RoadBikeRides.com has a monthly contest leader-board where each month the RoadBikeRides.com member that accumulates the most points for contributing to the site wins a prize.

Samantha Newman pictured below takes the win for the month of April 2008. It was a close race for 1st place. Samantha Newman went wheel to wheel with Mike Weiland and edged out Mike by less than 100 points. RoadBikeRides.com will be sending her a brand new Garmin Edge 305.

RoadBikeRides.com will have an ongoing monthly contest. Each month a prize will be awarded to the RoadBikeRides.com member who has the most points for the month.

The race to the Yellow Jersey Contest for the $10,000 cash prize is currently a close race between Samantha and Mike but there is still plenty of time left for others to bridge the gap and compete for the $10,000 cash prize.

CONGRATULATIONS SAMANTHA NEWMAN!

AS ALWAYS RideStrong™!

Kathryn Bertine of Tucson, Arizona hooks up with professional cyclists and coach Gord Fraser of Carmichael Training on her pursuit to make the U.S. Olympic cycling team.

Editor’s Note: Just how difficult is it to make the U.S. Olympic team? Does it require a lifetime of training and devotion? Would an average person with an athletic background have any shot at all?

Check out the links below for a great story.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=olympianpartnine

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=olympianpartseven

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/ivp/index?id=3242014

We’re pleased to announce that cycling journalist Sara Best will be joining the Ride-Strong.com team as a regular contributor starting next week.

Some of you may know Sara from her own blog – The First 100 Miles.

If not, here’s a bit about Sara in her own words:

I fell in love with cycling in 1989.  I was 14 years old and my dad convinced me to watch part of that summer’s Tour de France with him on TV. He was an avid amateur cyclist at the time and had recently completed back-to-back Centuries as part of the Seattle to Portland ride.

I watched as Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon on the Champs d’Elysee by eight seconds. Fignon collapsed from his bike onto the cobbles, sobbing at the heartbreaking loss. It was the closest Tour de France in history and right there, I was hooked.

Today I’m a freelance writer and a regular contributor to a handful of publications both in print and online including Pedal magazine, Bike Trade Canada magazine, the Daily Peloton.com, and The Paceline (the official site of the former Discovery Channel Team).

I’ve had the opportunity to interview people from all different areas of the cycling world but things really came full circle for me in April of last year when my work as a writer for Pedal magazine took me to a press conference with Greg LeMond in Toronto.  I was able to meet and interview the cycling legend one-on-one.  I told him about the day I fell in love with cycling and he told me with a grin that it had been a pretty good day for him too.

I’m really excited about joining the Ride-Strong.com team.  I hope you enjoy the posts!

Pictured above Tyler Ford with his wife Mimi Ford and Sherry Phillips before the start of El Tour de Tucson 2007.

www.Ride-Strong.com, the blog for cyclist, was founded by Tyler Ford in 2007 as the blog for www.RoadBikeRides.com.

MORE THAN $20,000 IN PRIZES UP FOR GRABS FROM ROADBIKERIDES.COM

New Site Allows Cyclists to Share The Best Rides That The U.S. Has to Offer

TUCSON– RoadBikeRides.com is a new user-friendly, interactive cycling website that allows cyclists from across the United States to share the rides that they love. At RoadBikeRides.com road cyclists can submit information on their favorite rides including tips, maps, video clips and links, and also find a new ride in their own neighborhood or in another region of the country. Visitors can register on the site for free and begin submitting or searching for rides right away.

“It’s our mission to make you feel at ease on the road, whether it’s on a new ride in your own neighborhood or whether you’re traveling far from home,” said Tyler Ford, the man behind RoadBikeRides.com. “Our detailed maps will also provide you with suggestions on where to stop and fuel up during a ride, and where to chow down when you’re done. After visiting rides that you’ve researched on our site, you’ll feel like you never left home, because you’ll know exactly where to go.”

To launch the site, RoadBikeRides.com has developed a contest with more than $20,000 in prizes that would make any cycling lover drool. Prizes will be awarded based on the number of points that visitors accumulate. Points are earned by submitting rides, photos or video clips, posting on the message boards, or submitting articles for the site blog at Ride-Strong.com. Complete contest details can be found at www.roadbikerides.com.

The contest opens when RoadBikeRides.com goes live in January 2008 and will run until the first, second and third prizes have been awarded. Prizes include:

• 1st prize is $10,000 in cash, awarded to the first person to earn 5,000 points.

• 2nd prize is a brand new top end bike Orbea Orca Bike (or substantially similar bike) with a retail value of $5,400, awarded to the second person to earn 5,000 points.

• 3rd prize is a Zipp 404 clincher wheel set (or substantially similar wheel set) with a retail value of $2,100, awarded to the third person to earn 5,000 points.

• 4th through to 10th place winners will take home a Garmin Edge 305 GPS unit (or substantially similar GPS unit) with a retail value of $380.

Tyler Ford, the founder of RoadBikeRides.com, is an avid cyclist and triathlete who has had a passion for cycling since 1988. Ford was a top-producing loan officer in Tucson, Arizona but always had a vision of getting involved in the cycling industry in a bigger way than just riding and racing his bike.

In July, 2007 Ford decided to leave his lucrative desk job in order to pursue that dream. He purchased the RoadBikeRides.com URL and founded Outdoor Activities, LLC. Today, Ford is living his dream of serving the cycling community and even sponsors local Tucson cycling teams, GST Racing and Fair Wheel Racing Team.