Out in Colorado the roads do get up there.....Papa Warner decided to pay Dr. Jeremy a visit and sent these photos of a run up the famed Mt.Evans....

Here's a couple of pics from Gracia Orlova in the Czech Republic last week....Ally had a good result in the queen stage and is looking foward to getting home just in time for the Tour of Ca. women's crit. in Sacramento on May 16th....

photo from Jan Kondziolka procyclingwomen.com

A rare photo of Spencellara wearing arm skins......How cold was it?....I didn't think Spencellara even owned a pair.....I know the blue gloves were all for show but the arm skins just look weird on him....photo from  Curt Hawkinson   

Here's a couple of photos from yesterday's crit in Merced... Ally came 16th in a tough field including HTC and Peanut Butter's best...Way to go, Ally...

Photo's from Steve Ryan....http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniorvelo/archives/date-taken/2010/03/06/

She might want to turn her armwarmers right side up !

This past weekend, Pa-Pa Townsend and boy Reny took on the quagmire that is Cross Crusade... Reny finished 22nd in the sr.A's in a class field that included the twin towers among 60 other rabid riders.....Meanwhile, Jeff came back from a terrible start to finsh 13th in a stacked field of 70 old men in the 50+... He probably would have been on the podium had he been able to get a good first lap, the essence of cross racing....next up, cx nationals...

Hey, we need some reports on the recent success and drama from Mt.A and Eugene Celebration....

I heard that Travis was SO nervous at Mt.A that he stopped for a pee shortly after the start as per Coach Bobolinni's instructions....never to be seen again...what?

Coach Mike was asked by Velo News editor Charles Pelkey about his opinion with reguards to race radios and their effect on today's racing... The following was Mike's response that should appear on Pelkey's "explainer" series this week, however, the Russian Bear has the scoop for you to see now...

Hi Charles, Great Giro so far ! Im missing it a lot.My son Erik has a big screen computer with surround sound and we get the RAI feed on Universal Sports with great commentating.I pick Menchov,by the way.Any way your race radio question is something that Ive thought about a lot.Before radios were allowed we relied on pre race meetings,designating a team captain to carry out the team plan and watch for any surprises or mishaps.We recieved information from the race officials on radio tour and were NOT allowed to talk back.If we were told there was a big break forming with none of our riders in it then I had to make a mad dash up to the pack and try to find a team member near the back and scream instructions out the window which he could relay to the team captain.During the team meeting you had talked about who to watch and the dangerous parts of the course and every rider had to remember what was said or face the music during the next meeting.This left room for all kinds of unexpected action which you had to improvise to overcome.If Andy Hampsten had a front flat while the team cars were absent a rider like Bob Roll would immediatley give him his wheel without having to ask if he should.We had a team philosophy about how things worked and stuck to it.The riders intellingence and willingness to help each other were the key factors to success.During these years (before radios) there were great directors like Cyrille Guimard,Jan Raas,Paul Kochli,Peter Post,Giancarlo Ferretti,and others who achieved consistant good results using thier methods.So here I am 20 years later,coaching a womens team in the states telling the team about every turn,hill, or sprint coming up and what to do about it and I find out that there are other teams listening to my every word ! I hate race radios and think they shoud be banned.Maybe one radio per team captain for unseen accidents or emergency situations would be something to consider.So thats my thoughts,thanks for asking,Mike

Mike winning the downhill prime at Elkhorn 2005

OK, so things have been going off and it seems like there's lots to talk about.....

First there's Spring Thaw.....A beautiful day greeted all of those that could make it. here's a recap.... Fastest to slowest....

Dave Reitz  1;54;16  5th...  Awesome ride!!! what else do you need to say..

Matt Dooley 1:56:02 8th.... Awesome ride in a tough 19-34 cat.1 group

Shaun Locker 1:58:23  9th.... Not bad considering he did it on his brother's borrowed 30 lb. Heckler....

Anthony Smith 2:13:20 10th... Tony was making some big watts when he passed me on the flat section... Apparently some out of town dude thought he was going to be cool and try to descend faster than Tony... He ended up tearing his ear off in a bad crash while Tony watched it play out.... At least he asked  the guy if he was ok....didn't get much of an answer though...

Mike Hylinsky 2:33:31 24th.... Victim of a flat and no tube....thanks to Tony for throwing him a rubber so he could finish...Came by me on the downhill like a scalded dog.....

Russian Bear 2:35:36 7th... Sucked bad on the climb and first half of the flat....Survived the downhill and beat some punk-ass kid in the sprint...Had fun but was really sore the next day. Before the race Kristi Green asked me "Are you really racing?".....

Bob Grover 2:36:42 8th... Poor Bobolini, would have been on the podium but had 2 flats to contend with on the downhill... Locker said Bob was setting pace on the climb and dropped a bunch of guys on the flats too....Nice job

Simon Mendenhall 2:36:58 24th.... Simon beat me up the climb but had catastrofic failure on the flats.... He also won the DeSalvo frame but wasn't there to claim the prize as he was recovering at Morning Glory with mass quantities of good food....poor Simon....

Other News:

Our friends at Base Camp Shasta have announced that they will be putting on a XC and downhill the weekend of July 18-19....It's going to be part of Vic's Bigfoot series and should pull a good size field as there aren't any big conflicts..Racing on Shasta at altitude...cool

Grasshopper series:

Shaun Locker showed up for the hard one on Kings Ridge and finished 10th among a bunch of nor cal pro's and

Jim Jackson finished 14th overall completing all 4 events...way to go Jimbo....

Here's Jim with his secret training partner...

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Chris Baumann comes 6th at Saturday's Cat's Hill Classic  Pro 1/2 in Los Gatos!

After complaining that the Masters 35+ race was a bit slow and sur-gee (not ideal for the "NASA" style launch / finish Chris is so known for) and a dropped chain on the last lap, he decided to do the pro 1/2 feature.

Chris said he had some extra motivation since his training partner, Chad Gerlach,was there racing, having recently returned from Europe. Chad finished 5th just ahead of Chris.

No doubt Baumann still has it … nice job Chris!!!

 An epic battle on the stones.... photos courtesy of cyclingnews.com