Place you bets on the T-Mobile successor.

Irish betting company Paddy Power puts the odds on Russian Energy company Gazprom at 6-1. Following Gazprom are textile company KiK at 11-1 and Coca Cola at 12-1. Also mentioned are Roche at 31-1 and Bayer at 40-1.

I just finished watching the last Cyclocross World Championships. What an awesome race! Lots of crashes and generally terrific back and forth racing with the race not being decided until the final portion of the race. Nys crashed three times, Vervecken twice, Wellens once, Franzoi once, Groenendaal once and they were all among the leaders at the time. Five star viewing

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

I had most of this week off work with plans of good training in advance of the State Championships and going to KC the week after. Instead, immediately after the race my eyes ached. Despite wearing glasses, both my eyes had grit and grim land in them. They were very uncomfortable Sunday evening. Monday was not much better but with each day they have improved slightly.

On top of the eye problem, I started sniffling Sunday evening. My condition held steady through Tuesday but I cancelled the road ride I had planned for Tuesday. Like a fool I went to Spinning Tuesday night and woke up Wednesday feeling pretty poor. My plans for a Covered Bridge ride were scuttled. Instead of a good long ride I was left to give a good bike scrubbing and feel miserable the rest of the day.

I felt a bit better today and managed to ride down to Suson on the cross bike. I didn't push very hard but wanted to work the legs a little and practice shouldering the bike. We never have a need to carry the bike normally but it will be necessary in Herrmann. I'm satisfied with how well it went. Maybe I can get out tomorrow again for some more practice.

The weekend is looking ugly. Sleet on Saturday and then rain the rest of the weekend. Unger Park could be sloppy. I'm not sure exactly where in the park we will be racing but there are not a lot of places to put on a race in that park. I keep picturing a section that is like a bowl. If it is rainy then we could be riding through a bog in places

This was probably the chilliest weekend of the season. Only Giuseppe and Jose showed up and we kept it easy and flat. That was fine. All was going well, including a nice tailwind back to Columbia, when Jose hit a big clump of dried mud in the road and and lost control. He fought to stay up, rolled into the gravel on the side of the road and went down. He landed half on the gravel and half on the softer grass. Still, he hit hard and broke his helmet in three places and layed there for a minute, trying to regain his senses. He came out fairly unscathed. A little blood on the thigh and a stiff neck. The important thing was having the helmet on. He has terrible luck on the Columbia ride. One of the few times he joined us last winter, he broke a spoke. A couple weeks ago, he went down in some thick gravel in a turn. Last week was the broken seat post bolt and now the crash.

Sunday was the first race of the CX season with poor weather. Last week was kid of cold but we added some spitting rain into the mix this week. It wasn't wet enough to be a slop fest but there was a tiny amount of mud and as the B race went on, the course became a little more slippy. The only place that the wet ground really had an effect was a small off-camber downhill turn. This spot claimed a several victims. I almost went down in that spot, too. Only some instinctive counter-steering managed to upright as I skidded sideways down the hill. I was left talking to myself in disbelief after escaping that incident unscathed.

I had my usual below average start but had an okay race from then on and finished 10th.

SpazCyclingNews presents:


Top Rides: Route de Petite Roche

The recent Tour of Missouri opened up the eyes of the cycling public to the richness of riding in a region that, until now, had gone largely unnoticed. With that in mind, we set out to ride one of the many epic climbs packed into the St. Louis area.

Passed over by race organizers for the inaugural Tour of Missouri, the Route de Petite Roche (Little Rock Rd as the natives call it) provides a daunting challenge for the average five year old child. Nestled away amongst the bustling I-55 and Butler Hill interchange the Petite Roche provides an oasis amongst the fast food restaurants, strip mall and nondescript neighborhoods.

Some friendly locals helped provide me with directions to the Petite Roche. They suggested starting the ride in a nearby parking lot. With cars that filled the parking lot, this clearly was the place to begin our journey.



Questioning the local residents knowledge about where to start the ride paid off as I was provided with nearly 400 ft of warm up before beginning the challenge that lay ahead of me. From the parking lot, I weaved my way through the Hardee's, Waffle House and gas station. A left turn along the shoulder of Butler Hill and the then another quick left brought me to the true start of my journey.

Once you reach the gas station, you see the sign indicating the start of Petite Roche. This is a part of Missouri with a rich archaeological history. Apparently, the mighty brontosaurus once roamed these areas.



Almost immediately, the road tilts upward. After a mere 200ft of the climb you have ascended 4ft.



A road veers off to the left but don't let the excitement overcome you. You haven't crested this monster quite so quickly. Much like the Col de Telegraphe precedes the Col du Galibier, this is a double climb eager to dish out a second round of punishment.

During the long descent of 37 ft, soaring rocky cliffs line the right hand side of the road and help to distract you from the muscle-tearing climb that awaits you.



A strange thing happens on epic roads such as this. No matter how many cars are at the base, once you start climbing everyone spreads out across the length of the road leaving the road amazingly clear of other cyclists. You are left to enjoy the wonder of this road in serene loneliness. It is you against the hill and the hill gives no quarter.

What goes down, must go up. As mentioned earlier, this is a two-tiered climb. The first half only serves to soften the legs as the main portion of the climb begins. The grade kicks up sharply, making you shift to the middle of the cassette.



With a dig of determination and you find your way past the steepest section as the road begins to level out in the thin air at 564 ft. Off to the left sits a tiny chapel atop the mountain that serves as a milestone to the many riders that scale these heights



Ride around toward the back of the chapel and you are greeted with views of the valley below that take your breath away.



After a few minutes of gathering your composure it is time to begin the descent back into town, satisfied with a job well done. This is a mountain summit that leads to nowhere. Once you reach the top you must return along the same roads you just climbed.



A minute long climb followed by a blazing descent, makes a man work up a big hunger. In typical Spaz fashion, you always need to restore the body's energy supplies after a hard ride like today. I stopped at the Taco Bell and filled up on delicious meats and condiments.

Sunday's Bubba Cross #6 was forgettable.  Not so good legs in warmup and it transferred over to the race.  Once my diesel got going I was okay.  Picked a few riders off as the race went on but I just didn't have much in the legs.  I did push the pace on the long gradual downhill.  Others seemed to using this area as a bit of a recovery zone and I would make up some good ground and eve made a couple nice moves heading into the hairpin at the bottom.  As good as that section was for me, the uphill grassy section and paved section was a struggle. 
 
Three laps to go I messed up one of hairpins at the far end of the course.  One of my wheels washed out while exiting the turn.  I could blame the old, rear Kenda that was being used as a replacement for last week's flat but I just don't know.  The crash cost me momentum.  I did okay afterward but some of the fight was taken out of me.
 
While I always grumble about the less than ideal starting straights in our races, I had someone else grumbling about the lack of barriers in our races.  Actually, this is one thing I applaud our races for actually following the rulebook.  Just because other places use more barriers than they should, doesn't mean we should do the same.  It might be good to have a natural barrier of some sort, in addition to the artificial barriers, but our parks don't always have the terrain for a natural dismount.
 
There is an interesting trend among some of the riders this year.  Especially in the A race.  There is an awful lot of facial hair sprouting up.  Maybe it's a fall/winter growth but there are more beards, goatees and moustaches than a bad 70's porno.

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Slipstream had their team presentation Thursday night. From all accounts it seems like a typical event of that sort. Introduce the team. Show the jerseys. Take some photos. All the usual stuff.

What surprised me was the cheapshot at Lance Armstrong. Was it really necessary to take a shot at his ex-girlfriend? Sure, she has been around for a while but to express your feelings about her age on the theatre marguee... that may be over the line

I'm looking forward to next week. Vacation time! Man, this last week or two I have really been wanting some time off. Going to work has become a chore lately. Some time away will do some good.

Weather permitting I hope to squeeze in some daytime weekday training as the CX season begins to wind down. I need to practice shouldering the bike a little. We just don't have much reason to carry a bike much in our races but the State Champs and Nats in KC will require that skill.
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In other news, I have become aware of the return of two of cable's semi-celebabes. A couple days ago I learned that former OLN velobabe Kirsten Gum and her 145psi "tubulars" had returned to the cable airwaves. Ms Gum is host of the Travel Channel's Cash and Treasures. She's a redhead now, which means she has covered just about all the natural hair colors since her days on OLN.

The return of the other former cable semi-celebabe was announced today. Poundcake Paige Davis is making a grand return to Trading Spaces. There was a time when I would tune in on occasion purely for Paige's entirely too bubbly personality and deceivingly hot body.

Welcome back, ladies.

This morning my Inbox had an email notifying me that the USADA will be at Cross Nats, doing drug testing.  Excellent!  I think I will slap on about 4 Testogel patches the night before and see if I can get busted.
 
I would also like to notify the USADA right now that for the next week or so I will be in Mexico *wink wink* *nudge nudge*.  Honest.  I will.  Don't even bother going to the Dolomites to look for me because I will not be there.  But, if you happen to find out that I am not in Mexico, then I swear to you that my team knows about it.

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Heavy speculation is that the Giro will make another attempt at ascending the Plan de Corones in '08 after it was cut short in '06 for bad weather.
 
The Mortirolo looks like it will be included again.  Possibly on the second to last day.

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Twenty-four hours after Bubba CX #5 it is dark, dreary and steadily raining.  Conditions that people have been wanting for several years now.  While there is a certain fascination with a CX slop-fest there is a benefit to not turning a public park into a mud pit.
 
Yesterday's race was at Jefferson Barracks, probably my favorite race venue.  The rolling hills make for a challenging course with many possible layouts.  The temperatures were a warm mid-60s and sunny.  Nice conditions.  I was actually into racing this weekend and took a nice 2nd row starting spot.  The whistle blew and I held my place pretty well.  A few people passed me and I passed a few.  After a couple laps I settled into a good rhythm and began pulling back some of the faster starters and leaving them behind. 
 
The leaders had no reason to feel threatened but I was going well and still gaining on a few others when I came around a hairpin at the top of the course.  The bike felt odd and the next left felt even stranger.  Sure enough, my rear tire had flatted.  Without a wheel in the pits, the flat had put paid to my race.
 
Assuming I had kept my position, it seems that I would have finished 10th or 11th.  Not outstanding but I really did feel good and have some enthusiasm for the coming races.  A late peak is as good a time as any. 
 
Strange occurence of the day:  A deer jumping out of the woods and knocking Rich Pierce off his bike.
Not so strange occurence:  Nolan crashing out

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Today's ride in Columbia was most likely the chilliest of the season. Temperatures were around freezing but throw on a couple layers of clothing, rising temps and add in the sun and it was not a bad day to ride.

We had a tidy group of five show up. I hadn't realized the Saturday ride was an organized Cat 3 ride now. General consensus was to go for only a couple hours today. My spectacularly planned 50 mile route was out the window and we rode the flatlands for just over 2 hours. It was a nice ride and the brevity of the ride might actually provide me with some better legs for Sunday's race at Jefferson Barracks.

As I said, it was a two hour ride that went at a comfortable pace. Nothing too difficult except for my saddle which seems to have a mind of its own lately. Again, this week, it developed a somewhat uncomfortable upward nose tilt. I didn't feel like adjusting it before the ride but I really should have. It proved to be a little uncomfortable but not awful.

We will see what effect the shorter ride today has on tomorrow's race. But, I need to factor a lack of training this week. There was a veritable plethora of wildlife today. We had your average pigs on a farm, a couple deer, a fox and the most unusual peacock to spice up the ride.

On the way home from the ride I finished a special feature that should be appearing soon at this location on the internets. Stay tuned.
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I wandered across this video today. It is probably part of a well known video like A Sunday in Hell or some other video but I was struck by how solid and steady this Merckx guy is while whipping up a brisk spin on the trainer.

I'm on a bit of an astronomical roll this week.  This morning I picked the morning paper up off the driveway and turned to go inside.  As usual, I scanned the sky briefly.  As I looked to the northeast a shooting star streaked downward for a second or two.
 
Earlier this week, at 5:30am I flipped over to Channel 5 to catch a little weather forecast and a traffic update with the lovely Kathleen England before heading out the door a little while later.  Scott Connell, the weather guy, came on and mentioned that the space shuttle would be passing overhead in five minutes.  For some reason I had never seen the shuttle pass overhead in the 20-something years of the shuttle programs existence.
 
By that time of the morning I have usually finished eating breakfast and just killing a little time before the drive to work.  I went out in the cold and stood, staring upward like a slack-jawed bumpkin staring at the big city skyscrapers.  The minutes seemed to drag on, especially when you don't know exactly what the shuttle would look like.  Will it be bright?  Will it move quickly?  Finally, there was a twinkling that caught my eye as a light passed behind some tree limbs.  Sure enough, the yellowish glow moved steadily across the sky, growing whiter and very bright before starting to fade to a duller yellow again.  I suppose the whole thing wasn't earth shattering to witness but there is a certain wonder in realizing the task of putting something up into orbit and seeing it fly by.

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I forgot to mention that I managed to tick off a fellow rider on Saturday's ride.  It was a fruitful day.
 
Last night was the first Spinning class of the season.  I suffered but did reasonably well.  The first class is always the toughest as you get back into the flow of the classes.

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Time for a little catch up.

 

Saturday we had a tidy group of nine 3's meet in Columbia for a little team building type of ride with a little bit of structure to it.  Regardless, it was 70 miles of cool, clear November glory.

 

Sunday we raced #4 of the Bubba Memorial at Faust Park.  Some originality was used to create a little bit different course than in the past.  Well done.  I got a crappy starting position and settled for gradually picking guys off.  It worked well enough as I finished 17^th but I wasn't very satisfied.  Also, for the third time in four races, Heffernan passed me on the final lap.  This week I didn't even know he was close.  That stuff has to come to an end.

 

Monday was the team meeting and I ordered a new CAAD 9.  The urge for a System or Super Six was strong but there is nothing wrong with the standard CAAD frames and the money saved could go to some wheels or another trip somewhere or even a new CX bike or fixed gear.

 

Reader Pat Rice wished to be linked to Johan Bruyneel.  At the time I was unaware, or too dim witted, to recognize the name Pat Rice and his illustrious career.  I entered Mr. Rice's name in a .wks, converted the file to a .csv, massaged the data in an .mdb and came up with absolutely nothing. 

 

Fortunately, Mr Rice revealed himself to me.  So, I present Mr Rice's oh so very few degrees from Johan Bruyneel (not counting his taking a pee in a neighboring urinal)…

 

Pat Rice races with Aaron Hinni

Aaron Hinni raced with Kevin Livingston

Kevin Livingston was coached by Johan Bruyneel

 

3 degrees

 

Caveat:  Aaron may not have raced with Kevin but I'm sure raced with someone on the Spirits who did race with Livingston.  I'm a little fuzzy on my Spirits rosters.  A fourth degree may be needed if Aaron missed the Livingston era by a year or two.

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Franceso Del Ponte Update:
 
The most remarkable participants in Oudenaarde were Marcus Burghardt (T-Mobile) and Frank Vandenbroucke. Burghardt is going to ride some cyclocross races as preparation for the new season, completed the race while Vandenbroucke decided not to start after all. After riding two laps around the course Vandenbrouke announced "Cyclocross is not for me", and decided not to start the race. When asked if he felt he let the fans down, he said,  "well no. I'm here."
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Road racing hasn't seemed to be for you the last several year either.  One would think you may have just possibly done a little cyclocross practice in the previous weeks and known whether it was for you or not.  However, It was so nice of you to grace the crowd with your presence.  They were humbled to be near a cycling hobo, I'm sure.

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