Velo Jello

This is a clip of CSC rider, Frank Schleck in the tour of Switzerland this last week going over a guard rail and into a ravine.  Amazingly, he was ok and was able to finish 3rd in the stage.  Unbelievable.

Earlier this week, CNN reported this:

“MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — A car plowed into a weekend bike race along a highway near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others, police said.

The 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race, said police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez.

A photograph taken by a city official showed bicyclists and equipment being hurled high into the air by the collision.

Rodriguez said Juan Campos was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey.

Authorities said the wreck happened 15 minutes into the 34-kilometer (21 mile) race Sunday along a highway between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

Campos said he is an American citizen living in Brownsville. The U.S. Consulate could not immediately confirm that.”

Above is a shot of the accident as it happened. Rumor is that the driver was using cocaine before he hit the racers. Hopefully he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.

VeloNews has a great story about Plan de Corones stage of the Giro. The article contains several quotes from Jens Voigt, David Millar and others about how ridiculously difficult this year’s Tour of Italy really is. Before I comment on the difficulties the riders have faced, let me share an old Native American parable:

Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley. There he fasted, and on the third day he decided to test himself against the mountain. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders, and set off to climb the peak.

When he reached the top, he could see forever, and his heart swelled with joy. Then he heard a rustle at his feet. Looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke: “I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here, and I am freezing. There is no food, and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley.

“Oh, no,” said the youth. “I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and I will die.

“Not so,” said the snake. “I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you.

The youth withstood for a while, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass. Suddenly, the snake coiled, rattled, and struck, biting him on the leg.

“But you promised—” cried the youth

“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” said the snake as it slithered away.

I believe the race route for the Giro was published before the race started. The only team that has any right to complain might be Astana because of the very late invitation. So to all the pros who are complaining about the difficulty and travel between stages- SUCK IT UP- you knew what it was before you decided to ride.

This is the beginning of a series about cool people that I don’t know. At least, they appear to be cool. You can expect to read about these people from time to time on Velo Jello.

The first person I’ve selected to bring to your attention is Eldon, author of the Fatcylist.com.(A blog people actually read…unlike this one) Eldon prefers to go by the alias of “Fatty”. So I will address him as such. Fatty started his blog because he wanted to be accountable for losing weight. On his blog he writes, “I had known I needed to lose weight, but hadn’t really done much about it. As I pushed my bike up the road, I realized I had not tried one very successful diet tactic: humiliation. I resolved to start a blog, embarrassing myself by proclaiming my weight on a daily basis, no matter how bad I was doing.” I think this is freaking billiant!

Fatty’s post range from very meaningful to absolutely hilarious. (not that those two are mutually exclusive)

Unfortunately Fatty’s family has been going through a very difficult period. His wife, Susan, is fighting metastatic breast cancer. It seems as if the battle is not going well for her. Fatty and Susan have 4 children. I can tell from reading his blog that he and Susan are deeply committed to each other and their children.

Fatty started designing and selling cycling clothing to help fund breast cancer research and his wife’s treatment. I love the Clydesdale logo on the gear. I think that most of the jerseys have sold out! You can also donate money for Susan on the blog.

Fatty loves to ride. He loves his family. He loves his wife. I think he’s cool.

David Millar (Slipstream|Chiptotle) was about to win stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia and then his chain broke.  He was so frustrated that he took his custom Felt F1 and chucked it off the bridge.  I wish I would have been there to catch it.  Check out the slow motion video.

Last Saturday, I rode the Capital to Capital Century down in southern Virginia.  The route went from Jametown to Richmond and back.  The weather was cool, cloudy, and pretty windy.  My friend Shawn also rode it.  It was his first century and he did great.  We didn’t ride together because I was trying to finish under 5 hours and 30 minutes and his goal was just to finish. (which is a great goal for your first century).

I rode with Brian Laubscher, a friend of one of my riding buddies (Chad). It was the first time I had ridden with him and I have to say that we had a blast.  Brian is a beast!(and now my friend)  As we rode we talked about training, nutrition, equipment and relaxing on the bike.  Brian has ridden accross the country (every mile) and had lots of experiecne and advice on distance riding and endurance.   I learned a ton from him. He was a bit stronger than me and he pulled about 70% of the ride. (Not counting when we were in a bigger group for about 20 miles)  I got right behind his wheel and we were flying.  When he got tired I would pull for a bit and then he was ready to go again. 

At the 75mile mark we stopped for some BBQ at the lunch stop. (about 20min)  The wind was blowing hard and the temperature was dropping.  I had arm warmers so I kept pretty warm.  Brian only had the short sleeve jersey and looked cold.  I looked at my GPS watch and we figured that if we did a 21 mph pace for the last 25 miles that we could finish under 5 hours riding time. 

We were both motivated to ride hard (though it took us a second to get pysched up).  As we were leaving we noticed 10 or so people on Cerevelos pulling out. (There was probably $30,000 worth of bikes in this group)  We let them leave so that we could taunt them a bit as we blew by them. :-)  Sure enough, we started picking up speed and easily passed the group.  As we passed I smiled and said to the leader, “With 10 people and all those nice bikes, you should be able to catch this 2-man break away.”  Brian put pedal to the metal and I was right on his wheel.  We left those “posers” in the dust!  Actually, they seemed like really nice people, having fun on their bikes, but hey, we needed a bit of motivation.

As we approached the finish, Brian picked up the pace even more.  We had another group latch on to us as we passed them.  Brian was an animal.  We were going 25-26mph and he was doing all the pulling.  I was 2 inches off his wheel!  With about 1000 meters to go I looked at my watch.  It said 4:58.  I told Brian about the time and then got up on my pedals for an all out sprint.  I was surprised how much juice I had in my legs.  Brian had led me out and now it was my turn to sprint to the line.  I felt like Tom Boonen as we fininshed in 4:59.

Well, it was a marvelous day.  The weather held.  Brian and I beat the 5 hour mark and put a hurting on the posers! (We dedicated our ride to Chad! We missed him and our other buddy, Pasi!)  And Shaun came to the finish with a huge smile on his face.   I love this sport!

Bicycling.com has an editorial feature from Jim Startt about how he was invited to ride with the Quickstep team during their training ride for the Paris-Roubaix.  It is an incredible account of a once in a life time experience.  While I was reading, I put myself in Jim’s shoes, imagining trying to keep up with Tom Boonen and crew.  What a great story.  You can find it here.

If you have been following the Tour of Gila, your probably saw big Tom Zirbel of the Bissell team do a killer time trial. Well after leading the race, Tom had a crash. This from his blog- “I was looking forward to seeing how I would fair on the brutal last day but didn’t give myself the opportunity when i overcooked a turn on the steep gila monster descent and slammed into Andy Guptill of Colavita who was just lifting himself up from crashing. Well, me and about 8 others crashed on the same turn. I guess we got a little carried away. I hobbled away w/ a strained shoulder (no broken collarbone), broken bone in L hand, and cracked back R rib.”

Well, his hand is broken but as you can see from the picture, his $11,000 plus, Pinarello Prince was destroyed. I’m hoping he’ll send me the left-overs.  I have tons of respect for Tom because of his size.  I’m 6′5″, 195.  Gotta love a big man that can take it to the light, little guys!

On a more somber note, Fausto Esparza Munoz, the Tecos-Trek rider who was also in the crash didn’t fair as well as Tom. He remains in an El Paso hospital paralyzed below his midsection. Doctors say the likelihood of a full recovery of movement is “discouraging,”. I hope that the Doctor is wrong and that Fausto can get back on the bike some day.

Welcome to Velo Jello, a tasty blog about road cycling! I love road riding, racing, and the culture associated with it. Being out on the road, on my bike, is one of the things that greatly enriches my life.  I love the freedom, the fitness, and the energy! On this blog, you will find my stories, observations, opinions, and insights into the world of cycling. If you don’t like what you read, go ride your bike. If you do like what you read, please join the conversation (and then go ride your bike)!