DBowen’s blog

Tyler Hamilton goes to Rock & Republic

Beloki Retires

Mayo positive test

April
Sandy Hook Time Trial (usually first week of april)
Battenkill Roubaix (mid april)

May
tbd

June

July

August

September

October

The weather was perfect, i showed up about an hour early to get my number and warm-up. I was probably just as nervous about the warm-up as I was about the race itself. One of my biggest problems is not gauging warm-ups and being over or under done. I did a few laps of the course, rode 2 miles towards the beach and back. I got to the line with 15 minutes to go. There were 29 starters and Kissena has a lot of representation. I looked at the other starters and was shocked that a few of them were Cat5. They were some huge pro looking guys which made the pre-race jitters twice as bad.

At the whistle we took off to the first turn (more like a u-turn). There about 6-7 geese, big giant geese. The group went around them on the right; some dipshit goes on the left of them scaring the geese into the group. That was really smart.  The pace was decent at 23-24 mph and all was good.

The next 9 laps were the same with the exception of the idiot in a Caisse d’Epargne jersey that needs to stop racing and learn how to ride a bike again. He almost took down the group a few times. I understand that people are new to this and it is Cat5 after-all but stay in the back or something.  The next guy that left me shaking my head was a guy with only 1 arm. He had a prosthetic arm attached to the handlebar with the drop section of the bar cut off. At first I was like wow, that’s got to be tough but good for him.

About 7 laps in he was accusing somebody in the field of cheating. He said “your cheating, you were just on the path” the guy he was talking to was in the field the whole time. There were some riders warming up on the bike path. That struck me as a) weird and b) a real dick thing to do.

Lap 10 came along and there was not much of a sprint going on, you could not clearly see the finish line which made contesting the sprint harder. I placed somewhere between 7-12 but i am not sure as only the results for places 1-6 are posted. Kissena did a real good job of organizing the event; it took all of 1 minute to sign in. Brands were on hand for free mechanical help.

Overall I did MUCH better than I thought I would. I had a fear of a DNF or a DFL. I had a lot left in the tank after the race so I was disappointed that I didn’t make a move on lap 10 for a better placing. More importantly I learned a lot. I need to work on my explosive top end power more, staying toward the back of the pack has a terrible slingshot effect, and

Unfortunately there are no more races this year, CRCA has a turkey race but  i am not joining CRCA this late in the year for 1 race. My biggest problem for racing next year will be maintaining my fitness through the winter. I get lazy in the winter and i hate the cold. I have a set of Krietler rollers with killer headwind unit but it makes so much noise i feel bad using it. I need to invest in more better winter gear.

It’s over for now.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/09/20/bc.cyc.landisdecision.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

I had it all planned, i would start racing the crca series in March. It was going to be sweet. Well march came and went, along with the rest of the summer and i still do not have 1 race under my belt. Knowing my fitness isn’t at 100% i decided to register for the 2007 Tour de Parc in Seaford, NY.  It’s a freshly paved 1 mile circuit with 10 laps in the cat5.  I figure as long as I warm up ok i can hang on for 10 miles. I think this is the motivation i will need throughout the winter to train harder.

There is a huge difference between a 10 mile race and 5 laps of Central park.  How i am going to motivate myself to ride those boring laps around the park in 20 degree weather is beyond comprehension. 

The Tour de Parc is October 6th, 2007.  There are plenty of spots left and i do not want to be mixed with the 4’s so REGISTER and race. http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=5260

We should have a Floyd Landis verdict by Monday the 24th. I feel it in my gut that he will be found not guilty and will keep his place in history as the winner of the 2006 Tour de France. It may be wishfull thinking but with Pound leaving WADA I think there is something to it.

Canadian Dick Pound has confirmed he’s leaving his job as head of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Pound told CBC News he will wrap up his work at the agency at the end of the year, after spending three terms as WADA president in Montreal.

The man who for nine years crusaded against doping in elite amateur sports said he’s accomplished what he can, and it’s time to move on.

The fight against doping in sports is nowhere near won, but Pound said he’s pleased to have led WADA to where it is today. 

The World Anti-Doping Code in particular is one of his greatest accomplishments at WADA, he told CBC News on Tuesday.

“To have a single set of rules applying to all sports and all athletes, and to have an international convention approved by so many countries, is just remarkable.”

Public awareness about drugs in sports has soared in the past decade under Pound’s leadership at WADA, and he considers that new consciousness a highlight of his tenure.

“Doping in sports is like alcoholism. Unless people involved realize there is a problem, it’s impossible to have a cure for it.”

But there is still a pressing need to further investigate doping in amateur sports, he warned.

The international community needs to understand “how serious this problem is, and how important it is to get hold of it, and turn it around. Because if we don’t, we’re going to end up with humanoids practising increasingly violent and meaningless sports.

“Parents will start to say ‘I don’t want you to go into something where you have to become a chemical stockpile in order to become good at it.”

Cycling in particular has suffered as scandals rocked recent Tour de France races. “Cycling has paid a terrible price,” Pound said.

“When you get to the point that media refuse to cover your event, and sponsors are bailing out because they don’t want to be associated to a bunch of people who are cheating, you’ve got a real problem in your sport. And they’re having to wrestle with the consequences of letting it get out of control.”

Professional sports will weather tough times ahead, he predicted.

“Professional leagues are on their back feet. People don’t believe the sports heroes are necessarily clean anymore. Baseball, basketball, hockey: They’re trying to convince the public there isn’t a problem, and people don’t believe that anymore.”

WADA will pick a new president at its upcoming November conference in Madrid.

Cervelo has some info on their site about the new RS. Same as the R3 except with a taller head tube.

The R3 and Soloist will not see much change for the 2008 year, the few changes are 1. the SLC will be the same price as the R3 2. the R3 may be white (why is beyond me)

Biggest questions are still Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador.

George Hincapie —> T-Mobile
Tom Danielson  —> T-Mobile
David Millar  —> Slipstream/Chipotle
David Zabriskie  —> Slipstream/Chipotle
Julian Dean   —> Slipstream/Chipotle
Magnus Backstedt –> Slipstream/Chipotle
Gilberto Simoni —>Selle Italia
Jose Rujano —> Selle Italia
Trent Lowe —>Slipstream/Chipotle
Daniele Bennati —> Liquigas
Anthony Charteau —>Caisse d’Epargne
CJ Sutton —> Slipstream/Chipotle
Florent Brard —> Cofidis

My “sources” tell me George Hincapie has officially joined the T-Mobile cycling team.