Chuck Bramwell's Favorite Web Sites
Cycling - Bike Clubs and Teams
Adventure Corps -- This Web Site answers all of your questions about the Death Valley Spring and Death Valley Fall Doubles.
Bicycle Club of Irvine -- I might be a little biased but Irvine still is one of the greatest cities to ride in!!
BMS Cycling organizes the Central Coast Double and this Web Site has tons of information including a very impressive 3-D Elevation Chart as well as a cool map of Paso Robles!!
Davis Bike Club who organize the Davis Double, the largest Double Century in the U.S. which was started way back in 1969 and sets the standard for enthusiastic support!!
Los Angeles Wheelmen who organize the Los Angeles Wheelmen Grand Tour consisting of 200, 300, and 400 Mile Options. Nice Features: Full Grand Tour registration form is online and nice jersey image.
Orange County Wheelmen -- For some great training rides in Orange County, join the OCW Group for Saturday Centuries starting January 4, 1997. Meet at Foodpark, Main and McArthur, Irvine, 8AM sharp. Unsupported, moderate paced Century. These rides are a great way to get in shape for the Double Centuries. Call Jim Von Tungeln at 714-786-9603 or Charlie Irwin at 714-552-8480.
Perimeter Bicycling Association of America -- These folks organize the great Arizona rides: El Tour de Tucson, Tour of the Tucson Mountains, El Tour de Phoenix, and the Cochise County Cycling Classic which includes a 252 and 175 mile option.
Planet Ultra -- This Web Site answers all of your questions about the Butterfield Double, Solvang Spring Double, Mulholland Double, Heartbreak Double, Eastern Sierra Double, Classic Tour of Two Forests Double, and Solvang Autumn Double. These events are all organized by Planet Ultra.
Sacramento Cycling -- This Web Site is awesome and full of resources!!
San Luis Obispo Bike Club who organize the Wildflower Century in April and the Lighthouse Century in September.
Santa Rosa Bike Club who organize the Terrible Two.
Santiago Cycling Do you want to be part of a Cycling Team where riders work together in well controlled pacelines sharing the workload? Where Team Members help each other out both on the road and off? Where riders really get the feeling of being a teammate? Where the teamwork really pays off with amazingly fast Century times? If so, then look into joining the Veloce Santiago Cycling Team!!
Team Bikeaholics Precision Racing who explore and expand the limits of bikeaholism, provide information and amusement to our viewers, and offer cyclogical counseling and moral support to our brothers and sisters who share the same passion and addiction. Nice Feature: The 34 Early Warning Signs of Bikeaholism: If you experience any of these early warning signs, contact your local Bikeaholics chapter IMMEDIATELY!
Western States Bicycle Ride Calendar of all rides in California and the Western United States including some great Centuries!! This web page is authored and maintained by Charlie Irwin who helps the California Triple Crown in many ways.
Links to Every Bike Club in California!! -- Cycling.org is an incredible site with links to every known Bike Club in California!! In addition, check out All Mailing Lists for a list of Cycling Club's E-Mail Lists. Select "ultra" to review hundreds of E-Mails sent every month on long distance cycling. Select Hypermail Archives then 97-Sep to review Hundreds of E-Mails sent in the Ultra Cycling Forum for September of 1997.
Cycling - Really Big Goals and Adventures
PAC Tour -- How about riding from coast to coast – all the way across America -- using only a 3 week Vacation? I've ridden two full Pacific - Atlantic - Cycling (PAC) Tours with long distance cycling legends, Lon Haldeman and Susan Notorangelo. I can not say enough good things about these Cycling Expeditions Across America. I highly recommend them: I still wake up in the middle of the night dreaming of riding endless Roller Coasters!! For more info, send a SASE to: Lon Haldeman, PAC Tour, P.O. Box 303 Prairie Pedal Lane, Sharon, Wisconsin 53585. Completing future Triple Crowns can provide those "Personal Growth Experiences" to get you ready to roll!! It’s amazing what you can accomplish – and Lon and Susan are the true wizards at helping you turn your dream into a reality!!
Breaking Away Vacations -- Have you ever dreamed of riding the same route as the Tour de France or the Giro D'Italia? Breaking Away describes how they can make your dream a reality on this Web Site!! Other famous European Routes are available as well as Tours of Napa and the California Sierras.
Furnace Creek 508 -- How about riding 508 miles in a weekend? Chris Kostman is putting together a major Web Site to answer all of your questions about this RAAM Qualifier.
Furnace Creek 508 - 1997 Results -- Here are the results from the 1997 Furnace Creek 508 Race Across America Qualifier.
Race Across America - Hugh Murphy in the 1994 RAAM -- Here's a fantastic picture of Hugh riding on a beautiful stretch of wide open road in Northern Arizona.
Ultra Marathon Cycling Association -- Information on all your long distance cycling!! Note: This gives you directions on how to subscribe to the Ultra Cycling Forum on the Internet to be kept up to date on all of the latest in the world of Ultra Cycling every day in your E-Mail In-Box.
Boston-Montreal-Boston -- This site contains lots of information on this 750 Mile major adventure in cycling. Included in this Web Site are the results of the 1997 Boston-Montreal-Boston ride, which included 8 California Triple Crown Winners who went on to complete this HUGE RIDE!!
Big Rides longer than 600 km or 400 miles -- This page from Audax U.K. is a resource for ALL riders of LONG randonnees and related events in Europe, North America, Australia and anywhere else.
Cycling - Magazines on the Internet
Bicycling Magazine is the World's Largest Cycling Publication and has a Web Site here that is growing fast and strong by leaps and bounds!! Nice features: Daily Race Results, Product Reviews, and Training Tips. Skill Center has 16 excellent full length articles on topics such as "Training for a Century". Go to "Gear" then "New Products" then "Products - Lights" and check out a good review of Lighting Systems from the Jan/Feb 1998 Issue!!
Bicyclist Road Bike Magazine with a very complete Web Site including road tests and the latest cycling news!! Tons of articles are on-line here and are searchable via the search button!!
Velo News with Outstanding TV Coverage and Tour de France Articles
Clif Bars describes this company's great tasting products: Clif Bars and Clif Shots. These folks were bakers by trade and use real tasty ingredients. This web site also features some cool Clif Bar products like Clif Bar Hats, Clif Shot Hats, Clif Bar Water Bottles, and Clif Bar Cycling Jerseys under Clif Gear!! Nice Feature: Ed Burke's Training Tips under Clif Notes.
MLO Hard Body Energy Bars really taste good!! A perfect bar for before and after workouts or for an energizing snack. Formulated with a combination of complex carbohydrates, MCT's (medium chain triglycerides) and high quality protein, HARDBODY ENERGY BARS provide long lasting energy. This Web Site also has information on BIO-X Bars and MUS-L-Blast 2000+ which some Long Distance Cyclists use.
Power Bars were the originals.
Hammer Nutrition, Ltd., an innovator in athletic fuel sources, now offers Hammer Gel, a rapid energy carbohydrate gel, in cost effective, environmentally friendly packaging and three new flavors. The new Hammer Gel packaging represents the next step in gel packaging with its Hammer Jug and Gel Flask. Each jug contains 24-27 servings of gel which can be poured directly into a 5 serving Gel Flask, thus eliminating the pouch altogether.
I still like GU but haven't found a good Web Site yet.
I recommend supporting your local Bike Store for your Nutrition needs if at all possible. However, if your local Bike Dealer doesn't stock what you need, here are some ideas.
Ultra Sports Marketing is operated by Nick and Becky Gerlich who assumed leadership of the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association in 1994, and RAAM in 1996. Whatever your sports food needs are, they have something for you. They've been involved in ultra-distance bicycle racing for ten years, and have learned a lot about sports nutrition in the process.
Mr. Jill's Body Firm is a personal-fitness training facility located in Tustin, Calfiornia specializing in scientifically designed muscular strength training programs, nutritional guidance and weight management. Mr. Jill's opened its doors in Enderle Center in March 1995 with the dream of captivating motivated clients and helping them reach their personal weight loss and fitness goals.
Santiago Cycling -- The Cycling Pros at Santiago Cycling in Tustin, California can provide you with many ways to reach your cycling goals -- whatever they might be.
Want to ride a Double Century in less than 11 hours?
Santiago Cycling has what you need!!
California Department of Water Resources, Division of Flood Management provides constantly updated wind, temperature, and humidity from live Weather Stations throughout California. This site is amazing once you learn how to use it!!
For station id, enter FMC for Fremont Canyon and click on Go Button. You will then see an underlined Wind Speed column. Click on that and you will see a graph of the Wind Speed for last 48 hours!!
Click on underlined Temperature column and you will see a graph of Temps for last 48 hours!! Click on Show Map and you will see a Map of where the Weather Station is.
Click on "Nearby Stations" and you can then do the same for the Nearby Stations. Go back to the Main Page and see a list of all Weater Stations in California!!
Intellicast Weather has a very impressive Doppler Radar Map which covers all of California!!
The Weather Channel has a very comprehensive National and Local Weather Web Site. Nice Feature: Current Temperature, Wind, Humidity, Barometer, and 5 Day Forecast for over 100 Cities in California!! Includes local Doppler Radar Graphics which take awhile to download but are worth the wait -- so go grab a banana while those graphics are coming your way!! On my PAC Tours Across America in 1990 and 1995, we became totally addicted to the Weather Channel every night and this is better yet!!
Eric Norris, California Triple Crown Winner's Web Site -- Eric has assembled a great site with info on Double Centuries, his Mojave by Moonlight ride, and why Campy is the only way to fly!! Warning: This site contains a lot of photos so it takes awhile for them to download.
Peter Pop's Web Site -- Peter completed all 7 of the Triple Crown DC's in 1994 and 6 each in 1995 and 1996. He finished 1st in 1996 Death Valley DC in 11hr 44min. Finished 1st in 1996 Heart Break DC and 3rd in 1996 Triple Crown Stage Race. He then went on and finished the Race Across America in 1996 finishing eleventh with a time of 10d 5hr 40min!! Check out his great web site where he describes his Furnace Creek 508's and RAAM experiences!!
Team 2 Mixed UP - RAAM 1997 Tandem Team -- Captained by Tom Hooker with over 20 Cal Triple Crown Doubles and Tim Skipper with over 17 Cal Triple Crown Doubles, this is a Web Site showing this team's 1997 Race Across America Adventure. Nice features:good biographies and photos. This tandem team also has George Pinney on board as a joint crew chief with Jill Hooker -- George is the ride organizer of the Devil Mountain Double in the California Triple Crown and has ridden over 13 Cal Triple Crown Doubles including all 7 of the 1995 Doubles. Riding with Tom Hooker is Katrin Bath-Teal, a member of the Santiago Cycling Team in Tustin.
Alta Vista -- To narrow a search: Enter +california+triple+crown without any spaces to find only those pages that have "California and Triple and Crown" in them. To really narrow your search, enter: title:+california+triple+crown to search for those Web Pages with "California and Triple and Crown" in the Title of the page.
Yahoo -- To narrow a search: Click options then pick option that says "all keys". In addition, the Yahoo Cycling Page has a very good general index of Cycling Sites on the World Wide Web.
A Statistical Comparison of the Speed of Internet Service Providers
Adam Bramwell's 1997 Science Fair Project -- My son, Adam, finished this project in February 1997 while in the Ninth Grade at University High School in Irvine, California. He ran 75 trials of America On-Line, Microsoft Network, and GTE Internet -- downloading many complicated Web Pages and timing each one with his stopwatch. His conclusions are truly significant and come to life with graphs!! Yes, this is the same great young man who is frequently seen filling water bottles at Rest Stops in Death Valley and helping his Dad out with the California Triple Crown!!
Here are some great sites to help with your Kid's Schoolwork!!
A&E's Biography has over 15,000 Biographies online!!! For a great example, click on "Find" then enter the name of "Einstein" for a great Biography of "the originator of completely new ways of looking at space, time, and gravitational forces".
Dr. Math contains thousands of Questions and Answers about Math. Dr. Math also accepts new questions from K-12 students and their teachers about Mathematics. Questions can be about homework, puzzles, math contests, math education or anything else related to Mathematics.
Schoolwork.org has tons of resources to help you with your Homework!! Nice Feature: On the Math page, Dave's Math Tables gives you all of those hard to find Math formulae!! Gives you help with many links in the areas of Art, Biography, Dictionaries, Drug Info., Encyclopedia, Government & Politics, Grammar, History, Issues, Languages, Law, Literature, Maps, Math, Miscellaneous, Music, Mythology, Newspapers, Philosophy, Quotations & Speeches, Science, and Statistics.
Study Web has 26,000 Links to Web Sites loaded with research. Nice Feature: On the Math page, go to "Weights & Measurements" then to "Measurements Converter" which will take you to an easy to navigate site where you can convert Weight, Capacity, Length, Area, Speed, Pressure, Temperature, Circular measure and Time. For example, select Length then enter 600 Kilometers, Press Tab, and you'll see this is equal to 372.8329087 Miles or 23622047.2440945 Inches -- among other things!!
Chuck's Other Favorite Web Sites
Captain Rick's Kauai Activities -- My brother Rick has an awesome page here that includes Music and some outrageous Videos of the beauty of the Garden Island of Kauai in Hawaii!! If you're heading to Kauai, talk to Rick for some great discounts and tips of things to see and do!!