Zolder Photos

U23 Zolder CX World Cup

Women's Zolder CX World Cup

Men's Zolder CX World Cup

Scene at Zolder CX World Cup

Elite Women's CX World Cup Race

The Elite Women's race strung out quickly in the first lap. The first clip in this video is at the end of lap one. American Katie Compton is the fourth rider across the line and would end up in second place by the end of the day, 22 seconds behind reigning World Champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands.

U23 CX World Cup Race

Looking down the road...

Watching the final lap of the 2008 World Cup race at Koksijde gets me thinking down the road towards the Boulder Racing cyclocross race at the Boulder Reservoir on October 25. Although I haven't raced a Boulder Racing race at the reservoir, I remember the Boulder Cup Day 1 in 2008 at the Res. One thing I notice in this video is how tactically smart Erwin Vervecken and Sven Nys ride this last lap-- never letting the other one get too far out ahead, knowing when to ride and when to dismount, when to attack and when to sit in just just a little longer. In the end, Vervecken punches it just right to come out from behind.

The sand at the Res just sucks the energy out of your legs and the best option is to run and pin it. It hurts so much but feels so good at the same time. Weird how so many 'cross races end up that way.

2004 TdF

In 2004, I had the opportunity to go and see the final stage of the Tour de France. This was the year that if Lance Armstrong won the race, he would step out of the group of cycling legends who had won the overall classification Tour five times each in their careers to become the first to win six. In 2005, Armstrong would claim his seventh overall win in Paris.

The thing that amazed me on that day was the speed at which the riders passed by. With this being my first professional cycling race, I was in awe of the speed, fury and beauty of the passing peleton. Although I didn't get to see it with my eyes, I can only imagine what Tom Boonen's final sprint was like just meters down the road from where I stood.

The peleton, led by United States Postal Service Professional Cycling team and Lance Armstron in the yellow jersey, on the first of eight laps of the Champs-Elysees.

This picture pretty well sums up Armstrong's accomplishments in 2004, besting those like Eddy Merckx for the record of Tour de France wins.

Tyler Hamilton stopped by to greet American fans along the Champs-Elysees after crashing in stage 6 and subsequently dropping out of the tour during stage 16. Hamilton would go on to win the gold medal in the Olympic Time Trial in Athens and stage 8 at the Vuelta a Espana. In the coming months however, Hamilton's two positive doping results would more or less bring an end to his professional cycling career.

California's golden boy, Levi Leipheimer, palced 9th overall riding for Rabobank. He stopped by to give some love to the American fans in Paris.

09.09.09 Working Man's Wednesday Worlds

Seeing these numbers of folks coming out for Working Man's edition of Wednesday Worlds is rad. The talent pools from state and national champions down to the local cat. 4 guys (myself included) all looking to get some good practice before this season kicks off soon.

Racing season is nearing us and the adrenaline is starting to flow. It's time.

Get your hup on...

You won't see me in this video because it's the fast guys but Brandon Dwight from Boulder Cycle Sport and Dopers Suck along with Matt Pacocha in the Velonews kit get it done in this video. I'm hoping that the Colorado State Championships this year have a bit more mud and dirt than heat and sand. It's not supposed to be 65 degrees and sunny in December (those darn chinook winds). We can only hope.

More photos here...

Racing fuel x2

I only know of one Dunkin' Donuts in Colorado so everytime I'm in
Colorado Springs I stop. It is a good thing I don't find myself there
too often though. That's not good for racing.

Davis to Santa Rosa

This past weekend I escaped to San Francisco with the intentions of sightseeing with Esther and then catching a little bit of the Amgen Tour of California in Santa Rosa on Sunday. A change of plans meant that I was flying solo as Esther decided to stay at home and fight a nasty cold.

Esther doesn't mind going and watching the occasional race for a short amount of time but this gave me a chance to get real nerdy and bike geeky. I agreed to facebook status my way through California and upload pictures as I took them which I dutifully did on my mobileme gallery. Some ended up on facebook as mobile uploads so you won't find them all. 

This is my pride and joy for the weekend. Okay, I'll admit that Tom may not have been able to fully read the shirt but being able to get 'Tornado' Tom Boonen's signature on this shirt made me happy. He's a pretty nice guy too. Put a pen and something to sign on in his hands and he will do it. Even 3 minutes before he has to be over at the start.

And even though it is not a super crisp shot (I've cropped it way in to get details), seeing Mancebo pull of that stage win after his solo breakaway (minus that little stint with Timmy J and Kemp) was unreal. The weather was just down right awful for spectating so I cannot even imagine what it would have been like on a bike. I crammed in ten feet back from the finish line to a point where I could see the giant screen. Watching Mancebo take off away from Nabali and Van de Walle as they crested the small rise and then see him sprinting all the way down the last 300 meters to the line was pay off for his ride. It left him with 3 of the 4 jerseys he could have won-- the GC yellow, the red KOM, and the green sprinter's jersey.

Trying to shoot decent pictures in the rain is a challenge but I have pulled out a few decent ones and thrown the into my Tour of California Gallery.