The weekend just past was the best of the year. Still a little chilly to start the days warmed nicely with bright and sunny skies. A little extra bonus Saturday morning was a VERY thick fog bank at the Mississippi. I tend to like fog, particularly when heading to a ride. I'm not sure why. It sets a mood. A little mystery about what the day's ride will reveal.
Anyway, this fog was intense and prevented much more than maybe 200ft of visibility. The JB Bridge ironwork was invisible until you were virtually on the bridge. The fog was concentrated right at the river though and once you were a half mile away everything was back to normal. Perhaps in honor of Flanders the following day, we rode the Ronde van Monroe. Minus a flat tire, the ride was satisfying with a few good efforts, particularly up the Kasteelberg and a chase of Ken on LL into Maeystown. All in all, I rode fine but not spectacularly.
Sunday meant Jeffco was on the agenda. A little warmer (in the 40's) than Saturday so I kept the leg warmers at home and rode out to Ecole de Meramec. As we rode through Parque de Vallee, I decided to make the day into a bit of a power workout and push the big ring up the hills. As a result, I wasn't exactly flying up the hills but managed to scale the soaring peaks on the way to Haute Arrete well enough and zipped along Four Ridge without any problems. That first half of the ride must have had an effect. The remainder of the day, my legs were lifeless. I could get up the hills but felt like I was plodding along and any thoughts of doing so in the big ring were long gone. I became disheartened and realized that I need some serious work in the hills. That is for future rides, though. Instead, I sulked home, put some food in my stomach and relaxed until the Flanders coverage began.
Versus editing of the race was typically subpar but I am grateful for the coverage. The race itself was very entertaining. My Gilbert pick turned out okay with a 15th place. Much better than my Gerald Ciolek pick for San Remo. Gilbert was in with a shot I suppose but never seemed to be a big threat. My throw away comment that Devolder would be a good pick also turned into a winner. Even a blind dog finds a bone once in a while. If Devolder hadn't been Boonen's teammate I would have given him a better chance but thought his efforts would ultimately get used up in support of his leader.
I wasn't going to make a pick for Gent-Wevelgem but what the hell. As I suspected in my pre-Flanders posting, there is more variety among the top finishers at a race like Gent. Only nine cyclists have managed more than one top ten in the past five years. The surprise is that Roger Hammond leads the way with top tens in 2003, '04 and '07. Making a pick for this one is a bit of a shot in the dark. While scanning the tentative start list a few names still managed to catch my eye. Here are several people I will be keeping an eye on. The last of which will be my pick. As noted in previous posts, my picks are limited to those that have not finished top 10 in the last five years, if ever.
My "curiosity" pick: Borut Bozic. From what I can see Borut has never raced Gent. He's supposed to have a pretty decent kick and with a name like that he must be halfway decent on cobbles.
My 2nd runner up pick: Tomas Vaitkus of Astana He has a pretty good team and has a respectable sprint.
First runner up pick: Martin Elmiger. I dont think he has a real shot at winning but he has had solid performances the last two years. He is probably a safer bet for a decent result than my actual pick.
My pick: Mark Cavendish. He has a good team backing him up and he is winning races this year. My biggest concern about this pick is that his team may be too good and he could get lost in the shuffle. Of the nine people I mentioned above as having multiple top tens in the last five years, three of the nine will be teammates of Cavendish. Hincapie, Klier and Hammond have seven top 10's among them. Throw in Servais Knaven and the total goes to eight. Oh well, we will see how things shake out.
Going green? See the top 12 foods to eat organic.
Anyway, this fog was intense and prevented much more than maybe 200ft of visibility. The JB Bridge ironwork was invisible until you were virtually on the bridge. The fog was concentrated right at the river though and once you were a half mile away everything was back to normal. Perhaps in honor of Flanders the following day, we rode the Ronde van Monroe. Minus a flat tire, the ride was satisfying with a few good efforts, particularly up the Kasteelberg and a chase of Ken on LL into Maeystown. All in all, I rode fine but not spectacularly.
Sunday meant Jeffco was on the agenda. A little warmer (in the 40's) than Saturday so I kept the leg warmers at home and rode out to Ecole de Meramec. As we rode through Parque de Vallee, I decided to make the day into a bit of a power workout and push the big ring up the hills. As a result, I wasn't exactly flying up the hills but managed to scale the soaring peaks on the way to Haute Arrete well enough and zipped along Four Ridge without any problems. That first half of the ride must have had an effect. The remainder of the day, my legs were lifeless. I could get up the hills but felt like I was plodding along and any thoughts of doing so in the big ring were long gone. I became disheartened and realized that I need some serious work in the hills. That is for future rides, though. Instead, I sulked home, put some food in my stomach and relaxed until the Flanders coverage began.
Versus editing of the race was typically subpar but I am grateful for the coverage. The race itself was very entertaining. My Gilbert pick turned out okay with a 15th place. Much better than my Gerald Ciolek pick for San Remo. Gilbert was in with a shot I suppose but never seemed to be a big threat. My throw away comment that Devolder would be a good pick also turned into a winner. Even a blind dog finds a bone once in a while. If Devolder hadn't been Boonen's teammate I would have given him a better chance but thought his efforts would ultimately get used up in support of his leader.
I wasn't going to make a pick for Gent-Wevelgem but what the hell. As I suspected in my pre-Flanders posting, there is more variety among the top finishers at a race like Gent. Only nine cyclists have managed more than one top ten in the past five years. The surprise is that Roger Hammond leads the way with top tens in 2003, '04 and '07. Making a pick for this one is a bit of a shot in the dark. While scanning the tentative start list a few names still managed to catch my eye. Here are several people I will be keeping an eye on. The last of which will be my pick. As noted in previous posts, my picks are limited to those that have not finished top 10 in the last five years, if ever.
My "curiosity" pick: Borut Bozic. From what I can see Borut has never raced Gent. He's supposed to have a pretty decent kick and with a name like that he must be halfway decent on cobbles.
My 2nd runner up pick: Tomas Vaitkus of Astana He has a pretty good team and has a respectable sprint.
First runner up pick: Martin Elmiger. I dont think he has a real shot at winning but he has had solid performances the last two years. He is probably a safer bet for a decent result than my actual pick.
My pick: Mark Cavendish. He has a good team backing him up and he is winning races this year. My biggest concern about this pick is that his team may be too good and he could get lost in the shuffle. Of the nine people I mentioned above as having multiple top tens in the last five years, three of the nine will be teammates of Cavendish. Hincapie, Klier and Hammond have seven top 10's among them. Throw in Servais Knaven and the total goes to eight. Oh well, we will see how things shake out.
Going green? See the top 12 foods to eat organic.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home