An hour fifteen on the trainer tonight. The whole time was spent at a good hard steady pace. The first half hour was in a 53x19 before switching to 53x17. The legs were getting heavy toward the end of the ride but I think I finished reasonably well.

The weather is questionable again for the weekend. With some luck at least one day will be good for outside. Saturday looked snowy but later this afternoon the chance of a dry day improved. Cross the fingers.

News Item of the Day: Italian sprint stallion Alessandro Petacchi announced Thursday that he will not contest the 2005 Tour de France, the Fassa Bortolo rider preferring to focus his season's goals on the Madrid World Championship road race, a course tailor-made for Petacchi's sprinting prowess.

"I've checked out the [Madrid] course. It's very favourable to sprinters, guys like [Erik] Zabel, [Oscar] Freire and [Tom] Boonen," Petacchi said in French sports daily L'Equipe. "It's a tough course, but it's not insurmountable. The fastest sprinters will all be in the hunt at the finish, so I want to show up at Worlds at the peak of my fitness." "This is the best chance I'll ever have in my career of winning the rainbow world champion's jersey."

Petacchi will contest the Vuelta a Espana in September in final preparation for the World Championships road race, scheduled for September 25 in Madrid, Spain.