the spring classics

racing season is now.

the big guys have been going off for over a month now in the ProTour. the hair gels, the tweets, the silly finish line and podium getures have all begun in earnest. there has been some awesome racing somewhere in the mix as well.

things get rolling a bit later on this side of the pond. here in western Colorado we are still shaking off the effects of a winter of epic proportions. today was the first really nice, sunny day this year that featured what i would call warm temperatures. i'm almost thinking about doing a ride on my singlespeed pretty soon. no big hurry on that one, though.

coming up on the 27th and 28th of March, we have the Mad Cow Classic p/b the Mesa State College cycling team. this two-day, three event series features a brilliant, uphill ITT starting at the west gate of the Colorado National Monument and finishes at the visitor's center about 7 kms distant and 325 meters straight up the road. here's a sampling of the parcours from mapmyride.com- be sure to get a witness on the profile as well.

anyone out there remember Kevin Costner's finest hour when he starred in the all-time classic cycling film American Flyers? better put it on your Netflix queue if ya don't. there are a lot of great views of the Monument in this often overlooked cinematic jewel.




saturday afternoon brings the obligatory office park criterium to appease the non-grimpeurs in the pelican. i suppose i can be put upon to suffer through that for an hour or so.

then on sunday, the weekend is finished off with a fine road race for all categories. more climbing... i like it.
this event reminds me something of the old Criterium International format, which we will also see later this summer here in the U.S. of A at the Dead Dog Classic, held in and near the town of Laramie in the Wyoming Territories.

i would also like once again to remind everyone on the western slope (and elsewhere, for that matter) of the LiveTrainrace.com spring criterium series beginning on wednesday, March 31st and held on the following 5 wednesday evenings in April.

and of course, what would the month of April be without the spring classics. kicking things off we have the 11th edition of the Boulder Roubaix, presented by my homeboys at DBC EVENTS aka/Denver-Boulder couriers. big props to Chris Grealish for hosting this great event (as well as the Boulder spring training crits and a UCI cyclocross event...) again in 2010.
there has also been an additional segment added to the parcours this year, bringing each lap to right around 30 kms. mostly dirt on the new sections, by the way, with a couple of extra sharp rises thrown in for good measure.
Chris doesn't put on races to coddle the whiners and softies, that's for sure.

bonus question for the ancient history buffs:

as a sort of "where's Waldo" kind of fun search, can anyone spot yours truly in the video of the 1999 edition? (hint: Rocky Mounts, and not the one that's almost crashing)

six (plus twenty-six) years in a raincape

given that the weather today disintegrated into total crap, i had resigned myself to yet another session of garage-time on the rollers. that didn't work for me, i nearly slid back into the dark ages of SAD as soon as i went in there, looked at the apparatus and my bike, and thought for two seconds about what i was intending to do.

i turned around and went to the gear locker an pulled out the "severe duty" garments- the waterproof Pearl Izumi Gore-Tex slacks and my ol', trusty raincape and put 'em on over the rest of the monkey-suit.

sometimes the rollers just ain't gonna do it, and i have to be outside no matter what the weather is. and the truth is that it wasn't all that bad. besides, what's going to happen when you have to race in foul conditions if you never train for it?



socks go over the shoes, just like underwear are worn over the pants.






headed out on the fixie for some hard, satisfying efforts. besides, it's a lot easier to wash a fixie than the geared roadbike (which just received a Euro-wash (c), a fresh set of cables, and some nice, new Cinelli cork tape). sometimes it's not so bad to have a small fleet to choose from.

it felt really great to be out there, just like the old days down in Boulder. riding because it's time to ride, not because i managed to wait it out and it's finally 65 and sunny.

i'm not a pro anymore and i don't have time to train like one anymore, either. i have to make the most of what little time i have, though. just like it was back when i was livin' the life.

with all due respect to the master Joe Parkin for making a play on his blog title, it has actually been that many years that i have been riding and training in the foul weather. never made it to Belgium, but i did manage to do at least one race in France during the month of July in all of that time. now i'm motivated to race again this year and have managed to bank some good fitness over the winter.

it smelled all good and fresh and like sage out there today. the cranes and meadowlarks are back and making a lot of noise out in the fields. there's some green stuff starting to sprout, too.
i have a feeling that this is going to be my best year ever... and even though i am old, i'm not too old to back that one up.







here's some motivation and inspiration for all of the fair-weather whiners out there. these two images are from the blog Copenhagen cycle chic where the art of commuting while looking fashionable has been raised to the highest of aesthetics. they aren't at all afraid of a lot of snow or sub-zero temperatures, either. riding on their ancient townie bikes, the women over there seem to be a whole lot tougher than the girly-boys over here who can't ride a bike all winter because the trails have some snow on 'em and think that only wimps in tight clothes ride roadbikes. waaaaaaah waaah wah

and they make it look easy and fun while riding in the snow as well. those Europeans have it all, don't they?

2010 north american handbuilt bicycle show- part deux

Kent Eriksen Cycles- best titanium

first of all, i don't know if anyone else has noticed, but that's not Kent. i hope that he didn't get stolen like the ANT guy's bike from the hotel in Richmond. that whole situation snowballed into a near rawkus- complete with spurious tweets about an alleged ad on Craigslist selling a "... clown bike" or something of that nature. just read how bikesnob explains his way out of it before i get myself into even more trouble by starting the next internets rumor from the handbuilt show by blogging that Kent has been nabbed by the body snatchers and is up for sale on eBay right now.

i do know that Kent and his crew do make the finest titanium bikes out there. they put a lot of effort into making the bikes look clean and uncomplicated. there isn't any fancy paint to cover a blemish or hide a mistake. bare metal and welds that aren't filed or sanded at all... yet they are rideable pieces of high-performance art that look beautiful under the closest inspection.

Jen would undoubtedly say the same thing about her Eriksen 650b f/s custom.

i can't wait to finish my singlespeed Eriksen, either. mmmmm mm

here's the copy from the 2010 NAHBS award winners page:

"Kent Eriksen chooses each tube set according to the physique, riding style, and intended use of each customer, and he builds in titanium only. The winning bicycle was chosen as a show model because of its clean, simple, elegant and functional design–which represents Kent Eriksen’s values".

image credit: NAHBS

big congratulations to Kent, Katie, Bo, Chad (Kent's stand in bike model) Chris and Paul over there at Eriksen Cycles on their award. you guys deserve it.

FOLLOW-UP: March 15- here's some good images and press from bikerumour.com