????? Vs. The World

For those of you who do not spend your time off the bike completely indulged on bike racing, I wanted to provide a nitty-gritty guide to the up and coming World Championships.  Something like World Championships in two minutes or less.  In addition to the nitty-gritty, for those wanting a bit more, I'll provide some of my own thoughts and speculations to what I feel is going to be one of the best races to watch this season.

The Details 

When: Sunday October 3rd.  

Time: UCI is announcing a tentative 10:00AM (Australia) start times, but that is subject to change.  

Coverage: Here in the US, Universal Sports has announced coverage of all World Championship events (Men's / Women's, TT, & Road).  Times and schedule have not been posted.  Can't say that I am head over heels about either their coverage or their scheduling, but getting coverage at all has to be a huge step in the right direction.  Other viewing options include video stream etc. 

Where: Melbourne to Geelong Australia

Distance: 262km (163 miles)

Circuit Distance: 11 x 16km loops

Course Description: 
(Part I. Melbourne to Geelong) 
The course is a tough circuit that has been called by many a strong man sprinters course.  The racers leave Melbourne traveling south along the coast along a fairly flat route for the first 80km.  This section will probably see some lesser players going in the break and be given quite a long leash.  After the first 80km, the riders will enter Geelong and begin their 11 lap circuit course.

(Part II. Geelong Circuit x 11 Laps)

After reaching the circuit, the race is bound to start heating-up.  The roads narrow on the circuit, so look for teams to really start to apply pressure and move their men up to the front.  In addition to narrowing, the circuit houses some brutal climbs that will really start to sting the legs of the riders after the 5th or so time up them.

In comparison to what we have seen all summer, these climbs might look unimpressive, but the grade and speeds with which these riders will be riding them, makes for a very tough, unrelenting course.  For information on how this profile translates to the actual course, check out this awesome video with Robbie McEwen riding us through the circuit:

The Not So Nitty-Gritty: I have heard this course described as a sprinter's course, but after seeing McEwen's video and looking at the little kick at the end, I have to rule out straight up sprinters.  I think it would be smart to look at the riders who have been successful at Flanders, LBL, and even Milan San Remo.  With that in mind, I throw out the riders I like (starting with the ones I feel most likely to win), which are the same names everyone else is throwing out, with some of my thoughts and questions.


Freire: This man already has 3 world titles.  I'll say that again, Freire has won the world championships 3 times already.  Given his strength, this is a rider that is perfectly suited to this course.  He has been out of competition due to a sinus infection and subsequent operation, but if history tells us anything, it is that he knows how to prepare for 1 day world events.  Another point Freire's way is that Rodriguez has pulled out of the race, making Freire will be the sole leader of the Spanish team. He is not a lead out kind of guy, but it never hurts to have some team mates willing to pull back a break.


Gilbert: Anyone who watched the Vuelta knows that this man is on fires.  Since the world course was named, he has been a favorite in many people's eyes.  The question is, will there be anything left to burn come Oct 3rd?  There is no doubt that him and his beloved big ring are going to be a factor in this race, but how much of a factor?  Gilbert brings with him some strong Belgian riders - one or two them being outside chances themselves.


Pozzato:  On the other end of the spectrum from Gilbert, we have Pozzato.  Pozzato has had an incredibly quite year with only one win in the Giro that I can remember.  Unlike Gilbert, Pozzato's Vuelta showed a rider who still had a ways to go before anyone would declare him "on form".   If Gilbert did too much, did Pozzato do too little?  Pozzato did such cool things with the Italian national jersey, I can't help but want to see what his world stripped kit would look like.  (Given that Italy's national coach, Bettini, has already dedicated the win to recently deceased former coach Ballerini, I am sure Pozzato has already designed it.)


Farrar: Not to be confused with Freire, Farrar has never won a world championship, but many are claiming that he can.  Looking back at the Vuelta, we have seen that he can be their at the end of hilly stages (stage 19 comes to mind), but still often falls short (again, stage 19 comes to mind).  He will have a top selve team (in fact 3 riders are coming with him from Garmin which can only help) trying to get him to where he needs to be, but if there is a select break, I don't see him in it.    


Hushovd: Everything about the way this man is riding this year says world champion to me.  He can take a sprint, but only from a very select group that has been whittle down by hard terrain - is that not this course?  I don't know if this will help or hurt, but with Hushovd comes Boasson-Hagen on the Norwegian team.  Hushovd is a strong man with tons of experience, but I am not sure Hagen will surrender to him if they come to line together.


Boasson-Hagen: Like Hushovd, Hagen could do some damage on this course.  He is even skipping the TT this year to focus solely on the road race. From watching Tour of Eneco and the two recent Canadian races, I have seen him come so close only to go too soon or with not enough.  Lots of close calls and I think this might be another.


Evans: Coming back for the double is Evans.  He has home court advantage and a strong team supporting him.  If things come down to a select group, as I have thought they might, I would not be surprised to see him in it and probably attacking out of it (repeat from last year?).  Given the short punchy climbs and the finishing straight, I don't think it is not a question of whether Evans will be there, but who else is with him. 


Cavendish: No one likes to count Cavendish out, so I wont. However, looking at the course, I am going to say this is too hard to Cavendish, including the up hill finish.  He proved everyone wrong in Milan San Remo in 2009, but this course is a different beast - same length, but more unrelenting in my mind with more at stake for the other candidates. 


Cancellara: Last but not least is Cancellara.   The second half of this man's season has seen some ups and downs - especially with all the recent news - but he has decided to race.  A Cancellara on form could make it over the climbs with the riders, only to motor away from them on the finishing straights.  But given what we have seen from the Vuelta, I am inclined to doubt this.


As McEwen said, "the more I think about this course, the more people I can see winning it."  There are tons and tons of names that comes to mind, these are just a few I wanted to give my thoughts on. Some others who I have thought about are Sagan, Boom, Sanchez, Greipel, Martin . . . the list could go on. Here is a list of all registered riders (not recently updated) from the UCI.  Check it out and come up with your own picks.  Extra points for dark horse favorites . . .

Ever wonder how the Oregon State Road Champ spends his offseason?

. . . Crosstraining

Good on you Quinn!  The Family Fun Zone didn't know what hit it.

Flandophile

Simon over at La Gazzetta Della Bici, found this little ditty during his endless internet scouring:

Other than being a perfect example of cycling photography, it also tells me that Ritte Racing did their home work when they came out with this:

  

For a complete collection of these videos, and a fair amount of your afternoon wasted (like Boonen's coke habit, it's addictive) check out Velograph.  There is also a pretty rad write-up on a recent gravel ride that, especially after his review, I am kicking myself for missing.  Check it out!  This is what Oregon has to offer.

It's raining it's pouring, the drive train is roaring

After showing up to work today with wet feet despite "full" fenders, I decided to explore some new mudflap options.  I have seen people use water bottle cut in half, but the hard, unbendable plastic might present some toe-overlap issues for us small folk.  That being said, I decided going with timeless leather might do the trick - tough yet ever so supple and soft.  Lucky there happens to be a leather shop down the street from my office, I was able to find a scrap piece of leather for $3, which probably could have made more than one set.

After I got home I started exploring what shape would give me the most road grim protection, with the least amount of toe-overlap.  Conveniently, the shape was only a corner store away:

(I don't have access, which is another way of saying money, to a screen printing shop, but that would make a pretty rad mudflap and probably few people smile on their AM commute.)  

To install, I drilled out the existing rivets and used my beloved zip times to fasten the flaps to the fenders.  As I was putting on this back mudflap, it occured to me that this flap was more for those riding behind me than myself, so I thought of another screen printing option:

(Whether they are or not remains to be seen.) 

 In addition to keeping my feet dry, I have to say a huge plus for me is keeping even more road grim off my bike and out of my drive train.  As I was installing the flaps, I realized that despite full fenders, my cranks were still covered in crap that presumably came from the rear wheel splash.  In answer to this, I went a bit over board installing a half water bottle on the seat tube side of the fender.

It wraps around the wheel perfectly, doesn't stick out or obstruct anything, and, I presume, will do a damn good job of keeping my cranks, chain, and surrounding area that much clearer - let's hope.  So here's the question, has anyone tired this before? Any help or obstruction?  The added grim splash I get might be because I am using a cross bike with mammoth clearance, but I could see the same problem happening on road frames too.  

Let me know what you think and I'll let you know how this works out.  Here's to a long winter . . .

Ways to watch

Since so many people seem to be unaware there there are more resources out there for cycling coverage in the United States then Versus and Universal, I thought I would share some of the channels through which I feed the monkey.

Internet Stream

First off there are live internet streams, which work well for all of us out on the West Coast. The reason is that, because of the time difference, most of the European races are approaching their 20-30K to go when I am just getting out of a bed and pouring the first cup of french press. I usually don't wake-up early just to watch the races, as some would believe, but it is just convenient that I am a natural born early riser.

The best place to find feeds are from one of two sites www.steephill.tv or www.cyclingfans.com. Both sites are equally good in my mind and both generally have the same info, but for whatever reason, I end-up at Steephill. Many times you will have to try a few of the feed links before you find the best feed.

For some of the more obscure races, there will only be foriegn language feeds, like the ones in Flemish which my girl friend call the farting language, but I think sounds like somone is playing a record backwards. You can always get creative by watching the video feed while reading Cyclingnew's twitter updates too.

Torrents

For those of you who are not such early risers or can't stand Flemish, I implore you to check out http://cyclingtorrents.nl/. This site is by far one of my favorite cycling resources in the world. They have a database featuring nearly every race you have ever wanted to watch. (Start stockpiling now for your trainer time during the winter months.) And many races are posted on the site mere hours after they are finished airing. Did I mention they occasionally have HD videos?

Torrenting has something of a seedy reputation, mainly because of sites which torrent software, music, and movies. Reputation aside, it is a pretty awesome way to share large amounts of information quickly - whether it is legal to share said information is another story . Cyclingtorrents.nl is pretty legit though. They only offer race coverage. Not cycling documentaries or hollywood movies. Though the video coverage may be copyrighted somewhere, it really serves as a way for people who love to watch cycling to have access to do so.

To use cyclingtorrents.nl, you have to set up an account which tracks download v. upload statistics. (The more you upload, the faster you can download.) After you have an account, select the browse tap and explore all the torrents there are available. You can search by race names, type of race (mtb, road, x-cross, etc), and language. (NOTE: for those of you in cyclocross mode already, tons and tons of cyclocross footage that you will never be able to find anywhere else in the states.) To download a race, you will need some torrent client. If you are just getting started with torrenting, check out Miro. Miro makes getting and watching the races as easy and clicking the torrent link (e.g., tob2010_stage3.avi.torrent for Tour of Britain 2010, Stage 3) and waiting for the download.

When the download is complete, you can play the file straight from Miro.

Once you get the hang of Miro, you might want to consider torrent programs like Transmission. Many are highly customizable, which helps if you trying to improve your upload stats so you can download faster.

If you have any other ways of getting race coverage (other than Universal and Versus) please pass them along. And if you have any questions on how to go about any of this, send them my way and I'll try to help.

Don't forget, road season is not over

The sledge hammer that is cross is winding up and about to be in full swing, but before that hammer comes crashing down, people need to remember that there is some excellent road racing left. Testament to that was this past weekend where I saw some of the best racing I have seen all year.

Canada's Pro Tour double-header - Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec and Montreal - went off fabously. GP Quebec saw Frenchman Thomas Voeckler win with a closing kilometer move that even he had trouble believing stuck.

And in GP Montreal, it was non stop action. There was a late break which contained one of my all time favorite American riders, Chris Horner, his Radioshack teammate, Machado, Saxo's Sorensen, and Liquigas's Danial Oss. The four looked good, but it drew out some of the big guns in the peloton to lead a hard chase. Garmin, Sky, and Rabobank all put some muscles on the front while Radioshack's Leipenheimer looks poised for the counter. In the end, it was Gesink who got a jump on the peloton and held an impressive 10k solo to the finish line.

Gesink had what it took, but was clearly assisted by the chasers' hesitation to willing pull Sagen and Boasson-Hagen to the line. (Rightly so, but I would have loved to Gesink and Hesjedal go head-to-head.) The finish was Gesink, Sagen, Hesjedal. That's right, Canada's own Hesjedal got a hard fought 3rd. For a minute there, according to Vaughter's Tweet, "Hesjedal was bigger than hockey in Canada." I think the general consensus is that this is a Pro Tour race that will be around for a while.

In addition to these two great races, there also an ongoing battle for the Vuelta GC, which is one of the hottest we have seen all year. Everything I have seen from this race, I have loved. Right now, I am putting this Grand Tour on the same pistole I place the Giro on. The reason is simple - both races have focused RACING and less on politics, gossip, rivalries, etc. Whether that has to do the fans, media, or promoters, I don't know. What are your thoughts? Which Grand Tour do you like the most and why?

After the final GC contenders get done slugging it out, the next race on everyone's mind has to be Worlds. Personally I can't wait for this race. With countries final team selections coming in, it seems like it is going to be a excellent race. Many are calling this a sprinters course with some hard climbs. Names that come to mind are Freire, Hushovd, Pozzato, and even Evans for the double. Who knows? there is always a chance that Farrar and Cavendish could make it with the group, and if they do, we might see a flurry of late moves trying to trying to get away from a bunch sprint - there is only one jersey after all. 2nd and 3rd just don't apply in this race. Who is on your radar for the win? What countries lock poised to dominate?