The Last January Spinner Report

SHort and sweet today, I have a paper to write. I waited as long as I could if you didn't report miles this week. Here ya go!

Milledgeville, GA Cycling Club: Advocacy Extrodinaire!

The small town of Milledgeville, Ga has quite an advocacy program going. They have managed to raise funds to place "Share the Road" signs around the county. They did this through a ride April 1 last year.

There were delays and bureaucratic snags along the way that delayed placement of the signs. They had a Share the Road rally today and I wish I had seen this story a few days ago. I would have posted an article about the event.

I can make up for this now though, as they have a ride scheduled for April 1 again this year. If you are in Georgia, this looks like it might be a really nice event! The site to sign up is at this URL: http://www.geocities.com/bicyclingclubofmilledgeville/aprilfools.html

Let It Be

This song has always been extremely significant to me. Thanks to Paul McCartney for writing it!

Spinner Saturday Announcement

To make things easier, I have an email address set up for Spinner Saturday. It is tom.stormcrowe(at)gmail(dot)com.

A Quick Correction

Horror! I forgot to put Gorilla's miles in the table! Here is the corrected table!

The Spinner Report for Week Ending Jan 20

Great job and special kudos to Kensuf and Jill, our two outliers on miles! Outstanding with Jill in the top slot and kensuf chasing her back wheel! As to the rest of ya! Keep it up and we're on track for the 50K goal for the year as things stand right now.

Spinner Saturday Ride

Today, Mrs Stormcrowe and I rode out to Cairo, Indiana to the Skywatch Tower. Round trip is about 18 miles if you start on the North Salisbury Trailhead foir the NW Greenbelt. The link goes to the site giving details about it. The Skywatch Tower is a state historic site.


Photo: Originally published at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~intippec/tower.htm
The purpose of the Skywatch Tower, built in the 1950's, was to watch for the horde of Russian Bombers that were expected to attack and attempt to overwhelm us. It is in far worse condition than depicted and frankly, is in need of repair, before the elements take it out. This is a piece of history and would make a great destination for rides. It also would make a great observation platform to look out over the farmlands for vista photography.

I originally heard about this place on the blog titled Dan on Bike, run by a local man here in Boiler Country. He also happens to be a friend of mine. Dan is also a member of Spinner Saturday, as well. Dan has a picture from May up on his blog. I would have gotten pictures myself, but the camera batteries froze. Thus the picture from the Cairo Skywatch Tower site.

Now, for the Spinner Miles, time to turn them in, everybody! Mrs Stormcrowe and I have had terrible weather to ride when we had time and great weather when we were stuck in class. Our miles for the week are 43 each. Until the next time, keep up the riding!


Update: I've added a route map here as well so if you are local, you can print the map and ride out there yourself!

Up in Alaska: Lonely out here

Up in Alaska: Lonely out here

Jill, on another epic ride up in Alaska! This young lady is something special and let's root for her as she preps for the Susitna again this year!

Tyler Hamilton Going to Russia?

Click this headline to go to the original Reuters Release
Gennady Fyodorov
Reuters, Canada

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Olympic champion Tyler Hamilton, whose two-year ban for blood doping ended in September, is delighted to have been recruited as Tinkoff Credit Systems's leading rider.

The Italy-based team, backed by Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov, does not have a ProTour license but hopes to compete in most major races as well as this year's Giro d'Italia.

"I would like to say special thanks to Oleg for believing in me as I've had a tough couple of years," Hamilton told reporters at a presentation in Moscow.

The American, who signed a two-year contract with the Russian outfit in November, was suspended after testing positive for a blood transfusion at the 2004 Tour of Spain.

"I started my career with the U.S. Postal Service, which was a small team back then but by the time I'd left we'd won the Tour de France three years in a row," said Hamilton.

"Then I joined another small team CSC and when I left them they were considered one of the premier teams.

"When I joined Phonak in 2004 they were only selected as a wildcard to ride the Tour so I really hope this team does as well as all the others I've raced for," he added.

DRUGS TEST

Hamilton, the 2004 individual Olympic time trial champion, was fired by Phonak shortly after failing his drugs test.

"If I didn't believe in this team I wouldn't be here," said the 35-year-old.

Asked if cycling had a doping problem, Hamilton said: "Yes but I don't think it's as big as many people perceive it is."

Tinkov confirmed media reports he had tried to sign former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, who was linked to an anti-doping investigation in Spain.

The German does not have a professional cycling license after being sacked by the T-Mobile team in July.

Ullrich, who won the Tour in 1997, has said he is innocent of any doping allegations made against him.

"It's not a question of money. We simply couldn't sign Ullrich because he doesn't have a license," said Tinkov.

"If he gets back his license we can talk about money and how much it would cost us to sign him."

And Now for Something a Little Bit Different

I thought I'd entertain you with my mediocre guitar skills!

With Apologies to Uncle Dan

Add 78.5 miles for his weekly total this last week. Somehow his email went astray! Dan, the miles will actually show up on the next post,, but in the correct columns.

Keep spinning all!

I'm doing some remodeling!

As you can see, I have a new template up. I'll be rebuilding my links lists tomorrow, I need sleep! Good night!

The Spinner Report

Well, here are the results of last weeks Spinner Saturday. We did have some non reporters, but I suspect it's because of the beastly weather most of us have been having (Well, except for Jill, she thrives on beastly weather!). Jill has the high mileage for the week, great job, Jill! (and your killin' us down here in the lower 48 and elsewhere!). Big Mike is a bit on the low side due to an injury to his knee. It's swollen to about the size of a Georgia Watermelon. Get better soon, Mike! Now for the data:

A Lady Who Inspires Me Quite Often!

Meet Jill, a journalist up in Juneau, AK who rides a bike under truly horrendous conditions. Jill is currently in the training phase of preparation for her second riding of the Susitna 100. This race runs along sections of the Iditarod Trail, up there in the state of Alaska. This is truly a tough bicycle race, pure endurance! You have to have grit to ride it, guaranteed. Last year. Jill just missed her personal goal of 24 hours. She did finish the course though, with honor as far as I am concerned.

Jill is riding it again this year, a race wiser and better prepared mentally and physically for a tough race. This year she knows better what to expect. Drop by and give Jill some encouragement and support for her race!

The Spinner Report will go out later today. See everyone later!

Welcome to Cold, Rainey Indiana!

That's it, it stinks in Indiana this weekend! It's cold, wet and we fortunately just missed an ice storm. Looks like a trainer weekend.

The thing I hate about the trainer is no matter how interesting the Spinnerval disc is or how good of a movie I watch, I still feel like a gerbil on an exercise wheel! If the weather would turn to snow even, I could get the old Royce Union out and ride the snow even. I actually like riding in snow.....it's fun!

Well, it appears I have a new reader, and welcome, Historian. If you look down in my sidebar, you'll find a link to Historian on Two Wheels. He's a fellow cyclist trying to lose weight and improve his health. This is a goal I heartily endorse.

Well, to the main point of this post. What I want to know is how do you make your indoor training time interesting? I don't care if you are riding a trainer, using an elliptical, Nordic Track, treadmill or what! How do you motivate yourself?

Also, on my Sidebar is a link to my Tour de Cure Page. As I mention frequently, I am seeking sponsorship in the Tour. It's easy to do, believe me. Go to my page and see just how easy it is. If you are a little hesitant to use the credit card, don't worry, it is a verisign secure setup. I NEVER see your card information. That is all handled by the American Diabetes Association. I am captain of Team Stormcrowe and another option you have is to join the team for the ride!

There are a couple of ride options.

1. Ride laps at the track
2. Ride one of the Road rides starting and ending at the Speedway (I'm doing the 75K ride and completing another 25 K riding around the track to get a metric century in).

Do support my efforts to help here.

My B-List of Bike Blogs

My B-List of Bicycle Blogs. This is a Meme making the rounds in the cycling blogs milieu.

Blogs I read! Well, here goes!

http://sportcrazy.net/

http://uphillbattle.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c=

http://bigmikeinoz.spaces.live.com/

http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/

http://www.herneweb.com/index.php

http://tylersstory.blogspot.com/

http://www.cyclelicio.us/

http://gorillaonabike.blogspot.com/

http://danonbike.blogspot.com/

http://bikenaked.net/

http://roadrace1.blogspot.com/

http://uncledanbiking.blogspot.com/

Here are some Interesting pictures

I dug out some pants from when I was at my heaviest and I was stunned! Check these pics out!
I think I shrank a bit!

The Spinner Report for the First Week of January

Here are the Spinner Data charts and table. Great job all! We had a few non reports, but that's life in Winter!

Be sure to view the video linked in the post below this one!







The title to this post is linked to my Tour de Cure page

Tour de Cure

I know I hit on this topic a lot, but it is very important to me. Why do we do this event? Well, there are a lot of reasons. I am diabetic, as I've mentioned before as is my wife. So is my mother. Diabetes runs in our family! Here is an ADA site that gives other reasons why we do it.

I am riding and soliciting donations for Tour de Cure. This is a fundraising ride set up by the American Diabetes Association and in the event I am riding, which occurs on July 14, 2007 in Indianapolis. I have a site, it is an official American Diabetes Association site for Tour de Cure, and is secure. To visit my page please click here. This is important enough for me to come out from behind my pseudonym and unmask. Matter of fact, I have a little video here. I used the Dead Man Walking music theme because that's what I was a couple of years ago. I've been given my life back and plan to use this gift to help others as I can.

Some reminders of prior articles and Tour de Cure

Well, here's a look back at last year! I have some prior articles I think you may well enjoy! Click the links and see what I am talking about!

For Starters: Why Cycling?
Next: Chocolate Milk as a Recovery Drink?
and then: Pre and Post Ride Nutrition For Bariatric Patients

Now, I've been talking about Tour de Cure. I am riding this event in Indianapolis on July 14, 2007. I'm trying to raise $1000.00 for the Anerican Diabetes Association. My page for the event is located here. It is fully tax deductible and will help fund research into both a cure and new treatments for Diabetes. I truly believe in this cause as both my wife and I are Diabetic. PLease visit my page and sponsor me in this event!

Video: Runaway Train: A Year in the Life
           Race to Replace
           Videojournal
           The Amazing Shrinking Man

Mountain Bike Ski Jump

A lunatic takes to the air, off a ski jump. Finland somewhere, i guess. No idea who it is, feel free to comment if you know!

Spiders On Drugs

Totally off my usual topic, but funny as hell!

Spinner Saturday, 2006 is over! 2007 starts now!

Well, we did it! 40,403.8 miles as a group, not bad people! Actually, a great job!


I've officially closed the 2006 Spinner Saturday Database and started the 2007 version up. My proposed mileage goal for the group on 2007 is 50,000 miles or better. We CAN do this, so let's give it our best shot!

So, without further ado, here's the data for 2006. Feel proud, all of you!

The Great New Years 2006-2007 crossover Ride

Well, Mrs Stormcrowe and myself went out to ride out the old and in the new. This involves one of my favorite kind of rides, a night ride




I do know one thing though, it was a cold ride......and damp! Mrs Stormcrowe had a bit of an exercise/wind induced asthma attack, but used her inhaler and we got with the ride as soon as she could breathe again. I'll tell ya, the Mrs is a game trooper! Temperature was 41℉ with a 20 mph wind gusting to 40! MISERABLE!!!!!








Clouds blowing across the moon


The weather, as I said, was windy. It was wet as well, with occasional rain showers, so the trail was wet. Mrs Stormcrowe had never done a night ride before and I am truly glad she enjoyed it, in spite of the weather. We've decided that the New Years Eve ride will become a tradition every year!