New meaning to the term "cross training"

Cory Smith, a former editor of FasterSkier.com, posted the following on that site back in August. A friend just passed it along to me. For all of you cross-country skiers and cyclocrossers out there, Cory supports both as "cross training."

Like many skiers, I try to incorporate a lot of variety into my training. Variety ensures that my training is well-rounded, and makes it more fun than doing the same thing day after day, week after week. Variety can mean new places to train, different workout formats, or trying entirely different sports.

One sport that I've recently gotten into is cyclocross. For readers unfamiliar with 'cross, imagine if you took a criterium bike race and held it on a nordic ski trail. Cross is a little bit road biking, a little bit mountain biking, a little bit cross-country running, and a little bit of madness.

Read the entire story.

$825 MILLION for Active Transport

A press release from Rails to Trails Conservancy ....

TRAILS, WALKING AND BIKING EARN $825 MILLION IN STIMULUS
TO SPARK JOBS, ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION

Washington, D.C.—Today (Feb. 17), President Obama signed into law an economic recovery package that contains $825 million in funding for Transportation Enhancements. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) applauds Congress for its foresight in recognizing the job creation benefits of building bicycling and walking infrastructure, including trails. While representing less than two percent of transportation funding in the bill, this investment could create tens of thousands
of jobs and critical active transportation connections that communities need.

Transportation Enhancements (TE) is the nation's largest federal funding source for trails, walking and bicycling and a long-standing program that has historically enjoyed bi-partisan support. Its place within the stimulus package, however, heralds a transition in thinking among elected leaders who once viewed active transportation projects as niceties and now know them to be necessities for a balanced transportation system and a robust economy.

"We are very pleased with Congress for recognizing the wisdom of investing in active
transportation," says Kevin Mills, RTC vice president of policy. "The immediate job creation will also deliver long-term benefits for communities by reducing traffic congestion, climate emissions, oil dependence and obesity rates."

RTC documented this strategy and its implications in its "Active Transportation for America" report, released last October. According to the report, moderate investments in active transportation can yield substantial economic benefits, making bicycling and walking a highly cost-effective choice for policy-makers.

"Americans are seeking opportunities to walk and bike more, and drive less, particularly for short trips," says Keith Laughlin, RTC president. "With this funding, more Americans will be able to make that choice."

RTC will track the progress communities make in implementing hundreds of ready-to-go projects that will be aided by this recovery funding. Visit www.railstotrails.org/atfa to learn more about the immediate and long-term benefits of funding active transportation.

Make Every Ride Count

I was just turned on to an interesting new concept that allows you to log your riding and or running miles and turn them into cash donations to some wonderful non-profit organizations who support our beloved sport.

It is called Plus 3. It's a free online social network that motivates and rewards its members for logging rides. For instance, SRAM/RockShox and Trek support IMBA and provide funding to the organization for every mile you ride.

The following is info posted on the Plus 3 site:

Making It Count. With the Plus 3 Network, we let you turn every step, every turn of the pedal, every stroke in the pool into a fundraising effort for a cause of your choice. We do this at no cost to you via the support of Corporate Sponsors - dedicated companies who care about the planet, about health and fitness, and about the things we can do together to make a difference.

Free. And as we said, this is all free to you. We've identified companies who want to support you as you get healthier, get social, and help others. All you need to do is choose a Cause/Sponsor combination and then get out there -- either solo or with friends-- and get going.

Activity = Rewards = Fundraising. When you record an activity on The Plus 3 Network -- either by simply logging it on your Activities page "by hand" or by uploading with a GPS to automatically record it and identify it as a run, ride, walk, swim or other -- we apply a value ($.00x per mile, depending on the sport - click here for the table of values). And that value translates to money raised for your Cause and towards Rewards for your Challenges.

Payout By Activity Type

Activity	GPS Upload Payout (Per Mile)	Hand Entry Payout (Per Mile)
Road Biking	$0.02	$0.0067
Mtn Biking	$0.025	$0.0083
Running	$0.035	$0.0117
Walking	$0.05	$0.0167
Swimming	$0.2	$0.0667
Other	$0.01	$0.0033

GPS vs. "Hand Entry" - Remember President Reagan's famous quote about "Trust but verify"? That's sort of Plus 3 Network's motto when it comes to recording your efforts. We trust that the items you put into the system to raise funds for a Cause are accurate to your best estimate, but when we can Verify the accuracy (like with a GPS upload that includes the course, the pace, the distance and the date), we can transfer even more funds to the Cause. And on top of Fundraising, you also get to use your activities to earn Rewards and all kinds of other cool swag.

So to summarize, every effort your record on Plus 3 Network earns rewards for you and money for your cause and shows up on your calendar. A GPS verified record earns 3 x-- yes, Three Times-- more funds than a hand entry. And it's 3 times more fun, 3 times more geeky, and even 3 times more valuable to the rest of The Plus 3 Community when you post activities via GPS. Need a GPS? We can even help you get one. Click here to learn how.

How Does My Cause Get Funds? We run a report about once a month or once a quarter depending on the sponsor / cause requirements. The report tells Sponsors how many Plus 3 members covered how many miles that month/quarter. Then the corporate sponsor writes a nice big check to your Cause and everybody wins.

Stimulus Amendment To Prohibit Bike Funding

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has offered an amendment to specifically prohibit funding for bicycles, walking and offroad vehicles.

The amendment, which states: "Prohibition on use of funds for trails and off-road vehicle routes. None of the funds made available under this Act shall be used for bicycle, walking, or wildnerness trails, or off-road vehicle routes," has been offered but not introduced.

Alert your Senators and urge them to vote against such amendments and ensure that funding for bicycle infrastructure remain eligible under the transportation funds provided in the stimulus package.

DeMint, who is chair of the Senate Steering Committee, said “When people see bike trails and hiking trails and golf courses, they know this is not designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs. It’s just basically special-interest pork barrel spending.”

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) rebuffs this argument, stating, "Investment in bike paths will not only improve our economy, and take our country in the right direction for our future; it is precisely the kind of investment the American people want. American families have indicated time and again in the passage of bond measures across the country that they favor spending on alternative transportation, such as bicycles and mass transit, over spending on more highway capacity.

"Americans want a real solution to the economic crisis, not just a band-aid fix. These investments will stimulate the economy in the present and point our nation toward the economic and environmental realities of the future.”

From the Mouths of Brainy Cyclists

Jon Paretsky, a senior on the Ripon cycling team and a Knop Scholar, was asked to welcome the 30-plus high school seniors who were on campus Saturday to compete for scholarships.

His presentation went a little like this:

Hello! It’s my pleasure to welcome you all to Ripon College. First of all, congratulations, for each of you has shown a certain degree of skill and scholastic aptitude to have been invited to scholarship days. I trust that your interviews and essay writing went well, now is your time to relax, and to enjoy being here.

When I was first asked to speak at Scholarship Days, I wasn’t really sure what I would talk about. Not unlike yourselves, I am a senior. I have worked throughout my four years of college for this last semester, for the preparation of my next leap into the bigger world. I, too, am applying to academic programs, although in my case I’m looking into Ph.D. programs in chemistry. So I’m pretty familiar with that feeling you probably have — trying to answer the big questions, like: “Where do I go next? What place is right for me? What will I study? Will people like me? How will I know?”

So I’ve taken time to reflect on my own college experiences to see how I’ve come to this point now. You know, four years ago I was sitting in your spot. I had just hammered out an essay and made it through a couple of interviews. The next school year, I would be entering Ripon College as an incoming freshman of the class of 2009.

Like most people, I came to college undecided about what I wanted to study, although I had a pretty good idea of what I thought I wanted to do. I would, of course, continue studying German, because I enjoyed languages in high school and figured that it would be a neat path to follow. However, language majors are encouraged to take a second major, and I thought I would take up history. Well, some things just don’t work out the way you plan them to. Although German has been a mainstay of my academic experience, history soon fell out of the picture as I got hooked on chemistry after taking an introductory course.

Hey, no judgment casting guys. I hated chemistry in high school like most American students are supposed to. Part of what caught my interest was the new environment that I found myself in: people interested in learning science and seeing what they could do with it. And then there were the professors.

Ah, professors. Talk to almost any Ripon College student about the best part of the education here, and they will certainly mention their professors. When you’re looking at schools and trying to find your ideal student to professor ratio, what you don’t realize is that professor may become one of the driving factors of your education. I may have hated chemistry in high school, but my professors here at Ripon inspired me to not only enjoy it, but to thrive on it. They have encouraged me to challenge my comfort zones, to push myself in class, and to not give up, all while ensuring that I understand the material I’m supposed to be learning. Professors have such a keen impact on students’ lives because they actually care and take the time to become involved.

Enough about professors though, because, ultimately, there is so much more to college than being in the classroom. Indeed, some of the greatest lessons you will learn will be through the activities you participate in, the friendships you make, and the places you go.

Preparing for this speech made me realize just how much I had fit into my four years here.

I have participated in themed living groups, where a group of my buddies and I lived together in various residence halls over the past three years, throwing movie events and raising money for hunger programs.

Even though I’m not a theatre major, I have participated in a number of Ripon theatre productions, including two student-directed one-act plays.

There are numerous campus events for students, ranging from movie nights to iron-chef competitions to a concert by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

And there’s intramural sports. Nothing is quite like getting a group of your friends together to play innertube water polo in the fall or a vicious round of floor hockey in the spring. My friends and I live for the days when intramural sign-up sheets are released.

This past year I participated in something absolutely new to me: the brand new Ripon College Cycling team. Wow! Was I in for a rough road, literally. Our band of cyclists traveled near and far on the weekends competing in collegiate and general mountain bike races across the Midwest. I’ll admit, I’m not a stellar mountain biker, and believe me, I have some scars to prove it. But cycling gave me a chance to try something totally new, and in the end it was one of the most personally fulfilling things I have done at Ripon. I found that I was capable of doing things I never thought possible, like surmounting an impossible hill, or getting up and finishing a race after biffing it on the asphalt for the third time.

Ripon College has enabled me to have some of the most formative experiences of my life by providing me with the opportunities to travel. As a sophomore, I participated in a Maymester class that spent two weeks in a tiny mountain village in Jamaica, helping out with menial labor, painting walls and keeping the children out of trouble in after-school programs. This was my first major cultural exposure. In the following year, I spent my spring semester abroad at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Yeah there’s that German connection again. I’ve known since eighth grade that I wanted to go to Germany, and my junior year I realized that dream. I spent five months living in Germany, meeting new people from across the world, and taking classes in German language.

While there, I met up with fellow Ripon students who were on their own abroad programs. I visited my best friend in Scotland, and entertained guests in Germany who were studying in programs in Paris, London and Italy.

Probably my favorite part of studying abroad was an internship I had. I actually connected my interests in chemistry and German by doing lab work in the Bonn chemistry department. I spent about 20 hours a week in lab, gaining not only valuable lab experience, but some really cool German friends, too. I admit, it was hard working in an environment where I was speaking a foreign language, and there were days that I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find the German words to explain what I was doing; but the victories I had in lab made me feel like I was 10 feet tall. Studying abroad gave me a chance to live in a world that I had only ever seen pictures of, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about all that I have gained from it.

So there, now you’ve heard of all my experiences at Ripon, and believe me, there’s much, much more that I don’t have time to include in my talk. There’s a little something for everyone here, whether it’s Spanish theatre class, the hustle and bustle of Greek life, or a secluded corner of the library with your favorite book. Now is the time for you to have your own experiences and make your own memories. Good luck with your decisions ahead of you, and I hope you take advantage of the life shaping opportunities you will find here at Ripon College.

For more of Jon's experiences on the bike team and other miscellaneous tidbits, check out Jon's blog.