Pedaling to the Ends of the Earth Multimedia presentation by Steven William Date: Saturday, April 6th Time: 2:00 PM Where: Natural History Museum, Jean Delacour Auditorium Cost: Members and Students-$8, General Admission-$10. Velo Allegro has FIVE FREE PASSES for two available to the first people that ask.. Contact Anthony Morrow at 562.467.0093 or e-mail info@veloallegro.org. Pedaling more than 120,000 miles through 69 countries on 6 continents, bicycle adventurist Steven Williams has cycled through deserts, dense rainforests and across some of the highest mountain ranges in the world, all in a quest to become the first person in history to have cycled all six inhabited continents from end to end. Hear about his 2,400 mile solo journey through the Andes and the wind-swept plains of Patagonia to the southern-most city in the world, Ushuaia, as he completed his fifth continent. Steven Williams was a member of the "Too Tyred Tour" which cycled for 6 years and 48,000 miles around the world during the 1980's. He has cycled the Silk Road in Central Asia, retraced the historic Burma Road, and in 1999 became the first American to have cycled overland from the Rock of Gibraltar to Singapore. For reservations and further information, please call the Museum's Education Department at (213) 763-ED4U (3348). The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is located at 900 Exposition Boulevard in Exposition Park, and is adjacent to USC and the California Science Center. For information on Museum programs, as well as directions and parking information please consult the Museum website, http://www.nhm.org. --posted 01 April 2002

The 2nd Annual L.A. River Ride Buzz says: The 2nd annual L. A. River Ride, put on by the LA Bike Coalition, is happening on Sunday, May 19th, leaving the Autrey Museum at 7:00 AM and schlepping down the river trail to the LBC Bike Station and back. Makes for a 100K (62-miler) round trip. Might be something different to offer folks. It looks like there will be plenty of signage and water stops for the Freds. There is also a 40K family ride that rolls at 9:00. For more info, the website is: http://www.labikecoalition.org/ --posted April 21 2002

Hemet Loop - Saturday, May 18, 2002 Another Velo Allegro out of town venture. When May 18, 2002 Start Time: 8 AM in Hemet Location: Gibbel Park, corner of Florida Ave. and Kirby St. in Hemet Carpool Info: Leaves the Marina at 6:30 AM The Ride: A short warmup gets us to the base of the HWY 74 climb to Mountain Center. From there we follow HWY 74 to Keen Camp Summit and on through Garner Valley. We’ll turn right on HWY 371 toward Anza – great downhill! Then it’s a right on Wilson Valley Rd. to Sage Rd. – County Road R3. We’ll take R3 toward Hemet, make a couple of more turn and we’re done. Not so bad was it? Now lets go out and do it for real! It’s about 77 miles, with approximately 5500 feet of elevation gain. Beats doin’ the same ‘ol loops on Lampson. Give me a call or preferably e-mail to coordinate carpooling. Andy.Schafer@trw.com --posted April 23 2002

Glendora Mountain Ride Info Date: April 13, 2002 Ride: The combination of Glendora Mountain and Glendora Ridge Roads provide aclassic Southern California bicycle ramble. Since this is a great Winter-Spring ride, lets plan on riding it on Saturday, April 13th. The ride is about 57 miles with approximately 5700 feet of climbing. Rain cancels ride. Plan: We plan on carpooling and/or caravan from the Marinaat 6:30 Am for the 50 minute drive to the start. We'll plan on starting to ride at 7:30-7:45 AM at Northside Park in Azusa. The Park is on W. 12th Street, two blocks West of N. Azusa Ave. - Hwy 39. If you want to meet us at the start: 605 North, East on the 210, Exit and North on Azusa, Left on West 12th to Northside Park. Bring pocket food and at least two water bottles. This is a 4 1/2 to 5 hour ride. Route: We'll ride up Hwy 39, turn right on East Fork, turn right up Glendora Mountain Rd, turn left onto Glendora Ridge Rd to Mt. Baldy Village for refreshments. Those hardy enough, can climb up to the ski lifts for another 1500 feet and 8 miles (4 up, 4 down). We'll regroup at the cafe and then return on Glendora Ridge Road. We'll continue onto Glendora Mountain Road for one of the best descents in Southern California. Plenty of turns and views. A right on Sierra Madre and in 4 miles we're back at the cars. Let me know if you're up for it. Andy Schafer 310-764-6778 leave message e-mail andy.schafer@trw.com --posted 01 April 2002

Bike To Work Day 2002 - May 13-17 Buzz says: Since tomorrow [April 22, 2002] is officially Earth Day, I believe this is appropriate as well for the newsletter: May 16th is National Bike to Work Day. I don't give a crap if a person is doing 250 to 300 miles a week in their training, if they don't at least try to ride to work or to the store or do their errands once in a while by bike, they're not helping the environment and in my narrow, opinionated mind, are no better than the jerk with the tricked out $55,000 SUV or pick-up that's getting 8mpg. The higher gas goes up, the less sympathy I have for people that feel they have to drive everywhere. RIDE YOUR BIKE!!! Like, it's not just for training, you know man?! For more info, the Bike To Work Day 2002 website is: http://www.bikelink.com/commuting.htm/ --posted April 21 2002

Ritchey Order Info The Club's first Ritchey order IS IN. Anyone who ordered stuff or is interested in the next Ritchey order can contact Greg Surbeck. --posted April 15 2002

Velo Allegro's 2002 Race Results Congrats to Tom Amerine, Dave Richardson and Steve Barron for complete the Solvang Double Century a couple of few weekends ago. Sandra Trepasso completed the century that was done in tandem with it. Two weeks after, Tom went out and did another double century, this time the Hemet Double. A major congrats to Tom to being well on his way to completing the California Cup. --posted April 15 2002

Club Members Celebrating APRIL & MAY Birthdays! APRIL: Ken Brookes ** Mark Danzo ** Michelle deJong ** Chuck Gam ** Claudia Horvath (sponsor) ** Gerry Phillips ** Jay Simmons ** Greg Surbeck ** Michel Vincent. MAY: Wayne Brander ** Bart Hamill ** Jimmy Honda ** Rick Navarijo --posted April 15 2002

Wenzel Coaching Program - April 2002 The following is a condensed and simplified version of the Wenzel Coaching program for April 2002. By now you should have been racing or doing hard club rides every weekend for a month or two and the super-fitness that can come only from regular extreme efforts should be coming on. If you want to win races this year, dedicate the week to preparing for each weekend's races, and to maintaining as much strength and base as you can without compromising the races. Do a maximum of two days in seven or three in ten of intensity above endurance, not counting short sprints. This means that if you race twice on the weekend, there should be no intensity or intervals whatsoever during the week. Why are there so many successful European bike racers compared to the number of successful American bike racers? There are many explanations. One is that Europe has more of an apprenticeship tradition than America does. Americans take a lot of pride in figuring it out themselves where Europeans are more likely to get good information from a coach earlier in their riding careers. Americans want quick results, and think they’ll get them by training harder, or in more complicated ways. To develop a high level of aerobic fitness, you need to ride a lot of miles at a steadily pushing pace. No fancy-doodle hill-sprints, VO2-max intervals or one-leg exercises are going to do it. The truth is not sexy, but the truth is what you’ll get from a good coach. Your coach will also teach you to ride with your team-mates and against the other teams. When you get into a speed-duel with a team-mate on a training ride, you are not only ruining your own chances for the following weekend, but the chances of anyone on your team ride. Don’t! So, assuming that you raced or ridden hard Saturday and Sunday, Monday is a restful day. If you've been lifting, go to the gym and do a light workout. Hit all the major muscle groups but don't do enough to get tired or sore. If you haven't been lifting, this is not the time of year to start. Wait until after the season to start. If you haven't been lifting, go for an easy spin or a walk or a swim. Just do a good warm-up followed by a cool down with nothing in between. This should get you loosened up and recovered from the weekend more than would a day off. Tuesday is Sprint day. Warm up thoroughly and then do several efforts with five minutes rest in between. Sprint for a finish line rather than staring at your watch. Don’t aim for any particular number of sprints. Just keep doing them until your speed drops or you feel that you are not really trying hard any longer. The more similar your practice sprints can be to real race finishes, the better. Sprint up-hill and down and through corners unless all your races end on a straightaway. Think about races you’ve been in, or upcoming races and simulate. Bigger groups are better for realism. If you have no one with whom to sprint, you could try this sprint-speed drill. Warm up thoroughly then do a sprint for top speed in a silly easy gear. Watch your cyclometer and note the top speed. Roll around for five minutes and then do another sprint in one gear higher than the last. Repeat this pattern until you find a gear that you can’t sprint faster than the gear before. Go back to the fastest gear and continue doing sprints with five minute rests until you are cooked. Cool down with at least fifteen minutes of easy spinning. Wednesday is Endurance and Power day. Warm up by spinning at endurance pace for about twenty minutes, and then ride endurance heart rate for about the length in time of your longest race. Switch back and forth every five minutes between a gear you can spin 60 rpm and one you can spin 90 rpm on the flats. Pick these gears at the beginning of the ride and continue to use them even when you go up hill. You may end up shifting to 53x15 half way up a steep hill. So be it. When you are 10-20 minutes from home, switch to a spinning gears and roll home. If you are racing or going on a club ride on Saturday, Thursday is a rest day and Friday is a Tune-Up. If you are racing on Sunday but not on Saturday, do a short endurance-zone ride on Thursday, take Friday easy and do a tune up on Saturday. The easy or rest day you should take entirely off or spin on a trainer for up to half an hour. The tune up day is a total of about an hour riding: Warm up, do one or two hard intervals near AT or a few jumps, cool down and go home. When you race, race to win. Do no unnecessary work, but be ready to give your all when the hammer drops. Do a good warm-up before every race. A good warm-up takes at least 45 minutes and an hour is better. Roll easy and let your heart rate come up naturally rather than forcing yourself to warm up hard. When you are loose and feeling good, do a couple of one or two minute near AT intervals with a few minutes rest in between. After a race, always, always, always go for a ride of at least thirty minutes in total noodle or endurance zones. If you are still energetic and not racing the next day, practice whatever seemed to be your weakness in the race: climbing, cornering, sprinting… All Velo Allegro members are entitled to a limited amount of free consultation. A full program and generous consultation costs $50 per month for Velo Alegro members. Call Neil Browne at 562-438-3051 or e-mail him at NeilBrowne@Wenzelcoaching.com. You can also check our web-site at http://www.wenzelcoaching.com. --posted 21 April 2002