Training and Racing in Saxony

I hooked up with a couple local racers here in Dresden this past weekend - Dirk and Uwe. Saturday they dragged me up and down the Ore Mountains for 135 km. I had told them that I wasn't a climber but they said that's alright - they weren't in a hurry. Big mistake - never be the slowest guy on the team in a team time trial or on a training ride in the mountains. Not wanting to embarrass myself too badly I took the lead on an early climb. I guess they figured I could keep up w/ anything after that, which I did, more or less, but not without substantial gagging, bleeding from my eyeballs, etc.

So afterwards, when we got back into town and stopped in for a coffee and cake, they asked me if I wanted to go to a local training race the next day. "It's only a 50 km race, it's only 35 km away, and it's flat." OK, well I was hammered from the mountains, but what the hell - it would be flat. Well it turned out that they meant the ride to the race and return was flat. The race was in  Stadt Wehlen, which is basically built on the hillside between the Elbe River and the plateau above the river. The race was 7 laps up and down the damn hillside. About 3 km of 8% average grade (varying b/t 3% and 12%) on the way up. Turn around and race back down. Repeat until you've gone blind. There were about 100 starters - all categories starting together. Although it was technically only open to unlicensed riders, licensed riders could race, they just weren't elegible for prizes. I foolishly signed up for the open race, rather than the Senioren II (50+), who only did 4 laps. By the time we reached the top on the first lap there were only 20 of us together. I couldn't see anyone behind me. On the second lap, I was dropped from this group. On the third lap the first chase group caught me. On the 4th and succeeding lap, I was basically racing alone. LOL. My two racing buddies got 6th and 10th. I was glad just not to be going up the damn hill anymore.
Afterwards there were almost as many door prizes as racers. The Burgermeister was on stage calling the numbers of the winners; I couldn't understand a damn thing other than the numbers, and I knew I wasn't hearing mine. Then my buddy Dirk came up to me and told me they were announcing a prize for the person who came the furthest for the race (I'm pretty sure Dirk set this up). That would be me. I couldn't really understand what the Burgermeister was saying, but I gather that (a) there was some concern whether I was related to George Bush, and (b) the helmet that I won was particularly appropriate since everyone in Texas rides a horse.
After all the festivities were done we rode home, which meant going up the hill one last time before crossing the plateau back to Dresden.
Total for the day: 125 km., 4 post-race pieces of cake, 2 post-race coffees, 1 post-ride plate of potato wedges with quark, .128 sore bones and muscles.
When I finally got back to my room, I got to catch the end of the Cyclassics where Allessandro Ballaan made a brilliant, phenomenal last kilometer move to win the race.
Later,

zaz

Two Weekends in Arkansas

After two years of wanting to follow Frank to New Mexico for the Tour of the Gila, but having work obligations get in the way (yes, work must take precedence...sometimes!), I decided to try a different NRC race and chose the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I had heard of the legendary uphill TT and the rolling green hills of Fayetteville. Though nothing like the massive "cols" of Gila, Joe Martin offered enough of a challenge to at least make me curious.

Southern Elite president Jim Quinn and I drove the nine-plus hours and arrived late Friday afternoon. The Pro 1-2 racers soon finished their difficult 92-mile First Stage, even as we awaited packet pickup for the USCF racers. Our first race was to be a 44.5- mile road race on Saturday morning.

One thing I noticed about the difference between a NRC event and a TXBRA race, at least in the 45+ category...smaller fields. We had 33 starters, combined with 16 more 55+ racers in the same race. However, soon after starting and hitting the first section of rollers, something else became quite evident...everyone was a good racer! I guess if you decide to show up for one of these events, you had best be ready to rock!

Phil Sladek of GeriAtrix launched an early attack. I immediately grabbed his wheel since I only recognized him and the two other GeriAtrix racers, Tom Bain and George Heagerty. Sladek's wheel is a smart place to be, if you can hold it! The two of us put about twenty seconds on the field, and we were joined by a third rider who did not want to work, simply trying to keep us in check. The field soon joined us, and immediately the counter-attacks began. The first real climb split the field, and I was able to hold fifth place, still keying on the boys in pink. Four riders slipped away, and three of the rest of us began a solid chase on the long, gradual uphill section. When the GeriAtrix duo of Bain and Heagerty (Sladek had flatted and never made it back to our group) dragged about nine or ten riders with them to bridge our gap, five of us worked ceaselessly to close the still-widening gap of the four leaders. However, with only five working and four strong guys in the break, well...you do the math. We closed to within twenty seconds, but the leaders got away again and disappeared on the winding roads.

George was rightfully perturbed at those not working. He and Bain did some maniacal pulls of 30+ mph on the rollers. I pulled on the uphills, they took over on the downhill and flat sections. We only closed to within a minute of the four leaders and were destined to have a field sprint for fifth place. I spun out my 12-tooth and still finished butt-naked last in our pack sprint! However, I still received the same time as fifth- place rider Tom Bain. I was 15th on the stage. Sladek finished two minutes later, with another large pack a further minute or so behind.

Stage Two, four hours later, featured the infamous 2.5-mile uphill TT with an average gradient of 6.8 %. I was slightly over-geared on the early part (53-21) and wisely shifted down to the small ring, riding mostly a 39-19 or 39-21 up the climb, standing virtually the entire climb (my style!). The climb was steady at 6.8 % and although tough, not as tough as I would have thought. I finished 6th overall in the TT and had moved into 6th on GC, ahead of Heagerty and Sladek!

That was the good news. The bad news was that Stage Three presented a 1.3- mile Criterium course with 8 turns, a long downhill stretch, and a short, steep hill to finish each lap. Sladek and Heagerty (and Tom Bain) love Criteriums! This would be my second Crit ever.

I was gapped almost immediately when I was caught behind some "even- more- novice- than- I" riders going wide on turn two. I chased for the rest of the short (35-minute) race, but never caught the main field and fell from 6th to 11th on GC. Still, all in all a great weekend of racing.

That long weekend with 1,400 miles of driving and three tough races should have quenched my desire for competition for at least a month, right? Not for me! I seem to enjoy suffering. At the last minute (almost literally), I decided to race in the next NRC event, the Tr-Peaks Challenge in Russellville, Arkansas (near Little Rock). I left Houston after school on Friday afternoon and drove the 10 hours to Russellville. I arrived in Arkansas so late that rather than waking my weekend roommates (John McAllister, a Cat 3 for Michelob Ultra and his teammate Kevin), I decided to sleep in my 4Runner. After all, I had to arrive at the race site for late registration at 5:30 a.m. I noticed a familiar face after warming up for a while..George Heagerty! Great, I had a rider to mark, and a great one.

The Stage One 60-mile Road Race featured plenty of rollers, one tough climb, and a lot of beautiful scenery, if you weren't racing of course. The climb surprised me and I was caught near the back and had to chase back to the group. Once again, our 45+ field was small but super-tough, as were the 35+ and Cat 4 fields, so all three groups raced together. George and I made sure we marked all of the "400" series numbers (for 45+), yet at times even this plan proved difficult, so the best bet was to cover everything! Ultimately, our entire field sprinted for the win. I grabbed George's wheel and hung on for dear life. He pulled me to a 7th place finish, my best field sprint this season.

The 5.4- mile TT was mostly flat with a gradual rise in elevation (about 200 feet), but was entirely into a headwind and crosswind. I finally had a TT bike and rode well for me, finishing 10th in the TT. However, enough guys were faster that I was now only 10th on GC.

Stage Three presented a 35.5-mile Road Race with undoubtedly the toughest finish and the toughest climb I have ever done. Imagine 2.5 miles with an AVERAGE gradient of 18%...and that includes a 200-meter flat and slightly downhill section only 1km from the finish! This climb has several pitches of 22%- 25%, even steeper if you take the corners tightly as I foolishly attempted twice! Add about fifteen switchbacks and you have a real "suffer-fest!"

I marked a guy named Bob Cable of Tyson Cycling, who had won this stage and this event five out of six years. The field had some attacks and bridges during the 33 miles leading to the climb, but obviously everyone was thinking about the pain. We hit the climb and immediately a small split occurred...and I was in the second group! I reacted immediately and bridged up to the lead pack of about ten riders (mixed up with 35+, Cat 4, and Heagerty, plus one 45+ I missed!). I pulled away from Heagerty about one-third of the way up the climb and passed a few others on the brutal ascent. I stood virtually the entire climb. I had been advised by several riders to put a 27-tooth on the back, but I trusted my 12-25 setup and went with that. I'm glad I did, because a 27 for me would have been practically spinning in place.

I finally reached the "1km to go" sign and the brief respite of a 200-meter downhill and flat section, then the real fun began. The final 800 meters or so hurts like, well, I don't know what it hurts like because I have nothing more painful to compare. I was fueled by the thought that I was finally going to "win" a race. I crossed the line for what I thought was first place...but I soon found out that Bob Cable had finished ahead of me (and by 51 seconds!). I never saw him ahead of me at the start of the climb, but he was there. Crafty veteran! I'm sure he would have killed me anyway. This guy wouldn't dream of a 27-tooth. He has an 11-21 setup and did almost the entire climb in the saddle! I have some work to do for next year.

I did finish 2nd on the climb and moved up to 6th overall on GC, my best-ever finish in a stage race.

Guys, I know Arkansas is a long (really long!) drive, but trust me… BOTH of these events are well worth the trip. The organizational aspects, the volunteers, the communities are all supportive of the races and the racers. I'm thrilled I decided to race in both, and these two races are already on my calendar for next year.

Any takers? I'll drive.

Kim Wrinkle

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day Four

Crit Day is always kind of cool. Since I basically suck as a crit rider (oh yeah, I suck at the time trial and road stages as well), I don’t take the stage too seriously and use the day mostly for recovery purposes. Plus the actual racing is only an hour long and my hotel is right in turn four, so there’s plenty of time to just hang out and enjoy Silver City.

I always visit with Steve Ferris, who is in charge of the forty trillion spare wheels provided by the racers. They’re locked up in Steve’s “Biciclub” bike “shop” a block from my hotel. This place is an incredible collection of  assorted bikes and bike parts that stretch over at least 4 decades. Steve is also into MotoGuzzi’s – see the attached photo. Plus everyone who matters knows Steve. I can always count on running into Maynard Hershon at Steve’s. Maynard is now considering moving to Austin.

My crit was early in the day and it pretty much went according to plan – I started at the front, slowly slid to the back over many laps, and was eventually dropped, but not before a lot of other people were. I lost some time on the stage, but not that much; I recovered really quickly and am hopeful that I’ll be fresh enough tomorrow to not suffer a million slow deaths on the final stage.

Geriatrix never created a successful break, but Henry won every prime and then comfortably won the field sprint as well.

I’m currently sitting in the coffee house in turn four. I got to watch the cat 2’s (Adam Gaubert, Joel Grimmett), the Pro/1 women, and am now watching the Pro/1 men do their thirty thousandth lap. Turn four is really fast, coming at the bottom of a gradual descent, but I’ve never seen a crash here. Tonight we’ll be taking Bonnie Walker out to dinner.

No matter how much I suffer tomorrow I’ll be done at the end of the stage, then it’s straight into Sladek’s incredible camper thing for a fourteen hour drive back to San Marcos. I should get home about four am, just in time to not get any sleep before going in to work at 8 am Monday morning. What a restful vacation this is!

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day Three

Umm, I guess I’m now in tourist mode. It’s been a rough 24 hours. My digestive problems got way worse – I’ve been losing weight and am now taking immodium in hopes of keeping things in check.

Stage three has always been a really hard stage, but I’ve generally been able to come out of it with only limited losses even if it also trashes me. But today was worse than usual as I felt unrecovered being up half the night . The stage (http://www.tourofthegila.com/pics/mapftbardlg.gif) has some hard climbing in the first 20 miles, then a lot of flat and rolling and descending for the next 40 miles, then more hard climbing in the last 20 miles (total – 78 miles). The trick is to not be too far back after the first climbs and to be in a reasonable sized group over the flat-to-rolling midsection so that you don’t have too fight too much wind by yourself.

I suffered as much as I could but was still back in the third group through Pinos Altos at mile twelve, then slipped back further over the next 10 miles of additional climbing. Ultimately I found myself in the midsection with just two companions and with two thirds of the field just up the road. It was really heartbreaking to be within 15 seconds of a group of 20 just before they pulled away for good. Then we lost one of our threesome, leaving just two of us working the headwind for 20 miles to the final climbs. I conserved what I could and luckily my partner was stronger than I. When we finally hit the long climb we could actually see the other group about three minutes ahead of us. My partner cracked at that point and I lost another 5 minutes fighting my way up a 5% grade for the next gazillion miles.

I staggered in alone, 28 minutes after the leaders. The two leaders, by-the-way were the GC leader (Lindsey Blount) and Jonathon Boyer, who rode away from everyone on the first climbs and ultimately finished 10 minutes ahead of the next group of ten. I was thirty-seventh out of a field that is now down to forty-four, and I’m now down around thirty-fifth on GC. Oops.

Dinner was not as painful as the race. Geriatrix and I had a six o’clock reservation at Spaghetti Western – the best authentic Italian food in a five hundred mile radius. Henry Skowolniak recounted his defection from the Polish National team while they were racing in France in 1981. Not even his parents knew of his plan to do this and I’m sure it had to be about the most stressful time in his whole life. He was only twenty-two at the time. What a spell-binding story.

The digestive problems seem to be under better control now – I’ve got my fingers crossed. Hopefully I will be able to recover tomorrow during the crit and have something in the tank to get me up the four major climbs (including a cat two and two cat four’s) on Sunday's final seventy-two mile stage. Geriatrix is talking about lighting it up in the crit tomorrow - oh boy, I can hardly wait.

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day 2

It's Wednesday morning after the second stage seventy five mile road race up to the top of the Mogollon. Here is the stage profile: http://www.tourofthegila.com/pics/mapmogollon.gif. As you can see, the stage is dominated by the category 1 climb in the final 10 miles.

My strategy was simple: try to conserve energy while staying near the front. Cover what you have to and remain ever vigilant. Every year the pack dynamics are radically different. Last year several groups managed to get up the road: Tom Bain had ten minutes on the pack when he reached the turn-off to go up the Mogollon. This year the pack was having none of that: nothing got up the road and the pace remained uniformly high:this was somewhat demanding but still easier than responding to 65 miles of stop and go before the climb. Geriatrix won both ten-second bonus sprints: Henry Skowolniak (honorary Geriatrix member) took one, and Tom Bain took the other.

When we were ten miles from the base of the Mogollon the lead motorcycle official told us we were just one minute behind the Cat Threes that had started ten minutes before us. Shortly after that we found ourselves running straight into the butt-end of their follow caravan that was creeping up one of the long rollers on the big highway. After neutralizing for a little while, the motorcycle ref motioned the field out over the yellow line to pass the caravan. Here is where things started getting dicey. First we began to crest one of the hills so one of the motorhomes that was trapped in the caravan started gunning it as if to try to repass us on the downhill. Then while we were all on the left side of the yellow line, a pickup began approaching us head on. I searched for a spot in the caravan to dive into just in case I had to. Luckily the approaching pick-up dived off the right side of the road into the ditch. After all that back and forthing with the caravan we finally got in front of them and never did see the actual threes pack although we caught many of the stragglers on the final climb.

When we finally turned off the highway to go up to the Mogollon I was feeling fresher than any year than I've been out here. I was comfortably tucked out of the wind about tenth wheel. The road started up-hill and I continued holding my position. The pace picked up. I gave up a few places. Lindsay Blount (in the leader's jersey after winning yesterday's time trial) surged to the front and jacked it up a few notches. The group split in pieces. I considered my rapid approach to red line and stayed with the second group. We continued upward while I went over redline. I wanted desperately to stay with this group because we were just a half mile from the crosswind-covered mesa that is over a mile long before the second half and harder part of the climb begins. With only a few hundred meters to reach the mesa I was finally separated from the back of group, and I had dug too deep. Phil Sladek came up behind me but my wasted legs couldn't produce enough to allow me to follow him. I ended up working most of the windy mesa by myself before a group of four came up to me for some relief.

We hit the final four miles of climbing. The sign said three miles but it would turn out to be wrong. First I was able to hang with my group of four but I had burned too many matches. They gapped me. But I held them close. For the next two miles they were only fifty yards ahead of me. But the pain was increasing with each pedal stroke. I passed a sign that said one mile to go. I was watching my computer counting down. When I had gone a full mile I came to the one kilometer sign. How cruel can these guys be? To make matters worse I was starting to cramp. I had to keep changing position and relax some of the pedal pressure. My group of four were now slipping out of sight around the next bend and some other dude was overtaking me. I had been passing straggler cat three's but now I wasn't even doing that.

After all that I suppose my actual finish was anticlimactic. I learned that Lindsey Blount won the stage, finishing about seven minutes ahead of me. Jonathon Boyer was third on the stage about a minute back. I finished twenty-fifth.

Afterwards we zipped down the mountain trying not to kill ourselves on the switchbacks, and piled into Phil Sladek's massive, massive, massive camper/pickup. The damn thing is as large as a city block. Six of us fit comfortably in the cab. In the camper were four more bike racers (mostly Moritz) plus all of our bikes and other assorted crap.

One of the returnees was Bruce Hodgkins, owner of Excel Sports. He's a helluva a nice guy and even though he hasn't been racing many years he was fifth on the stage. He has his own airplane and flies to races like this (weather permitting).

My stomach is gurgling now. Golden Corral? Too much gatorade? Too many bowls of raisin bran? I don't know, but it's making me uncomfortable and I'm having trouble staying hydrated.

That's it for now. Lots more to talk about but I'm totally whipped.

P.S. Some people have really bad luck: Many of you know Adam Gaubert, who is doing the Cat 2's out here. He flatted four miles into the stage 1 time trial and was given the same time as the worst place finisher in his category: 51 minutes, 15 minutes out of 1st place. Despite riding well up the Mogollon he is still in 60th place out of a field of 80. Life is a bitch.

Zaza's Pain Chronicle - Tour of the Gila Day 1

[Apologies for the late posting of this report from Wednesday. I’ve been unusually busy with some logistical and (minor) medical issues – zaz]

Ah, it's six am in the morning after yesterday's first stage time trial. When I woke up a few minutes ago I was dreaming that I was at work and had just remembered that I was still in the middle of a stage race. Oops.

The time trial is a 16 mile out and back that starts with 4.4 miles uphill on a 3.5% grade, descends, then does two more rollers before the turn around. On the way back you have to climb back up to the summit of the long grade at 8%, then you descend the last 4.4 miles trying to do your best to spin out your eleven without being blown over by any crosswinds.

I'm hanging out with the Geriatrix crew here - Bain, Sladek, Heagerty, and their newest honorary member, Henry Skowolniak.

Henry had the best time of the

Texas

40+ crew - a 40:44. which was fifth best in the 40+ race that we're doing.

Before my own TT, I was warming up on my trainer when Eric Jordan happened by. He came out here with Joel Grimmett and is also doing the 40+ race. I hope he doesn’t suffer as much as I usually do out here. LOL

I worked the time trial pretty hard - I don't think I left much time on the course. Unfortunately my 30 second man was a no-show so I couldn’t use him as a carrot, but I caught my minute man at 3 miles and I caught a couple other riders as well. On the other hand the guy 30 seconds behind me caught me at 3 miles as well. I really went hard on the final descent managing for the most part to keep my speed in the low to mid 40’s, finally clawing back the last guy that I had a chance to catch. Trying to keep the gear spun while staying tucked was killing my back but I was willing because I thought maybe this was my year to actually start in the top half of the field after the first stage.

But it wasn't meant to be. I only did a 44:38, which was way down at thirty-first place out of a field of fifty-three. I am now over five minutes behind the leader on GC. How can I lose five minutes in just sixteen miles? I guess I must not have been trying. Actually I understand the fastest Pro/1 time was 34 minutes. How can someone go ten minutes faster than me in just sixteen miles?

My time was still two minutes faster than my time from last year but I guess the field has just gotten tougher. This year it's a 40+ race instead of 45+, and even though only ten of the racers are under 45, many of them are cat 1's and just about all of them are in the top half of the field.

Speaking of Cat 1's, we've got Jonathon Boyer in our race. This fifty-one year old raced the Tour de France five times in the mid-eighties, finishing as high as twelfth on GC. There was a controversy the year that Greg Lemond won the World Championship Road Race, because Greg chased down Jonathon - his teammate - to do it. Maybe next year Greg will do the race as well. LOL

In retrospect, I was probably lucky to do as well as I did on the stage. The night before, I went to the Golden Corral with Bain, Sladek, Skowolniak, and Heagerty. Bain swears by that place. I couldn’t convince them to go anywhere else. That place is toxic – I can’t believe how much really bad food that I ate there. But if it works for Tom…

Studying Central Texas Agricultural Practices

While I was on a recent weekend ride I stumbled on these Violet Crown riders who were in deep concentration, carefully studying Central Texas agricultural techniques.

zaz

Tour de France Daily Updates

Daily Tour de France Lanterne Rouge updates. Click the more button for your further reading enjoyment.

STAGE 21 and OVERALL

Absolutely not changes in the standings as the rain forced the officials to place the GC time at the first lap of Paris. Of course given the carnage on the first lap and a half or so after the "racing" for stage placings began, it was a wise safety move to cancel the effect on the overall.

Final overall:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP @ 92h 35' 26"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  10' 59"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  17' 15"
4)      Daniel Becke    IBA-GER @  18' 08"
5)      Robert Forster  QST-GER @  18' 44"
...
11)     Michael Albasini LIQ-SUI @ 29' 21" (best young rider)
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.
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155)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @  4h 20' 24" (DFL for the 7th straight time)

At the average pace for the tour, that puts Lance Armstrong about 180 km off the pace.

STAGE 20

Today's stage saw some riders trying for final position as the penultimate stage is the last traditional stage to get any time. Daniel Becke put in the performance of the day taking stage custodian honors. Becke took 24" from his closest competitor Manuel Quiziato and more importantly, 1'46" from Robert Forster (10th on the day). This moved Becke up to become the best placed German in the race - a position that may play a role in future contract negotiations.

Iker Flores, with a comfortable lead in the overall, rode a conservative time trial and placed 11th on the day. Janeck Tomback, responding to the pressure of the two Germans put in a strong ride to finish @ 2'16" to Becke thus preserving his spot on the last step of the podium. Wim Vansevenant with time in hand on Tomback and no chance of catching Flores finished a mediocre 43rd at 4'17" to Becke.

And what of local boy Lance Armstrong? Well, once again he went out and proved that he doesn't have the right stuff. For something like the 22nd time (not counting the Team Time Trial) Lance finished a stage as the day's DFL. This also marks the 80-somethingth day that he's been DFL of the tour - a record only eclipsed by Eddy Merckx.

Standings after Stage 20:

1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP @ 92h 35' 26"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  10' 59"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  17' 15"
4)      Daniel Becke    IBA-GER @  18' 08"
5)      Robert Forster  QST-GER @  18' 44"
.
.
155)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @  4h 20' 24" (DFL for the 7th straight time)

STAGE 19

We're supposedly out of the mountains and deep into the race where the leaders position should be safe. But riders continue to attack for individual stage glory. Today's attacks lead to several breaks in the group resulting in individuals small groups leading the main peleton into the finish.

The stage custodian was Mauro Facci with a time of 3h 47' 59". Our race leader, Iker Flores, showed his dominant form by leading in the 1st chase group of three riders at 5'17". Trying to limit his loses, Wim Vansevenant was in the second chase group but gave up 2'20" to Flores. But Vansevenant did take 1'38" from the next chasers which included Daniel Becke (trying to improve his placing as best German) and Brad McGee. The main peleton came in with a 1'09" deficit to Becke's group - 5'07" to Flores.

Despite all this action, the leader board contains the same names. But the time gaps have been adjusted going into Stage 20's TT.

Standings after Stage 19:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 85h 30' 54"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  8'31"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  16'48"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @  18'07"
.
.
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155)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @  4'08'35"

STAGE18

Today's stage included a nasty climb right at the very end. Everything stayed pretty much together until the climb then the big boys came out to play. Today's custodian, sweeping up the course, was Robert Forster as he tried to take a solid lead as the best placed German (2'20" over Daniel Becke). He was chased by a group that included Janeck Tombak who was working hard to compensate for cracking the previous day. Tombak took 46" out of Wim Vansevenant - not enough to jump past him in the standings but if does help to close things up before Saturday's time trial. More important, Tombak took 1'03" out of Knaven to solidify his precarious third place. Iker Flores finished in the same time as Knaven as the time gaps were to small to threaten his overall position. At this point Flores nearly needs to ride defensively in order to carry his guiding lantern into Paris.

1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 81h 48' 12"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @    6' 11"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @   11' 41"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @   13' 00"
.
.
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155)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @ 4h 03' 28"

STAGE 17

Matt White (daily custodian), Fred Rodriguez, Tobias Steinhauser, and Mathias Kessler rode a strong break away at the finish. They were chased by David Arroyo @ 26" and a group of 22 lead appropriately enough by Iker Flores @ 1'41". Of course Flores was putting in the hard turns in order to protect his lead in the overall. This despite the fact that none of the riders in front of him were an immediate threat to his lead. Riders like Wim Vansevenant, Daniel Becke, Laszlo Bodrogi, and Sebastien Joly were able to follow the Flores' lead and remain on the same time. However, Janeck Tombak, Raphael Nuritdinov and Johan Van Summeren lost 1'34" to Flores.

The big loser on the day however had to be erstwhile contender Sebastian Hinault. He of the infamous last name (that claimed 5 DFLs in the 1980s) lost over 27 minutes while finishing fourth last on the stage. This effectively eliminates him from the competition.

Standings after Stage 1&:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 76h 49' 18"
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @    6' 09"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @   12' 25"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @   12' 40"
.
.
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155)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @  3h 53' 23"

STAGE 16

Stage 16 was the last true mountain stage albeit with the stage finish a long way from the last summit. This gave the riders the chance to attack and create gaps but also gave those that were dropped on the ascents to regain some time on the descents. In the end, a group of 36 was lead in by stage custodian (the guy sweeping up the course) Laszlo Bodrogi. This group was chased by a group of 36 at 1'17". I guess it was a good day for groups of 36 unless of course your name was Iker Flores or Janeck Tombak.

You see, two of our podium men had missed the split and came in with the second group. This allowed Wim Vansevenant to tighten his hold on 2nd place and with another good day, he could be within striking distance going into Saturday's TT. In addition, classics rider Servais Knaven moved to within 15" of Tomback's 3rd place. This will definitely put the pressure on Tomback to protect his podium position.

And what of local boy Lance Armstrong? He's now approaching 4 hours behind. What does 4 hours mean you might ask. Well I've ridden the Hotter'n Hell Hundred in less time than Lance's deficit (Okay, so it was a good day with favorable weather and a fast bunch but that's another story.) For the way these men are riding, that puts Lance over 100 miles behind on the flat roads into Paris. At this point I think we can safely say that he's lost all realistic chances of reaching the podium with only 5 stages remaining.

Stage 16 Standings:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  6'09"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  10'51"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @  11'06"
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156)    L. Armstrong    DSC-USA @  3h49'57"

STAGE 15

As expected, the attacks came on the many mountain passes ridden on the queen stage of the tour. But the contenders were attentive and chased the moves to the best of their abilities. In the end, a group of 57 hit the finish together taking 46'37" out of George Hincappie (and 41'33" out of DFL Lance Armstrong). The nearest chase group was 53 strong but 8'01" in arrears (Fabian Cancellara did occupy the void at 6'13".)

But what of our leaders? Where were they? Iker Flores was well positioned in third crossing the line - a darn good place to be in order to protect his position. Vansevenant, Knaven, Joly, Tombak, etc were all present in the lead group and received the same time. However, Jalabert, Hinault, and most importantly Van Summeren missed the split and lost the 8'01". That dropped Van Summeren from the podium and moved the others farther from contention. At this late stage, it may be to late to retrieve these losses. As a consolation, Van Summeren is tied with Unai Etxabarria in the points competition with -10 points.

Standings after Stage 15:
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP
2)      Wim Vansevenant DVL-BEL @  7'26"
3)      Janeck Tombak   COF-EST @  10'51"
4)      Servais Knaven  QST-NED @  12'23"
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158)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @  3h33'05"

STAGE14

Stage fourteen softened up the peleton. The attacks started on the lower slopes of the Port de Pailheres. All the contenders responded immediately and formed the autobus.  Meanwhile T-Mobile, Armstrong, Basso, Jullich, Leipheimer, et al were dropped and left to fend for themselves at the wrong end of the race. But in the end, all the contenders stayed together and the podium remains unchanged while our local boy missed out on another 36 minutes of training. But today is an epic stage that all must survive to move on to Paris.

So the standings after stage 14:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 58h 49' 16"
2)      Johan Van Summeren      DVL-BEL @  6'19"
3)      Wim Vansevenant         DVL-BEL @  7'26"
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160)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h53'59"

STAGE 13

Normally flat stages don't shake up the standings. Breaks often get away from the pack, but generally they are occupied by racers that are not a threat to the overall. And today when Davitamon-Lotto team mates Wim Vansevenant and Johan Van Summeren took flight, we thought that the leaders would let them run but only give them enough leash to move into the top ten. At that point the riders just off the podium would be forced to take the reins and keep the break in check.

But today the leaders were slack in their responsibilities and the Vansomethingorothers started to build up a considerable lead. Eventually Brad McGee took chase followed by Thomas Voeckler and Dario Cioni but it was to little to late. McGee lost 5'29" while Voeckler was 4th on the day at 8'20". And the split peleton lost 10'46" to 11'09" depending on where a rider was located.

This attack shook the podium up as the Vanpolysyllabicbelgiannames shot into second and third in the overall. This was particularly tragic for the french as their best placed rider, Nicolas Jalabert, lost his podium position thus negating a fine Bastille day ride yesterday. But tomorrow brings more hopes as we return to the mountains. More importantly, Sunday's stage looks like a very good route for making a nice attack to grab some time from competitors although care must be taken to not overextend the time.

Standings after stage 13:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 52h 36' 43"
2)      Johan Van Summeren      DVL-BEL @  6'19"
3)      Wim Vansevenant         DVL-BEL @  7'26"
4)      Nicolas Jalabert        PHO-FRA @  9'42"
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161     Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h18'53"

*  Note: Lance Armstrong improved one place as Valverde admitted that he was out of reach of a podium under the control of Iker Flores, took his ball, and went home.

STAGE 12

Strong attacks yet again as we leave the Alps. And the strongest was by - get this - a Frenchman winning the day on Bastille Day!!!! That's right folks, making up for the french disaster occurring at the other end of the race (french riders led my Moncoutie taking three of the four last place spots), Nicolas Jalabert soloed in for an easy win. In fact, Jalabert the younger took 34'33" out of Moncoutie and an even 24 minutes out of the main field which contained our leader.

At a late stage in the race, several riders when out in pursuit of Jalabert including Servais Knaven. Knaven limited his loss to Jalabert to 17'58" thus taking back 6'02" on the overall.  All this action vaulted Jalabert onto the podium and moved Knaven up to "next in line" for greatness. With the Pyrenees coming up next weekend, the race appears to be heating up with the contenders at the fore.

1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 48h 49' 06"
2)      Nicolas Jalabert        PHO-FRA @   9'19"
3)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  10'28"
4)      Servais Knaven          QST-NED @  12'23"
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162)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h 18' 30"

STAGE 11

Much more action today as the riders used the effects of continued mountains to put the leaders under pressure. And the pressure was to great as several riders cracked. For example, Dario Frigo was given a pharmacists note not to start. And three riders including our second placed man, Jean-Patrick Nazon, dropped out. But the most impressive part was were our former DFL rider Jens Voight made such a strong attack that French, in a fit of anti-German sentiment, declared him hors delai and kicked him out of the race for being to strong.

In the mean time, a group of 54 riders, including Daniel Becke and Janeck Tombak, chased Voight (but not to strongly) while dropping Flores and Bessy. In the end they took 8'31" out of our leader (38'31" out of local boy Lance Armstrong and 39'46" out of Vino). Not enough to overtake the top of the podium, but enough to get into contention. In fact, if Nazon had stayed with this group instead of dropping out, he would be within 3 seconds of the lead! But it wasn't to be.

As a side note, Sebastien Joly was placed as high as third through stage 7. Today he finished 137th on the day and lost 23'15" to our leader. This effectively ends his chances at the podium this year.

Standings after Stage 11:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 44h 18' 27"
2)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  10'28"
3)      Daniel Becke            IBA-GER @  12'58"
4)      Rafael Nuritdinov       DOM-UZB @ 16'42"
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167)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @  2h 18' 30"

STAGE 10

Okay, it's a mountain stage. Nice up hill finish. You'd expect something to happen right? Wrong. 51 riders gathered together and took 38'11" out of Valverde and Armstrong. What's up with that? No one seemed to take the chance to grab any time.

So we search for some news...Yellow Jersey Jens Voight finished 67th on the day while limiting his time loss to 4'42". That improved his overall placing from DFL to 102nd. And Lance Armstrong went into the day placed 173rd and came out placed 173rd despite his time loses. And our fourth placed rider, Frederic Bessy missed the split in the peleton thus loosing over 4 minutes and gave up his "almost on the podium" spot to Daniel Becke. Not to exciting eh? So why did we bother with this stage?

Standings after Stage 10)
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 38h 59' 34"
2)      Jean-Patrick Nazon      A2R-FRA @  8'34"
3)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  18'59"
4)      Daniel Becke            IBA-GER @  21'29"
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173)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @ 1h 48' 30"

STAGE 9

Five quick withdrawals today reduced the filed to 175. Of course not everyone of the 175 is a contender. For example, local transplant Lance Armstrong improved to 173rd, but can we seriously call him a contender?

But what of today's honors? Daniel Becke put in a good attack out of the gruppetto, taking 6'40" from the bunch, to take the stage honors. He was chased by a group of 7 (six were Domina Vicanze riders and Laszlo Bodrogi!!!) that was able to keep him at 4'55". What a break that must have been to hold off a motivated team working with a former world TT champ. Meanwhile at the other end of the field, Michael Rasmussen lost 25'46" as he tumbled down the standings to 172nd while the autobus lost 19'42".

Today's finishing moves helped to propel two Domina riders, Nuritdinov and Vanotti, well up in the standings but they are still not podium material. And Daniel Becke climbed to 5th but still has some work to do if he wants the podium in Paris. But the big chance was caused by three of the first four riders (Zabriskie, Kirsipuu, and Pagliarini) abandoning the chase. I guess they felt that the pressure of catching Iker Flores was just to great. However, it was Flores that cracked on the day loosing 4'49" to the main peleton and 11'29" to Becke. So despite the abandons, not all the riders have given up the chase.

Standings after stage 9:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP 33h30'48"
2)      Jean-Patrick Nazon      A2R-FRA @   8'34"
3)      Janeck Tombak           COF-EST @  18'59"
4)      Frederic Bessy          COF-FRA @  20'18"
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175)    Jens Voight             CSC-GER @  1h12'25"

Tomorrow is a rest day so the standings won't change.

STAGE 8

When the first mountain stages occur, we expect big changes as the pretenders fall back and the contenders come to the fore. Big changes today and the mountains don't start until tomorrow! Today only had some cat 3 climbs early and a single cat 2 near the end*. Tomorrow starts the real climbing. But we had changes today in the standings none the less.

So what happened today? Hmmmmm, where to start? How about "Lance Armstrong improves his placing by five to 180th"? Yes, five more riders failed to reach the finish with Mengin and Honchar (some transliterations have it as Gonchar) DNS and three others DNFs.

What else? Hmmmm, last place for the first few stages, David Zabriskie, made some serious moves today. He was the best placed finisher on the day grabbing 51'12" from Pieter Weening and Andreas Kloden (plus Weening's 20" and Kloden's 12" time penalties), 2'08" from Pagliarini (remember Luxembourg a couple of years ago when he was in last place?), 5'07" from Flores, etc. In fact the last letter of the western alphabet took 25'27" from the autobus!!! This does not bode well for the big Zed as that much time on one stage typically indicates a problem that will keep him from reaching Paris. And if you can't reach Paris you cannot win.

So what of the overall standings? Well Iker Flores moves into first while yesterday's leader, Janeck Tombak, drops to 6th. But Flores is being chased hard by Zabriskie. Pagliarini and Kirsipuu are the only other riders remaining within 10 minutes of the leader. However based upon today's times, this observer is putting his money on 5th placed Jean-Patrick Nazon. Nazon is a proven contender that can stay within the time limits of the mountains while the 4 riders in front of him are showing signs of being booted before Paris. And after all, I could win the competition, but they couldn't afford to keep a race official around at the finishes long enough to find out how much I was winning by (thus the time limits). So here it is:

Standings after Stage 8:
1)      Iker Flores             EUS-ESP
2)      David Zabriskie         CSC-USA @ 41"
3)      Luciano Pagliarini      LIQ-BRA @ 5'06"
4)      Jaan Kirsipuu           CA-EST  @ 8'38"
5)      Jean-Patrick Nazon      A2R-FRA @ 13'23"
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180)    Lance Armstrong         DSC-USA @ 1h01'54"


* Two months ago in Italy, the Giro went over the Passo Del Diablo. That week, we were staying in the Hotel Fillipone in Gioia de Marsi at the foot of the Passo Del Diablo. The Passo is rated as a cat 2 although the Giro rankings are different than the tour (TIOOTYK) rankings. My best time up the pass was ~48 minutes. Of course that was straight out of the hotel parking lot with no warm up. With a warm up I might have been ~45:00 and in better shape, maybe the low 40s. The scheduled Giro stage had the Passo Del Diablo for 22 to 25 minutes. Ooftah!!! So much for dreams of hanging with the autobus.

STAGE 7

Well, the first semi hilly finish combined with a last minute attempt at redemption created havoc on the standings. The havoc can be seen in the daily standings where Jan Kirsipuu (all day contender for last place) was place 64th on the day with a 26'16" deficit while 63rd was Sylvain Chavanel with only a 24'38" deficit. And Christophe Mengin, who sat out the sprint for last place was 59th at 26'23" while Allan Davis was 53rd at 26'16" while the 54th rider, Stephane Auge, made up for his early breakaway by losing only 24'13".
Ah, but that's only the mix ups caused by the last kilometer crash. The top placers were well clear of the mess with Steve Zampieri taking a whopping 13'29" out of second place Sebastien Joly and 26'23" from stage loser Lorenzo Bernucci. So what does this do to our over all standings? Well, the done got shook up as well.

Our top spot is now held by Steve Zampieri with a solid 11'08" lead over 2nd place Janeck Tombak. And Sebastien Joly has vaulted into 3rd albeit with a 3" margin over the fourth place rider Iker Flores. So our standings after stage 6:

1) Steve Zampieri       PHO-SUI 18h30'11"
2)  Janeck Tombak       COF-EST @ 11'08"
3)  Sevastien Joly      CA-FRA  @ 15'41"
4)  Iker Flores EUS-ESP @ 15'44"
5)  Alessandro Vanotti DOM-ITA  @ 15'48"
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187) Lance Armstrong    DSC-USA @ 32'00"

STAGE 6

Well, the first semi hilly finish combined with a last minute attempt at redemption created havoc on the standings. The havoc can be seen in the daily standings where Jan Kirsipuu (all day contender for last place) was place 64th on the day with a 26'16" deficit while 63rd was Sylvain Chavanel with only a 24'38" deficit. And Christophe Mengin, who sat out the sprint for last place was 59th at 26'23" while Allan Davis was 53rd at 26'16" while the 54th rider, Stephane Auge, made up for his early breakaway by losing only 24'13".
Ah, but that's only the mix ups caused by the last kilometer crash. The top placers were well clear of the mess with Steve Zampieri taking a whopping 13'29" out of second place Sebastien Joly and 26'23" from stage loser Lorenzo Bernucci. So what does this do to our over all standings? Well, the done got shook up as well.

Our top spot is now held by Steve Zampieri with a solid 11'08" lead over 2nd place Janeck Tombak. And Sebastien Joly has vaulted into 3rd albeit with a 3" margin over the fourth place rider Iker Flores. So our standings after stage 6:

1) Steve Zampieri       PHO-SUI 18h30'11"
2)  Janeck Tombak       COF-EST @ 11'08"
3)  Sevastien Joly      CA-FRA  @ 15'41"
4)  Iker Flores EUS-ESP @ 15'44"
5)  Alessandro Vanotti DOM-ITA  @ 15'48"
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187) Lance Armstrong    DSC-USA @ 32'00"

STAGE 5

Today was a typical flat stage. Not much happened until the late attacks. Today the attack led to a successful break away by Janeck Tombak. Tombak jumped clear and was chased by a couple of others. But Tombak remained clear tot he end taking 1'10" from his closest pursuer, Wim Vansevenant, and 2'21" from the peleton. That was enough to move Tombak into first overall as the other contenders missed the move entirely.

And what of the last place rider Lance Armstrong? He improved his placing today as well. Oh, he did loose time by finishing in the same time as the peleton, but he did improve from 189th to 188th place. This was caused by our first abandon as Constantino Zaballa caved in to the pressure of chasing the fabled Lanterne Rouge.

Standings after Stage 5:
1)  Janeck Tombak       COF-EST 13h 58' 25"
2)  Iker Flores EUS-ESP @ 47"
3)  Alessandro Vanotti  DOM-ITA @ 51"
4)  Iker Camano EUS-ESP @ 57"
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188)    Lance Armstrong DSC-USA @ 13'13"

STAGE 4

As expected, the team time trial provided some shuffling of the overall standings. However, as the tour organizers have limited the time gains that can be made by riders finishing with their teams, the individual challengers have stepped up to find time within the rules. For example, the AG2R riders should have taken 17" out of Saunier Duval-Prodir and 5'23" from the Disco Channel. However, the rules limited the team to 5" from Saunier Duval and 3 minutes from the team formerly known as the team formerly known as Motorola (would they still be Motorola or would they be Freescale?).

But back to individual glory. If one finishes behind the team, one gets an individual time. This fact is so well known to our contenders. So well known in fact that our erstwhile last place rider, David Zabriskie, decided that his best tactic was to sit down and take a rest break about 1 mile from the finish. Unfortunately David doesn't have the ability to properly time his rest breaks. He got up much to early and rode in well in behind the placings he could have gotten if he had been calmer and more relaxed. But in honor of his attempt at glory, we will mention that he improved his placing from last to 180th. That's not much but 5% compounded daily . . . . .

But what of the real stage winners you ask? Well, let's bring up TTT power house Euskatel-Euskadi. They pulled a one-two with Iker Flores - Iker Camano double. Iker Flores (I guess it was a good day to be named Iker) grabbed a full 9'31" from the Disco boys while Camano got 9'29" from the dancers. Robert Flores was third on the day with Alessandro Vanotti in fourth. Some perannual favorites also tried for time today.  Bessy, Hinault, Auge...they were all grabbing for time. But the honors have to stay with the Basque team with a nice double shot at the podium. However, they must be careful as Vanotti holds the middle step within striking distance of the lead.

Standings after stage 4 (TTT)
1)      Iker Flores     EUS-ESP 10h 11' 14"
2)  Alessandro Vanotti  DOM-ITA @ 4"
3)      Iker Camano     EUS-ESP @ 10"
4)      Robert Forster  OST-GER @ 1'16"
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189     Wannabe Armstrong       DSC-USA @ 12'26

STAGE 3

As with yesterday's flat stage, today's stayed pretty much all together until the run in. At that time, a few riders took late flyers to attempt to garner a few seconds. The first to take flight was Contantino Zaballa who grabbed 1'38" from the hard charging peleton. He was chased in a fit of "to little, to late" by Michael Albasni (@ 1'14") and perennial favorite Sebastien Hinault (@ 1'18"). Hinault was able to move into third overall with his late attack while Zaballa jumped to second thus giving his team, Sauner Duval-Prodir, a potent 1-2 punch at the top of the standings.

Of course tomorrow's Team Time Trial will give the contenders a chance to distance the pretenders.  Such TTT power house's as Euskatel-Euskadi, Lampre, AG2R, and Sauner Duval should easily take time from wannabees like Discovery, Phonak, CSC, and T-Mobile. Of course the tour organizers have seen fit to limit the amount of time that a rider can gain in the TTT. For example, even if you drop off the back of your team and solo in within the time limit, you can only gain something like 7 minutes. This should prevent huge time gains although the riders must be careful to finish within the time limits or face elimination. However, we do expect some shake up in the standings tomorrow. If Sauner Duval-Prodir can put in a stellar effort, they could solidify the top two spots for several more days.

Standings after Stage 3:
1)  Leonardo Piepoli            SDV-ITA 8h 53' 11"
2)  Constantino Zaballa SVD-ITA @ 7"
3)  Sebastien Hinault           CA-FRA  @ 23"
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189) David Zabriskie            CSC-USA @ 4'40"

STAGE 2

As often happens on the flat early stages, nothing of importance occurs until the end. Today was no exception as the peleton mostly rode together with the exception of four inDUHviduals who were out front fighting for virtual last place on the road. But these riders came back into the fold and during the run in to the finish, three riders slipped off the back of the peleton to grab some one day glory and a few seconds on the bunch. The days' honors went to Wim Vansevenant followed his teammate Leon Van Bon of Davitamon-Lotto. That was a good move as the Davitamon-Lotto team nearly bracketed the field with Robbie McEwen finishing 3rd last on the stage. The Davitamon-Lotto boys were joined by Quickstep's Stefano Zanini who was obviously making up for the egregious error of his teammate Tom Boonen (last on the day). And were was our leader during all of this? He was carefully monitoring his overall position by finishing 6th on the day (3rd in the peleton).

The time gaps were smaller than yesterday with Vansevenant taking 47 seconds on the peleton - 8 seconds on Van Bon. Zanini held his loss to Vansevenant to 11 seconds. However, Zanini's time gap over the peleton (36 seconds) could prove decisive in the next few days as he vaulted from 27th to fourth. Zanini is now a mere 59 seconds behind Leonardo Piepoli. Leon Van Bon improved dramatically with this late move as he jumped from 92nd to 18th (@ 1'25" and overtaking pretender Iban Mayo). And stage winner Vansevenant jumped from 57th to 8th (@ 1'04")

So the standings after Stage 2:

1)  Leonardo Piepoli    SDV-ITA 4h17'02"
2)  Rafael Nuritdinov   DOM-UZB @ 50"
3)  Alessandro Vanotti  DOM-ITA @ 56"
4)  Stefano Zanini      QST-ITA @ 59"
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189)  David Zabriskie   CSC-USA @ 4'40"

STAGE 1

In recent years, the Tour (TIOOYK) has begun with a prologue time trial. This was originally done to circumvent a rule limiting the number of stages in a race. The Tour no longer has that issue but they maintained a tradition of a prologue. Not this year though.

After years of suffering with many pretenders being highly placed after the prologue, they extended today's time trial to a more difficult 19 km. Think 1989 for example when 1988's last place rider, Pedro Delgado won the prologue by starting over 2 minutes late only to slip away to 136th out of 138 finishers. In a longer time trial, perhaps he wouldn't have been placed so well. Thus we get the intended change to help separate the wheat from the chaff as soon as possible.

And today lived up to early expectations as many pretenders to the throne fell by the way side. David Zabriskie, Lance Armstrong, Alexandre Vinokourov, Floyd Landis, Jan Ullrich - all pushed way down the standings. Today's honors were taken by Leonardo Piepoli who rode a mere 44.68 km/hr while Zabriskie was loosing massive time at 54.67 km/hr. In fact, Piepoli lead at both time checks in order to not leave the issue in doubt.

Piepoli's nearest rivals Domina Vicanze teammates Rafael Nuritdinov and Alessandro Vanotti (leader of the young rider competition). Slotting into 4th is perennial contender Sebastian Hinault while 5th was Axel Merckx obviously trying to make up for the transgressions of his father.

We can expect some amount of shake up over the next few days as riders go out on the attack trying to take early time. However, these are often vain attempts at glory by riders that don't have the fortitude to make it to Paris. In fact, Piepoli's performance was so dominating that we have to wonder if he has the staying power to make it to Paris (although Piepoli is a bit of a climber). And as we know, only your position in Paris counts. So we don't expect see many contenders again until the mountains.


Standings
1)  Leonardo Piepoli    ITA-SDP 25'31"
2)  Rafael Nuritdinov   UZB-DOM @ 50"
3)  Alessandro Vanotti  ITA-DOM @ 56"
4)  Sebastian Hinault   FRA-CA  @ 1'03"
5)  Axel Merckx BEL-DVL @ 1'03"
6)  Karsten Kroon       NED-RAB @ 1'04"
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189) David Zabriskie    USA-CSC @ 4'40"

TTTTR - 11/6 & 11/7

This week's TTTTR aka B&TETA:

Saturday - pick one:
9:00, ACA ride in Lockhart
8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183

Sunday, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183. Fixed gear extravaganzafication if the predicted winds stay sub-10mph (right now they're predicted to be extremely light).
_________________________
Bill Reams

TTTTR - July 17th & 18th

Saturday, 8:00, ACA ride from Williams Elementary. It's the Creedmore Cruise route so be prepared for the 70 mile option.

Sunday, 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183 although the ACA ride is a good route also. If you have time, I'd suggest driving out to Elgin.

___________________
Bill Reams

Lanterne Rouge

Some special notes about the Lanterne Rouge....
Here are the winners from the last few years for the Lanterne Rouge (remember, the LR is the rider in last place on the Classment Generale. The Lanterne rouge is often rewarded with some of the largest appearance fees at the various post-tour criterium races.):

2003 Hans de Clerq with Lance Armstrong @ 4h48'35"
2002 Igor Flores with Lance Armstrong @ 3h35'52"
2001 Jimmy Casper with Lance Armstrong @ 3h52'17"
2000 Olivier Perraudeau with Lance Armstrong @ 3h46'37"
1999 Jacky Durand with Lance Armstrong @ ??? (I can't find the time gap)
1998 Damien Nazon with the late Marco Pantani @ 3h12'15"

The problem I see for Hans de Clerq defending his title is that I can't find him on the unofficial start lists. Maybe he'll be a late addition and get to come out and defend his title. But for now, we'll have to contend ourselves with Flores and Casper going for win number 2. But in stiff competition, one can never tell how strongly the competition will react. For instance, take this Tyler Hamilton post from 2002:
"My teammate Arvis Piziks is currently second to last in this year's Tour de France. As you may know, the "Lantern Rouge" is given to the rider who finishes dead last. Each year there a few guys duking it out to see who will claim this coveted honor. Arvis hasn't really given the Lantern much thought. Until today. As the race was finishing, there was quite a cross wind, so he decided to sit up a bit on his way in. When he did this, he realized Igor Flores, the rider currently in last place, was keeping a watchful eye on him. Igor wasn't leaving anything to chance and decided to hold up until Arvis passed him. I bet you didn't know there were competitions going on at both ends of the GC list. "

Of special note is Jacky Durand. As noted in his palmares, Jacky is one of the few riders to wear the ignominious yellow jersey (2 days in 1995) and to ultimately win the coveted Lanterne Rouge. I haven't had the time to go through the complete list of TdF riders, but I would be willing to bet that is a unique accomplishment.

So Saturday will be the first official Lanterne Rouge posting of the year. Let me know if you want to recieve daily spam or if you know some poor sole that wants in by sending me an e-mail. In the mean time, keep the rubber side down.

TTTTR - June 26th/27th

Saturday, 26 June, 8:04, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183.
Sunday, 27 June, 8:00, ACA ride in Liberty Hill.

Next weekend is a triple header. Prepare for tired legs and a pub crawl!!!
__________________
Bill Reams

The Pain Chronicle: Zaza's Gila

Yo dudes,
I only get to use the computer here for a short time, but I'll try to post Gila news as I can...

Day 3 - 77 mile Inner Loop RR
Gotta keep this short. Abbreviated library hours, my crit is later this morning.

I had dinner w/ Robbie and Alex Robinette the last two evenings. At the Spaghetti Western. We're eating so much food: we eat about 8 pm and it represents my third post-race meal of the day. With huge breakfasts one to two hours b/f the race.

Robbie is ripping it up in the two's. He was off the front of the 2's pack for 13 miles b/f the Mogollon climb on Thursday. There was a group of six up the road from him. He was solo. He held on for 16th on the day.
Then yesterday, after the first 2 climbs of the day he forced a 6-up breakaway across the Mimbres River Valley. They were caught by a chase group of about 30 near the top of the final climb. He said he was totally blown but he recovered some in the last 12 miles of rollers and got 7th in the sprint.
You've never seen anyone eat as much or as fast as Robbie. He is like the Bermuda Triangle for food. Keep your fingers away from his mouth.
Alex had an incredible day yesterday. She's racing in the Pro/1/2/3 field. She managed to stay w/ the leaders over the first two climbs which she had to dig way deep to do. This was an incredibly select group of the Mari Holdens and Amber Neben's of this world. None of her close competitors had made the group. Across the Mimbres Valley, unfortunately, they were caught by the chase w/ all her close rivals. She still had a good finish and described it the hardest day of racing in her whole life. She did look a little frazzled (but contented) at dinner.

When I got to the start yesterday, Bonnie Walker told me that it was snowing up at Pinos Altos. Oh boy. Sounds like great fun. I threw on extra layers and the whole group looked a little subdued as we rolled out in a 50 degree light sprinkle. It took most of an hour to get up to P.A. and by then the sun was out, and the clouds were gone. The air was cold, but there were very few remaining traces of snow. It was difficult to take this in as we went into gag mode over the Continental Divide just before P.A. I made the selection of 25 or so and hung on until the second time were a number of us were shelled. Unfortunately, my Columbian nemesis appeared to manage to stay in. George Heagerty and I hooked up at the bottom of the snaky balls-out descent to the Sapillo Creek. Nat Cobb (Albuq., N.M.) caught us and we tempo'd the 35 miles across the valley trying not to lose too much time but saving something for the final climb.
The final climb had a massive cold wind blowing straight down it. We passed wonderful Nancy Smalley doing feeds on the way up. After cresting the top of the big climb there is a series of LARGE rollers for the next 8 - 10 miles. You go by the largest copper strip mine that you will ever see. It appears to stretch for miles. I don't know how many stories deep it is.
Through the rollers we picked off a couple riders. There was a yellow spot up ahead. It turned out to be my Columbian friend. He hooked on and we motored on until he dropped off on the next roller. By the time we finished we picked up a few more riders and just about caught the group that we had wanted to catch up to at the start of the Mimbres Valley.
Heagerty and I were completely spent, and we hardly impressed anyone as we lost perhaps 30 minutes to the leaders, but I learned last year that you can't burn too many matches on any one day.
Later today is my crit and all I want to do is the minimal amount of riding it takes to limit my losses. If I can get a pack finish that would be great, but I'll probably lose a lap or two.

This may be my last race report. Library will be closed after my crit. It's not open tomorrow, right after tomorrow's final stage, I'll be on the road back to Austin. I plan on camping at Balmorhea State Park near Ft. Davis tomorrow night. The spring-fed pool there is like two Barton Springs pools joined together in an L shape. Swimming in that pool last year was probably the sweetest post-race feeling that I've ever had. But they say that there are catfish as big as a man at the bottom of that pool. If you don't hear from me again, one of them probably ate me. Too bad he won't find any meat on my old bones. LOL

Later,
zaza
Day 2 - 72 mile Mogollon RR
The news this morning mentioned the four 18-wheelers that crashed when they were blown over on I-40 near Albuquerque last night. We had big wind advisories today as we headed out due west towards the Mogollon climb (http://www.tourofthegila.com/pics/mapmogollon.gif). With winds projected out of the WSW it promised to be a tough gutter fest (assuming you didn't get blown over). You really DON'T want to arrive at the foot of the Mogollon in ragged condition.

But the gods blessed us today. Our 8 am rollout was before the winds picked up. I'm not always smart about bike racing but I know how to start out this stage. I stayed at the back, avoiding taking any unneccessary pedal strokes. As long as the wind stayed calm, the pack would stay together. If anyone got up the road there is nothing I could do about it anyway.

After only 30 miles George Heagerty (our former Regional Rep and a great competitor) flatted. I knew that he would have a really long day. The pack moves so fast through the first 60 miles that his chances of getting back on were slim at best.

Luckily, no signs of tendonitis but my legs felt flaccid nonetheless.

True to form, by mile 40 or so, as we got into large rollers, the pace became more aggressive. I'm glad I didn't rely on a feed in the feed zone b/c I would have been split off the back for sure. As the pace picked up I suffered more and finally, about 5 miles b/f the Mogollon turn I began to have difficulty keeping contact with the back. All this time the crosswinds were picking up and sure enough we were guttering to the right. But it had a tailwind component so it was tolerable.

Finally we made the right turn onto the small Mogollon Road. The pavement was rough as cobbles. The wind was a brutal cross from the right that put us all over the yellow as whatever freak who was at the front raised the pace to something inhuman. Several of us were struggling at the rear. The road kept undulating upwards. Finally I was shelled with three others including the Columbian I was duking it out with yesterday.

Everyone was to the left so I got them to move to the right and into an echeloned rotation. But the Columbian had no clue. My spanish sucks, particularly when I have no oxygen. I told him derecho (right), so he looked to the right. I tried to tell him to pull through but didn't have the words. Then I remembered that when Peggy has a spanish speaking woman in labor and delivery, she tells them 'empuje' (sp?) which means 'to push'. He finally got it about the third time I said it, and we happily (not really) rotated as we kept the lead pack within about 20 seconds.

The pack splintered up ahead as it turned steeper. We were now at 8-15% grades and working switchbacks. The wind was no longer much of a factor as the mountain rose on our right and the grades steepened. Two of us in the four-up began to close on a few that were shelled up ahead of us but the real race was out of site.

The miles of climbing wore on. I was having difficulty getting as motivated as I was at this point last year b/c I knew I was very, very far out of the top ten. But I know the climb now. It was nice to know what was coming up as we rounded bends. Except for maybe the cat 3 racer who was walking up the climb in the middle of the road, with no chain on his bike. Harsh Toke. True to form, the last mile was as steep as any of the previous. Hell, even the last 500 meters was as steep as the previous. I tried to catch and pass a few guys as I found that list bit of energy, but then I guess I didn't try that hard. I didn't go into gag mode until after the finish. The results aren't posted yet, but I think I was approximately 25th. Probably several minutes behind the leaders. I don't even want to know how many.

Within minutes after finishing the cold front blew through us and the temp dropped 10 degrees. This is what the Pro/1's and the 2's would face out on the main road before they even hit the climb. Starting one to two hours after us, and running a longer course, they would face a lot more wind.

I rode back down the mountain, passing the women's race on the way up. There were just a small handful with a large gap in front of a large pack. Alex Robinette was in the pack. Buttloads of T-Mobile riders, mostly sticking together.

Then I passed George Heagerty. At least 20 minutes behind me probably more. And not looking happy. Flats really suck in this race. I passed a handful of other 45+'ers as well. Brutal.

Down at the main road, I found dear, sweet, wonderful, Nancy Smalley (masseuse from Austin nancy_smalley at yahoo.com, 925-9114). I had made arrangements the evening before for her to have a pb&j sandwich or three for me. It was so, so damn good. I ate two. I could have eaten four. Jelly. You gotta love it. Superfood. Nancy was doing a great job feeding several racers earlier and then handling them after the race. Ask her about the Nickel Creek Cafe in the Guadalupe Mountains the next time you see her.

They're going to kick me off this machine in a minute so I'm tying up the rest quickly.

Steven Wazmund's mom made the best spaghetti dinner last night at the KOA. There were several other texans there and we vegg'ed out on American Flyers. The best chocolate marble cheesecake I've ever tasted but I only had a sliver and most racers weren't touching it in the middle of a mountain stage race.

The pro/1's had a brutal time trial yesterday afternoon. It just kept getting windier all day and they were the last to go. Finally, when they were half done, the front blew through and those who had not gotten over the last hill (including Jason Sager) had a wall of wind to contend with that brought them to a standstill. At least one pro/1 was actually blown off his bike.

All for now. Gotta recover.

zaza

Day 1 - 16 mile ITT
I woke up today with my tendonitis worse than before. On top of that my quads and hams, were totally tight and sore and sensitive. This is really not a good way to start a stage race. I'm not sure why my legs are so messed up. Perhaps it was the 2 hour hike that I took in the Guadalupe Mountains. I climbed halfway up Guadalupe Peak, and the walk back down is hard on the muscles.

So today was the time trial. 16.1 miles, out-and-back, beginning w/ 4+ miles uphill at 2-3%, then some up and down, then a turnaround, then 2 miles up at 4-8%, then a fast 4 mile descent.

W/ the tendonitis I started out easy. It was bothering me even during the warm-up. But I felt great on the climb (we always do when we're not pegging it, right?). Near the top my 30 second and 1 minute men caught me so I got fired up and kept them close to the turnaround and back until the 2 mile climb. I began to suffer alot on the climb and they slipped away, but I did manage to pass the Columbian who started 1 minute before me. Listen, it is very intimidating to be registering right after 2 Columbians for a mountain stage race, so I was relieved to catch him and his partner as well (who started 30 seconds before me).

The TT is extremely windy, with an amazing crosswind. It's not constant either. It gusts, particularly as you go through the passes. Last year I used a disk wheel and, this year I'm glad that I didn't use it. I was being blown around enough without it.

I hit the final 4 mile descent and really appreciated that 11-tooth that I had. I just wish that I had a 56 on the front as well. I was turning it over as fast as I could at 40-45 mph, down on the aerobars. And that was with a slight headwind component. The gusting cross does make it pretty nerve-wracking though. LOL

I finished up w/ a 45:48 which was a full minute faster than my time from last year. That was 26th in a field with about 50 people registered. But a full 4 minutes out of 1st place. I probably gave up 15 minutes per mile for the first 4 miles, but I think that minute will matter very little in the next 5 days. And it was worth it not to aggravate the tendonitis.

The best news is ---- the tendonitis is gone! No sign of it after the time trial, and my muscles feel much better. Peggy is always kidding me about how I tout bike riding/racing as the cure for everything from headaches to acne, but this is the second year in a row where my legs felt better after the time trial.

Tonite Steven Waremund's (sp?) mom is feeding all the Texans a pasta dinner at the KOA campground. She does this every year. I had dinner at Jalisco's last night with Bonnie Walker. And today who should I see but Dot Abbott! You may remember her as an official in the Dallas area. She's living in Seattle now, and has a real jones for good Mexican food, which you can't get up there.

I saw Robbie and Alex Robinette today. Robbie's doing the 2's, Alex is in the Women's Pro,1,2. Also saw ALex Williamson who is doing the 2's for the first time. The winner of my 45+ race last year (Miro) is doing the 2's this year as well. He said it's b/c he doesn't want the pressure of trying to repeat two years in a row.

I'm amazed how many 45+ racers returned from last year. Lindsey Blount and his team are back to see if he can claim the 1st place that he narrowly missed (I will relate that story when I have more time). Paul Wolfe, who won the TT last year did not return, but there's a new guy who won the TT and they say he can climb.

I just had the greatest brown rice & chicken burrito at Messiah's. These guys kick @$$. They are the best race food. I think about food alot here. After trying to keep my weight down for the past several months I am now much more concerned about getting enough nutrition and so I'm eating about as much as I want of healthy food (plus a little unhealthy as well).

Tomorrow the real pain begins with the 71 mile race up to the top of the Mogollon. The first 60 miles were not demanding last year, but it's supposed to be a cross head tomorrow which will put us all in the gutter. The final 10 miles are the hardest climb of the week, so I don't want to be too shredded when I get to the base. We'll see. LOL

I'm almost out of time on this computer so I'll sign off.

zaza

TTTTR for Saturday, April 16th (etc....)

This Saturday (April 17) and Sunday (April 18), 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183.

24 April, 8:00, ACA ride in Liberty Hill
25 April, 8:00, Bagels again.

1 May, ACA Creedmore Cruise, 8:00
2 May, 8:00, Sunday morning Bagels.

8 May, Armadillo Hill Country Classic century in Liberty Hill
9 May, 8:00, a recovery ride from Einstein's.
_________
Bill Reams

TTTTR - 3/27 & 3/28

Saturday, 8:30, Rosedale Ride. Online registration is closed, but you can register at Rosedale School Friday night or at the ride start (Samsung) between 6:30 and 8:30 in the morning. Hope you all have entered. Ride over to the start for extra miles.

Sunday, 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183. Recovery ride after a long, hard Saturday.

TTTTR - 3/20 & 3/21

Upcoming TTTTR aka B&TETA:

Saturday, 20 March, 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183.
Sunday, 21 March, 9:00, ACA ride from Williams Elementary (south Austin Safari route).

Saturday, 27 March. 8:30. THE ROSEDALE RIDE. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE. Register even if you're going to be somewhere else.
Sunday, 28 March, 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183.
_______________
Bill Reams

TTTTR - 3/13 & 3/14

3/13 Saturday, I'll be riding from Einstein's Bagels at Braker & 183 at 8:00. That's despite the ACA ride being a good course (Bastrop) especially if you do the double park option. But Bastrop doesn't fit into my afternoon kid duty schedule. Maybe others will head to Bastrop? Or Hellweek?
3/14 Sunday, ACA ride from Leander.

Next weekend is looking like bagels on Saturday and ACA on Sunday. More details later. Of course, the 27th is the Rosedale ride. I hope everyone is registered (even if you'll be off racing that day).
_______________
Bill Reams

TTTTR - 3/6 & 3/7

This week's TTTTR aka B&TETA:
Saturday, 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183.
Sunday, 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183.

Looks like next week we'll be able to break out of the mold and do some ACA rides. Of course you're welcome to do that this week - if you want to drive to Leakey. Or you could do the 8 AM Sunday at Freewheeling ride with Dave.
___________________
Bill Reams

TTTTR

Upcoming TTTTR aka B&TETA for those not racing or attending Hell week or what not:

Saturday 2/28 and Sunday 2/29, 8:00, Einstein's Bagels, Braker & 183.

Next weekend, ditto.

The weekend after that looks like some good ACA rides. Also, don't forget to sign up for
the Rosedale ride.