Road Culture

In reality, a racing season is a full year as we race in three seasons and train hard in the fourth—and, ever-so-slowly we are beginning to race through the entire year as there are an increasing number of races in late October and early January. Fifteen years ago, training camps were where teams gathered for their first rides of the new year having spent a good few months skiing, relaxing and cross training.

Ask me what was at the root of the most stressful afternoon I’ve had in a while and I’d, somewhat ashamed, have to say “The Blackberry.” Even with some crazy life happenings of late, this past afternoon spent in a hotel room in France nearly put me under. What happened you ask? I’m not sure. IT caught a virus; a bug. A glitch in the software reared its ugly head. I downloaded another third-party application IT wasn’t happy with.

Having a group to head out with each morning at our team training camp in Mallorca last week was a change after having spent six winter weeks either riding alone or with just one other rider.

It’s rather comical how meticulously I pack my bikes and gear for a big race trip, such as this recent adventure to Belgium. Everything is cleaned, wrapped, folded, and hermetically sealed, then put in its perfect place. However, on the return leg of trips such as this one, it’s a different story.

Pat McDonough has faced his share of ups and downs since taking control of the U.S. track program after the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The lowest of the low came at the 2005 world championship, where the U.S. earned no medals at its home track, the ADT Event’s Center in Los Angeles. That failure was followed by another loss, when Australian coach Gary West — whom McDonough had chosen to rebuild the program — quit after only a few months on the job.

American Sarah Hammer, the two-time defending world pursuit champion, posted the fastest time of the day in the women’s pursuit at the opening day of the UCI track World Cup at the ADT Events Center in Carson, California. Unfortunately for Hammer, her 3:38:00 in the 3000-meter event took place in the bronze medal round rather than the gold medal final.

I just crawled out of bed after two days of racing and for some funny reason I’m sore. Back, legs, triceps, ego. They all tingle with a slightly bruised sensation. Now, unless you consider repeated swigs of beer followed by swallowing fat-laden hors d’oeuvres a unique type of interval training, I haven’t done much to keep myself in race shape since U.S. cyclocross nationals, and let me tell you, I could feel the burn. Although I suffered like an American cross racer in Belgium (hey, wait a sec’) it felt great to have my tubies rolling on foreign soil.

Just when you thought it was safe to start clearing your mind of tubulars, tire pressure, mud, sand, dismounts, remounts, clipping in, clipping out and all things ‘cross, I’m back. That’s right, now you can waste more time at work while reading Chocolate, Waffles and ‘Cross in the next few days coming straight at you from the motherland of cyclocross. I’m back in Belgium to get my butt kicked again. I can feel the pain – and taste the beer – already. [nid:71232]For the past year, Greg Keller, a buddy of mine and the brain child of

With six weeks of solid riding and several five-hour rides in my legs, my bike is starting to once again feel part of my body, and it now also seems to be moving more fluidly.

The sands in the 2007 cyclocross season's hourglass are rapidly sliding to the bottom chamber. With the USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals Championships in Kansas City on deck there is nothing left to do but wait until start time. All the preparation, training and racing has been completed and there is nothing that can be done over the next few days that will make you any faster. But there are plenty of things that can be done to make you slower, and with the holiday season upon us, it’s very easy to get sucked into the ever-tempting vortex of sweets, treats and libations. Luckily for me,

U.S. national cyclocross champion Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) has been racing across the pond this fall, and successfully, too, taking a win and a runner-up finish in two World Cup races. She dropped us a note after Saturday’s race in Koksijde, Belgium; here’s what she had to say about how her race unfolded. — Editor The race definitely wasn't pretty on my part (I spent more time swimming in the sand than actually riding it), but somehow I managed to just not suck completely and pull out a podium. The course was fairly technical — there were five sand sections that were difficult to

Normally, I compose a journal article after only one, maybe two, hours of weekend cyclocross racing and generally have more than enough interesting material to write about. But, last week I logged in more than 20 hours of chamois time, and depleted two tubes of Chamois Butter, during La Ruta de los Conquistadores in Costa Rica. There are so many things to write about, I feel like I could publish a book. A few months ago my girlfriend, Heather, a wedding and event planner, got the opportunity to help a colleague with a wedding in Costa Rica over Thanksgiving and asked me if I wanted to tag

Dear Readers, Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling from your friends at VeloNews.com.

To get to Tabor, in the Czech Republic, from Belgium you can either fly (a two-hour flight) or drive. My father, my mechanic for the World Cup, and I decided to fly. This was a big mistake. The reason I shied away from driving was due to my limited web research that noted “difficulties” driving in Czech. But after the stress of our car, plane, bus, metro, train and walking journey, any difficulties driving would be welcomed. As my father said, about halfway into our trip, when we had to purchase an additional bus ticket, since the first one was not for the ‘Airport Express,’ “You pay to

Sorry for my tardiness with this journal entry. It’s been more than a week since the double-header UCI weekend in my hometown of Boulder and I think I have finally caught my breath. Once again, Chris Grealish and his Denver/Boulder Courier Events crew put together quite a show. Saturday’s Redline Cup and Sunday’s Boulder Cup offered contrasting and challenging courses, huge crowds and tough competition. Not to mention, some sore legs and lungs for yours truly. And, despite the lactic-acid buildup still lingering in my quadriceps, it was nice to have some big races close to home. Sure, I

Before I started composing this week’s journal I sat lazily on my room bed, in what has to be the world’s most dilapidated Days Inn, looking at my road rash from Saturday’s crash wondering what I should write about. I pondered over a long list of reasons why I had such a poor showing at the races, but I didn’t want to bore you with the same excuses you’ve heard from every bike racer in the world as to why he or she didn’t do well. Let me just say this, before, during and after every race you should know your equipment, know your ability and stay focused. So, instead of giving you a whine

Cycling is continuing to be faced with massive hurdles and challenges going into 2008, as commanding bodies within the sport are still fractured while doping remains as big an issue and problem as it was at the beginning of 2007. As for T-Mobile, the entire team lived a tumultuous season where the future of the team constantly seemed in limbo due to a consistent stream of doping related problems, allegations and admissions. The team’s results were the best in the last three years, with over thirty victories and countless fine finishes highlighted by strong performances in all three Grand

A couple weeks ago I ventured to Ohio for the UCI double-header weekend.I hadn’t planned to attend these races, but three days prior an email fromUnited Airlines offered me affordable flights to fabulous destinationssuch as, the Caribbean, Europe, South America and Cincinnati. With no major events going on in Colorado, I thought to myself ”Whynot?” and booked the flight. I quickly got the lowdown from promoters,Mitch Graham of BioWheels and Doug Dobrozsl of Queen City Wheels and thetrip was set. After arriving in Cincinnati late Friday night – well, actually earlySaturday morning – I

There are countless ways to end a season. The most direct is wrapping up the last big race of the year followed by a huge night out. The opposite end of the spectrum is filled with the crazies that decide they’d like to keep it rolling with track or cyclocross and never really end it at all. Ouch. Six of us on Slipstream this year decided to go for the moderation method and head south of the border for the 2nd Vuelta Chihuahua, starting in Ciudad Juarez and finishing in Chihuahua city, seven days later. While a couple of the boys kept it rolling pretty well after Missouri, a few of us took

Something very strange is in the Rocky Mountain air. No, it’s not the smellof cheap beer and hot dogs still wafting out of Coors Field. It’s the sweetsmell of victory. Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe, but I have won three cyclocross racesthis season. That’s one more win than I have earned in the entirety ofmy 13-year cyclocross career. I’m not going to sugar coat it, these weresmall, local races with out very deep fields, but hey, a win is a win isa win, right? Don’t get me wrong, these races didn’t come too easy, but a true testarrives this weekend as I make my way East for the Ohio

Three cyclocross races in one week! Sure, temperatures for all events hovered around 80 degrees and even though only one race featured beer chugging, bike junkies throwing money at the racers, it still felt a little bit like Christmas time in Belgium. The first race of the last week was Cross Vegas, the soon-to-be annual kick off to the U.S. cyclocross season. This spectacular nighttime event took place last Wednesday following day three of the yearly super bike nerd convention known as Interbike. If you’ve never been to Interbike, all I can say is standing on concrete floors underneath

In less than two days I will be lining up with some of the premiere cyclo-cross racers in the world at Cross Vegas during the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas. It’s safe to say I am completely unprepared. An extremely busy summer at the bike shop kept training time to a minimum, but you know what they say, “duty calls.” I guess I shouldn’t really complain because just nine months ago I was standing on the front porch of my Boulder, Colorado, town home staring at a letter from the United States Anti-Doping Agency stating I had committed a doping violation. Me, the guy who first took the

One more in the bag. That brings my tally of grand tours to nine out of 10 finished. None have been the same, all have had their ups and downs, but one thing is 100-percent certain and that unfortuneately is that there is nothing like the Tour de France. For instance, on Sunday I was in the bus on the way to the airport, watching the podium presentation on TV, instead of sipping Champagne with my team. In fact, I was already checked in to my flight to Barcelona before Carlos had finished all his interviews! That kind of scenario leaves you with a strange feeling, but one you quickly get

SRAM announced Thursday that it intends to acquire wheel and component maker Zipp within the next 60 days. The two signed a non-binding letter of intent. The purchase would add a vital piece to SRAM’s puzzle, which already includes road and mountain bike drivetrain components (branded SRAM), suspension parts (branded RockShox), brakes (branded Avid) and road and mountain bike cranks, bars, stems and seatposts (branded Truvativ). “Zipp is a great company and respected brand, with a strong management team, advanced technology and superb manufacturing capability,” said Stan Day, SRAM’s chief

Normally I try and refrain from writing race reports. I figure that most people read enough “this guy attacked and then those teams chased that guy and then this team did the lead out and those guys sprinted and that guy won” and if I can come up with something about our lives or experiences that give insight into what racing a bike is all about it might be more interesting. At least I tell myself that… I figure that I update my blog with all the standard race report action and have tried to maintain the philosophy that if writing is on a real web site rather than a blog I should put some

I have been wearing a black bracelet that says “Harden The F**k Up” since the first of July. Stuart O’Grady gave them to us before the start of the Tour de France in London and we all wore them with pride. Even when things are going good, you are always one hundred corners away from victory but only one away from defeat. Then, of course, when Stuey crashed horrifically out of the Tour, broke 10 bones, and was stuck in a hospital bed we didn't even think of taking them off. I still haven't, it reminds me how easy it is take things for granted. Stuey lives in Monaco, thousands of

Okay, I admit I have no idea where I am. I am driving southwest right now to our new hotel. We are entering the region of Murcia, which is somewhat akin to the southwest of the states: Desert, sharp mountains, rocks, sleepy villages, nada. But this is all part of my new tactic of making the race go by faster. I know the date and the stage, but apart from that, I have no idea where I was today or yesterday after the stage ended. This is quite common during a long stage race in a different land. But given that I have lived here in Spain for the last 10 years and know Spain from its food to

How ironic is it that on the rest day we wake up two hours earlier than on any other day during the entire race? Okay, okay, I know getting up at 7:30 is not that early at all. Shoot, a majority of the working people out there have already been to the gym and commuted to work by this time. But it is really early for us right now and keep in mind that this is Spain. Let's put it this way, one of our neighbors yelled at Leah yesterday for walking our dog before 9 in the morning! That's because when their dog hears our over-grown Weimaraner, he freaks out, starts barking and wakes

It seems like just yesterday that the Slipstream squad was hanging out in Julien, California, banging out some early season miles and planning the loooong year ahead. Somehow, it’s already September and I’m now at the Tour of Missouri and just about to wrap up another season; amazing how fast the year goes by. Not that I’m done quite yet. For one thing, I still have six days of racing here and then another six in October in Mexico, but with fall in the air the mood circulating the dining room is certainly that of eager anticipation of the coming off-season. Plans of vacations to come,

Wind. Friend, foe, annoyance and pain in the ass...literally. The last three days have been ridden in and around Zarragoza home of tumbleweed and wind. There isn't anything to stop the wind around here other than the occasional guard rail or rock. So everyone knows when they come in this area it is gonna be spectacular in some way, shape or form. So that is no doubt why the organizers always seem to map the race through this area, it certainly isn't because of the spectators. And of course it didn't disappoint. Spills, thrills and Zarragoza. It splits the field, causes tension

I love it when a plan comes together!Col. John "Hannibal" SmithThe A-Team We don't have the strongest team out there, but we made the most outof every member of the team on Tuesday. In the process we squeezed outevery possible second from the opposition.Carlos is looking good and he is more secure with the team by the daywhich makes him calm and relaxed and that makes us calm......and on andon.Placing three of us in the break sounds better than it really is, giventhat there were 38 of us! But two of us climb quite well and we used thatto launch Carlos up the Covadonga: Me for the middle

I don't know if it is Carlos, the team or just the Vuelta, but we have stayed at some very nice hotels. Last night we stayed in the middle of Oviedo. Oviedo is the capital of Austurias, one of the nicest provinces of Spain. So we arrived at AC hotel in Oviedo after a hard stage and a one hour plus transfer. Karsten had been knocked out in the back of the bus for past 30 minutes as we pulled into the hotel. As we stumbled through the modern lobby and crammed into the elevator, Karsten, still half sleeping proceeded to spill half his lemonade on a business man, his silk suit and 1000 euro

We are off and running. September 1st has come and gone. The Vuelta is a rare and special race with an interesting peloton, facing different circumstances. Some have raced a lot; some very little; some have a contract; some don't; some are Spanish; many are not. Racing in your own country in front of your people, eating your food and enjoying your customs can give you that little bit of an edge. As for the rest of us, this race serves as a good test of desire and mental strength. For myself, I like the Vuelta, have a friend and teammate who can win the race and I can have some success

“Wow! You’re a professional cyclist? How cool! You must see everything! How lucky is that! Like one huge paid vacation traveling around the world!” Response: “Yep, see it all. Pretty cool.” To answer honestly with “Well, we see the insides of lots of hotel rooms, airports and a few hundred kilometers of road a day, but it’s not like we actually see anything,” simply isn’t worth the complicated explanation required afterwards. Most people simply can’t believe and that we don’t spend our days cruising town, checking out the sights, doing a bit of shopping, hitting up swank restaurants and

Oh my lord, the morning after the Tour is the best breakfast in the world. It’s better than Christmas, as Stuey says. I spoke with the man a few times over the course of the last two days as he coached me to make it through the last night. He is the teacher after all. Last night I hurt myself as I always do with friends and foes and now I am crawling my way back to Gerona on my knees. CSC had the usual party, which was fun but then Disco' went above and beyond by renting the roof of the Crillon. Awesome. I won't go into details but I had a good time. Thanks Alberto. I did miss my

The atmosphere at our T-Mobile team camp in Badenweiler, Germany took a serious dive as we learned of Patrik Sinkewitz’s positive drug test. Like one of those moments that get etched in the memory for life, I will likely not forget where I was when I found out. I hope that in a few weeks the consequences of this test will not be as drastic as we fear and that the memory will fade. We were out on a ride, having just finished up an interval, when Jan Shafferath, our director who was following in the car behind stopped us, to tell us the news. It was also being announced across the country on

One year ago, how could I possibly have dreamed where my life would be taking me? I’m living in the shadows of Utah’s beautiful Wasatch Mountains beside the love of my life, Aleeza. This area is a bicyclist’s paradise. There are lots of great climbs through the mountains, bike paths and bike lanes throughout the city, and a big population of fellow cyclists. I love meeting people while I ride. It’s amazing what a “hello” can lead to. The other day, for instance, I got into a conversation with a guy I happened to ride past. He mentioned that he was a cinematographer and I told him a bit about

As a child I loved watching the videos of the champions in the wake of their teammates as they shredded the peloton while setting a violent tempo. To me, there was something unique about the complete physical sacrifice as they selflessly emptied their energy on the road for their teammates until they could no longer pedal fluidly. Lance Armstrong had eight riders who did this to the utmost every year for him, never questioning his leadership while totally devoting themselves to the goal of victory in Paris. In many ways they were the reason he won seven Tours with barely a hiccup. Riding on

Let's see. Over the past twenty weeks, my bike hasn't fit, my camera traveled underwater, and I finally kicked the demon's butt and conquered Squaw Pass on the third try. Come June 17th, playtime is over and I've got to Ride the Rockies for real. I can't believe that I've been playing with all this stuff since February, when Dr. Andy Pruitt of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine told me, in a way that only Dr. Andy Pruitt of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine can, that my bike -- my brand new, I saved a year for this darned thing, bike -- did not fit. That

American cross-country mountain-bike racer Adam Craig has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That means for the next two seasons, he will be battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series with his fellow Americans for a slot on the U.S. team. And VeloNews.com is along for the ride.—Editor As globetrotting bike racers, we face various challenges — staying in shape, food, travel, sleep, navigation, luck, etc. Over the years you develop a respectable skill set to deal with these challenges. One skill set I’m still struggling with, however, is controlling

I remember a line from the movie, "The Right Stuff." It went something like this: "There's a demon out there, he lives out there in the thin air, right around Mach One ..." I was thinking about that last Sunday on my second attempt on Squaw Pass Road near Bergen Park. It's not that the road is impossible, plenty of people were doing it, sailing past me like nobody's business, and it's not that it was impossible for me, because, despite grunting and groaning and being overly dramatic about it all, I was doing it as well. Slowly, perhaps, but doing it nonetheless. I had

Old Wives’ Tales; Traditions; Superstitions: Most people have a few they abide by, knowing that they’re not really factual, but they like the ideas or the story behind them. Euros, and particularly those in the cycling world, have a particular affinity to odd beliefs and one of the most joked about topics by Americans racing in Europe is “Euro Logic”. When a country is specified it normally becomes “Belgian Logic”. Most likely the fond memories of the time that most of our generation spent in Izigem with the u23 National team have something to do with this. While most people admit that

In the last couple of weeks, we have done quite some racing: Pays Basque, the Ardennes and now the Tour de Romandie. They form a beautiful stretch of races, in the heart of the spring, with some of the painfully hard courses that attract masses of spectators and all the best cyclists in the world. Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the last and most prestigious of the Ardennes trio, is the longest, most historic and toughest of the classics. The race is an endurance test at 260 km with several tough climbs in the last 90km. The climbs are not incredibly hard but after six hours on the bike they

I felt like Bullwinkle J. Moose just after he had pulled his Mr. Know-It-All act and Rocky had made him look like an idiot. I am that idiot. I got signed up for a medical bike fit at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine the other day, part of my preps for Ride the Rockies this summer. I wanted to be ready. I wanted to make sure the bike was ready for me. Andy Pruitt, Ed.D, an internationally known expert in bike fit and cycling physiology, looked me over to try and determine a physical baseline for how I felt and why I felt the way I did on the bike. An X-ray from Boulder Community

Mid-way through a long stint on the road and with what feels like a revolving door of hotel rooms, flights and long drives, I’ve begun to notice some of the quirks that we cyclists end up adopting in an attempt to make hotels and restaurants seem just a bit more comfortable and similar to home. To lay a bit of groundwork, a bit about the Slipstream Sports setup here in Europe: While almost all of us live in Girona, when at the races our one constant is the team RV. The team’s growing and on a bit of a shopping spree right now but at this point we’re hanging out in what most people think of

Although the three final spring Classics have similar protagonists that highlight the classification, the races are quite unique and different from one another. Amstel is a technical course loaded with short steep climbs on tiny roads; Flèche, the shortest of the three, is a race that essentially comes down to one climb, the Mur de Huy, and is a race that is nervous, fast with open roads and fewer climbs; Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the hardest of the three, has longer climbs, is the longest in distance, the most selective and perhaps, the least tactical, as the strongest man usually wins. Under

The Classics are traditionally hard men’s races held over tough courses under miserable spring conditions. This morning, the day after the Amstel Gold Race, we woke up to another day of glorious sunshine, pulled on our shorts and t-shirts and headed down to the hotel lobby breakfast—not the weather we expected and we nearly all had sunburns from the race. Half of the team from Amstel is staying in Belgium for Fleche and Liege while the others closed the door on their Classics campaign and headed home, as they had been up here since mid-March. Generally teams trade their sprinters and

Last Friday afternoon, under dark gray skies that made the moment feel as if night were about to fall, I stepped aboard our team bus, gingerly, and sat down. The bus was empty except for one soigneur who pulled out a washcloth and lotion and began scrubbing the grime off of my tender legs. Moments later Axel and Scott stepped on the bus, neither smiling, and sat down, legs outstretched, leaning way back in the chairs waiting their turn to get cleaned up. They looked beat, and if I could have seen my own face I would imagine it was just the same. Beat, but relieved. The last road stage of a

During Paris-Nice, one of the Saunier Duval riders, Francisco José Ventoso, asked me what races I would be competing in the coming month. I ran down the list and at the mention of Pays Basque he stopped me and said, “this year is hard, una puta madre, and my teammates all tell me the climbing is incredible.” I am now two days into the race and I can attest to the fact that Francisco was right. The last two days have been hard, hard days of racing with nonstop climbing: yesterday we had nine categorized climbs and today eight. There is no time to chat in the bunch once the break is gone and

Second-year pro Tyler Farrar is getting his long-awaited view of Europe’s bumpiest roads from inside the peloton during the northern classics. On Sunday, the 22-year-old Cofidis rider competed in the first Tour of Flanders of his promising career, helping push team captain Nick Nuyens to seventh in one of the most important races of the season. Farrar is an integral part of the Cofidis’ northern classics program and will be spending the next week racing across the cobblestones. Up next is Wednesday’s Ghent-Wevelgem —and next weekend, he’s scheduled to start in the Hell of the North,

Belgian racing is unique in such a way that I often forget just how unique it is until I am standing on the start line: The crowds are fervent and passionate, huge, the racing intense and dangerous, the wind constantly blowing, and the roads rarely straight for more than 10km. It had been a year since I last raced in Belgium when I crashed and ended up in hospital with a broken back at the Tour of Flanders. Oddly, it somehow, felt good to be back racing in Belgium, and despite images of last year’s accident, I was motivated to race; perhaps, because the Belgian racing feels like — and is,

Pat McDonough will be a very busy man in the coming months. With the Beijing Summer Olympic Games on tap for the summer of 2008, the director of athletics for USA Cycling will have his hands full as he prepares teams to compete in track, road, mountain bike and the inaugural BMX medal events. A former director at the Lehigh Valley velodrome, USA Cycling tapped McDonough to take over the moribund U.S. track program in 2004. Then last summer, he was promoted as director of athletics for USA Cycling to oversee all disciplines. McDonough, a silver medalist in the team pursuit at the 1984

"The Apartment" Sound like a reality-TV show? Fortunately it’s not, at least not this one … yet. Instead, it’s about our main team apartment in Girona, Spain. While a few riders have places of their own, Slipstream has a couple of apartments scattered around town for our use. I’m on the long program this spring, roughly three months, and pulled a bit of seniority to grab one of the choice rooms (read: big-ish with some sunlight). With seven – that’s SEVEN! - riders in the joint right now, having a little spot that is all your own becomes increasingly more valuable. First, a bit of history:

I remember an old Bill Cosby routine where he was "just walkin' down the street and they yanked me into the room."A lot of my life has played out that way."How'd you get your job?" (I was ...) How'd you meet your wife?" (...just walkin'...)"How'd you sell your books?" (...down the street...)"How come you're doing live shots from a snowbank?" (...and they...)"How'd you wind up replacing Larry Green on Ride the Rockies?" (...yankedme into the room.")That last one is the one that surprises me most of all. I've been tryingto tie myself to Ridethe Rockies, the

After a long lasting back and forth argument, the UCI finally came to an agreement with the ASO, the organizers of Paris-Nice, and we got the call that we would be starting Paris-Nice. The politics are complicated and at the end of the day we are neither politicians nor businessmen and most cyclists don’t really understand the issues and just want to race their bikes—so, the team, and the peloton were excited to be warming up and then rolling down the starting ramp at the prologue of the first ProTour race on the season’s calendar. Prior to leaving for Paris-Nice I had been sick and, as a

So here I am in Dalton, Georgia, the town where I was born and raised. Asyou probably know by now, my life was thrown into turmoil last April whenIcrashed in the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe. It’s been a tough, tough year, but I count my blessings every singleday. After I began to emerge from the coma, I eventually learned that Ihad been within minutes of dying last year. I was lucky to be in one ofthe world’s greatest hospitals, with one of the world’s best neurosurgeons,who was not only on staff, but in the building when it counted. You can’tget much luckier than that.As I

At a very unexpected moment at mid-stage today in West Flanders I realized that bicycle racers can occasionally resemble ancient gladiators. When and why did this pop into my head? When: 130km into a windy, crazy-dangerous race at 500 watts bouncing over Belgian pavé. Why: I looked down at an unidentifiable rider, unconscious, his face awash in a mix of mud and blood, yet all I cared about was shoving people out of my way and getting back on my chariot and around this “obstacle.” A minute later I was at absolute maximum sustained effort and would stay that way for a few more moments,

This being my first VeloNews.com journal, let me start by introducing myself. I’m 25; hail from Boulder, Colorado, where I live with my wife, Cheynna; and ride for Team Slipstream Sports-Chipotle. The past two years, under the banner of TIAA-CREF, our program has made a slow and steady progression towards a full bi-continental program, and this year we have full schedules in both the States and Europe. As a Professional Continental team we’ll be doing some of the biggest non-ProTour races in the world and hoping for the occasional ProTour wildcard invite. In this journal I aim to provide a

The season is now fully underway and I now have my first race under my belt: the Tour of California. The race was a triumph for American cycling with massive crowds attending each stage, a world class peloton (likely the best competing at any race in the world at the moment) and a hard fought battle that lasted right up until the penultimate stage. For us, the cyclists, it was a quality event that was well organized, with good hotels, short transfers, and ideal weather. The racing was tough enough for us to gain fitness and progress while not depleting ourselves too much this early in the

The Tour of California is starting to become interesting as there are still several riders with a good shot at winning the overall classification after Wednesday’s hard and fast stage into San Jose. It seems every team wants to make the race hard on race leader, Levi Leipheimer’s team, Discovery Channel, and today they had to control the race on the front for most of the stage—and it was certainly not an easy stage to control as it was hilly and windy, and the peloton that sat in their draft feisty. Since the start, we, T-Mobile, have been fighting hard for a stage win. We narrowly missed

After a several months of training we are now ready, and eager to race. The last few weeks the eight-man T-Mobile Tour of California squad has been in Buellton, California training and fine-tuning for the coming season. Storm after storm blew through Boulder every weekend during the last months of 2006 and the first months of 2007 and after spending a few good weeks in the sun in Mallorca, I wasn’t too keen to train outdoors in the snow or indoors on the trainer, so I made the decision to head to the California for some sun and time in the saddle. Prior to our team camp I rode alone in