Racing

Crazy ass Portuguese riders.....Yesterday was the Prologue, and besides averaging 491 watts for an 8k TT and 14 min I realized that I ended up almost 90 seconds out of the lead. Refreshing, I suppose, yeah, Doping control at this race is probably non-existant for the locals. Anyway, I felt good and I am hoping to sort of ease into this one and get my racing legs back...

Did you watch the Tour yesterday?

I finally checked the official results from the Nature Valley Grand Prix and Team Einstein's did some pretty big things. The biggest being that we had three riders in the top ten of the Best Amateur Rider division. Cory Collier took 1st, Jared Berger 7th and Ryan Hamity 9th. Jared also wore the Best Amateur Riders jersey for two days during stages 3 and 4. The team as a whole finished 9th in team GC beating a few big budget teams such as BMC. Whitey DeBroux (me) accidentally won a sprint point and finished 28th in the Sprinters competition.

Armstrong in Calgary for the 2007 Tour of Courage

See my humble album of photos from the finishing 4 laps here:

http://rickpepper.com/gallery/2007_Nature_Valley_GrandPrix

While down in Silver City, New Mexico for the Tour of Gila, I was able to sit down and chat with fellow Team Einstein's rider Rebekah Mullen. Take a listen as she breaks down her racing...

Today we raced 95 miles over rolling terrain and finished on a three mile category one climb. Three guys rolled off the front right after the neutral start through town. Health Net immediately went to the front and set a nice tempo to control the race. Most of the race was strung out in a strong cross wind and rides were fighting for position out of the wind. With about 30 miles to go a few guys in front of me hit the ditch and jumped back on the road which caused a chain reaction eventually turning into a pile-up. Team Einstein's rider Eddy Kwon went down hard and is currently at the Silver City hospital getting stiches in his face.

If any of you raced the Koppenberg on April 1, check out my audio slideshow...maybe I got a picture of you.

http://www.dailycamera.com/videos/2007/apr/09/25/

cheers,
Marty

Bobby Bostic completed both the North Pole Marathon AND the first-ever bike race at the North Pole over the weekend. He may be the first person to have endo'ed at the pole. Now he's hanging out in Longyearbyen, Norway.

The inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championship was held today in brutal weather that postponed the race an hour and almost canceled. Racing started in Williamsburg, VA and ended with a grueling 7 lap, 7 mile circuit in Richmond. NBC even had same day coverage of the race from 2:30 – 5:00 ET today. It was sweet watching the guys suffer in 20 degree weather with almost white out conditions while I was on my warm couch. Who am I kidding; I would have loved to be out there suffering with them. What amazed me most about the race was the lack of organization in the peloton during the final five laps. Two riders went off the front and slowly put over a minute gap on the field. The peloton could have chased them back pretty easily but I don’t think anyone wanted to work. There were a few small attempts by Toyota United and Health Net but they kept getting broken up. In the end Svein Tuft of team Symmetrics won after driving it on the cobble stone climb and Slipstream rider Patrick McCarty took second. McCarty almost got nipped at the line but barely held off the sprinters. I’m glad too because he really busted his butt out there and deserved it. http://www.usopencycling.com/