Non TV Tour Viewing

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For the past 5 years I have been without cable television or Satellite and I rely entirely on rabbit ears and the internet.  Yes, anyone who knows me will find this hard to believe for how much I enjoy TV.  I started living without cable simply for the fact I was going to law school and knew my limits - school and my TV habits would not coincide.  But for most of the time it's really not that big of an issue as most basic TV I can view online and races from Europe are found online as well

The only problem I really have encountered comes every July as the Tour de France rolls along.  I've not had the success of streaming the Tour online quite like I have with all the other races during the year.  This could be that French TV who controls the viewing is more forthright in their search for poached broadcasts being that the Tour garners such high ratings and revenue (eh hem, should we start talking about revenue sharing for the teams yet?).

However, the tour is like no other event and so is watching it.  I want to have each stage at my beckon call and watch any part of it I chose.  Therefore, I pay the $30 each year to have all the access and live action - all at my fingertips.  While I have a fondness for Paul Sherwin and Phil Ligget having had their commentary for the Tour since I started watching back in 1986, I know some have strong aversions to their style (to be nice about it).  The Tour tracker will not alleviate this issue, but it will allow full viewing with no commercial interruptions.


Below are the valuable links for the tour for online viewing - make a note and keep them handy.  Similarly as to being on a date, inopportune buffering can ruin your day.


NBC's TOUR TRACKER 
STEEPHILL.TV
CYCLINGFANS.COM

Why the Selection of Taylor Phinney to the Olympic TT Squad is not a Gamble - But Well Deserved

Second year Team BMC pro Taylor Phinney seemed excited yet reserved and humble about his 2012 Olympic team selection this past week saying it was a "gamble" to include him. But here is why Taylor deserves the selection, even if it is a gamble.

Deserving a Spot Due to Performance

Captain America - David Zabriskie en route to winning his 7th US TT title

Any Olympic selection is a gamble, unless you are such a dominate force in your sport that to not pick you is a gamble. But obviously some picks are a bigger gamble than others.  Taylor has proven himself in the time trial over the past two years as a pro with several big wins, none bigger than the 2012 Giro Prologue giving him the leaders Pink jersey no less.  But the dominant force in the time trial and a sure bet is reigning USA time trial champion, David Zabriskie.  Dave is renowned for his TT skills and seems to take the US title more often than Tiger Woods takes a mistress, well actually David's only won it seven times.  However, the 2010 edition gave the win to Taylor just narrowly beating perennial Tour contending TT specialist himself, Levi Leipheimer (Zabriskie didn't compete in 2010).  Taylor can win almost any Time Trial, so picking him isn't such an odd choice, even with his youth and the longer distance Taylor is still regarded as a threat as he's maturing more each year.  This years US TT championship did not pit David against Taylor (Taylor was in Italy for the Giro) so a head to head comparison isn't available.

In addition, with the new USADA allegations against Lance Armstrong several riders that testified previously (and possibly admitting some former doping) have recused themselves from possible selection - Christian Vande Velde, Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie and David Zabriskie - leaving no doubt that Taylor was the best pick for this event based on his record.

Deserving a Spot Based on 2011 World TT Championships to Determine Olympic Qualifying
The 2011 World Champions didn't go that well for Taylor as he only netted a 15th place in the 46.4 km Time Trial.  However, Taylor was the best placed American with Andrew Talansky slotting the next best American finish at 16th place just behind Taylor.  The Worlds course was a longer TT than most Taylor has raced and certainly a bit above a first year pro's range, yet he was surprisingly well placed all things considered.  The kicker here is that the USA would have been allowed another rider to compete in the 2012 Olympics if they would have garnered a top 10 placing in the Worlds time trial.  Since Taylor was the top US finisher at 15th, Team USA is now only allowed to field one rider for the upcoming Olympics at this discipline.

Taylor in the 2011 World TT Championships - 15th Place.

But in fairness to Taylor, he actually competed in the 2011 Worlds TT unlike Levi, David Zabriskie or almost any other TT renagade the US would have selected for the Olympic games.  If Zabriskie or any other of the American hopefuls trying to make the TT squad had really felt it was in their interest to help, they would have competed at the Worlds and actually assisted the team in getting that extra rider.  Instead, the chances for Team USA to gather a gold medal in the TT was cut in half by simply having our other top riders forgo the 2011 Worlds TT race.  For this very reason, Taylor should be considered above any of those riders that qualified for the Worlds TT, but refused to participate.  If a rider isn't interested in helping the team qualify for the event, they shouldn't really be considered for the event either.

Lucky for Taylor, he deserves the spot on his merits and no one should be arguing that.   Taylor should be proud of his selection and realize the gamble was taken by the other riders when they decided not to race the 2011 World Championships and still hoped to get that one coveted slot.

Follow Up

Folsom Cyclebration Omnium - The Old Gear Makes a Comeback

As life goes on, we seem to find different value in the accomplishments that never would have registered previously.  While I still have a burning competitive desire when I race and I'm driven to succeed, I also have a more simple desire to just... fit into my old skin suit.  At least one dream was fulfilled this weekend during the three day Folsom Cyclebration Omnium.  For the uninitiated, an Omninum is a series of races where you get points for your finish on each day and the rider with the most points wins the whole thing.  Here, we had 3 days of racing - A Time Trial, Criterium and Circuit Race.

Putting out the effort, constrained by a super tight skin suit.

Day 1 - Time Trial
Friday started with an 11 mile Time Trial on an out-and-back course along a canal that was very exposed to the wind (which kept getting stronger all weekend).  Nothing kills my spirit more than seeing all these new TT bikes at a race while I'm still stuck in the days of putting aero-bars on my road bike, adjusting the seat and hoping that my carbon wheels will do the trick.  Needless to say, my rear wheel flatted before my race and I ended up with an ancient spare wheel in place of the super light and fast Bontrager light carbon wheel.  Yeah, that would have made the difference.

Note the non-aero helmet, rear wheel and bottle cages. 

But to top it off, when I joined the Rio Strada Cycling team this year I was barely riding in the immediate let alone having not turned the pedals much in the last ten years.  Therefore, all the jersey's I was given were of the large variety and now work best as a sail rather than an aerodynamic functioning jersey.  I've slimmed down to the point that I'm feeling good about myself and to where girls aren't that excited about my thin arms and exposed ribs.  This slimmer version of me wanted to be aerodynamic and so I decided to try and fit into my once gloried Team Oilme Cycling Skin Suit.  It took some effort (and I did a pre-run the night before just to make sure I wouldn't rip the zipper on the day of) but I got into that tight lycra wrap and felt fast simply wearing it (albeit, young kids were warned to look away and the women just did that instinctively).  So, what's more impressive, that I kept and used my decade old cycling kit and bike, or that I was able to fit into that skin suit?  Obviously the race results were of a lower concern... and mission accomplished on the skin suit.  See, it's the small things now that matter.

Oh yeah, the race.  I did NOT clock a great time but I did in fact take 2 minutes off my attempt at this same race last year (last year was done with less than 2 months of training and just about 6 months post Achilles surgery).

DAY 2 - Criterium
The 2nd day was the criterium race and since I had a teammate (Casey) in 11th place from the TT the plan was to work for him to get a good result and hope to move into the overall contention.  As it turned out, the finish was crazy fast with a nasty windy section and I tried my best to grab the leadout (Aptly named "Team Leadout") from a rival team as they took 1st, 2nd and 4th on the day.  I managed a 9th place but felt disappointed as I had more in my sprint than the result showed.  What resulted however, was that I got moved into 8th overall for the 3 day event and only a circuit race left on Sunday.  My friend and teammate Nate Dunn of Data Driven Athlete put his camera's on the Team Leadout guys and if you want to experience the last lap of a criterium at full speed, watch this.  These guys have it down (and they are crazy strong).


Day 3 - Circuit Race
Typically, from my former days of racing, the more days we raced (up to a point) the better I usually would feel and perform.  And my 9th place in the criterium was case in point.  So I was feeling great for the circuit race and expecting that if I rode smart I should end up with another top 10 finish on the day garnering me a top 10 or better overall - and maybe a few cheesy prizes!

Feeling great during a race can in a rare circumstance be a bad thing.  While I didn't try to get into any breakaways like I had in the criterium, I just felt powerful enough all day to lull me into a sense that I would be blasting the final sprint when the time came - if I was in the proper position.  However, as things worked out a teammate (Rocky) got into the winning break leaving Casey (now 10th overall) and I to simply watch and not be expected to work at all.  This plan was perfect but on the last lap I found myself having to spend a ton of energy to move up and around other riders to get to the front where it mattered.

The break blows up as the Mike's Bike's rider solo's for the win

The final right hand corner opens up from a downhill run-in and is about 400 meters to the finish.  This is far to long of a sprint for me, at my advanced age.  And as we approached that final corner, I had spent a huge amount of energy to grab Team Leadout (again) as they blew past the entire field on our left.  I went way to the right and around to get their wheel just as the corner approached and then all guns were fired.  I spent my cannon fodder in the first 250 meters and then tried to hold on as the debris of riders I had just passed now blew back and around me.  19th on the day and over were my chances of a top 10 overall finish, netting an 18th overall.  Sadly, my teammate Rocky, miscounted the laps remaining and didn't know he should be sprinting for the finish and got swept up but still managed a 7th place on the day.

Hey, it was a great weekend of racing and it has me fired up for more in the coming weeks and months.  It's a great feeling to have fitness again and I really need to remember that it hasn't even been a year since I took up racing again and it's almost 10 years from the last time I had any type of fitness.  Give it some time, and just help others realize their potential.  Oh, and get a new bike, TT bike and maybe a better fitting team skin suit.

Recovery

After a fun weekend of racing and many hours of sitting in the sun and watching others race, I needed a proper recovery. However, yesterday I started feeling light-headed and what a non medical expert might refer to as "vertigo". Others might say the symptoms mirror that of being drunk, but I'm just feeling blah. So I've been relegated to a day of recovery by default. No riding, and instead some relaxing and reading my two favorite topics.

I had jury duty scheduled this week but was not "lucky" enough to get called in. With how mucky my head is feeling, I'm thinking the typical public defender missed out on having another mush headed juror to have his way with ;not-guilty verdict averted until next time, which is likely a good thing.

Giro d'Italia 2012

The first big "Grand Tour" of the year starts this weekend - The Tour of Italy.  I love the thrill of daily bike racing streaming online every morning and catching up on the events of the day in the evening and especially when it's around and in the beautiful country of Italy and the massive Dolomite mountains. 

I have not done an in depth preview of the race but my thoughts are below;  here however, are some links to the best reviews and information around I've seen so far. 

What to Read to Get up to Speed

* The Inner Ring - A great overview and breakdown of stages you just can't miss.
* Steephill.tv Review - This is also the best place to find out where to watch live streaming coverage and also recap videos after the daily coverage.,
* CyclingNews.com - Always the gold standard for race overview and stage details.

Make or Break Results for the Team


A team can make their sponsors happy and their year by simply doing well or winning a single grand tour and nothing else.  While BMC is likely gunning for the Tour de France with Cadel Evans defending his title, they have yet to make inroads this year in a big race and are not likely to do much in the Giro other than a possible prologue win by Taylor Phinney.  Since the Giro is the first big tour of the year a teams lackluster results will not spell a doomed season as the Tour and the Vuelta are still on the horizon.  However, once those tours pass without a win, looking back on a bad Giro can spell disaster when trying to justify the millions a sponsor has put out. 

RadioShack Nissan is another team without much going on this year after Fabian Cancellara's wreck in the classics this year and only Chris Horner has appeared worthy of a podium finish after leading Tirreno Adriatico before ending 2nd overall on GC.  With Chris heading to the Tour of California, Radioshack has sent Frank Schleck to Italy in an attempt to get a result.  As with BMC, "The Shack" will be looking to their big result in July (and The Tour of CA) in hopes to salvage their season and make everyone forget the lackluster performances so far.


Sprinters and Non GC types

The Giro is unpredictable with climbs more intense and steeper than those in France and with teams sending a smattering of riders to compete and others to just train.  Team Sky's World Champion Mark Cavendish will be riding as will Tyler Farrar of Garmin Barracuda and those two along with Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Matt Goss (Greenedge), and Possibly JJ Heado (Saxobank) will be fun to watch sprinting in the flat stages.  Mind you, Tyler and Mark are here for Tour prep and likely they will be more interesting in the early stages rather than those later on after getting torn apart from the climbs or simply quitting before the race ends.

BMC's young Taylor Phinney is gearing up for a win in the opening prologue which would also give him the first Pink Jersey representing the overall lead.  This is Taylor's chance to show everyone that he has the game to take an important win, and a win that he is made for and expected to take.  He has a great chance, but don't be surprised if the young Jack Bobridge of Greenedge steals the show - or a complete outsider that no one even considers.


Overall General Classification

For the overall win the Giro can produce odd results.  Italian Ivan Basso is a motivated rider for the Giro and a past winner of the race.  The little climbing Venezuelan Jose' Rujano Guillen along with Katusha's Spanish climber Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver both have the skills to get a big lead from the climbs and hold on after the TT's for a possible win.  Garmin is banking on Canadian Ryder Hesjedal with a great support team for the climbs of Peter Stetina and Christian Vande Velde.  Also, Jack Bauer will be an interesting rider to watch for Garmin in this tour - especially if he is as fierce on the bike as his namesake in Fox TV's "24".  The tricky part for Ryder is weather Christian is building up for the Tour more than here to support his leader and be willing to bury himself in that goal.  Christian is a team rider, so likely he will do more than what is expected in this regard.

While RadioShacks Frank Schleck is an obvious great grand tour rider, he was put into the race as a last minute replacement and likely he has an outside chance at the podium but not the win.  Frank has only once before ridden the Giro (without a podium finish) but has twice been on the podium in the Tour de France so we know his pedigree.  Maybe it's just the fact that Frank wasn't on the original roster for the Giro that gives me pause to even expect a top 10 for him here this year.  His heart belongs to France now and it takes a special kind of rider to reverse focus for the Giro at this stage of his progression.  With that said, it appears the older Schleck brother is not likely to ever win the Tour while his brother is around and maybe that knowledge will give him the extra motivation to win the Giro and get his own degree of fame, fame his brother has yet to achieve (Andy's 2011 TDF win is by default after Contador was stripped of the title).


In Defense

Last years winner, Alberto Contador, is still suspended and won't be able to defend his title while 2010's winner Ivan Basso is back for another shot.

I expect to see an unexpected winner for the 2012 Giro and with the Italians having extra motivation for their  national race basically anything can happen.

Tour of Flanders Predictions

Back when Tiger Woods was winning almost half the majors he was entering and before he became synonymous with jokes about getting something sweet at Denny's, a popular sports bet was to pick either Tiger or the field to win. Basically, Tiger or anyone but Tiger. The odds came out more often than not to, bet on Tiger or lose your money.

This years Flanders race has been touted as Fabian Cancellara versus Tom Boonen with a few other top picks thrown in for good measure. Looking back over years of results for "de Ronde" (Flanders) reveals that it's highly unlikely that a true champion will win, which only goes to add more spice to the Boonen or Cancellara picks. With Cancellara's strong riding at Milan San Remo (minus the win) and Boonen's win at Gent Wevelgem, the duo of Cancellara/Boonen is a great bet versus the field like in the days when Tiger was still a family man.

NO CHANCE IN HELL - THIS YEAR
Let's start with the "no chance in hell" picks to eliminate the riff-raff and clear the way for predicting a true champion this year. We can exclude numerous riders just by virtue of the teams they are on this year and their lackluster track record. While Saxo Bank's Nick Nuyens' injury prevents him from defending his title it would be a long shot to repeat with the results his team has garnered thus far this year. I would take a bet that no Saxo Bank, AG2R, FDJ, Europcar, Astana or Euskatel rider will win (some lower teams I'm not even going to list). Take away Astana and I will say no rider from these teams are likely to be in the top 10.  If Saxo Bank breaks the top 10 they should consider it a moral victory, that's how pathetic I've seen them for 2012.

TOP TIER
BMC has a loaded team for the classics and on paper should be winning this year like...well, like Omega Pharma has this year.  But BMC has encountered some bad "injury" luck with Gilbert's infected tooth and Thor's setbacks.  BMC needs to be on the attack and riding like their contracts are based on this one result and I fully expect a show from their boys at Flanders.  Garmin, Sky, and Greenedge are all on the periphery with some serious firepower coming in the form of Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin), Edvald Boasson Hagan (Sky) and Matt Goss (Greenedge) and a team of support all with several riders capable of winning as well.  Along with Omega, these teams are likely to send a support rider up the road in the break early causing the other teams like Radioshack to chase for their man Fabian.

Besides Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma) and Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack) the next best bet to gamble your mortgage payment on would be the young Peter Sagan (Liquigas) and perhaps Omega's other threat and last years 3rd place finisher Sylvain Chavanel.

MY PICK
I'll be pulling for Garmin or BMC to take the win this year.  But for my pick - If Fabian is half as smart as he is strong, he will have taken note from last years race and this years San Remo to realize that pulling the break to the line won't win you the race - maybe this year he will not only be the strongest, but the winner as well. 

Tour of Flanders Preview

The Pro cycling season has been well under way for a few months now, but this week marks the first truly big spring classic with the Tour of Flanders in Belgium.

While not to take away from any of the other big monuments of cycling such as Milan-San Remo, Paris-Nice and Criterium International that have already been completed, the Tour of Flanders is special and unique as a one-day race with it's climbs, cobble-stones and typical bad weather.  If you win ONLY this race, you will have had a successful career.

Entering the Age of Injury

As recently noted, I tore my Achilles last February and had surgery and then after what I thought was enough rehab I embarked on racing my bike in September.  This sequence led to a lot of riding miles and subsequently another injury.  The injury was bound to happen as I went from zero miles and an atrophied right calf muscle to doing 13 hours of riding a week and then a race a month later.  Yeah, the old man muscles can't come back that quickly and even a young man's tendons would be put on edge by that type of routine.

Shortly after my race, I joined up with Coach Nate Dunn (Data Driven Athlete) of Rio Strada Racing (my new team for 2012 - check back for updates this year) for the Coffee Republic ride in Folsom CA with a group looking to pound the peddles and put the hurt on.  Riding the 10 plus miles to join the ride I could tell I was having trouble with my leg and my newly adjusted saddle height and then just a few minutes into the 75 mile ride I started to feel a tightening of the right thigh and soon the pain spread to the knee.  I did my best on the ride to keep in contact and suffer through some of the worst pain I had experienced in my 25 years of riding.  The pain was sharp and extreme and rendered my right leg to about 50% power to which my body was only putting out around 50% power potential in the first place.  The ride with the group tested my resolve and the additional 10 miles back to my car after the ride was down-right pathetic.  Turning the peddles with the right leg was virtually impossible.

The result and diagnosis was the IT band on my right leg.  Evidently this is a common injury for runners and cyclist, but one that I have never experience.  The gist of the injury stems from overuse of the IT band due to compensating for muscles that should be doing work but for some reason are not.  The butt muscle (Gluteous Medius) is the likely weak culprit.

I now have a foam roller, I'm getting massages, stretching daily like a yoga addict and taking time off the bike in hopes to recover soon.  To me, its obvious that my previous Achilles injury helped in causing this new injury.  As I get along in life and still try to maintain my youthful ways it's imperative that I do more to combat these injuries, which really means eating well, doing proper stretching and concentrated warm ups - oh yeah, and avoiding playing basketball.

No Sacramento or Sierra's in 2012 Tour of California

Since it's inception in 2006, the Tour of California has visited the Capital city of Sacramento in some form or another. The first year the race came roaring into Sacramento from Santa Rosa concluding with several fast laps around the cesspool the California legislators call home - The capital building. The race has since held the time trial prologue or been the stage finish with the past two years hosting the sprint stage that started in the foothills or directly in the Sierra's. This year however, the host city of Sacramento is not on the list and neither are the gem of California, the Sierra mountains.

In the 2011 edition, The Tour of California (TOC) moved the start date to May from the early spring in an attempt to better adapt to the UCI racing calendar and in the hopes of getting some famous California weather and skip the days of rain the race had been plagued with. 2011 was slated to start in South Lake Tahoe with a bumpy ride around the Lake with an exciting finish at North Star. Then the next day would see the field begin at Squaw Valley (host of the 1960 Winter Olympics) and finish in Sacramento. But due to an early winter snow storm stage 1 was cancelled completely and stage 2 had to be moved down the mountain and away from Squaw completely but still completed in Sacramento.

Perhaps this year the organizers wanted to stay away from any possible conflict with mother nature in the form of snow and therefore decided to move the race inland. While the Sierra's are skipped this year, the true toughness and climbs (as found by the Donner party in 1846) were never really in focus anyway. Mt. Baldy in Southern California is the true climbing stage of the race and will once again prove pivotal in the outcome and in Chris Horner's title defense.

The following cities to host this years race were announced as follows according to the CyclingNews website:

• Stage 1: Sunday, May 13 – Santa Rosa
• Stage 2: Monday, May 14 – San Francisco to Santa Cruz County
• Stage 3: Tuesday, May 15 – San Jose to Livermore
• Stage 4: Wednesday, May 16 – Sonora (new for 2012) to Clovis
• Stage 5: Thursday, May 17 – Bakersfield (Individual Time Trial)
• Stage 6: Friday, May 18 – Palmdale to Big Bear Lake
• Stage 7: Saturday, May 19 – Ontario (new for 2012) to Mt. Baldy
• Stage 8: Sunday, May 20 – Los Angeles/L.A. LIVE