Archive for April, 2008
Tom Boonen take Paris-Roubaix
Tom Boonen has taken out the 106th Paris-Roubaix and added a second cobbel stone trophy to his collection. The 27 year old Belgian out sprinted this year’s favourite to take the win on the velodrome in Roubaix. Have a look at cyclenews.com for a full race run down.
The Lead Break in the 106th Paris-Roubaix.
Front front to Back: Alessandro Ballan, Tom Boonen & Fabian Cancellara
No comments
Vuelta al País Vasco
Now if you English the above title would mean “Tour of the Basque Country” well not in direct translation (covering my arse now as I haven’t a clue what it means in Spanish)
The wrap up for the 2008 Vuelta al País Vasco is as follows. Astana could and did ride in this event. You guessed, the overall winner was none other than Alberto Contador himself. He took oout the opening stage and maintained a 3 second lead over the field for the first five stages. With Cadel sitting in 5th coming into the final 20k time trail I was holding thumbs that he would come through and take the win in Stage 6.
It was not to be as it looks like Contador has been working on the TT side of things and held off the field to take the win. Nice work for Contador considering Astana can’t front up to the TDF this year. Cadel on the other hand pulled himself from 5th to take 2nd overall in the GC.
Results:
| 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana | 29.10.00 (41.143 km/h) |
| 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto | 0.22 |
| 3 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank | 0.27 |
24 hour update
Yes it’s been some time… and you guessed it the training region has not been huge. Fear not as the 24 hour MTB event has not been forgotten, not by a long shot. In fact I’m kicking off the off road training run tomorrow. Nothing like pulling the MTB off the rack for a blast in the bush for a one and only bike prep before packing up all the kit and head down to the Race Location.
After this morning training at a mighty 35k’s and feeling like crap! I’m now leaning towards the fact the sticking to the rear wheel of the pro’s is no more than a pipe dream. I can’t believe that work is currently talking over my life and all the bikes have a fine coat of dust on them. Still I keep telling myself there is no excuse for not training, besides the fact the winter is setting in, the days are getting shorter. I’m not big on heading out at 5am mid week when the sun doesn’t show it’s face until 5:50am.
No comments
A 24 hour MTB race… Me?!?
Sitting at work, beavering away on my project juggling skills (keeping the clients all happy isn’t for the light hearted)… the phone rings… it’s Princey Prince or more commonly known as “The Mechanic” from our CACT 2007 mission.
I’m flat out with paperwork, migrations and engineers asking question and Princey is pitching an idea to me. “Lets do a 24 hour Mountain bike Ride” he says, my immediate response is “What? Are you nuts? Get F&@cked!, we haven’t trained”. “It’ll be a good laugh and something different to do, you don’t need to ride the full 24 hours, just do a few laps at a time” The conversation ended shortly after the “Sales Pitch” and my busy day took care of me not having time to look into the details on the site.
Fast forward to me sitting on the couch… or what I like to call “my cycling taper position!” The mobile rings and I can hear the mechanical voice on the mobile call out “Pruncie Prunce”. Nokia needs to work on that voice. So I know who it is before getting to the phone, it all come flashing back to me about the “Sales Pitch”.
Fear not for I’m on the Laptop planning my next kit purchase/design. The link to the site is up in a few seconds, while talking I’m confirming with my “Management and events Co-Ordinator” that I’m not booked out for the weekend of April 19-20th. No I’m free, and approval is singed off.
I hang up from Princey and think about it for about a minute. I think of the lack of training, the fact that my Giant TCR C1 has been hanging in the shed for over a year and only been ridden on bike paths and never seen real dirt, let alone do more than 20kms per ride. This in turn brought on thoughts of Fatty’s post about his new MTB and how they both felt about their first ride together. The negative are piling up against me. “Oh bugger it, I’m in!” I think to myself. It’ll hurt but it’ll be fun. Yes you guessed it, after filling in my entry and hitting the “Submit” button there was no way back, I signed up for a 24 hour Mountain Bike Race.
I have no idea who this bloke is… but he looks like he means business, just hope
he can keep up with my cracking speed.
I haven’t ridden off-road for at least 2 years, my current training has been about 120kms per weekend for the past few weeks. My mind soon thinks is time to get over to “Mr 24” site… yes, yes the mighty “Kerkove” will have the answers, if not than I’m praying for some training inspiration from him yet again. I do admit to heading over to his site to seek inspiration as this man trains and rides, he’s living my dream!
As it’s only 2 weeks off the likely hood of me completing the race is good. This is if I follow a race strategy: Training is out of the question, I will put in a few test rides on the MTB to prep it for the day (It’s worth looking good if you ride crap!).
The plan is to look at the race in blocks of laps. As the course is a 10k loop I’m tipping I’ll start off in 5 lap efforts. Riding through the night is an option… but not for me! I have a set of kick arse lights that I’ll strap on for some light night riding. Sleep will not be missed out. I have every intention of having a good night sleep… I’m thinking 10pm – 6am. This gives the Pros some time to make up on lost ground! Yes confidence is high on a result. After a long comfy sleep I intend to have a cooked breakfast and laze about until the morning warms up. Should be on the bike for the last 2-3 hours to get so laps in and ensure that I don’t record a DNF. I will report back in this adventure after the 20 April, there are 3 of us heading down, I’m tipping only one (aka:Dazza) will have his race face on.
1 comment
