Tour of California Countdown - How one journalist has prepared for Lance's arrival!

Santa Cruz County residents and pro cyclists Andy and Ben Jacques-Maynes are the only brothers and only identical twins racing in the Tour of California. I interviewed them for several projects.

NEWSFLASH:
On Monday, February 16, 2009, Santa Cruz, California, will play host to the biggest pro bicycling race in the United States - the Amgen Tour of California. This is the first time my city has been involved in this race, which is now in its 4th year.

EATING, SLEEPING, BREATHING Tour of California!
As an adventure travel and endurance sports journalist — and a big fan of my adopted town of Santa Cruz, where I have lived since 1993 — I've been involved for months in multiple media projects related to this pro bicycling race - here are links to my stories. The schedule for the TV show I appear on is listed at the bottom.


* Good Times cover story on local racers in TOC Stage 2 (Feb. 12).

• Adventure Sports Journal, February Issue

• Facebook Group: 2009 Amgen Tour of California - Santa Cruz now has 500+ members! I created this and maintain it as a labor of love so thrilling to see it grow and include members of the international cycling community.



* Comcast cable show (30 mins.) on Amgen TOC Stage 2
Live in Monterey, Santa Cruz or Bay Area?
Tune into Tour of CA sneak preview TV show on COMCAST CABLE:

CHANNEL 17:
(seen by Comcast viewers in all of Santa Cruz County, except Capitola and Watsonville): Friday 2/13 at 6:00 and 11:00pm, Sunday 2/15 at 4:00 and 10:00pm.

CHANNEL 34:
(seen by Comcast viewers in all of Santa Cruz County, including Capitola and Watsonville, as well as all of Salinas and Monterey) 8pm, every night and airing until 2/15.

CHANNEL 104:
(seen by Comcast viewers in most of Northern California, including San Jose, Marin, San
Francisco, Santa Rosa, but excluding Santa Cruz and Stockton. Saturday 2/14 at 12:30pm.

Bicycling on the Brain - Tour of Calfornia + more two-wheeled updates

FULL SPEED AHEAD for this busy sports/travel writer! In this blog entry, I report on my Tour of California (TOC) projects for TV - Comcast, print - Good Times, Adventure Sports Journal and my pet project, Facebook TOC group.

I biked to a Tour of California press conference in Santa Cruz with my Apple laptop.

• The 2009 Amgen Tour of California, Feb. 14-22.
For the first time, the Tour of California (TOC), will include Santa Cruz, my city, on the route! World class bike racers - including Lance - will cross the finish line in downtown Santa Cruz on Monday, Feb. 16, President's Day.

- This professional stage race, the largest of its kind in the Unites States attracts the best road cyclists in the world - some of whom live right here in Santa Cruz.
- Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion (who is returning to racing after a three-year retirement) will compete in this grueling race.
- The international field will ride more than 800 miles - nearly the length of California, from Sacramento in the north, to Escondido in the South.

Professional cyclist Ben Jacques-Maynes, a Santa Cruz County resident, will race the Tour of California, more than 800 miles, Feb. 14-22. I interviewed him yesterday.

Santa Cruz will witness a dramatic sprint finish of Stage 2 of the race. Thousands of spectators will line the streets of downtown Santa Cruz, along with international media. The scenic Stage 2 starts that morning in Sausalito and will travel south over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and then head down Highway 1 to Santa Cruz! I am thrilled to have such a prestigious event coming to Santa Cruz.

Pro cyclist and defending champion in the Amgen Women's TOC race, Brooke Miller was a former collegiate volleyball player before she found success in bicycle road racing.

I'm involved in multiple TOC media projects:
• Comcast cable television show on TOC - A 30-minute segment produced by veteran newswoman Paula Mahoney will focus on Santa Cruz County as a hub of the cycling industry and Stage 2 of TOC. I am serving as "the talent," which means I am conducting a series of interviews with local bike industry leaders and pro cyclists over the course of January. Learning a lot about broadcasting. The show will begin airing Feb. 1. I will provide the schedule in advance.

I have enjoyed interviewing Santa Cruz bicycle frame builder Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster and Santa Cruz-based pro cyclists and twins Ben Jacques-Maynes and Andy Jacques-Maynes. Teammates on Team Bissell, the pair will race TOC. I was also very inspired interviewing Brooke Miller, of Team Tibco. She's the current national champion in road and crit racing! She will compete in the Amgen's Women Tour of California.

Paul Sadoff builds custom bike frames for his company Rock Lobster, in Santa Cruz. He has been in the cycling industry 30 years. I interviewed him last week.

• Good Times newspaper cover story on TOC
I am conducting interviews with pro cyclists and city folks to write a preview of the race.

NOTE: One of my first jobs in Santa Cruz was working at Good Times weekly newspaper, 1994-96. I started as the calendar editor, publishing hundreds of listings for local events. It was a wonderful way to learn about everything Santa Cruz had to offer! I worked my way up the editorial ladder to Arts and Entertainment Editor. By the time I left, I was writing cover stories, managing writers and loving my job. I left Good Times to launch my freelance journalism career. To this day, I have dear friends whom I met at the paper.

* Facebook Group - Tour of California group
My enthusiasm for Tour of California needed a social media outlet, so I created and maintain a Facebook group page called 2009 Amgen Tour of California - Stage 2. I spend hours updating lists of events, answering people's questions and sharing my love of Santa Cruz and cycling.

Mark "Howie" Howland meets author and former pro cyclist Joe Parkin at a Tour of CA event in Santa Cruz at The Bicycle Trip.

* Adventure Sports Journal
My feature story on TOC has been published in the Winter issue. Here's a copy of the story, online. The publication is available in Northern California only.


MORE STORIES I'm working on about 2008 trips:
• ROW Adventures raft trip in Idaho
• Montana bike tour with Adventure Cycling Association
• Tips for people new to speaking on camera for t.v
• Sacred Rides Mountain Bike Holidays. I'm pitching stories about my 11-day mountain bike in Peru's Sacred Valley this fall with the Canadian-based company. Run by Mike Brcic, Sacred Rides was recently named one of the world's best bike expedition companies by National Geographic Adventure magazine. I have amazing high-res digital Peru photos from this singletrack cross country adventure that I'm saving for exclusive publication! If you know of a website, magazine or newspaper that's a good fit for my story, email me: karen@karenkefauver.com.

2009 - Good year so far! New stories, races & more

The new year is off to a good start with personal and professional adventures underway! Here's a snapshot of 2009 so far, in photos and captions:

Jan. 1-7: STORIES ONLINE NOW!

• Away.com Peru stories on Machu Picchu!
Machu Picchu Part 1: Trying to Get Off the Beaten Track
Machu Picchu Part 2: Temple of the Moon
• Story on Monterey in Destination Hyatt is now posted on my website.
• My pet project is a Facebook group I created on the Amgen Tour of California bike race.

Karen at Machu Picchu's ruins near the Temple of the Moon, in October '08.

Jan. 1: NEW YEAR'S EVE

NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY IN SANTA CRUZ: Pictured here, my mountain bike relay team- mates: Jen Lucia, Henrietta Stern, Winona Hubbard, Karen Kefauver, Tracy Moyle and Rita Leon. Called the Go Go Go Girls, our team will compete in a 24-hour mountain bike (relay) race in May in Northern California. Expect us to look much dirtier!

Race Info: The Coolest 24 Hour Race Against Cancer is held on the Olmstead trail loop in Cool, CA, north of Sacramento. While it is called the Coolest 24 Hour Race Against Cancer, there are three races: kids' race, 8-hour race and a 24-hour race.

Dec. 31: LESSON LEARNED in 2008

Reporter Matthew Cole Scott of Good Times, a Santa Cruz newsweekly, snapped my photo and had me answer a question for its Person on the Street:

Q: What’s the best lesson you learned in 2008, and how did it change you?
A: The best lesson I learned in 2008 was my favorite John Lennon quote, “Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.” I am now more open to possibilities that I hadn't considered before.
Karen Kefauver, Santa Cruz | Freelance Writer