Sacramento Cycling

Sacramento Bike Games

2009-03-30T04:56:51Z

Bikes, beer and beards - all were in abundant supply this weekend at the second annual Sacramento Bike Games, which lasted all of Saturday evening.

A select group of people received phone calls Saturday morning from the event's organizers telling them where to meet up for the first event, a skid-stop competition held on the American River Bike Trail at noon.

After that, the action moved to Discovery Park, where the Pick Up, Footdown and Trackstand events were held. While Footdown and Trackstands have been explained in previous articles in this storyline, Pick Up is probably unfamiliar to readers. In Pick Up, objects of successively diminishing size have to be picked up by players riding past them, without dismounting from their bicycles. Saturday's game started with two-liter soda bottles and ended with dimes.

Julio Villa, winner of Saturday's Footdown event, said the games “were a lot of fun. It was pretty tiring but totally worth it. I'm looking forward to next year's games, when I will totally crush the competition."

The Games were informal, with anyone who had paid the $6 entry fee and received a spoke-card 'ticket' allowed to participate in any event. Many people attending brought their own supplies of food and beer. Organizers, who were mostly regular participants of Sacramento's semi-illicit games of Bike Polo, kept track of wins and scores on notebooks and pieces of cardboard.

Besides the games, there was a barbeque of vegan hot dogs at Discovery Park. However, the meal was sadly marred by a shortage of buns. "It was totally weak, all that competition made me so hungry and I was fittin' to eat, even though the dogs were vegan," Villa said.

Around 3 p.m., the games moved again, this time to downtown Sacramento for the Bike Polo tournament. Teams were picked by shuffling the spoke cards. Held in a parking lot at an 'undisclosed location,' Polo lasted for about three hours before the games moved for the last time to a house in the Mansion Flats neighborhood for the final event - Bike Jousting.

The competitors arrayed themselves at opposite ends of a driveway lined with spectators. Their lances were made of three-foot lengths of PVC pipe tipped with pillows secured in place with copious amounts of tape.

"Everyone was drunk," said one spectator of the chivalrous cycling. "People were up on balconies, cheering like Caesar at gladiators."

No word yet has come from the event organizers about next year, but a continuation of the games seems likely.

Fixed gear festivities

2009-03-23T06:22:10Z

A few days ago, while I was eating a gigantic hamburger at Nationwide Freezer Meats, I noticed a flier advertising for the second annual Sacramento Bike Games. This upcoming Saturday, March 28, was given as a date, but no location was revealed.

My interest was piqued, so I checked the MySpace address listed on the flier, only to find the games’ location listed as "TBA." Viewers of the page were encouraged to check back regularly for information on where the games are to be held.

However, other pertinent information was revealed. The games focus on fixed-gear bikes, with events like Bike Polo, Footdown (essentially chicken played on bikes), Jousting, and several other bike maneuvers. Spectators can expect to see an impressive array of gravity- and traffic-law-defying tricks, bike frames both flashy and minimalist, and some of Sacramento's most bike-knowledgeable citizens.

The entry fee is six dollars, with food and drink available for contestants and spectators.

Fixed gear aficionados will enjoy watching their favorite kind of bike do the things only it can do, and more casual spectators might be interested in the novelty of bike polo or bike jousting, in addition to the barbecue and brew provided.

Any readers with knowledge of the location are encouraged to post it and enlighten the rest of us. My inquiries will continue, and an update will be posted when all the facts are in.

Armstrong's Stolen Bike Returned

2009-02-19T03:14:45Z

At a press conference held at the Public Safety Center on Freeport Boulevard, Sacramento Police confirmed that cyclist Lance Armstrong's bicycle, stolen on Sunday, February 15, has been returned by an anonymous citizen as of 10:30 this morning.

The bike, which was identified by serial number, was described by the spokesman as being '"in good condition," despite being delivered with the wheels detached from the frame. Police do not believe that the bicycles were specifically targeted by thieves. A police spokesman said, "Our one concern was that the bike would be discarded," once the thieves realized the identity of the bike's owner.

Police declined to comment on the identity of the citizen who returned the bicycle, saying that the while the "Good Samaritan" who returned the bike did provide details, the police department would not be discussing the particulars of the case due to the ongoing investigation. It was confirmed that the citizen who returned the bicycle is not a suspect.

As of this writing, police are still searching for two additional bicycles from Team Astana, which were stolen along with Armstrong's. Initial reports that three additional bikes were stolen proved to be incorrect, as one of Team Astana's missing bikes was discovered to have been misplaced and had been sitting in hotel storage.

Police allowed that they did have multiple suspects, but refused to go into further detail, again citing the ongoing investigation. A police spokesman described the department's attitude as hopeful, saying "We are actively following leads," but cautioned against early speculation.

Sacramento Police were flooded with calls from media outlets and cycling enthusiasts from all around the world, and officers patrolling downtown were stopped and advised by concerned citizens actively looking for the stolen bike.

That the high-profile theft took place in downtown Sacramento was described as an 'unfortunate circumstance' by police.

Armstrong is expected to receive his bicycle in 24 to 48 hours, although at the press conference police stated that they had not been in direct contact with Armstrong's Team Astana.

Lance Armstrong comes to Sacramento

2009-02-03T03:58:35Z

Come Valentine's Day, Sacramento will be home to America's largest cycling event, the Amgen Tour of California. Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France, will be participating as a member of the Astana Cycling Team. Sixteen other teams from around the world will also be competing.

The Tour of California is a Tour de France-style road race. The Sacramento stage of the race will take place on the Capitol Mall and begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, with an estimated end time of 4:00 p.m. Since the 2009 race begins in Sacramento, this stage is called the 'prologue' and will consist of riders completing the course one at a time, racing against each other's time. "Thousands of spectators are expected" to attend, said Julio Villa, a Tour course marshall and part-time bike mechanic.

Two days before the race, Thursday, Feb. 12, the Memorial Auditorium will host a black-tie optional Team Presentation and Gala, providing an opportunity for enthusiasts and supporters to meet with the world-class cyclists participating in the tour.

"Not only will this event bring a substantial economic boost to this community, it allows us to foster community pride by showcasing Sacramento on a world stage and bringing some of the world’s best athletes to our city,” said Steve Hammond, president and CEO of the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau, in a press release on the Tour website.

Tickets start at $300 and can be bought by calling 808-8984.

The first Tour of California was held in 1971 and was organized by Peter Rich, a Berkeley bicycle shop owner. Due to a lack of funds, it was not followed by another until 2006, but since then it has been an annual occurrence, drawing the attention and money of the international cycling community to California. 2009 is the first year the Tour will be covered by Eurosport, a European satellite and cable TV company.

The Tour is being sponsored by Amgen, a biotechnology company focused on disease research and treatment. In 2005 it founded Breakaway from Cancer as a complement to its sponsorship of the Tour. Amgen is also partnered with the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Armstrong has said that he chose to race in the Amgen Tour of California because of "the race's record of supporting cancer awareness and research." Armstrong is a survivor of testicular cancer.

Who in our readership is planning to attend? Does anyone have stories from previous Tours?

Alley Cat Racing in Sacramento

2009-01-15T00:39:40Z

Friday evening, you may have run into a crowd of cyclists pedaling their way downtown, uptown, and back again. The racing term for this group is a peloton. These rather enthusiastic riders were in the midst of the Sacramento Alley Cat bike race.

The Alley Cat is an unsanctioned bike race, checkpoint-to-checkpoint, where the emphasis is placed not on speed, but on knowing the layout of the city. Races are always open course, taking place in street traffic.

40 riders took off for the five checkpoints of the race which stretched from Lucky Lefty's on 16th Street all the way to West Sacramento and back.

Many others who came chose not to race, but remained at Lucky Lefty's, watching a bike-trick exhibition in the parking lot next door. Most people attending planned to go to the Sacramento premier of Macaframa, a feature-length film of track bike riding and tricks, being held at the Crest Theatre.

Alley Cat racing originated in the bike messenger community of Toronto in 1986, but it has since spread all over the world, with races being held from Atlanta to Australia, and of course, Sacramento.

While bike messengers are the driving force behind the production and organization of these races, non-messengers are free to enter and participate. Most participants ride fixed gear track bikes, and while most are welcoming to newcomers, some look down on people riding geared or single speed bikes.

The Alley Cat was largely organized by Lucky Lefty's, a streetwear boutique that recently opened up in the space formerly occupied by the Kehlet Typewriter company.

Are any of our readers bicycle racing enthusiasts? What do they think of this sort of bike race? Did anyone see the race or stumble into the midst of it?

Photos courtesy of Timothy Mar.

What are fixed gear bikes?

2009-01-15T00:05:55Z

Recently, fixed-gear biking has become rather popular among young urbanites. Some readers might be asking, 'what exactly is a fixed gear?' To answer their questions, I put together a brief FAQ on the subject.

So what makes a fixed gear bike different from any other bike?

The most distinguishing and easily identifiable characteristic of a fixed gear bike is that it cannot coast like other bikes, because the bike's single gear is directly connected to both the chain and wheel. Whenever the wheels of the bike are moving, the pedals are moving. Because of this, it is possible to slow and stop the bike by applying rearward pressure to the bike pedals. Most fixed gear bikes are track bikes, originally meant for cycling in velodromes, oval-shaped track arenas, but any type of bicycle can be converted to a fixed gear.

Why Fixed Gear?

Fixed gear bikes, having only one gear, are considerably lighter and easier to maintain than other bikes. They only get lighter and simpler when the brakes are removed, as they often are. Avid cyclists say that the constant use of leg muscles in pedaling and stopping increases muscle suppleness and pedaling rhythm.

No brakes?

That's right. The rationale behind removing brakes is to remove weight and potential maintenance trouble. Stopping the bike can be done by pushing back against the pedals, as noted previously, or by executing a bike trick known as a 'skid,' where the rear wheel is removed from the ground briefly by the rider leaning forward, and locking the pedals in place, which causes the bike to skid to a halt. The lack of brakes has led to accidents and at least one death. While some fixed gear riders chose to keep the front brake, most discard them entirely, citing either performance or stylistic reasons.

Do any readers ride on of these fixed gear bikes? What do they think of this FAQ? Has anyone had an experience in traffic with one?

Photos courtesy of users gromgull and veganstraightedge on flickr.com.