New Years for most people is synonymous with new goals. I have never really understood why people wait for New Years Day to stop smoking or lose weight. I think the moment you decide you want to do something is the best time to start. However in businesses and organizations where planning is required, the New Year is a good time to make changes. Here are some of the things Chico Corsa wants to accomplish in 2010.

It is the pinnacle of the bike racing world... a place where dreams are made and destroyed, where men become legends or fade into obscurity. It is steeped in history and rich in drama. It is exciting, glamorous, exotic and rife with celebrity and ambition. It holds the promise of a handsome salary and countless accolades. It is the location where mere mortals become larger than life, and sometimes, legends for an entire nation.

Those who are successful receive copious amounts of money and a hero's welcome at home, and those who suffer and lose receive our sympathy and admiration for their struggles and sacrifice.

Europe is the place where aspiring bike racers the world over go if they believe they might have what it takes to be better than just good... and so it has been for Lindsay Myers and Ian Boswell.

Meetings: Our next club meeting will be at 6:00 PM, Friday, January 8th at Woodstocks Pizza.

Race Results:
Race results are posted to the Chico Corsa Website in the race team section. (You will need a login and password to post your results)

Breaking News:
Here are some Cyclocross racing opportunities that are within a reasonable driving distance:
Shasta Race Series (Redding)
Sacramento CX
Sagebrush CX (Reno)
Santa Rosa CX

R.A.C.E. Calendar:
Chico Cyclist

NCNCA Road Racing Calendar:
NCNCA Road Calendar

NORBA Calendar:
NORBA Racing
TBF Challenge MTB Races
MTB Calendar - California

Chico Velo Calendar:
Chico Velo

Western States Ride Calendar:
Ride Calendar

Team Chico's Tunnels Ride:
Saturday, January 23rd 2010 leaving at 9:00 AM from One Mile Recreation Area (Distance 80+ miles)

Test your winter fitness with this Team Chico favorite in the beautiful Feather River Canyon and to the Hwy 70 Tunnels. A straight out and back heading out Chico-Oro, Durham Pentz, then up Hwy 70 over Yankee Hill and down into the canyon, past Pulga and along the North Fork Feather to the SECOND set of tunnels. All riders in the lead group will tough it out for the first KOM sprint by taking the steep detour up Lunt Rd. near the end of the first climb, then connect back to Hwy 70 and continue towards the tunnels. Sprint #2 will be at the end of the last, long tunnel.

We will make a water stop another mile up the road, then back out of the canyon, down to the valley and finishing with a final sprint on Chico-Oro just before the bike path.

For more info on the Tunnels Ride contact Aren Timmel.

I moved to Chico to go to school in 1998 and was quickly sucked into the robust local cycling scene. I arrived as an ex-runner looking for an athletic outlet and cycling seemed like a natural fit. I borrowed a 1980's era Centurion Dave Scott road bike from my dad, found some guys who were willing to let me tag along on some rides, and eventually found my way to the local group rides and the Fast 50.

It didn't take long before I decided that I needed to update my machine a bit and that presented a problem, as I was a broke college student. I had a job and started saving some money to buy a bike. It quickly became obvious that if I wasn't willing to wait ten years to make my purchase, I either needed to drop out of school and work full time, or find another way to make some money.

Enter the 2000 Z-Rock Pumpkinhead Contest. The rules: you must carve out a pumpkin so that it can be worn over your head and face and stand on a milk crate longer than nine other contestants. The last "Pumpkinhead" standing wins $1,500.00. I won the contest in 1999 and used the money to pay-off some debt and buy a snowboard. The 1999 contest lasted 49 hours, which, at the time, was a record. I remembered it being unpleasant, but not horrible and was happy to go through it again if it was going to get me $1,500.00 closer to a new bike. And so began the 2000 Z-Rock Pumpkinhead Contest.

With the end of summer long gone and winter fast approaching (if not here already) we look forward to a change in our outdoor cycling routines. It's a break from long hours spent preparing for and traveling to cycling events. With the arrival of winter weather we spend less time training outdoors. Change is good for us and we have more time for family, friends, and to finish chores that were put off and other off season training activities.

Now is a good time to think about indoor cycling. Indoor cycle training is a discipline we rely on for focused exercise. We might choose this activity when the weather is bad or we are short on time. Or even when we are fitting bikes with new equipment. Another application would be if we're testing against a benchmark, monitoring performance, need an uninterrupted specific type of workout, or learning new skills.

I woke late for the weekly LSD ride and opted to stay in my nice warm bed. I could have made it, but it would have required a real effort and I left most of my 'effort' on Cohasset the day before.

By the time I got out of bed it was 11:00 AM, and so my decision to sleep in was justified... my body was tired. I ate breakfast, drank coffee and visited with my wife. Before getting started with our daily plans, I squeezed in a quick ride, in a light rain... solo.

One of my few solo rides of the year, and it was awesome.

I pumped up my tires, checked over my bike, zipped up my booties and enjoyed not having to make a meeting deadline. I rolled out when I was ready.

Why would you want to know your resting heart rate?

A VERY good reason to know your normal resting heart rate is that you can use it to identify overtraining or illness at the earliest sign. If your resting heart rate is 10-15 beats above normal, you could be 'over-reaching' or maybe you still haven't recovered from your previous workout. You might also be catching a cold and/or be on the cusp of some other illness or a combination of the above. You should avoid intensive training or racing even if you feel OK, until you figure out what it is.

One very common question among cyclists is "Why is my RHR (resting heart rate) higher than yours?" The fact is that you can only compare these values with your own previous registrations. This is because we each have unique cardiovascular systems. These systems are all based on the same physiological mechanisms so we can learn from each others' physiological experiences and adaptations, but we can't compare individual heart rate values. For example, say your resting heart rate is 58bpm while your friend's heart rate is 42bpm. Without more information we can't say which one of you is in the best shape or has the highest VO2 max.