Rider Journals »
Nov. 7, 2009Barry Wicks' Journal: Lessons from the bear
There is a bear living in my backyard. Not just metaphorically, but a real, live BC bike race, eat the small dog, massive apple sauce poop pile, growling, stinky, large black type of bear out there.
I am not really too concerned about it, aside ...
Nov. 5, 2009Chocolate, Waffles & Cross: Getting schooled, and the importance of a well-oiled pit crew.
Despite the wicked snowstorm, which blanketed Colorado during the week, the energy leading up to the Blue Sky Velo Cup and the Boulder Cup was electric. Everyone was pumped and focused. ’Cross bikes were getting new tires, cables and last-minute ...
Oct. 10, 2009Michael Barry's diary - Radio ga ga
The time trial is said to be the race of truth: a rider alone, without aid of drafting, sets off in a race against the clock. In many ways it is the purest form of bike racing.
Tactics are few, the effort is completely individual and the event ...
Oct. 4, 2009Michael Barry's Diary - The peloton unplugged
Sitting in the middle of the peloton, riding along at a steady tempo as a team controls the pace on the front, I hear our director in the radio: “There is a dangerous descent coming up in four kilometers. Move to the front to stay out of trouble. ...
Oct. 2, 2009J-Pow's Journal: The way of the Airport Ninja
Editor's Note: Jeremy Powers is a pro road racer with the Jelly Belly team, and races cyclocross for the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com team. Powers provided VeloNews.com readers with an inside look at the cyclocross scene last ...
Sep. 24, 2009Mud and Cowbells Road Diaries: Entering the lions' den
“Thirty seconds!” yells the UCI official and instantaneously you see the fidgeting of fingers on hoods and legs clipped into pedals. In cyclocross, the sprint is at the beginning of the race, rarely the end. So racers get their bodies ...
- Sep. 12, 2009I Am Ted King: Playing catch-up, on the bike and off
Everyone has his own way of killing time on the lengthy drive that we've just begun to the start of stage 6. Maybe I was a bit hard on Thor back when he and I were roommates at Tour of California; I got a kick out of his story where he traveled an ...
Sep. 11, 2009Michael Barry's diary: An ending looms, along with a new beginning
Laughter resounds through the camper as Mark’s joke carries from the back to the front where George, who is at the brunt of it, sits. On the puffy pleather couches and fabric chairs we lounge in our cycling shorts, waiting until the last minute, ...
Sep. 10, 2009I am Ted King - Game on!
3, 2, 1, Go!
Third on stage one; second on stage two; first on stage three. Not one to settle for mediocrity, Thor Hushovd’s track record at this year’s Tour of Missouri is nothing short of impressive. Oh and to ice the cake, Thor’s going ...
Sep. 7, 2009I Am Ted King: Supersized
Ten-lane highways. Venti. And of course, the mere fact that there exists something called a Triple Baconator. There’s no getting around the fact that seemingly everything is bigger in America. This is noticeable the moment I got back on home soil, ...
- Aug. 26, 2009Michael Barry's Diary - Victory is secondary
As we drove to the course, the small team camper bounced and creaked as it followed the motorcade of team cars along the small sinuous roads through the rural Brittany countryside.
We passed dozens of cyclists ranging in age from 12 to 70, ...
- Aug. 15, 2009Michael Barry's Diary - The time of transition
Transition.
In the hotel in San Sebastian the atmosphere was different than that which I left at the Dauphiné Libéré.
There had been a switch in mentality in the six weeks between the two races. Like a student entering the final semester, ...
