Our First Beginner Race Clinic

On Friday, John and Aidan from CCAP joined us for our first clinic. The boys had a blast. Most of the time was spent doing exciting drills in the grass and they finished out working on pace lines down Colonel Ledyard Highway. Can't wait for the next one!

Our First Race Clinic

Join us this Friday down by the tennis courts at 2:30 for our first race clinic. Click on the image below for more details.

Today's Ride with the Pequots

We enjoyed a nice hilly ride with the Pequot Cyclists today. The boys are pretty strong on the hills these days!

Donut Derby!

The boys enjoyed the Donut Derby sponsored by CCAP yesterday. They enjoyed the donuts better than Jones Hill. It sure was steep and then it finished off with a long gradual uphill section on gravel/dirt. The boys did 4 laps around the course, stopping for donuts before each climb. They actually ate so many donuts that they one the donut eating competition (each donut knocks 3 minutes off your official time).

CCAP has been so wonderful in supporting our growing high school program. They brought us up for recognition and a group shot. The photo below includes their Aetna Pro Team, their new junior travel team, the Ledyard High School Cycling Club and CCAP high school coordinator Michelle Zwick. We are so thankful for their support and to be apart of their amazing mission.

Today's Ride with a Stop at Clyde's Cider Mill

We had an exciting ride today. Alex was back on the bike and Gianni and Steven rounded out the youth contingent. Mrs. Froh and Mr. Jannke road as well, and long time Pequot member David Reed joined us. We rode 32 miles. Our group kept pace with the fastest Pequot men for the first 17 miles to Clyde's Cider Mill. After a dozen donuts, muffins and pastry, the boys slowed a bit for the second half of the ride. Apparently 4 donuts is significant baggage when climbing hills. Today was great training for the upcoming  CCAP Donut Derby at Devil's Hopyard (see post below for more details).

We Won Jerseys

We won the CCAP High School jersey competition for our participation in the CT Cycling Festival last month! We will receive 6 free Verge jerseys!!!

Three Big Upcoming Rides!

We have three big, fun rides coming up in the coming weeks....

Sunday, Oct 13, 9am - meet at Mystic Middle School for a ride with the Pequot Cyclists. We'll be stopping at Clyde's Cider Mill along the way for apple donuts and other treats! More details...

Friday, Oct 18, 7pm - from Bluff Point we will do the annual night-time Halloween ride sponored by the Mystic Cycle Centre. You need a mountain bike with pumped-up tires and a headlight or flashlight taped to your handle bars.

Saturday, Oct 26, 10am - we are doing the CCAP Donut Derby at Devil's Hopyard - East Haddam, CT. This is a fun crit race/ride. For more information and to register, click here.

Today's Ride

CT Cycling Festival

Steven, Gianni and Mr. Jannke road in the CT Cycling Festival this past Sunday. It was a great experience and training for racing criteriums- fast circuit races that do many laps around a short course. We rode hard for 55 minutes. Mr. Jannke's goal was not to get lapped by the boys, but they both caught him (only once).

New Bike Rack

We have a new bike rack, thanks to the LHS administration and the Board of Education!

Informational Packet on Tomorrow's Ride/Race

http://cyclingadvancement.com/CT%20Cycling%20Fest%20Race%20Guide.pdf

Horner Did It!

The USA Could Make History Today in Cycling

While there are 1000s of bike races all over the world each year, there are only 3 grand tours with 21 days of racing in each, the Tour, Giro and Vuelta. While the Tour de France is considered the biggest race in cycling, the Vuelta de España tends to be a more mountainous race. This year's Vuelta is the hardest ever, harder than the Tour. It features 11 summit finishes and 41 categorized climbs (these are hard climbs that most of us could never do). The hardest climbs make climbing Mt. Washington look easy.

Forty one year old Chris Horner from Oregon is positioned to win the entire Vuelta today. While tomorrow's final stage is merely ceremonial, today's stage finishes with a grueling climb with 24% grades. (Have you ever been down a road around here and seen that warning sign for trucks? You'll never see pitches greater than 10%.) Horner carries a mere 3 second lead going into today's decisive stage. While that doesn't sound like much, he has consistently out climbed the others and is favored to win today.

Take 30 minutes out of your day today at 11:00 to watch the end of the race. You'll see the oldest rider in history to lead a grand tour, and you very well might see the first American (without PEDs) to win a grand tour in 30 years. While Horner isn't a specialist at all disciplines in cycling, he is simply an amazing climber, particularly when the ramps are ridiculously steep. He is light, powerful, wise and just a funny guy.

You can watch the race today from 10:00 to 11:30 on Universal Sports, a channel available if you have the right cable package, or you can watch online at: http://www.steephill.tv/vuelta-a-espana/#live. At least try and watch beginning at 11:00. The race is already underway. The Alto de L´Angliru is coming in just a couple of hours. Go Horner!

Wednesday's Ride

We did a quick loop with the treacherous Gallup Hill/Wendle Comrie hills. We rode a very fast pace in 90 degree weather. Fun! We ride again on Friday.

Monday's Ride

Nice hilly 25 mile ride yesterday up to Griswold. We ride again tomorrow.

Rides Week of Sept 9

We plan to ride Monday, Wednesday and Friday this coming week in preparation for the CT Cycling Festival. Meet at the tennis courts at 2:30.

Gearing Rules for High School/Junior Races

Apart from a one day license, there are certain gearing requirements for an under 18 rider, if he/she is to compete in an USA Cycling endorsed event. Please read up on the gearing rules. We can consult our local shops for tips, as well.

Fall Clinics

The CT Cycling Advancement Program has offered to come to LHS to run clinics for us to develop various pacing and racing skills. I know many are involved with fall sports, but we will still try to fit in at least one clinic this fall.   cyclingadvancement.com

CT Cycling Festival

We are going to put together a team to ride at the CT Cycling Festival on September 22 in Hartford. Some of the team will do the Citizen's Ride, which is a non-competitive race. This will help riders get accustom to riding a criterium race. We may enter a rider or two in the High School/Junior Race, too. The non-competitive race is 45 minutes and the High School Race is 10 miles. To ride the High School Race, one would need a one-day license from USA Cycling. Anyhow, more to come. Let Mr. Jannke know if you are interested. Also, we need to ramp up the training leading up to this event! For more info on the event, click here.

Ride After School Friday, Sept 6

August Rides

Given all our different summer schedules, we are going to switch to start riding with the Pequot Cyclists. They ride on Wednesday night and Sunday morning, plus they have the time trial on Thursday nights. For more information, visit their website at www.pequotcyclists.com and hope to see you out there.

Stuck Behind the Mystic River Bridge

Ride Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 31, Meet 8am @ LHS

Jeremy Hill Ride Today

We had another wonderful ride today of 30 miles. We traversed North Stonington and Stonington, stopped for ice cream in Mystic and finished off with a swim at Mr. Jannke's house. Jeremy Hill was our surprise of the day, quite the pitch when not expected. Next ride, Friday, 8am from LHS.

Next Ride Wednesday, July 24 - Meet 8am @ LHS

Today's Ride to Stonington

We had a nice high paced ride around Stonington today totaling a little over 27 miles. It was nice to ride in the morning, as the heat wasn't too bad. Next ride will be on Wednesday, 8am at LHS.

Next Ride Monday, July 22, 8 AM from LHS

First Summer Group Ride

After a three week break from riding together, we are back out on the road. We did a 22 mile loop to Noank last night: see map below. It was a hot one but fun. We are going to ride Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week. We are going to start with an 8 AM ride from the high school on Monday. If we like the morning temps better, we may continue to ride in the mornings or we'll switch back to evenings. We'll see after our Monday ride.

Ride Tomorrow/Friday

The boys will ride on their own again tomorrow, Friday. They will hit the road at 11:30. Again, they have to get themselves home. This is the proposed route. If it changes, we'll post an update at 11:30 tomorrow.

Next Ride Wednesday June 19

We plan to ride Wednesday and Friday right after school during this exam week (school ends at 11). Wednesday's ride will be very short (10 miles), to get kids back to the books. However, it involves a steep climb, so it will be a challenging, short ride. The boys will ride on their own, carry cell phones and follow this specific route, no exceptions (they are very familiar with these roads). They should be prepping for the ride immediately after exams and be on the road by 11:30. This will put them back at LHS at 12:30, at which time they will need to get picked up or ride home, as I will still be working. This ride should be really fun and challenging; fun because they can ride "alone" and challenging not for the distance, but for the Gallup and Wendell Comrie combined hills. This is the route...

Rides During Exam Week

I am still looking for feedback from parents on the boys riding alone after school this week, say from 11 to 1pm. Mrs. Froh and I cannot ride until 2:30. If this is not OK, then the next ride will be 2:30 on Wednesday. We'll try for Friday, too.

Friday's Ride

Yesterday, we decided to recon the Pequot Cyclists' time trial route in preparation for summer. We rode down to the Pequot Golf Club and began the 10 km loop. It was a tough, painful learning experience, but worth the effort to become more familiar with the course. Below is the route we took, just shy of 27 miles.

Tomorrow's (Friday's) Ride

The weather looks bad for tonight and the morning, but could clear by afternoon, so come prepared to ride. We'll do about the same milage as yesterday. We'll head down to Stonington to do part of the time trial course so that we can become more familiar with the more complicated sections. Here is our potential route. If necessary, we'll post a cancelation notice by noon tomorrow.

Today's Ride: Threw a Big One in the Middle

We had a great 24 mile ride today, which included the infamous Pequot Trail hill in Old Mystic (upping our elevation gain by 50% from previous rides). We rode at a higher than normal pace, too. Other than the added hill, our big accomplishment of the day was learning to ride together as a team. We focused on drafting, pulling, etiquette, pacing, safety, etc. We started with training in the parking lot and then road tested our skills all the way down Shewville. It was a very windy day, so we purposely went down to Stonington to really test our technique in the open, coastal conditions. We met a former racer who coached the kids as we made our way back to LHS. Great learning experience and team work!

Ride Tomorrow, Wednesday, 2:30, Tennis Courts

The weather looks good for tomorrow's ride, June 12. See you there!

Loop Through Mystic Today

We had a nice ride today down to Mystic, across the bridge and then back up the Stonington side. We are increasing the milage each ride, this one to 20 miles. The crew is getting really strong on the hills! Next ride is Friday.

Rides this Week

We ride Wednesday and Friday this week. Meet by the tennis courts at 2:30.

Weekly Rides

Due to popular demand, we are riding both Wednesdays and Fridays from now on! See you all Wednesday by the courts after school.

To Do List for the Week

Here are some things we should all be doing between now and next week's rides.

• Sign up for our email distribution list to keep up to date
• Get your mountain bike in order, especially the tires....we'll start mountain bike rides the weekend of June 8
• Help a friend get a road bike...contact Mr. Jannke (room 211) for tips and discounts
• Bring a friend to our next ride on Wednesday, June 5....meet 2:30 by the tennis courts at LHS

Another New Rider Today

We enjoyed a wonderful ride down to Mystic today, which we finished up by climbing Town Farm Rd hill! It was a 16 mile trip and the weather was perfect. Check out our route. We welcomed another new member, Xavier, today (see pic). Now that all the spring sports are officially over, we will be riding on Wednesdays and Fridays. Our group is growing week to week, so come out and join us!

Today's Ride

First Spring Ride 2013

We had a fabulous warm up ride today. Gianni, Alex and Caile were joined by Mrs. Froh and Mr. Jannke. Steven had a track meet, but we expect Steven and Wes to be out with us next week. Mr. Lentz's bike is in the shop, so we hope to have him join us, too. Come on out and enjoy the fun next Wednesday, May 29. We meet at 2:30 by the tennis courts.

First Spring Ride Wednesday - May 22

Come join us on our first group ride of the spring, next Wednesday, May 22. We will meet in the lower parking lot down by the tennis courts at 2:30. The current plan is to start with a relatively easy 13 mile loop from the high school. The ride starts with a really fun and long down hill, continues on to be relatively flat before it finishes with a mildly challenging climb back up to the high school; see details here. The ride is perfect for a warm up ride. If the group feels strong, we will add mileage. The ride will last about an hour to an hour and a half.

Bike to Work Day Parking

Friday is Bike to Work Day! The Ledyard Cycling Club is encouraging everyone to bike to school on May 17. You can lock your bikes in the area between Power Mechanics and Ag. Maps are posted in the cafeteria, front lobby and main office, or you can click on the map below for a larger version.

Bike to Work Day - May 17

Friday, May 17 is Bike to Work Day. Ledyard Cycling is encouraging all LHS faculty, staff and students to bike to LHS on May 17. For more information on promoting commuter cycling in Connecticut, visit www.bikewalkct.org.

Get Your Bikes Ready

We will be starting rides soon. Take your bike out, pump up the tires and go for a test spin. Make sure your helmet fits. Get ready!