Thanks tons to BBC, Scott Bikes, and Zipp for sponsoring an awesome points kick-off ride. I got to ride a sweet pair of Zipp wheels that weren’t quite enough to get me past the always fast, always smart Terry Duran.

Here’s how the day played out: temps in the mid-20’s when everybody was making their way over to BBC for the ride start. BBC opened its doors very early to accommodate all of us shivering bike fanatics. We had sign-up sheets and I think most everyone signed in. I of course will not publish any of those emails, but if you would like to opt yourself out of the master rider list that I will be creating soon, please email me and let me know.

I started out at the very back of the group and it was awesome to see the huge group riding two-by-two up Montevallo and onto Hwy 78 on the way out of town. We made it through Leeds and onto the Camp Winnataska road at a nice tempo before making our way out towards Sterrett for the start of the inaugural attack zone of the year. Tria started things off launching a massive attack with D-fast-as-a-horse-Seelhorst galloping away not to be reeled in until well into the attack zone. Tria continued to launch bullets off the front, but BBC was up to the challenge reeling in each one. Then Lennie-the rocket to the-Moon launched a perfectly timed attack that only strong T-the man-Duran could respond to. I saw T-man launch himself and quickly responded too bridging up to T-man and then counter-attacking. But there was no getting away from T-man as he latched on to my wheel and then came around at the end to take the inaugural 2008-2009 BBL sprint. Congrats T … enjoy your well earned victory this week until we all square off again next week!

L-rocket who started it all held on strong to finish third. J-can you rock the-Brock took the field sprint for fourth with J-pumpkin-Gilmore coming in 5th. Check out the points spreadsheet (google doc) to see the preliminary results.

Come back next week for round 2!

Fog, rain, cold, monsoons – these do not make for safe or sane riding conditions, but that doesn’t stop the mailman so why should that stop the BBL? Here’s a report from Terry:

Sat ride had 13 hardcore real riders! Through the cold, wind and rain 1/3 managed 3hr but more impressive, the other 2/3 managed 4hrs. A solid turn out given the conditions. This weekend looks good (weather wise) so we should have a great turn out being that everyone will probably be in town and no Football games or holidays! Remember that the ride will leave from BBC! Scott and BBC will be offering ZIPP demo wheels, Scott Bike Demo’s as well as free Lunch immediately following the ride! The lunch will be next door to BBC. I will let Mike Fisher (BBC) give us the details of the food!

The Attack zone should be the #2 Zone for two reasons:

1. It will give everyone a new look at the Zone for future rides
2. We can all regroup at the store!

Here is a map and description of attack zone #2

Attack zone #2 - click to enlarge

Length: 2.9 miles
Start: Immediately after the LEFT turn onto Shelby County Hwy 55
Finish: The yellow caution “curve ahead” sign immediately after the large pond on the righthand side of the road just as Hwy 55 starts to come into the outskirts of Sterrett.

So start your countdown now with less than one week to go until the big points kickoff on December 6. More details coming soon! In the meantime, here is a taste of what is coming!

Frigid temps and the new Bass Pro Shop grand opening were no match for the second round of our official warm-up rides before kicking off the points competition on Dec 6. Or at least that’s what I hear as I was out of town this week for a conference. Here is the ride recap from Terry Duran!

“We had about 25 starters with about 15 finishers. We averaged around 17.5 mph with zero issues. If we can instill one important ride element it is, if you are a rider on the front then you must always peddle your bicycle through thick on thin, rain or shine, uphill, downhill and flat. NEVER STOP PEDDLING WHEN YOU ARE A RIDER ON THE FRONT! Other than that we are off to a great start! We had zero issues with the opening of Bass Pro Shop and the traffic! We did the same route as last week because it is such a good challenging route! TRIA was only represented by Sammy? What gives with the “Strongest Team In Birmingham” not having a good showing! It seems that Tria is already showing signs of weakness and inconsistency but these are normal signs for a 2nd year amateur squad!” – Terry Duran

Editor’s note regarding TRIA: let’s see how it all shakes out on December 6, Terry, let’s just wait and see how it all shakes out… 🙂

No, we’re not talking about football. We’re talking about the first ride of the 2008-2009 Birmingham Bike League! We had a great turnout today and when I pulled into the parking lot I was greeted with a sea of colorful riders gathered around Terry “the master” Duran who was orienting everyone on the route, the rules, and the goals of the training series. Then we were off!

The stop-lights in town were not conducive to a nice cohesive group, but eventually we made it out of town on Hwy 78 and on over to Leeds to the first official pee break. For future rides, the pee break will be announced ahead of time and everyone should stop when the designated ride leader stops! Then it was on to the rest of our fall exploratory observatory ohsobeautifulhereinthefallinalabamatory jaunt around the rural countryside east and south of Birmingham.

No results to report this week, but we have pinned down the start and finish for the second attack zone to be used in future instances of Terry’s Camp Winnie ride. See the map and description below:

Attack zone #2 - click to enlarge

Attack zone #2 – Holy rollers – 2.9 miles

The not-meant-to-be-irreverent name comes from the fact that the road is rolling, and the church on your left will be an indication that you are within a couple hundred meters from the finish line of this attack zone!

The attack zone begins when the whistle blows after we make the left onto Hwy 55 at the Hwy 43/55 split. At this point, we will be in a particularly rolling section of the road. Then we will do a larger climb followed by a longer downhill. A short flat section leads into a medium-length kicker of a hill at the crest of which is a church on your left as the road bends somewhat sharply to the right. As soon as you complete the righthand bend, you will see a large pond to your right and just past that a yellow caution sign indicating that the road is about to bend to the left — this is your goal, the attack zone finish line! Be the first to make it past the yellow caution sign, and you will earn yourself 5 points!