Ride like an Olympian in Mission Viejo, California

The 1984 Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles.  The LA games have garnered a special place in the vast collection of Olympiads.  The success of the games was not so much in the arena of play because many Soviet bloc countries boycotted the games (in response to the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow games).  The success that people remember most was at the box office.  The ’84 games, unlike most games, made money.  The 1976 Olympics in Montreal was a financial bust.  For more recently history, some economists blame part of the financial meltdown in Greece on the country’s staggering losses endured preparing for and hosting the Athens games in 2004.   

The LA games were managed by Peter Ueberroth, a marketing whiz more than anything.  It was his idea to find sponsors willing to link their names and products to the games.  In cycling he managed to get a couple million dollars out of the Southland Corporation for the construction of the Olympic velodrome.  Southland-owned 7-11 was well represented during the cycling events inside the velodrome.  That’s just one example of the largesse corporate money brought to the Olympic movement.  Today, corporate sponsorship is everywhere.

The ’84 Olympic cycling program included the track and velodrome events but also the road course and for that we move to Mission Viejo.  The city of 100,000 was relatively new in 1984.  It was built from nothing, literally.  Mission Viejo was part of a wave of “planned communities” that popped up all over America in the 1960s and 70s.  The idea was an East Coast phenomenon.  The thinking was to take entirely barren tracts of land and build complete towns from scratch.  The first such project was in Virginia and the result was the town of Reston.  Later Columbia, Maryland was built.   

When open land became scarce on the East Coast builder’s looked west.  Orange County, California was ripe for the picking (excuse the pun).  Mission Viejo was completed in 1980 with some construction continuing to 1988.  The area was previously farm and grazing land nestled between the Saddleback Mountains.  Today it is 18 square miles of homes, shops, schools and more.  Lake Mission Viejo (pictured), a man-made water feature takes up about one square mile and is the crown jewel of the city.

Mission Viejo was home to the finish of 1984 Olympic Road Race course.  The race was held July 29, 1984 and with some help from sites like Map My Ride, today riders of all levels can take on the challenge of the final loop in Mission Viejo.  The loop is 9.85 miles and is hilly with both short, steep climbs as well as long gradual climbs.  If you can find parking, you will want to start on Olympiad Road (formerly O’Niell Road, it was renamed to honor the city’s contribution to the ’84 games).  After the Olympiad Road start you will head north skirting past the lake then through a gradual climb alongside Youth Athletic Park to a right turn at Marguerite Parkway.  This eventually leads to Hidalgo which then puts riders on a long descent down Vista Del Lago and then back onto Marguerite Parkway.  Turning left onto La Paz Road begins a category 5 climb (the easiest category of climbs) to the finish back on Olympiad.  With good weather and amenable traffic, riders should complete the loop in under one hour.  American Alexi Grewal won the gold medal that day back in 1984 with a total time of 4 hours, 59 minutes.  The complete course beginning in Los Angeles and concluding with the loop of Mission Viejo was a total of 118 miles.

Please visit our website which has been updated for February: new Product Review, new Random Thoughts, new Shop Spy visit and a link to the cool Polar Water Bottle (we are testing the best water bottles now and will have a review next month).  Visit www.stickybottleteam.net.

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Mile High in Romania

The chamois is a kind of antelope with a touch of mountain goat.  They have the long legs, doe-eyes, and antlers that one would expect to see on such an animal.  The things can grip like new Pirelli’s and hold like Gorilla Glue.  The largest concentration of the species is in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania.  It is from this animal that we get chamois leather, although the chamois we see in stores throughout the world is actually more likely to be deer, goat or sheep.  There is little chance that your authentic chamois is from an authentic chamois.    

The Carpathian Mountains provide a perfect home for the chamois and other creatures that have hoofs, antlers and padded feet like bears, lynxes, and wolves.  The mountain range is nearly 1,000 miles long and stretches through six countries with Romania home to over half of the Carpathian peaks.  The peaks are at their highest in Romania with some towering over 8,000 feet.  Parts of the Carpathian range in Romania are home to some of the most pristine forests in the world with trees untouched for centuries.  

The tall Carpathians have roads and highways that are some of the highest in the world.  The "Transfagarasan" is one such road.  Automobile fanatics love to drive the highway and many claim it to be the best highway on the globe for driving enthusiasts. (Other car freaks will argue in support of Stelvio Pass in Italy as their favorite).  Anyway, construction of the highway began in 1970 so Romania could move military and defense vehicles to their borders quickly.  They had seen the quick thrust the Soviets made into Czechoslovakia in 1968.  Romania wanted to be prepared.  The work was done by the military at a breakneck pace with over 40 personnel losing their lives in the four years it took to complete the 60 mile project.  The highway, with the official designation of National Road 7C, opened in 1974.   For about half the year, sections, if not all of the road, are closed due to heavy snowfall. 

The highway is a favorite because of its steep climbs, fun twists and turns, and views from the top of the world.  One section passes near the village of Arefu, the home of Vlad the Impaler, the legendary warrior who Hollywood rebranded as Count Dracula.

Since the highway opened it has been a part of the Tour of Romania which itself began in 1934.  The lung-burning climbs and death defying descents are the stuff of legend.  Some of the climbs are what the French refer to as Hors Catagorie (“beyond classification”).  The Tour has been part of the UCI schedule since 2008.  The race is not on the World Tour so many of the names from the race are people you may not recognize.  Most of the event’s past winners are native Romanians.  For everyday people who like to go for a bike ride this might not be a challenge you should accept but if you do be prepared for über-steep grades and give yourself about five hours to complete the 60 mile journey.  Romania has some bike tour companies that can take you through the Carpathians safely, just fly into Bucharest.  They will then take you on a six day adventure with your cycling taking place at well over one mile in altitude.  

We have a short video of the Carpathians on our website, www.stickybottleteam.net.

This maze was built for swift movement of men and material?  It makes the double helix look like simple geometry.