residential and commercial roads in Elk Grove Village.

If you are into bike riding (you don’t even have to be into racing) I would think that you would find the TOEG interesting and a lot of fun. I sure did. You can get background on this event and all of the race details at the Tour of Elk Grove website at www.tourofelkgrove.com.

As for the article on this website, I have summarized the event on the main Tour of Elk Grove page and tried to capture the feel of the event, from a visitors perspective, with the photos (and short video).

The races are a lot of fun to watch even though I was not always at the finish line to see who actually won many of the races that I saw. Although there is a lot of excitement at the finish line, it is also nice to view different events in other locations (like by some of the sharp turns).

There were a number of Comcast people (with professional video equipment) at this event and I believe that it will be televised in the Chicagoland area soon. I am still working of getting the details on when and where it will be aired. Stay tuned. I’ll post an update here when I find out when it will be on.

So for those of us who were not able to fly off to France to see that little race that they have over there (le Tour de France, of course) :-), at least we have a UCI Category 2.1 international bike race of our own that we can go to right in the suburbs of Chicago!

The 2012 Tour of Elk Grove Race is on!

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Here’s another quick update to let you know that the Tour of Elk Grove (a little closer to home than the TDF for a lot of us) has just started this afternoon. I will do a more complete update on the race and activities after the entire event is over but I wanted to post an update now for anyone that may be interested in this event and that lives in (or is visiting) the Chicagoland area.

2012 Tour of Elk Grove Cyclist

2012 Tour of Elk Grove

Personally, I was disappointed that I only found out about the race after it was over last year and when I saw it televised on Comcast ~ which they will be doing again this year ~ so that is really the main reason for this blog post at this time. See our Cycling Events Page for a brief description of the TOEG and a link to the site with all the official information.

Anyway, I did go to the TOEG today (Friday) and it was very professional, a nice friendly environment and lot of fun to see.  I also learned quite a bit this afternoon. First of all, the main event area (Start and Finish Line) is at Audubon Park off of Elk Grove Blvd. There is directions to this on the TOEG website but they don’t tell you that Elk Grove Blvd is closed to automotive traffic and there is really no main parking area.

So basically what you need to do is to park in the neighborhood somewhere close to the park. This worked fine for me, and since I brought my bike with me ~ which I would recommend if possible ~ it was easy to get around. The other thing that I found out about from talking to a guy who had been going to the TOEG for 8 years now is that they close off different roads for events at different times and if your car is close to the main event area you may get locked in (until about 8pm) when they close off the roads for the main event.

I also brought my camera, since these events make pretty good photo-ops and took the photo above. I hope to get a lot more over the weekend.

So if you are into biking and looking for something fun to do this weekend, stop on by the Tour of Elk Grove.

le 2012 Tour de France Reflection and Summary

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Well, the 2012 edition of le Tour de France is over now and will soon fade into history. Personally, I am going to miss checking out the latest action, the incredible scenery, the crazy spectators (as they try to run alongside the cyclists on the steep mountain climbs), the wild 60 to 70mph rides down from the mountain peaks and even the sportscasters. It is becoming a summer tradition for me to record the TDF each night, whenever possible  (throughout most of July), and watch my recordings later in the day or evening. It’s like the kickoff to summer.

2012 Tour de France

as le 2012 Tour de France fades...

As for the results of le Tour, I’m sure those of you who have been into it this year, already know the results (since the final stage in Paris was on Sunday) but for those who may have had some interest in the TDF but were not totally into it (that’s hard to imagine) and/or may have missed the ending here is a brief summary of the Results of le Tour de France 2012:

It was a great year for Great Britain and for the Sky Procycling team. The overall winner of le Tour de France ~ the winner of the Yellow Jersey ~ was Bradley Wiggins of GBR and the Sky Procycling team. This was not much of a surprise for anyone who watched the final stages of the TDF since Wiggins wore the yellow jersey for most of the final stages and had a good lead on everyone else. This was, however, the first time (in 99 TDFs) that a cyclist from GBR won le Tour de France!

Second place in the overall standings (second best overall time) was Christopher Froome also of  GBR and Sky Procycling. A number of people thought that Froome might have had a chance to win the TDF himself but stuck to his team role and was a great help for Wiggins.

We (the good ol USA) had Tejay Van Garderen of the BMC Racing Team come in 5th place overall. Tejay also won the White Jersey for the best young rider.

Thomas Voeckler of France and Team Europcar won the Polka-dot Jersey for the King of the Mountain, or best climber. Voeckler wore the Yellow Jersey for quite a few stages in last year’s TDF. Voeckler also seems like a very likeable person and this was nice to see.

Peter Sagan of SVK and the Liquigas-Cannondale team won the Green Jersey (for the most points) along with 3 stage wins. Sagan was the cyclist with the Funky-Chicken, Forrest Gump and Hulk victory moves at the finish line of the stages that he won. He was also close to winning a few other stages and I was kind of hoping that he would so I could see what he had in mind for his next victory celebration.

Even the final stage, in Paris, was pretty exciting this year. The overall standings were pretty much decided by then but Team Sky had one more challenge (which they succeeded at) which was to help Mark Cavendish also of GBR, to win the final stage, for which he has been undefeated in the last 4 years. Cavendish had 3 stage wins, altogether,  in this year’s TDF.

Here’s the TDF Summary in an easier to read list (without my additional comments):

  • Yellow Jersey ~ General classification ~ Best Time Overall
    Bradley Wiggins Country: GBR  – Team: SKY PROCYCLING
  • Top 10 Best Overall Times:
    1. WIGGINS, Bradley Country, Team: GBR, SKY PROCYCLING
    2. FROOME, Christopher Country, Team: GBR, SKY PROCYCLING
    3. NIBALI, Vincenzo Country, Team: ITA, LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE
    4. VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen Country, Team: BEL, LOTTO-BELISOL
    5. VAN GARDEREN, Tejay Country, Team: USA, BMC RACING
    6. ZUBELDIA, Haimar Country, Team: ESP, RADIOSHACK-NISSAN
    7. EVANS, Cadel Country, AUS, Team: BMC RACING
    8. ROLLAND, Pierre Country, Team: FRA, TEAM EUROPCAR
    9. BRAJKOVIC, Janez Country, Team: SLO, ASTANA PRO
    10.   PINOT, Thibaut Country, Team: FRA , FDJ-BIGMAT
  • Green Jersey ~ Most Points
    Peter Sagan Country: SVK LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE
  • Polka-Dot Jersey ~ King of the Mountains
    Thomas Voeckler Country: FRA TEAM EUROPCAR
  • White Jersey ~ Best Young Rider (under 26 years old)
    Tejay Van Garderen Country: USA BMC RACING TEAM
  • Team Classification Winner
    RADIOSHACK-NISSAN
  • Super-Combative Winner
    Chris Anker Sorensen Country:DEN Team: SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK

This information is, of course, available in more detail on plenty of other websites but I found it hard to find a basic text-style summary of the key Tour de France results all in one place so hopefully this will be helpful in some way.

On to the Olympics

So after racing for a little over 2,100 miles in about 3 weeks, many of the TDF riders get to go to the Summer Olympics to compete! I have heard that Wiggins is expected to come away with some kind of metal to add to his collection this year.

This article got quite a bit longer and more detailed than I expected when I sat down to write it but I am glad that I spent some time on the TDF wrap-up. As for myself, I’ll be out riding more bike trails in our area to help with my Tour de France Withdrawal. I am actually working on adding some additional pages to the Des Plaines River Trail article (again) since I just rode and photographed another 15 miles of this trail last week.

And for one final, slightly related note, a short time ago I had heard that Proform is supposed to be coming out with a brand new version of the popular, high tech, Proform TDF Indoor Cycle very soon. I will, of course, stay up to date on this and post an update as soon as I have any additional information. See our Proform TDF Indoor Cycle page for the latest update on this.

 

Tour de France ~ Mountains, Inclines and GPS…

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Anyone who has read this blog knows that I really enjoy le Tour de France and I have been watching it this year since it started on 6/30. I am always a little behind because, first of all I am in the U.S. so they are usually playing the previous days race when I get to seeing it and sometimes I am not able to see it until late in the day.

Modified TDF Logo

Although I am currently working on another local bike trail article (the North Branch Trail), there are some things that I have seen on le TDF recently that I just had to make some comments on.

You can get all of the latest news, stats and current standings on the TDF on the major news websites or the TDF website so I for this blog post I’d just like to comment on some things that I’ve noticed and that seem interesting to me.

First of all, we have just been getting into some major mountain stages of the TDF and it blows me away how the TDF riders can race up these incredible inclines (I’ve heard them refer to 17% to 20%  inclines recently) for fairly long distances and at speeds that would be pushing my limits on the flat lands! 🙂

If you haven’t been watching the Tour de France, this is a great time to tune in. They were in the mountains of France yesterday (which is actually 2 days ago since I am watching this after the fact) and will be in the Swiss Alps today (OK, yesterday). Regardless of the delay the scenery is beautiful and the mountain rides are exciting and fun to watch. The crowds swarm around the riders cheering them on on the steep inclines and these guys fly down the mountains at 50 to 60mph or so! BTW, they are broadcasting the TDF on the NBS Sports channel here in the U.S.

A few days ago I heard one of the announcers talking about how the riders were getting a nice little break on a 4% incline. Nice break on a 4% incline?! That doesn’t seem like a break to me! I have been much more aware of the exact percentage of inclines since my new bike GPS computer has a barometric altimeter.

OK, I live in the flatlands of the Chicagoland area and I’ve noticed that most of the steep inclines on the rides that I have been on around here have been around 4% to 6% and usually for a fairly short distance (especially compared to the TDF mountain stages). I don’t know what kind of shape you are in but a 4% incline is pretty difficult for me and it gets my heart beating pretty fast. Once again, this just shows what kind of athletes the TDF riders are.

Another thing that I have noticed (speaking of bike computers) is that it looks like most of the TDF cyclists have some kind of bike computers. I don’t really know what kinds they use and it looks like some riders choose not to have one but I see many riders reaching down to their handlebars at the end of each stage to (presumably) turn off their bike computer ride recording.

I know what it is like now to have all of this incredible ride data available (from a GPS bike computer) after your ride is over review and analyze and it  does not surprise me at all that the pros would be totally into this technology. They also showed one of the riders changing his jersey during one of the stages (still riding, of course) and I noticed the familiar heart-rate monitor chest strap. So it seems like this would be common among the pros too.

I have also noticed a lot of references to the Tour of California (along with references to the other grand tours in Europe) this year and I’m glad to see that we have a major event like this here in the U.S. (although I have never followed the TOC. Maybe next year). I have also seen a couple of commercials (local, I’m sure) for the Tour of Elk Grove, which is a professional, international race right here in the Chicagoland area. This takes place August 3rd through August 5th of this year. I wanted to mention this now since I heard about it last year right after it was over.

I was also glad to see Thomas Voeckler win a stage last night. It reminded me a little bit of last year when he wore the Yellow Jersey for so many stages and really got the French people into it (he’s French, of course).

Well, there is probably a lot more to write about and there is a lot more Tour de France action to come but I need to get some more work done (on that trail article) so I can sit down and watch tonight’s recording of le Tour de France!

le Tour de France 2012 continues… TDF updates and perspective

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le Tour de France is well underway now and they just completed Stage 3 today. I have really been getting into watching le Tour (I usually record it and watch it when I get  a chance) although I have not yet seen Stage 3, which will air later tonight. I would definitely recommend watching this event to anyone that is into cycling (even if you are not into racing).

le Tour de France logo

le Tour de France is on now!

Personally, I am just amazed at the condition of the riders in le Tour de France and how they can average around 25 mph for over 100 miles and do that for 3 weeks straight! And don’t forget racing up the mountains! Even if you do not get caught up in the race itself, there is still some beautiful scenery and the fanatical spectators can be an interesting show also.

The TDF is being broadcast on the NBS Sports channel and has been aired throughout the day until today. They are now playing some of the Olympics events throughout the day also although they still have the TDF on in the morning and early evening so there are still plenty of times to catch a stage or two.

I have only ridden over 100 miles in a day one time myself. That took most of the day and I was too tired to ride the next day so I just can’t imagine doing a ride like that in around 3 hours and then doing it again almost everyday for 3 weeks. I also stopped for breaks and to have snacks and a meal at my turnaround point. Last night I noticed that the TDF riders grab a “feed bag” from people on the sidelines as they continue riding.

Since I put so much time and effort into this cycling website, I am also very in-tune to the cycling related stories and commercials. Aside from the car and beer commercials I noticed that Cannondale, Trek and Proform had a pretty major presence.

The Cannondale commercial, that I’ve seen, advertises the Cannondale Supersix Evo as “The worlds best bike”. Well, I do like Cannondale and I think they make excellent bikes but this really should be qualified since the “best bike” for anyone is going to be the bike that fits your own particular riding style the best. I am sure that the Supersix Evo is one of the best road/racing bikes (in the world) but it would not be much use to a mountain biker.

Anyway, the Supersix bikes are Cannondale’s top of the line bikes in their Elite Road Bike category. Which is just above the Cannondale CAAD10 bikes, which I have reviewed and rated (highly) on this site.  Another nice thing about Cannondale Bikes, aside from their high quality, is that you can actually order them online. They are still only sold through authorized Cannondale dealers but you can find a good selection online, order online and then pick your bike up at a local store (see the link above for more on this).

Trek also makes some very high quality bikes (along with mid-range models) although I don’t know of anyplace (at least not any national merchant) where you can order Trek bikes online.

And finally, I noticed that they are now referring to the Proform TDF Gen2 model (exercise bike) as the “2012” Proform TDF Indoor Cycle and they have a new commercial this year. Actually I think that I liked last year’s commercial better.

OK, back the the actual TDF, I just read that Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the “crash-marred” third stage of the Tour de France although Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland is still the overall leader (who will continue to wear the yellow jersey).  I don’t normally like to look ahead at the TDF news until after I have watched the day’s race but I had to look-up a few things today and saw that story.

The “crash-marred” third stage does not sound good. I saw a few crashes on the first few stages this year but it did not look like there were any serious injuries. Of course, any crash is serious for these riders who have obviously trained hard for years to get to the TDF. I just hope that there are no serious or permanent injuries.

The TDF can be exciting to watch but it can also be very dangerous. I still remember the crash from last year when the TV car clipped a rider (Juan Antonio Flecha) and knocked him down into the pavement and consequently knocked another rider (Johnny Hoogerland) down and threw him into a barbed wire fence. That looked nasty. It also looked like the car did it on purpose to me. 😐

Well I hope that you will get a chance to catch at least some of this year’s Tour de France. I’m sure there will be a lot more exciting stuff and interesting scenes and information for all cyclists.

 

2012 Tour de France ~ Stage Zero

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Here we are right in the middle of Stage Zero of the 2012 Tour de France. Yep, the  2012 Tour de France is less than 2 weeks away now.

2012 Tour de France

2012 Tour de France (stage 0)

Actually, I have not seen the term Stage Zero used in any official capacity for the Tour de France bike race but I am using it here to indicate the final days of anticipation and preparation for the big event.

Personally, I am not a racer but I have come to really enjoy watching and following this event. This year the TDF runs from Saturday, June 30th through Sunday, July 22nd so check your local TV listings to find the station where the event will be  broadcast (providing you are not able to make it to France this year 🙂 ).

Even if you are not a racer, I think any cyclist (or even casual rider) can relate to the incredible condition that these athletes are in, the beautiful scenery of the various stages of the race and even the excitement of the riders and the crowd.

I remember Cadel Evans of Australia winning last years race and had just read about how Andy Schleck was officially declared the winner of the 2010 TDF after the disqualification of Alberto Contador but I did not realize that there have only been 2 Americans that have ever won the TDF – Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong.

Aside from the race itself I was wondering about this years sponsors and commercials. Here in the US there is usually a lot of hype about the commercials that will be aired during the Super Bowl and I was wondering if there was any interest in that for the TDF.

I doubt that there is the hype of the Super Bowl commercials but I really can’t say since I live in the US and I don’t think that the TDF is nearly as popular here as it is in France and Europe.

What I remember from the commercials last year were the extremely popular commercial for the Proform TDF Indoor Cycle and various big name brand bike commercials along with the “Clean Water Bottle” guy who dressed up as a water bottle and ran alongside the riders at various parts of the race!

I have heard that Proform will be advertising the Proform TDF exercise bike again this year but I don’t know if they will be using the same commercial. I know that the Proform TDF has been very popular since last year but has also been controversial. See Proform Tour de France Indoor Cycle for more on the positive and negative reviews on this exercise bike.

I know that Garmin is also a big sponsor in  the TDF although I don’t specifically remember their commercials during last years race. Maybe now that I have my Garmin Edge 800 I will be much more in-tune to their commercials.

OK, that’s it for the pre-TDF race reminder. I hope that many of you will tune in this year. I know I will!

2012 Bike the Drive Ride Report and Photos

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Last Sunday I did the Bike the Drive ride in Chicago for the first time. They close down 30 miles of Lake Shore Drive (Route 41) to automotive traffic for this event and the road is only open to bike riders for about 5 hours.

2012 Bike the Drive, Chicago

2012 Bike the Drive on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

According to Wikipedia this even has been going on since 2002 so I guess this was the 10th annual Bike the Drive. The main reason that I had not participated in the ride until this year was because the event is so early in the morning. It starts at about 5:30am so for me to get up, get ready and be downtown by that time (I did not want to be late and miss any of the riding time) I had to get up at 2:30am!

OK, aside from the start time, this was an excellent ride and really a lot of fun! I wish they would do this more often (and later in the day 🙂 )

As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, I just got a new DSLR Camera and I have been chomping at the bit for a good event, like this, to get out and get some good photos. Well, I finally got my chance and I got quite a few good photos at this event. Unfortunately, it was an overcast and cloudy day, which caused some problems, but I was still able to get quite a few good shots. I am still learning how to use this camera so I messed up a lot of the photos too (even though I have uploaded many that were not technically that great).

I wanted to get my Ride Report and the Photos posted on the internet much sooner but it took some time to sort through all the photos, select the good ones that captured the feel of the ride and format and post the photos and report. Since this was such a fun event I wanted to do it right rather than just blasting out a ton of photos as quickly as possible.

Anyway, you can now see the 2012 Bike the Drive Photo Tour and Ride Report here.  I also had my Garmin Edge 800 GPS bike computer on the ride (of course) and I posted the route that we rode also. If you look closely at the map you will see where we branched out off of LSD a little. This was from after the ride when we rode out to the Shedd Aquarium and the planetarium.

Tour of California, Proform TDF and REI Sale

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I just have a couple of updates that I thought were important to post today. First, Today is the final stage of the Tour of California bike race ~ from Beverly Hills to LA which is on NBC at noon (at least here in the Chicago area). It’s not le Tour de France, of course, but this is a major bike race with plenty of professional riders (some that have been or will be in the TDF) and it is a lot of fun to watch.

I also noticed that they ran a Proform TDF Spin Bike commercial a few times throughout the broadcast of yesterdays race and that Proform is offering Free Shipping (which is a good deal but not something that they did not have before) and I believe that they may have been offering Free Rush Shipping also (which would be nice but I was not able to confirm that just yet). I will check this out today and update this post if I can confirm this.

The other important news is that this is the time of year when the REI Anniversary Sale is going on. If you familiar with REI then you know that their sales are actually legit and are really good on a lot of their products. This particular sale also applies to many of the Bikes on Sale at REI and you can get up to 15% off on some of their bikes (and they actually carry a lot of great bikes online).

See our May Deals and Discounts page for more of the details and the details on the Performance Bike Sale that is going on now too.

This is the time of year that a lot of stores are doing their Memorial Day and Beginning of Summer Sales so if you’re looking for Bikes or Cycling Products (or actually any outdoor gear) then this is a good time to get what you need.