Bike Ride 33 – Dreams of ‘The Rookie’
After a busy week last week due to my wife’s surgery, it was about time I got back on the bike and re-started my fitness program. I should have re-started yesterday morning but with only about an hour of sleep Sunday night I was in no condition to ride a bicycle. That would have been suicide.
Because I basically had to trash my cycling plans last week I’m performing week three of my fitness program this week. That means I’ll be riding 3 workdays at 13 miles each and a 30 mile ride on Saturday. I Shouldn’t have any problems with that at all. Especially after having a week off the bike.
As usual for my weekday bike rides, the alarm was going off at 5 AM, and I was rolling out of the garage by about 5:10. The weather outside was near perfect. There was a little humidity in the air but there were no clouds, no wind, and the Harvest Moon was shedding quite a bit of natural light. I hoped the pristine conditions were foreshadowing a pristine ride.
Leaving my neighborhood it was quiet out. There was much less traffic than there was back on Ride 32 but I did see a couple more cement trucks heading out to the new high school. Overall though the roads were virtually empty for me and it was nice. I always feel a little anxious when cars approach me from behind and today there was very little of that.
After a couple of miles I really began to fall into a rhythm and I noticed my speed was a little higher than normal. I was pushing the 52T like I said I would but I think the week off may have had something to do with it. Since my last ride, I had also moved my saddle forward a little bit to try and take some weight off my hands. It seemed to help my hands but I wonder if it also helped with my pedal stroke. I guess I’ll see how tomorrow’s ride goes. I really need to take my bike down to the local bike shop and have the fit checked.
Nearing the half-way point I started to notice several runners I hadn’t seen before. I do see a few over near my house but I’m usually the only person out-and-about near my turnaround point. All told I saw about six runners today and one other cyclist. I saw the bike rider on my home stretch and I’m not sure if he saw me wave. If you’re reading my blog, “Hey!”
Today’s ride was great. I felt refreshed the entire time and had no after-effects from taking a week off. I road my 13 miles in 51 minutes today.
So, why were there dreams of the movie ‘The Rookie’? If you don’t remember the movie, it’s the one where Dennis Quaid plays a high school baseball coach who makes a bet with his team. The bet was that if the team wins the district championship he would try out for a major league team. Well, the team wins and he has to try out. Before he does, though, he’s driving down the road at night and comes upon one of those portable speed display systems that let you know how fast you’re driving. Police usually put these in places as a deterrent to get people to slow down. Anyway, he decided to throw his fastball by it to see how fast it is and if he’s fixing to make a fool out of himself at the tryout. He throws a ball and it registers 68 mph on the digital readout. He’s obviously disappointed and goes to pick up the ball. What he doesn’t see is the display tick up to 98 mph after he walks by.
Well, they had one of these gadgets placed on the long straightaway leading away from my neighborhood. I see it and wonder if it’ll pick me up on the bike. I hunker down (that means getting about as aerodynamic as a brick) and press on. I get within a couple hundred feet and it registers 16 mph. As I get close it flickers to 17..15..16..15..17..16. I go by the radar wondering if it was having a hard time tracking me and it was actually trying to read out 26 mph. I look down at my computer and it says 16.2 mph. I guess I’m not as fortunate as The Rookie and won’t go home and find a message from Garmin-Chipotle on my voice mail. Oh well. You gotta have dreams right?
Blake Caldwell of Garmin-Chipotle Wins Stage 2 of the Tour of Utah
What is it with this team? Jason Donald takes Stage 1 and Blake Caldwell, also of Garmin-Chipotle, comes back today to take Stage 2 of the 2008 Tour of Utah. With the stage win, Blake takes the GC lead.
Stage 2 of the Tour of Utah found the peleton starting in Ogden, UT and traveling 85 miles to Salt Lake City. Sounds easy right? Wrong! Between the start and finish were three climbs totaling 10,585 feet. The last climb occurred at mile 68 with the remainder down hill to the finish.
All the information I’ve read says the action was fast and furious on the entire stage with breaks starting early, getting caught, and more attacks after that. 60 mph descents were commonplace with several crashes forcing riders out of the race. There were 12 riders who did not finish. Unfortunately, it looks like Scott Nydam (BMC Pro Cycling) was one of the casualties when he went down hard and breaking a collar bone.
Caldwell and Lill made it over the last climb first with a 20-second advantage over an eleven man chase group. With only a 15-mile descent to Salt Lake City and the finish line you would think the group of eleven riders would have no problem catching the two leaders. That wasn’t the case though. There seemed to be a lot of confusion in the chase group nobody willing to pull them together to work as a cohesive unit until it was too late. That cost them and enabled Caldwell and Lill to open the gap back up to one minute. At the finish line it was Blake Caldwell beating Darren Lill by four seconds.
The current top ten in the GC are:
1. Blake Caldwell (Garmin-Chipotle) 07:37:40
2. Darren Lill (BMC Pro Cycling) 00:00:04
3. Jason Donald (Garmin/Chipotle) 00:00:18
4. Jeffry Louder (BMC Pro Cycling) 00:00:24
5. Brent Brookwalter (BMC Pro Cycling)
6. Glen Chadwick (Team Type 1)
7. Phil Zajicek (Team Health Net)
8. Cesar Grajales (Rock Racing)
9. Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing)
10. Oscar Rivera (Rock Racing) 00:00:28
The team standings are:
1. BMC Pro Cycling Team 22:54:06
2. Garmin/Chipotle 22:54:06
3. Rock Racing 22:54:24
4. Toyota?United 22:57:02
5. Team Type 1 22:57:02
6. Team Health Net 22:57:02
7. Bissell Pro Cycling Team 23:00:52
8. The Fan Sports Network 23:01:51
9. Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team 23:02:11
10. Successful Living.com 23:05:04
Tomorrow’s twilight criterium should be a little easier on the riders but stage 4 with it’s 14,000 feet of climbing and mountain top finish at Snowbird are looming.
For a very detailed stage 2 race report, see this article by Neal Rogers at VeloNews.
Read MoreSportsmanship in the Tour of Utah Peleton
Everyday we see stories in the sporting world that just just don’t pass the moral or sportsmanship litmus test. Incidents like doping (TdF, Olympics, Baseball), gambling (NBA referees), and recruiting violations (NCAA) to name just a few. I think anyone would be hard pressed to find a sport that hasn’t been tarnished in some form, or fashion, over the last decade. What does this have to do with the 2008 Tour of Utah? Read on.
Read MoreCONNECT WITH BTL
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