Next up at the Olympics is the mens TT. I like the idea of the time trial. No drafting, no tactics, just who can push the biggest gear. On the surface it seems pretty simple. In practice not so much. Like I said Ilike the idea of the TT but I have always been a pretty mediocre time trialist myself. Something about being alone with my thoughts is kind of unnerving. The TT is the ultimate mind f@*#. Lose your concentration and you lose a few seconds per K. I don’t know how the pro’s deal with a team director giving them splits, I would think that would be a total distraction. One of the best things I ever did to improve my TT was to take off my computer and HR monitor. Without the feedback I was able to focus purely on the effort. It worked for me. Anyway, I have a lot of respect for the TT specialist. Truely Big Ring.

As I read the other online rags the pundits are in agreement that Cancellara is the fav. With is resume there is little reason to argue. Other names like Levi, Contador and Schumacher come up. No one is even mentioning my man Zabriskie. Well that is their mistake. I am gonna say it again. Zabriskie is going to win.

Speaking of TT’s if you know anyone tall who needs a TT bike send them to Ebay. I am selling my seldom ridden bike. The Rev needs some carbon wheels and Dugasts!

Brothers and Sisters I am just going to say it. I am an Olympic junkie. I will watch pretty much any event at the Olympics. Ping pong, fencing you name it. Still though, the cycling events are the ones I really look forward too (and womens beach volleyball). The road course was an absolute killer ya? That was one race I was glad to be watching rather then racing in. I watched the mens RR live online which meant I was up til 2:30 am and it was worth every second of sleep I missed. Too bad some douche bag Spanish dude chick had to get popped for EPO. At least it was not Sanchez, though the “Dirty Sanchez” headlines would have been kind of funny. Cancellara better get used to a medal other than gold cuz I think Brother Zabriskie will be smiled upon by the Gods of The Big Ring and Gold shall be coming to the 801.
The womens race was even more epic what with the rain and all. Nicole Cooke’s primal scream at the finish was total Big Ring material.

Here in the 801 the Tour of Utah starts on Wed. Hopefully I can sneak away from the cube farm and get some pics and maybe some rider quotes. The Big Ring’s own Brother Swindlehurst is in fine form for this one. Expect some carnage on the many feet of vertical in this one.

Cycling is becoming more and more mainstream by the day. With gas not going down (despite a $20 per barrel drop in crude?) and the current fixie hipster trend. Bikes are everywhere. The more the merrier I say.

When the NY Times starts publishing tire tests you know cyclng has gone parabolic. For this tire shootout they spared no expense testing tires from Vittoria, Continental, Panaracer, Specialized and Michelin. They marveled at the use of Kevlar and “other space-age fibers” that tire manufacturers have been using since the ’80’s.

After reading the test I am going to get the Vittoria Rubios because according to the article the tester rode through a “bunch of potholes, it held up just fine”. Also since it has some tread it ensures “that if you are running over a piece of wet ground, you don’t have to worry about slipping.” Wow, that is quite an endorsement. I bet if Jan Ullrich had these he would have won A Tour de France in ‘03. The Conti’s seemed a strong contender until I read, “they’re expensive but they’ll last quite a while if you don’t skid.” Well nuts to that cuz I skid, hard.

If you are like me (and I know I am). At this time of the year I have to fight the urge to get off and run during the weekly crit series, stoplights are treated like the gun going off at Nationals, and freshly watered grass pulls me in like addict to a crack house. Well Brothers and Sisters to help ease the transition to ‘cross season go visit our friends at Cross Tube where they have assembled a dizzying collection of race footage to feed the need.

If you can get past the sound not being synched and the fact that the dude is shirtless for some reason, this would be a fun experiment. Death is too good for a bike thief.

I wonder if I can rig one of these to zap me next time I try to pull into a parking garage with my bike on the roof rack?

With it 100 degrees in the 801 it is hard to detect, but to the commited there is a faint smell, a hint maybe of embrocation and tubular glue in the air.  That can mean only one thing.  Cross is coming!!!

The silver lining for ramming my road bike into a low parking garage is the fat insurance check I am receiving will be going towards a sick, sick cross bike.  I am pouring over race schedules and planning the use of my sick days.  BTW if you are going to be at Cross Vegas look for us.  We will be there spreading the gospel.

I can’t seem to get the video to embed properly (my web master is MIA)  so if you want to see a sweet ‘cross movie click the link below and donate to the maker who BTW is 14.  If this kid has a budget I can only imagine what he would be capable of.  Plus it just plain warms my heart to see someone so young taking such a good life path.

Little Belgium

Looks like Lance is lining up in Leadville this weekend. According to the Velonews article he is going for the win. Good luck with that. Beating Dave Weins is not something that anyone has been able to do at Leadville for the last few years. Back in the day he pretty much ruled at all the high altitude races. Not to discount Lance but he really has his work cut out for him. Plus my boy Snake will be there, if he can convert surlyness to watts then even The Vanilla Gorilla will be on the short end of that stick.

Here in the 801 we have the Tour of Park City on Sat. It is 170 miles with a shit ton of climbing starting at the 120 mile mark just for fun. Normally I would not even consider such nonsense, but such is the state of my pre season and my desperation to get some fitness for ‘cross. (the real season) That plan came to a violent end yesterday when I drove my road bike into a parking garage. Oh yeah, I have sinned. My pennance will be a 6 hour solo MTB ride on Sat. I hope to find some clarity as to why the gods have punished me so. Then again I do get to ride so maybe the punishment won’t be so bad, especially when I get the insurance check. Still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.

I am pretty stoked that Sastre was able to hold off Cadel in the final TT.  Cadel, man if you are gonna follow wheels the best you can hope for is 2nd.  Ya I know his team sucked the big one but he should have been driving it for all he was worth on Alpe d’Huez.  No way he should have let him get that much time without going all out to at least try and bring some seconds back.  He rode the entire Tour defensively.  As much as Sastre went out and took the yellow jersey, Evans let him do it.

Anyway here are the official Big Ring awards for le Tour:

The Chuck D Don’t Believe The Hype Award:  The run away winner here is Alejandro Valverde. After scaring the hell out of every one at LBL and Dauphine many (me included) thought he would run wild in France.  His Stage 1 V did little to dispute that prediction.  What no one saw coming was his meltdown on the Hautacam which truely put him in the Segway category of can’t miss, idiot proof, predictions that did miss. Adios podium!

Cippo Who?/Petacchi is a Pansy Award: Former ballroom dancer (?) Mark Cavendish sashayed across the finish line to the tune of 4 stage wins.  Ya, he didn’t make the Last Tango in Paris, but he is only 22 and his best years and a Green jersey are coming. 

The Wedding Crashers: I am sure when ASO invited Garmin/Chipotle they were thinking they were a novelty act with a strong anti drug message that would sit quietly in the pack and stay out of the way of the “real” racing.  Vaughters and Co responded like Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn cutting in line at the open bar.  Had it not been for an untimely crash Vande Velde might have run off with the new bride and the keys to the honeymoon suite.

The WTF? Award: Bernard Kohl was not a name I heard anyone mention as a podium contender, yet after 3 weeks of wondering when he will come to his senses and crack he never did.  Honorable mention to Stefan Schumacher for proving his 1st TT win was no fluke by going out and winning the 2nd one as well.  Seriously WTF?

The Big Ring Award: The whole CSC team wins this one.  Sastre got to stand on the final podium but the selfless riding of the entire CSC team got him there.  The damage Cancellara did on the Alpe d’Huez stage was jaw dropping.  Schleck 1 and Schleck 2 were nails in the mountains.  Frank Schleck could have just as easy ended up in Yellow that day but Sastre made the move that Cadel didn’t follow.  Bad for Cadel, good for Sastre and CSC.

That was some showdown today ya?  For someone who supposedly can’t climb Cancellara did a pretty good job of shelling most of the peloton.  It was painful to watch, I can’t imagine what it would be like to follow that monster.  Then to have Andy Schleck covering all the attacks after Sastre went away, it was a CSC clinic out there today.

I think Cadel is going to lose.  He put 1:20 on Sastre in the first TT and now he is 1:34 behind.  Sastre is not terrible against the clock.  I think he will ride the TT of his life and hold off Cadel.  Nice try Cadel but I think you rode too defensive and are a little over confident in your TT.  I guess we will see.

I Cadels defense he kinda had to just follow wheels since he had zero team mates on any of the final climbs.  If he wins this tour he will be lucky.  Lotto has to shell out some $$$ and get him some help in the mountains.  Horner did a much better job last year than Popovich has done for Cadel this year.  They should have kept Horner around for another year.  Lotto has failed Cadel and failed McEwen for that matter.

Vande Velde, damn that crash yesterday.

I have to prface this by saying I have not watched any of todays stage so i may be talking out of my ass more than usual.

Didn’t get the flurry of attacks that I was hoping for today.  Sounds like Schelck #2 again Big Ringed the final climb and did manage to put the hurt on Menchov and Vande Velde.  Tugh luck for the Burrito boys today with Vande Velde crashing, I wouldn’t count him out yet though.

I guess it makes sense that Riis didn’t have the lads go berzerk today with another big day tomorrow.  I really hope that he has Sastre and Schleck #2 start some fireworks tomorrow.  It is not that I don’t like Cadel I just want to see him throw down for once.  Even Big Mig would attack and go for stage wins.  Remember the flat stage into Liege when Bruyneel sat on his wheel for 60k and sprinted at the line?  Anyway make a race of it Cadel.