Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Hurting, just a little

Seems like the phrase to throw around is, "I'm in better shape than I was at this time last year." I can honestly say that I'm not, but that's no big surprise. Unlike Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), who's a bit worried after taking the winter seriously and his form is, you guessed it, better than it was at this time last year ("I am consequently a little afraid that the form could arrive too early. Therefore, I will make sure to rest"), my main concern at the moment is not to hurt too much. So far I haven't spent any quality time in the hurt box, since I tend to pull the plug these days as soon as the speed reaches 25mph.

Today I ventured to the Italian Store ride and found a couple of frisky riders to go out with. Small group of about 10 of us, who kept an interesting pace throughout the duration of the festivities. Nothing big to report other than I wasn't the first one to get dropped and even surprised myself that I hung in there. I find hills to be better (for me) than Hains Point. Once the "inmortals" get cranking at the noon ride, I don't stand a chance, even if I was in shape. But Thursday I will return to Hains to try and hang for four laps (last week's record was three) before having to make an appearance in the hurt box. Like Phillipe, I don't want my form to arrive too early.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Cold fashion

Since the temperature refuses to climb, it's another day of football, food and fun at home. The supreme leader is visiting a museum with a friend, so I had some time to scan the interent and found a couple of more team kits to review.

BMC's new attire is rather blend for my taste. They went from the predominaly black and white setup, to the red and black. Easy to spot I guess, but not much bang if you ask me.

A further search located the Futton-Servetto team colors. In my humble opinion, there's not much to say to the "artist" (Dario Urzay) other than, "that's art, huh". Those poor souls will have to wear that for an entire season, I can't wait to see the cars and buses.

Looks like Quick Step is going a little old school with the black shorts and that's cool, but they took a page from the Astana book and decided not to match their bike colors with the jersey colors. A no-no if you were to ask me.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

A week's review

Last Sunday I was at work looking at the weather forecast for the week. Since I was off but one day of said week, I was planning on getting a hefty amount of miles in the legs, but the thought quickly started to melt as the aforementioned forecast was looking to be in the "artic zone". One of my co-workers asked me if I was going to ride, and then I made up mind, "f#$% it, I will go out no matter what the weather is". Soon after I fired an email to my friend Dave in Texas, who was also not happy about temperatures the Lone Star State was about to embrace. I said, "if I ride Monday, then I'll ride Tuesday, and if I ride Tuesday, then I'll ride Thur and Fri"...that was it, I was in for the long haul...Monday and Tuesday came and went I was out there, getting dropped at Hains Point after only one lap of the noon ride. Wed I worked so no problem, Thursday I was back at the point, this time going a full three laps with the group. Then the snow came Thursday night and so did the National Championships and a late night watching Texas vs. Alabama and the consumption of several pictures of Shiner Bock and chicken wings, had me thinking otherwise about getting on the bike on Friday morning. No ride, but Dani managed to put the new fork on the spare bike, so some cycling was accomplished.
So far this morning (Saturday), I got up with the best intentions of riding, but soon I started to listen to the voice in my head telling me "it's too cold to ride"...the day is not over yet.

Switching topics for a bit, I tend to follow the pro scene here and there, and considering myself somewhat of a cycling fashionista, I couldn't help but vomit a little bit when I saw this. Come on, the kit color combination is just horrendous, but matching it to a red and black bike, someone in Kazakhstan is missing a sense of humor.
From the "don't drink the Kool-Aid your president is serving" department comes news that diminutive Venezuelan climber, Jose Rujano, is for real this time. I remember the same line when he broke his contract with Selle-Italia to join Quick Step (bad move), then when Caisse d'Espagne picked him up for almost nothing. So three strikes and you are out??...maybe, but he needs to stop visiting Hugo Chavez's Palacio de Miraflores and concentrate on riding and not talking.
Rabobank's Pedro Horrillo called it quits after riding 12 seasons and having survived a crash that put him in a coma during last year's Giro. Now he will dedicate his time to his family and writing.

As the pros are heading to the warmth of Southern Spain, South Africa or Autralia to get the tan lines going, the local bunch is bundling up and facing a pretty cold weekend. Nonetheless, as Jose explained to me this morning, "it's not that cold", that sounds just like when you hear,"we'll go easy". Maybe I'll go to Hains later and do a few laps, then again, I think the supreme leader may make some chili.