Sports are big business. So is sportswriting and sports discussion. The print media and airwaves here, especially in a big league sports town like Boston, are full of self-proclaimed experts. Second guessing coaches and general managers by fans runs rampant. It cracks me up that people who merely watch a game on TV somehow come to believe that they understand more than those with a lifetime of involvement in a sport, working and even living with the participants most of the year.
Cycling is not immune. The latest is the outrage over Astana leaving poor little Chris Horner off of this year's Tour squad. Get a grip on your emotions, ok? Do you honestly believe that the 75 minutes of each Giro stage you watched on Universal has rendered you more expert on the subject of winning the Tour than Bruyneel? I'm skeptical.
I'm not immune either. Many of you follow pro racing much more closely than I do. That wouldn't be too tough. I got into this sport to be a participant, not a fan, but I still get caught up in it. My view of the Horner situation is that I never saw him sacrifice anything for anyone. He rode well at the Giro, period. From my view in the really cheap seats he was hanging around waiting for one or more of his "leaders" to falter, or for an opportunity to snag a stage. That's not sacrifice. Remember the Postal and Disco teams that won the Tour for Armstrong? Nobody was allowed to do anything. Most of them had to ride themselves into the ground long before the final climb, and finished many minutes down. Contrast that with Horner fighting to stay in the leading group to the bitter end, then later saying "I was there for Cadel or Levi." I don't think Bruyneel was fooled.
Neither was Armstrong. Remember when he made his comeback? Horner had been quoted as shit-talking Armstrong several times, so now this was spun as him just being a guy who speaks his mind. Yeah OK, and lots of teammates have done that with Armstrong and not been punished for it... I wouldn't doubt it if Armstrong set him up like a bowling pin for this, leading him to believe everything was cool, then knocking him on his ass. Of course, I don't know Armstrong from outside the media either, other than the infamous cutting me in line at the Fitchburg buffet incident of '92, but according to media legend, he's a vindictive S.O.B., so I don't think I'm too far off base here (clever baseball reference).
And oh yeah, what do you know, it's Fitchburg time. I guess I was the last to know that the Wachusett finish was out for this year. No matter, I wouldn't have entered anyway. Good luck to those who did. The elite womens' field is huge. For much of the registration period, this was the biggest field. Who'd have thunk it.
No racing for the rest of us though. My fitness is not so great. I raced at the BOB Old Home Day event, which as you may know did not go so smoothly. There's a reason I generally avoid "First Annual" races, but this one was my team's, and I was there to support Captain Duano. We got a good turnout, but unfortunately so did the Old Home Day celebration, and the course ended up crowded with parked cars. That did not turn out to be so much of a problem. It was narrow and sketchy, but then so are most mountain stages in the Tour. The fields were almost forced to neutralize going through the cauldron, but once we exited town the racing was pretty good. CCB was out in force and very aggressive in our race, with Pavlov going up the road with the Skipinator on lap 3. I'd spent the first lap at the front out of fear, but kind of exploded. I blame "Goji juice" which was a canned beverage I pilfered at the conclusion of the Easton running race. Thinking it was just a Powerade type of thing, I downed a 20 oz can while on the trainer warming up. Well, it turns out it was a Red Bull knock-off concoction, and my HR soared to LT levels while soft-pedaling. Great.
With the Foley (no relation)/Pavlov duo well up the road and heading out of sight, I fought my way back to the front during lap four of six. Sunapee and Gearworks had guys up there too and we put on a good chase around CCBs blocking. Pavlov dropped back to us with 1.5 laps to go, but Skip was left dangling out there. With their guy out of the break, CCB took over and rode a nice tempo until a half lap to go, bringing in Skip. Then the leadouts started. The Cronoman took a turn for us, then Jim Nash (CCB) pulled at 45 kph for about two friggin' kilometers, very impressive. Then I think it was Pavlov, with me taking over for Duano and Big John with 1.25 k to go. I took it out through the last turn onto the finish road, slightly downhill at over 50kph and was totally spun in my 50x12 when I got swarmed by the sprint at about 500m to go. Then...
Traffic management in areas of the course controlled by BOB volunteer marshals was excellent. However, the most critical points of the course, i.e. through the festival and the finish on Main Street, were left to the Plaistow P.D. who in hindsight had no understanding of bike racing. Despite radio warning, three vehicles had been allowed onto Main Street ahead of the sprint, and one had stopped to look for a parking space. With 50 riders at 50 kph approaching from behind. The leaders yelled and waved and most of us were able to get under control, but some weren't. I got hit from behind multiple times, but stayed up. Someone's bike went through the back window of a parked car, and two riders were transported away by ambulance with non-life threatening injuries. Big John went around and crossed the line first but we don't consider it a win and the prize list was donated to charity. Ughh.
Last but not least, the training wrap up - 230 hours on the bike YTD. Only 19 running. The 249 total is equal to last year, but the bike hours is a modern day record for me by 15%. I feel out of shape now, but I'm not confident that I can train hard the next seven weeks without a break. So I'm torn on taking one now, or maybe doing a build and then backing off for a week before Hilltowns or something. Blah-blah-blah. Complain all you want, what else were you going to read today? Thanks for choosing solobreak.blogspot.com for your blog consumption pleasure.
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