Couch Time
The legs were still tired from Saturday's Giro when I left for the lakefront this morning. I was kind of expecting a nice civilized ride today, but that's not exactly what I got. This morning the Levee Board police had the gates on Lakeshore Drive, where the construction is going on, closed and locked. Naturally, everyone just went around them on the grass and sidewalk since absoultely nothing was going on and the new aspahalt has already been laid down. I had to laugh when I saw some of the Giro riders come up to the gate and then have this big discussion about how to get around it. Once we got down onto Hayne Blvd., the pace suddenly surged. From my vantage point midway down the long line of riders, it never seemed to ease up very much. All the way out to the turnaround the pace stayed up around 29-30 mph, slacking off to only 27 during the rare lull. I craned my neck around to the left to see who was on the front, but all I could see was a line of TT handlebars, interrupted occasionally by a regular road bar. At that point I figured the front was not the place for me today. I heard that Brett pulled the whole last mile or two before the turnaround at 29 mph. I did some efforts today, but by no means was I much of a factor at the front, although I certainly felt like I got a good workout anyway. By the time I got home I was quite well toasted and ended up spending most of the day napping on the couch. I guess I must have needed some down time.
So the Discovery boys hung in there all the way to Paris. I'm impressed. I mean, it's one thing to have Lance Armstrong and a nice simple game plan, but this year was different. Better yet that it was won by a rider only 24 years old, that the gap was measured in seconds, and that once again a U.S. rider stood on the podium in Paris. I can't say I expected any of that back when this year's Tour started. I can only hope that Johan can find a good sponsor for the team before he loses any of them.
The legs were still tired from Saturday's Giro when I left for the lakefront this morning. I was kind of expecting a nice civilized ride today, but that's not exactly what I got. This morning the Levee Board police had the gates on Lakeshore Drive, where the construction is going on, closed and locked. Naturally, everyone just went around them on the grass and sidewalk since absoultely nothing was going on and the new aspahalt has already been laid down. I had to laugh when I saw some of the Giro riders come up to the gate and then have this big discussion about how to get around it. Once we got down onto Hayne Blvd., the pace suddenly surged. From my vantage point midway down the long line of riders, it never seemed to ease up very much. All the way out to the turnaround the pace stayed up around 29-30 mph, slacking off to only 27 during the rare lull. I craned my neck around to the left to see who was on the front, but all I could see was a line of TT handlebars, interrupted occasionally by a regular road bar. At that point I figured the front was not the place for me today. I heard that Brett pulled the whole last mile or two before the turnaround at 29 mph. I did some efforts today, but by no means was I much of a factor at the front, although I certainly felt like I got a good workout anyway. By the time I got home I was quite well toasted and ended up spending most of the day napping on the couch. I guess I must have needed some down time.
So the Discovery boys hung in there all the way to Paris. I'm impressed. I mean, it's one thing to have Lance Armstrong and a nice simple game plan, but this year was different. Better yet that it was won by a rider only 24 years old, that the gap was measured in seconds, and that once again a U.S. rider stood on the podium in Paris. I can't say I expected any of that back when this year's Tour started. I can only hope that Johan can find a good sponsor for the team before he loses any of them.
1 comment:
It eased up a little on the way out to the turn around - I looked at the speed and the "easy pace was 43k. It's amazing how this is viewed as easy in comparison to what we were holding. If the speeds keep getting faster the UCI might start doing random doping test of our riders.
Later,
Brooks
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