Birmingham Bike League

Wow – fourteen weeks of racing and the overall points competition came down to the final sprint on cemetery hill. Read all about it in the ride recap.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the series this winter – and everyone who made it out to the BBL season finale. We were able to raise a lot of money for Mitchell’s Place – a school for autistic children – and I think that speaks volumes for the cycling community’s heart to reach out to the community we live, train, and race in.

Prize list

• Cash
• Tria Market gift cards
• Starbucks gift cards
• Other “schwag” still to be determined

Sponsors

• Cahaba Cycles
• Birmingham Bicycle Company (BBC)
• Gravlee Fitness
• Darryl Seelhorst
• Terri Jones
• Infinity Med-i-spa
• ScottUSA Bicycles
• ZIPP – Speed Weaponry

Your name or business here! Shoot me an email if you would like to sponsor this year’s series.

Rules, regulations, and rankings

We are modeled after the Athens winter bike league and our ride style and ride goals are the same – good training, good distance with the camaraderie of a larger group, good fun, and good competition. The competitive part of the ride series is isolated to very specific attack zones. The rest of the ride is at a moderate pace. Attacking outside the attack zones is prohibited. Attack zones range in distance from 1-5 miles. Sometimes two attacks zones may be “back-to-back” making the total distance longer than 5 miles. The pace immediately after the attack zone(s) is expected to be recovery while everyone regroups. We are working on a complete list of rules, but in the meantime it looks something like this: ride guide

Points: points are awarded for the first five places in each attack zone. 5 for 1st, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and on down to 1 for 5th. You may attack at any point during the attack zone once the whistle has been blown. The finish is designated ahead of time. See the specific ride details on this page to learn where the attack zone will be for that day.

Ride maps and attack zone descriptions

View length, profile   The Gravlee Fitness "Season-Sendoff" Ride	Click the thumbnail image to download a high-resolution topocreator.com map of the route. This is the same version of the Camp Winnie route but with updated attack zones and KOMs for this week (2/14/09). The Gravlee Fitness “Season-Sendoff” Ride attack zone and KOM descriptions AZ# Length Start Finish KOM 1 3.2 mi. View map View details Immediately after the stop light on Hwy 78 at the intersection of the road that leads to Old Leeds Rd. The KOM finish is at the top of the hill on Hwy 78 at the leading edge of the driveway entrance to the Fireworks store. KOM 2 AZ 1 14.4 mi. View map View details Immediately after the righthand turn at the end of Camp Winnataska Rd (no sprint on Camp Winnataska this week!) The KOM finish is at the top of the Vandiver climb (leading edge of parking lot access road on the right). The attack zone finish is at the intersection of Hill House Lake Rd on Mimosa Rd (Hwy 41-N) AZ 2 2.3 mi. View map View details Immediately after the lefthand turn onto Hwy 78 The green Irondale City Limits sign on the righthand side of the road immediately BEFORE the start of the climb up Cemetery Hill AZ 3 1.8 mi. View map View details The green Irondale City Limits sign The green Rock Ridge Rd sign near the crest of the climb
View length, profile   The Tria Market Penultimate ride	Click the thumbnail image to download a high-resolution topocreator.com map of the route. This is the Tria Market version of the Camp Winnie route with the updated attack zones for this week (2/7/09). The Tria Market Penultimate Ride attack zone descriptions AZ# Length Start Finish 1 6.8 mi. View map View details Immediately after the righthand turn where Hwy 78 veers towards Camp Winnataska The last hill before the end of Camp Winn. Rd 2 7.5 mi. View map View details Immediately after the righthand turn from Hwy 43 onto AL-25 The intersection of Hill House Lake Rd on Mimosa Rd (Hwy 41-N) 3 2.3 mi. View map View details Immediately after the lefthand turn onto Hwy 78 The green Irondale City Limits sign on the righthand side of the road immediately BEFORE the start of the climb up Cemetery Hill
Terry's Camp Winnie ride (Updated)	Click the thumbnail image to download a high-resolution topocreator.com map of the route. This route will be known henceforth as Terry’s Camp Winnie route since it’s pretty much impossible to spell Camp Winnataska and because Terry was responsible for making this route the most popular Saturday morning route in the history of Saturday morning routes. Terry’s Camp Winnie ride attack zone descriptions AZ# Length Start Finish 1 4.8 mi. Immediately after the righthand turn onto Camp Winnataska Rd The last hill before the end of Camp Winn. Rd 2 2.9 mi. Immediately after the lefthand fork onto Hwy 55 The yellow caution 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. 3 4.1 mi. Immediately after the lefthand turn onto Hwy 78 The green Rock Ridge Rd sign near the crest of the climb

Results and schedule

Results will be posted here along with weekly ride recaps.

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!