Road Culture

On the drive home last night from the Hoofstade World Cup a small storm front moved through that blanketed the ground with snow. I went to bed knowing that the next race was going to be a chilly one. Sure enough, today was my coldest day here, but it was nothing like the chill I felt when I nearly lost my fingers at this year’s U.S. Cyclo-cross Nationals. We didn’t have to leave Michel’s house too early this morning for today’s race in Veldegem because there was no women’s category so Lyne didn’t have a race. I forgot to mention yesterday that she had a great World Cup result that would have

Today was the World Cup cross race in Hoofstade and it was a tough one. I was the last rider to get called to the line and one of first few to get lapped.

It is Christmas evening here in Belgium and we are just about to sit down to dinner, but I thought I’d give you a quick report. On Christmas Eve, my girlfriend Heather arrived by train from London, after spending some time there with her family. It is great to have her here. Anyone who would want to travel through Belgium with her boyfriend while he is racing in the winter must be quite special, or nuts, but I think the former. We had a delicious five-course meal that had my stomach bulging at the seams, although I still managed to find some room for a few Belgian chocolates at the very end.

Typically after U.S. Cyclo-cross Nationals I don’t touch my bike for almost a month, but here I am in Belgium racing a Superprestige on Christmas Eve. Well, "racing" might be the wrong term to use because it felt more like chasing, but more on that later. Today, Kiwi, Kashi Leuchs join us for a few days of cross racing in Belgium. He spends most of his time these days in Annecy, France, so it’s an easy trip for him. Kashi doesn’t race much 'cross, but last year he did a Belgian race with Michel and wanted to give it another go this year. Once again Michel’s mom prepped some delicious

Holiday greetings from Belgium! Well, I made it safely across the pondto begin my Belgian holiday cyclo-cross racing adventure. The plan is tocompete in seven Belgian cross races which kick off with the Superprestigein Diegem on Christmas Eve and end after a race in Saint Niklaas on January2nd. What the heck am I doing in Belgium to race cyclo-cross you might ask?Well, to by honest I’m not quite sure. All I know is this past summer Ihad an international travel voucher that needed to be redeemed. While decidingwhere to take my trip I met Michel Bajorek, a professional mechanic fromBelgium at

I am glad to be back in the States for a couple of days, getting ready for cyclo-cross nationals, because I had a serious craving for some good quality Mexican food and was starting to get a little bored hanging out in Belgium by myself. This week will be a welcome break from racing in Europe. What lies before you is my version of a preview — my picks — for ‘cross nationals this weekend. You might not agree with me, but hey, what do you know anyway? Seriously, with a forecast for snow on Friday and temperatures of a high around 30-34 degrees, the only thing certain for this weekend is that

Oh happy days again. I’m glad to be back in Belgium this winter racing `cross. I am actually stoked to be here, but I wasn't so hot on the ass kicking I received this weekend at the Pijnacker World Cup in The Netherlands. The legs just haven't really wanted to turn over lately, but that is bike racing and I am sure things will turn around shortly. That’s the hope anyhow. Jeremy POOOWERS! (as the French like to say) and I decided we would head down to Chateau Bernard last Friday to do a C2 race there. It was kind of a long drive at 800km, but as they say, “When in France I guess you

A cyclist operates on an entirely different calendar than do most people. Two weeks ago, my year began as I started training again. At Christmas, when everyone else is relaxing, raising a glass in front of the tree, enjoying time away from work, we’ll be back on our bikes getting ready for team training camp, which begins only a few weeks into January I woke up the morning of November 1st to find a training program in my e-mail inbox. That month off my bike had passed a whole lot quicker than the last month of the season in which I raced a very fast Vuelta and a miserably cold

It’s been a long, long, long season. Now that it’s over, life has been chugging by very slowly and I’ve been happy to soak it all in. This is my first off-season in Europe, since Leah and I decided that we wanted to stay in Girona this year and experience a little different lifestyle during my annual downtime. Living here makes trips to European destinations very easy and worthwhile. Solidifying friendships and actually living a semi-normal life is a good change of pace here in Spain, albeit somewhat slower than what I am used to. My relaxed days now include golf in the afternoon, mountain

Do you ever feel like the clock has slowed down? The last few days have all but crept to a halt for me, with the exception of last Friday, however, when, I slept all day. After the Vuelta I was looking at my schedule, thinking positively about how the last month would go by fast and that it wouldn't be too painful to stay focused. And I still believe that and am trying to go through with it. However, when the schedule is thrown off, no matter how small a change it might be, it can be hard to recover. For me, Friday morning melted into Saturday. I woke up, went straight to the bathroom

The Vuelta finale in Madrid was an exciting climax to the three-week race, as there were thousands of fans on the final circuit, located in the north part of the city. The riders raced over this week’s 2005 World Championships road racecourse and Petacchi won in his usual style by dominating the sprint finish. Is that a foreshadowing of Sunday’s professional road race? The finish of a grand tour sometimes seems a bit anti-climatic for the riders, as after three weeks of being together pushing themselves to the limits day after day, the riders cross the line and quickly rush to shower, pack

It’s Monday morning and I am on the early flight to Barcelona from Madrid with all the businessmen. I am listening to my IPod on shuffle and Creedence Clearwater’s, “A traveling band” just came on. Kinda ironic, huh? I just did a lap of Spain, 15 different hotels, almost 4000 kilometers, good start, good finish, with three crashes in between. The eyes are a little red from last night and I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and eat out of my own fridge. It’s not the racing that gets under your skin or the eating. It’s a combination of all of these little things put together that really

This morning Tom and Stijn pre-rode the time trial course, as most of the guys do when they are trying to ride a good time trial, and when they got back to the hotel the verdict was that it was going to be very fast due to a very strong tail-crosswind and indeed it was. It was nice going to bed last night knowing we were going into the last major effort of the 2005 Vuelta. Time trials are usually quite chill days for the riders not seriously contending the race overall or a stage win, so Benjamin and I had time to have a relaxing breakfast this morning, and then were able to read and keep

After nearly three weeks of racing we are now just two days away from the final stage into Madrid. Today most of the peloton was happy to be rolling off the start line knowing that the race was nearing its end. The night before the start of all races we do during the year, we are given a book filled with maps, altimetry profiles, rules, race history and most everything you can think of that has anything to do with the race we will be competing in the following day. At the start of a one-day classic the "book" is about the size of a two page flyer you might get in the mail. At the start of

I know, I know. Whatever race I am in, whether it is Redlands or the Tour, it is always hardest race on earth. Yes, of course it is always relative, too: Relative to your condition, weather and even to your state of mind. If it is an easier race then you push yourself to kill the others and if it is hard like Wednesday then you hang on and do what you can when and where possible. Some of the teams here are so strong that they are playing battleship with the race. Sending guys up the road to wait for their leaders to bridge from the field and then upon connecting with one another dropping

One of the last big showdowns of the Vuelta is over and now all there is left is the time trial on Saturday. Today, as predicted Mancebo attacked on his home turf but to no avail-he was unable to gain time on his rivals up the final major ascent of the Vuelta. It is a shame OLN didn't cover the race this year as it was an exciting race which raced through some beautiful countryside back home. Levi Leipheimer e-mailed me this morning and said he was disappointed he missed the live coverage of the race on TV. Maybe next year.... Tom and Stijn did a great job today and Tom was able to

I arrived at the Discovery team hotel last night to be greeted by some seriously tired faces. There are three teams here and on each team I saw the same, the tired look did not differentiate between the riders who are leading the race and those that have been suffering at the back. They are nearly at the end of three weeks and the mental and physical efforts have taken their toll. It was a but sad to see only four riders at the Discovery team dinner table last night, but what was even crazier was to see the staff to rider ratio, which is 1:3 at the moment. Unfortunately, the team has had a

The flat days are misleading in Spain, as I have now learned after racing the Vuelta four times. They are usually in the wide-open countryside and the racing is nervous and not as easy as a bike rider might imagine a flat stage to be. We woke up this morning, ready for a stage without a hill but with about a dozen corners in 160 km and a lot of wind on open stretches of prairie. As we rolled out of Leon, the start town, towards the official start banner on the outskirts, the peloton was already nervous and expecting the race to open up from the gun. It did, and never really relented until

The second rest day has arrived and is now nearly gone. Today however was a real rest day, unlike our last “rest” day where we spent a good portion of the day traveling in the team cars. Yesterday, Liberty Seguros rocked the race and flipped the standings in their favor with Roberto now in gold. Not only did their team dominate the stage but also Roberto completely crushed all of his rivals. It is hard to explain how fast he went uphill, how fast the stages have been the last few days, and how strong the Liberty team has been since the start. Despite crashes and losing a rider, they still

The last rest day, and it is a real rest day this time. No trains, no planes, no automobiles. Just riding the bike for 35 easy miles and then eating and massage. Not such a bad day. But we are in León and (sorry Andy Hood) but this place is in the middle of nowhere. Granted, I am sure that there is more to do than ride and massage, but it doesn't take long before all you can see around here is the horizon. We went to a restaurant last night and we ate and drank everything within sight: Pizza, pasta, tiramisu and some freezing cold table wine. The temp helps it go down better. The

In each grand tour, riders are faced with extremes: extreme weather; extremely hard courses; extremely good legs; extremely bad legs; extremely painful road rash and extremely good and bad moral. After three weeks, nearly every rider in the bunch has experienced each of the extremes. Extreme weather conditions are a natural part of three weeks of bicycle racing around a country filled with varied terrain and climatic zones. The first week of the Vuelta was stifling hot and dehydration and heat stroke forced several riders out of the race. Today, it was the cold and rain that caused the

We started with a small team today, four riders. Given the fact that the team is so small, many of the staff have also packed up and headed home as well. It is tough watching them go home and I felt bad for Triki today as he watched us head off to the race without him. On paper, today was one of the toughest days of the Vuelta with several second category climbs and a hard twelve-kilometer climb at the finish. Thankfully, it didn’t turn out to be all that leg crushing as the peloton was somewhat lethargic and let a dozen or so riders get up the road that were not a threat to the

Sadly, we are now down to four riders. The bus seemed empty this morning when we had our meeting before the start; we only had five riders on the start line. Tomorrow it will be even worse as Triki had to abandon today as a result of the knee injuries he sustained in yesterday’s crash. The speed was high, very high right from the start. We rode at about 60 kph for the first 25 kilometers. It actually never really slowed down a whole lot as we averaged 49.5 kph for 191km. At one point I heard one of the Fassa riders comment to another that we weren’t bicycle racing but motorbike racing.

All right, so in hindsight maybe my last entry wasn’t exactly spot on. Maybe you could even say that I put a hex on Jakob and myself. But, as they say, hindsight is 20-20 and I am not looking back. I found myself on the deck for the third time. Jakob was so bad that he had to stop the race and spend the night in the hospital. The maids there had some nice souvenirs. We left brand new helmets (broken), a pair of glasses (broken) and some gels (full) and a cap (in great shape!) for good measure. It was a huge pile up and there were more than a few injuries. It always puts things into

After close to two weeks of racing and thousands of kilometers coveredthe race for several riders ended today with a nasty crash thirty kilometersfrom the finish. In cycling all of the hard work, suffering, teamwork,training, dieting can be nullified in a second when a crash occurs. This morning we woke up expecting a straightforward day witha little crosswind and a quick run into the finish. The race actually startedoff a little easier than expected with Fassa Bortolo putting their teamon the front from the first kilometers to keep things under control inhopes of another victory for

The rest day is a couple of hours from ending and tomorrow’s daily schedule has already been placed under our hotel room door. The day flew by, as they all seem to do these days, and I feel a little more rested and the pain in my legs has released slightly as well. We woke up early this morning, early enough that we needed an alarm to get up, to travel to our next hotel that was a road trip away. At just before nine in the morning a motorcade of Discovery team cars rolled out and by noon we were at our hotel and then on our bikes for a small training session before lunch. The ride was low

Is the glass half empty or half full? For opportunists like Jakob Piil, every day that passes is another day that he didn't get to win, so his glass is half full. But for the people just trying to finish and go home, the glass is half empty, with every mountain stage another day in hell. Well, we are really more than halfway there, to be honest. But sometimes those last weeks can feel like much more. With one more rest day, a time trial and a finale in Madrid, things look more or less downhill from here. But since we aren't on the podium yet, we either have to wait for others to

Sorry about the last two days. It’s been hectic and I haven’t had a chance to write much. The first was the TT and that went pretty well for me and the team. My wife Leah and my dad were there, so I spent some time with them. Dad spent the day hanging out window yelling, as usual, behind me. By the end of the day, the team had three people in the top-15 overall including me! I had dinner with my wife and life was good. So the next day, yesterday, we were ready to do what was necessary to help Carlos in the mountains. I still don't know what happened at the bottom of the first climb,

We are over halfway through the Vuelta and have reached the first rest day. The last two days were tough, with lots of climbs, and a relentless pace in the peloton. Tonight we are staying at the ski station of Benasque, a small little village that attracts Spanish royalty during the ski season and bike racers during the summer. The last two days Liberty Seguros has controlled the race from start to finish despite the fact that they don’t have the race lead. Rabobank, the race leader Menchov’s team, has helped them a little but essentially it is Liberty that has chased everything down. I am

The riders are now in the midst of the toughest mountain stages of the Vuelta and the race organization and drug testers are not making it any easier on them, as they put the riders in lousy hotels over the weekend, with loud music playing all night long, making for a lousy night sleep and then woke them up at the crack of dawn for blood testing. While visiting Michael this weekend in Lloret de Mar, I felt like I was having a bad nightmare, in which I was brought back to the ‘70s and stuck in a cheesy all-inclusive family resort. Normally, the guys stay in nice hotels, so this was totally

My roommate, Tom Danielson had a fantastic ride and moved himself up into the top five overall. He is a great time trialist but an even better climber so he is motivated for the coming days. Both of us have been sweating up a storm the last 24 hours as our hotel has no air conditioning and gets direct sunlight for most of the day. We have the door and the windows open to try and get a breeze through the room but it doesn’t seem to be doing much other than attracting the tourists to our room who have no qualms about coming in and saying “hello.” The highlight of the time in Lloret has

We have finally arrived in Catalonia and are close to Girona tonight. Dede and Liam were at the finish today and I will get to spend the evening with them as well as tomorrow as we’ll be in Lloret de Mar for two days. Lloret is a strange town that reminds me of Niagara Falls. It is overpopulated with tourists and tourist attractions and it not one of the more attractive towns on the Costa Brava. Next to our hotel there are haunted houses, wax museums, and water parks. Tonight we’ll enjoy a buffet dinner with hundreds of sunburned tourists. Today’s stage looked flat on the profile but any

I spent the first week of the race hoping for cool weather. Then, today we received a small dose, and I decided that the heat isn't that bad. It rained for 15 minutes and I almost froze. Thoughts of, "Be careful what you wish for," instantly popped into my head. It did dry up and then the brutal headwind appeared. I almost felt bad for the Liberty team, as they slogged their way into the wind, as Jakob and I stayed at the back with our pulses around 50 … well, not really. The tension rose towards the end and everyone completely lost their minds and went as if the Vuelta would be won

Vuelta Stage 7The countryside today’s stage passed through had long somewhat-shallow grade hills with wide-open and windy terrain, much like the foothills of Colorado. Michael said that the stage started at a quick pace and the field immediately splintered. The riders had to climb out of Teruel, which is situated in a valley. They raced over a four Category 3 climbs in the first 100km of the 200km stage, which some of the guys in the bunch said felt like more like Cat. 2’s, with some of the guys telling Michael that they felt like the Vuelta race organization was gypping them with the

Vuelta Stage 6As we head west towards the Mediterranean, the temperatures have droppedbut the wind and the speed at which we are racing has increased drastically.Both yesterday and today we started racing flat out as soon as the startersflag was dropped and never relented until the finish line was crossed.Yesterday's average speed was an impressive 47.5kph- I was in the breakawayfor the majority of the stage and noticed we were rarely dipping under50kph and were often up around 60. The amazing thing is we were going slightlyuphill for most of the stage.This morning I woke up feeling

So if you go faster, is it cooler? We experimented with that idea today as we averaged almost 30mph over the course of the stage today. And the answer is, it just gets you to the finish line faster. It was still in the upper 90s today but, after the last few days, that now feels cool. I even saw some clouds today, but I still lost five pounds during the race. Michael Barry, our guy Jacob Piil and a few friends set off around the 60k mark today and I really thought that they were going to pull it off. If they had managed to stay away, it would have put Michael in the jersey with Jacob

Today, our little Discovery team supporter, Liam, got a chance to coo for daddy, as Michael went away in the early break and was virtual leader on the road for quite a while. Although, his luck ran out when the sprinters' teams decided to chase and the break of 8 riders was caught at the base of the final climb with 15 km to the finish. For Discovery, the plan was to have Benoit Joachim, Stijn Devolder and Michael cover the early breakaways and to help Max Van Heeswijk in the final sprint. The pace was high from the start and all guys commented that it felt like the Vuelta of years

The last few days have been tough, not because it has been fast, but rather because of the intense heat. The peloton is sluggish and the racing not very animated as a result. Only when the finish line is near does the pace pick up, the peloton becomes nervous and the racing gets exciting. Otherwise, the major objective of nearly every team has been to keep riders hydrated and not to expend too much energy. It’s easy to dig a hole too deep to climb out of when the temperatures rise over 35 degrees Celsius (95F) in the shade, of which there is little. Today’s stage was a little frustrating

I thought yesterday was hot. Then came today. Between the two, I spent the hottest two days I have ever spent on the bike. Today at the top of one climb it was 45.5 degrees Celsius. That seems hot to me but when I found out that equates to about 113 Fahrenheit, I realized there was a reason why we all felt so horrible. Today we trudged through another day in southern Spain. We haven't broken any records, but we have suffered. On average we all drank about a gallon and a half and then upon arriving at the bus keep drinking like we've been in the Sahara for weeks. I thought that I

As I sit at home in Girona watching the Vuelta on television with our new baby Liam on my lap, I am content knowing that I am not out there dealing with the heat the boys are racing in the south. Today the temperatures were once again extreme as they raced through the arid center of Spain. Michael consumed 15 water bottles in the 153 kilometer stage and still felt dehydrated. He was in a breakaway at one point today with 10 or so other riders and said that every one of the guys in the break was too hot to put forth any effort. Essentially, their bodies are using so much energy just to

Today’s stage to Cordoba was the one I feared the most when I looked at the course profiles a week ago, after I found out I was going to be starting the race. I feared it not because of its difficulty, but because the last time we did this stage, in 2003, I suffered unbelievably from start to finish. Back then we were racing for Roberto Heras, and we had to keep him in the front of the peloton and out of the wind while also ensuring we had representation in the breakaways. The attacks began from the start and never relented until the line was crossed in Cordoba. Today, thankfully, the race

Two weeks ago my fall schedule was changed. Originally scheduled to race the fall season classics, I am now sitting, sweating, in a hotel room in Granada waiting for the start of the Vuelta a España. I am motivated to be here, we're all in good shape and we have a team that can challenge for the overall classification and for stage wins. One thing that is different for us this year at the Vuelta is that we do not have a clear leader. In past years we have gone to the race with Roberto Heras and Floyd Landis. This year there is no clear leader on our team but we have three riders who

It’s crazy how easily the schedule of a bike racer can be changed. We all want to know our race schedule at the beginning of the year so our training can be laid out perfectly, but I don’t think much is guaranteed in this sport. Last Tuesday I went for an 80-kilometer ride in the morning and then raced track in the evening. Once I was home from racing and getting ready for bed, I got a call from another team here in Switzerland, Team-Next 125 . They were headed to Germany the following day for a stage race, but were short on riders. Most of my own team, Team Andeer Interflon Scott would be

I’m back before you had a chance to miss me. I haven’t done an update in I can’t remember how long. I think the last time I checked in was after the Joe Martin Stage race in Arkansas. I have done quite a few races between then and now. I’ll try to get back up to speed with the highlights/lowlights. I think I’ll start out with one of my best performances of the year, the Tour of Connecticut. It’s the perfect day here in Durango to reflect on Connecticut, cold and rainy. I managed to stay pretty high up in the overall going into the last day but was still about a minute out of the lead. That’s

It’s good to be back in Europe. This past weekend I was back racing with my team here in Switzerland. We raced the GP Oberbaselbiet. It’s the first year for this race to take place. Going over the race info, our director told us that though the course profile looked hilly the race was actually pretty flat. He also informed us that there would be no caravan, but he wasn’t exactly sure why not. Once we arrived and warmed-up, we understood the promoter’s reasoning completely. We also realized that the hills on the profile were real. The course was actually very technical, up, down and on

Dear Velo,I can't believe I read at the beginning of the Tour that Tom Boonen was given an antibiotic for the "minor infection" that had caused a major toothache. In the dawn of time, when I was racing, an antibiotic would wipe me out for about two weeks, simply due to the fact that, as a broad-spectrum bug killer, it will kill intestinal flora, too. This means that I would get diarrhea and have poorer nutritional uptake from food. The same will be true for Tom. The other point to wonder about here (and I realize the difficulty of diagnosing from an article) is what caused the toothache?

Dear Doctor Richardson,I am a 50-year-old former racer who has been riding for more than 20 years. I still ride between 8 and 10 hours a week. I had even planned to race this year but due to work conflicts I didn’t manage to pull it off. Nonetheless, I had been training and in hopes of competing later this year… that is until last week. My wife and I were on vacation and on the last day of our trip, I went for a 2.5-hour ride. I went early in the morning to beat the heat of the day. It was extremely humid, but the temperature was in the upper 60's when I left and may have been in the

It's August and already the end of the season is in sight. We just finished our training camp in Austria followed by the Sacshen Tour. The training camp was a necessity for some, myself included, and helped us regain our focus for the second part of the season. We rode all day and returned home to watch the drama unfold in the Tour. But not too much drama ever really occurred. From the training camp in Austria we limped into the Saschen Tour in rainy East Germany. The team started off pretty slowly but caught up toward the end of the five days of racing, winning the last two stages.

I just competed in my hometown race, the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge (AVC). The AVC has always been one of my favorite races, but it wasn’t in my plans for the season until I broke my back and was given a leave of absence my team in Switzerland. I returned to Portland, thinking there’s no place like home to recover. I got back on the bike after a couple weeks, and figured that since I was here and on the bike again, maybe I’d be able to race. My coach argued that normally, one should get a full month of just riding before even thinking about the sort of intensity that a race like this

The week before the Tour de France is finally here. The second half of the season has already begun. The Giro d’Italia is long over, along with the Dauphiné and Tour du Suisse. Before you know it, we will be at Lombardi racing the last race of the calendar. I raced – well okay, I participated – in the Dauphiné after the Giro. I stopped with one day to go and even that was a few days too late. I have been at home ever since. It's a weird feeling being home after more-or-less racing non-stop for five weeks. You find yourself ridiculously restless and then absolutely knackered all at

Well, I’m happy. My last – and most difficult – test before the Tour de France is now over. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to defend my yellow jersey at the Tour of Switzerland this year, but I have to admit it wasn’t a major goal for me, either. Finishing in third was more than satisfactory and I am pretty happy with my form… besides, the yellow jersey I want is the one you wear into Paris at the end of July. As far as that goes, I think I am well on my way to being ready for that challenge. The Tour of Switzerland was a great test for me. While winning again there wasn’t in the cards, for

The final stage of the Giro d'Italia is traditionally a parade into Milan, followed by a series of fast circuit racing leading up to a massive field sprint and this year held true to tradition. The riders lined up in Albese Con Cassano, a small town on the edge of Como decorated in pink to start and then paraded towards Milan, with a stop for gelato and cookies along the way. T he mood was relaxed and the Discovery team staff served champagne to all the other team cars in the caravan during the race. Everything was going smooth until Sean Yates got a flat tire in the first Discovery

Well, we tried to get another one, but this time it just didn’t work out. We did a lot of work today and chasing that early break from like 30 kilometers or so and pulled the peloton all the way to the base of the Finistere. At least we got to that point… after that, I dunno. The plan today was to do pretty much what we did on Thursday, when Ivan pretty much rode everyone off of his wheel. That and yesterday showed us all that Ivan was capable of doing it, it’s just that he didn’t really have it today. Frankly, after these last couple of days, it really, that shouldn’t come as that big of a

Stage 19 was a nail-biter to watch - all the protagonists were fighters, giving every ounce of energy on the road. Discovery’s Paolo Savoldelli looked to be in danger on the Colle delle Finestre, steadily losing time to Lampre’s Gilberto Simoni, Selle Italia’s José Rujano and Liquigas’s Danilo Di Luca, but he fought back, flew down the descent and chased all the way up the final ascent into Sestriere and essentially won the race, as Sunday’s final stage is sure to be a parade commandeered by the sprinters in the final meters. Rumor has it that on the final stage of the Giro, townspeople stop

The competition for the maglia rosa has been tight throughout the Giro d'Italia, and it should reach a climax on Saturday during stage 19, one of the most challenging mountain stages of the race, finishing in Sestriere. With Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita) and José Rujano (Selle Italia-Colombia) dropping race leader Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) and edging a little closer to the lead in Thursday's mountaintop finish, and then Savoldelli regaining the lost time in Friday’s time trial, it is hard to predict who will have the lead in Sestriere. Although CSC’s Ivan Basso lost

Well, Ivan has sure proved himself over these last two days, hasn’t he? We had a great team meeting on Thursday morning and we decided that we’re still here to fight and that we were just going to take the bull by the horns that day and not let anyone else dictate the race. Sure it makes sense for us to say that, but you have to admit, after last weekend, it’s something of an act of faith for the guys to believe that, but they did. Really, we were kinda going into the unknown on Thursday. Ivan said he felt good, which was a good sign, but still it means that the other guys really have to

After the second Giro d’Italia rest day, the competitors were eager to race in stage 16. From the start, the pace was very high and groups of riders were flying off the front. Race leader Paolo Savoldelli’s Discovery Channel teammates had their work cut out for them, as they could only afford to let riders go up the road if they posed no threat to the maglia rosa. The team was forced to chase, and with the help of Fasso Bortolo, which preferred to keep the bunch together for sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, they managed to keep the riders in check until Discovery allowed a group with the right

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve received several e-mails from people asking whether I’m alive. So it’s clear, I am way overdue with a report. The last month or so has been rough, both physically and mentally. Three-quarters of the way through April, while racing here in Bern, Switzerland, in a 1.9.1 UCI race, I had a bit of misfortune. On the last lap, while trying to move up through a corner, I found myself staring at a median and a pole, straight ahead. I tried to move to the right to avoid it, but the field had spread out too much in the turn and there was nowhere to go. A second after

It's good to sit down and count your blessings every now and then. Well, starting with yesterday, the real blessing came in the form of the first 50km of the stage being bagged. That decision definitely had a good impact on moral, especially after what happened on Sunday. On Monday morning, we woke up to pouring rain and, at 7000 feet, the prospect of riding downhill for 40k, after an 11-kilometer climb, was just depressing. We were preparing for the worst, but God bless the peloton's Italian Mafia. The Italians just made it clear: “Hell no, we won't go!” It would have been

In its first two weeks, the Giro d’Italia covered 2500km between Reggio Calabria and Livigno, a journey that’s only 1600km if one does a straight shot in the car. On Sunday, as the riders entered Livigno after having completed back-to-back, six-and-a-half-hour stages through the Dolomites, they passed a sign on the road that read, "Only 1000km to go.” En route to Livigno, the passed over several difficult climbs, including the infamous Passo Stelvio, where each of the 48 switchbacks are numbered. It was on the Stelvio that the peloton blew to pieces. At the finish line, each rider looked

Let’s just call today’s entry “How I spent my 29th birthday.” Well, I spent my 29th birthday on my bike… for eight hours…if you count the ride in the neutral zone, the race and the little uphill slog I had to make to the hotel above the finish line. Pretty stupid, huh? To say that today was a long day would be something of an understatement. I’m sure you can imagine that it was a hard day, mentally and physically. Sure it was tough physically, but the mental part was really tough with Ivan suffering as he did. After yesterday, we knew there problems, but he’d only lost a little bit of

The Dolomites have taken their toll on the peloton. The legs are aching and the energy is waning. There were 40 riders popped off the back on the first climb of stage 13 and it was not even a categorized climb. The riders were trudging up this steep ascent in their 39x25s and they had five categorized climbs and more than 200km ahead of them. I always know from the sound of my husband’s voice when the fatigue has set in during a grand tour. There is little if any response when I ask Michael questions and the conversation generally becomes fairly dull - I can talk at him, but his energy

If you’re not racing mountain bikes in Europe during May, you’re not doing any big races. I’m not heading over until the third round of the World Cup May 29 in Houffalize, Belgium, so that means some serious down time. You might think I’d take some time off, maybe go to a warm beach somewhere, or even just hang out in Durango. But I can’t seem to sit still for a single weekend, so I’ve been hitting the road circuit. It’s a good thing I’m a bike racer. I already got in some good road racing this past February with a six-day race in Mexico. Then, after Sea Otter, I headed to New Mexico for the

The Discovery Channel team had a special visit on the rest day, as Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel flew in for dinner at the team hotel. The two unexpected visitors provided a little extra motivation and shared some laughs with team, especially when the usually shy and conservative looking Tony Cruz showed up to dinner with a Mohawk. After the Giro's first rest day, several other riders in the bunch had trimmed their manes to cool themselves in the mountain stages ahead. Rain threatened much of stage 10, but very little actually fell on the peloton. Aside from the wild ride

Yesterday (Wednesday) was just long and boring, but today sure made up for it. Dead, dead flat and really slow. The only thing anyone was worried about on Stage 10 was that finishing circuit – three laps around a 5.2km loop – with narrow roads and tight corners. But before we got there it was just five hours of absolutely nothing. It was slow and that was it…until we started heading into the circuits. We had moved to the front, to keep Ivan out of trouble and we came to a poorly marked turn, where the peloton was supposed to go right, but a good part of the field was led into the wrong part

With two selective stages over the weekend, the strengths and weaknesses of the Giro favorites were displayed. Ivan Basso (CSC) lost a little in stage 7 to Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni (Lampre), while the reverse occurred in stage 8, and Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) was consistent and showed his form is only getting better as the race progresses. Dave Zabriskie (CSC) surprised some by winning the stage-8 time trial, but in my mind, he was one of the favorites going into it. Dave has been knocking at the door of a major international TT win for quite some time. His fifth-place

The rest day and come and gone. I am not sure just how rested I feel and now Stage 10 is on the horizon. I have mixed feelings about rest days. First off, I am not all that sure that they help you that much. In a way, I’d like it if we just got on with it and went home one day earlier. On the other hand, you do need a little respite from the stress of bike racing, just to relax. In that sense, the rest day is “rest” in the psychological sense than it is the physical. Still, I did sleep for two hours this afternoon, so I guess I was a bit tired, after all. One thing about the rest day is

Sunday May 15, 2005 -Yesterday (Saturday) was a tough day...I had a lot of flashbacks of riding with Lance and Johann.Obviously we didn't have the jersey, yet. We weren't even planning ontrying to get the jersey, but we had decided as a team to make a statement,so we spent most of the day up front – not chasing an unthreatening break– but riding up there to show that Ivan and the team are here to play offenseand not to be put on the defensive. Ivan and Bjarne are also being verycareful to keep him out of trouble.Thestage was crazy, with its crosswinds and wet roads, so our

The first week of the Giro is finished. The parcours has not been particularly tough in comparison to what lies ahead in the next two weeks, but the riders have still faced many obstacles. With nearly 200 riders heading into the rather technical finishing kilometers of the first week’s flat to rolling stages, many fell victim to crashes. Stages 4 and 6 were particularly messy in the final, with several crashes causing injuries, abandons and lost time. It is amazing to see fallen riders leap up and jump back onto their bikes. They never want to quit. Even when the injuries are bad, the

I am officially out of touch with the outside world. I had no idea that they evacuated the capitol and the White House the other day because of what they thought might be some kind of terrorist attack. I don't even know what day that was... heck I don't even know what day this is. My daily concerns tend to focus on just a few things: eating, sleeping and spending the stage helping to keep Ivan out of trouble here and there. We've already done one week of racing and when we're not on the bike, we're often looking for something – anything – to do. That's especially

The common thread we've seen running through the last two stages of the Giro has involved an early breakaway of riders hoping to stay away for the stage win, but falling just short. In the final kilometers of stage 3, the riders passed over a category-2 climb, and indications of who's on form were provided. All the favorites fared well, but a few stood out, like Damiano Cunego and stage winner Danilo Di Luca. Di Luca has had a spectacular start to the season, with two World Cup victories in April. We could see him in the maglia rosa in the next few days, as he is a climber and can

Wednesday, May 11As I mentioned before, this is my first Giro d’Italia. I’ve ridden the Tour de France before, but this is different. On the surface, the racing is much more relaxed. You have the attacks at the start, then maybe a break forms… and then everything is pretty much controlled until the end, when they pull the guys back and then you see this rush to the line. While it is more relaxed on one level, that changes things down the road, so you end up with some moments when you’re totally bored and others when it’s complete panic. Take Tuesday for example. We were pretty relaxed and

The prologue and the first two stages of the Giro are now completed and the riders are beginning to settle into the rhythm of the grand tour. For the next three weeks, they will pedal, eat, get massage, and try to recover. Being a part of the race is like joining a traveling circus, as everyone moves from one town to the next each day, putting on a show. The same faces appear each day in the peloton, but in a different order, and the ups and downs encountered make each day unique for each rider. The fans along the roadside are often dressed in pink, and even decorate their towns in pink.

I have to say the Giro is really cool. It’s my first time in this race … in fact, it’s the first time for a bunch of guys, everyone from 20-year-old kids, in their first year, up to Erik Zabel, who is making his first appearance at the Giro at the age of 34. He’s done something like 12 Tours de France, but never the Giro, until this year. The ProTour is part of the reason. Every top team has to be here and riders are looking at the season a little bit differently. Instead of spending May training, they come here to help the team, spin the legs and get some nice weather to boot. I figure

I love the tropics. Before Sea Otter, Meg and I took a trip to Rincon, Puerto Rico, for the Ultimate Dirt Challenge mountain bike race. Rincon is a small town on the northwest side of the island that is legendary for its incredible waves, but for a week it was taken over by mountain bikers. I was lucky enough to find out about this race last year while chasing points for the Olympics and looking for races that were warm and dry as opposed to the wet and dreary Euro races. I can’t say enough good things about the promoters, Doel and Jorge. These guys put on the best race I go to all year. The

Today was the first day of the Sea Otter Bicycle Classic in Monterey, California. This has always been one of my favorite races. I love the atmosphere. It is the only race on the calendar where we have both mountain biking and road racing. It creates a carnival-type scene, complete with a great expo, where sponsors and exhibitors have tents set up so spectators can browse and buy. Okay, so you get the picture – lots of bikes, tents and people. But what really sets the Sea Otter apart from other races is its location. The race is held on the Laguna Seca Speedway, which for most of the year is

Editor's Note: Ordinarily a regular feature in VeloNews magazine, we figured that Chris Horner’s most recent “Talking the talk” column is timely enough to warrant a bit of attention on VeloNews.com and would go a long way toward answering the spate of "Where's Horner?" letters filling up our mailbox. We'll post this one on-line, but for die-hard Horner fans, you'll usually have to check the magazine, where his column will appear throughout the 2005 season.Now we’re into the season and we’re starting to see which teams have started the year with good form and which teams are

Looking at the list of casualties from Ghent-Wevelgem, I couldn't help but shudder. Broken bones; people hitting poles, cars and other riders - I know the feeling. Even the slightest injury or smallest crash has consequences. And the older you get, the more the little things mean. The back gets tight, you pull a hamstring, and bang: You’ve triggered an old injury. Then you can't train properly, or race the next race that will help you achieve your top form when you need it, and you start to worry that you’ll never get back on track. When you’re young, climbing back on the bike is

Last time I checked in I had just crossed back over the border from my Mexican adventure. The sunshine and warmth down south seem like a nostalgic memory. After coming home just long enough to catch a cold, I was off again, this time for the first NORBA National in Tapatio Springs, Texas. The NORBA National Mountain-Bike Series had never been to Tapatio Springs before this year and it was at a golf resort so how bad could it be? The weekend started off pretty well with some threatening sky’s but not much more. The TT and Short Track went off with out a hitch but then the rains came. It was

Editor's Note: Nineteen-year-old Larssyn Staley - the 2003 world champion in the junior women's points race - is the only American riding for the Swiss-based Andeer team. Throughout her first season on the continent,the Beaverton, Oregon, native will be sending us updates about life inthe women's peloton and providing a newcomer's perspective on racing in Europe.Two weeks ago I had my first race in Italy. After that race, I couldn’t get over the chaotic mess of the field. However, having that race under my belt, I rode in the field with ease this weekend at The Trofeo Alfredo