Tour of California

They have some great coverage of the Tour of California this year, and unfortunately I discovered they have incredible live online coverage...live as in while I'm at work.


I didn't sign up for the Hillsboro Roubaix because I found out I'd have to race Cat 5, which means I would drive 6 hours for a 22 mile race. No thanks. A co-worker was thinking about doing the race with me, and after we decided not to sign up he suggested we come up with our own "Paris Roubaix Hell of the North" style race (that's the race the Hillsboro Roubaix is inspired by - rough roads, strong winds, crappy weather...a good spring classic).

So I've been planning a ride, which I think will head up toward Denzer, WI where I found a few miles of gravel road we can include. I'm having a hard time finding brick roads. I might include some of the Military Ridge Trail too to get in a few more miles of non-paved roads. And some tough climbs. Maybe I'll run it down Allied Drive to add an element of danger.

Then today, a co-worker sent me a link to this...



They call Paris Roubaix the "Hell of the North" and apparently someone has put together a Hell of the South ride that starts in Madison. Not sure why it's the Hell of the South when clearly we are in the North, but whatever. I haven't decided if I'm going to do it, but I might. I'll still do my own "Hell of the North" as this ride is completely off road and mine will be mainly paved with some gravel and tough climbs. But this sound like it could be fun.

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Saturday, I didn't ride outdoors since we got some snow overnight so I popped in the Timetrialapalooza DVD. I haven't done that one in a few weeks, and I hit my best numbers ever for that workout. I was really happy with that, but figured it would put a hurtin on my Sunday run....not the case.

I had a lot on my mind Sunday morning and went out and just ran and let my mind wander and by the end I had run 11.46 miles at a 7:52 pace and felt great the whole time. I didn't even need to eat anything.

Today, my legs are a little sore so there was a price to pay, but it was worth it. I wish I could run like that every Sunday morning.


This Saturday is the 3rd SBR Time Trial and after winning the last one I am going into this one with the goal of winning again. I typically don't care how I do because these are just training days, but I think trying to win will help me get in a great workout. It's gonna be a sufferfest.

Coeur D'Alene

Time Trial: So I said I didn't care how I did, which was true...but things have changed now that the results were posted today. Finally....

....I won. By a mere 14 seconds, but it's a win. And that win added $15 to my computrainer account at SBR so tonight I rode for free.

...and there's nothing like a win to get you motivated to keep working hard so you can hopefully win again.



Coeur D'Alene: Tonight I did a 90 minute tempo ride at SBR on the IM Coeur D'Alene course (screenshot above). It's real video from race day and the video moves according to the speed you're going so it's pretty realistic. It helps pass the time when you're doing a long trainer ride.



Snowshoe Run: At lunch today I went to the arb for a snowshoe run to see if I can actually run in those things. My first attempt was in deep snow and that didn't go very well so I thought I might do better running on the trails in the arb, and I did. Snowshoe running is hard enough on trails, and it's just too difficult in deep snow. Today I managed to do 5.1 miles at about a 9:20 pace and it was really fun. Most of it was on trails that were pretty beat down so I stayed on top of the snow and was able to keep my pace up. I did venture off into the woods a bit more in the middle of the run and got into some tougher terrain which slowed my pace, but added a little adventure to the run so that was fun. I was dodging trees and jumping over logs. Nice change of pace from running the Capitol City Trail every day. [I didn't know where I was going and you can see where I ran into a dead end and had to turn around]



Tour Down Under: The 2009 Cycling season has officially started. Lance hasn't done much yet, but he did get 2 days of racing under his belt without problems and finished with the main field each stage.

Levi wins again.

I was happy to see Levi win the Tour of California again, especially after hearing the news about Team Astana being left out of the Tour de France. If you think he should be allowed to ride, you can go to www.letleviride.com and sign his petition. So far he has over 40,000 signatures. I was number 17,000 something.

How about that ride by Tom Zirbel on stage 7? That was impressive, even though Hincappie tore Zirbel's lead apart in a matter of seconds on the final lap. Staying out front for as long as he did was incredible, but what was even more impressive was how he managed to hang with Hincappie's group after being caught. I was sure he was done when they caught him, but he hung on and stayed with them through the finish line. I was really hoping he could mount another attack and take the stage win because he definitely deserved it, but it was a stellar ride nonetheless. Here's a pic:




Watching the Tour of California last week has me fired up for spring and cycling and warm weather and training outside and it couldn't come at a better time because this is a heavy week of training. Lots of long rides on the trainer so it's definitely a week when I'm going to need some motivation. Plus, I've got a tough ride planned for Wednesday...it's Spinervals Time Trialapalooza day again. Gotta get ready for the final indoor TT March 8.

I can't wait to ride outside, but I've accepted that it's going to be a while. We still have a ton of snow that needs to melt, but even if that were to go away overnight (which we all know it won't) the roads still won't be safe. There is a ton of sand and salt on the roads and I've never seen so many potholes. It's amazing how torn up the roads are this year from all the plowing and cold temps. It's like a mine field. I'm gonna have to play it safe and stay indoors for a while, which isn't the worst thing because the trainer definitely makes doing intervals easier. That's one good thing about it.

While I'm on the subject of cycling, what's the deal with the mustaches at the Tour of California?