By DUNCAN MANSFIELD – Associated Press Writer KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jim Richards is no kid, but he loves to ride his bike.

Have you ever played Guitar Hero or Rock Band? Have you ever ridden a bike? Have you EVER thought of combining the two?

This guy has, and it’s amazing.

It might be the dead-of-winter (well, almost the dead of winter) but all over the world professional cyclists are heading out to start training for 2009. While you and I might never join the ranks of pro cyclists (I certainly won’t, at least) it’s still fun to keep up on the activities of the pro peloton.

My favorite way recently has been to follow along with the Twitters of Lance Armstrong, who is showing a surprising amount of candor by posting things about his daily life and his training for his comeback season. Today’s most recent post read, for example:

Hanging at the house with Luke. Girls are at a bday party. We are hosting an event at the house for CGI Univ tonight.

But aside from hearing about how he keeps up with his kids, you can also read his Twitter feeds to find out things like how he’s evaluating his fitness for the Tour. He’s been posting pictures to Twitpic.com, like this one of him doing wattage training.

Follow Lance at his Twitter feed. (You can also follow on Twitter Dave Zabriskie (dzabriskie), Taylor Phinney (taylorphinny), Johan Bruneel (johanbruneel), College aka John Korioth (college6), and more. (Check out the following lists of each of these for more great people to follow.)

Another great site for the pro circuit is Two Wheel Stories, a collection of blogs from pro riders.

While I’m a bit jealous reading about their training camps in Australia, Italy and other exotic places, it does make me more excited about seeing next season’s races unfold.

I loaded my road bike on the car to enjoy a ride yesterday. I live on a dirt road that after the rain is not fit to ride. But as I was heading to park I noticed many patches of ice along the edges of the road. So I turned around and decided to ride my mountain bike on Old Albany Post Road instead.

First I had to replace a chain that had some rust from last season on the Ibis. Fifteen minutes later I was pumping up the tires and layering up. I pulled off my full windproof road jacket and switched to a windproof vest due to the slower speeds of the mountain bike. The metal bar end extensions really hold the cold and pull the heat out of my hands. I need to cover them with something, maybe a piece of old inter-tube from a road tire.

I more or less only ride a mountain bike in the winter months so it felt very different. The upright position and front shock are the most noticeable, but so is the Q-factor of the cranks. The saddle is just a little lower on my mountain bike to encourage a higher climbing cadence. To help keep things the same I also use 172.5 crank arms on both machines. I’ve been reading about a number of new double cranks for mountains bikes. They would be a terrific option for a rider who switches often from road to mountain bike to keep things similar.

There was still plenty of ice to be cautous of, in some cases covering the width of the road, but not a problem with the wide tires. The road is also filled with potholes and ruts but again the mountain bike plows through with ease. I’ve never been a hard core single track rider, I’ve done a little but never feel very comfortable, so the dirt road is perfect riding for me. The Ibis can handle much more then I’m able to ask of it.

The road is hilly in spots and developes climbing power, there’s places to grind out a long hill at a high candence and others that just demand all out power. After an hour out and back along this beautiful and historic road I was glad I put the road bike in the house.

Something to think about or maybe not think about while spinning the pedals on a stationary trainer.

Think about what your arms and upper body are doing or not doing. It’s best to keep your upper body as still as possible. The arms, hands, and upper body should be relaxed and not stressed while riding. Let the energy flow to the lower back and legs.

Of course as in most things in life there are exceptions. These include time trialing and climbing where you need to pull through the bars in order to build power in your lower back and hips. If you’re training for a TT use the tri-bars and pull straight back, not up. Note how David Zabriskie, one of the world’s best time trialist sits on his bike and pulls on his bars through his body core to his hips. You’ll feel the opposite action in your hips proving more power.

Climbing is more or less the same except your hands will drape over the tops of the bars. With a good grip again pull back by having your forearms nearly parallel to your top bar. Opps, I’m on an old school flat top bar, so almost parallel to the ground. George Hincapie uses this technique while climbing the Pyrenees mountains in the 2005 Tour. With this angle the power will transfer through your trunk and into your hips. This applies to climbing in the saddle or out. It’s tempting to pull up from the brake levers while standing but you still want to bend your elbows to pull back into your hips. Here is a recent photo of Lance Armstrong, right, and Slovenian Jani Brajkovic training. Note their positions, elbows bent, hips over the bottom bracket, not to far forward and pulling into their hips.

The key for general riding is to save these power positions for the most difficult sections of a climb, attack or sprint.

AP Photos

Rockland Bicycling Club member Steve Brehl joined the memorial ride for Camille Savoy Sunday morning and posted these thoughts on the RBC website.

I was there on Sunday. Many thanks to Randall and Rita for getting the word out. Most of the other riders that I spoke to did not know Camille. Like me, they were there to support another member of our cycling community and to protest the risks that we face from careless motorists. Shortly after arriving at the bridge, however, I met a man from Philadelphia who had brought his children, to offer them some closure in their sudden loss of a good friend. Among the speakers at the memorial were people who missed Camille at their Thanksgiving table, at work, in their neighborhood, and on the bike. On the way up to Piermont I rode with a man who knew Camille from work, and was riding as a final tribute. Hearing them talk of Camille the man reinforced for me the sense of tragedy.

As you ride down 9W, watch for the ghost bike that was installed at the scene of the crash. It is almost right across from the composting facility, south of The Esplanade/Rio Vista. It’s hard to imagine that someone could have been hit there, on a straight, wide road with a wide shoulder. There’s nothing other than luck protecting us from someone coming from behind and crossing onto the shoulder like that.

The event reminded me of the importance of doing what I can to make the roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Unfortunately I spend more time in my car than on my bike, so that’s where I can make the biggest difference. Although it might not have been a factor in this crash, speed kills. So if you come up behind my car in town and have to slow down almost to the speed limit, please be patient and think of the cyclists.

Steve thanks for sharing. I agree with your comments about safety on the roads. As cyclists we need to set an example of safe travel on our roads whether behind the wheel of a car or handlebars of a bike. The extra five to 30 seconds it takes a car to pass a cyclists safely is time well spent.

Over 70 cyclists and friends of Camille Savoy faced the cold to honor his life. Please read the NorthJersey.com report for details.

Here is a link to Jen Benepe’s Bike Blog report.

I would welcome reports from anyone who participated.

Hello
I was very happy to be part of the ride and I was very impressed by the number of cyclists who showed up; I could stop thinking how much bigger the pack would have been, on a warm and sunny day;
There is something I would like to say regarding the accident, something nobody has yet analyzed: the dangerous spot on a road: The Danger Zone!
I did a driving test with my SUV departing 2 miles south of the accident going northbound and this show a little bit the danger zone of this area: after one mile even with a few curbs I was going 40 miles per hour then going down the road just in front of the golf club my car started to speed up because of the downhill of course; before I knew it I was going faster and faster without using the accelerator; I was already going uphill and still at the same speed my car who was about two to three feet from the cyclist path borderline in the beginning of the hill was almost on the white lane on top of the hill because of the left curb; everyone knows a car loose its traction on top of a hill going fast and most of the accident happened that way; the two factors of the weight of the SUV and the momentum of speed reaching the top of a hill and turning left, turn a car into a killing machine; the law of physique is there : the G force; you want to go left and stay on the road but the car goes right and up loosing traction and before you know it , it is too late!
When people said the accident happen on a flat and straight line, after this test, I can assure you that my car would have been in the bicycle path right at the same place where the accident happened; a car is not a bicycle and it take a lot of time to slow down specially on the left curb on top of a hill;
For people who like car’s race everybody knows that you never stand at he end of a curb up to 100 to 300 feet because when a car just loose control it fly out and brush out everything and everybody on its path;
For a right turn it is a little bit different; accident happened most of the time in the middle of the curb since motorist have a tendency to cut the road; therefore anybody parking or riding in this spot at the same time become just a fatality; always stop on a straight line road and not just after a curb where you do not see and motorist cannot see you before it is too late;
And the last dangerous zone is behind a hill where motorist cannot see you either ;
Therefore if cyclist and motorist are aware of those danger zones they should drive and ride consequently.
Going back to accident, I believe the car went to the right at the end of the curb because of the speed hitting Camille Savoy who was on the right side of the bicycle path’s white lane and Not on it or on the left; since his path was clean of leaves and debris the day of the accident he had no reason to ride on the white lane specially him “the Mama” and knowing that the curb and speed factor was taking in consideration its help to understand this tragedy!
Sincerely
Jean Claude Gracia

Yesterday I tried to move up a level to an A ride and I was humbled on the hills. Westchester Cycling Club’s Aaron Stern led the ride from the Millwood A&P at 9am.  Seven riders headed out on the cool morning and Aaron was good enough to loan me a wind-jacket since I left mine at home.
Aaron peddled smooth and fast, always on top of his peddles leading the group to the back roads with steep climbs and twisting descents. The rest of the group settled into a nice paceline and rhythm.
I felt fine at this point, but was worried about the coming hills. We made the hard right out of Croton onto Mt. Airy. The group of six stayed in a nice pack as I dropped off the back. I knew to stay in my own pace and make the best of it. The real problem came at an intersection with five roads. The group was out of site and I guessed wrong. Took a few minutes to get back on course and made my way up t he rest of the hill to see Aaron coming down the hill looking for me. We made our way back to the group at the top of the hill waiting in the cold. I apologized for the mix up and thanked them for waiting.
On each of the next shorter climbs I was again off the back and decided to cut off at the half way point. It wouldn’t be fair to hold the group up. The cold made it even worse waiting for me to catch up. I stayed with the group as we rolled along the reservoir and as they turned left to climb Hanover to Yorktown I stayed straight to Route 100. I planned on some solo miles as I headed north away from the car but two miles up I rear flatted. Fixed the flat and headed to Millwood.
So I know I’m not an A level rider at this point in my life, but plan on by spring. The five mile ride back to the car gave me time to think about how disappointed I am in my fitness and how to change it. Here’s my simple plan.

• Lose weight – since getting back on the bike this year I’ve dropped nearly 22 pounds, but need to drop another ten to 15 to ride with the A group. I’m now 175 pounds which is better then 197, but not as good as 147 which was my race weight 13 years ago. The simple equation is power to weight is the biggest factor for climbing. Hours on the indoor trainer should achieve this by February.


• Stronger body core – a strong trunk is a key element to transfer the power to the peddles. My stomach is not what it once was either. Leg lefts, and sit-ups over the winter months will fix this. A stronger core and flatter stomach will also help my ability to breath.


• More base miles – I’ve ridden about 1,500 road miles this year total. Next year I will ride 500 or more before the end of March. In my teens my friends I trained with called it LSD – Long Slow Distance. It can really be a key to a good season. It’s four to six hour rides at an easy pace, never putting your body in the red zone.


• A new lighter bike would be nice, but in this economy it will have to wait. My 22 pound steel bike has served me well and will most likely have to last another season. Just adds to the goal of personal weight lose. I’ll be faster on my old bike if I lose four more pounds on my body then on the bike.

The memorial ride for Camille Savoy is on.

The weather will be cold, but the weather service report does not call for snow or rain. The ride will begin at 09:00am near the George Washington Bridge and ride to the spot he was struck in Alpine, NJ for a memorial.

Please check the ride orginizor’s Jen Benepe’s blog for more details.

This is the latest from Jen Benepes Bike Blog which is orginizing this ride.

More information on the memorial: the latest weather forecast predicts a 30 percent chance of snow flurries, and 36 degrees. The ride will proceed if that forecast stays the same. Please check this blog for updates after 10 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6.

There will be good friends of Savoy coming to the event from distances well over 5 hours. Many of them are close, long time friends who will come and join us either in the bike portion or will drive to the location. Again, motorists, please park some distance from the “spot”.

Andreas Meyer will be constructing a ghost bike, with an old cast-off supplied by Nelson Vasquez , owner of Strictly Bicycles (that big shop you are watching being built along Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee, NJ).

Some people may be assembling after the ride at the private home of a friend of Savoy’s. For those making the ride all the way to Piermont or Nyack, there will be spontaneous assemblies in those locations.

The ride will be cancelled for rain, but will not be cancelled for “snow flurry” forecasts below 50 percent.Update