FRESH 1-3

We have joked since we got to Panama that we would go better than Team SKY...they went 1-2 in the Tour and we came up with the phrase, "FRESH 1,2,3". But if you are around cyclists long enough, you know we are a very pessimistic bunch. Something is always hurting us, we haven't trained enough, slept well, ate right, etc. So when Glenn took off, during today's prologue, none of us were expecting fireworks. Things started a bit wrong for me when we discovered my front wheel had a wire in it and a subsequent flat, all before the state, thankfully. Dad made a change of wheels from the spares we carried and a short warm up followed, when I found the shifting on my bike a bit iffy and not up to standards. Again, dad kept his cool (and mine) and before long the bike was tip-top. After Glenn, Kerry was next and if Glenn was looking mean, Kerry was downright scary. I was up next, and was treating this as any other time trial, a short, violent effort that I rather not do, but it's part of the race, so be it, get it over with. And closing the FRESH Racing Team lineup was Dave, who without any special wheels or time trial bars, posted a very respectable time. As we came in after the short 3km effort, we started to exchange stories. It went something like, "I sucked", "I was going backwards", "the hill kicked my ass", etc. As we were gathering around the team van, dad comes running and announced that Glenn had posted the fastest time in our category. Nothing was official, and since we were so negative about our rides, we wanted the official word, so we made our way back to the start area and waited. And waited and then waited some more until the chief ref said, "Winner of the Executive B category, Glenn Terrel, USA"...the high fives were flying when he said, "in third place, Manny Samaniego, USA"...we all went, "WTF was that?". We went 1-3, two podium places and the yellow jersey. Not a bad morning for a bunch of complainers. After about three hours, the award ceremony took place (in front of McDs) and Glenn was presented the yellow jersey, along with a medal. Since he won the stage, he was also supposed to get a white jersey, but that was handed to the second place rider, from Costa Rica. I got my medal for third and spirits were high for the afternoon stage. The second road stage was in the afternoon and the mercury had risen to 100+ or "hot as shit". After a neutral roll out, we were sent off to a 54 mile jaunt around the country side. At first, the local teams were showing off with some wacky attacking tactics and Kerry, Glenn and I were just keeping a close eye on the rider in second place. Dave was in the C category doing his solo thing. Attacks came and went and nothing was sticking, so we settled into a easy pace and rolled for most of the stage. At about mile 48, on a patch of road that had craters, not potholes, the first crash happened. Two colombian riders went into the ditch. Soon after, another collision took place and someone yelled, "Yellow is down". Most of the riders started to call for a truce, but two knuckleheads decided it was a good time for an attack. Not knowing how Glenn was, the rider in second place rode up to Kerry and told him to get on his wheel because at that point all hell was breaking loose. I finally caught back to the group and went straight to the front, where the two attackers were getting an earful from everyone, so I joined the party and told them in very colorful spanish, that I was none to happy with their shannanigans. Finally, coolers heads prevailed and the pace went down, which allowed me to make my way to the back to find Glenn in good spirits and riding, although a little bloody from the road rash. As soon as the word got around that the yellow jersey was back in the pack, the hostilities resumed and the pack lined up for the finish, which was not well marked at all, and at the time of this post, we presume the rider in second place on the GC took the stage and both intermediate sprints, which technically should put him in yellow tomorrow. Dave had a close encounter with a "crater" and had a dual punctures, which caused him to have to change both wheels and then set off in hot pursuit of his peloton, which he managed to join again, but the effort took most of his energy. Tomorrow we are facing another 56 mile road stage, but the climbs will start to show their ugly face during the course. Although Glenn is feeling a little stiff at the moment, we are in good position on the GC and will keep an eye on the action and save as much of our powder for Friday's fireworks, which will take the pack high into the Panamanian mountains. By the way, Kerry's spanish is on the up!!! Ciao!!!

Opening Ceremony

The plan for today was an hour ride around Boquete, then a little walk around town to kill some time, lunch and then drive to David City for the opening ceremony, technical meeting and team presentation. One thing you have to have in trips like this is flexibility, because whatever plan or schedule you have or want to keep usually has to be rearrange more than once. So with a 7:30am departure time for our ride, the alarms were set for 6:45a...at 6:46a, the sky made it known that if we wanted to ride, it was going to be a wet ride. Change of plan #1...stay in bed a little later and wait to see if the rain stops. It did, for a little bit and then it came down hard. Change of plan#2...the little walk that was planned, became a longer walk, with rain, of course. Did some shopping with the guys and then picked two pizzas that dad had ordered for lunch. We headed down to David City for the opening ceremony, but not before making a little stop for a little more shopping. If you can not ride, you might as well eat, or shop...and we can do both pretty good. The schedule of events is approximate, to say the least. Everything was supposed to start at 5p, local time, but it was 6:30p and people were still making their way into the Hotel Ciudad David, the headquarters of the race. Finally things got underway with a presentation of the organizing team, sponsors and the referee in charge. Followed by a prayer, riders swearing (promised to race clean!!!), and then the technical meeting, where all the aspects of the race were discussed by the chief referee. Once all the formalities were out of the way, each team was then called to the stage where the announcer introduced each team, its members and country. Seems like they haven't updated my information from two years ago, because the "American Team, came all the way from the captial of the United States, Washington DC"...I'm not making this up, but as each of us got on the stage, we got the largest ovation of any team. we were blinded by cameras and at one point I felt we might be in need of a bodyguard, since it felt a little rock starish. Teams and riders from Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, USA (FRESH Racing), Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina and the locals from Panama will take to the roads tomorrow, beginning with a 3km prologue in the morning followed by a 80km stage in the afternoon. With the threat of rain always present, we will not be surprised if our best laid plans, will need a little adjusting. Off to bed!!!

Vuelta Masters a Chiriqui 2012

Last year Dave asked me if I was coming to Panama to race the Vuelta Masters a Chiriqui. "If you want to go, we'll go" I said, and the ball got rolling from there. Kerry asked Dave and later Glenn showed interest and next thing I knew, the four of us were planning a trip to the race. Since we knew almost 8 months out that we were coming, we began getting all the logistics taken care (flights, hotels, transportation) and of course, getting my dad onboard only took about a nano second. Time flew by and before we knew it, three of us landed in Panama City from Atlanta while one made the trip direct from Dallas. The first day in country was spent making the required trip to the Panama Canal and then, making the long drive from Panama City to Boquete, a good 8 hour car (van) trip. Upon arrival at my parents, the bikes were put together and we were ready to tackle part of the mountain stage to see what the roads and hills looked like. This year, in its 9th edition, the Vuelta Masters a Chiriqui will do 6 stages, with a prologue, two flat stages, a mountain stage, a ITT and a circuit race. Categories are age based. 30-39 years old will race in the A category, 40-49 in the Bs, 50-59 Cs and the youngesters, 60 & up will form the Ds. There's also an "Excutive" class, which is where three of us will race. Dave will show the team colors in the C category. Early Monday morning, we were up and greeted to a dark sky. The rain and wind had picked up overnight and the mood was a bit somber. We drove down and unloaded the bikes to cover the last 1/3 of Friday's mountain stage. In 15 miles, we climbed 1,800 feet, under a pesky rain, some strong cross wind and unusual to this part of the world, dropping temperatures. The guys all thought the climb (s) were hard enough and the downhills, even with the rain, managable. After the ride, of course, the sky became blue and the temperature rose nicely. The rest of the day we spent exploring the town of Boquete and eating, which, so far, we have done plenty of thanks to my mom's care. A short ride is planned for tomorrow (weather permitting), and then we'll go down to David City to the event's presentation, where we'll get our numbers, race bible and more importantly, to scope out the competition.

Observations

After watching the final stage of the Tour of California, a few observations: #1. If you podium on a race, don't bring your kid (s) with you to the presentation, period. #2. NBC Sports needs to stop dumb-ifying the sport for the none cycling fan. It doesn't matter how much you water it down ("Pro Continental is like a 2A team".), it just sounds stupid to a bicycle racing aficionado. #3. Peter Sagan. Enough said! #4. The future of american cycling is secure with a fresh crop of new, young talent. (i.e. Van Garderen, Talinsky, Dombrowski, to name a few) And the first of the Grand Tours is shaping out to be quite the battle. After today's first "big" day in the mountains, everyone is pointing the finger at Ryder Hesdejal to take the final pink jersey home. Joaquim Rodriguez is riding with inspiration and bravado, but unlike everyone else, he hasn't had the usual "bad day" most riders have in 3 weeks tour and the pending ITT could be the breaking point for the Katusha leader. After all, 32 seconds lead ahead of Hesdejal is not a comforting distance, and the Canadian is well within striking distance. Yet, he (Ryder) plays it cool, avoiding any pressure saying that he's taking it "day by day". Basso and Scarponi together with Pozzovivo will probably go nuts on the next two mountain stages, trying to drop each other and everyone else, especially Hesdejal, hoping to build a lead that will help them during the time trial. But only the road will tell.

Giro & Cali and some tidbits

I have to name the Giro d'Italia as my favorite race of the entire year. The race is deep in history but the atmosphere that takes over the entire country in May for three weeks is just contagious, in a very positive way. Heck, my italian has grown over the last few years by just following the race via the Gazzetta dello Sport website. It helps that I'm also taking italian on Rossetta Stone, so May is a fun month to watch racing in Italy. And so far, the race has taken a very international flavor, not only with its depart in Denmark, but with the diversity of winners and pink jersey wearers. Good to see Ryder Hesdejal in pink for 3 days. The world champ is also in the mix by getting a stage win or two to add to his tally, and the italians are making sure the fun never stops, by adding some aggressive attacking in each of the stages thus far. "Purito" Rodriguez grabbed the jersey in stunning fashion and believes that he can take it all the way to the end. His team director is not that convinced, since the spaniard is known for dropping the anchor on the big climbs and has a known allergy to individual time trials. We shall see. On this side of the Atlantic, the Tour of California is also taken place. "The Sagan Show" as it should be named, has had hills from day one, something better for the fan if you ask me. Those short prologue during starting a stage race is rather boring. The organizers have gotten it right I think, and the weather has helped too. But the young Liquigas-Cannondale phenom has shown his class in each of the first three days, by riding his bike with such panache. Nevermind he's a bit dry during his post win interviews, the show he (and his teamamtes) puts while on the road makes up for his lack of charisma, if you may. And on the "WTF" column, this little gem. First the director sportif calls him "an idiot", only to turn around later and offer the full team support to the rider. What can I say?. The shoot now and ask questions later attitude that has clouded the sport, continues with poor reporting on the french leading sport's newspaper, a quick pull of the trigger on the part of team management and a rider's career hangs on the line. Just another day in the circus. ciao!

Coldspring RR and Giro

This has to be my favorite finish for a road race. Coldsprings offers a nice, rolling, 16 mile loop, with a tough uphill finish, so once the move back to Texas was completed last September, I quickly marked it on the calendar of races as a MUST!!. Up until last Saturday, the training has gone according to plan. In Fayeteville, the effects of a week in Cancun showed that drinking and eating, then traveling straight to the race after 4 days of laying by the beach is not good preparation. Then at Beauty and The Beast, I could sense that things were starting to turn. But once I started to do the Gruppo VOP ride in Austin on Saturdays, my form just took off. So not wanting to push things as in previous years, I devised this plan to include two hard rides during the week, but plenty, and I mean, plenty of easy riding in between. Never was I a fan of one hour long rides, I couldn't be bothered, but now, after getting some good feelings and getting to the weekend rested as opposed as trashed from too much riding during the week, the chances at Coldpsring looked promising. The only other time I did the race was in 2006, when I finished 3rd...with that in mind and knowing that the form was there, I told myself 3er or better this time, and to hug the yellow line as much as possible, especially on the approach to the finish. At a few minutes after 8am, the Masters 35+ 4/5 took off and my teammates Glenn and Danny were joining in the festivities. Totally against my style of racing (tail gunner), I spent the first lap of the race no farther than 5 positions from the front. The pace wasn't hot and it wasn't until someone went down somewhere in the middle of the second lap, that things started to pick up. As is customary with me, I went straight to the back of the group, but was finding it easy to move back to the front, thanks to wide roads and the undulations allowed me to carry momentum at will. When we hit the last lap, a two man break formed and those two guys worked very well together...Glenn came by and asked if they would stay away. Shaken my head to indicate, no!!, I was sure that their short lead was going to be closed down by the main bunch as we got near the finish. But they kept a relentless and steady pace, while at the back the bunch became unorganized, or the chase was properly disrupted. Danny put on a ton of effort, together with a couple of other guys, to close the gap, but there was a team from Houston always getting in and slowing things down. At the front, the two escapees just kept their heads down while at the back we were already thinking about racing for third. Over the bridge we went and I was towards the back of the then diminished pack, safely inside but close to the yellow line, as my plan was. Confusion sat in with where the 200m mark was, but I knew that once the front sped up, the middle of the road would open up, and it did...I began to accelerate about 300 meters out, sticking to the yellow line, and passing riders...I glanced up and the two breakways were taking the two top spots, but two other guys were fighting for the last podium spot...I was now in full afterburner mode and closing fast on the next two riders, but one of them looked back and kicked again. So 4th it was...not the goal I had set, but not a bad result either. Glenn and Danny were not that far behind, coming in 6th and 7th. Meanwhile, over in Denmark, the Giro is now on its way to the motherland. Good for Phinney to take the lead on Saturday and for battling two crashes on the next two stages. Ferrari's attitude and mouth didn't win him any friends today, but in pro cycling, people like him find the hard way not to mess or risk other riders chances, especially, when you are marked as the guy who took down the current World Champ. His manager, the cagey, Giani Savio went into damage control as soon as his rider had crossed the line. A great tactician but even better politician, Savio's PR move would hopefully sooth any hard feelings, and the up coming day off should help his cause.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Who could have predicted that one?. I sure as heck didn't have Astana's Maxim Iglisnkiy on my list of favorites, although the Kazakh rider is known for putting on some strong rides. Instead, it was left to the usual suspects to battle it out for the top podium spots. And my guess here is that the weather wrecked havoc amongst the peloton, because most of the riders looked pretty shattered with 30kms to go.
Nibali grabbed the bull by the horns, and used one of his biggest weapons, a descend, to put some daylight between himself and the rest of what was left of the peloton. And at some point, he built a gap, that according to the television broadcaster, was something along the 42 second mark. Meanwhile, at the back of the pack, the Schelck brothers were showing no signs of improving form, despite the fact that the english voice of cycling commentary, kept giving both guys accolades left, right and center.
Back to racing, BMC looked for a minute to have things under control, until Astana showed up to spoiled the party. With strength in numbers, Iglinskiy sat off in pursuit of Nibali, discarding in the process, Fleche Wallone's hero, Joaquim Rodriguez. Nibali looked strong and in control of his destiny, but when the camera mounted on the helicopter above zoomed out, it revealed doom for the italian. Iglinskiy was a mere 8 seconds behind and closing fast. The Liquigas Cannondale man, swung his bike to the right, and locked eyes with Iglinskiy, who then shifted and accelerated up the last drag to the finish.
What I learned from watching the race:

1. The Schleck brothers will never, ever, win the Tour de France.
2. Nibali is a madman when it comes to going downhill.
3. Iglisnkiy has what it takes to win the big races.
4. Riding in the cold and rain sucks, even for the pros.