Is there a more manly-man sounding name in cycling than Bram Tankink?

Thor Hushovd is pretty tough sounding. Being named after the god of thunder isn't anything to be sneezed at.

But, Bram Tankink is major macho. He's got the horror movie monster angle covered with his first name Bram, as in Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. Then he has the military covered with Tank. Even the kink part could evoke an S&M dom image.

Who else would you want as a team workhorse than a tank driving, whips and chain wielding, blood-sucking monster?

If only he was bigger than 5'11 and 154 lbs.

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News consultants are either stunningly brilliant beyond my comprehension or dumber than Play-doh. My gut feeling is that they are dumber than Play-doh. This evening KMOV unveiled a new feature on the 5 o'clock news. They seemed rather proud of this new segment titled "10 minutes with the doctor". The problem: 10 minutes with the doctor was barely over a minute long.

Who was the genius that thought of that one?

Felt much better on the bike today. Didn't always push real hard, though. It was a really nice day and I was plenty happy to just enjoy the ride and not punish myself going up the hills. There were a couple times I dug a little deeper and they went okay. Anything would have been an improvement over Saturday.

The animals must know it is spring. They were out in force. My bike was like a squirrel magnet. There must have been five times squirrels came running out into the road toward my wheels. Somehow, all emerged unscathed. Even the one the went between the wheels.

The wildlife tally for the ride would be: Too many squirrels to count. One dead raccoon. I never realized raccoons were as big as they are. One large snake about 4 ft long in a tree and 4 or 5 deer running in a field and crossing the bike path just in front of us.

You reap what you sow. Spend two weeks goofing off and not riding much and you feel like garbage when you finally do. Saturday was 65 miles of torture through Columbia. Everything felt wrong. Bad pedalling, uncomfortable breathing, and everything seemed to ache.

Today I get to do it all over again in Jeffco. I'll be curled up in the fetal position this evening.

I'm hardly riding at all. Wednesday I took advantage of the earlier Daylight Savings Time. I didn't realize how windy it was until I started riding. After half a mile, I was tempted turn around. Then I turned into the headwind. Total suckage. I persevered and put in an hour. The ride home was much nicer. The bike path along the Meramec was nice too as the sun was low in the sky, silhouetting the land and splashing reflections on the water. It was rather pretty.

Thursday I pulled a muscle up by my shoulder blade again. There is not much pain but it is annoying and may affect me if I climb a hill out of the saddle. We will see. Especially on Sunday.

Milan San Remo is tomorrow. If I were to bet, look for Freire, Boonen, O'Grady, Bennati and, well, I guess you can't discount the defending champ Pozzatto.

From Sunday's Post-Dispatch...

PEVELY — State environmental officials have given final approval for commercial development of the busy intersection of Interstate 55 and Highway Z in this growing Jefferson County municipality.

Pevely Mayor John Knobloch said this week that he was ecstatic about getting the green light to seek developers for what he called one of the prime commercial sites in the St. Louis area.

"This is the only intersection between St. Louis and south of Festus that has I-55 frontage available," Knobloch said. "We want to get the word out to the buisness people that this land is now available."

Thank goodness every possible exit on I-55 will now be developed. It always bothered me to drive by that piece of land and not see a gas station or restaurant dotting the land. Hopefully, a few big-ass billboards can be squeezed in as well to help beautify the land.

A few days have passed since my last entry and it is time to get a couple items off my chest.

Angelina Jolie, we do not care that you are adopting another freaking foreign kid. What's the problem? Is a little American kid not politically correct enough for you? Would that make you uncool in Hollywood's eyes? Go raise your kids and give us a break.

And another thing. To the St Louis public high school students who refused to leave the Mayor's office until they met with the Mayor about the district's accreditation. Shut up and go to school! You have no say in the matter. You are nothing but dumb kids with an out of control sense of self-importance. Besides, most of your demands of the Mayor are things he has no control over. If you and the rest of your fellow classmates would show this much concern for your studies all the time, then maybe the district wouldn't be losing it's accreditation. If I were the Mayor you would have had your asses arrested for trespassing. There would have been some real whining when that happened.

Okay, that feels better.

Tuesday Night Worlds began, oddly enough, this past Tuesday. While at work I had no desire to go race but I went anyway. Once a race starts you can't help but try a little so that you don't embarrass yourself by getting lapped four times.

The winds were rather strong but not brutal and didn't seem to cause too much damage in the pack. I spent most of the race getting reacquainted with the course and finding out what felt comfortable. With a little over a lap to go I gave a little dig up and over the hill to the first turn in order to bridge up to a couple riders off the front. That effort popped me but I was just testing myself a little. Giuseppe was part of about 4 others that trailed me. While I peeled off, he continued on and they held of the late charge of the pack.

Older news:
During last Sunday's hill ride in Jeffco, Giuseppe asked what the grade was on the steep section of Franks Rd. I knew it was 12.something%, but couldn't recall exactly. He felt it was steeper. So, yesterday I consulted the route I entered on Routeslip and did some more calculations. Here are my findings:

From the right hand bend shortly after the pet cemetery up to Franks Ct, when the grade eases off, you climb 275 ft in just over .4 miles. Average grade 12.47%. The first half is the steepest when it hits you at 10.5% for a couple hundred feet. The next 200 ft are 14.1%, followed by 800 ft at 15.2%. After that, the hill eases a little with stretches of 11.8%, 8% and another little kick at 10.8%

The last hill we tackled Sunday was Blecha Rd. Blecha is not terribly long but it is ugly. Turning over the 39x23 is a lesson in brute force. Today, I figured the hill is .27 miles long. But, in that short distance, it climbs 216 ft at an average grade of 15.3%. Pretty impressive. However, if you remove the last 150 ft or so of the road that goes up at a modest 4%, the average grade of Blecha jumps up to 16.7% The hill slaps you from the start at 17% and follows with stretches of 26.9, 14.3, 17.2, and 11.9 percent. OUCH!!!

Italy Update: The hotel is booked in Bormio and the car is reserved for when we head off on our own. Everything is starting to take shape.

Every morning at work I check out the weather and webcams around Bormio and the Stelvio. Since the Stelvio and the Gavia usually don't open until late May or early June I can't help but be a little paranoid about them not being cleared of snow when we are there. That would suck so badly. There are positive signs though. For the first time all winter, the high temps on top of the Stelvio cracked the freezing mark. Actually, it has happened four days in a row. That doesn't mean there still isn't a lot of snow up there.

I expressed a little frustration yesterday at how deep the results of Sunday's race were scored. Well, today, much more complete results were posted online so I withdraw my earlier comments and give the officials a gold star.

Sylvan Springs didn't go nearly as well as Froze Toes. That is to be expected with more of a regular Cat 3 representation than what showed up last week. Most of the morning I had a stuffy nose and was trying to cough up a little chest gunk. Okay, enough with the excuses.

I thought the team did pretty well. We were not terribly aggressive but always had one or two people near the front. I on the other hand, went into the race without much confidence. My nose was congested and my chest had a little too. As the race went on I began to feel better but not good enough to put in a really hard effort.

When the final laps came around I was boxed in some and never got the position I would have liked. On the final lap I tacked onto the end of the final rider selection and hoped for a little magic but it wasn't going to happen with the fast downhill. Jose went down in the final turn and I was just too far back to crack the money and finished about 14th or 15th.

What needs improving: My sinuses
Positioning in the final laps

What went well: I felt pretty good up the hill


Why: The officials do a good job but why, when they had a video camera, did they not score more than 10 places? There was a good amount of time before the next race. Surely they could have gone a little further down in the placings. Not a big deal. Just something I wonder about.

Today, a small group of us went into Jeffco and tortured ourselves in the hills for a few hours. Giuseppe rode much better and Vincenzo was strong. Patrice and Marco had their first sourtherly excursions of the year and struggled a little but did okay. My left knee is a little tender but a day of rest should do it some good.

Tour of Denmark race director Jesper Worre shows his frustration with the current state of cycling by announcing a radical change of direction for his race. From now on, the Tour of Denmark will only allow riders less than 3ft tall.

Lady Luck

What did Max do to tick off Lady Luck?

From cyclingnews:

From the front group of 50 or so riders, Rabobank's Max Van Heeswijk attacked with five kilometres to go, and was on his way to what looked like a sure victory only to take a tumble while alone off the front of the bunch in the last 500m.

Speaking of luck, I may have had some on my side Sunday. For the first time since the race I went to get the bike for a ride and the rear tire was flat. It didn't seem to be flat when I got home Sunday but apparently there was a slow leak. Thankfully, it wasn't bad enough to affect the race.

For the last couple weeks I have had various things on my mind that I have wanted to comment on. Unfortunately I would get distracted and not write anything. Now my pea brain is clogged up with this nonsense and it needs to be cleared out.

1) The recent "Just for Men" hair color commercials bug the heck out of me. I have to hand it to the advertising guy that came up with this line. The brilliant advertising line in the commercial is "Let them see the real you." Say what? Let me see if I have this straight. Graying men are encouraged to apply fake color to their hair so that people can see "the real you". The gray hair is "the real you", you idiot!

2) Speaking of commercials, I can't help but chuckle everytime I see the Rozerem ad with Abe Lincoln and the beaver sitting at the kitchen table with the guy in a scuba outfit doing the dishes.

3) Flipping through the channels after Saturday's ride I stumbled upon the final 10 minutes of a mid-70s Soul Train episode. I was transfixed by the images. A studio full of the hippest couples wearing flowing blouses and large bell bottom pants and massive Oscar Gamble afros.

4) Over the last couple weeks I have given careful scrutiny to Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue. My gold seal of approval goes to... Daniela Sarahyba for the brunettes and to Bar Refaeli for the blondes.

5) What is the idea behind the newly designed caps being worn in Major League Baseball? Why have semi-circles of a different color above the ears? Is a normal cap too boring now?

Maybe it was the bartape...

The start of the race season finally arrived yesterday. The gold bartape was securely in place and the gold accents were tastefully adorning the bike for a fresh start to the year.

The team stood steadfast in their decision, crazy as it was, to work for me. That's right. They threw their support behind someone with exactly ZERO podium finishes in 14 previous seasons of racing. Crazy, I tell you.

Maybe it was an omen but for the first time I actually got a good starting spot and didn't have to spend half the race nerve-wrackingly squeezing my toward the front. The game plan before the race was to try and string things out in the crosswind and splinter the group before the outer road. I never looked back so I'm not sure how much damage was actually being done. The attacks that did come were generally short-lived and after 4 or 5 of them, they seemed to be having less "oomph". About half down the backstretch another attack came. I followed, the pace slowed a bit as I was about to take my turn and I kept going. A few seconds later I look back and there is a gap. I keep my pace and Austin bridges up. I look back again and no one followed him. It is just us. My mind races, "Oh man, this is a little earlier than I wanted but we have the gap"

We put our heads down, took turns pulling, and went for it. I didn't look back again for a couple miles but when I did the straining legs and heavy breathing felt like it had a purpose. The gap was sizable and I began to believe we might just pull this off.

We turned into the outer road headwind. I never noticed the little rollers on this stretch quite as much as yesterday. Austin was clearly stronger and the little hills were the biggest indicator. A few times he eased to allow me to catch back on. It was in his interest to keep me around a while longer to help out in the headwind. At this point I pretty much made up my mind that if we made it to the homestretch together that I was going to tell him he I wouldn't contest any sprint. Up the final hill before the 3 mile homestretch and the legs were getting heavy. Austin came around and the gap happened... 5 ft, 10ft, 15ft. He looked back, paused momentarily as if he was unsure what to do and then he kept going. It was the smart move. There was not enough power in my legs to bridge back up.

I looked back again after the turn and still saw no one and felt pretty secure about 2nd place. I used Austin as a rabbit and gave what I had to give. With about 1.5 miles to go I looked back and thought I saw some riders off in the distance but it was hard to tell. The occasional glance back showed they were definitely coming and doubts of survival began to pop into my head. I shifted down a gear or two and searched for that little extra. 1km to go! The pack was closer but I began to like my chances again. 200m to go! Another look back. No way they were getting me now. Out of the saddle for maybe 150m and then an easy cruise across the line for 2nd place.

I still have a certain disbelief that the race actually went according to plan. Along with that disbelief is a mellow satisfaction of a job rather well done and gratefulness for a team that believed in my chances. And to top things off Patrice nabbed 2nd in the field sprint, 4th overall.

What needs improving:
My acceleration was so-so
Didn't do as well as I would have liked in the small hills. Maybe it was the effort to stay away that took some power away on the climbs

What went well:
Rode smart
Read the race well
Initiated the winning move of the race

Pippo makes me look smart.



A few of us met up at Sylvan Springs for a little reminder of what the course is like. Looking back, I should have experimented a little more with gearing choices on the hill. Overall, I wasn't too happy with how I rode. Maybe the weather had an effect. It was near freezing, which isn't bad, but the wind was strong and cold.

Afterward, the ride home sucked. Along the outer road on 255 was maybe the most uncomfortable I have been all winter. The road is a gradual uphill and going home was head on into that strong westerly wind. My face was burning with cold. The rest of the way wasn't as bad but it felt good to climb into a warm shower.

Tomorrow the road season finally gets underway in Columbia after a week's delay. After a winter of riding with a handful of people you never quite know your level of fitness. That first race always lets you know. What will Sunday tell me?

Im throwing this together real quick before going riding or else it will be too late.

Het Volk pick: I want to go with Pozzatto but a Belgian almost always wins. So if Pippo doesn't win, I'll go with the easy Boonen pick. I'd like to see Van Petegem get his 4th, though.

Tour de Georgia hunting for financial fix before this year's race - Cycling - Yahoo! Sports

Last year, the
Tour of Georgia had to scramble to get Ford as a sponsor. Now they are struggling again this year to find sponsorship. This is a nice race. Too bad that it appears to be on it's last legs.

Going down to watch in '04 for a couple days is a fond memory. We rode the TT course in the morning and then watched Armstrong outsprint Ivan Dominguez in the town of Rome. After lunch, we headed back to the TT course and watched the riders go through the pre-race sign in process not more than 6 ft away. Just walking through the parking lot, riders were milling around.

Then we drove over to the mountains and stayed on top of Neels Gap. We left the cabin and set off on a long, snaking road down to the valley to get a little something to eat. Then, back up the mountain and down the other side and up Wolfpen Gap. Wolfpen is shorter mountain but the road is much smaller and a fun climb.

I would certainly recommend the area for some nice riding.