Fortunately we are getting much needed rain and snowpack; unfortunately we are riding indoors. For me this is a good thing. After breaking a bone in my elbow, I lost training time which is measureable in months. I missed the nice base mile training weather we had in October and November while a lot of my teammates were doing 4 ½ hour days. But now the arm is working and the weather has turned, so all of us are indoors pedaling our bikes to nowhere. This is good for me because in my fantasy world, I'm catching up.

After my longest break from spandex in 7 years, finding the motivation to exercise like a hamster was difficult. But I forced myself to do it. The first few times were very tough. My heart rate monitor told me I was pushing my biggest gear with a 90 cadence when in reality I was only spinning a 60 in my 39 X 17. I kept at it, remembering what my friend Jim Walker once told me; if you're short on time, train with intensity.

One of my favorite things about Europe was training with the pros. The term "training" is something of a misnomer though as the common practice was to race your way into shape and "training" really meant active recovery, getting additional base miles, or just working out the kinks. Still, on the occasions when a long tempo ride was in order we would often meet up with one of the local pros who was also going "training" (in their case, taking a recovery day) and join them for an afternoon in the saddle. One of my favorites was Louis de Koning.

Louis wasn't fun to ride with because of the conversations we had or the jokes he told. In fact he rarely said anything at all on the bike and when he did you could hardly hear him anyway as he was very soft spoken. The reason he was fun to ride with was because you could learn so much just by watching him. He was a "teach by example" kind of rider and his example was always an inspiration.

Meetings: Our next club meeting will be at 6:00 PM, Friday, February 5th 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:
The new Corsa kits are in! Contact Jeff Ochs if you pre- ordered, otherwise kits can be purchased at North Rim Adventure Sports.

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

Rising Stars:
A hearty congratulations goes out to Mike Jasinski for winning the first 1/2 Pro road race of the year!

Classifieds:
The US Women's Cycling Development Program has the following items for sale.

Last year I was looking for an activity that would take the place of riding in the rainy weather, so I took up bridge, a card game I'd played casually in college. Bridge comes in basically two forms: rubber, or "party" bridge for social players, and duplicate for serious, competitive players. I showed up at the local duplicate club and asked to get started. I started by watching play for a couple of days and then began playing with a couple of patient partners who didn't mind showing me the ropes of duplicate. I won't go into all the details of the game, but let's just say that social bridge is to duplicate as social riding is to racing, one difference being that in bridge you throw all the players into the same event, from Cat. 5's to Pro-1/2.

Recovery is generally misunderstood, but is a crucial aspect to improved performance. This month's performance tip looks at this vital component of your training. Follow these guidelines and your performance is sure to improve.

How important is Recovery, anyway?
Recovery is the component of training that enables the body to become stronger. Without rest and recovery the body becomes more and more fatigued, initially resulting in a decrease in performance, which if continued is usually followed by frequent minor infections (e.g. colds, upper respiratory tract infections) and/or chronic injuries. This is the beginning of overtraining or chronic fatigue syndrome, often initially referred to as overreaching. Extended overtraining and chronic fatigue syndrome can require a long period of rest to help you recover. Too many athletes think that you only get faster when training and either neglect or forget about recovery, but this is incorrect. With correct rest and recovery periods the body adapts optimally to training stresses, resulting in superior performance

I just want to say a quick hello and introduce myself as the new Executive Director of Chico Velo Cycling Club. It's a privilege to be working in the cycling community in Chico, and with Chico Corsa in particular. These last couple of months have been a whirlwind of new faces, new experiences, and new ideas, leading me to launch a strategic planning process that will ultimately result in a 5-year action plan for Velo.

I've been fortunate to have so much input from long- time cyclists in the area, including representatives from Corsa, Butte Bicycle Coalition, the City of Chico, BCAG, local bike shops, and the Velo membership and Board. Together, we've identified 7 areas of focus: Education, Rides, Velo Vitality, Networking & Integration, Excellence, Government Influence, and Promotion, each with its own list of priorities and goals.

When trying to improve in cycling, it's usually not one major thing that makes a rider better but a lot of little things. The riders that look for new training techniques to experiment with are the ones that are usually most successful. Riding a fixed gear bike on the road as a regular part of your winter training program can have enormous benefits. "Fixed gear" means that you can't coast, and there's only one gear. Simple, huh? Here are some of the advantages.

Your pedal stroke
This is the major benefit. Over time our pedal stroke can lose its suppleness, especially as we get older. Supple and smooth pedaling is essential to being successful on the bike. Although very few riders address this important issue. Riding a fixed geared bike is such a simple way to do it. You are constantly pedaling... Riding 20 miles on a fixed gear is PEDALLING 20 miles! On a fixed gear you are training the brain/legs to use the different muscle groups to develop a smoother pedal stroke, without having to think about working on it. This suppleness/smoothness eliminates wasted energy and will improve your efficiency.