A New Friend

It took the 11 years and four treks, but I’ve made friends with the North Shore of Minnesota – a stretch of Lake Superior shoreline, highway, infamous landmarks, and seasonal resorts. Up until now, my travels that direction epitomized the word miserable. Few other places in the country boast about bad weather to attract tourists, [...]

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Nature Valley Grand Prix Announces Changes For Time Trial

Minneapolis – This year’s edition of the Nature Valley Grand Prix will go “old school,” with a return to Eddy Merckx-style racing for the individual time trial that opens this year’s USA Cycling National Racing Calendar event. Executive Director David LaPorte said the Nature Valley Grand Prix has opted to invoke a new USA Cycling rule that allows [...]

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Nature Valley Grand Prix Culminates in Stillwater

The 11th edition of the Minnesota Bicycle Festival and Nature Valley Grand Prix ended today in Stillwater, Minn. Under clear skies (thankfully) and warm temperatures, thousands of spectators lined the now infamous Chilkoot Hill to watch the pro men and women battle in their respective races. For the women, Kristin Armstrong hung on to a [...]

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Nature Valley Grand Prix Rocks, Rolls

This year’s Minnesota Bicycle Festival featuring the Nature Valley Grand Prix started under clouds of drizzle on Wednesday morning, June 10. But riders refused to let wet weather dampen their objective: to reach the podium on Day One of the five-day, six-stage race. Gold medal Olympian, Kristin Armstrong lived up to all early expectations as [...]

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Minnesota Bike Festival – June 10-14

The Southwest Journal reports on the upcoming Minnesota Bike Festival. Click here to see that newspaper’s coverage. Take note, three-time Nature Valley Grand Prix champion and Olympic Gold Medalist, Kristin Armstrong, has confirmed she will ride in the 2009 NVGP as she readies herself for the 2009 World Championship Time Trials and Road Race in [...]

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Ride Of A Lifetime

Those of us with young children will appreciate this video from Fatty at fatcyclist.com. I made my kids ride on their own when they were small – refusing the trail-a-bike method for fear they would be lazy and refuse to let go of their training wheels. After seeing this video, however, I wish I’d given [...]

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One That Got Away

Tyler Hamilton won’t be riding in the Nature Valley Grand Prix or any other pro bike races. Seems his shortened career is the result of not one, but two positive doping tests. The most recent caused by DHEA (steroid) in a supplement he knowingly took. The full story was reported on ESPN.com (click here). The [...]

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Selfish Promotion or Fair Play?

The Nature Valley Grand Prix is a bootstrap kind of event. It was founded by someone interested in creating awareness about the cycling community in the Twin Cities. It’s grown to become a major contributor to Children’s Hospital and the pediatric hospice and palliative care unit managed by Children’s. A pro race that brings in [...]

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Nature Valley Grand Prix New Uptown Minneapolis Course

The venue change from downtown to Uptown Minneapolis for Stage 4 of the 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix should result in a very popular race becoming even more appreciated. Here’s the map of the race course. The race will tee off after work on Friday, June 12 and will include separate men’s and women’s races [...]

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New MTB

Road biking suits me well. I started really riding on the road about 10 years ago and have no complaints. I’ll always be a roadie at heart. But in the spirit of trying something new, this bike season,  I sold the Trek hybrid that I barely broke in during the three years I owned it, [...]

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