Restart!

Roan Mountain

This week is the fall trip to North Carolina for mountain riding in the Roan Mountain area. The weather thus far was beautiful on Wednesday and Thursday, rain on Friday, and today is a bit chilly, but definitely rideable. We rode yesterday in the rain as well, though some are questioning whether they should have.

Got a few great pictures that I will post later on Picasa, but overall it has been a great trip. A few newbies on the trip, which is always good. They seem to go through a wave of feeling great and feeling awful as they get their mountain legs.

Yesterday we found an excellent new road. I surprised everyone with a climb that was previously undone, but that Michael Davis (of the former Bicycle Inn) had told me about when we were down here in 2006. The road is Coxes Creek and climbs over 1,000 vertical feet in a mile and a half. It was a serious workout trying to get to the top, but everyone survived and everyone made it without walking.

Armstrong to Ride in Giro

From Cycling News

Looks like Lance is trying to get an early start to the season and ride in the Giro. This will be interesting to watch. Based on the announced racing plans we have seen for him I am not sure how he will be ready for a May Grand Tour after three years off and very few races in the early season.

One thing is for sure, he has already drummed up the publicity machine and people are watching his every move. For all the comments we all make, he sure gets the attention back on cycling...

Harbin Park UCI Cyclocross

Final day of three days of racing at Harbin Park in Fairfield, OH. Third straight day of racing for me and my legs could feel it this morning. After getting banged around on Friday, tense on Saturday for some technical elements, Sunday promised to bring more pain to the weary.

The mood was similar from nearly everyone in my race - well, except those that hadn't raced the previous 2 days. The start was safe, and really the whole course was very safe today, but there were quite a few long, gradual uphill climbs that taxed the legs. Could have done a lot better on this course with some adequate recovery.

The weekend was a lot of fun, but looking forward to a good sleep tonight.

Pictures of the third day

Java Johnnys Cyclocross

Today was the second day of the Cincinnati UCI Cyclocross Festival at Sunset Park in Middletown, OH. Pretty large crowd out there today with over 350 riders from what I could surmise.

The course today was thankfully pretty smooth. Yesterday's Dark Horse race left some sore bones from the bumpy ground. The course today also wasn't overly technical, but they threw in a double sand pit to ensure that everyone had a good time.

Personally I rode better today than yesterday after tweaking the bike a bit to get a bit better position. Talking with some more experienced cross racers I am starting to learn some of the inside tricks of the trade.


Took some shots again today after my race was over. The weather was excellent, but not typical of cross season. Still early in the season, but even for this area 80's and sun is somewhat unexpected in October.

Dark Horse Cyclo Stampede

Today was the first day of a three day cyclocross festival here in Cincinnati. The race was put on by Dark Horse Cycling and they did a great job.

The venue was Idlewild ParkIdlewild Park and was pretty wide open. The only complaint I heard from people throughout the day was the sheer roughness of the course. It certainly begged for use of a full suspension MTB. There was one straightaway that looked like it would be great for hammering, however the roughness made it nearly impossible to keep speed. If you went fast your bike developed a mind of its own and went left and right more than forward.

Got some decent pictures during the B race.

Big Surprise - Armstrong Cleared to Race in January

Despite a firm stance to start and the fact that the rules on doping say that a rider must undergo 6 months of doping controls prior to racing professionally, the UCI has decided that this doesn't apply to Lance Armstrong.

The reasoning given by the UCI is that drug testing standards have improved in recent times and that these are strict enough that Lance (and I assume any rider from here on out) will be well tested prior to racing in just 4 months.

Read story posted at ESPN








If you look at the picture here, who hasn't been already caught for doping? The pictures are of:
- Bjarne Riis (admitted to doping),
- Jan Ullrich (retired from cycling in the aftermath of the Operacion Puerto),
- Marco Pantani (committed suicide before we knew the answer, but linked to rEPO usage),
- Lance Armstrong (suspicion swirls, but no findings?),
- Floyd Landis (mysteriously rode away from the peloton on the single hardest stage of the Tour after getting slaughtered by the peloton the day before)

So, of the last five people to win the tour, only Lance hasn't doped? Of course Carlos Sastre still hasn't tested positive for doping, but still very early in his reign.

Kingswood Cross Practice Course

Took some video this week of the Kingswood Cyclocross practice course. YOu can see how rough a golf course becomes after they stop caring for it.

Louisville Cross Highlights

Rode in the Tour de Louisville Cross race this past weekend at Fisherman's Park south of Louisville. It was really a fun course and would have been a little more fun if we had just enough rain to soften the place up a bit. The dirt was hard as cement and very rough. Combined with the tight 180 turns through the course and long stretches of off-camber and it made for a challenge for even the higher classes of riders.

My two oldest daughters went with me and sat near the set of barriers to video tape for me. While they weren't the steadiest of hands, they did get these clips on camera, which provided some fun when spliced together. They were good at not getting face shots to protect the innocent...

Watch out for the Walnuts

Was out practicing cross last night and was reacquainted with a nemesis that plagues everyone this time of year in this area practicing cross. Hit one of these black walnut bastards with your front tire in a corner and you will be laying down in a hurry.

So, last night I was hitting a corner at the bottom of a quick descent and hit a walnut with the front tire. Went down very quickly and to add insult to injury I landed my knee on a walnut in the fall. Very sore and soon to show a fabulous bruise a bit later (maybe pictures of it later?).

On a related note I took a different route home on my bike looking for a more fun way through to Kingswood from the house. Was cutting through the woods/fields to the north of P&G and was confronted with a skunk. I came within 4 feet of being sprayed. The skunk has his back arched and his tail arched...I was his victim if he decided to let it rip....

What is up with new riders?

Finally back online after a long reprise due to work and family commitments. Also finally back on the bike and riding semi-decent.

Anyway, on the weekend rides on Saturday and Sunday morning there were new riders. Eveyone in the group is always happy to have new riders on the ride and generally very receptive to new people in the group, but why do they always act like they have never done a group ride.

On Saturday we had a guy join the group, seemed like a nice guy, but when the group was starting out he was attacking from the back of a group of about 35 people. Sure, there is no harm in doing this, but on an average group ride it is only going to excite others in the group. The other side is that attacking over the yellow line constantly on a course that he obviously did not know isn't the wisest thing to do.

So we had to take things into our own hands and split the group by attacking and get the guy isolated. We dropped the guy on the way back into Loveland (after the tracks and before Dallasburg on the return of the Beer Bottle route). He seemed like a strong rider and is more than welcome to the group if he can learn to ride with a group.

Sunday there were two guys that were unknown and new that were annoying several people in the group. The first half of the ride was pretty mundane and relatively slow. On the 2nd half we started to pick things up, but these two wouldn't rotate through the line, choosing to punch tickets at the back of a group of about 9 riders. Nothing will annoy people faster than punching tickets on the tail end of a ride, especially if you don't punch tickets properly and keep jumping out when you get to about the middle of the line.

So, again, we had to provide some education and dropped them up Zoar back into Loveland on the tail of the Yellow Box route.

Honestly, we like to have new riders, but maybe it would be wise to get to know the group before you start doing stupid stuff in the group.

Levi and Trent Hit Brasstown

 

Georgia Trip - Day 2

 

This Week: Tour de Georgia

Coming up this week is the Tour de Georgia. There are a couple of interesting videos on You Tube, including a video of Jittery Joe's trying to get used to the Road Atlanta course for the Team Time Trial.



Also, some highlights from last year's Tour...

Photos of Greg's Catastrophic Carbon Collision

Saw Greg today, who is in pretty decent spirits considering. He had his "bike" with him, though I am sure it doesn't officially qualify as a bike any longer. There was some review of the crash scene and believe it or not there is a dent in the base of the guard rail where Greg's carbon frame hit the post. An engineer somewhere needs to do a calculation of the amount of force that something made of carbon needs to impart on some thing made of thick, solid steel to put a dent in it.

Long Lay Off and Crazy Days

What a crazy string of days. Last week I got sick while Betsy and the kids were out of town and this week I end up working 14-17 hours a day to recover from some incredibly bad items at work.

While I was out doing these exciting items, Fasig decided to join Goat on the DL. In Greg's own words:

"On tonight's hill ride Jim and I were having a discussion of how we don't descend very well and how Gary could go down Varner without breaking. So as I was descending (and braking) I thought to myself, well I'm braking so I'm going slower then Gary was...which was absolutely STUPID!!! Nonetheless, that's what happened and as I was
thinking that I looked up to see a corner and thought, it certainly must bend, then seeing that &($^ it's almost a 45 degree turn. Damn, must break fast. Hit the breaks and the rear locked and jumped to the right. Thus had to let off to reapply pressure...not enough time. Guard rail quickly approaching, damn I feel like Brad I hope he's okay, *&^%) get down and down I went.

The bike wrapped itself around the guard rail support and broke into 2 pieces. I am extremely happy as the bike took the majority of the impact."

Photo of the bike after impact:

Davis Phinney and son Taylor

Taylor Phinney is continuing to develop as a cyclist, but an article just published talks more about him as a person and a son. The full article is available at the New York Times.

Team Slipstream Featured on ESPN

It seems Team Slipstream continues to get a lot of press, not just from the cycling community, but from the sports world in general. Typically the sports world doesn't raise its head until an American wins the Tour de France and ignores anything else.

In Team Slipstream's case this is at least the second article on ESPN to present their approach and the work they are doing to fight doping. But, they didn't stop at covering the anti-doping approach - but they highlighted each of the Tour of California stages. Not just from a sport perspective, but from a insider perspective showing the emotion of the riders.

It will be interesting to see if Slipstream can continue to harness the energy it seems to have created in the cycling world. Of particular interest is whether they sign a major sponsor to keep them going past the end of this year while other sponsors are continuing to pull themselves out of the sport.

Ride Log - Finally Some Consecutive Days

After struggling all winter to get some good riding in, and most importantly consistent, multi-day consecutive rides, I have finally gotten rides in 4 out of 5 days and 8 out of the last 12 (including Georgia). Hopefully this will help translate to better consistency in riding.

Tonight's ride wasn't anything special - just a routine ride of the flats east/northeast of Loveland, but after a solid ride yesterday it was nice to see the legs still working. Hopefully I can get a ride in tomorrow as well...assuming it doesn't suddenly start raining locusts.

Car - Bike Accident

Trying to find a source for this photo and whether it is legit, but this definitely ruined someone's day. Anyone know where this originates from?

Guy or Gal?

This photo has been posted on many blogs and newsgroups around the cycling world. Can you guess if it is a guy or a gal?

Mr. Fixie Falls For Fun

Oops...you can tell it is spring and folks have been couped up for a while...



Also posted is the proper way to cross the covered bridge. I have seen at least 3 headers and 4 taco-ed wheels on this bridge alone.

A Decent Ride - Finally

While today was Easter I did manage to get out for a good ride. After sitting inside most of yesterday watching the weather get worse and worse it was nice to see the sun today. Got about 3 hours 20 minutes in today. This is a shorter ride than I should be getting in this time of year, but given the circumstances it was definitely a great ride. The only down side was that on the final approach into the house it was snowing in small patches - hopefully that this the last I see of snow until next winter.

Another positive is that I have been very impressed with the BMC Streetfire SSX I bought in the fall to replace the Scott Sportster I tried to back into the garage while on top of the car. I have ridden about 1,500 miles on it already, but every single mile was an indoor trainer mile, and that doesn't give you much info on whether the frame is a good riding frame.

The BMC is a full aluminum frame and most people immediately scoff at full aluminum. However it was surprisingly comfortable for 3+ hours today after riding it outside on Thursday and Friday of last week too. Looks like I have finally found a solid trainer/winter/crit frame that will also be comfortable for every day riding.

Milan San Remo: Cancellara Wins

Today was the 99th running of Milan-San Remo road race, the first major spring classic. I can't wait to the see the coverage, but according to Cycling News Cancellara attacked with 2km left in the race and held it to win. We all know he is an excellent Time Trialist, but to attack with 2km left in a 297km race (for those not versed in metric, that is an attack ~180 miles into a race) and have it stick is showing some serious strength. I don't know the specifics of how much he worked in the break and how much he drove the break, but it will be interesting to see an attack like that after the Poggio.

Weather Mumblings

Seems lately that every time I look at the weather it looks like this. Huge streaks of green, yellow, red, white, gray, and whatever color indicates crappy weather are over the top of Cincinnati to the point that you can't tell where Cincinnati is on the map. To quote Aaron Fogue's blog "If the weather were a human body, Cincinnati would represent the anus."

At this point the fitness I had in the late winter from working hard all winter to stay in shape seems to be disappearing. Between the weather and continual colds, flu, coughs, etc it seems I can't catch a break this spring.

OK, enough grumbling, maybe I can put on 13 layers of clothes and get out in the 20 mph winds on a 35 degree day today...

Tour de Georgia Teams Selected

Fifteen teams have been selected to participate in the Tour de Georgia. As I will be down in Georgia to view Stages 5 & 6 it will be interesting to see of these teams in action. I just came back from Georgia and rode a majority of both of these stages while down there. While I am not a small, fast climber I am continually amazed at the climbing ability of even the pack fodder in a pro cycling race.

The teams invited are Astana, Saunier Duval-Scott, Team CSC, Team High Road, Gerolsteiner, BMC, Slipstream/Chipotle, Bissell, Health Net-Maxxis, Jelly Belly, Jittery Joe's, Symmetrics, Team Type 1, Toyota-United Pro and GE/Marco Polo- Trek. Based on the results last year (29+ minute gap on the winning breakaway) there was an obvious difference in abilities where the continental teams couldn't pull back the riders in the break - or maybe had no desire. To me it led to a very uninteresting race when you have only a small handful of potential winners leading into an epic Brasstown Bald stage.

Astana Officially Out of Tour de France

Astana was officially denied entrance to the Tour de France today. Somehow Johan Brunyeel is still confounded by this. If you read the history of the Tour and Astana it is hard to believe that Johan would go into this position thinking he had a chance to get into the Tour. The last two years for Astana and the remnants of Liberty Seguros in relation to the Tour have been complete failures with drug issues each time.

This brings me back to my commentary a couple days ago on drugs, cycling and baseball. Floyd Landis continues to fight, but where is the fight from Alexandre Vinokourov? Didn't he also claim innocence and that he would fight to restore confidence in his cleanliness? We haven't heard anything from him since July 2007. Obviously he got the clue that fighting would only mean more pain for him and that being reinstated was a lost cause. Homologous blood transfusions are definitely more complicated than testosterone doping, but why would that change his fighting position?

The Goat is Down

A sad day today for anyone who rides with or know the Gears 4 Beers group. John "The Goat" Anast took a tumble at the tracks on Camargo in Madeira. These tracks are famous for taking down cyclist due to their severe angle across the road. The result of the accident is a broken collarbone on the left side. This comes after Goat had hernia surgery earlier in the year and another accident a few weeks back. We may have to install some training wheels on Goat's bikes.

Many years ago Dale Eads wrecked on the same tracks and went down right in front of a car. The car, driven by a little old lady on her way to church, ran over Dale's ankle, breaking it. The best part of it all was that the lady didn't think she should have to wait around after the accident for the ambulance and to exchange insurance details.

Nisbet Park Underwater

As posted yesterday it has been raining and raining for some time with rivers 10-12 feet over flood stage. Here is a picture of the popular meeting location for many rides in the Loveland area. Will have to stay clear of low-lying areas when riding tonight.

Camp Videos: Unicoi Descent (Short Side)

On the second day of camp we descended Unicoi Gap and I was able to capture video of it as we descending. It was a beautiful day, sunny skies, and warm temperatures. The descent of Unicoi is an excellent descent - wide, nicely paved roads and big speed.

Cycling Camp: What do you do when it rains?

At cycling camp three years ago in McCaysville the challenge of eating 8 regular saltine crackers in one minute was introduced to the group. So, at the New York, New York diner in Copperhill, TN Kyle Poland took the challenge and tried to down 8 simple saltines in less than a minute. For those that know Kyle he is a very tall guy and could nearly fit all eight in his mouth at once.

A few minutes later Kyle, having missed the minute time limit, was still trying to figure out how to swallow the cracker paste in his mouth.

This year at camp the guys were sitting around on a rainy evening, killing time and decided to resurrect the cracker challenge. This time they reduced the cracker requirement to 5 crackers to see if any of the three challengers, Ryan Vingris, Ryan Good, and Tony D'Varga could finish. You can see the results in the video, but this obviously isn't as easy as it sounds...

Rain, Rain, Go Away

36+ hours of continuous rain...4+ inches in certain areas...Nisbet Park is under water...Little Miami River is 10 feet above flood stage...maybe I need to build what this guy built?

After rain last week in Georgia ruined two days of riding, rain this week in Cincinnati has ruined two days of riding. Here is hoping that tomorrow is a better day to ride or I may have to break down and do step aerobics again.

Landis Continues to Fight

Today in Cycling News there is a review of a couple aspects of the Floyd Landis case. This makes me wonder why there isn't a fast track for doping cases within the UCI, WADA, USADA and whatever other doping agency is involved in these things.

Clearly the Landis case is very high profile and there are many lawyers involved, but isn't it more of a kangaroo court anyhow? It isn't as though they are appearing before the US Supreme Court or even a real French Magistrate. They are appearing before the CAS which isn't a governing body or a rule maker. At one point the Swiss Federal Court determined that CAS wasn't even a real arbiter due to their connections to the IOC.

Personally I think that Floyd is very guilty. Fake testosterone is fake testosterone. But because there are so many arbiters and appeal committees and different angles taken we aren't to the end of it two years later.

As a result the high profile cases stay in the news for a very long time and we never move on. Seems every other week there is something new related to Floyd. In baseball the Roger Clemens case was in the news for a few weeks, but has anyone heard anything recently?

So what is the answer? How do we go on from here? For ten years now no one has been able to answer this. From the Festina affair until now there has been no resolution and seemingly no path forward. I don't think any other sports are clean either, but cycling puts itself in the public eye as dirty all on its own. Baseball is just as dirty, but at least they keep more of their dirty laundry to themselves and let the fans enjoy the sport without all the public drama.

Local Racing: Tour de Beer

The first annual Gears 4 Beers Tour de Beer was this weekend with a decent showing despite chilly and somewhat windy conditions. The event had a lighter turnout than hoped for, but it was put together in less than 2 weeks by Mr. Godzulla.

There were several friends on attendance including 1, 2, 3 finish in the 40+ category by Godzulla, Gary Gorell, and Jim Pontius. But a most peculiar thing was noted in the 3/4 category. Documented in the picture here taken by Lee Ruble is a certain Mr. Rod Roof taking time to pose for the camera during the FINAL SPRINT! Not only is he looking at the camera, but he is also smiling! Rumor has it he is riding for another team after this race...maybe he was holding out for a better contract?

No way....Cipollini Wants Out?

In the shock of all shocks Cipollini doesn't want to ride for Rock Racing anymore and would prefer to ride for Tinkoff so he can race Milan-San Remo this coming week. I am sure everyone is surprised that he and Michael Ball didn't get along for more than a month.

Cipo wants out of Rock Racing contract

Matson 300 Team Camp: Day 5

Day 5 of camp was the highlight of the camp for myself. Almost the entire crew of guys climbed to the very top of the Cherohala Skyway. The total distance from Tellico Plains (882 ft) to Hooper Bald (5,414 ft - highest point) is 30 miles. At the beginning there were several who thought climbing to the top, descending over the top, then climbing back up would be the way to go. By the top they decided that going up and then back to Tellico Plains was enough.

The total elapsed time for my ride was approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes. This included waiting at the top for a while and admiring the scenery. At about 5,300 feet we were above the frost line, so standing around too long was simply too cold after working up a sweat coming up.

One of the more interesting things we saw was a touring group climbing to the top, including a tandem. For those who didn't go to the top...a tandem did it!

Matson 300 Team Camp: Day 4

Day 4 of camp we saw that the rain was coming and were trying to get out early. Every one got up early hoping to miss the rain, but it was on us before we got started. We were up before seven and it started by eight. We watched more radar. There were a couple of windows of opportunity that people took advantage of, but each time people got soaked. Brad and Jamie did a longer ride and got caught in a pretty decent storm, taking refuge on the back porch of someone's house for a period of time until it passed.

Weather Tracking of Severe Storms for March 15th

Late in the day I got out for about 24 miles. This was essentially the climb up Unicoi Gap to the top and then descending back down. With the pavement completely wet the descent was quite slow and slippery.

The highlight of the day was Mexican Food at La Cabana in Helen. Classic mexican feast with pitchers of Dos Equis.

Matson 300 Team Camp: Day 3

The story of today at camp was rain, and more rain. Some folks ventured out into the rain, but others, such as myself, were already sick and decided not to get any more sick, so I skipped any rides. Turns out that storms and wind were so bad in the area the that Georgia Dome was damaged and the SEC basketball tournament was rearranged.

Tornado Trashes Atlanta

Matson 300 Team Camp: Day 2

Team started out together today and headed up Unicoi Gap. A very nice ~10 mile ride to the top of the gap, with about 6 of that classified as climbing. Over the top we went to new road that the Tour de Georgia will be using. When I say "new", I mean I haven't been on it before, but Owl Creek Road ended up providing an interesting little climb that the pros will have to traverse right before heading up Brasstown.

Owl Creek is a nasty little climb of maybe a mile or so, but relatively steep. If the peloton hasn't split by this point of Stage 6 of the TdG I would imagine the attacking here would be fierce.

After Owl Creek the team split into 2 groups. One group wanted to go up Brasstown, while the rest wanted more distance and steady climbing. The long group did four gaps and ended up with 70+ miles for the day, while the Brasstown group ended with only about 45 miles after a newb in that group nearly puked trying to get up Brasstown.

Did get some more video though coming down Woody's Gap. The TdG will descend this same mountain, though with a closed road I am sure they will be moving a lot faster than we did.

Matson 300 Team Camp: Day 1

Today was the start of the 5 day Georgia Camp for the Matson 300 team. 14 teammates packed up and headed south for what turned out to be an awesome day in Georgia. After fighting the cold and snow in Ohio for what seemed like 9 months it was nice to get out without any arm warmers, knee warmers, caps, gloves, etc.

This is a video from the descent of Neel's Gap (back side of Blood Mountain). A nice, technical descent with many banked curves. A couple of the guys on the team took a bit too many risks - one in particular ended up 2 lanes to the left on one of the right handers. Might be fun when the road is closed, but luckily there wasn't on-coming traffic.