Road Culture

A look at the risks inherent in a sport contested at high speeds on narrow and often dangerous roads.

For Singletrack.com columnist and pro XC racer Judy Freeman, the Sea Otter Classic is all about the bike — with some racing thrown into the Monterey mix.

It's not the volcano that's making Ted's ears ring, it's the church.

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After thinking her days in Holland were over, Neben finds herself back — and actually enjoying the racing this time.

It's been more than a month since I arrived in Spain and since Steven is now mostly healed from his collarbone surgery, my nursing skills are minimally required. Now my energy can be directed toward other things such as forming friendships, finding a routine that involves "me time" and getting to know my way around a kitchen. For me, the latter of these objectives is absolutely the most challenging.

With the domestic pro cross-country season openers under his belt in California, Subaru-Gary Fisher's Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski has a few more trips ahead of him this spring.

You may not know who the hell Freddy Nietzsche is, but if you've ever raced mountain bikes you know what the philosopher meant when he said "That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger." Allow Judy Freeman, pro XC racer and Singletrack.com columnist, to explain…

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Sky's Michael Barry heads into the classics season knowing that victory takes a full effort by every member of the team.

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How men and women experience the same stretch of technical singletrack is different. Hopefully, understanding this could help some gals progress further on the bike. And if it saves a relationship or two, well, that'd also be sweet.

Pacific plunges in February, SEALS training and DJ AM. It's all good.

In a report from a grueling Paris-Nice, Ted says he's proving Albert Einstein's theory about repetition and insanity.

Amber reflects on her team's recent win at the Tour of New Zealand and the relationship between success and opportunity.

The first in a series of columns by Jennifer Caudill: writer, fashion model, photographer and girlfriend of Garmin-Transitions pro Steven Cozza. First column: dealing with Steven's broken collar bone.

Judy Freeman, pro XC racer and Singletrack.com columnist, put on her teacher hat for Women's Weekend 2010 at Ray's Indoor MTB Park in Cleveland.

Another foggy winter day in Girona, and Cervelo TestTeam's Ted King contemplates why so many cyclists migrate to the Spanish town.

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Endurance champ Rebecca Rusch gives the blow-by-blow of her South American race adventure with teammate Heidi Volpe.

Judy Freeman, Kenda-Felt pro and Singletrack.com columnist, hit the road to find more temperate climes to train in compared to wintry Colorado. What'd she discover? Clingy cacti and a Smith&Wesson cyclist.

24-hour solo world champ Rebecca Rusch reports from her South American winter training camp: Next up is the Tour de la Patagonia.

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In Michael Barry's first column of the new year, he talks about his new team, Sky, and the sharp transition from winter training to racing.

Two trips in the race ambulance help Amber Neben find growth in embracing adversity.

Singletrack.com columnist and XC pro Judy Freeman has a new team for 2010. Figuring out the season is now about being pragmatic and pursuing possibilities.

Cervelo's Ted King rejoins his second family at a team training camp in Portugal.

Jelly Belly roadie Jeremy Powers kicks off 2010 with a quick look back at 2009.

Guest columnist and recent national masters champion Pete Webber checks in from the motherland of ’cross.

Michael Barry looks back over a long season and ahead to a new year on a new team.

If you've never been to Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park in Cleveland, Singletrack.com columnist Judy Freeman says words and images are only going to give you half the picture. The rest of the story is sensational — or sensorial.

The Decider, a.k.a. Barry Wicks of Kona-FSA, tackles the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships.

After working behind the scenes on the structure of a new professional calendar for domestic mountain bike racing, cross-country pro and Singletrack.com columnist Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski says he's frustrated yet hopeful that top-tier racing will continue in the U.S.

When I gave up racing mountain bikes I vowed to never ride a trainer again. I didn’t quite stick to that sacred oath, but I have tried my best.

It’s staring at me from across the room. We all know the feeling when we’re being watched, ... and it’s happening right now.

Reading Judy Freeman's new Singletrack.com column won't be anywhere near as painful than when she tweaked her hand in Australia as part of the USA Cycling team during the 2009 MTB World Championships. Read Freeman's "Life as a Bike Jockey" to learn how she is getting a grip on things.

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Despite the fact that the barbecue wine was Silver Oak and the bonfire was stoked with old art crates, a weekend at Lance Armstrong's ranch was still just a bunch of great folks enjoying the mountain bike lifestyle.

A jet lagged pro gives tips on how to kill time in Frankfurt at 2 a.m.

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Wednesday during ’cross season is one of the best days of my week, but this Wednesday was even better.

No, they aren't that AC/DC, Team Giant's Adam Craig and Carl Decker are Team AC/DC, and they know how to rally for the off-season.

Barry Wicks finds the bear in his backyard isn't reason to panic, but his presence may offer a bit of a lesson.

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Track cyclist Colby Pearce gives a mountain bike stage race a try.

The time trial is said to be the race of truth: a rider alone, without aid of drafting, sets off in a race against the clock.

I am Barry's cracked and bleeding sinuses, pouring sticky sweet goo down into his nasal cavity. I am draining my wrath out on to his upper lip as he gasps for breath in the dry desert night. I am vengeful and full of hate. The evil stench of a million vacant souls trickles in past mucus and hair and fills me up to the brim, reinforcing my quest to punish in every way I can.

Sitting in the middle of the peloton, riding along at a steady tempo as a team controls the pace on the front, I hear our director in the radio: “There is a dangerous descent coming up in four kilometers. Move to the front to stay out of trouble. There is gravel on the corners and many switchbacks. Get to the front.”

We could start this year’s first cross’ diary by talking about racing, but for the moment we’re gonna talk about flyin’.

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“Thirty seconds!” yells the UCI official and instantaneously you see the fidgeting of fingers on hoods and legs clipped into pedals. In cyclocross, the sprint is at the beginning of the race, rarely the end. So racers get their bodies ready for that first shock to their systems from the word go. Legs bouncing all around in fast-twitch anticipation of the gun, eyes focused forward or on the wheel or course in front of them, heart rates instinctively racing without even having pedaled a stroke.

Oh yeah! Santa Cruz and Fisher's carbon, dually 29ers are the current supermodels of the mountain bike world, but what are you overlooking when you lust over these sexy beasts?

Where else but in Europe can Europe's "Final Countdown" be blared at high decibels without a hint of corniness? Let Adam Craig explain.

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Everyone has his own way of killing time on the lengthy drive that we've just begun to the start of stage 6.

Laughter resounds through the camper as Mark’s joke carries from the back to the front where George, who is at the brunt of it, sits. On the puffy pleather couches and fabric chairs we lounge in our cycling shorts, waiting until the last minute, like school kids, before heading to the start. Our radios dangle from our ears, our jerseys are piled along with our helmets and race food ready to be pulled on at the very last minute.

Tire talk consumes an inordinate amount of conversational time when one engages with an off-road bicycle racer. What is Barry Wicks running right now? The best (even if it's all in his mind)!

3, 2, 1, Go! Third on stage one; second on stage two; first on stage three. Not one to settle for mediocrity, Thor Hushovd’s track record at this year’s Tour of Missouri is nothing short of impressive. Oh and to ice the cake, Thor’s going to look pretty spiffy in yellow in stage 4. With four tough stages still to go, we say “game on.”

Ten-lane highways. Venti. And of course, the mere fact that there exists something called a Triple Baconator. There’s no getting around the fact that seemingly everything is bigger in America. This is noticeable the moment I got back on home soil, since the list of “everything” includes the two-hour wait I slogged through immediately after landing while creeping through customs.

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As we drove to the course, the small team camper bounced and creaked as it followed the motorcade of team cars along the small sinuous roads through the rural Brittany countryside. We passed dozens of cyclists ranging in age from 12 to 70, dressed in a mosaic of pro team and club colors, who were also on their way to the circuit to watch us race in Plouay.

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Transition. In the hotel in San Sebastian the atmosphere was different than that which I left at the Dauphiné Libéré. There had been a switch in mentality in the six weeks between the two races. Like a student entering the final semester, there now seemed an eagerness as we neared the end the season. Although there are still dozens of races to ride, the end, somehow, now seemed in sight as we had passed the midway point.

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For pro mountain bike racer Barry Wicks, it's all about getting back to Santa Cruz and hitting the road after being on it.

After a spring layoff from the writing gig, Kona pro mountain bike and cyclocross racer Barry Wicks is back by popular demand. I have become addicted to club soda. I think I have consumed possibly the entire supply Canada Dry has produced since their inception in 1904. I am at BC Bike race, and I am thirsty. The singletrack is continuous, relentless and ridiculous fun. I stopped dreaming about trails three nights ago and now just hallucinate them during waking moments.

The pain of stopping a race – there are few things in our professional lives as painful, as frustrating, as depressing and as loaded with the sense of failure. That said, there are plenty of one-day races where you toe the line with a specific job, and that role doesn’t even put you remotely near the finish line. But those are different: You start with no thought of finishing. You’re there to get IT done, “it” being whatever your charge is on that given day.

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Editor's Note: Garmin-Slipstream's sprinter Tyler Farrar will be contributing daily journal entries to VeloNews.com throughout the Tour. Well, here we go! The Tour kicked off today with a spectacular time trial through Monaco. Cancellara won with an impressive ride, which I don't think

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After a spring layoff from the writing gig, Kona pro mountain bike and cyclocross racer Barry Wicks is back by popular demand.

What is the environmental impact of a ProTour race?

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Editor's Note: Will Frischkorn is a member of the Garmin-Slipstream ProTour team and writes regular journals for VeloNews.com. Click to read Frischkorn's previous journals. Half way already?

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Video: Lance Armstrong interviews Ted King at the 2009 Giro