Alameda Runners – Get After It!

What a small world we live in!

Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton are former USPS cycling teammates, and clearly won’t be exchanging Christmas cards anytime soon.  Not too long ago, Hamilton accused Armstrong of doping and lying about it during a ’60 Minutes’ interview.

Ouch.  I guess being so-called friends is out of the question…

Both guys ran into each other at a local restaurant in Colorado, which Armstrong frequents a few times per week when he’s in town.  It turns out that Outside Magazine and Hamilton were unaware Armstrong would be there, and Armstrong confronted Hamilton by the bar.

Here is what Hamilton said regarding the unexpected meeting in Colorado:

“He wanted to get into it. I was like, ‘Let’s step outside and talk away from the crowd, but he wouldn’t.”

Lance has a much more subdued version of the night’s events: I said, ‘Hey, what’s up? It was certainly awkward for both of us. It was truly uneventful.”

So, Lance and Tyler had an awkward exchange — and Tyler is no longer welcome at the Cache Cache restaurant — I still think Lance should have just walked away. The FBI is now involved and wants to view surveillance tapes from the night in question, because Lance probably should have just tried to avoid any contact at all.

The following is a list of stuff that has been accumulating on Ted’s desk.  A bunch of miscellaneous stuff that is not worth an article or the article is too much work so I have not gotten around to it.  I will start off with things that touch your skin in the order that I pick them up.

Miller Genuine Draft 64 lip balm – I actually like the lip balm.  It has no flavor and does the trick.  I bought some of the beer since they sponsored a race I ran and handed out the cool lip balm.  The beer does not suit my taste but it does help me lower the amount of alcohol I consume.

Aquaphor healing ointment – It is some cool stuff.  A bit of a mixture of Vaseline and Desitin in one package.  When I do long runs in hilly terrain, I get blisters on my toes, so a bit of Aquaphor helps prevent the blisters and it helps lubricate the sore toes after I get them to aid in recovery.  It’s also very good for chaffing from the running shorts after a long run.

Udder Smooth udder cream is a good lotion for massaging sore muscles after a workout.  It has a low odor and a reasonable price.  It is marketed as a lotion but I use it as a massage lotion.

Alpha-Flex pain reliever and massage cream is by far my favorite massage cream/lotion.  It works very well and does not have an icy/hot feel nor does it smell badly.  Unfortunately, it is very expensive.  For the price of a tube of Alpha-Flex, I can go get a professional leg massage.

Ironman muscle rub gel is an okay product that does the trick.  It has a very strong camphor smell to go along with the icy/hot feeling.

Shave Secret-I love shave secret.  I do not follow the instructions that come with the package.  I wash my face, apply the shave secret oil, and then I apply shaving cream and shave.   Sometimes, I apply the shave secret, shave with an electric shaver then shave as normal.

I also switch types of razors and types of shaving cream.  Doing little things like this, double and triple the life of my razors and I get a great shave.  Shave Secret is hard to find and they have competitors that are not quite as good but are similar.

This article is long enough so I will stop at creams and gels.

Event and athlete sponsorship continues to be absolutely vital in the endurance sports community with dedicated fans.  Sponsors have a variety of different purposes, and often are called upon to fund and supply local races and events.

To help highlight the great effort (and expense) that goes into sports sponsorship, Alameda Runners wants to help you become more familiar with companies that are involved.

We recently chatted with Selle Italia (part one and part two) about the company’s bike saddles, the importance of a good saddle, and how the company contributes to the active community. Selle Italia also is greatly involved in sponsoring bike events and pro athletes, offering a quick glimpse into how it contributes:

“Selle Italia sponsors 11 UCI professional teams, a world champion mountain bike rider, the USAT and a huge number of pro individuals and teams around the world. What is more important to me is the huge number of professional athletes that choose to ride S.I. saddles without sponsorship.”

Selle Italia and most major sports companies choose to help sponsor events and athletes — and these partnerships help the sports community prosper.  Companies that push the boundaries and have success with sponsoring events can help build athlete loyalty (very important!) in a tough market.

If there is a company you’d like to see listed, please feel free to e-mail, Tweet, or comment here and recommend a company.

The endurance sports community is a rather tight-knit group of athletes and select companies in a competitive market that still grows. Alameda Runners likes to interview the companies behind products you’re probably already familiar with, and have grown close to a few companies, but always want to reach out to new companies.

I’d like to give kudos to a few different companies that have helped here and over at TrailsEdge.

– Hydrapak – An East Bay company (we especially love the local people) with a focus on hydration storage products. Some initial thoughts and a basic review will be published sometime soon on a Hydrapak product, while we look to learn more about cleaner hydration.

– Specialized – A bike manufacturer giant well known among athletes, it’s great when companies like Specialized want to help. I appreciate when big companies take the time to answer our questions, because it’s obvious Specialized could focus on bigger interviews with publications that have significantly bigger followings. Here is the Specialized Twitter account – (Specialized Twitter)

– Icebreaker – I like when companies I’m not familiar with can step up and help contribute to the community. I’m not familiar with the company — but know three simple things:

1). Icebreaker uses Jam Media Collective for PR representation, and Jam has proven to be a solid PR firm.
2). Review upcoming, but from first glance after ripping open the package, Icebreaker is good quality stuff.
3). Be prepared to spend. Along with Icebreaker’s superior quality comes a higher price tag that will probably scare away many athletes.

– Honey Stinger. I work with GU and Clif on a frequent basis, but it’s nice to show other companies love whenever I can. I recently got in touch (after too long of a time) with the Colorado-based Honey Stinger company, and will have some questions answered for an upcoming series of stories. (Honey Stinger)

– Greenlight Apparel. We previously interviewed Greenlight and learned more about the company’s social efforts overseas. The East Bay-based company also is helping print a few custom tech shirts that we’ll be wearing out and about this summer.

The warmer weather and longer nights helps get more people active, and Alameda Runners hopes to keep introducing companies you may not have worked with. We’re going to mix in the athletic superpowers with smaller niche companies catering to certain outdoor markets.

Lance Armstrong ruled the roads of France every July, seemingly dropping his biggest cycling rivals with ease. The Texan polarized the pro peloton and European race fans with his sometimes brash, cocky attitude that later gave way to a more relaxed, embracing Armstrong.

As his career winded down, Armstrong began to open up to the media on a more frequent basis; unless they asked about doping allegations, which would often earn nothing more than a glaring look of disgust.

The cancer survivor has heard it all before, but former teammate Tyler Hamilton’s interview with 60 Minutes. The timing of the interview comes as the federal government continues to investigate Armstrong to determine if he committed doping violations.

More after the jump. Read more… »

The Selle Italia bike saddle manufacturer is a well known company aimed at racers, enthusiasts and commuters alike.  We posted a quick tidbit from the company yesterday, and will wrap things up today with the full interview from Selle.

Only the expensive and super shiny bikes normally ship with Selle Italia saddles, so an upgrade might be necessary to see the SI logo on your bike. Is the upgrade worth it? Do cyclists need to really focus on the saddle when upgrading?

Sure, a bike saddle is something that we overlook in favor of wheels, tires, and other bike components that receive more attention. Even if many of us seem to overlook the saddles, Selle Italia and other manufacturers want athletes to be aware of progressive effort to make even better saddles.

For example, Selle Italia invests years of research into its increasingly sophisticated products — and is on the forefront of cycling technology — but is often imitated (though never successfully) by competitors.

“A year or more after S.I. introduces a new design or model you will find the most popular S.I. models are copied and offered at lower prices. The copies are similar in shape and style but because they don’t have the development cost nor do they use the same materials, the product is less than satisfactory for the cycling community.”

Don’t think there is a difference from the higher-end saddles and the cheaper, less reliable models? Selle Italia obviously warns riders that they’ll notice a difference between a properly-manufactured saddle and some cheaper knockoff:

“Selle Italia uses a Ryslan and Nylon N6 for the base of the saddle. This allows the saddle base to ‘flex,’ a key component for comfort, whereas the lower priced products use “plastic” that do not flex. The same goes for the foam, cover material and rails. S.I. uses full grain leather or Lorica for high end covers to help the saddle breath and remain cool. Most other companies use a synthetic cover that can build and retain heat making it very uncomfortable for the rider. You can buy less expensive but you can’t buy the quality or ride less expensively.”

Selle Italia also is staying busy in 2011, and hopes to continue making and marketing products for interested athletes. For the rest of 2011, Selle Italia also has something the company hopes bike-riding fans will be happy about.

“Selle Italia is just now shipping a new model of saddle with a single rail – SLR Friction Free MONOLINK. The future of saddles is the Monolink as it reduces friction between the rider’s leg and saddle and allows the rider to increase power to the pedals through a re-design of the base and nose that can’t be achieved with a normal rail. Selle Italia will continue developing the MONOLINK through other models to be introduced in the future.”

If you want to learn more about the unique design of the Selle Italia Monolink, here is a review (published on BikeRadar).

To wrap things up, Selle Italia had this to say about proper saddle sizing:

“Remember, today’s bikes have been designed to provide the rider with the most performance for the energy created by the rider.  The problem is the high pressure tire, deep wall rim and super stiff frame all transmit the road vibrations and shocks to the saddle/rider. Finding the right saddle to do this for a particular rider and bike is time consuming and requires patience. The perfect saddle is out there – the cyclist just has to find it.”

Saddles such as the Selle Italia Monolink are reserved for only a sliver of people riding bikes — but the company urges riders to make sure they’re riding on the appropriate saddle.

Alameda Runners recently caught up with Selle Italia, a well known cycling saddle maker, in an effort to figure out if purchasing a quality saddle really matters.

It’s clear that having a good quality bike saddle is necessary for comfort while riding, but many people never bother to upgrade from the stock saddle. When it finally comes time to see what’s out there, it can be extremely difficult to make the right choice when shopping around.

Here is a tip from Selle Italia about choosing the right saddle (maybe even cost effective?) for casual riders:

“A saddle with a long rail and flexible base but with a synthetic cover is acceptable for someone that is going to ride an hour but may find the same saddle not adequate for rides of 2 hours or longer. SELLE ITALIA is offering a lower priced saddle assortment using their high end technology under the SPORTOURER brand. The product assortment is focused on those riders that want a little more “flex/padding” and are quite comfortable for casual cyclist. Retail for the SPORTOURER brand is between $40 and $90 (w/leather cover).”

Also of note, the Selle Italia representative that helped us also shared his own commuting tale:

“I ride the SPORTOURER ZOO GEL FLOW on my commuter bike and find it comfortable for the 3.5 mile jaunt from home to work. Many people find the FLX series (men and lady specific) to be very comfortable because it has a lot of padding but I find it has too much padding for my riding. Note – SPORTOURER saddles are not lightweight using FeC Alloy (high carbon steel) rails, elastomer suspension and lots padding that all add weight to the saddle.”

Alameda Runners will have a full interview with Selle Italia posted soon, with a stronger focus on saddles for road, mountain and triathlon bikes.

It’s time to clean off your bike that has collected dust all winter, and get back into the swing of things now that we have warmer weather.

The City of Alameda has miles of amazing streets, bike lanes and trails, and more of you are getting out there, but there is still a major concern that must be addressed (as always). Bike safety is important but is unfortunately overlooked by many people riding on two wheels.

I see adults and kids alike — parents can’t teach children safe riding if they don’t know the laws — riding around Alameda in a dangerous manner.  Careless, speeding drivers on small roads mixed with reckless bike riders can lead to disaster that should be easily avoidable.

A recent post on Alameda Patch discusses the importance of bike safety classes in the SF East Bay. Besides wearing a helmet and bright colors, there is something else that is overlooked that is easy enough to help incorporate into your riding skillset.

“Even more simply said, it’s ‘be predictable and be visible,'” said Bonnie Wehmann, a local Bay Area bike advocacy expert. “If people narrow it down to being predictable and being visible that will be their best defense for avoiding crashes.”

The East Bay Bicycle Coalition and Bike Alameda typically handle the bike classes in the area.  The blog post published on Alameda Patch can be found here.

Just like we have before, Alameda Runners plans to continue preaching safety.  We love the outdoors.  We are fortunate enough to have people love us.  It is our responsibility to return to them safely.

Alameda Runners obviously has a focus on running, cycling and general outdoors content, but we try to keep things lively around here. We focus on companies that make products for active people, and today want to chat about the Clif Family Winery & Farm.

I’m no wine expert, but a Clif-owned winery seems to fall within scope for the blog, so let’s see what they have to say about their wares.

“Clif Family Winery was started by Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, founders and owners of Clif Bar & Co.,” said a Clif Family Winery & Farm representative. “We have been making wines from the Napa Valley and Northern California since 2004. The wines that you will most often see available are our Climber Wines – a Zinfandel blend and a Sauvignon Blanc. Our goal is to over deliver quality in every bottle of wine. We also have a focus on sourcing sustainably farmed and organically farmed fruit.”

The new Velo Vino wine tasting room in St. Helena gives visitors the chance to taste wines and enjoy scenic views. Here is a bit more about the Velo Vino tasting room:

“It is the home of both Clif Bar and Clif Family Winery. It’s a truly unique experience that brings together food, wine and adventure. You can taste our wines, enjoy an espresso on the patio, purchase Luna Sport apparel clothing, sample our Gary & Kit’s Gourmet food products and Clif Bars and start and end a cycling adventure.”

As expected from newer wineries, the Clif winery also includes a tasting room that includes wine and food available.

“The connection between food and wine is a natural for Gary and Kit. They have always wanted to create a line of gourmet food products and our Gary & Kit’s Gourmet Mountain Mix was made to pair with specific wine varietals. We offer a food and wine pairing in our tasting room.”

(For clarification purposes: a ‘varietal’ is a term used for wines made predominantly from a single grape, such as a fine California zinfandel wine.)

Boxed wine — or anything found in a container besides a traditional wine bottle — often is overlooked as cheap, low-quality wine. However, Clif recently introduced a new “Climber Pouch” wine that is more portable, eco-friendly, and should taste better than your average grocery store jug wine.

“The Climber Pouch wines were introduced in Spring 2011 as an alternative to glass bottles. Each pouch is the equivalent of two 750ml bottles of wine and the packaging produces 90% less waste and 80% lower carbon emissions than the glass equivalent. It’s a convenient, portable package with great quality wine.”

All wines from the Clif Family Winery & Farm can be found at Velo Vino and online — with a store finder available on Grappos.com — as the winery continues to add to their wine-making resume.

*Editors note: He better follow this up with an article about organic milk supplied from another vendor.

Today was the big day for Alameda and See Jane Run Sports. There was a huge turnout for the participants but not many spectators along the course.  I write the Alameda running blog and I barely heard about the event.  Perhaps I will work with the event organizers next year to help get the word out.

I rode my bike along the course to see it well laid out with lots of port-o-potty’s.   There were not enough.  The toilet lines at the start line were huge.  The bag check line was even longer.  I also heard a lot of complaints about the timing chips not being available with bibs for early bag pick up.

The people arriving early had no problems with parking, check in and toilet lines.  The volunteers were all nice to speak with and friendly with everyone who came by.  The race started with a pre-race warm with a few classic 80’s aerobic workout songs and two out of sync group leaders.  It did not matter, everyone was having fun.  The race started on time!  The start line looked big upon arrival, one hour before start time.  When 2,000 people were lined up for the start of the race, it looked small.  I rode my bike with a couple of ladies who started 5 minutes late and were planning on completing the race with a finishing time of 1:50.  It seemed like a good plan until we turned the corner to a long 1.5 mile straight road that was full of runners.  I left them to deal with the crowd.  I wonder how they made out.

It was a very good event with a few problems at the start line.  There was a big group of runners but course was configured for the crowds.  The police at the street crossings did an excellent job keeping the runners moving.  We had one lost driver complaining about the lack of detour signs to the airport for Bay Farm residents.  Bay Farm is a small Island attached to Alameda proper by a bridge.  It has about 5 square miles of populated areas with 4 roads leading off the Island.  Three of them go to the airport, one was closed.  The event organizers get a pass on this complaint.

Ted rates See Jane Run, Alameda a huge success.  Maybe, I will carry my 2:15 pace sign next year.  Probably not, it would just feel awkward joining a women’s event.

Pictures can be found here.