So for those of you who aren’t following me on Twitter, I’m currently in western North Carolina, getting in some riding and destroying my car on the very mountain roads that allegedly make this place so nice to ride in. Unfortunately, the infrastructure I need to produce things on this blog have been hard to…
Politics Between The Races
Kind of a strange little hiatus, here. Two biggish races and then a little gap before the ProTour gets rolling at Paris-Nice. True, Lance is racing again, but I don’t find the early season warm-up all that compelling—certainly not when I can spend my time sussing out the various mind games at work. It’s probably…
Is It Time To Update The Opening Weekend?
The 2010 season’s opening weekend has come and gone, and its traditionally tough races did not disappoint. Juan-Antonio Flecha finally got his first classic win at Het Nieuwsblad—though a glance over his shoulder just before his winning salute might have been a coy reference to that race he should have won. The next day, KBK…
QuickStep vs. Lotto – A Classic Rivalry
This weekend’s races at Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne mark the beginning of the classics season in professional cycling. It also marks the renewal of the sport’s best rivalry, between QuickStep and Omega Pharma-Lotto. But what’s that? You’d like to know some of the backstory behind this grudge match? Well, have I got a chart for…
Contador's Opening Salvo
Today, Alberto Contador broke away to win the mountainous third stage of what is turning into a particularly miserable Volta ao Algarve. In 2004, Armstrong issued a similarly strong statement in the Algarve TT. When asked about it in an interview with The Times of London, Armstrong said: I was thinking what would I do…
Drama in the Desert with Boasson-Hagen's Bladder
Whew! A day of rich drama and intrigue such as seldom graces the cycling world in February—and remarkably, most of it is due to racing. It all started at the Tour of Oman, which was introduced to the peloton’s pre-season swing through the Persian Gulf presumably to counterbalance the relentless flatness of last week’s Tour…
Out of Your Element
There’s nothing like like watching endurance sports covered by a glorified electric company to remind one how miserably people tend to perform when placed outside their sphere of expertise. Like a French judge ruling on cybercrime, for example. Judicial officials are already notoriously ignorant on matters of technology, and I sincerely doubt that having a…
There's Drama in The Air
You know what I think it is? I think it’s the lack of top-flight competition. It’s not that Etoile de Besseges, Trofeo Mallorca or Tour of Qatar don’t feature some of the best riders in the world—Bozic isn’t exactly a flat iron, after all—it’s that too many of them are holding back in an effort…
The Rookie
The American cycling fan has but one dream. It can be roughly summed up by the plot of the 2002 film The Rookie—reaching the pro ranks in middle age by finally getting a chance to develop your long-neglected (or in most cases, completely hidden) talent. And in case you’ve been stuck at the back of…
Ten Exclamation Points Ain't What It Used To Be
I think I like the difficult ‘cross races best. They reward unflappability and positive mental attitude—good news for Zdenek Stybar, bad news for Jon Page, ten-exclamation-point tweet aside. And is there ever a bad day for Marianne Vos? Mountain Bikers and BMXers should count themselves lucky she doesn’t feel compelled to add some more rainbow…