Cue Sheet for Wednesday Folsom Race Ride - "A" Group

5:30 pm  at 7610 Folsom-Auburn Rd, Folsom, CA

Leave Parking lot
Left on Folsom Auburn Rd
Left on Oak Hill Dr
Right on Barton Rd
Left on Olive Ranch Rd
Right on Barton
Sprint #1 Lomis "City Limit" Sign

Left on Brace Rd
Right on Sierra College Blvd
Sprint #2 Top of Sierra College Climb

Right on English Colony Way
Sprint #3 at top of the Hill in Penryn (Store KOM)

Regroup at English Colony Way and Taylor Rd
Continue onto Rock Springs Rd
Continue onto Brenmans Rd
Left on King Rd
Right on Auburn-Folsom Rd
Sprint #4 at Cavitt Stalman Fire station

Continue on Auburn-Folsom Rd
Sprint # 5 Last Yellow Light before Shop

The Actual Link:
http://folsombike.com/about/wednesday-night-race-rides-pg195.htm#.Ug5XZ9K1F8F

Here is the route from a riders Strava ride:
http://www.strava.com/activities/66230222

The Bad Crash and the Silver Lining - Linda Elgart

Here at River Ride headquarters, we like to believe that there is no such thing as crashes.  We also believe in unicorns, the tooth fairy, and non-anal triathletes!  So, in light of the evidence, we present you the truth that happens eventually....

I had a really bad bicycle crash 3 weeks ago. I was on the River Ride. It’s the regular Saturday racer training ride. 

It’s 40 miles of hard, fast training in a big group of miscellaneous racer types. There have been crashes but I’ve been lucky never to have witnessed a devastating one in almost 18 years of participation.

That day, the weather was mild, there wasn’t much of a wind to break things up, and the fastest pro riders were off racing. That meant that everyone, about 50 of us, was still there ¾ of the way into the ride. Two guys a couple of riders ahead of me got tangled, the one behind them either was bumped or performed an evasive maneuver, and before I even had a chance to think, my front wheel was taken right out and I went down at about 28 mph onto my face and arms.

Luckily I wasn’t able to see how I looked lying there in a pool of blood from facial wounds (which bleed a lot). I was able to see my right arm, floppy and bent at a 90 degree angle. I used my injured left arm to grab my right hand and pull it straight so I could stand to look at it. 

My front teeth were broken. 

I couldn’t believe this was happening.
John, my husband, thankfully was on the ride. This wasn’t my first bad crash, but it was the worst he’s had to witness. Thank goodness he was able to reach our friend Alyssa, who went to our house to get our van, so she could pick up John, his bike, my bike, and follow the ambulance to the hospital.

Final tally: 

broken left elbow and right forearm, 3 damaged teeth, and facial lacerations. I had surgery to repair my arms at the UC Davis Trauma center, then spent two nights at Kaiser. I have temporary caps on my teeth and get a root canal this week. The cast came off my left arm after two weeks (never had one on the right-all the plates are internal) and I’m busy doing physical therapy 5 times a day to regain range of motion. 

Facial wounds heal fast and I look almost normal, but I’ll always have the scars on my arms. I’m non-weight bearing for 5 more weeks, but I hope to regain full strength eventually. 

I am really doing quite well; able to wash, eat, and even do things around the house. I can type. I can work. My legs are fine and I’m riding the bicycle trainer, and walking for transportation. I sure miss doing yoga, but I am doing what I can at home, that doesn’t require the use of arms. Counting my blessings: no head injury, no neck or back injury. It could have been worse. 

So what is the silver lining? 

This has made me want to focus on being a better person. I felt so much love afterwards from friends, family, and neighbors. I received more than 150 Facebook greetings, and so many people called, sent cards and flowers, brought me food and wine, and visited. In return, I have made a pact with myself to be cheerful, not to feel sorry for myself, and to express my appreciation. Not just for now but whenever someone does something nice. 

Trying to be nice not only makes other people feel good, but it actually makes one feel better inside. 

I’m not perfect. I’ve had one bout of feeling sorry for myself, but putting on a smile really has changed my outlook. The weeks pass quickly. 

I will be back.

River Ride Route for Monday and Thursday “A” Ride during construction

Ride route change during construction begining Monday June 24th (see below).

Normal start times and locations for both rides.

Proceed down Garden Hwy

Right on Power Line Road

Left on Elverta

Sprint #1 on Elverta towards top of levee right before Garden Hwy.

TURN AROUND and proceed back down Elverta

Right on Metro Air Parkway

Right on Elkhorn

Left on Power Line  Road

LEFT on Bayou Way and continue through the “S” turns

Bayou becomes El Centro Road

Right on Del Paso Road

Left on Power Line Road

Left on Garden Hwy

Left on San Juan

Sprint #2 on San Juan

Temp route on a map:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/add_to_website/231869099

The Sacramento County Department of Transportation is scheduled to start work on a a pavement repair project on Garden Highway next week. Construction will take place June 24-27 and again July 8-26. Work will occur 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to a press release issued by the county. The paving project is expected to result in intermittent daytime lane closures and traffic restrictions on Garden Highway from North Bayou Road to West Elverta Road. There will be no weekend work for this project. Lane closures will likely impact both northbound and southbound traffic on Garden Highway including vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles. Emergency vehicles and local resident traffic will be permitted, with the possibility of some delays. This includes access to Teal Bend Golf Club, Alamar Restaurant & Marina and Swabbies on the River. Pavement repair work will include placement of a two-inch asphalt concrete overlay. Paving and trucking operations may cause long delays. Motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes include a detour around the repair project. Currently, an interchange project at State Route 99 at Elverta Road is underway and West Elverta Road is closed between Metro Air Parkway and State Route 99. - See more at: http://www.natomasbuzz.com/2013/06/garden-highway-paving-project-starts-next-week/#sthash.pJNjUmjH.dpuf

THANK YOU BOWEN DOXSEE FOR THE HEADS UP!

Bev (Turpin) McInnes - 1991

One of the friendliest riders out there, Bev has that uncanny knack of being nice and telling it like it is.  She has been the backbone of organizing "women's only" rides and has been a wise mentor to both sexes   She's got skills, and has been no stranger to some of the fastest rides.

Sacramento River Rides - Skills Gone Wild!

If there’s a place to learn bike handling and pack riding skills it’s on the Sacramento River Rides. 

I started doing the River Rides 22 years ago in 1991. I had a lot of fun but not without a lot of pain. I learned ALL of my bike handling skills from the best of the best on our river rides. I also learned how to deal with crashes, avoid crashes, not crash, and most importantly, ride home after crashing. We’ve certainly had our share crashes out there too. 

When I first started river riding, I was inundated with advice from everyone.. “don’t overlap wheels, if you do and you crash, it’s your fault, keep moving forward, pull through, don’t go up to the front and do nothing, if you do go up front, make sure you have a reason, when you move up, make sure you have a place to go, what are you doing, know what you’re doing, have a reason, don’t make abrupt moves from inside the pack without looking, don’t push such a big gear, keep your cadence relatively high, just pedal faster when the pack speeds up, leave yourself an out, watch the pack and don’t just stare at the wheel in front of you, pick good wheels, don’t dangle at the back - it’s harder.” I heard every bit of that advice and I absorbed it all too. 

I was pretty driven back then, showing up to every Saturday river ride if I wasn’t racing. It was a high priority item for me. I absolutely would not miss one if I could help it. 

Many memorable moments in the past river rides do include good memories. One of them was Eric Heiden stringing out the whole group of 50 to 100 riders for the first two to three miles on the Saturday River Ride. It was hilarious! There was just this looooong line of riders he was inflicting pain upon. Ouch! He’d do it first thing too when nobody was warmed up yet. He wasn’t out there very often, but you always knew when he was.. Yeah, that was a good memory alright, good AND painful. 

Then it finally happened, I witnessed my first nasty bicycle crash. It was on the Saturday river ride. Luckily, I was toward the front. Like I was safe for something…. The crash happened right in the front when everyone was going for the sprint. Talk about coming to a screeching halt with 90 riders queuing up to sprint and right behind you. The lucky ones involved were John Brady, Declan Lonergan, among others. They looked like this rolling ball of flesh and concrete. 

It was bad! 

Brady ended up with not much left of the back of his jersey or the skin on his back for that matter. He had road rash from his neck to his butt. The crash happened right at the county line so it was a long ride back for everyone involved. And all the way back I was just staring at John’s back thinking, “that’s REALLY going to hurt in the shower.”

A couple other memorable crashes were Chad Gerlach going off the levee. We see him flying down the embankment, his bike was in the air as we all rolled on by. 

Another one was when a dog went running right into our pack on a very foggy Saturday morning taking several people down which included Julie Young whose bike broke in half. If there ever was a time when the whole river ride stopped, it was that day. And I mean the whole group did. 

Those few times where we did have crashes on the Saturday River Rides, it always seemed to be Gordon Ong, Bowen Doxsee, Mike Giomi, or someone else from City Bike Works who would drive all the way out to Garden Highway and pick up the wounded who couldn’t make it back. Many years of great River Ride support from out local bike shop. 

But, the successful river rides did and still do outweigh the bad ones though. I’d say that in my 22 years of doing river rides, around 99.9% of them are successful, crash free. 

Today I don’t get out to the Saturday river ride or the Tuesday/Thursday south river rides very much anymore but that’s because there are so many other rides going on that are closer to where I live. I do still make it out to the Monday ride though. 

Love that one!! 

We are really very lucky to have all of our river rides. I’d like to give Chuck Hutcheson a huge thanks for taking the initiative to really streamline all of river rides by creating the A and B groups for them, keeping the more advanced riders separated from the rest. It really gives everyone a better opportunity to exercise their abilities within the race rides. These are training rides and are a great place to test yourselves and practice your skills. 

Though, I never became a pro because life got in the way, as it seems to do, I did get the opportunity to enjoy my many cycling successes. I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people who really helped me along the way; Vince Gee, Robert Jiminez., Jerry Roberts, John Brady, Declan Lonergan, Stace Cooper, Troy White, Chris Bauman, Steve Ghorely, Kevin Metcaff, Bowen Doxsee, Dave C., Gordon Ong, Chris Dominguez, Wayne, and many others. 

My goal these days is now to pay forward all the skills I learned from our river rides to my Rio Strada women’s team.

Chris Husing - 1982

My relationship with cycling began in 1982. I watched a viewing of "Sunday in Hell" at a theater on J street just across from Macy's. Shortly later, I was a spectator at Nevada City and If I remember correctly Toby Powers won that day.  

I was hooked.  

I learned of the south river ride from the Bicycle Business and decided to give it a try. I had an old, way too big English Dawes that I painted Bianchi green. I remember meeting Vince Gee and Tim Imai and they would give me cycling tips. 

I was dropped often and quickly, but was determined to get the fitness and strategies to stay with the main group.  Eventually, this high school senior with a piece of junk touring bike finished with the leaders.  

One crazy memory I have back in the early 90s, we had just concluded the south river ride and were riding across the Capitol bridge. A mother duck with a bunch of ducklings was stuck in the middle of the road unable to get her offspring to safety. The peleton stopped, blocked some of the traffic, and many of us in our cycling cleats ran around helping catch and put her ducklings out of danger.

Chris Husing

David S Kause - 1986

Some guys just don't age, and Kause is a perfect example.  For over 25 years he has been doing the River Ride, and has watched riders come and go, but he is still here - sporting the latest in cool euro team fashion and occasionally sticking it to the best, while giving everyone advice.

-Tom Boonen approves this message.

I first started riding back in 1986. I had some friends that lived 4 houses down . They were Sean Co and Brian Co. Their cousins had come from LA to visit. Their names were Allen and Almarric Lim. Yes this is the famous Allen Lim from labs. Anyway they had brought these really cool bikes , I think Arraya and Nishiki back in the day. My bike was a red Torelli . So they had come for the weekend to ride.



We had heard about this river ride thing and decided to check it out. Previously I had ridden a small group ride with Jess Polakoff , Sam Giles that he hosted twice a week for people whom wanted to learn to ride in groups. We had ridden down from Carmichael and ride started at 10am sharp. I was totally stoked to ride.



We rolled in and as I pulled up there were my idols. 7 eleven team. Andreau ..McKinley, Brady, Nitz it was so cool. I was going to get to ride with the best. We rolled out slowly through downtown ,by blue diamond almonds, down 16th... to Northgate.

As soon as we passed Chevy's on the river it was on.
Pain, pain pain.

Fast, furious but it was the adrenaline that kept me going. Sprint was at county line and McKinley lit it up. Sprint on way back was at Chevy's and that was nuts.
Funny thing was, there was a Sacramento Bee photographer who got a shot of the aftermath of the crash. I'm standing in background adjusting my bike and McKinley has his arm in air smiling after not crashing.



We rolled back and Mr Nitz said, "So kid what ya think?"
I said "a few more of these and I might want to race." My first river ride experience and a real pro actually spoke to me. We got back to shop and then rolled back to home.

I was beat but at the same time so addicted to riding simply because everyone was so cool. It was like riding with a bunch of my best friends and I knew nobody. Everyone was helpful, understood I was new and showed me and told me where and what to do. That's just the way it was back then. I could learn a lot from those days, skills were taught, handling ,riding, etiquette. It was the way it should be now. That was my first river ride. Thank you to all that made that day one I will never forget.


One of my favorite memories of the Saturday Ride was when Scott McKinley had a crash prior to ride in a race. He lived on I think D and 24th. Anyway we were riding by his house and out he comes with his bars flipped up because of a back injury after the crash.


He still slaughtered the field.


That following Tuesday night river ride he was there and same situation, handle bars bull horned but one small problem. Halfway through the ride there was a crash. Two city guys bumped and went down.


I followed over the top and went down...McKinley was behind me and because of the skills he had was able to push through crash with no.problem.


Great times..great rides..


and.

A lot of talent back then.

Rod Spradlin - 1995

River Rides have changed over the years.  Most of the time, there is a temporary change because of construction - or even changes that last several years (think of the South River Finish).  Every once and a while there are whole scale changes that might involve a transition from one location to another, or a complete morph in the ride.  The Thursday River Ride was identical to the Tuesday - but it is gone.  You might ask yourself, has the quality of the racers changed with the disappearance of this ride? Whatever happened to the Thursday South River Ride?  

River rides 1995-2001 (history of the airport ride) 

I bought a used bike from City Bicycle Works from Mike Giomi in the mid 1990’s. I learned of the river rides and that’s where my riding apprenticeship started. You started on a down tube (shifting) used bike and were lucky to get a cyclometer to see how fast you were going. You just rode your bike hard and learned.  

The Tuesday and Thursday south river rides were so hard that rarely did I make the front group, much less even witness a sprint. It was an accomplishment just to make it to the end and never had a chance.  

The alternative ride was the generic ride. The Cutters ride. It was an eclectic group for sure that ride met every Tuesday and Thursday at guy west bridge during day light savings. There was an A and a B group. I do remember some racer types dropping in here and there, but they would never admit to it. 
The Cutters always regrouped.  

After the sprint on winding way, they stopped at the village park in downtown fair oaks, got water and waited for everyone - then went back to guy west via the bike trail. At some point during the year, it stayed light enough to do the airport loop.  

Dave Burke was who I remembered being the one who stated next weeks meeting times and routes.  

The Airport Loop went out El Centro through the then stop signs (at that time, the Saturday river ride sprint was on El Centro with no “S turns” on bayou). We crossed over at the airport and finished on north bayou just like today. We went across the road and into Swabbie’s bar (not sure if that was the name back then). We regrouped there, got water, used restrooms and commonly got a beer. We headed back and the second sprint was the city limit sign on garden highway. The ride often ended at the Thursday night market and regroup at the bar.  

Over the years, many people stopped doing the Thursday south river ride for various reasons until one day, no one showed up and the “Airport Ride” was the official Thursday night race ride. Now you know why it meets at the guy west bridge. 

Cheers.