Two Wheel Blogs

Phonak puts two riders in a break of eleven and they come in 9th and 10th. Yo, way to gut it out for your team sponsor there guys.

Laverde snags cagey win
Winning out of large breaks always require canny tactics and a little bit of luck.

Schumacher was the best sprinter in the group, but Phonak had two riders and everyone started nervously watching each other as the bunch hit the 10km to go sign.

from Velonews

Maybe all the press about how silly you look finishing so poorly will be your saving grace. After all, who's even going to remember Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, or even the guy wearing their name (Luis Felipe Laverde, for the record) when the really interesting dish is how two guys from the Phonak squad totally screwed the pooch?

Some days are better than others and some are better than all the rest. Today was one of these when absolutely everything went right for me out there.

I knew exactly when to attack and when to sit in. It seemed like every move was timed to perfection and extracted maximum punishment on the group today. These are the kinds of days you ride for the ones you sweat out the miles and hump through the intervals and grind out the hill repeats to get to.

Everyone around me wants to have a day like I had today someday so they can stick it right back in my face. May they live that long.

ride strong.

The rain fell while the sun was shining at the trail head today. It doesn't show up very well in this photo. I had hoped to catch the sun glinting off the raindrops by shooting in the general direction of the sun rising this morning during this shower. It didn't work out as well in the camera as it did in my head.

Short ride on the trails before heading off to work. Not much to report other than the trails were in fairly decent shape considering all the rain we've had here lately. We are lucky that for the most part people respect the trails and don't trash them when they're soggy.

After work it was time to hit the road. I got out and sweat it up but good for about 90 minutes. Summer is upon us and that means humidity. I stopped once to make a quick saddle adjustment and in the three minute pit stop I soaked my jersey and started dripping sweat all over the place. When I got moving again I nearly froze.

I think I need to adjust my saddle, maybe a new stem on my road bike. Thinking about yesterday's ride, the whole feel was entirely different from both my Monkey and my TT bike. I've probably tinkered around with the saddle position on all these bikes so much in response to my back problems that now they're all substantially different each from the other.

Time to get out the plumb bob, the level and the tape measure. Time to measure them all up and see just how different they have become. Man, I hope this isn't too much of a surprise. The last thing I need is to find out they're all totally different. Then what to do?

Finally, a day I could get out and ride. Yes, outdoors. And I only got rained on a little bit.

Actually getting outdoors for a bike ride felt like a whole new experience. Seems like it's been forever. That feeling of being out of school, you know the one, the last day, in the afternoon, just when the bell rings and you don't have to come back for three whole months... That feeling. Yeah, that one.

I didn't bring my A legs to the party though. If I'd had my A legs today I'd have been riding like there was no tomorrow. As it was, it was, well, just grand.

And yes, I got rained on. Just a little bit. Every day around here has some rain in it lately. You know that smell, kind of dusty, kind of muddy that you only get for a few seconds at the start of a shower? The first few drops bring it on and all too soon it's gone. Nope, you don't get that when you're riding your bicycle on the trainer.