IMAGES FROM THE 8th STAGE OF THE TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

By Debbie Bulloch



As I have been writing for the past few days, the 8th stage of the Amgen Tour of California was held in Thousand Oaks, California.

Riding in Stage 8 of the Tour of California

The Amgen Tour of California Comes Home

As promised, here are some of the images from Stage 8 of the Tour.

Enjoy!




Rider Jason McCartney, from Team Radio Shack (Lance Armstrong's team) as he climbs to the summit on the last lap of the 8th Stage. At this point Jason is about 7.3 miles (12.2 km) from the finish line.



Notice the rider in the tucked-in, "aerodynamic" position. He has the aerodynamic advantage over the other riders in the more upright position allowing him to ride faster while spending less energy.



Sometimes fans get way too close to the riders. Bike racing is the only sport where fans are allowed to be this close to the competitors. It was a fan standing close to the riders that caused Lance Armstrong's spectacular fall in the 2005 Tour de Fance.



Canadian rider Ryder Hesjedal, from Team Garmin, won the Tour's 8th stage.



To capture all the drama of the race, cameramen ride on the back of motorcycles that follow the riders throughout the race's course. Sometimes they get reeeeeeally close as you can see in this picture.



Of course, some race images are captured from the television helicopter, flying high above the riders and crowd.



Michael Rogers from team HTC-Columbia wears the yellow jersey, or maillot jaune, indicating that he is the race leader. Michael eventually won the race, just 9 second ahead of second place winner David Zabriskie from Team Garmin and 25 seconds ahead of Levi Leipheimer from Team Radio Shack.

In this photograph, Michael is riding ahead of the peloton.



On this photograph Michael is the fifth rider from the right. Here he is riding in the middle of the pack, where he can draft behind his fellow team members and save precious energy.



Steven Cozza (second rider from the right) from Team Garmin, is known for his large, "non-aerodynamic" moustache.



These riders are on the last climb of the Stage. Notice the pained expression on some of their faces.



Finally, here is the "sweeper wagon." Notice the brooms in front of the car. This car follows, or "sweeps," right behind the last rider. Incidentally, in the Tour de France the last rider to finish the race is awarded the lanterne rouge (the red lantern). This award is in recognition of the fact that the last rider has ridden as many miles as the winner and has probably had to go through greater pain and struggles in order to finish the race.

CALIFORNIA TEENAGE GIRL SAILS SOLO AROUND THE WORLD

By Debbie Bulloch



Abby Sunderland is a 16 year-old girl from Thousand Oaks, California. On January 24, 2010, Abby embarked on a solo-sailing journey around the world. The trip, approximately 24,500 miles long (39,429 km), will take approximately 5 to 6 months to complete.

Having turned 16 on Oct. 19, Abby is chasing a record now held by British 17-year-old Mike Perham, who took the mark last August from Abby's brother Zac.

But Perham's mark could be beaten soon by Australia's 16-year-old Jessica Watson, born five months earlier than Abby and currently in the middle of a round-the-world solo voyage.

Zac was 17 when he completed a 13-month trip last July, heading west across the Pacific.

Unlike Zac and the others, Abby plans no stops on land, and she has a faster yacht designed for the giant swells and 60-knot winds she will face on a different route: starting south from California, past

The nonstop itinerary would give her an added distinction as the youngest person to sail around the world "unassisted," topping Australia's Jesse Martin, who did it at 18 in 1999.

To read more about Abby’s incredible journey click here:

Abby’s Blog

And here:

Thousand Oaks Teenage Sailor

Good luck and smooth sailing to Abby and to Jessica Watson – may the wind always be at your back.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON MUSINGS

By Debbie Bulloch



Today I want to share two recent stories from my local newspaper. One story deals with the increasing local homeless population; the other story deals with the “healing” power of bike riding.

NUMBER OF HOMELESS FAMILIES CONTINUES TO INCREASE

Ventura County is one of the most affluent counties in all of California and it consistently ranks among the top 100 most affluent counties in the entire nation. It is thus shocking to read that the homeless population Ventura County has grown by over 10% over the last year. This is proof that not even the wealthiest areas of the country have been spared the adverse consequences of the economic downturn.

The increase number of homeless people is also a call to action; as I have written here on several occasions the homeless are not lazy, shiftless, crazy, drug-addicted people – the homeless are US and we are THEM. We must be willing to take all necessary action to help the homeless; if we fail to help them we fail to help our own brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughter then we fail as a society. The homeless situation is not a “homeless problem,” it is a problem of our entire society.

TANDEM RIDERS HELP FIND A CURE FOR PARKINSON’S DISEASE

As you all know, I am a big fan of bike riding. I fully believe in the restorative power of bike riding; so it is not surprising that this second story is about the good work done by two local bike riders. At the recent Los Angeles Marathon (Monday, May 25, 2009) two local women rode a tandem bike to raise money to combat Parkinson’s disease The two women have been training for months on a tandem bike to ride on the pre L.A. Marathon bike ride. Although the ride is perhaps a relatively short ride by Monsieur Odriscoll’s standards (only 26.2 miles) riding a tandem bike presents problems of its own. Climbing hills and maneuvering around tight turns is difficult on a tandem bike and coordinating a common cadence takes practice. On the other hand, riding downhill on a tandem is a lot of fun because the added weight of the second rider makes tandem bikes extremely fast on the downhill part of any climb.

In addition to training hard, the two women, Jessica Chadbourn and Debbie Jew (ages 48 and 42 respectively) have also been busy gathering sponsors to raise funds for a cure for Parkinson’s Disease And while training and finding sponsors, the women have also been raising the public’s awareness of this debilitating disease that afflicts millions of people throughout the world.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with one single step. Maybe we will not be able to completely eradicate homelessness during our lifetime, and maybe a cure for PD is not yet around the corner. But with all of us taking small “baby steps” we can work together to solve these, and similar, problems.

MEMORIAL DAY BIKE RIDE

For Memorial Day I had originally planned to ride my bike out by the beach. But when I stepped out my front door the morning was cool, overcast and slightly foggy – ideal conditions for a little hill climbing. So instead of putting my bike on the back of the car and heading for the coast, I decided to just ride out.

The ride was very nice; I covered about 25 miles (about the same distance as in a marathon) in just under 2 hours. There were long hills to climb, which were then followed by fast descents. Lowest speed was about 7.5 mph (during a long, steady climb against a headwind) while the fastest speed was about 29.0 mph. I was using my mountain bike and because of the fat tires and “taller” sitting position speeds of 30 mph or higher are hard to achieve.

Along the way I paused to take a few pictures. As you can see, this ride took me through some of the “back” country around my home. Most of the roads where I rode are back, country roads that carry less traffic than the main roads. Riding in traffic can be hazardous (see Ghost Bikes) and so I prefer to take to the back roads, where the traffic is lighter and the view are nicer.

Now please join me in my Memorial Day bike ride.

(Please remember to click on each individual image for a larger view. Thank you.)

As you can see in this photo, there is a lot of empty country where I ride.



Here you can see where the road begins to climb. It is not a steep climb, but after a while it begins to add up.



Here is one of the back roads that I traveled on Monday – notice the lack of motor vehicle traffic. I like these shots in black and white.





The sign, spray-painted on the pavement points to a bike path that leads back to Thousand Oaks, California. One photo is a close-up of the sign while the other shot shows where the signs is pointing to.





The road that I ride on takes me within eye shot of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library The Reagan Library is located in the city of Simi Valley, California It was a foggy, hazy morning when I took these photographs so the library compound is hard to see on the pictures. On a clear day, however, it is possible to see the Pacific Ocean and the Channel Islands from the Reagan Library.

(The Ronald Reagan Library compound can be seen on top of the ridge, on the upper right hand side of the picture. The big square building to the left houses the former Air Force One used by President Reagan. The only other place in the US housing former Presidential airplanes is the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.)



(The Ronald Reagan Library compound can be seen on top of the ridge, on the upper left hand side of the picture. The big square building to the left houses the former Air Force One used by President Reagan. The only other place in the US that houses former Presidential airplanes is the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.)



Ventura County has often been referred to as “horse country.” Some of the finest horses in the entire country (and possibly the world) are raised and trained in Ventura County. Will Simpson a rider from Thousand Oaks medaled during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.







I hope that you have enjoyed riding along with me on this bike ride. Thanks for coming along!

All photographs are original work. © Copyright 2009, DB. All Rights Reserved.