Training ride

I have not ridden since coming back from a great weekend of training down in Tupelo, MS this past weekend. Part of the reason for not riding was laziness. The other reason was an "undercarriage" that was torn up and not in good shape.

I felt the need to ride at least a little this evening in preparation for a full weekend of racing at Hillsboro and Tilles Park. I didn't have anything special planned other than some Old Gravois hill repeats. But, I managed to get a little more than just hill repeats.

There was one oblivious driver that didnt understand the basic rules of a four-way stop. Yessir, I had the right of way. Sorry that I may have made you stop for a few seconds.

And then there was the genius that felt the need to hang out the passenger side window like slobbering german shepard and proceed to yell unintelligible gibberish about me being an asshole and needing to ride on the sidewalk.

Yes, it was a very successful ride.

Radios - a difference maker?

The pro racing in the last week has moved heavily into the cobbled races. Along with that, has come some entertaining racing with exciting finishes. Were they more exciting with or without the radios?

Dwars door Vlaanderen - a three man break started with 20km to the finish and never had more than a 21 second lead. Yet, the pack could not pull them back. There were no radios

E3 Prijs - Cancellara attacks with over 20km to go and the pack cannot bring him back. This race also had no radios but Cancellara has done this before so I can't stress the radio angle too much, in this case.

Gent-Wevelgem - A four man break started with 35km to go. Ian Stannard broke away from that group with 2km to go and was caught 150m from the line. Radios were used.

3 Days of de Panne (1st stage) - Another four man break barely stayed away to the line, as Andre Greipel won. No race radios were used.

The fact that the three races without radios resulted in the breakaway succeeding, while the one race with radios resulted in the pack catching the break may be pure coincidence. But, you cannot help but wonder with such slim margins of victory in two of the race, whether the lack of radios made just the tiniest bit of difference between winning and losing.

San Remo review

I didn't make Gent-Wevelgem picks this past weekend because I was out of town at a team training camp. But, I will pick again for the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Before then, I have to crow a little about my Milano - San Remo picks of Goss, Van Avermaet and Sagan.

Goss was nice enough to gift me with a rare correct prediction.
Van Avermaet was in leading break of four and then went solo on the Poggio, only to be caught 2.5km from the line. He finished 9th.
Sagan finished 17th overall with a small pack of 14 riders that finished only :27 back, after getting seperated on the Poggio.

It was a good weekend. My predictions can only down from here.

Milano - San Remo

It's Spring Classics time. That means I am obliged to put on my Jimmy the Greek hat and pick the winners... maybe. If I don't make picks Ryan H. will be disappointed and harass me and generally guilt me into making them. I'm not willing to endure his badgering so, now that the start lists seem complete, I buckled down yesterday afternoon studied the riders very hard. I looked at the race parcours, the riders strengths, their weaknesses, their level of "tranquilo" and how much gel they are using in their hair and came to my highly uneducated decisions.

But first, I usually dish out a little superficial statistical information. The most consistently good riders over the past five years are Oscar Freire and Alessandro Petacchi. Freire has been top 10 four of the past five years with two wins. Petacchi has also been top 10 in four of the past five editions of San Remo. He has not won, however. He finished 18th the one year he was not top 10.

Tom Boonen, Thor Hushovd and surprisingly Luca Paolini have had three top 10's in the past five years. Each has had one podium finish and each has also had a top 20 in one of the two years they were not top 10.

The only other riders with multiple top 10's (2 each) are Daniele Bennati, Allan Davis (plus a top 20), Phillipe Gilbert and Fillippo Pozzato (plus a top 20)

Twenty-Five teams will be at the start line in Milano. Nine of those teams will not have a single rider that has finished in the top 10 in the past five years. Eight teams have one rider that has finished top 10.

Six teams have two riders on the start list that have finished top 10.
Ag2r - Elmiger and Nocentini
HTC - Cavendish and Velits
Katusha - Pozzato and Paolini
Omega Lotto - Gilbert and Reynes
Garmin - Hushovd and Haussler
Radio Shack - McEwen and Hunger

And, despite the talk of Garmin-Cervelo's three headed monster of Hushovd, Haussler and Farrar, it is Astana and Leopard-Trek that actually start three riders that have finished in the top 10. Astana brings Davis, Iglinsky and Lorenzetto while Leopard brings Bennati, Cancellara, O'Grady.

One last tidbit that EXTREMELY hard to imagine. Euskaltel is bringing a roster whose names only contain one Z and one X. And they call themselves a Basque team? C'mon!!! They can do better than that.

All that information is mildly interesting but I don't play by those rules. If you are a top 10 rider in the past five years, I cannot pick you. But, if I could, Hushovd would be my man. He was looking very strong despite not having yet won this year and doing leadout work for Farrar at Tirreno-Adriatico. I question his top-end speed a little if its a big bunch sprint but think he will get there with a smaller group and do well enough to win.

My picks, according to my rules, in no particular finishing order.

Matthew Harley Goss - HTC may hope Cavendish is their man but he has shown me very little this year. He keeps struggling to contest the sprint and when he does, it is less than impressive.

Greg van Avermaet - He may be overshadowed by Ballan and Hincapie but he has had a string of solid performances this year. He is climbing very well, so the Cipressa and Poggio shouldn't be a problem. And, he has a decent turn of speed for a finish. Only thing holding back might be if he is pressed into domestique work and he blows up.

Peter Sagan - He may be too young, at only 21 years, for a 300km race but he such a big talent with the qualities to win a race like San Remo that I have a hard time passing him up.

March Madness

Screw college basketball. This past week and a half is fantastic for a cycling fan. Paris-Nice to start last week. Followed up by Tirreno-Adriatico in the middle of last week and finishing tomorrow.

Paris-Nice seems more famous but, honestly, the racing was only average. Thomas Voeckler was kicking butt and racing to two wins as French champion. But, when it came down to the last couple stages after the individual time trial, the teams in 2nd and 3rd seemed reluctant to attack. On the last day, Radio Shack and Sky had HTC outnumbered on the final climbs of the Col de Turbie and the Col d'Eze and failed to do anything. Anything....

I race and understand that you can't always do what is needed but, as a spectator, watching two teams outnumbering the team with the race leader and doing essentially nothing to challenge the race leadership is so frustrating. I don't care if it is not successful. At least, put in a little effort and make me think that you are trying to win instead of settling for 2nd or 3rd place. Take out your damn race radios and race dammit! Screw 2nd place Mr Kloden. Screw 3rd place Mr Wiggins. Attack at least a little bit. You'll gain ten times the fans for a least trying.

Alas, we'll have to wait for another race for you to attack.

Tirreno-Adriatico has been incredible. Sprint finishes for the first couple days made for some good racing. The last couple days have been full of crazy, insanely steep uphill finishes through smally Italian towns. God, I love it! No better way to finish off 200+ km than a brutal, nasty uphill of a kilometer or two to provide racing excitement.

Seriously, how can you beat these last few km's

Hit and Miss

A real hit and miss weekend. Saturday was warm. Not summertime warm but, considering what we have had this winter, starting a morning ride at roughly 50 degrees was a real pleasure.

Our new team kits had arrived Friday morning and Giuseppe brought them along to the ride. The three of us threw them on and rolled out of Columbia in style by heading onto the bluffs. Everything was good as we headed SE toward Waterloo. The plan was to head to Maeystown and as we headed out of Waterloo.

Once we exited Rte 3 and turned onto Kaskaskia, KK and Bushy Prairie the riding became decidedly more difficult. These roads bend and twist multiple times, alternating a headwind with a somewhat easier crosswind from our right side. I was feeling good and pedaling efficiently so the winds did not affect me too much. I still had to do some work when we headed due west but it was a day that I was more than happy to do the dirty work and let Giuseppe and Aaron sit on my wheel.

We made our usual stop at the Sweet Shoppe for some refueling and then continued on with what we knew would be a long grind north back to Columbia along the still barren, dirt farmlands. The three of us rolled into the parking lot at the Marketplace, slightly cooked and plenty hungry after a hard day in the saddle.

Sunday, Giuseppe and I had decided to ride from Meramec. Thanks to work issues for me, we chose to meet at 10:15 instead of the usual 8:30. Conditions were quite different and not in a good way. After the warm sunny conditions on Saturday, thirty-five degrees and cloudy were a rude awakening. My heavy legs were even more unpleasant.

Really bad legs on Sunday, after a good ride on Saturday, seems to have become a trend. Maybe it is old age or maybe it is simply a case of "winter fitness". I'm hoping this goes away in a couple weeks.

The only consolation was that Giuseppe was also complaining of really tired legs when he arrived. That didn't make the riding any easier, even if I don't think we rode all that hard. Every hill and roller felt much larger than it should have.

Basically, the ride sucked. Or, should I say, I felt sucked for the whole ride. I really need to get back in the habit of eating and drinking properly on these longer rides. From Webster Groves onward, I was in a mini-bonk and while I enjoy riding with Giuseppe I was kind of happy when we went our separate way toward home and I could just cruise home at a leisurely pace in my half-dazed state.

Motivation

Since the end of 'cross season my motivation has been lacking. Sure, I have been riding but I can't really say that I have been training. I have ridden just enough to maintain fitness.

That has not been a bad thing. I am riding well for early March and I felt good at Froze Toes before flatting. But, there has been a nagging feeling in my gut that I could be much better.

Last night, I did a series of intervals. They hurt, as intervals usually do. By the end of the ride I broken myself down and exposed my weaknesses. I was depressed and concerned with the apparent drop in fitness and the lack of motivation.

This evening I laid down in bed and cracked open a book. I had told myself that I needed to have a day to recover. In reality I needed mental recovery as much as physical recover. I was convinced that riding tonight would be detrimental. It seemed logical except for the fact that it has been my lack of riding that put me in this spot. I read a few pages of the book and thoughts of the bike kept going through my head. With every turn of the page the guilt grew in my mind. I knew I had to ride even if I did not want to put myself through the torture of the trainer. My conscience had gotten the best of me and I changed into an old pair of shorts to do what needed to be done.

I rode a little better than last night. At least I am telling myself that I did better. If nothing else, my mind is better for knowing that I have the motivation to push myself even if I did not really want to ride.

I stood in the shower with warm water pouring over me. My legs were tired with the slightest bit of muscle spasms and an ache in my thighs and calves. It was good.