Adventures in bicycle racing.

The weather forecast in California: Highs 80’s and Lows 60’s – the whole week!  This whole week will be an interesting week for sure with lots of stuff going on.  I can’t wait to watch Tears for Fears at the winery.

Hunny’s been busy all weekend checking out places to stay in Provence, France.  This will be our first trip where we will be on our own.  Another adventure to really test how we can tolerate each other but most of all the wonderful unknowns lurking our way as we make our our paths to funness!  We like unknowns, we both are very resourceful and I would say travel savy.  There’s going to be bumps on the way but it’s part of the adventure.  We love it and it’s like another honeymoon all over every year.

It will be sunflower season in Provence and a lot more blooming flowers.  It’s one of the biggest tourist spots in the world.  I didn’t know much about this place until I started reading about it.  It definitely sounds like a beatiful place to explore.  

The biggest task is the transfer from Paris down to Provence.  It’s like driving to LA, about 400 miles.  Either TGV or rent a car and stay in between – we don’t know yet but we will figure it out soon.  I put my trust in hunny.

So looking forward to it…

Heading down Mt Hamilton, just from the ranch…

I felt great today.  Legs felt good and wattage looks good.  I never imagine myself saying that I like to climb but today was the day.  I almost went to race in Lodi but working yesterday and getting not enough sleep – I decided not to go this morning.  Although, my ride today felt really good I almost called my coach to tell him how I felt as I descended back to the bottom.

The day was perfect.  Cool breeze in my face as climbed, it’s also clear enough without much smog San Jose looked cool.  We headed downtown to see what’s going at the Lance Armstrong LiveStrong charity event.  We followed part of the course from the bottom of Mt Hamilton to where the event was.  Lots of yellow balloons.  Looks like they’ll have a live band later in the afternoon.  Some booths on cancer foundation and food vendors.

Our day is full today.  Coming back from the ride we went out to grab a quick bite then head to the track to watch the points race.  It was rad then it was duty time to run an errand for mushroomboy.  He sure makes our life a lot more interesting than just Doug and myself.  A lot interesting!

Today , the stage at the Tour de France was not that exciting.  Two man break away and they stayed away.   Caisse d’Epargne did a bulk load of work without much help from other teams to try and bring back the break.  I don’t understand why other teams didn’t want to work with them…I guess all of the teams sprinters were off the back except for Oscar Freire.  Rabobank did help out a bit but Liquigas is messing up the chase.  Schleck got  a flat but was able to get back to the peloton before they hit the gas, although later then calmed down until the last few kilometers.  Tomorrow is rest day for the racers.

This coming week will be busy once again…

Montabello

This climb up Montabello is usually something I don’t look forward to, specially the first mile and a half.  The climb is a bitch!  Today, I felt good and I was happy with my wattage.  I felt comfortable on my bike.  Finally, some good sign of improvements and feeling good about myself. It’s only been like ten months to get to this point – gah!  It’s a really slow progress but today, I felt good on the bike for the first time.  Maybe it’s the weather or maybe it’s the fact that I manage my stress better lately…or the training is really paying off.  Definitely not the weight.

It’s still a long ways ahead but patience is something I learned in the school of bike racing – patience is a good virtue to have.  Bike racing is a sport that will change a person into something incredibly wonderful.  I can’t mention all, but a lot of good stuff.  This is why I am passionate about bike racing…it changed me for the better.

Right now…it’s all about training consistently and that in itself is pretty tough!

I am still pretty stoked to place 22nd out of 40+ in the last road race.  It gave me a good feeling and after the race, I still felt strong.  The way I worked hard to bridge and chase made me feel great.  I was much more smoother downhill and the flats. I rode within myself.  Overall, I was very happy after the race.  It’s a good start, at least.

Looking forward to tomorrows ride…the weather’s been perfect in California.

Alberto Contador

Who is this man?  Well, I know Contador because I’ve been sort of following him this past year and he is a rider than can win the Tour de France.  He’s proven that ability by winning all the three Grand Tours in Europe and he is only 26 years old.  The three biggest grand tours are TDF or Tour de France, Giro d’Italia or Tour of Italy and Vuelta de Espana or Tour of Spain.  

Contador is known to be the climbing specialist but to win any grand tours, you pretty much have to be able to time trial as well.  He’s improved that skill in a short period of time.  He is at the highest level of bicycle racing.

It’s ironic that Lance Armstrong himself picked Contador to be his successor. Lance discoverred this young up and comer three years ago.  If you check out his accomplishments listed in Wikipedia from the time he went pro, you’d see the progression he made over the years.  He is deserving to win TDF this year.

Here are some personal notes about Contador that stuck out from Wikipedia:

- he has a brother with cerebral palsy 
- his fiance’s name is Macarena
- he lives in Madrid

Here are some highlights this year on how Contador prepared for the Tour:

While Lance and Levi are both doing the Nevada City Classics lapping the whole Pro 1/2 field, Contador raced Paris-Nice and Dauphiné Libéré without a strong Astana team. Contador continued to work on this time trialing by riding the Spanish National Championships Time Trial beating Luis Sanchez – the guy that won Paris-Nice.

Alberto Contador is ready to win the Tour de France.