Back At It

About nine months, after my close encounter with the pavement and subsequent humbling butt kicking I received at the hands of my native friends in Panama, I reached the conclusion that my "racing" days were coming to an end. Not that I ever took the sport serious enough, after all, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a hobby. I never hung by the telephone expecting the bosses of Banesto or Saeco to call me to join their ranks. But my good friend Dani Meaurio FINALLY moved to cat4 and we talked of doing a few races together, just for fun.

So I entered Murad and Poolsville without the approval of the better half, but knowing full well, that racing with Dani is just an experience. It's not only the race itself, but the drive to and from, talking about how bad each other feels while navigating the back end of the pack, cracking jokes (mostly in spanish) and just having a grand time.

We got to Murad and the first order of business was to make sure Dani's upgrade was taking care of. A brief talk with the officials and he was pinning his number. Off we went for a warmup and then lined up with the rest of the pack. Murad is not a very difficult course, but the heat was an obstacle as well as the very few spots were one could move up, especially if you were riding in the caboose, like I was.

Aside from a few attempts of guys trying to break, the race stayed together, although I did see plenty of folks exit through the back door, because either the heat or pace. The crash on the last lap elevated my heart rate to uncomfortable levels after missing it by about an inch, and the subsequent quick, but well performed chase got me back to the tail end of the pack with enough time to recover. As the final approached, Dani moved me up towards the front as best as he could but it was a messy last kilometer and I'm getting up there in years to be mixing it for a $15 payout (it's a hobby, not a job).

I walked away knowing that I still can ride a little fast here and there, but most importantly, we had the usual good time. Now Poolsville is in two weeks, and I'm sure we are going to be jamming to AC/DC as we prepare for another fun day at the races.

80s time

This is what I like, all things 80s. 80s music and the big hair, bad fashion, and total craziness of the decade. I also like the days when the temperature is in the 80s range. Muscles seem to just come to life after spending 5 months in frigid temperatures, trying, in vain most of the time, to muster some sort of function. After struggling in all of the local rides, I finally broke a good sweat, dished out about 4 layers of clothing and got down to working on a tan. Because of the 80s (temps), things have turned around and I can now say that I'm not the first one getting dropped. Mind you, I still visit the rear of whatever bunch I'm in, but it takes a while now to get there.

No time to panic, just yet.

Ridicolous, that's right, ridicolous was the amount of food I consumed last week while in the Lone Star state. We hit a place called "Salt Lick" near Austin and I think that was the closest I have gotten to heaven. The All You Can Eat feast was a non stop delivery of beans, potatoe salad, cole slaw, ribs, brisket, sausage and bread. You have to bring your beverages (of the alcoholic type), but that was no problem, since the cooler in the trunk of the car had a healthy supply of Shiner Bocks. That's not to mention the silly plates of lasagna, unknown number of burgers and a good dose of cheescake that my future mother in-law kept providing me with. And who am I to say no to such demonstration of love.

Upon return this past Sunday, I seemed to have also grabbed a sore throat somewhere between Houston's Hobby airport and Reagan National with a layover in Atlanta. I'm trying to not think too much about it, but for the last 48 hours when the alarm clock goes off in the morning and I want to get up to do a ride before work, the sore throat kept me grounded and under the blankets.

As Ryder Hesdejal would say, "no big deal or NBD" (using carbon wheels on training rides), my lack of form and high desire of a good meal hasn't sparked the alarm bells just yet. After all, Mark Cavendish had a rough time over the winter and beginning of the season and it took him until today to score his first win at Catalunya. And speaking of that vuelta, Andy Schleck had to pull out, continuing his streak of whatever it is he has (knee, stomach, lack of form, etc.). The younger of the Schlecks continues to have a positive attitude about it though.

The 7th Vuelta Masters a Chiriqui unveiled the route for this year's affair and it looks harder than last year's edition. Things get started on July 28th with the presentation, followed by a double whammy on the 29th. A 5km prologue in the morning and then a 92km stint to the border with Costa Rica. In 2009, the double presented its challenge in the form of the weather. Extremely hot in the morning prologue, and later in the afternoon, the opening of the sky, with rain showers of biblical proportions. The fun will continue on July 30th, with a mountain stage, although it seems they have taken out the last 7kms and that's fine by me since that's where I got dropped a year ago. Saturday, July 31st I will not be looking forward to, with a 25km ITT. I can't time trial worth a damn, but what the heck. And finally, Sunday, August 1st, a 62kms circuit race.

I still have a few months to get some sort of form and as long as I don't let it get to my head, I'm counting on things going my way. Using Andy's way of thinking, it's not time to panic, at least, not yet.

Forgettable February

Spring can't arrive any sooner. After spending a normal amount of days on the bike for me as far as January is concerned, the same can not be said about February. The snow storm (s), cold temps and wind were enough ingredients to keep him indoors for most of the months. Only last weekend was I able to do some riding, and it hurt so much that this past Monday, while at work, the top of my body was heading in one direction, while my legs were going the opposite way.

Inconsistent riding is the trend so far and it seems like it will continue that way until probably late March because a family vacation is fast approaching. This can only mean that instead of shutting things down in early August as it's customary, maybe this could be a blessing in disguise, that's what I'm telling myself.

The end is near

January 28th was the last time I touched the bike until this past Friday. All the freaking snow we got halted the slow progress I was making into finding some sort of form and rhythm into my riding routine. But as the sun peaked through the clouds and the calls from Jose to "get on the bike", I finally made it to Hains Point, driving of course, since the trail is not rideable and will remain that way for the forseable future. Short story is that the legs and lungs took a vacation and weren't to happy about getting forced to work extra.

Wanting to continue the trend, I ventured out to the 10AM clock ride on Saturday, which turned out to be fun despite the melting snow, but it hurt towards the end. And today was the 8:30am on the pain menu. Mentally I tend to throw in the towl quicker than I should, but there's no reason to dig deep right now, when the tank is on empty and hurting myself will not do much good (at the moment). So I settled into a comfortable pace after not helping (not that I didn't want to help, the legs were just not responding) Dani close the gap on the group even though there were within reach. After regrouping, I was feeling a little better, but the only thoughts then were about lunch and again, the Meaurio's were kind enough to feed me, which is always great because of the food and the company.

Over on the pro scene, things are finally going with the "desert race" over and done and some of the old hands are at it again (McEwen, Petacchi). And some young whippersnappers are getting into the grove of things. Team SKY had a bit of a "fight" in their hands in Oman and the season gets under way proper this Sunday in Belgium. Wind, snow, and cold-miserable temperatures. The peloton will have to deal it with mother nature's fury for a while, but winter will soon be over.

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.

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.