TDF Stage 18

Rack up another stage win for Team Columbia courtesy of Marcus Burghardt. Burghardt out sprinted fellow breakaway partner Carlos Barredo of Quickstep. Romain Feillu was once again in the mix, having a pretty aggressive tour for himself. Carlos Sastre remains in yellow, followed by Frank Schleck and Bernhard Kohl. Our boy Christian Vande Velde is still hanging around the top in 6th overall.

TDF Stage 17

The CSC/Saxo Bank train continued to roll up the field on today's Alpe d'Huez hors category stage. Carlos Sastre took the win and the yellow jersey from team mate Frank Schleck, putting 1:24 into him. Schleck is now in second overall, followed by Kohl, Evans, and Menchov. Looks like the time trial will determine things in the end.

Dibetes Update

After Saturday's Split Rock ride, I relaxed for and hour, showered and checked my blood sugar. 112. Not bad, as it's usually a lot higher after a hard effort. I tried to keep my carb intake up, and didn't feel any bonk symptoms at all. I ate 3 pieces of Bulldog supreme pizza and relaxed to watch the Tour De France stage on the DVR. I checked again a couple of hours later. 98. Cool, staying pretty stable. A nice dinner with about 25 carbs , a light snack and a great nights sleep resulted in a Sunday morning reading of 94. All Sunday everything stayed down about 10 counts lower than I've seen in a while. I did a 45 min. spin on the trainer to keep the legs loose, as they were getting pretty tight Sunday morning. It felt good to give 'em a good acid flush.

It seems the best thing for me personally to keep my blood glucose in control is intense exercise. The harder the better. Walking has never done anything for me, but a hammer session on the bike brings my numbers right down in short order. Cross country skiing has the same effect. I would guess power walking might work, but I would feel like complete dork doing it in public. But then, I do kit up in lycra....

TDF Stage 16

AG2R's Cyril Dessel took todays stage with 5 others including George Hincapie of Team Coulmia in 5th. Christian VandeVelde lost some time but still is 6th overall. Frank Schleck remains in yellow. 2 hors category climbs left the bunch looking haggard at the end. I don't know how they can recover so quickly after the beating the take day after day. Heat, cold, rain, wind all add up to a fatigue I can't imagine. Better racing through science, I guess....

TDF Rest Day 2

I'm really liking this years tour more than I thought I would. With out Bruyneel and the invisible Lance controlling things, the racing has been more unpredictable to say the least. The long breaks have been succeeding, the sprints have been chaotic, and the climbing brutal as ever. In other words, more fun.

CSC/Saxo Bank's team has as powerful cast of characters as ever assembled. Uber-hard men Jens Voigt, Stu O'Grady, and Fabian Cancellara handle their roles like no other riders, super domestique Nikki Sorenson is always reliable, Vol Gustav tows the Schleck brothers to the climbs, where Andy puts on the hurt, the Frank finishes up for the day. All they need is Mark Cavendish and it would be called "CSC/Saxo Bank's Tour De France".

My personal rest day was yesterday. Watched the tour in the morning with coffee, a little 45 minute spin on the trainer to loosen up the legs, a matinee movie with the family, then grilled turkey melts w/ bacon for dinner with the wife's brother and his boys. A great weekend.

Ride Food

After Saturday's Split Rock, I realized I had found the perfect ( for Me ) ride nutritional supplements. The 6:00 am breakfast was 1 large Kodiak Cakes flap jack. These are great!! Whole wheat flour and honey base pancake mix - just add water. I throw in a hand full of blue berries to make 'em extra good. Along with 2 scrambled eggs, I was ready to rock.

I started out with a large water bottle mixed with Hammer Heed. I've read that Hammer products are very suitable for diabetics, so I thought I was worth trying. The mild melon Heed was a nice change from the usual energy drinks. Smooth, non-acid tasting, didn't give me heartburn effect of the citrus flavored drinks. The Hammer gels are easy to stomach and also taste great, especially the apple-cinnamon flavor.

Adding in a few orange slices, a couple of fig bars, and more water at the feed stops worked perfectly for the 4 plus hours of pretty high intensity riding. I never felt any bonk symptoms even after several hard efforts. I backed off the Lantus insulin dosage a few units in the morning, didn't take the Byetta at all, as that seems to add to the acid reflux feeling if I work hard after eating. I think the mix of solid and liquid food sources is the way to go for, and smaller quantities more often leaves more blood flow for the legs instead of digestion. That's my new ride food plan.

Solo Group Ride

I was really looking forward to Saturday's VeloDuluth Split Rock Tour, I really was. I just thought I'd be riding with some familiar faces at a nice, relaxed pace. Well, I didn't see anyone I new, except Jeff C., Biking Duluth blogger. He was at the start, but couldn't ride due to family obligations. We all know how that goes, been there plenty of times my self. I figured I would hook up with a few people of my ability and enjoy the ride. Not to be today.

I left the Brighton Beach start and headed up the shore right behind a couple of obviously fast guys. Top end gear, equipment in order, well used, but maintained. Both were lean, Cat 3 looking character, out of my racing league types. About a hundred yards in, the touch wheels and one of them hits the pavement hard. Several of us stopped and checked if he was OK, then we headed up the shore in earnest. After a couple of miles, the 2 of them just took off and left me alone. The lake wind picked up, and my spirits dropped. I looked behind and no one was coming, no one ahead to catch up with, so the thought of a solo century entered my mind. Not what I had planned.

After about 10 miles, 2 more guys on aerobar equipped rigs blew past me in a hurry, mini team time trial style. A couple of mile latter, they were pulled off the road taking on some water looking fried. I pulled into the Knife River feed and consumed a couple of orange slices and a Hammer gel. Love that apple-cinnamon flavor. Topped of the water bottle, which started of filled with Hammer Heed, and headed up the road. The wind kicked it up a notch. Bad news for my century plan. My suitcase of courage was dragging behind lick a big, rock filled anchor. So I did my best Hors Category hardman Jens Voigt imitation ( a much fatter and slower version) and gutted it out through Two Harbors and stopped at the feed on the north side of town.

An orange, fig newton, and a bag of Jelly Belly Sport Beans latter, and off again. I headed a few miles north as so I could do 60 miles instead of the 100 I had thought about. The wind was just too much for a big target like me. Plus, my training log reflected my fitness isn't quite there yet. I could have meandered along and did it, but I was treating it as training and didn't want to just go up in smoke for nothing.

2 1/2 hours to do 31 miles is a poor effort to me, so I vowed to really kick it on the ride back. After the turn around, the wind was at my back, and I flew. The spirit of Fabian Cancellara touched my legs ( in a good way ) for many miles. Places where I was down to 10 mph and lower on the way up were now showing 25-30 on the way back. I stopped for water in Knife River and headed back. I saw a lot of people still on their way up when I was heading back, so I didn't feel too bad about my effort. I just wonder where every one was....