Hey folks….

I’m pretty crunched for time, so this is seriously just a half-assed placeholder post.  I did a couple of races this past week - the one that I posted about last time around where Ian dominated, and then I followed that up with another couple where I did slightly better….hence races 8 and 9.

If I didn’t have a shit-ton of packing and preparing left to do for my rapidly approaching 2 week long departure for Ukraine (I leave for Amsterdam tomorrow), then I’d go into all kinds of detail about my recent races.  I might have even shot the shit about the TdF a bit.  Seems everyone else in the cycling blogosphere can’t get enough of the Lance/AC thing…

[this is where I mention that I'm currently half in the bag]

Anyway…I’ll tell you what sucks.  It sucks that the Mont Ventoux stage just so happens to coincide with my wedding day.  I guess I just wonder what Oksana will think when I disappear for a few hours in search of a broad band connection or a tv.  I wonder how you say: “Lance just threw a stick in Contador’s wheel” in Ukrainian….

I promise to post up a bunch of race pics as soon as I get back.  I’m well aware that this setup has been a little text heavy for awhile now.  For those of you old codgers out there who don’t use Facebook, there were some pretty decent shots of the last few races posted up by some of my teammates.

Anyway…check back the first week of August.  By that time, Lance will be an 8 time winner and I’ll no longer be single…

Lots to catch up on, so I’ll probably have to push a few topics off until tomorrow’s post. The one thing I don’t want to forget to soapbox about is the value of Dura Ace 7700. I’m spec’ing out a drivetrain refresh on the Merckx and getting really psyched at the notion of having some NOS (new-old-stock) DA on there….but more on that tomorrow.  I’ll also finally post up some pics of the Merckx and a full recap of my initial ride impression and race performance.

Meanwhile, here’s a pic I found on my camera of my blogging workspace circa last week. I was gonna post it before but forgot. Note that the monitor was replaced yesterday with a pimp ass 23” widescreen setup.  The beer bottles remain.  (don’t click on it, the file is huge)

In terms of getting in rides, I’ve pretty much been banging out 1 and 1.5hr rides intermittently the past couple of weeks…but only as much as my schedule will allow. With the wedding fast approaching, the evenings in which I can just disappear for a long training ride are in short supply. In fact, ride #129 was a pretty cool little loop around Ocean City, Maryland after having decided to drag my bike along for a 4^th of July beach weekend with some other couples. Normally, the beach is a sacred drinking and loafing place, but being sapped for saddle time lately I had to bring the bike and get out….loafing would not suffice. The other rides? Well, there were the Hains point loops, and a Rosslyn loop in there, and a bunch of other boring stuff that I default to when uninspired.

Today however, was race number 7 and really only my second time racing in a “crit” context, since most of the other courses I’ve raced were considered “road races” with much longer laps and fewer turns. This crit was some kind of Maryland state championship, but quite honestly….I have no idea what significance it held for us in Cat 5. Nonetheless, there were 30+ guys in the Cat 5 group and the course was really nice. It’s a great change not to have to worry about the centerline rule. Today’s race was also different, in that it was my first time racing on the road with my friend Ian. Ian and I had the chance to kick around possible race scenarios via email the past week, and knowing how aggressive of a rider Ian tends to be (there is not much pacing going on in Ian’s world), I figured if we were gonna work together, and since the race was a super twisty crit….that the best strategy would be to organize a break and take advantage of the fast turns. Well, it turns out that’s exactly what happened.

The only twist at this part of the story is that I was not there with him on the break. Ian pulled a super gutsy move about 2 laps into a 12-15? lap crit by shooting off the front and going for it all. My thinking at that point was that he was nuts and that the field would drag him in after a few laps. Needless to say, I didn’t feel compelled to bridge up to him. We had talked about pulling a move like that toward the end, but in the first 5 minutes?

Well, 2 laps soon became 6 and 6 soon became 9. At that point, I started to think that he might be able to pull it off. I found myself up at the front of the pack on several laps and made it a point to throw old Ian a bone and do a little blocking for him. I figured that it would come down to me sprinting against the main field anyway, and there was no use in wearing myself out to reel in a friend….and on the other hand, if he did get caught, he’d be burned up but would probably just finish with the field anyway. So to help him out a little, I got up in front and slowly dialed the pace from mid 20s down to 20ish and once we’d hit the final straightaway people would buzz around me frustrated at my lollygagging. I did this on a couple of laps mid-way through the race and then just drifted back. I’m still not sure if I bought Ian much time or if it was all in my head.

As we came around for the last couple laps, I heard the announcer call out that the gap was 20 something seconds, and at that point, figured Ian would probably hold off the field going into the last lap. Like usual, the pace heated up after the bell rang for the final lap, and people started getting antsy. I moved all the way up from mid-pack to 3^rd wheel or so in the first couple turns (the mtb background really helps a person nail turns where others are shaving speed). There was a snake-like right to left to right turn before the straight away and knowing that folks would look to lay down the sprint right after that….I put my guard up and watched for a sprinting wheel to jump on as we were coming out of that turn. Sure enough, there was a dude form a local team coming around on my outside as the sprint materialized. I popped into his draft and sat there basking in my brilliance in timing a good leadout. With less than 100 meters remaining I looked to scoot out around him and go for the glory, but there were 2 other guys creeping past on both sides. Then all three were in front of me as I squirmed out around them laying down maximum effort. No dice. I had waited too long and was stymied. I finished 4^th in that sprint effort, and proceeded out for my cool-down lap. Lesson learned: the mooched leadout is only as good as the sprinter timing his final attack. I had simply waited too long to lay it on. So instead, I came across the line wishing there was another 100 meters to sprint. Oops.

After circling back to the finish area, I met up with Ian and came to find out that another dude had slipped away with him. Nonetheless, he was able to take the win, which is pretty cool considering he did it with hairy legs and full finger mtb gloves on ;-0 So that put me in at 6^th on the day….which I don’t feel too bad about.

Race number 8 is bright and early tomorrow morning, so hopefully I’ll have some fresh legs after refueling them with lots of Pizza and Amstel tonight.

I had thought about posting rides 128-131, but since I don’t have access to my photos, I’m just gonna ramble about the Tour de France for a few minutes.

I can honestly say that this week is the very first time that I’ve missed the cable package that I dropped 4 months ago. Luckily for me, NBC universal sports (a broadcast channel) carried the Giro, and I was able to catch the Paris-Roubaix live online via a pirated Dutch television feed. But right now, being cable-less, I’m relegated to the online tickers and animated widgets that the different cycling sites (including the official TdF site) offer to help me follow the tour. This is compounded by the fact that our home desktop just crapped out on us last night….so all my TdF updates have to be enjoyed at work. That being said, I’m doing my best to follow the tour, especially on account of the potential for an Astana mini-drama.

I followed today’s tour on the BBC comment feed. Like with other commentaries in the past few days and weeks, they seem to be hinting that Lance Armstrong is looking to jump into the leadership role if Contador flounders in the coming stages. Its clearly a popular angle to play up, simply because it’s the controversial, gossipy thing to talk about. I think I personally rank the probability of this happening a lot higher than most people, and not because of its newsworthiness, but simply because I tend to think Armstrong is way more egotistical than he would let on. This isn’t to say that I doubt Lance’s sincerity in returning to cycling to raise awareness for cancer. Then again, wouldn’t winning an 8^th tour after 3 years of lounging around on the beach with Matthew Mcaughnahey and banging Olsens (ok, so he did run a marathon and do some mtb racing) raise the most awareness possible? It’s not just cancer research that could use a boost from Lance’s success. You figure the sport of cycling took a massive hit the moment he retired. Lance provided a huge boost to the visibility of the sport, especially here in the states. Not having passed the torch to anyone as a “viable” replacement in terms of star power (Landis, Contador and Sastre are all pretty vanilla when you think about it), I think even having this discussion, and having Lance back on Sportscenter – is great for everyone.

Getting back to Lance’s ego. I just don’t buy the fact that he’ll ride shotgun to Contador if he thinks he’s the stronger rider. Lance is too accustomed at getting inside other rider’s heads to be 100% honest in saying that he’s riding in purely a support role for Contador. I’m inclined to believe that this is all one big mind game for him. We’ve seen it before with the way Lance dominated Ulrich, but pretended that it was always way closer than it really was.

Most of the signs immediately prior to the tour pointed to Contador as the undisputed leader. They dropped Horner who was an unabashed Lance supporter and they made sure to fund Contador’s contract as opposed to resigning with a Lance-favoring, possibly U.S. based company – and risk losing Contador. That being said, what if Contador is simply an expensive distraction to downplay Lance’s chances of winning an 8th?

My prediction: if Lance continues to crank out strong races, and if Contador falters one or twice more (just look at all the chatter about him being responsible for the peleton split), then we’ll start to see Lance emerge as the de facto leader and Contador will mysteriously come down with an illness. He might continue to ride, but I bet we hear that he’s riding through an injury or that he’s somehow not himself. There will be some kind of face-saving going on… When you think about it, I’m not really going out on a limb here….this is just a few stages away from becoming the reality of the 2009 tour.

http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?tracknumbers=572205010000244&cntry_code=us&language=english&clienttype=ivother&

She’s en route!

So far the guesses have included:

• Trek 5200
• Something Bianchi Aluminum (in the celeste)
• Ridley Noah (c’mon guys….I’m broke remember?)
• Lobejko Team SL (worst bike ever made)

Clues thus far:

Frame was made in a northern European country with great beer…not far from the city where Oksana and I had our first date…

Monday night should have been a rest day, but I couldn’t help myself.  I just had to get out and spin around.  The evening weather was just too nice.

The ride itself was nothing special just more or less a really mellow (i.e. 15mph) recovery tour on the DC surface streets.  What it did do was give me time to take in the scenery and think about the procurement of a race frame.

As hinted at in the prior couple of posts, the lust for a race frame started this past weekend and has been dominating my thoughts for the past few days.

The Zurich, for all its comfort and simple elegance, is not a race machine.  I found this out during last Saturday’s race finish after having sprinted the bejesus out of bike and body, taking special note of the major weaknesses in both.  The body…..well, I just need to ride more and ride a little harder.  The bike?   There’s not much you can do to milk more performance out of a steel frame.  If this were the 1980s and everyone was sprinting and climbing on a 19lb bike with boat loads of bottom bracket flex (I can hear chainring rub when I sprint), then I’d fit right in.  Since this is 2009, I can’t help but feel as though I “need” a stiffer, lighter and racier frame.  That being said, I still don’t regret parting with the Seven.  It seems a little strange, since the Seven fits the criteria just mentioned, but the bike just wasn’t me.  I don’t know if it was the aero downtube, the compact geometry, or the obnoxious paint job.  It just wasn’t really me.  I tried to really like it on account of how nice of a bike it was (the parts were certainly top shelf), but it just didn’t click.  I guess you have to be a pretty obsessive cyclist to get to this level of bike ownership analysis, but I’m just rolling with it.

Ok, so where am I going with all this?  What’s the point?

Well, I scored a new frame.  It’s another eBay transaction and I’m putting it in the “good deal” column.

I had been leaning toward going mainstream, getting a bike that most common folk would recognize…..maybe a mid-level Cannondale or a Giant.  I spent several hours on Saturday and Sunday, scouring auctions and classifieds, looking for something for a few hundred bucks.  Something that I could just migrate my tired, worn out and trusty Ultegra onto.  With our wedding approaching later this month, and thus knowing that cash is flowing out the door faster than in any prior point in my life….I know I can’t go all out building something up like I did with the Seven.  I can’t be out buying carbon anything.  So there was never really too much consideration for buying a bunch of high end parts.  As such, I didn’t want to target a frame that had too much of a trendy, techy 2009 look.  I needed something a bit more classic, with plenty of cachet, but something that wouldn’t look too underdressed in 2002-3 Ultegra.  I also wanted something that could jive well with some modern accoutrements once the wedding is behind us and the cash flow situation improves.  So what did I go with?

Well, I’m gonna leave it as a mystery until I can take some proper pictures and get going on the build.

Stay tuned for the full story, and frame pedigree will be revealed next week upon arrival.

You’re welcome to email me your guess in the meantime….