Just Another Cyclist

I unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) missed this when it happened as I was on southbound I5 traveling back from the 2010 Seattle to Portland bicycle classic.  It looks like the mountains in the Tour de France have taken a second swing at Jens Voigt of Team Saxo Bank.  In the 2009 Tour de France Jens was unfortunately taken out of the race in one of the most dramatic crashes in the tour in recent memory.

This year the mountain tried again, but couldn’t knock him out.  Jens hit the tarmac on stage 16 while descending from the Col de Peyresourde.  In Jens own words, his front tire “just exploded” sending him to the ground, his bike rendered unusable.  Unfortunately all of this happened behind both of the Saxo Bank team cars – leaving Jens without a bike.  He was finally able to get a spare from the neutral support teams, but unfortunately the bike didn’t really fit him.  I think this may be one of the most compelling images of this great rider: tattered and bloody, finishing the stage on a borrowed bike that doesn’t actually fit him, refusing to quit.

The post-stage interview shows typical Jens Voigt attitude and humor remained intact after the crash:

There is a saying among cycling fans: “Jens Voigt doesn’t get road rash.  The road gets Jens rash.”  It captures the toughness this rider has shown throughout his career.  I’m sure the Jens mystique will be even further strengthened after this and as he crosses the Champs-Élysées.

We woke up a little more relaxed on the second day – but noticeably more sluggish and a little bit sore from the first day’s effort.  (If you didn’t catch the first day’s details, check them out here.)  We got a 7:45am start out of Centralia – downright sleeping in compared to the 5:30 start of the first day.  We were both quite slow and heavy in the legs though.  It was a relatively flat start through farm lands and into Chehalis under overcast skies and downright chilly conditions.  We slowly – almost grudgingly – made our way onto a rode in Chehalis lined with beautiful older houses with great big lawns.  That is when I saw it – “Free Starbucks Coffee.”  Really?  Sure enough a guy had quite literally ran an extension cord out his front door to the sidewalk to where he had a coffee pot brewing coffee on the sidewalk.  We stopped and chatted for a couple of minutes – the guy actually refused any sort of payment or donations.  Yet another example of the amazing support of folks along the route.  That little stop for coffee completely energized us in a huge way.

Continue Reading »

As hinted at in my uber-short, from the freeware blog post yesterday, Melissa and I successfully completed the 2010 Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic event.

Photo by Brian (@poptopvw)

It is said that over 10,000 folks started the event this year, where the 202 miles (plus or minus, due to some construction detours) is covered in either one or two days.  Given that neither Melissa nor I had ever completed a full century prior to this event, we opted for the two day option.

Continue Reading »

Well, the ride is in the bag.  I haven’t got my laptop, so it will be tomorrow at the earliest for a full post with photos and all (posting from my Droid phone is kinda painful…)

A couple of quick notes, though.  The support and orginization of this ride is nothing short of amazing.  I’ll be back for sure.

So, more details after I figure out why north bound I-5 is a parking lot.

The Group Health Seattle to Portland classic is this coming weekend. What does that mean for me – it means I’m blogging from the highway (literally – while Melissa is doing the driving.) What does that mean for you? It means you can ride it vicariously through me, either here at JustAnotherCyclist.com, or by following my tweets on Twitter.

The road from Sacramento to Seattle wasn’t a straight, direct path has it has been in the past.  Started late on Tuesday night, stopping off in Medford for a few hours of sleep.  I was actually holding up on leaving Sacramento, hoping that my promised delivery of my Tour de Cure jersey would arrive so that I could take it along to Seattle.  By 7:30 pm – no jersey.  Oh well.  When I got to the hotel around midnight, I checked its shipping status:  delivered.  Figures…
Continue Reading »

I actually thought this was pretty damned funny:

August 1, 2010.  That is when I start(ed) my commitment to ride a minimum of 15 miles a day, every day, no exceptions, no excuses.  OK – so significant muscle injuries or broken bones might be valid excuses.  But everything else is out.  Even the flu will be frowned upon as an excuse.  Let’s do it America – 15 miles a day, every day, for a year!

Consider what the average American suburban dweller does:   Continue Reading »

It was reported here at JustAnotherCyclist.com that the rumors of brothers Frank and Andy Schleck leaving the Riis Racing team (currently sponsored by Saxo Bank) at the end of this season were indeed true.  However, according to press releases by Bjarne Riis during the Tour de France, that may still not be set in stone.  It was revealed that SunGard - currently a minor sponsor of the team – would step up and fill the title sponsor role being vacated by Saxo Bank at the end of this season.  With this move, according to VeloNation:

With Sungard and the second, unnamed, sponsor on board, Riis will likely be able to afford to keep hold of the team’s two biggest assets: the Luxembourg brothers, Fränk and Andy Schleck. “We will continue at the same level,” said Riis, “We will still aim to be the World’s best cycling team.”

Andy Schleck, however, deflected direct questions and chose to focus on the current Tour de France by saying “Now we will get the Tour out of the way, then we will talk about it later in the year” (VeloNation)

It does not appear that this effects Bryan Nygaard’s plans to start a new pro cycling team based in Luxembourg.  It does, however, spur additional questions about exactly what theam the Schlecks will call home.