Outdoor recreation

Press release: The Sacramento Grand Prix announced for May

2010-02-24T23:36:49Z

Project Sport, LLC – producers of the San Francisco and San Rafael Twilight Criterium cycling races – announced today an agreement with the Sacramento Sports Commission and the Amgen Tour of California to present a professional criterium-style cycling race in conjunction with Stage 1 of the 2010 Tour, to be contested on the morning of May 16, 2010, just prior to the Tour’s opening stage arrival in Sacramento.

The Sacramento Grand Prix at the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will begin at 10 a.m. and travel a 1.4 mile course circling the Capitol Building, duplicating portions of the Tour’s circuit just hours before Stage 1 is slated to finish in downtown Sacramento. It will include men’s and women’s races of category Pro/1/2 cyclists, and will feature cyclists from the US Women’s National Team and 2012 US Women’s Olympic Development Team.

While the Tour showcases the world’s best cyclists in a European-style road racing format, the Grand Prix will exhibit cycling’s best short course and up-and-coming cyclists, and will rejoin women’s cycling to the prominence offered by an event that serves as the United States’ premier staging of the sport. The women’s criterium marks the return of women’s professional racing to the Tour and will feature some of the best female cyclists in the world.

"The Sacramento Sports Commission is very excited to have reached an agreement with Project Sport to stage this professional criterium for men and women racers as a prelude to the 2010 Amgen Tour of California,” said Commission Executive Director John McCasey. “We envision the great crowds we enjoyed last year lining the course. When you factor in a Sunday afternoon finish in May, this should be a great win for the sport of cycling, for the cyclists and for Sacramento."

"The Sacramento Grand Prix is emerging as one of the top women's cycling events in America and carries international athletic importance," followed Ryan Dawkins, president of Project Sport and race director of Sacramento Grand Prix. "With huge crowds expected in Sacramento the event promises to be exciting for both racers and cycling fans."

The Grand Prix will offer fans a particularly close look at the elite of women’s cycling. The field of female competitors will feature members of Team Twenty12, assembled to develop cyclists for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, led by Kristin Armstrong, a 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and the current World Time Trial Champion.

"I am very pleased that Project Sport is including a women's event in conjunction with the Tour’s men's race,” said Nicola Cranmer, General Manager of the Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 team. “Its my hope that this partnership could develop into a great stage race for the women too. It’s critical to our sponsors that women's racing gets the attention it deserves and is able to take advantage of the great media impressions that the Amgen Tour of California affords. Women's racing is dynamic and exciting. I can assure you the cyclists will put on a great show for the spectators and the City of Sacramento."

The Sacramento Grand Prix becomes the third major professional cycling event produced by Project Sport, in addition to a roster of running events including the San Francisco US Half Marathon series. The company has been in discussion with the Sacramento Sports Commission for several years conceptualizing this race.

"We didn't come to this decision overnight,” said McCasey. “We have been talking for three years about this idea. Our LOC put Project Sport through a pretty thorough evaluation and Ryan Dawkins and his staff did a great job of presenting this concept and showing how nicely they could fit the three hour presentation into an already busy day of setup. We are excited to partner with Project Sport not only for this year but in going forward with the Sacramento Grand Prix in future years. They showed great patience and persistence."

About Project Sport, LLC
http://www.projectsport.com
Project Sport, LLC, is a San Francisco-based sports marketing company whose mission is to provide competitive and recreational fitness events for the enjoyment of participants of all ages and skill levels. Currently, Project Sport produces the San Rafael Twilight Criterium and the San Francisco Twilight Criterium -- two of Northern California’s most attended cycling races – as well as San Francisco’s US Half Marathon Series. In addition, Project Sport owns and operates Areté Racing, now the American Lung Association of California Cycling Team.

About Sacramento Sports Commission
http://www.sacsports.com/aboutus.html
The Sacramento Sports Commission is a joint city-county advisory board created to attract and develop major professional and amateur sporting events in the Capitol region. The Sports Commission operates the non-profit organization Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation to administer SSC events.

About the Amgen Tour of California
http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Tour/about.html
The largest cycling event in America, the 2010 Amgen Tour of California is a Tour de France-style cycling road race presented by AEG that challenges the world's top professional cycling teams to compete along a demanding course from May 16-23.

Photo: Larry Rosa Photography

Bringing the workout outside

2009-06-11T03:45:14Z

Midtown exercise guru Chip Conrad doesn't talk about exercise routines — he talks about rituals.

“A ritual is what inspires progress," he said. "Routine just meets base needs. And the only way for movement to empower the body is if it's progressive. You have to get better at it."

Conrad’s gym, Body Tribe on 21st Street in Midtown, is surely Sacramento's most unique gym. It doubles as a social center and even art gallery on Second Saturdays. But the real difference is that he takes his acolytes through workouts that eschew weight machines and counting reps and instead focuses on movement.

“I try to get people to move in the ways the body is supposed to move," he said. "I won't let a machine dictate how I'm going to move. It's about freeing yourself. Machines do not teach you how to stabilize and control your body."

Worse, he said, machines can lead you astray and cause you to hurt yourself in unexpected ways.

"You feel a false sense of security using a machine, because the machine is doing the work of supporting you, but it's not actually giving you a foundation of strength," he said. "You don't support yourself, the machine does. You're more prone to hurt yourself. I've seen just as many injuries on machines as on anything else."

Conrad and his gym are well-known in town, especially among artists and others who don't feel comfortable in traditional gyms. He has also written a book, the 2007 publication Lift with Your Head, which digs into the mental and even spiritual disciplines that can help people get stronger in ways that matter.

But now Conrad is taking his workouts outside the gym, with a new program that aims not only to strengthen the participants, but affect our little corner of society as well. He's calls it the Midtown Shape-Up, and I signed up for it. I'm glad I did.

Since last Tuesday morning — we meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 a.m. — I've joined Conrad and about two dozen other people of widely varying degrees of fitness in Grant Park on C Street between 21st and 22nd. What we're doing is something very old — group calisthenics — something so old that I figured it couldn't give me what I wanted. I was wrong.

With the grass still damp, Conrad leads us through a variety of exercises that I hated when I was a kid, and am not crazy about now: jumping jacks, push-ups and sprints among them. The difference is, I know I need them now, and I'm happy to be doing them.

But man, I hurt.

My motivation was to get into a different kind of shape — not about looking good, but about feeling good, and getting stronger. Getting a strength that fits the myriad things we are called upon to do in an average day: lifting awkwardly shaped things, like furniture and boxes — and kids. Moving with grace and strength, so that one false move doesn't cripple me for a week.

"Building strength in a gym is useless if you can't do something with it," Conrad said. "Since my definition of strength is ability, what we're trying to build is the kind of strength that gives us ability. The ability to do what we need to do."

Despite the moans and groans, this crowd is clearly ready for Conrad's instructions, and his leavening them with wit, and keeping every exercise short, works. Though the crowd has shrunk since the first morning a week ago, at this third meeting the group has stabilized and no one holds back or balks at his instructions. They see the value. What he says makes sense.

"How often are you lying on your back pushing a weight straight up in real life?" he questioned when I asked him later about the classic bench press. "Everything we do in most gyms is very specfic, linear — very safe, really. Sometimes we need to learn how to lift in precarious situations. If we don't learn to move in those situations, we'll hurt ourselves in real life."

Thus, in our calisthenic routine, all we lift is ourselves, and it soon becomes clear that this is a lot of work. After one workout with Conrad's beloved (by him) "burpies" (drop to a squat, kick legs out into a "plank" position, do a push-up, jump back to a squat and spring straight up), even just a dozen, I am feeling pain in my lats and shoulders that I haven't felt from much harder workouts in the gym.

More than that, Conrad has us doing silly things like "gorilla runs" (hands and feet on the ground, moving sideways) and windmilling our arms wildly. Movement. Moving in space and managing that ever-shifting weight. Very challenging. And, well, awkward.

"I think awkward weight-lifting is essential," he said. "Pick up something weird, work with it. That's what you're going to be doing in real life. There are so many factors that throw off what a gym would consider a normal lifting pattern. That's life."

One gym staple that Conrad disdains is the crunch. Horray for that, but, what? No crunches? Aren't they the way to perfect abs-of-steel, the holy grail of gym workouts?

No, Conrad said. They don't guarantee that. Visible abs are partly the result of genetics and of low body-fat content, and they can do worse.

"Why perpetuate bad posture?" he asked rhetorically. "When you do crunches, you're flexing your spine, rounding your shoulders — we do that all day long, in the car, at the computer screen. Why do it more? For some pretense of vanity, to make our abs stick out? No thanks."

But there's a whole other dimension to Conrad's Midtown Shape-Up. It's the communal aspect. Other than bike rides, I can count on one hand the number of times I've worked out with a group of people. Usually, it was dancing. And that's different.

But Conrad — and this is where he gets evangelistic — believes that doing workouts together is something that any healthy society should be doing. And he argues that the fact that our society doesn't do that bespeaks our lack of fitness.

“In my travels, wherever I go in other countries, I see groups of people working out together, outside,” he told us our first morning. “You see people doing tai chi, or calisthenics, or even tumbling. Anything that's body weight-related, just moving together. I want to do that here.”

This is where he gets really passionate, and it becomes clear why he's offering the Midtown Shape-Up, a total of 12 meetings over six weeks, for a mere $20.

"I want this to be the beginning of a virus that will infect the neighborhood and get people to incorporate movement into their lives a bit," he said. "If people see people doing that in the park, maybe they will think they can do it, and then 20 will turn into 50 and then into 100. And fitness, real fitness, will grow in our society.

"Why there's not something like this in every park in Midtown is baffling," he said. "Hopefully it will be, soon. A boy can dream, right?"

Conrad's Midtown Shape-Up continues into July, and he plans to start another group next month. To find out more about this approach to fitness, visit physicalsubculture.com.

Amgen "prologue" introduces Sacramento's Grid to the world

2009-02-16T00:53:51Z

Pulling victory from the jaws of impending thundershowers, Sacramento's weather and geography cooperated Saturday afternoon to produce a nearly-flawless "prologue" of the Amgen Tour of California.

It was nearly as cold and windy as Sacramento gets, but the rain held off until the last riders were crossing the finish line around 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The clear weather continued into the evening as the out-of-town crowds estimated to be more than 50,000 partied into the night and the Grid's monthly Second Saturday events.

Though the race began in earnest Sunday, with 136 racers riding through gusts of wind and significant rain - and Sunday morning was marred by the early-hours theft of Lance Armstrong's $10,000 time trial bike, as well as the bikes of three of his teammates - Saturday marked another leap forward into the international biking world's consciousness.

As many as 1,000 credentialled journalists from around the world, who first showed up for Thursday's press conference at the Sheraton downtown (see pictures), were matched by visitors from as far away as France, all of whom came to see Armstrong's return to racing after a three-year retirement. There were also dozens of top racers in the peleton, including the current Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre of Spain, Tour de France tragedian Floyd Landis in his first post-suspension race, two-time Amgen winner Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, and the ultimate winner of Saturday's time trial, 2008 Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland.

There were many viewpoints along the 2.4 mile course, and most were taken up with the crowd. It was expected to be 75,000 people, but there was really no way to tell how big it was, spread out along the course. But with helicopters buzzing above, police everywhere and thousands showing up on bicycles, there was no question that it was a great day to be on two wheels in the Grid.

There were dozens of parties, some upscale, such as Mulvaney's barbeque at 19th and L, right next to the final turn before the straightaway, and others just in private apartments around town. To view the race, people climbed lamposts, parking garages and even hung out on the concrete overhangs in the 18th Street Lofts (see pictures). The street was the place to be, and spectators cheered on each rider, first announced by a name plate on a preceding motorcycle, then accompanied by a TV crew from the Versus network, and a lag wagon behind. At the turn at 19th and L Streets, the following cars often seemed to be racing to keep up with the riders, who launched out of the corner for the final eight blocks to the finish line.

The sidewalks were full of people, some in bike gear, some in high style, such as the group of four from Lyon, France, who had come to watch Amstrong's return to racing. Another group was from a wedding party, dressed in classic formal wear. Some rang cow bells as the riders raced past. A freight train rumbled on past the last turn, oblivious to the international event happening just yards away.

Downtown businesses took full advantage of the crowds, from Ginger Elizabeth's chocolate shop, which was packed with sweet tooths, to Hot Italian, Andrea Lepore's new two-wheel themed, wood-fired pizza place at 16th and Q, which chose Saturday as its "soft opening," and was filled with many who stopped in for pizza, beer, wine and espresso, as well as to check out the high-end riding gear in its shop (gorgeous $485 riding jackets) and the spectacular upright bike racks that sit outside on 16th Street.

Marcus, the owner of L Bar, stood happily in front of his wine bar, saying, "We're staying afloat, but days like this really help us get through the month." Brian Fischer of the Midtown Grid worked the crowd in front of the Buckhorn Grill at 18th and L, spinning his wheel of fortune and selling beautiful Bikeramento t-shirts, proceeds to be used to buy bicycles for disadvantaged kids in Oak Park. David Aldersebaes of the online cycling magazine Pez Cycling News, of Portland, surveyed the crowd, notebook in hand, and proclaimed himself "impressed" by Sacramento.

Out-of-towners on the Grid included Michael Polsan of Chico, 51, who hadn't seen downtown Sacramento in three years, and was amazed at its transformation. "I didn't realize so much is going on here," he said. "Last time I was in downtown Sacramento, it was pretty sketchy, like a midwestern town on hard times. Now it's really looking good."

Nature, which was the big concern of organizers and crowds, particularly after last year's rainy Amgen finish, when riders had to hold back on the sodden turns, cooperated, and spectacularly so. Not only was there no rain during the race, but the pavement was dry all along the course, meaning that riders could hit corners full-speed, and many did. And after the race was over, and a few sprinkles passed through, a bright rainbow appeared in the northeast, arching over the scene at 18th and Capitol (see picture).

The party continued into the night for Second Saturday, as a whole new shift of people hit the streets. Though the cold temperatures kept the crowd at considerably lower density than a spring or summer Second Saturday, there were still many devoted Sacramentans - and tourists - filling the streets. Among the beneficiaries of the crowds was the new Bike Kitchen shop, on 18th and I Streets.

All in all, it was a spectacularly successful Amgen prologue, despite the theft of Armstrong's and others' bikes from behind the Residence Inn at 15th and L, a downbeat coda to a terrific day in the Grid.

Tips for viewing the Amgen Tour "prologue" on Saturday

2009-02-14T01:41:53Z

The prospect of 75,000 people descending on downtown Sacramento Saturday morning is both exciting and daunting. Those of us who live and work in the central city and environs are eager for people to enjoy our beautiful hometown, but we're also wondering just how this is going to work out.

And legislators and staff who are going to be at the Capitol Saturday to conclude (we hope) the disastrous budget process, are going to find their morning commute, and parking, more difficult than usual. At least they can use the underground Capitol parking.

For the rest of us, the solution to the first question regarding the race is simple: Don't Drive: Ride! Unless you live in Roseville or further, you should be biking into town to see this major bike race. Yes, it may be raining, but if you can stand in the rain, you can ride in the rain. In fact, riding in the rain is fun. And parking is a breeze! There will be free valet parking for 1000 bikes in front of the Capitol on 10th Street.

So, you're riding in. Wear something to protect you from the weather, and be prepared to get a little wet in any case. You won't be anywhere near as wet as the 136 participating racers are going to get, and you have indoor plumbing for an eventual hot shower, so what are you complaining about?

And bike riders get an extra activity to enjoy: Starting at 11:30 a.m., there will be a "community bike ride" for whoever wants to ride the course before the big guys take over. I ride a good portion of this route every day to work, and it is as beautiful a commute as the world can reasonably offer. Highly recommended.

The course starts between 8th and 9th Streets on Capitol Mall, just west of the State Library and Supreme Court buildings. It then shoots all the way west on the Mall, turning at 4th Street and racing back east on the south side of the Mall, turning south on 9th for a block, then east again along N Street on south side of Capitol Park. It's a straight-away all the way to 19th Street, where they turn north for two blocks, then turning west again on L Street and racing to the finish line at 11th and L, in the shadow of the Capitol dome.

The route is a short, quick 2.4 miles, with racers expected to hit speeds nearing 40 MPH on the straight-aways on N and L Streets. But this is not a race of riders competing against each other in a pack, as the rest of the stages of the race will be, starting Sunday in Davis. These are time trials, the racers going one-by-one, every minute, against the clock, starting at 1:30. So if you arrive at 2:30 or even 3:00, the "race" will still be going on. In fact, while it'll be fun (assuming the weather cooperates) to come early and enjoy the "Lifestyle Festival" set up on 10th Street in front of the Capitol, the big names in the Tour - current Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre of Spain, Tour de France tragedian Floyd Landis, 2008 Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, two-time Amgen winner Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, and of course, all-time-great Lance Armstrong - won't even be riding until the very end of the race, sometime around 3:30 p.m. The race is expected to end by 4 p.m.

Where you choose to watch the race from depends on what's available, and we're not sure about the availability of the grassy median on Capitol Mall, which would seem to be the best place to see each rider do two straight-aways on either side. Plus the overall views of the Capitol to the east and the Tower Bridge to the west make this a great option.

If you're big on the big finish, that's at 11th and L, which means that the city parking garage at that intersection might offer some choice, if not particularly comfy, overviews of the finish line. But most likely, walking around and checking out the whole scene will be the most fun, especially if it's not raining.

If you drive, be prepared to walk. There are garages in the area, but they will fill up early, and parking will be enforced throughout the day. Sacramento is a fantastic walking town, so I'll make one more pitch to NOT drive your car in. It'll only be a hassle. Better to ride your bike or RT, and walk. No matter how far you walk, you won't be working as hard as the 136 riders roaring through town Saturday.

Regional transit from the south area and the east goes to the 13th Street station and the 8th Street station, and from the north, to the Alkali Flats station on 12th Street, which will get you pretty close. Or you can take Amtrak to the 5th and I Street station and walk to Capitol Mall.

However you get there, this is going to be one of the biggest events ever held in downtown Sacramento, and well worth the effort.

As I write this on Friday afternoon, it is POURING rain. A completely dry, drought-provoking January, and now this, right in time for the race. But if this water ends up on the slopes and in the reservoirs come April and May, the inconvenience to race-goers this weekend will seem small price indeed. Bring it on!

One idea for how to enjoy your furlough days

2009-02-05T00:48:35Z

If you're one of the approximately 100,000 Sacramentans who may have two extra free days a month, thanks to likely furloughs of state workers this month, you're in luck.

No, you're not going to get that 10 percent of your income back. But with snow on the way this week, you have another option: Ski Squaw.

The Squaw Valley Ski Resort announced today that it is offering furloughed state workers a deal on ski lift tickets - alliteratively known as Furlough Fridays - the first and third Fridays of the month. And the first one is this Friday, Feb. 6.

All California State employees affected by the furloughs will be able to ski or snowboard at Squaw Valley for only $30. To purchase the tickets, one need only bring one's state ID card or a recent State of California pay stub (dated 2009 only) and a valid photo ID to the "D" ticket booth between 8:30 and 11 a.m.

Squaw Valley will be offering the $30 Furlough Friday tickets this Friday, as well as Feb. 20, March 6 and March 20, or until the budget debacle is resolved and the furloughs are no longer in effect. The normal cost of a lift ticket at Squaw is a substantial $79.

The resort's SnowSports School is also offering a discount: two-for-one deals on ski or snowboard lessons for $49 for two people. This offer is available to anyone, not just state workers, and is offered seven days a week.

For more information on Furlough Fridays, visit www.squaw.com.

Sacramento Cyclocross season ends with a bang!

2008-12-24T19:18:32Z

If you’re a fan of bikes, especially going fast and furious off road, then you should mark Jan. 3 on your calendar. That’s when Sacramento’s cyclocross (CX) season ends with a “final showdown” at Sutter Landing Park, featuring some of the area’s top cyclocross riders.

Linda Elgart founded the race series with her husband John, both of whom have been national champions for their age groups, John three times.

“It’s so much fun, people try it and they become addicted to it,” says Linda Elgart. “It’s physically very taxing, but it’s low-key. It’s friendly, you can bring the family, and it doesn’t really matter how you do – it’s you versus the course, not other racers.

“People just love to go out and play in the mud,” she adds. The race is open to all ages; John Elgart is himself 62; Linda is 52.

This is the ninth year of the race, which moves around the area, with five races this year in different sites from Granite Beach to Discovery Park. The races – there are several – range from a half hour to an hour.

Sutter’s Landing, if you don’t know it, is Sacramento’s own alt.park, built adjacent to the old city dump, just north of the Grid and featuring, in addition to beaches, a pretty cool skate park. Its address is 28th and A Streets on the north side.

The race will not only provide some wild entertainment for both riders and spectators, it will raise money for SAMBA, Sacramento Area Mountain Bike Association. SAMBA has fought for years now for better mountain biking in our area, including on the American River Parkway, and the money raised will help pay for signage, trail maps and other elements of the new trail network SAMBA has pushed to establish.

Bob Horowitz of SAMBA has been at the forefront of the long slog toward getting parkway access for mountain bikers, and he’s thrilled that the Jan. 3 race will benefit that effort. He says that effort is beginning to yield results.

“We’re waiting on the state legislature to take action,” he says. “But we’re looking at 2010 to start working with county parks to get the trail network up and running. And signs and maps and buffer zones for sensitive areas all cost money. This race should help with that.”

The race starts at 9:30 a.m.

A post-race party for racers and volunteers will be held starting around 5 p.m. at Old Soul Bakery on Old Soul Alley between L and Capitol and 17th and 18th Streets. Pizza, beer and a swag raffle will be on the agenda.

Registration for the event is $30, which gets you into the race AND the post-party.

SAMBA is looking for volunteers to staff the event, including helping with registration, marshalling on the course itself, and cleaning up afterwards. Potential volunteers should contact Horowitz at rhorowit@pacbell.net. Volunteers get in free to both the race and the after-party.

For more information on Sacramento Cyclocross, and to see videos of past races, and visit www.sacramentocx.com.