See more pictures from this album
Here.
All Photos: Ryan Matteson
we're diggin' the somewhat stealth tuxedo jersey in this pic.... do you see
it?
Check out Mark Johnson's exceptional tidbits here.
photo: Mark Johnson; call ups for Pro 1/2 starting line; posted on www.socalcycling.com
Holy Moly. Thanks to Cassandra and the rest of the kick-ass student team over at the Mustang for putting together a great online audio slideshow, with sweet voice clips from racers and participants, including a recap by Pro 1/2 winner Daniel Holloway of Garmin-Chipotle's U23 team!
Check it out at: www.mustangdaily.net, scroll down a teense and hit Online Features.
Ok, so we took some time to rest after this weekend... which you would think would be easy, but was actually painfully hard to do when you're used to the adrenaline rush of deadline after deadline. Like tossing a bad drug habit, we're finally getting through the shakes and looking back fondly at what has transpired in our beautiful and beloved town of SLO. On to some recaps...
First off, check out Coalition Board Member Barry Lewis' SLO Crit online album. Some Amazing Pics! MORE great perspectives to peruse, including this one of Fossil Fool of SF's RockTheBike.com with the Bike Parade Shenanigans as part of the Deux Run Run. DAMN, that SoulCycle is definitely a hit and Paul is sure savvy on that microphone, embodying the true sense of the cruise.
What a pleasure to be reading Mionske's latest VeloNews column and come upon his thanks to SLO Town for hosting him at the P2P Benefit. We thank YOU, Bob, for making the trip to our Central Coast hub, and enlightening us as to what's happening around the country and for opening up a dialogue about our rights as bicyclists. Mionske talked about how he perceives SLO town as an ideal community with minimal conflict between autos and two wheels. Here in SLO we do feel a little like Pleasantville, but we have our fair share of issues and that mostly depends on where you are in our County - the geography is diverse and so are the sentiments towards the bicycle mode.
Nevertheless, our Pedal to the People gathering brought all sorts of bicyclists together on the criterium weekend to experience some mouth-wateringly delicious food like smoked albacore and lasagna, cheeses and breads and fresh salads. The beer and wine flowed impressively, and no one could forget the miniature cupcakes that dazzled the taste buds with vanilla and dark chocolate and ohhh, even peppermint frosting.
Then it was into the auditorium to hear presentations. Adam, the Coalition's Executive Director started by showing the most adorable pic of himself as a little buck... talk about a crowd warmer. aaaawww! Adam gave the crowd an idea of what the Coalition's been up to, and where it's going.
On to Mionske, who blew people away with his genuine but humorous delivery of his life story. Everything about Mionske oozes goodness, from the fact that he traveled down from Portland and contributed his time to our Coalition, to his evident concern for bicyclists of all types. Of course, everyone loved hearing about the Olympic Trials Road Race in '92 and the verbal tactics he unleashed on Lance and Kevin Livingston in attempts to not get dropped on the climbs...
All in all, good times and good money raised for the Bicycle Coalition! Thanks to all that attended for showing up and blowing up. An especially LARGE thanks and lots o' love goes out to Shantel Beckers and Kim Lisagor, along with Dan Rivoire and Adam Fukushima, for their orchestration of a classy event for our community.
Stay tuned for more pictures to come, both on this site and others! THANK YOU to Everyone: volunteers, staff, spectators, competitors, and our amazing sponsors for taking the 2nd Annual SLO Downtown Criterium to the NEXT LEVEL.
Surrounded by thousands of spectators, Slipstream's VMG-FELT U23 Team Member Dan Holloway, 2007's National Criterium Champ, takes first place at the SLO Downtown Criterium. Ricardo Escuela and Cody Reilly of Successful Living Pro Cycling Team, took 2nd and 3rd respectively. Antonio Cruz of BMC Racing, not pictured, in 4th Place, and Danny Finneran of Rock Racing's Junior Team takes 5th place. What a fantastic Men Pro/1/2 race.
Fans were going wild as Beatriz Rodriguez of Southern California Velo clinched first place in the Women Pro/1/2/3 Race. Acqua al 2/SDBC's Bonnie Bourque was a close second, with 16 hyear old Kendall Ryan of Major Motion Cycling Club in third. PROMAN Racing's Melodie Metzger and Virgina Perkins took 4th and 5th place, respectively. A very exciting race for all to see.
ATTENTION RACERS: NEUTRAL RACE SUPPORT PROVIDED BY WILLIAM'S CYCLING WHEELS !
Based out of Stockton, Ca, this company is nothing short of fantasmic. Check out their site at www.williamscycling.com and find out how they live up to their front page motto : "More Bang, Less Bucks" yeah! In addition to providing you with all the support you need at the wheel pit on Garden and Higuera Streets, Williams Cycling Wheels is throwing out Custom-made two-wheel travel bags by Pika Packworks, the finest wheel carrying case on planet! These bags will be announced as primes in most if not all of the categories! Pika Packworks bags are soft, sturdy, made of 1000 denier cordura nylon on the outside, 400 denier nylon pack cloth on the inside. Reinforced external straps make it easy to grab and it fits in rental cars, buses or team vans surprisingly easy. The two wheel bag retails for $150.
Williams Cycling Wheels is a fine sponsor of the SLO Nexus Cycling Club. Don't forget to stop by the back of the wheel pit on Garden to check out their line of products. Roll ON!
Please visit this link and pick SLO Downtown Criterium out of the drop down to check the start lists!
Don't get me wrong, putting on the SLO Downtown Crit is fun, but it kinda gets to you, makes you a little whacky... as evident by the pic below. Meet some of the super-charged, fun-loving members of the SLO Criterium event committee. From L to R - Shaba, Rich Besco, Shantel Beckers, Yishai Horowitz, Dan Rivoire, below- Pancho Herrera, and Jim Aaron. Putting on events in SLO would not be half as fun without these peeps.
Props also go out to those not pictured: Sophie Boban, Paul Doering, Tyler Werternbruch, Ryan Hostetter, Amy Cockerham, Brad Buxton, Tim Wilkinson, Kristina Seley, Megan Ahearn, Mark Rhomberg, Peter Brown, and Paul Hatalsky. SLO town gets high marks for community cooperation and that's how we are able to bring this event to YOU!
Bob Mionske called in today from Portland for an interview with KCBX FM 90.1 to promote the
Pedal to the People Benefit, to be held on Saturday the 19th at 5:30pm. Bob's the guest speaker for the P2P Benefit, such a great fit for our weekend and an honor to have him. Mionske's made a successful career defending bicyclists' rights as an attorney, which he decided to do after kicking some serious butt as a professional cyclist, (ie: 2 Olympic games and the 1990 National Road Race Championships, see pic to left). He wrote a book that came out in June 2007 that every bicyclist should have, called "Bicycling and the Law". It's getting rave reviews and has a great forward by Lance Armstrong himself.
Having talked with him a handful of times now as we get ready to host him, I am happy to say Mionske's a very genuine and unique character with a very eclectic bicycle background that I know all of you will enjoy hearing about. Of course, you may already be familiar with Mionske through his column in
VeloNews Magazine, and in that case, you owe it to yourself to see him in person and support the SLO County Bicycle Coalition all at the same time.
By the way, this quote from a friend's blog is so spot on:
"Being on your bike is a celebration. It's a confirmation of health, sustainability, camraderie and happiness."
Isn't that what we're all after? And since you ride your bicycle, here's a reminder: You need to come to the Pedal to the People Benefit to help us celebrate all the great things that come into your life from riding your bike! ...and hear Mionske, get his book to have as a reference, enjoy great people, food, beer and wine, live music-- a great night in SLO.
So it goes without saying that alot of cyclists like wine. And here in the Central Coast, there is no shortage of award-winning vineyards, nor bicyclists touring the back-country roads to enjoy the wine that floweth from the vines.
However, something special has come SLO's way with a new business co-founded by avid bicyclist Bill Kesselring. Peloton Cellars hand-crafts wines from within the Paso Robles wine region of California’s Central Coast. Peloton is the creation of four friends from “back-in-the-day” and it is their mission to offer quality wines that are a pleasure to drink any night of the week and with any meal. Since their love for wine rivals their passion for riding bikes, they feel it is only fitting to pay homage to one of our favorite pastimes through their business.
We like! Peloton Cellars is the premiere wine contributor to this year's Pedal to the People Benefit and SLO Downtown Criterium and we thank them for their generosity. AND, come out and cheer for Bill when he races the Cat 3 !
Since Start/finish, Registration, Awards, Information and T-shirts Sales are all going to be on Garden Street this year, Linnaea's Cafe, located at 1110 Garden Street is going to bring on the caffeine for all participants in a special way.
Stationed right out of their quaint little window alcove facing the street, for walk-up convenience, Linnaea's baristas will be o
ffering a steal of a deal: 1 buck for a 12 oz coffee starting at 6am going throughout the day. This is a special deal just for this event. So be sure in between registering, checking out the fest, or racing/volunteering, to grab your 1-dollar cup o' joe!
Linnaea's Cafe became an official bike haven, (it already was but this put it over the top), when the popular green Rack with a Plaque took over a parking space right in front of the Cafe. The rack was donated directly from the ingenious maker of the racks, Peak Racks.
A copy of an ad going into New Times Weekly. Thanks to New Times Media for their consistent and warm support of the SLO Downtown Criterium and the Bicycle Coalition over the years! Check this schedule out and don't miss any of the fun.
NOTE: please bring your bike and gear and be prepared to roll out to a course not far from the shop to practice tactics.
Please RSVP with Kristina Seley so we have an idea of how many people to prepare for. Click
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
to email her.
Summer time is a busy time for hotels on the Central Coast, so we're honored to have the support of George 
Newland and Quality Suites located at 1631 Monterey Street in SLO. They are giving 25 to 30% off rooms when you ask for the "SLO Criterium" rate. Call them at (805) 541-5001 and book your rooms now before they're gone!
Here's what we've learned about Clif Bar & Co. When they decide they are coming to your event, they're gonna throw a big party, and at the
same time they're serious about implementing sustainable practices while they're hanging out. Being "green" these days seems so cliche, but there are some concrete things that make it real. Recycling, reducing, reusing, conserving energy.... So here's what we're offering, in partnership with Clif Bar, with hopes that you will join in and participate! Clif Bar's Blok Party will be located on Chorro Street in the Fairway close to Higuera Street.
- - Bring your old cell phones and batteries to the Clif Bar booth and Clif Bar will recycle them for you.
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- - The first 100 people can bring their regular light bulbs and Clif will exchange them for Compact Flourescent light bulbs!
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- - Clif Bar's teamed up with TerraCycle to reduce the number of energy bar wrappers ending up in the landfill. You can leave your wrappers at their booth, which are ultimately broken down and woven into strong material, and made into eco-chic products!
- Also, Clif Bar will be fighting global warming through the sale of Cool Tags. With the $2 purchase, Clif Bar invests the money into NativeEnergy’s Windbuilder program.
- - Clif Bar will be rolling into SLO in their Biodiesel Truck and parking it right in festival row, turning their spot into a one-stop tasting shop of their bars, gels, drinks and ohh so much more.
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- - Lastly. we welcome you to tap a toe to the illustrious Bike Rapper, Fossil Fool, whose sweet pedal-driven beats bring the people to the streets! This funky creator founded Rock the Bike and works beside the BikeBlender inventor and Xtracycle owners, pushing the envelope on innovative urban bike adventures in northern California.
Clif Bar is working with us all to reduce our overall footprint on this planet. Are you up for the challenge?
Dolphin Shirts supplies this year's T-shirt printing, featuring John Landon's fantastic original artwork.
Jerseys and posters will also include the 2008 artwork. The original piece will be silent auctioned at the Pedal to the People Benefit on Saturday night for proceeds, going to SLO County Bicycle Coalition.
Thanks to Dolphin Shirts for their support, and HUGE gratitude to Mr. Landon for his donation of talent! Check his work at: www.landonart.com
Thanks to 'SLO Pedro' for raising the stakes for the Masters 35+ 1-3 race by throwing in an additional $300 dollars, taking the total payout to $1000. Pedro, (pictured to the left racing for Cal Giant/Specialized Masters team!), we thank you for sweetening the pot and for your work on the SLO Downtown Criterium over the last three years!
Oh yeah, and we're pleased to be giving out $2000 for both Men Pro/1/2 and Women Pro/1/2/3. Not many races out there going equal- we're proud to be one of them. Plus, over $6500 in cash and prizes throughout the day means a bunch of dead presidents and sweet schwag could be in your hands after your race.
Smooth as a baby's bottom: We were mostly cracking up last year when the City of SLO decided to pave the downtown streets right after the SLO Crit... well, we were actually kinda bummed for all the stories we had to endure of sore behinds and such... ;-)
However, it has been quite fun cruising down the Higuera Strip, smooth pavement underneath the rubber, giggling in anticipation of what will be a much better ride for all, and a FAST one at that!
Picture: locallinks.com, close to Garden and Higuera, where the start will be this year.
Latest News! Registration is now open at:
www.firstgiving.com/sosc
Meet at 12 noon at Garden Street at the Special Olypmics booth!
Yes, a play on words and an old catchy tune for this year's highlight activity-- an all-ages, 2-lap Fun run before the Master's 35+ race.
The Deux Run Run - Dash to Raise Cash is a celebration for everyone and a fundraiser for the SLO County Chapter of Special Olympics. We invite you to get dressed up and join hundreds of costumed participants, families, weekend runners and people just out for a stroll. This is a great opportunity to make your way through the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo and cheered by hundreds of spectators!
The Run will take 2 laps on the course to the cheering of the crowds on the streets. There will be awards for best individual and group costumes, as well as most money raised for Special Olympics!
Each year through Special Olympics San Luis Obispo County, hundreds of volunteers give their time and talents to create unforgettable memories for athletes. Now with the Deux Run Run, the community has an opportunity to help raise money for our program here in downtown San Luis Obispo!
Special Olympics hosts year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
With its Wall of Sound-- the thousands of spectators lining the streets cheering so loudly that racers recall they couldn't hear their own breathing-- the SLO Criterium has with it a legacy of notable riders and fond memories going back to the mid-70's. We tip our hat to the history of this great race. 
