Illinoistocht

  • Home
    • Links
    • Contact
  • Canal Information
    • Canal Tour
    • Canal Facts
    • Canal Photos
    • Bicycling the Hennepin and I&M
  • Skating
    • Natural Ice Skating Photos
    • Speed skating in USA
  • Blog
    • Miscellaneous Extra: Pacific Coast Bike Tour
 

Pro cycling: Vuelta and the Tour of Missouri

8/31/2009

0 Comments

 
Picture
The last of the three pro cycling grand tours, the Vuelta a España is on television on Universal Sports, and the first several stages have been held outside the Iberian peninsula, in the northern part of the Netherlands (the other two grand tours are the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia).   As the race’s website put it, the 203km stage 2, “contain[ed] a curiosity: the day will begin in Assen at 10 metres above sea level and at no point during the 200 + kilometre stage will the riders climb to more than 20 metres above sea level. It wouldn’t be possible to find a flatter stage.”   I guess the locals don’t fiddle with triple cranks or compact cranks.  That’s how flat the Netherlands topography is, which makes for great ice skating on its network of canals.  (The Vuelta’s stage 2 was won in 4 hours 43 minutes, by contrast, the similar length 1997 Elfstedentocht was won in 6 hours 49 minutes).
 
On another cycling note, the Tour of Missouri pro cycling race is fast approaching, and this year it has quite a good field, among the racers are Astana’s Levi Leipheimer, Garmin’s Christian Vande Velde (IL canals mention--he’s originally from Lemont, IL on the I&M), Tour de France green jersey winner Thor Hushvold, Tour de France mountain king Franco Pellezotti (and 3rd in this year’s Giro), big Jens Voigt of Saxo Bank, and lastly Columbia HTC brings long-time favorite George Hincapie along with sprinter extraordinaire, Mark Cavendish, who won 6 Tour de France stages this year.  The quality of the field and the event definitely make it worth a trip.  The tour starts in St. Louis on Labor Day, September 7, and ends on the 13th in Kansas City.  Preceding the tour, there are a variety of local cycling events. 

My own pick for a place to watch stage 1, held in St. Louis, would be to hang out in the Soulard area, possibly at McGurks, as there is a King of Mountain points awarded there, so you’ll get a better look at the peleton as they’ll be going a little slower uphill.  But the hill isn’t that steep, so don’t blink!
0 Comments

Hennepin trail survey

8/20/2009

2 Comments

 
I uploaded a photo journey of the Hennepin canal trail on Flickr, which you can see on the "Bicycling" tab of this website.  I also uploaded a longer, more detailed set that surveys the locks, bridges, and sights on the Hennepin (for now you can find on the "Facts" tab; Ed.--the survey was moved to the "Canal Photos" sub-page of this website, under "Canal Information", above), to give an idea of what you would encounter on a bike trip or paddle journey (I have a lot of photos of the bridges and locks for the latter). 

On another note, there is still no easy way to connect from the Hennepin trail to the I&M trail by bike.   I didn't get any photos of the roads that connect the two but I did find a link about it on the "crazy guy on a bike" website .  The Kaskaskia Alliance Trail has been proposed to form a trail link between the Hennepin and I&M trails but at this point it is still in the planning stages and the only means to connect the two are busy roads with little or no shoulders in parts. 
2 Comments

    Editor - Jim

    This blog weighs in on topics such as long-distance skating, the Illinois canals, cycling, and a variety of related (and occasionally not-so-related) topics.  I'd like to correspond with others interested in skating the Hennepin and I&M canals. 

    Archives

    November 2020
    June 2015
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    December 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    September 2008
    July 2008

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed