Back With A Mission - TEAM WILL!

Members of Team Will just before the press conferance at the State Capital.
Yep, those are my legs sticking out from under the Team Will poster. I was trying to be inconspicuous.

Tribe Tracks' winter hiatus is over and boy have we been busy! Now it's time for me to get back on the bike and training again. This year's goal Cat 3! But before I start getting too excited about my own goals this year I was hoping you could take a moment to join us in helping a very worthy cause realize some of their own goals for this year.

Dawn & Jax working on a card.

It is so easy to get caught up in the drama of our own lives: trying to realize a dream before time runs out; trying to rebuild a home for my family; trying to recover from financial pitfalls and so on and so forth. It all takes up a lot of my attention and I never seem to have enough for everything but just when I start to feel overwhelmed by my own problems I get a reality check that puts everything in perspective.

The name of the person that delivered my latest and perhaps most profound reality check was John Depew; a fellow employee and Body Concepts teammate. John also rides for Team Will, a non-profit that raises public awareness and funds for childhood cancer research and family resources. Last week John’s wife Lisa sent out an email for an upcoming Team Will event at the state capitol. There were two ways we could help at the event. One was to be a physical presence to show support. The other was to make Valentine’s day cards for children at a local hospital.

Lisa and John made a good case and I am lucky enough to work at a place that allows me to take a little time off to go support good causes so we decided to go to the event and to get our kids involved in making cards for the children in the hospital. Over the weekend we had our kid card factory going creating cards. They eagerly cut shapes and used stickers and stamps to put pictures and phrases on the cards. (My wife is a great with crafty stuff.)  My two older boys had a school holiday so this was a great break from TV and video games that sometimes become too prevalent during bad weather.

The boys and I deliver the cards we made to Lisa at the event.

While I was at the event I was busy chasing the three boys around while Dawn took pictures and got folks to sign greetings on balloons that would be delivered to children at the UC Davis hospital. Trying to keep them entertained at the event was difficult but I still heard some key points that really made me think. Several speakers talked about young children, about the age range of the three boys I was chasing, being diagnosed with cancer and passing away a short time later. It was scary thinking of that happening to any of my kids and I could not begin to imagine the great sorrow the parents must feel at losing their own kids at such young ages.

I also heard about the massive financial struggles that those parents go through. We have had our challenges these past few years but nothing like those parents. While they watch their children struggle they are behind on medical, house, credit, and card bills. It certainly gave me pause and to count myself lucky for although my struggles sometimes feel monumental to me, they are nothing compared to what these families go through.

Whenever we can, GroveTribe looks for ways to give back and Team Will is one of the organizations we are going to be promoting and supporting and we hope you will join us. If you know of a teacher or leader of a youth group please tell them to consider participating the Team Will Cards for Kids program If you would like to make a donation or find out more about Team Will, visit their website at http://www.team-will.org

Special thanks to John and Lisa for all their work in Team Will and sharing their experience with us!

BTW... KCRA news did a brief report on the rally here (you can hear Dawn cheering in the background. LOL!) http://www.kcra.com/video/30466580/detail.html?fb_ref=video_top&fb_source=other_oneline

GPS Enabled Training

Strava Segment Map

Thanks to a Body Concept teammate, I was able to upgrade my bike computer to a “new to me” Garmin Edge 305.  This is my first experience using GPS in training rides and I am loving it!  I put off upgrading for years because I thought that the data I got from my basic bike computer and stopwatch was good enough.  While you can do a lot with those two, the GPS is a big leap forward, especially when it is paired with a website like Strava.com.  (More on Strava in a minute.)

What has been nice about the GPS is the fact that all of your data is mapped out.  You can see what your peak speeds are for different areas of the ride; not just what your max speed is for your entire ride like a basic computer provides.  Now that I have been race training I find that on most rides, my average speed is meaningless.  Before I started racing, every ride I did as fast as I could and I compared my average to what I had done before on that course to see if I was improving.  With race training, I have been doing a lot more interval work.  When I am riding hard, I am REALLY riding hard and going fast.  But there are also a lot of recovery times in between where I am REALLY riding slow.  That makes averages pretty useless.  I have learned that I need to know how I am performing over the segments of my ride when I am riding hard and that is where pairing the GPS with Strava (or equivalent) is really handy.

When I upload my data to Strava it automatically detects segments of my ride based on segments previously defined by other riders or segments that you have defined yourself.  A great example is one of my hill repeat rides.  After uploading the ride, Strava (based on what other riders already entered in) found all of my climbs and listed them as comparisons to how I did on each climb historically and with other riders who uploaded their data as well.  No more fiddling with a stopwatch while I ride, Strava does that work for me.  Another great thing about Strava is that I am not just competing with myself, I can compete with other riders who has faster times listed which is awesome motivation.

Here is one of my rides that I do for hill and sprint intervals:

http://app.strava.com/rides/1013785

Here is an example of a segment on one of the hills:

http://app.strava.com/rides/1013785#15236280

Strava Leaderboard - 5th Overall - I think I am second if I chose my age and weight class...

I also tried MapMyRide…  It has a fancy interface but my initial impression is that I don’t like it as much as Strava.  I found Strava easy to use and compare data but I couldn’t figure out how to use it on mapmyride.  I should probably revisit that in a bit as it could easily be a user error

Origin Story: Body Concepts (formerly Peak Cycling)

2011 Body Concepts Race Team

In writing the Origin Story for Body Concepts we found ourselves challenged in remaining a more neutral voice. Our usual approach is to interview the owners and let their words to do a majority of the storytelling. In this case, however, that has proven a nearly impossible task. So we are taking a different approach to this article, dropping any Reuters-like pretense and giving you a twist on this Origin Story.

We first became aware of Body Concepts through one of their cycling team members. Chris was looking for a cycling team to start out with and a friend of his from work highly recommended Body Concepts as a place to start. Chris was impressed with the friendly and welcoming atmosphere of the team and joined up. Body Concepts offered the team valuable classes and clinics and Chris soon became impressed with how much he was leaning and swiftly his cycling performance increased. Soon he got me (Dawn) interested in taking classes as well.  Over several months we came to know the married owners Rob Kopitzke and Linda Bailey.

Body Concepts started out as “Peak Cycling”, a business started by Rob back in 1995, but before he became a physical therapist and cycling coach, Rob was always a cyclist. Some of his earliest memories are of upgrading from a little trike to his first “real bike” when he was around four or five years old. He won his first race in fifth grade, a contest not of speed but of technical skill and control in which the slowest rider to cross a distance without putting their foot down won. Rob’s prize was two silver dollars. As he matured he began racing mountain bikes in the early nineties and since has raced in road and cyclocross races as well as enjoying the challenge of his unicycle.  If anyone could be accused of being an all-around cycling devotee, Rob would definitely be one of the prime suspects in the line-up.

Rob and Linda of Body Concepts

In 1998 the name changed to “Body Concepts” and in 2004 Linda added her talents and experience as a Pilates instructor, personal trainer and well-rounded athlete as well as her business acumen. Linda’s athletic lifestyle (including cycling, rowing and martial arts) as well as her own experience with injury recovery through physical therapy and Pilates has helped to enrich and deepen the quality of service that Body Concepts provides to their clients.

In 2008 they moved the business out of their original El Dorado Hills location to their current location right next to Bicycles Plus in Folsom. The move was precipitated by a desire to be closer to one of their main client bases: cyclists. With a location next door to a bicycle shop and right off the American River Bike Trail the Body Concepts team have been able to provide quality physical therapy, coaching, Pilates training and education to the active Folsom community.

Rob’s long experience in coaching cyclists (including time as the head coach for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training) eventually brought about the Body Concepts Racing Team, now thirty-two members strong and includes multiple women racers. Last year their honors included winning their category for best all-around team and rider (Rick Kile).  So far this year the business has won first in the Pilates Studio category on the KCRA A-List but it is their commitment to the cycling community and their extraordinary dedication to their client’s well-being and performance that sets them apart from other businesses of their ilk and earns their place as a featured business in our Origin Story series.

As a member of the Body Concepts team Chris has seen an incredible explosion of his cycling performance, power and efficiency in less than a year. Listening to the advice Chris was getting from Rob and Linda convinced me to finally follow my doctor’s directive to start physical therapy to mitigate the ravages of my own disability. For those familiar with my previous blog posts on my disability you may know that regaining my strength has been an incredibly difficult and slow process. Over the past few months since I started working with Rob as my PT I have seen an explosion in my own strength and stamina. It hasn’t been a magic bullet or a cure; I still have my relapses, and I may never be able to claim to be completely free of my challenges, but my vistas of possibilities have greatly widened and my hopes to someday join the cycling team seem a bit more reachable.

I say these things as someone who has had over two decades of experience in the rehabilitative industry. I have worked with (and for) doctors, physical therapists, massage therapists and even coaches. I have seen and been a part of many stories of miraculous healings and I have experienced and witnessed some of the most ineffectual or just plain detrimental treatments that could be dredged up by greedy fools with gold-sealed medical degrees. It is sad to say that so many of the health related businesses that truly care for their patients are the ones that struggle to make ends meet. There is not a lot of money to be had when you do a great job getting your clients back on their feet and healthy.

The owners of Body Concepts are able to maintain a nice facility and are constantly busy but they are not in danger of retiring with Jaguars in their garages and a weekend home on Lake Tahoe. What they have earned is the respect of an awful lot of cyclists within their community, the deep affection of the many clients they have helped and an awful lot of great Karma.

Blame it on the Tour

Sorry gang, we know it has been quiet around here but, honestly, why are you here reading a blog when you can be watching TDF coverage? That's what we're doing! Between child rearing, holding down a real job and training we have only a few hours a week of spare time. We can use it to blog or watch TDF. Which would you choose? 
We have actually been sneaking in a little work on our next Origin Story and will get that up tomorrow but in the meantime we are off to sneak in some of that child-rearing before the evening TDF recap coverage comes on!

Race Report - Central Coast Circuit Race 35+ 4-5

My race bike is ready for action!

Body Concepts race report for my race last weekend:
http://bcraceteam.blogspot.com/2011/07/central-coast-circuit-race-35-4-5.html

Here are some pics (blog coming later): Listening to guidelines at the start of
the race:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898984386/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

Dropping back after being in the front (Guy in black/red Giro outfit one. The
guy in blue diagonally between Giro and me beat me out for 5th place):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898427161/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

Tri Valley guy trying to make a move... To get his pic taken?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898992448/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898426277/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

The break that got away (There was a 4th guy from Third Pillar but he dropped
off. Third Pillar (well represented with 4 riders) launched and attack to close
the gap and got a guy in third after one of these three fell off)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898425079/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

This guy was also trying to close the gap. I caught him. Though he did beat me
on the final sprint.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898424895/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

A lot of riders tried to make moves to get past me after sucking my wheel for a
while, but they didn't pan out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898424841/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

I am determined... Hey; where is the rest of the peloton?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898424781/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

Cornering down the final hill
http://www.flickr.com/photos/y​oungsloat/5898424003/in/set-72​157627\
109005084

To Race... Or Not To Race...

We are working on a lot of projects/articles so thing have been quiet around here lately. Finally got the wife set-up to be able to ride her loaner. Finally got the Hero Cam mounted on the bike. Finally decided to sell a couple of my older bikes off (so if you are looking, give me a shout) so I can afford to get a new set of wheels for the Tarmac.

During all this we have been going back and forth over what to do with the rest of the race season. With money still tight and with me still recovering from multiple crashes and illness (what the heck!?) I had decided to hang my hat on the fact that I had reached my goal for this year (going from Cat 5 to Cat 4) and back off from racing the rest of the year. I guess my wife noticed something was amiss because out of the blue last weekend she told me she wanted me racing again. (I think she likes seeing me all fired up and competitive.) But I feel a lot more pressure in choosing my races now that I am a Cat 4. When you are a Cat 5 any race that you finish gets you closer to your goal. Now that I am a Cat 4 I need to start placing and earning points. Now I am even more aware that I have very few teammates racing in my category who are actively racing so I often find myself going solo at races and find it hard to compete with the big, cohesive teams.

Yet when my wife encouraged me to start signing up for races again, I was more than willing to do so. Simply put, I miss racing, Win or lose, I miss the challenge, the competition, the pursuit of striving to be better; stronger; more strategic in my cycling. So here I am, up late at night cleaning my bike and packing for a trip to the coast; leaving the wife and kids behind to get back on the race track and give it everything I've got. Once again I'll be on my own but I will take it as my personal challenge to get in there and mix it up and make myself known as a competitor. Life is too short to sit by and wait for the perfect circumstances, the perfect timing, the perfect team. You get out there and you suck it up and haul ass. Even if you don't make the podium at least you were in the race.

Origin Story: MadCat Bicycles



MadCatters (left to right): Ross Stewart, Kris Morin, Eddy Fontes, Hank Mini, Nick Almond, Mike Upchurch,
Phil Montbriand, Tony Troy with Avery Morin on the one purple bike in existance that Mike didn't ride. 



It all began with a purple Stingray bicycle. Purple wasn't even the original color. It was a painted purple Stingray, given to him at the tender age of four, that started Mike Upchurch on the trail to becoming owner of MadCat Bicycles. Once he outgrew that chick-magnet he upgraded to riding a Miyata road bike along the Garden Highway -where he lived as a boy- so he could visit his friends. Mike found that neither Stingrays nor road bikes could fire his blood like the off-road adventures that only a mountain bike could provide so when he got out of the Navy he went straight to the bike shop with a buddy and procured a Rockhopper. A green bike with PURPLE accents (which he further outfitted with purple toe clips). With all the red and black floating about the MadCat logo who would have known of Mike’s secret passion for purple.



Mike Upchurch, Eric Taylor and Dawn
Grove at MadCat. Mike helped organize the
donation drive for Eric Taylor last spring.

I am hoping the fact that we have known Mike for a few years will get us off the hook for the Barney-ish line of teasing. I think we’re safe though, because that is one thing Mike has in spades; a sense of humor.  Which could very well be one of the secrets to Mike’s success; people like Mike and like hanging out with him. In return, he likes hanging out with his fellow cyclists - hence the hideously wonderful gold couch that is the center piece of his modest bike shop in Sacramento. He may not win an award from the Interior Designers Association for good taste but MadCat certainly got the vote for Best Bike Shop 2011 from the KCRA A-List with over 2,300 votes. So maybe owning a great bike shop is more than how many bikes you have but in your attitude.

Interviewing Mike was a challenge in his very busy shop.
Mike is helping customers in the background while
Eddy and Tony field question in the foreground. 

MadCat is all about attitude and a different type of business model: “We are kind of a non-profit” Mike jokes, “we make enough to pay the bills but not too much more.” Mike measures his success by smiling faces and how many people he is helping to get on a bike. He does this by focusing on service and he strives to run a business based on “good, honest service and approachability”.  He admits that, just like everyone, they are not immune to making the occasional mistake, but he prides himself on his commitment to "making it right" claiming; “It’s what you do after a mistake that makes the difference”.

Jax crashes on the famous gold couch.

Mike’s background in marketing and his experience working at Peak Adventures for many years had a lot to do with his current business philosophy. His job was service oriented and it was his number one mission to make the customers happy. When Mike was laid off from his full time job at Peak Adventures in 2004 he worked for a while on an indoor mountain bike facility but when it became clear after nine months that Mike “needed to get a job” he discovered an existing bike shop location and inventory that was for sale. “It was essentially me buying myself a job that I wanted.”

Always something happening.

The transition from the former bike shop to MadCat happened, quite literally, overnight: “On Monday night they closed their shop and Tuesday morning MadCat was open for business.” The first few years were tough as Mike pulled ten to twelve hour days, six or seven days a week. Even through such a gruelling schedule Mike never lost his love of riding and his passion for the adventure and technical challenge of mountain biking has morphed into his current appetite for the intense challenge of cyclocross. He has finally reached the point where he takes weekends off, he explains that he makes less money that way but the peace of mind and being able to enjoy his family and cycling makes it worth it. Of course, even when Mike is “off work” he finds himself fielding questions from fellow cyclists and he is “always on”. When asked if he ever gets tired of it he asserts that he doesn’t mind at all because he is doing what he loves.

So it’s 2011 and the little boy on the purple painted Stingray has grown up into one of the most well-known bicycle shop owners in the region. Mike helps run and/or sponsors many of the most popular cycling events in our area. You see Mad Cat shirts and jerseys all over the place and the MadCat racing crew is kicking ass and taking names (in the nicest possible way). The popularity of MadCat has reached near cult proportions and doesn’t seem to be ready to pause and lick off the road dust any time soon.  

 

Editor's Note: MadCat will be holding their 5th Annual Bike Swap this Sunday at their location from 8 am to 12 noon. Therein you shall find bikes, music, raffles and PANCAKES!

THE END

Next Origin Story: Body Concepts (once we get their group photo...)