TDF Stage 3

Frenchman Samuel Dumoulin take stage 3 in a break away that actually suceeded! Fellow escapee Roman Feillu takes the yellow jersey. American William Frischkorn took second on the stage.

Group Ride Problem

Doug over at http://mnbicyclecommuter.blogspot.com/ had commented that the Monday group ride and the sponsoring club has really dwindled in participation. With more and more people biking these days, you would think just the opposite would be happening. Here's some of my drivel on some of the possible reasons.

• Could it be the other bike shops are selling a lot more bikes, thus people are more aware of the rides that they "sponsor"?
• Not enough or ineffective promoting of the various rides.
• Older riders have drifted away from the sport, and the newer riders are more interested in the MTB or urban scene than road riding. Newer riders may also be intimidated by group dynamics of riding in a bunch.
• The watering down of the group rides. Every night of the work week seems to have several options, thus without a bigger base of cyclist to draw from, less people per ride.
• The fear of not being able to keep up, though many rides are advertised as "no drop"

I'm sure there is more, but this is what came to mind. For me, it seems SWMBO always has found something more important for us, so I end up riding alone a lot and am hit and miss on the group rides. Any thoughts out there?

Sunday Fun

I rode down the hill this morning to take in the Duluth Duathlon. It's a run-bike-run format, with the run being a trail run, the bike leg is on the road, but hilly compared to the normal flatter time trial you see in most triathlons. The course ran out of Lester Park, right down the hill from my house. I've run these roads and trails many times, but never put 2 and 2 together to think of a duathlon. A perfect location, a perfect day weather wise made for a nice event.

Dopey me left the camera with my wife at the camper Friday, so I only had my cell phone camera for pictures. Hope you don't mind. Jim over at Unholy Rouleur would probably get a kick out of the dismounts into the transition from bike to runs. Road cleats on pavement make for some slip-sliding near crashes. The top riders really cooked in and I caught one headed for me as he hit the barrier. maybe they should take some 'cross lessons...

Me, I got in some MTB riding and did some hill repeats on the road bike. I got in about 9 hours of saddle time since Thursday. Not enough, but some group rides this week should help in my Velo Duluth century on July 19th. Now, back to the TDF stage 2 and a cold Stella Artois. Ahhhh.

TDF Day 2

Big Thor Hushovd, tongue wagging, take stage 2 of the Tour. I'm really amazed his bike holds up to all that torque he generates with those tree trunk legs. Fabain Cancellara gave it a go late, but was pulled back in and Thor let it rip for a nice win. Alejandro Valverde kept the yellow. I think this is going to be one hell of a good Tour!

Whoops - I forgot to say "God of Thunder".

This Just In

One of my boys, Alejandro Valverde, take the opening stage of the TDF. Looks like his jersey will now match his bike. All that yellow was a contrast to his black w/ red kit, so he needed that yellow jersey to make things right!

Family Fun On The Fourth!!

Ah, another Saturday wasted at my place of gainful employment. This one came a week earlier, as I switched with one of my cohorts so I could have next weekend off to celebrate my brother in-laws retirement. He has retired from the navy after many years in Italy, and has divorced and moved back here with his 2 sons. They seem to be adapting well to the US of A very well. I'm mildly disappointed though, because being Italian, they should know something about bikes. Alas, they prefer soccer and basketball. I'll be working on that, rest assured.

While the clan packed into my mini-van to go to the Fourth of July parade in Moose lake, I opted to ride my bike. I left about 10 minutes earlier than they did, and arrived before they did. Seems they had to park a ways away and walk to the parade route. They had seen me on the Munger Trail from the road about half way there, but I still arrived at the actual parade before them. The weather was perfect and the small town parade was kinda cool. Old cars, trucks, tractors. candy for the kids, floats featuring the local queens of this and that.

On the ride back, I took a couple of side roads and checked out some new two track roads through the woods and farm fields in the area. A couple of crashes, mud holes and stream crossing later, I looked the part of the hard core XC rider you see in the magazines. No damage to either body or bike, so it was all good. An after lunch 2 hour spin on the road bike made for 4 hours in the saddle for the day. I got in an hour and a half on the MTB Thurday evening, so my time spent riding is building back up. Better late than never, but the knee slowed me down in the earlier part of the year. The Velo Duluth century is coming up in 2 weeks, so I need to bank some longer rides soon....

Fabian

Tour De France time is upon us. From what I've seen of the new route, I think my guy is going to have some major impact on the race. Fabian Cancellara is the rider I would most like to emulate. A powerful, smooth, race winning machine who can dominate almost any type of contest. Time trial ? No one better. Spring classics? He's always on form. No matter the terrain, Fabian can dish it out. It's no longer a surprise when he puts the hammer down and pulls away to victory. And he does it with a smile, even when it's a team mate getting the victory. The sport needs more like him, especially with the shadow of doping looming large, Cancellara's name never comes up, knock on wood.

Another challenger I like is Alejandro Valverde. The Spaniard is a good all-arounder who can climb as well as pull off the long break aways and win classics. Cadel Evans needs to show a little more killer instinct this year to take the crown, which has no owner, since the Astana boys aren't being allowed to play. Too bad, since they were major powers in most races they were in. Dopers suck, and until they can prove they have cleaned up their act to the ASO, it's NO SOUP FOR YOU!!

Me, I've got the DVR set to catch all the action daily. I just wish it was available in high definition. The technology is there, so what's the problem? Versus shares it's HD channel with the golf channel, so they have the ability. Maybe it's a money thing. I'm sure once the HD standard is in full force next year, we'll be able to revel in the TDF in full HD glory. I can't wait!!!