Time to Destroy

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After way too much effort to put this map together it's finally done. These are the three courses for the racing this weekend. The race website gives directions to the course by saying, "same place it's been for the last 15 years." I'm not sure but that's not really what I'd describe as helpful.

While this is only a 3 stage race, it's still the first chance I've had to race for a GC. I don't see this thing coming down to anything but the TT, but we'll see. Maybe some of my old triathlon TT skills will magically re-appear. No matter the results, I just want to keep this sort of intensity through each race:



He is a bad man!

Not Again...

...was what I said as I walked up to my car at 5:30 in the evening and saw that a band of thieves just weren't happy with the new passenger window that was just installed a few weeks prior. It was clear they wanted to give me the opportunity to try a new guy.

I am also 100% convinced that whoever broke into my car this time is a teamLandall reader because I pointed out that the gps unit in my center console was still there after the last break in. Now, however, someone else is seamlessly finding their away from one destination to another.

From now on my car doors will remain unlocked at all times and I am considering posting a note on the dashboard that says, "Doors are unlocked, there's nothing left to steal."

And, just for good measure, I hope whoever stole my gps either gets lost and finds themselves in the middle of a drug cartel shoot out. Or, while using the "walking" function and holding the system in their hands, they trip and fall into a giant puddle and are painfully electrocuted to the point of 2nd degree burns.

It seems only fair.

Act Like One

I just joined the Twitter world. I've heard about it for the longest time and have never taken the time to figure out what it is. One of the bike race websites I go to had links to Lance Armstrong and Michael Roger's pages. While there I realized that basically all of my favorite cyclists had pages and some of their updates are interesting little pieces of insight into what they're doing now that the season is in full swing.

If you want to follow me, I have no idea why you would unless we share the same last name and you gave birth to me, my user name is very creative and hard to remember so make sure you write this down. It's, landall.

I will probably end up sending more updates from my phone after bike races and during rides that way I can pretend I'm a pro. I'm reminded of something I overheard my high school baseball coach say to someone on our team when they were wearing their uniform in a way that my coach didn't like. He said, "Son, at least if you're not a ballplayer you can look like one."

At least if I'm not a pro I can act like one?

Rest Weeks Blow

Yesterday I wrote about 2,000 words on the necessity of rest and recovery. Why it's important and why most people get it wrong. It included a few charts that I found so that I could express visually what the goal of a rest week is. Once I was at that arbitrary number of words I realized I was literally only about half way through and that nobody, save maybe 2 people on the planet, and they certainly don't read my blog, would be interested in such a detailed explanation. So, I deleted it and posted that little card instead. Probably a good call.

None the less, this week I am "recovering." And while I know how important it is to recover it does not make it any more fun or less annoying to go out and ride my bike for 2 hours keeping my HR at aerobic levels. My HR spiked to 164 yesterday when I was riding no hands putting my gloves back on and the road started to tilt up hill. Since I didn't have my hands on the bars to change to an easier gear I just grinded (spell check is informing me that is not an actual word. who knew?) up it until my hands were covered in $2, fashion forward, purchased from Walgreens, specific for cycling, gloves.

One thing recovery rides are good for is thinking and yesterday was no exception. I thought a lot about the race on Sunday and how I have lost all confidence in my own ability to ride solo in windy conditions. I used to be ok at it, so what happened? This made me think back to the times when sheer ignorance would put me on the front of a group ride in whatever conditions and because I wanted to earn the respect of my fellow lycra clad homeys, I'd drag their asses for miles at a time. I honestly can't think of the last time I intentionally put myself on the front of a group ride. If I wasn't on a group ride I was riding solo (obviously) and almost always doing the only bike workout I knew, ride as hard as you can until you get home. It was then that it dawned on me. As I've gotten wiser in my methods of training I have simply forgot the most basic workout.

I sit in front of my laptop for a few hours a week trying to come up with great new interval sessions that go for defined periods of time in very defined ranges of heart rate and the workouts have a very specific goal that in theory should translate to something race specific. These are important. They need to be done. But what about the good old fashioned solo hammer fest that starts out way too fast and ends way too slow because you bonked a half hour away from the end? I think that one is important too and I need to get back to it at least once per week. I can't do it this week, because you know, recovery, blah! But, I'm already looking forward to the extended pain that this type of ride always brings on. What would the notation for that workout look like on a training plan? Something like this:

1 x fast @ duration. (HR 0-200)

Have a great day peeps!

Watch out Hallmark!

I tend to be behind the times on these sort of things but today I received an e-card from a friend from www.someecards.com. I have since spent the last hour or so flipping through and laughing in a controlled manner so it's not obvious. I mean, I am at work!

Some of them are awesomely inappropriate. Well, most actually. This one reminded me of every time someone asks me for any sort of, "What should I do advice?" I have never thought that I was the person people should be going to for most all things advice related.

Race Report: Menlo Park Gran Prix, 3/8

If there is a worst case scenario for a race to play out, Menlo Park was it for me. It was windy which never bodes well for me to do anything solo. As much as I work on it, I just don't have that kind of power to ride a high tempo through gusty wind. I did everything I could to try and get a good result in this race. I moved up to the front after about 3 laps and consistently stayed there. Some friend after the race commented how impressed they were that I was always in the front 10-15 coming through the start finish. But, it was almost useless because on the back part of the course where the wind picked up everybody just sat up, every single lap. I don't blame people for not wanting to drag the group around the course. Especially into the wind, but don't put yourself on the front of the group if you're not willing to drive it. Every lap it'd sit up and the group would fan out gutter to gutter and I'd find myself boxed in as people were trying to move up on both sides. I couldn't get out so I was stuck working to make way my back up to the front group through the next half of the course. This played out on every single lap.

With 3 laps to go I found myself in a group of 6 that had simply rolled off the front of the rest of the field through the headwind. The group was comprised of 2 sets of teammates on different teams, some dude, and me. I don't think any of us really meant to get off the front, but when I looked back we had a decent gap and nobody did any real work to open it up. The rest of the group was just doing their annual sit up and take a breather routine on that part of the course. Unfortunately it was also a prem lap and for some reason the two sets of teammates were more interested in that then they were trying to win the race. Once they realized we had a gap all four of them sat up completely disinterested in doing any work. I said I'd gladly give them the prem if they'd just ride. They grunted and I realized that our group of 6 was just going to be sitting there waiting to be reabsorbed. Maybe I should have just went by myself and seen what happened but with 3 laps to go I just didn't think there was any real chance of staying away solo. So, frustrated, I sat up too. No one out of our group of 6 won the prem.

I put myself back in the front 10 with 2 laps to go and then again on the last lap but of course this did no good as the group would bunch back up in the wind and I'd get boxed in. The drag to the finish was long and so I was hoping I'd be able to follow wheels up without doing much work having other deposit me in the front 10 for the sprint. The speed jumped like it always does but usually that just means that somebody at the front got too excited and is going to blow up soon. A guy came by me on the left and so I jumped on his wheel. Unfortunately he was only strong enough to go about 2 places before he died and I watched my old place in the big line go by on the right. Another guy came by on the left so I followed him. Same thing, about 2-3 places and pop! Another guy, pop! Another, pop! At this point I was about 20-25 wheels off the front and realized if I was going to do anything I needed to just moved up myself so I went. As soon as I got to about 15th the guys the front started their actual sprints and I realized it was done. I pounded my bars in frustration and sat up to roll across the line.

I guess I could have went ahead and sprinted anyway to try and get as high of a placing as possible but I just don't see the point. There's no upgrade points after 6th place so who gives a shit whether you come in 7th of 30th. I have no idea where I ended up and they haven't posted results yet. On the cool down lap I was reminded of a Jens Voigt quote from a few Tours ago. The interviewer asked Jens why he was constantly going in breaks when the likely hood of one staying away was so small. Jens replied to the best of my memory, "I am not a guy that wins in the group. So if I stay in the group the whole day I don't have any chance. I'd at least like to give myself the chance to win. If I don't try, I'm losing before I start."

Next time, head wind be damned. If it's going to play out that way, I'll give it a go. Let's hope this weekend goes a little better!

Upgrade points: 0

"I led him out for, like, 50 miles."

Recently I've stumbled upon a bunch of interviews with pros where they are asked about their first race. Most of these guys were freaks the moment they swung their leg over a bike and so when posed with the question, "How'd you do in your first race?" More often than not, they reply, "I won." That answer is boring, even if it is impressive and true.

Yesterday I was reading an interview with Dave Zabriskie and he was asked this very question. His reponse, "I got second. I led him out for, like, 50 miles."

For those of you in the know, you immediately understand why this is funny. For the rest, allow me to explain.

A lead out is what happens at the end of a race when a team is trying to set up a win for their sprinter. Often referred to as a lead out train, a number of team mates will do their best to keep the pace as high as possible with their sprinter safely in the draft for as long as possible. Then, the last man, generally referred to as the actual lead out, although the leading out has been happening for a few K's (I feel so Euro when I write K's and not Miles), does a full out sprint to the 200 meters to go sign (this can vary). At this point the actual sprinter comes out and does his max effort sprint hopefully finding himself with at least a tire width margin ahead of the next guy. Lead outs for sprint finishes are hectic, crazy, dangerous, awesome and really impressive if done properly. Even the best teams screw it up all the time!

Back to Dave's explanation of his first race. You don't do a 50 mile lead out. The other guy was simply sitting on and Dave did nothing to make him pull through and take his fair share of turns at the front. By the time they got the finish, Dave would be wasted, the other guy would be, at least fresher than Dave, jump him in the finale and leave Dave with a second place and a extra hard day of training.

The lesson to be learned from the very wise Dave Zabriskie? Don't let people sit on your wheel.

Lance Armstrong will not win 1 bike race this year.

That's right, I said it. After a few weeks of mulling it over I've decided to make my public prediction that Lance will go completely win-less in the 2009 season. When he first made his comeback announcement the first thing I thought of was watching Michael Jordan play for the Wizards in 2001. While Lance isn't my favorite cyclist, he's certainly up there, and so I hated the idea of seeing him be anything but great.

I know you're wondering what facts have brought me to this prediction! What sort of logic did I use to step out on a limb so thin as to say Lance won't win a single race? Really, it's pretty simple.

First, was the time trial in Solvang during the Tour of California. Sure Lance was 4th on GC headed into the TT but in such a short stage race that really doesn't mean much. What it meant was that he turned in a good prologue, which for someone who used to be such a great time trialist wasn't a big surprise. Riding full gas for 4k wasn't his specialty but it wasn't a long enough distance to find out if he had recaptured his old TT form. After the prologue all he really had to do was finish in the main field with other top guys and they'd all receive the same time and he'd retain his high placing. If you're in the know, this isn't as difficult as it seems. The GC for a race like the Tour of California doesn't move around that much. But, back to Solvang. Why did Solvang make me start to wonder if Lance could win a race this year, because he finished 14th. 14th would normally be a pretty decent result for someone making a return to the sport after 3 years off. But, when you're goal is to win the Giro and they decided to throw in two super long time trials, I think you'd need to be a bit better than 14th in Solvang. And, it was a bit obvious that even the announcers were shocked at his performance. The excitement in their voices drained as it became apparent that Armstrong wasn't anywhere near Zabriskie's time as the clock ticked.

Second, Armstrong used to arguably be the best time trialist in the world, ESPECIALLY time trials in stage races. When he announced his come back I immediately said that there's no way he can beat Alberto Contador. A few of my cycling buddies posed the question, "But can Contador limit his losses in the time trials?" Which, at the time seemed like a totally logical question. But while all the media was in California following our race, Alberto was over in Portugal winning the Volta ao Algrave. And not only did he win it, but he won it through the time trial not by climbing away from his peers. Was the field at Algrave as stacked as it was in CA? No, I don't think so, but Contador put a minute into Sylvain Chavanel, who finished 2nd on GC, in the race against the clock. It looks to me that the question has been answered. Even if Contador can't beat Lance in the TT, he'll have no issue limiting his losses. And anybody that's seen Contador go up hill has to wonder if Lance can limit his losses there.

Third, and pretty much most importantly, there is the following interview at the conclusion of Stage 8 of the Tour of California. Lance spent most of the day with his Astana team chasing until they were comfortable with the riders up the road and then simply rode a hard tempo that discouraged any other riders from trying to bridge up. Lance apparently put his face in the wind and foot on the gas up the Cole Grade climb and all the riders talked about it being an impressive effort. However, when asked about it, Lance's answer strikes me as telling. Maybe the reality of riding these guys off his wheel and attacking in the high mountains has set in. If you've made this far, I'll let you be the judge.



For me, that response basically means he's willing to work as a super domestique for the rest of the year. I could be wrong, but I just don't see a win happening. Three years out of racing is a long time to all of sudden just get your race legs back under you. If Lance does win, awesome, I'd honestly love to see it, but I'm also not convinced that he needs to be on that top step of the podium in order to accomplish his come back goal, of raising global awareness of cancer. Anybody else who went to a single stage of the Tour of California saw the crowds around the Astana bus. Anybody in the real world who has no interest in cycling has in one way or another been made aware that he's back because every form of media has covered it. Sponsors are happy when a rider goes off the front on a 100k suicide break that has no chance of lasting because the tv cameras will show their logo over and over again that day. That rider has no chance of winning, but the awareness of that sponsor logo has increased. I'm not suggesting Lance is going to suddenly become one of the opportunist break away guys who flys off the front just to get his foundation in the paper. He doesn't need to do that. He's Lance Armstrong, let's not forget. Simply by showing up he's raising awareness of his cause!

Those are my reasons and that's my logic. Whether you think he'll bag a victory or not, whether you think his comeback is good for him, the sport or cancer or not, I'm sure there is one thing we can certainly agree on, he definitely needs to replace those glasses!

Champion Jerseys

Not that many (well, none really) of you care, but in cycling there is this great little tradition of wearing a special jersey that designates you as a specific champion for that year. You're only allowed to wear these special jersey's while competing in that discipline, so for example, since Dave Zabriskie is the current US Time Trial Champ every time he competes he wears his Captain America look-a-like skin suit. But he can only wear it in time trials. It can have a Captain America theme because basically the teams are given a lot of free reign over design as long as it incorporates the countries colors. I couldn't find a good picture of Dave's skin suit but this picture sort of gives you an idea:



The current US Road Champion is Tyler Hamilton. Tyler races for Rock Racing who's title sponsor is the high end fashion company, Rock and Republic. Rock's whole premise is to be flashy and give off a punk rock vibe. The first year they raced, 2007, they had the baddest kit I'd ever seen. It's actually the kit I copied as closely as I could when designing the eye pleasing "B Sample Racing" kit that everyone loves. In 2008 the rock kits were pretty ugly save for a few of the special kits they wore in specific races. Cycling, being about 90% fashion anyway, couldn't help but wonder what Rock Racing would come up with for a National Champion Road kit for Tyler to wear this year. The Tour of California, the biggest race on US soil seemed like the perfect place to show case it, but, it turned out to be more of the same from Rock Racing and they seem to not have their shit together. The US Champ kit that Tyler was wearing looked EXACTLY like the kit everyone else was wearing save for a few stars, a red and white striped background on the Rock and Republic shield and red, white and blue stripes on the sleeve bands. Look VERY closely and you can see the aforementioned details:



WTF mate? You are a fashion company for crying out loud! You can't do any better than that? I'm not even going to get into the fact that the kits get worse on a yearly basis. This one looks like it was inspired by a goth cashier at Hot Topic!

But, today I was on velonews.com reading an update on the current Vuelta Mexico and there it was, a picture of Tyler in an actual national champion kit that looks different from the rest of his teams. It's still insanely ugly but at least it's mainly red, white and blue. At least you can tell what it's supposed to be. And probably best of all, it looks like the goth cashier was having a good day when they went back into Hot Topic for further inspiration.



I guess the good thing is Tyler now has a legit national champ kit to race in, but way to drop the ball and unveil this new kit in Mexico. There are rumors that Michael Ball, the owner of Rock and Republic, can only fund the team through June or July, but we'll see. I think they're actually doing a good job of cutting back on expenses. This year the team cars were only Cadillacs (and not even Escalades) instead of Lambos like they've had in the past! Maybe they simply couldn't afford to rush the shipping on the kit they only had all off season to design and order.

And while I'm busting Rock's chops I'm actually a pretty big fan of the team. I think they're interesting and I think it's great they've given some guys a second chance after they did their time in cycling's rehabilitation program of extended vacation without pay. Here's to hoping that Rahsaan Bahati's US Crit Championship kit arrives on time. But with the budget cuts he might just have to borrow Tyler's.

Two Types of People

While visiting my folks for Christmas I paid my yearly visit to church to hear my Dad preach. It's no secret that we don't exactly see that whole religion thing through the same perspective but I do enjoy watching my Dad do what he does so well. He's a great public speaker and so I generally go into my annual service looking to find something to take away from his message that is not theologically based.

I remember he said something along the lines of, "There are two types of people in the world, those that separate people into two categories and those that don't." Right away the irony of this statement and message jumped out at me and I laughed to myself, but also, if it's assumed that it's a true statement, I am very firmly in the category of people that do the separating.

I essentially see life through filters, many, many filters. There are people that plan and people that don't. There are people that eat meat and people that don't. People that shower and people that don't. These are broad, but everything, to me, breaks down into two categories.

Bike racers are no different. There are basically two types of bike racers, numbers geeks and everybody else. In this month's issue of Road Magazine there is a great interview with Floyd Landis which puts him into the "everybody else" box.

The following is the best paraphrasing of the article I can do from memory. But, the point is going to be the same.

Road Magazine: What have you been doing for training?
Floyd: You know, I go out and ride around a bit.

RM: You must have some sort of structure.
F: I get on my bike and I ride for as hard as I can for as long as I can. I know what hills I need to ride up. I know about how long it should take. I haven't had anything with numbers on my handlebars for two years.

RM: [Some sort of probing question]
F: I have a hard time convincing myself that I should ride fast up this hill for 4 minutes when it takes 5 minutes to get to the top. What do I do at the end? Turn around, go home, get in they car? I've never tried to do intervals in a race, but I'm not sure it'd work out. Am I supposed to tell the group that we're going to ride slow for the next 15 minutes so I can recover and then ride fast again? If I'm tired I go home. If I'm tired and motivated I ride some more. If I'm tired in the middle of the ride I go to In-N-Out Burger. If I'm tired and I'm home, I sleep.

This series of answers regarding training doesn't surprise me since I've read a lot about Floyd over the past few years. But, it's important for the rest of us mere mortals to keep in mind that Floyd is a naturally gifted freak. He is the proud owner of one of the highest V02max numbers of anybody ever tested. You know how all you people think Lance has the highest because he was the first person to care about such things and everybody made a big deal about it. Yeah, Floyd's is higher. So it might be possible for Floyd to go out with no real structure to his plan, ride as hard as he can for as long as he can and then race in the pro peloton, but for most of us, this just isn't really the way that we're going to get faster.

It's also important to note that Floyd hasn't always felt this way about training. He's always been laid back about the whole process, but back in 2006 when he won that little race called the Tour de France, he was the biggest athlete on the endorsement list for Cyclops, the company that makes the power tab rear hub. Floyd worked with Dr. Allen Lim, the leading coach in power training, and they posted all his numbers on his website for all of the world to see. Stage 17, where Floyd went solo over 3 mountain passes to win and put himself back in contention for the leader's jersey, the stage that eventually tested him "positive" for "abnormally high testosterone levels," wasn't left off of the website where you could go look at Floyd's power output for the day. In fact, if you know what you're looking for, it was actually a pretty shitty effort. Everybody else in the group was just feeling even more shitty than he was and so nobody followed. It wasn't a super human effort like that of Riccardo Ricco at the 2008 Tour, but, nobody seems to take that into consideration, and now this has turned into me defending Floyd, which isn't my goal.

The point is most of us need those numbers on our handlebars. We need feed back from cadence, heart rate and time at the absolutely minimum. Power numbers would be ideal but some of us are poor and every time we look at a power meter online it makes us cry a little bit and hate all the rich kids rolling around with the SRM that daddy bought them. Those numbers tell you very important things as you're riding. Sometimes you feel tired because you're over trained but sometimes it's because you're being a wuss and need to get yourself mentally into the effort at hand. The feedback from your heart rate will let you know the difference. Floyd is also working in recovery days, but like most pros they don't like to talk about those. They only talk about the fast days which makes most amateur think the way to ride your bike faster is to always get on your bike and ride it faster. Unfortunately, this method of training is going to result in a plateau that you'll hit relatively quickly.

One last point of note, I realize that my boy Floyd has been out of racing for two years but while he was training with power, a coach and a plan he won the 2006 Tour of California, 2006 Paris-Nice and the 2006 Tour de France. So far in 2009 when he, "Rides around a bit," he's finished 23rd, just over 10 minutes down on Levi. I realize he had a bit of bad luck on Stage 1 where it took him about 5 minutes to get a new wheel after he flatted because neutral support got pulled off the course and I also realize it'll take some good racing before he gets his race legs back under him. But, maybe there's something to be said about riding 4 minutes fast.

And, totally unrelated to training, is he endorsed by In-N-Out? He works it into every single interview I've ever read. He orders his fries "Animal Style." I didn't even know that was possible. Gonna have to try that sometime!

Sunday's Plan Revised

Stupid rain! I woke this morning to the weather man showing his accuracy in fortune telling. Call me soft. Call me fair weather. Call me whatever you want, but doing 5 hours in 50 degree rain just seems miserable.

So instead, I'll do this for 2-3 hours:



Um, minus the weird boxers this guy has on and I won't be falling off. I thought this was far more entertaining than watching someone competent on the rollers.

A few points of note after watching the whole thing:
1) why does he have aero booties on over his shoes indoors?
2) The front drum is too close for his wheel base. If he got to the point where he was going to try and stand up, he'd shoot off the front. That'd be funnier.
3) I think he needs a bit more drop between his saddle height and stem. There's no aerodynamic advantage to aero bars if you're sitting straight up.

Sunday's Plan

After promptly getting my ass handed to me today I decided that a nice solo trip out to, up and back from Mt. Diablo seemed like a good idea.


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After looking at this route it seems as though I'm not going to the most direct way. I'll have to look into that.

Spring Classics Season!

No, I'm not talking about baseball, although, spring training for that is in full swing. My beloved Oakland A's have resigned our original greasy mullet MVP Jason Giambi so here's to hoping Billy Bean's genius is back!

But, what I am talking about are the spring classic bike races. As an American most people think there is one race per year, the Tour de France, but, in reality, the cycling season is sort of broken up into two parts, The Classics and the Grand Tours.

While Grand Tours cover 3 weeks of races where your overall time determines the winner, the classics are one day races of extreme length, conditions and mostly pain. These races are not for the faint of heart and champions that win a spring classic are thrust into a whole new league of names. It's almost impossible to describe just how hard these races are. And so, instead of trying I stole a few pictures from pezcyclingnews.com's preview of this weekends, Het-Volk, no, that's what it used to be called. Now it's something else that I can neither remember, spell or pronounce. I'm sure I'm not even saying Het-Volk correctly. But here's an idea of what these guys go through:



Cobbles! What would a spring classic without cobbles? Cobbles are tough enough but if it rains, forget it, these things basically turn into an ice rink. The mud they are set in expands with the water and ends up on top. It's nasty. Best case scenario for the racers, it stays dry and they just have to deal with bouncing over them as they ride. I don't think levels had been invented when these roads were laid down. Oh, and sometimes, the cobbles go up hills. Not always big mountains, but hills so steep that some of the greatest cyclist in history have to get off an run. That's some steep shit!



This could happen too! These races are in Northern France and Belgium and other parts of the world where it is still very winter. If it snow, they race. It doesn't get canceled for anything. And no, they won't quickly switch over to their 'cross bikes. Maybe they'll run some 700x25s instead.



He looks like he's enjoying himself! That's Juan Antonio Fleche, one of the best classics riders there are. If he looks like that during the race, imagine what the guys behind him must feel like!

Arguably the biggest classic of them all, Paris-Roubaix, nicknamed, "Hell of the North," is coming up a little later in the season. Take a look at the video below to get an idea of what it can be like if the weather turns nasty!

Party on Palomar

This slide show of photos shows what a circus Palomar Mountain was for the last day of the Tour of California. As I rode up that climb I remember seeing about 3/4s of the people in these pictures. Cycling fans are an interesting bunch. But you've got to admire the dedication of some of these groups who camped on the side of that mountain for 3 days to watch the guys go by in about 20 seconds.

Slide show of pictures from VeloNews.com

Chasing the Tour of California

I don't know where to start with writing some sort of recap of my weekend. I chased the Tour of California through the last three stages to the finish.

The time trial in Solvang was pretty cool as during TTs you get a chance to see every rider. Seeing Levi flash a 3 as a crossed the line made me think that maybe he as a personality after all and I decided I liked him a little bit. But, still not a fan. I was really hoping Tom Zirbels time would stand. What an awesome ride he threw down! And, the Captain America skin suit that DZ has is pretty rad! To top it off, but nothing but sheer lucky timing I was walking by the Columbia bus as George Hincapie and Mark Cavendish were coming back from the awards tent. I got both of their signatures on my cowbell and froze up like a little girl. I couldn't think of anything to say except, "Good luck in the classics." This would have been fine had Cavendish not been the one signing the cowbell. Luckily he just looked at my funny and gave me the bell back.

The following day I rode about 2.5 hours out on the course. Waited for the group at the first little bump in the road and then booked it back to my car to drive to Pasadena for the circuits. The timing worked out great and I got to see the lead break with Frank Schleck, George Hincapie, Christian Van de Velde and a bunch of others flying around the circuits. If you look at my pictures I don’t know if you can tell how steep the section of the circuit I was on, but it’s steep, and they were not soft pedaling! Best part, I got Steve Cozza, Rahsaan Bahati and Floyd Landis to sign the cowbell. Rahsaan wasn’t in the race, I just recognized him and he seemed pretty shocked that someone wanted his autograph at this race. But, he won the first pro race I ever watched so he’s always been one of my favorite sprinters after that!

The next day the race was going over Palomar Mtn which is an HC (HC = above category = hard) climb. I wanted to climb it so the plan was to park about 10 miles from the summit and ride up and wait. I realized as I was driving that I was going to get there way too early and end up on top of this 5,000 ft mountain waiting on the race for about an hour. This did not seem appealing because there is snow up there, which means it’s cold. I altered my plans a little bit and drove to the finish instead and started riding from there and it also meant I went over a cat 3 mountain on the way to Palomar, which was sort of cool too.

If you’ve ever seen a mountain stage of a big race on Television then you’ve seen how insanely close all the fans get to the riders as they come through. Totally by accident I got to experience this first hand. About 5k from the top of Palomar I blew and was left to do nothing but slog my way up the rest of it. As I was about 1k out the first set of police motorcycles passed me indicating the riders were on their way. As the motorcycles went through a big group one guy looked back, spotted me and screams, “FIRST GUY” as loudly as he could. Everybody on both sides of the road immediately collapsed into the road, screaming, shouting, ringing cow bells as if I was really the first guy. One kid even ran the rest of the way beside me screaming so loudly in my ear that it actually made me forget that my legs had exploded about 4k down the mountain. It was insane and an experience that I’m not likely to ever get again. I wish there had been some way to get it on video or have someone take a picture of me going through this crowd. I don’t know how fast I rode that last 500m or so but it had to have been about 3xs faster than I was going heading into the group. I can’t imagine what it must be like for the riders to have that kind of energy around them for the last 5 or 10k of a big climb. By the time the race came by and I was able to descend down the mountain I was able to make it back to the finish in time to see Frank Shleck win a 1 up sprint. But, I got an awesome 4 hours of riding in with an HC climb in the middle for good measure with my own personal crazed cheering section for the last bit of the climb.

After I got back to my car I changed on the street while people were staring at me like I was a crazy person. I guess the other people who come to the races aren’t used to changing in parking lots after races themselves. I headed down to the expo to see if I could find a Tour of California t-shirt on sale but they were all boring. Instead I talked the guy at the Rock Racing booth to sell me one of their trucker hats for $10. Then, I drove back to Oakland.

If you look at the numbers it is probably the most insane thing that anyone can ever do. I drove over 1,100 miles to go watch guys race bikes. And, it’s not like they were on a track in front of me where I got to see them multiple times. I’d drive for an hour to watch them go by in less than 10 seconds. On the finishing circuit in Pasadena I got to see them 4 times before I went down the finish line and watched it on a Jumbo-Tron because I couldn’t get close enough to the finish line. All in all this was probably one of the best weekends I’ve ever had.

For pictures go here: http://community.webshots.com/user/Ridearoundamerica
Although, I’m adding captions. That seems like too much work. I might do that to the albums I put on facebook.

SF thieves are thoughtful!

When I opened my drivers side door this morning I noticed a lot of glass in my passenger seat. At first it didn't dawn on me what had happened because let's face it, my car isn't that nice. But, after about another second it was confirmed that some fools roaming the streets of California wanted to give me the opportunity to replace my passenger side window and take advantage of some of the deals on new cd players that I've seen on web ads. Not only that, but they were nice enough to unhook the cd player instead of just yanking it out and destroying the wires. Class acts really! My Garmin GPS was in the center console and luckily they didn't bother to look in there. But, to show just how focused they were they didn't bother to take the two boxes of jelly belly's that I had in the glove box in preparation for the long drive this weekend. I can't say enough about how much I appreciate these guys consideration!

It didn't dawn on me to take a picture with my cell phone until after I scooped 90% of the glass into the gutter. By then it seemed too late to capture the full artful-ness of the moment.

Oh well. In all reality I'm not really that upset by this. I mean it certainly sucks, but I guess when you live in the city and always park on the street it's bound to happen. I'm sort of surprised it took this long!

Bike Geek Mode, Ready, Go!

For those of you that don't like it when I write about cycling, stop reading now. And, I should probably warn you. For the next couple days, that's more than likely all I'll be talking about.

I am killing a few minutes before I head to Sacramento for the prologue of this years Tour of California. To say I'm excited about seeing the pros I've only previously been able to watch on TV wouldn't quite cover it. I feel about the same way I did as a 4th grader when there was an awesome field trip lined up. No need to shake me twice to get me out of bed. I have been pacing around my apartment for the last hour trying to think of things to do so I don't show up at the course 4 hours early. YEAH, 4! I'm going to settle with 2 because in my brain that seems sensible.

I've been to pro bike races before. I was at the CSC Invitational when Rashaan Bahati got his first big win as a pro for Rock Racing. I've worked the feed zone of a pro race passing up bottles to my buddy's who race for Richmond Pro Cycling. But I can't think of another single sporting event that I am more excited to get to take in. Every cyclist I have looked up to for the past 4 years is in a hotel room less than 2 hours from my apartment. The list of guys I want to get a picture of, with or have them sign my big Texas cow bell are:

1) Floyd Landis
2) Lance Armstrong
3) George Hincapie
4) Chris Horner
5) Dave Zabriskie
6) Christian Van de Velde
7) Tyler Hamilton
8) Freddy Rodriguez
(those are just the Americans!)

Also in attendance, Mark Cavendish, Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara, Carlos Sastre, The Schleck brothers, Thor Hushovd!

I know I'm forgetting people. The field is so deep its hard to keep track of who all is here. Ok, I gotta go. I'm getting more antsy by the minute.

Oh yeah, and I guess it's Valentines Day. Which means you should spend it with the one you love most. For me, that's bikes, perfect!

Lance being Lance

I found this video on velonews and thought it was a great indicator that Lance is still himself. In a lot of other videos and interviews from previous races he seemed like a much nicer guy, way more laid back and the fan in me was concerned that maybe he lost that desire to crush people that try to beat him, one up him, or say bad things about him.

I was unaware of the article that he references in this clip, but I think it's safe to say that he's still got a bit of fire left in him. And, I also think it's awesome when athletes or any one for that matter take control of the situation when journalists try to be shady.

Why Am I Excited that Armstrong Came Back?

Because I'm hoping there's a bit of this!



Team infighting and an Armstrong vs. Contador throw down just like Hinault and Lemond had back in 1986. However, lets just hope that whoever loses the Armstrong vs. Contador battle doesn't cry about it for years like Lemond does.

This keeps me from typing...