Birmingham Bike League 2009-2010

Series wrapup. Wow, what a great season. Darryl had a solid lead on the men’s points and Katherine came away with the women’s win. The battle for second in the men’s was intense after so many BBLs Pat Allison and Terry Duran were tied on points going into the last sprint. Pat put the hammer down though taking the last zone with Terry just behind him. So there you have it the top 3 guys – Darryl, Pat, Terry and the top 3 women – Katherine, Amy, and Jennifer (Amy and Jennifer tied for 2nd). Please check out the full points breakdown and email with anything that is missing or wrong. Thanks!

BBL 2/20 – Gravlee Fitness Racing Season Sendoff. This is it! The BBL series finale — which also means it’s also the “sendoff” for the real racing season! Gravlee Fitness will be hosting us with prizes and giveaways and food catered from Zoe’s. Attack zones, maps, directions posted. See y’all in the morning!!!

BBL 2/13 – Canceled due to winter weather with a few inches of snow on the ground and more still coming down. The finale for this year’s BBL series has been postponed until next Saturday (2/20). Please stay tuned for additional details about the series finale next week!

BBL 2/6 – Bob’s Bikes and Alabama Masters Ride. Ride recap posted. Points to follow once a few of the missing places are filled in. Also, there was a really bad wreck on Camp Winnie that took out several riders. Among the most seriously injured were Brandt van der Gaast from Auburn and Dewayne Minor. I am posting updates from Caitlin on DW’s status. If you’d like to help out, please sign up to take them a meal.

BBL 2/6 – Bob’s Bikes and Alabama Masters Ride. Penultimate ride in just a few hours … excited!!! I’ve added the attack zones and updated the points. I am missing points for the women for last week’s ride. Please update me. Thanks and see y’all in the morning!

BBL 2/6 – Bob’s Bikes and Alabama Masters Ride. Demo bikes will be available by Specialized and Giant offered. Check out a Carbon Tarmac or TCR giant. Mens and womens models available. We do have a hot shower if needed after the ride. Ion sports will be there with free sports drink. Dreamland BBQ sandwiches after the ride. Lots of door prizes to give away. Don’t miss it!!!

Unbelievably epic … yet another Belgium classics BBL 1/30 We started out with 40 degrees and light drizzle. By the end of the ride, it was 36 degrees and guess what … still light drizzle. So everyone was cold and miserable, but hopefully the hard training now will reap great rewards later in the season for everyone in the Birmingham community. Here is today’s recap, but I haven’t finished updating the results yet until I get clarification on the placings. Please read the recap and let me know what place you got! Thanks!

BBC stepping up to sponsor this weekend’s (cold) ride 1/30 We’ve got an exciting BBL ride planned with ION sports drink present filling water bottles pre ride and give-a-ways and food post ride! Bundle up with your warmest gear and come on out to Saturday’s ride at 9AM. Attack zones, ride map, and turn-by-turn directions have been posted below. With the altered route, the cold weather, and the desire for a shorter (in time) ride – there will be NO STORE STOP this Saturday.

Excellent turnout, excellent ride today BBL 1/23 Points and recap coming soon. Prayers for Deanna who fell hard on road debris/trash and had to be taken away in ambulance. Ok – here we go – here are the points and the recap. Somebody please help me fill in the missing spots or correct what’s there!!

Beautiful weather forecast for this week’s BBL 1/23 We’ll be back to our normal Irondale Starbucks starting location this week. Also we’ll be doing the Camp Winnie + Sterrett route with 3 attack zones and 1 KOM.

Riders survive epic Homewood Cycle & Fitness BBL 1/16 Red Bike Coffee was at the start with hot coffee before the ride, and the weather started out decent with overcast skies and temps in the upper 40s – but by the time the action heated up the temps plummeted and a hardy crew finished a BBL to go down in the record books. Big props go to Faris at Homewood Cycle & Fitness for hosting the ride and welcoming us into the shop for a post-ride meal catered by Zoe’s and paid for by Darryl (Thanks!!!) Recap | Points

View older updates

Upcoming Ride: Gravlee Fitness Season Sendoff

When:

2/20 @ 9:00AM

Where:

Gravlee Fitness 15 Dexter Avenue Birmingham, AL 35213-3703 (205) 871-7128

View Larger Map

Garmin Instructions

1. Use the mini-usb cable to plug your Garmin Edge 705 into your computer.
2. Wait for your computer to detect and assign drive letters to your device.
3. Download the BBL Gravlee Fitness.gpx file into the GPX folder on your Garmin device. If you have trouble downloading, right-click the gpx link and select “Save Target As…” and navigate to your Garmin GPX folder on the device.
4. Wait a minute or two to make sure your computer has finished writing to the device.
5. Unplug your Garmin
6. Turn your Garmin on and click Menu -> Where To -> Saved Rides
7. Select the BBL Gravlee Fitness ride and click “Navigate”
8. Be sure that you have “auto-recalculate” set to off in your settings. (Menu -> Settings -> Routing -> AutoRecalculate : Off)

Alternatively, I can wirelessly transmit the route to your Garmin using the ANT+Sport feature if you can find me before the start of the ride on Saturday.

ATTACK ZONE DESCRIPTIONS

	AZ #1 – Hwy 78 TNT Fireworks
	Who:	Women/Cat 5 ONLY
	Start:	Hwy 78 – Bottom of cemetery hill
	Finish:	Hwy 78 – Dirt/gravel entrance to TNT fireworks
	Distance:	1.1 miles
	Notes:

	KOM – Vandiver Climb on Hwy 25
	Who:	Everyone – handicapped points system
	Start:	Hwy 27 – As soon as we turn right onto Hwy 27 from Camp Winnataska Rd
	Finish:	Hwy 25 – Yellow line painted on the road at the top of the climb
	Distance:	9.7 miles
	Notes:	There is a yellow line painted on the road. This zone is really long.

	AZ #2 – Mimosa Rd
	Who:	Everybody – handicapped points system – normal AZ
	Start:	NO REGROUPING BEFORE THE START!!!! Top of Vandiver climb immediately after KOM
	Finish:	The intersection of Hill House Lake Rd
	Distance:	4.8 miles
	Notes:	This AZ starts immediately after the Vandiver KOM

	AZ #3 – Hwy 78 Irondale City Limits
	Who:	Everybody – handicapped points system – sprinters AZ
	Start:	Hwy 78 – As soon as we cross under I-20
	Finish:	Hwy 78 – The green Irondale City Limits sign at the base of Cemetery Hill
	Distance:	1.9 miles
	Notes:

	AZ #4 – Hwy 78 Cemetery Hill
	Who:	Everybody – handicapped points system – normal AZ
	Start:	Hwy 78 – Irondale City Limits sign
	Finish:	Hwy 78 – The Rock Ridge road green sign at the top of Cemetery Hill
	Distance:	1.7 miles
	Notes:	This AZ starts immediately after the Irondale City Limits AZ

Turn-by-turn Directions
  0.00 Head northeast on Dexter Ave toward Elm St (0.5mi)
  0.48 Turn left onto  W Montcrest Dr (354ft)
  0.55 Turn right at Euclid Ave (0.8mi)
  1.35 Head southeast on Leach Dr toward Warren Rd (308ft)
  1.41 Take the 1st left onto Warren Rd (289ft)
  1.46 Take the 1st right onto Mountain Dale Rd (0.5mi)
  1.98 Turn right to stay on Mountain Dale Rd (0.2mi)
  2.18 Turn left to stay on Mountain Dale Rd (0.2mi)
  2.33 Turn right at Swallow Ln (0.2mi)
  2.57 Head east on Idaho Ave toward Redwood St (0.2mi)
  2.80 Idaho Ave turns slightly left and becomes Bush St toward Bush St (397ft)
  2.88 Turn right at Vermont Ave (374ft)
  2.95 Turn left at Cinnamon St (276ft)
  3.00 Turn right at Maryland Ave (0.1mi)
  3.14 Turn left onto  Elder St (0.4mi)
  3.51 Turn right onto  Montevallo Rd (0.1mi)
  3.61 Slight right at Montclair Rd (0.5mi)
  4.12 Slight right onto Hwy 78 (7.8mi)
 11.64 Turn left onto Coosa Ave (1.1mi)
 12.72 Turn left onto Hwy 78 (6.7mi)
 19.43 Turn right to stay on  Hwy 78 (2mi)
 21.45 Turn right onto  Winnataska Rd (5.3mi)
 26.75 Turn right onto Co Rd 27/Wolf Creek Rd(2.1mi)
 28.84 Continue onto Co Rd 55 (1.4mi)
 30.21 Continue onto Co Rd 43 (3.5mi)
 33.76 Turn right onto AL-25 N (4.4mi)
 38.15 Turn right onto  Co Rd 101/Mimosa Rd (6.4mi)
 44.56 Turn right back onto AL-25 N (1.9mi)
 46.42 Turn left onto Elliott Ln  (1.6mi)
 48.01 Turn left onto  Montevallo RdAL-119 (0.6mi)
 48.64 Turn right onto  Zeigler Rd (1.5mi)
 50.13 Turn right onto Rex Lake Rd (1.9mi)
 52.07 Turn left onto Hwy 78 (7.5mi)
 59.56 Turn left onto  Montclair Rd (0.6mi)
 60.12 Slight left at Montevallo Rd (0.1mi)
 60.22 Turn left onto Elder St (0.4mi)
 60.58 Turn right onto  Maryland Ave (0.1mi)
 60.73 Take the 1st left onto Cinnamon St (276ft)
 60.78 Continue onto Vermont Ave toward Bush St (374ft)
 60.85 Take the 1st left onto Bush St (397ft)
 60.93 Bush St turns slightly right and becomes Idaho Ave (0.2mi)
 61.16 Turn left onto Swallow Ln toward Mountain Dale Rd (0.2mi)
 61.40 Take the 1st left onto Mountain Dale Rd (0.2mi)
 61.55 Turn right to stay on Mountain Dale Rd (0.2mi)
 61.75 Turn left to stay on  Mountain Dale Rd (0.5mi)
 62.26 Turn left at Warren Rd (289ft)
 62.32 Turn right at Leach Dr (308ft)
 62.38 Continue across intersection onto Euclid Ave (0.8mi)
 63.18 Turn left onto  W Montcrest Dr (354ft)
 63.25 Turn right onto Dexter Ave (0.4mi)
 63.69 Arrive at finish on Dexter Ave

Sponsors

• Birmingham Bicycle Company (BBC)
• Bob’s Bikes
• Cahaba Cycles/Homewood Cycles
• Tria Cycling Team
• DonohooAuto
• Infinity Med-I-Spa
• Danny Feldman from LFLM
• Gravlee Fitness
• ScottUSA Bicycles
• ZIPP – Speed Weaponry
• Red Bike Coffee
• Lead it out Cycling
• Dr. Terri Jones (Chiropractic Care)

Email Brian Toone to find out how to sponsor this series and see your business and logo listed here.

Fundamentals and purpose of the BBL:

1. Safety first and foremost
2. Fun and fitness
3. The intent is a structured winter training medium for riders who compete (Racers cat 5 – pro) not specific to just road.

Structured training ride:

1. The ride is an endurance pace averaging 18-20 mph with multiple hard efforts (attack zones) Attack zones will have much higher avg speed!
2. The riders will briefly regroup at the end of designated attack zones
3. There will be at least one store stop unless announced prior to the start that there will not be any stops.

Notes:

• While any and all are welcome to join the ride those who are not familiar or have never competed may or may not be able to keep pace therefore those that can not keep pace, it is up to them to be responsible for knowing that route as well as having all necessary items to in able them to get back to the point where they started.
• In some cases the ride may or may not totally regroup it depends if a particular rider or riders can or cannot maintain the average speed during an ATTACK ZONE or OUTSIDE an attack zone.
• THIS RIDE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A CASUAL GROUP RIDE. IT IS A STRUCTURED WINTER TRAINING RIDE FOR THOSE WHO COMPETE.

Complete Results and schedule

Click on the date to view results/recap when available.

Date	Time	Start Location	Details	Recap/Points
Nov 14	9:00AM	BBC	Kick-off event	Recap
Nov 21	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	T leads the way	Recap
Nov 28	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	Thanksgiving weekend	Recap
Dec 6	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	Points kick-off	Recap
Dec 12	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	The real points kick-off	Ride canceled due to crazy cold wet weather
Dec 19	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	Mother Nature, we want some points!	Recap | Points
Dec 26	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	Day after Christmas KOM Spectacular	Recap | Points
Jan 2	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	2010	Recap | Points
Jan 9	9:00AM	Bob’s Bikes	Bob’s Bikes Bonanza	Severe winter weather forced cancellation
Jan 16	9:00AM	Homewood Cycles	Clothing drive ride	Recap | Points
Jan 23	9:00AM	Irondale Starbucks	Back to the basics	Recap | Points
Jan 30	9:00AM	BBC	BBC Blast the Cold	Recap | Points
Feb 6	9:00AM	Bob’s Bikes	Bob’s Bikes Bonanza	Recap | Points
Feb 13	9:00AM	Gravlee Fitness	Series finale	Postponed until 2/20
Feb 20	9:00AM	Gravlee Fitness	The Gravlee Fitness Season Sendoff Ride	Points

Feedback and suggestions

We value your input and want to make this the best winter training series experience for everyone, so please leave us your comments and suggestions. Note: your comments will be moderated and potentially edited (spelling, etc…) so your post may not appear right away. Don’t despair, it will eventually get there!