2012 OC Gran Fondo

2012 OC Gran Fondo

If you missed riding in The Tour, the Olympics, or even if you rode both, stretch your legs at a fundraiser on one of the 4 routes offered at the 2012 OC Gran Fondo. While primarily a fundraiser for  “Be A Hero Become A Donor” foundation (BAHBAD) and St. John Neumann Youth Ministry, there’s lots of free goodies and support along the various routes, and a pasta meal at the end!

Not enough? How ’bout this: 101 and 64 mile riders will receive a free RACE CUT jersey by Hincapie, while the 11 and 30 mile riders will receive a free high quality OC Gran Fondo water bottle! If that’s not enough, Bianchi has a special offer for new bike purchases.

Update 9/24/12: Latest registration, parking, and Ride instructions are posted here. If you missed this year’s ride because you’re in the Tour de Cure, mark your calendar now for the OC Gran Fondo happening on October 5th, 2013.

Register before September 1st because prices go up after that.  If you want to guarantee your jersey size for the ride, please register by August 17th.

Entry:
Before September 1st              After September 1st
VIP – $199                                                 $249
101 –   $99                                                  $110
64 –     $99                                                  $110
30 –     $25                                                    $30
11 –     $20                                                     $20

 

Much more info at the website.
Ride strong, ride safe, have fun.

Road and Trail Closures in South County on 9/23/12

As a public safety message reminder from yesterday’s OC Register regarding road closures in the south county:

The following roads and trails will be closed to the public between the hours of 06:00 thru 13:00:

  • San Juan Creek Bike Trail  – closed between Doheny State Beach and Calle Arroyo
  • La Novia Avenue  – closed between San Juan Creek Road and Calle Arroyo

Also being closed from 06:30 to 09:30 is: Northbound La Pata Avenue

Ortega Highway, traffic will be reduced to one lane between Avenida Siega and Antonio Parkway from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Eastbound Ortega Highway from Antonio Parkway to El Cariso Village will be closed from 06:30 to 12:30.

Not mentioned from the Register is that there was/is signage through Doheny Beach and Campground as well as the protected bike lane from Beach to Capistrano indicating that that they also will be closed until 16:00.

If you’re trying to get some miles in for the OC Gran Fondo, ride elsewhere, or take PCH straight through Dana Point and into San Clemente. Marguerite to Avery to  Camino Capistrano to Del Obispo will get you there from the inland county, or you could take Marguerite all the way to Ortega to work your way through traffic to Del Obispo.

If you go out on PCH the problem will be on the return if the protected area is still closed because your access to Harbor is cutoff unless you take the sidewalk from Palisades / Beach, or ride the on ramp (watch for traffic coming from the right at the gore point) back onto PCH. Or, you could have a real workout and take a left at the dreaded Stonehill and take it through the rollies to Niguel, or take the easy way by turning left on Del Obispo (which turns into Harbor after crossing PCH) so you have the option of climbing PCH, Golden Lantern, or for extra bonus points, Cove.

We earlier looked at both websites for the City of Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano for guidance regarding closures and found nothing posted at the time. We are concerned because the current closures differ materially from the “strongly discourage” language used previously as can be seen in our original post about the event here. Each City referred our inquiry to the promoter, who assures us that:

“We have worked diligently with all agencies & cities to obtain permits for the use of trails, streets and a highway and to provide comprehensive advanced notification to the residents of Dana Point & San Juan Capistrano (and beyond).”

..so maybe we’re getting worked up over nothing because we didn’t get the memo.

Plan your routes carefully – it looks like a warm weekend and all the popular and safe southern routes are out of play this Sunday.

Saturday be aware of car parking and extra traffic at Trestles for the Surfing Championship.

Finally, the injured rider from last Thursday the 13th was registered to be in Sunday’s Tri, We’ve  asked that her entrance fee be refunded from the promoter. We’ll let you know his response when we receive it.

Michael Jason Lopez Charged

9/20/12: From the Daily Pilot we learn that the suspect was in court, and his arraignment has been continued to Oct 5th.

Michael Jason Lopez, 39, of Anaheim, faces one felony count of hit-and-run causing the death of Dr. Catherine “Kit” Campion-Ritz, and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, according to the D.A.’s office.

Lopez also faces a sentencing enhancement for a prior strike conviction in 1993 for a residential burglary, prosecutors said.

If convicted of all charges, the suspect faces a maximum of 8 years in state prison.

Bail is expected to be set at $100,000, far too low in our opinion, but we trust our county team to know what they’re doing. Although we note that compared to the arresting charges, the prosecuting charges appear to be watered down from Vehicular Manslaughter with Gross Negligence, to Vehicular Manslaughter without Gross Negligence. Why the change?

One again, our sincere thanks to the tireless and dedicated hard work conducted by the Newport Beach Police Department, and others, to bring this matter to the District Attorney who we’re sure will prevail.

For a picture of the suspect please see the Daily Pilot.

The case  is # 12CF2769, and is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Nancy Hayashida of the Homicide Unit.

Injured Triathlete in Newport Beach Update

This morning we received confirmation of an earlier bicycle collision on the other side of the bridge at Dover and PCH on Thursday the 13th of 2012.

Newport Beach Police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe supplied the following:
“The accident occurred at approximately 11:15 am westbound on West Coast Highway, west of Dover Drive,” Lowe said in the email. “A female bicyclist was struck by a truck pulling a fifth wheel trailer. The preliminary investigation indicates that the truck was traveling westbound on West Coast Highway, as it passed the cyclist the rear right portion of the trailer clipped the handlebars of the bicycle, causing the cyclist to fall. The female cyclist suffered serious injuries and was transported to a local hospital. Her condition is unknown at this time.” In an e-mail exchange Kathy confirmed that:” The driver of the truck has not been cited or arrested. The collision is still under investigation.”

We would like to update the above with the rider’s condition, and ask for your healing thoughts towards “Rider A“.
Rider A, is a seasoned triathlete,  riding a “course” she’s ridden many times before in her training rides. Surgery to relieve pressure in the skull scheduled for today was deemed unnecessary by the medical staff, although until bleeding is absorbed,they won’t know anything about the use of her right leg or recovery amount,  and recovery time is unknown at this point.

Rider A was transported to another hospital out of the area, and remains in ICU.

We send her our best recovery wishes and hope you do too.