How the Canadian media received Hesjedal's victory

It's not often Cycling makes the front pages of the daily newspapers in Canada but that was the case on Monday following Ryder Hesjedal's Giro d'Italia victory. I went out and bought three of them to enjoy the moment, but below is a handful of national and local papers from across the country including how a couple of Canadian sports websites published the news.

Hesjedal becomes the first Canadain to win a Grand Tour

It was a day that will live long in the memory for Canadian cycling fans. The day one of their own finally broke through and won a Grand Tour. The Giro d'Italia to be exact. As Hesjedal stood a top the podium in the middle of Milan, with his big trophy and the Canadian National Anthem bringing tears to his eyes, you get the feeling that the realisation of what he had accomplished was only just setting in. He had done it. He had proved doubters wrong and he had lived up this his teams ambitions and the so-called 'weight of a nation' to not only keep with, but beat his rivals in the mountains, and then seal the deal in the final stage time-trial in Milan.

Sunday may have been the day Ryder officially won the Giro by overcoming a 31sec time difference on general classification to beat Joaquim Rodriguez by just 16sec, but for me it was in the mountains on the two previous days where Hesjedal truly won the Giro. It was arguably the finest athletic performance and accomplishment by a Canadian sportsman ever.

Up there in the hills many believed Hesjedal would lose time to the better climbers. He would have to fight to maintain realistic contact and then hope to claw it back in the time-trial, they said. And by realistic contact they thought minutes. Instead on Friday, Hesjedal powered up the final climb leaving his biggest rivals in his wake, unable to maintain the speed or match the sheer power he was putting out.

A day later and the hills were even bigger, the tension even higher, and the margin for error even greater. Who would recover the most to inflict one last bit of mountain top damage? When Thomas De Gendt went off the front of the main GC group and built a lead of over five minutes with five kilometers remaining, it looked like the Belgian might come from nowhere and ride himself into Pink. De Gendt is strong against the clock so Hesjedal couldn't hope to mark him like he could Rodriguez and then take ample time back the next day. So with road running out, the Canadian set out on the case -- again much like Indurain might have done after Chiappucci in the early 90's -- and De Gendt's time began to tumble. By the line Hesjedal had brought back a five minute deficit and maybe his chances of winning the Giro, to 3min 36sec. It was a monumental effort. Rodriguez who in Pink had done no work at all to save his own Giro, followed Hesjedal to the final kilometer before attacking and gaining 14sec. It meant the Giro was still in Hesjedal's hands going into Milan but that he would need to summon the strength for one more effort.

De Gendt indeed proved to be an ample time trialist. He finished in a time of 34min 7sec -- 8sec faster than Hesjedal -- but nowhere near close enough thanks to Hesjedal's chase up the final climb just twenty-four hours before. That's where the Giro was won. By the first check point in the time-trial, Hesjedal had overhauled his 31sec gap and was virtual Maglia Rosa on the road. He continued hard to the line .... riding right on the limit to the point that he almost clipped the barrier on more than one occasion. His finishing time of 34min 15sec was surely good enough and eyes turned to Rodriguez still out on the track. The Spaniard rounded the final corner and the time required to win passed and a nation celebrated. Hesjedal had beaten him by 16sec -- just 3sec more than the time he had taken out of Rodriguez on that climb on Friday. That's also where the Giro was won.

Aside from this weekend there really was only one other time when the race looked to be in the balance. That's how finely fought this Giro was. On Stage 14 Hesjedal took 26sec out of his rivals with a big effort to pull on the Pink jersey that he had lost earlier in the week, but a day later struggled and lost 39sec to Rodriguez including his race lead. That 13sec deficit which you could say was made up in total plus one second, on the Friday, again proved crucial.

Actually, had Rodriguez not proved to be quite the little opportunist over the first two weeks snatching a handful of time bonus' on the finish lines, the margin of victory might have been greater still. Indeed, on raw time alone without subtracted time for the bonus', Hesjedal would have won this Tour by 44sec.

De Gendt's effort on Saturday and his strong time-trial seen him leap-frog Michele Scarponi to the final spot on the podium. Matteo Rabottini who only finished 60th overall won the King of the Mountain's jersey, while Rodriguez pulled on the Red jersey as the Points leader -- also won on those final mountain stages with his 3rd and 4th place finishes meaning he took it over Mark Cavendish by a single point -- and so didn't quite go home empty handed.

And there stood Hesjedal a top the podium. Anthem blasting. Champagne ready to be sprayed. And a nation ready to celebrate him. Back in his home country the news was spreading fast. It's safe to say Cycling isn't the big sport in Canada but the news was trending on Twitter and the evenings sports news carried the stories. The newspapers the next day had it as their headline items and the sports radio stations talked it up. It was fantastic to see. Some purists of the sport were critical that the main stream media was only jumping on-board now that he had won, "where were you when Ryder was on his way up," they asked, but let's face it, any smaller sport is going to have to produce a vocal point for the media to jump on it. That's life and the publicity is nothing short of great for the sport. Besides, every stage of the Giro was live on television.

Now, can it be built on? Well the Tour de France is in July. It'll be live on Canadian television, and then there's the Olympics. Some will look for Hesjedal to continue this form at Le Tour, but that would be unfair given how hard it is to do the double in this cleaner more human era of the sport. But 2013 will bring about all sorts of expectations and with the main stream press finally sitting up and taking note, if you thought there was the 'weight of a nation' on Hesjedal in 2012, then you ain't seen nothing yet. But don't say "poor fella", for he's the kind that can comfortably handle it ... despite how he may look on the way up a climb.

Shades of Indurain

A headline like that isn't an easy thing to say. I mean, we're talking about a man who has won the Tour de France five times, the Giro twice and both of them in the same year on those two occasions, but comparing the style of ride alone, watching Ryder Hesjedal go up that final climb in today's Giro stage and put the hurt into his rivals, was very Indurain-esk.

Indurain was renowned for being a man who would destroy his opposition when the time-trials rolled around and then mark them over the mountains to win yet another Tour. It wasn't always the most entertaining way to win, but what he could also do was leave his rivals spilling off his back wheel as he set out to limit his losses to someone up the road. It was a display of power rarely seen in the sport before or since.


Then today, Hesjedal decided that he needed to claw some time back on race leader Joaquim Rodriguez who had spent the majority of the climb marking the Canadian's back wheel but not attacking for the added time gap that many feel he would need for Sunday's time-trial. Hesjedal was meant to contain the climbers ahead of Sunday, but instead he accelerated after a jump by Michele Scarponi and nobody else could follow. He went to the front and like Indurain did with his rivals, rode Scarponi off his wheel as Rodriguez and in particular Ivan Basso grew smaller in his rear view mirror.

The Canadian powered his way up the remainder of the climb, falling just 19 seconds short of catching race winner Roman Kreuziger. Hesjedal finished second on the day and laid down a huge gauntlet for the weekend ahead. Everyone had expected him to find today hard but instead he hammered a real confidence blow into his opponents. Rodriguez recovered near the top to finish 13 behind Hesjedal, but what should have been a day for the Spaniard to increase his lead was a day that it feel to just 17 seconds.

How Hesjedal recovers here is anyone's guess, but make no mistake about it, all of them were feeling it limit today and all of them are going to need a good rest tonight.

Gearing up for the three biggest days of the season so far

And I'm not talking about my plans to get three good days worth of riding in this weekend. No, I'm talking about out in Italy were the Giro will be won and lost by those at the very sharp end of the race. And as it should be. There's no final day here for the sprinters to have one last jolly almost as a 'thanks for not quitting in the mountains, have this easy stage to conclude things in which no big names will attack one another'. No. In the Giro, it's all out to the very finish as today proved to be the last day in which a sprinter will get his way. That man was Andrea Guardini who beat out points leader, World Champion and 2012 Olympic champion, Mark Cavendish, who will finish this tour having to make do with a measly three victories. From now on its two summit finishes and an individual time-trial in which the general classification could still be on the line come the final kilometre of racing.

Only 6min 53sec separates 1st to 18th in this tour so legitimately anyone from that group could yet win this thing. Two strong days on the mountains, plenty of attacks and you could yet haul your way up the standings. Naturally the five men who were at the sharp end of the climbs yesterday, Joaquim Rodriguez, Ryder Hesjedal (@ 30"), Ivan Basso (@ 1' 22"), Michele Scarponi (@ 1' 36"), and Rigoberto Uran (@ 2' 56"), will be the hot favourites and wouldn't it be something to see the five of them half way up tomorrow's final climb at the front of the race ready to dice it out?

Someone like Ryder Hesjedal can follow all weekend into Sunday because he'll be the most likely to take back some serious time against the clock, whereas race leader Rodriguez must try put more time between himself and Hesjedal. Even Basso needs to make his move now but whether he can shake the four others is unknown. As for Scarponi and Uran, well they have to do something, so it's safe to say we'll be getting ourselves a nice box of fireworks and letting them off right in the middle of the group tomorrow.

Whatever the next three days have in store, this Giro has been a fantastic watch. There's been endless drama from start to finish and the thing is wide open. The race orgnisors dumbed down the route a little after the brutal course of 2011, but they've timed everything to perfection and here we are turning for the finish with almost every question still unanswered. Even Cavendish's red jersey is on the line with Rodriguez just a handful of points behind and no likelihood of Cav picking up anymore between now and Milan.

Four big climbs can't separate the big boys

Pink jersey wearing Spaniard, Joaquim Rodriguez was inconsolable this afternoon after learning his victory in the Giro was for nothing when he was told that there was no time bonus' being handed out on the line. Rodriguez who has made the most of those bonus' earlier in the race, claimed he wouldn't have tried had he not known he could steal back a little time by winning.

He crossed the line with his rivals Ryder Hesjedal and Ivan Basso locked on his back wheel in a group of five who had left all the pretenders in this event for dust over the multiple hard climbs.

Indeed, today's Giro stage looked like a nightmare. And it probably was to the likes of Mark Cavendish and his fellow band of sprinters when they climbed out of bed this morning. You see, to a sprinter when you draw back the curtains, you want to be looking at flat lands for as far as the eye can see. To look out your window and be surrounded by the Alps of Northern Italy and Southern Austria is not good at all.

There is however little pressure on those guys. They can form their group at the back of the race and plod home just inside the time limit. It's at the sharp end of the general classification where you look out the window at the mountains and the butterflies begin to churn in your stomach. This is the part you've been training all year for. These are the decisive stages of the 2012 Giro d'Italia.

I get the impression that the only reason the likes of Rodriguez didn't try to increase his GC lead over a man like Hesjedal who will be good against the clock on Sunday, was because of the descent into the finish. Rodriguez probably aware that no serious gaps could be gained was happy to sit on the back of the group all the way up the final climb and down into the finish before nipping around for the victory. He will save his legs I am certain for the two summit finishes on Friday and Saturday.

The win keeps him in the race lead and for the top three the status quo was maintained. A virtual downhill day going by the profile awaits the peloton tomorrow much to the delight of everyone, before those two super hard days. What is still to come, even if it doesn't bring with it some time bonus' will be more than enough to put a smile back on little Joaquim's face.

Hesjedal flips into and out of pink

They keep saying he has the weight of a nation on his shoulders each time he appears on the camera's near the crunch time of a stage and while I can see what they mean, it's only partly true. Hesjedal leading the Giro, or competing for it's victory, isn't quite the headline grabbing news in Canada that I wish it was and that I think it should be. If he were the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, lead them into the Stanley Cup finals then absolutely, one-hundred percent. But he's a cyclist. It's like when Chris Boardman was rolling down the ramp in a Tour prologue in the mid-90's ... it generated news and they talked about the weight of a nation being on his shoulders...it's just the headlines were four of five pages into the sports sections and three or four stories into the sports headlines on the news.

I don't like that at all. You see, aside from hockey, perhaps figure skating, and maybe one or two other winter sports, Canada has very few international sporting hero's. Ryder Hesjedal represents this potential and I don't exaggerate when I say that if Ryder could win the Giro, it would be -- pound for pound -- one of the finest sporting achievements by a Canadian athlete and certainly the finest of this year so far...Summer Olympics pending.

Saturday was a day loaded with excitement for the Canadian cycling fan. Going up the final climb to the summit finish and with just three non-GC contenders ahead of the group of favourites, Hesjedal attacked and none of his rivals could respond. The pink jersey of Joaquim Rodriguez tried to go after him, but couldn't, and Hesjedal time-trialed the final kilometres into a forth place finish and with enough time gained to regain the Pink jersey he had lost to Rodriguez earlier in the Tour.

Unfortunately Hesjedal and his Canadian fan base got a sharp reminder of just how back and forth and just how tight this Giro is likely to be, all the way to Milan, twenty-four hours later when it was Rodriguez who got the jump on him to pull the Pink jersey back his way after two epic mountain stages.

Monday was a rest day that the riders will have welcomed, though I didn't because Monday was also a national holiday in Canada (nothing to do with Hesjedal's efforts) and it would have been nice with the day off work to have plonked myself on the sofa and watched the action. As it is, they're back at it tomorrow and as am I. They're on a slightly flatter stage but heading towards bigger mountains once again and I'm behind a desk for eight hours per day for a week.

The final week of this Giro is going to be epic. There are some huge stages to come and the race will be won and lost in them. For Rodriguez you get the impression he'll continue to try attack Hesjedal to gain more and more time and blow the Canadian away on the steepest and hardest of climbs. For someone like Basso he'll try make a move to get himself right into the mix to win it. For Hesjedal it'll be about surviving on the hard climbs, taking time where he can but mainly maintaining a sensible gap to the mountain goats before giving them a real run for their money next Sunday on the final stage time-trail.

Time to go set the recorder for tomorrow's race...

Overtaken by a tortoise in the steaming heat

They say that slow and steady wins the race. I should have known better as this little fella past me!!

I tell you ... your mind can play tricks on you when you have spent almost three hours out on the road under a hot hot sun. You start to wonder if you're sweating enough ... if your body is overheating ... if your going into the early signs of sun-stroke ... if that sick feeling is because of the sun and the effort you've been putting in, or nothing more than the muffin you half eat at your last stop when you probably shouldn't have taken food on board so quickly. ... And sometimes you wonder if that bit of garbage on the road a hundred yards ahead is moving only to realize that when you get close it isn't garbage, it isn't road kill, it isn't a mouse pecking for food ... it's a dammed tortoise trying to make it from the shrubs one side of what to the tortoise is a baking hot asphalt desert, to the shrubs on the other side.

Why did the tortoise cross the road? Well, I didn't get an answer when I turned my bike around to take a photo and asked him, but he wasn't getting anywhere quickly, must have been feeling the heat worse than me though I dare say each of us could sympathize with the other as we looked into one anthers eyes ... me asking him if he figured he could make it alive before the next car steamed over the horizon, and him wondering if I was the latest pray out to kill him.

I had done a good 47 miles or so by the time I ran into him and all of it in over 30°C heat. It topped out at 34°C. I had gone off at a good clip, feeling good about myself, at pace I knew I could keep up without factoring in the heat. I stopped after 15 miles to buy myself a cold bottle of water because I had arrived up from the city without my water bottle and so started the day with a basic plastic bottle of water bought from a local shop. It was warm water within ten minutes of beginning and the bottle I bought at 15 miles was hot within five minutes of setting off again as the heat went up. The long I rode the more I longed for a stretch where the tree line came close to the edge of the road to provide me with some well needed shade for a few hundred meters. Such moments were very few and far between.

I stopped again at about 38 miles to get out of the sun. I sat in a cafe and choked down an ice cold water, an orange juice, and half a chocolate-chip muffin. I texted my wife to tell her I'd be home within the hour and then I contemplated phoning her to come in the car and give me a ride home. I didn't wanna have to go back into that sun and I was feeling weak. An average speed of 18.6mph would become 18.1mph over the next 15 miles as I struggled on. Why didn't I follow through and just call for the ride? Why didn't I spare my skin the beating of the sun? Well, I reached into my back pocket to pay for my snack and pulled out my car keys. Ahh well, it saved me having to put my tail between my legs!

After a quick picture or two, and slowing down an on coming car so it could swerve the little reptile, I got on my way. The tortoise wasn't moving fast as it was -- it was why I thought it was road kill at first from a distance until it did shift slightly -- and he had come to a standstill when he seen me approach, and I figured the sooner I got going, the sooner he would get moving off that road and into some form of safety. I've no idea if he did, nor to I have any idea how long it took him; but if he represented the reptilian version of me on the bike ... burning up, getting slower and gasping for shade and water ... then he will have just made it ... only just ... and spent the rest of the afternoon out of the sun, hydrating himself, packing in a decent dinner and later, enjoying two cold beers. I hope he did.

Ride details:

The Cinque Terre

Thursday's twelfth stage of the Giro d'Italia took a slightly changed route to what was originally planned. The decision to alter it was taken a couple of months back and for sad reasons. It was meant to pass right through the heart of the Cinque Terre -- a place of outstanding beauty right on the Mediterranean surrounded by steep scenic hills that I spent four great days of my honeymoon in last summer -- but following severe mud slides late last year from which a number of the roads were damaged the organisors were forced to change the route.

Thankfully the route wasn't changed by a great deal and the course still skirted the edges of Cinque Terre and as such provided for some fantastic shots from the race helicopter. It would have been nicer still had it been able to go into the heart of those five small coastline towns, but you can't complain with scenic pictures such as the one at the top.

It gives you an idea just how hilly the area is. The land rises upward on a steep trajectory the moment the water stops and the little towns that dot the rugged coast line are built on these hills. A little train shuttles through tunnels and along the edge of the water between the towns though there is a coastal patch of which you can walk if the heat isn't quite as stifling as it was when we were there last July. If it is you can always spend time on the beach in Monterosso  al Mer, or in the water itself, or as we choose to do sometimes, on the balcony of our bed and breakfast which was located less than a kilometer from the waters edge but already several hundred feet into the air. To walk to the beach required taking a number of steps if you wanted to avoid the hairpin sweeps of the narrow road which lacked a footpath.

One of the five little towns -- the middle one, Corniglia -- was built a-top of a steep hill, almost directly above the train station but a hike of 382 zig-zagging steps to it's summit. To one side is an almost vertical drop down to the sea, while on the others you are surrounded by hills of vineyards and terraces. It's a hefty walk to appreciate it, especially under a hot sun, but very much worth it when sipping that cold pint of Birra Moretti and looking at the Italian coastline for as far as the eye can see.

I really hope the race officials live up to their promise to take the race back into the Cinque Terre in the very near future. I just wish I could go along to catch the stage when it happens. I know the next time I visit there, I'll bring along a bike to tackle some of the stiff climbs.

To get an idea of the terrain, here is Taylor Phinney's Strava details for the stage. I'm not sure what impresses me most... the amount of climbing around Cinque Terre, or the average speed this super human athletes can maintain?

Order restored in Italy ... looking ahead to the weekends climbing

Order was restored on the streets of Italy today when in a bunch gallop Mark Cavendish avoided any potential crashes, avoided any potential hold ups, got his team to do their damn jobs and charged past the rest to cross the line first and win his third stage of the race. The win naturally keeps him in Red and given it was a full bunch sprint it does nothing to upset the balance of power a-top the general classification.

“It’s taken me a week to recover from the crash that I had but every day I’m feeling better and better,” whooped Cavendish after the race, striking fear into his rivals who might dare to think that this is him at his very best. It was a remarkable sprint victory as we got a great look at the raw power the man from the Isle of man and the 2012 Olympic road race champion possesses. At one point, after the sprint had been launched, he free wheeled, waiting for a gap to open, before kicking again to win by over a length.

Once again, I pose the question to the rest of the sprinters. If you aren't going to bring him down, why bother contesting it? Save your legs for the mountains for you've more chance of getting over them than around Cavendish when he's at a level of "feeling better and better."

Tomorrow's stage puts the riders into the high mountains with two tough climbs so it'll be back into the Autobus for Cav and his fellow band of fast men. There's the Col de Joux, a first category climb, followed by another -- up to Cervinia -- where the race will finish. Such a tough finish is sure to shake up the GC and for Canada's (and Garmin's) Ryder Hesjedal it'll be a day of hanging tough with the pure climbers and maintaining the time gaps, if not improving on them.

Sunday is another tough day in the hills. Four categorised climbs including a first cat climb to start it and a second cat climb as a summit finish. That will take the race through the weekend and into it's final week and by the time Monday rolls round we'll have a much better idea of who really is in contention to win this race and what direction it might go.

A break succeeds in Italy while someone else wins in Cali

It only took twelve stages worth of racing but at long last a good old fashioned domestique filled breakaway got clear, stayed clear and decided the result of yesterday's Giro stage. Did the peloton have their team radio's switched off or did the sprinters figure it was only fair to give their minions a day in the sun?

Probably the later but you won't hear Lars Ytting Bak complain as he crossed the line himself 11 seconds ahead of Sandy Casar in second with a group of five others. It didn't change the race lead but Casar did leap right up into third place and for a while was the virtual leader on the road.

With a flat stage tomorrow we can expect a bunch sprint. No way they let the grunts in the bunch another day clear of the field... Can't have them getting ahead of themselves.

Over in California...the riders dawned their skin suits, Stormtrooper type helmets and futuristic bikes to race against the clock. Dave Zabriskie was a favourite coming in and lived up to it with a big win which also seen him move into the yellow-ish jersey when Peter Sagan, the man who won the first four stages straight, barely got himself up the final climb never mind retaining his jersey.

The GC is tightly packed with two summit finishes coming up and it's going to make for fascinating racing before on the final stage they cruise through Hollywood disrupting the Ferrari driving celebrities afternoon for a finish in the heart of LA in which Sagan will get back to winning ways.

Everyone else goes home to let Sagan win alone

A cowboy dressed as Peter Sagan fills in on signing autographs while the Slovak comes to terms with winning every stage

It is believed that all riders not named Peter Sagan packed up their bags and left California yesterday morning ahead of the fourth stage of the Tour of California. With the Slovak having won the first three stages everyone else on the tour pondered the point of suffering on only to watch the same man win again. The result was Sagan riding stage four alone to yet another victory. He'll set off today in the individual time-trial and, given the circumstances, is expected to tootle to victory.

"There's no point in going on," said one member of the peloton, speaking on the agreement of anonymity. "Sagan is too greedy, he doesn't give anyone else the chance to win so why bother," he continued to the sound of the worlds smallest violin while throwing his suitcase onto the team bus before it departed for the nearest airport.

"And we thought Cavendish was bad," howlered a team-mate from the bus window before telling us to tell Sagan to enjoy riding alone.

Sagan has confirmed he will continue to win all the stages and did so yesterday once again. At least this is how it would all appear to anyone who didn't physically watch the stage and has only read headlines such as 'Sagan wins' and 'Sagan wins again' for four straight days.

A glorious day for a slog (race) around the trails

Sunday was a glorious day for a mountain bike race. The sun was splitting the trees all weekend and the over night shower was like a sprinkler system from the heavens emptying over the course, bedding in some of the corners and making the ground even better for racing on.

I had practiced the course on the Saturday and fell in love with it the minute I got over the first short climb and realised that it was one of two 'climbs' on the lap. It was not in the difficulty range of some I had experienced before and as the lap went on I realised how fast the circuit would be and how much good single track was involved. It was the ideal course for the non-climber, even if the second of the two climbs was a little tougher.

That it was a fast, dry course didn't mean squat to my chances of winning. I was close to the back of my race in round one and spent most of it keeping out of the way of faster riders from races that started behind me, and I didn't fancy my chances of suddenly racing at the front this weekend.

That didn't matter though... there would still be the challenge of riding well enough so that when I stood in the shower that evening the terrible thought that all racers fear wouldn't cross my mind: "Could I have went better?" There would also be the pure enjoyment of such a good course and spending three laps on it.

And so it proved to be. I finished one place ahead of last and slowed dramatically as the race went on. Because the race was flat and fast to start, I didn't have the an opening hill to get blown away from the leaders early enough to compose my effort. As it was, I tried to stick with the front group as best as possible until I hit that first climb and my heart-rate was right up near the 'red zone'. I trialed in after one lap about three minutes down and the effort took its toll on me for the second lap.

I did everything a little slower that second time around as I tried to manage the heart rate on my Garmin. But for getting off the bike for a few minutes it was not going to come down enough so I had to make do and try plod on losing four minutes something on the second lap.

Likewise, the third circuit seen me do everything slower still and it was a five minutes plus change time loss. Part of that, I like to believe, was that I crashed early on the third lap. Focusing on passing a back-marker from a race that had started ahead, my handlebar clipped a tree sending me hard onto my side. The damage was nothing more than a few scratches, but scratches visible enough to make my comeback to mountain bike racing way last September, official.

"Be careful... everyone's starting to get tired" said the friendly voice of the bloke behind me after I let him through while getting myself back on the bike. He was right, fatigue had no doubt led to the slip in concentration, though I wasn't having it.

"I swear that tree moved," I called out hopefully and sarcastically.

"I hear ya," he replied with the kind of agreement that led me to believe the same had happened to him somewhere out on the course, earlier in the race.

By the finish it worked out to be about thirteen minutes that I lost in all to the eventual race winner and three minutes back on the man in front. I wasn't bothered though. I had really enjoyed the course and taken no stupid risks on the final descent of the final lap that would have left my wife and daughter -- attending their first ever mountain bike race -- taking me hospital rather than home. For that reason I crossed the line feeling pretty good about myself, my heart-rate probably at it's most normal since the race began but plainly aware I couldn't have pushed it harder throughout.

My only disappointment was that I had gone from the gun so hard. Pacing yourself from the start is a very difficult thing to master in mountain biking. Road racing the race tends to start smoother and you can ride yourself into it, but on a mountain bike race, it's all out from the start. It takes discipline to let the pack go aware that by saving something you'll ride stronger later and pull back the early lost time. It's something I've always struggled to do, but something I'll try to control next time ... or the time after that.

It's three weeks before the next race now when there will be two on back-to-back weekends so I'll try get some road miles in and a little mountain biking to prepare. I certainly hope to do more between races than I did between the first and second round and I hope to race better as I go with two rounds worth of race distance in the body and on the bike.

Results

ChicoRacing.com

My race data

Cav beat by a Ferrari

"Take that you haters," should have been the first words out of Roberto Ferrari's mouth as he crossed the line in the bunch gallop to win stage 11 of the Giro. As it was, he threw the arms up, smiled and let the rest of the grimacing faces behind him -- this time on their bikes and not the ground -- look on.

It was also the first time Mark Cavendish has been beaten in a sprint that didn't involve him crashing but he'll be happy enough because the lame forth place finish by his standards was still enough for him to pull on the Red jersey as points leader.

"This is the victory of a lifetime! Winning a stage in the Giro is the best thing for an Italian rider," he whooped upon climbing off his bike from what was the longest stage in this years Giro. The last man to win into Montecatini Terme in the Giro was a certain Italian sprinter, Mario Cippolini. Ferrari then put a little dig in at the World Champion. "I wanted to redeem myself after what had happened in the early stages. I beat Cavendish? I am glad, he did not believe in me ... But the only thing that counts for me is that today is a great day." Take that Cav. You're only as good as your last sprint.

Three in-a-row for Sagan ... a change in pink at the Giro ... Le Tourde Scotland

When was the last time, if ever, that someone started a Tour of any reputable standing by winning the first three stages in a row? Step forward Peter Sagan of Slovakia, who at just 22 years of age he fast becoming the finest young talent in world cycling. With the time-bonuses that come for crossing the line first, the Liquigas-Connondale rider has built a 12sec lead over Henrich Haussler despite each of the wins coming in bunch gallops.

Which brings us to the second question: When was the last time, if ever, that someone started a Tour of any reputable standing by coming second in the first three stages? Step forward Haussler who if it wasn't for Sagan's parents moment of romance twenty-two years ago plus nine-months, he would be the man everyone was talking about winning three stages to start the Tour of California.

As it is, Sagan has made Haussler his whipping boy, while Haussler has made everyone else his. Stage four will bring about the obvious question: Can it happen again? Can Sagan win for a forth time, can Haussler finish second once more? It's highly unlikely but we'll all be hoping for it, right? Well, those running the event, those looking for a bit of variety, perhaps also the podium girls sick of the sight of Sagan, will all hope for a shake up to the result on the line this evening.

Nothing to see here, just another crash at the Giro...plus a word on California

There are three certainties in life: Death. Taxes. And a crash in a Giro d'Italia stage. One close certainty, but not quite, is that 2012 Olympic road race champion, Mark Cavendish, will be in the crash. Yesterday was no different once again when just as the reigning World Champion was about to lock his missile on the line he was a passenger in a crash caused by Filippo Pozzato.

The result was an unlikely victory for Francisco Ventoso as other's such as Matthew Goss and Mark Renshaw who might have been expected to win the sprint had Cavendish been the only one to go down, were part of the pile up.

The crash ended the tour for Pozzato who with a broken hand was forced to withdraw from the race. "As I realized that I couldn't use my brakes or my derailleur, it appeared that I shouldn't try to continue the Giro," he said stating the obvious. "I would have become a danger in the peloton, for myself and for everyone else," he continued without realising that he already was given the crash.

A weekend of drama in the Giro: A Canadian takes the lead

Well what a weekend that was in the Giro. You'll have noted that I provided no coverage on here as the riders were hammering out the drama on the roads of Italy but that was because on the weekends I tend to remember I have a life and don't get near the computer quite as much. Still, the Giro waits for no man, and neither it seems does Ryder Hesjedal who moved into the Pink jersey to become the first Canadian to ever wear the Maglia Rosa. Hesjedal is on a fast track to becoming the greatest Canadian cyclist of all-time which wouldn't be hard given that only Steve Bauer stands in his way. Still, it was a proud moment for cycling in Canada, and for Canadian sport in general though I just wish the Canadian media would give him more attention than they do.

If you aren't from Canada and are wondering just what kind of coverage we get, think of the coverage the British press gave cycling pre the days of Chris Hoy and Mark Cavendish and you'll get an idea. Sportsnet, one of the big sport networks, have provided brilliant live coverage each day and will also cover the Tour of California, but if Hesjedal's achievements made the top story on the sports websites, then it was pushed well down the page by the time I got to it within thirty minutes of him spraying that champaign everywhere.

Hesjedal's big day came on Saturday morning as I was getting ready to head out to the practice session for my mountain bike race that weekend. I sat in my gear delaying my departure as the riders grinded up the final kilometres of the days final climb. In the pre-race preview I said something about all the hard hills coming in the final week of the tour, assuming by looking at the profile that days like this one would be better suited to a classics type rider. Little did I know that the climb was harder than it looked and that it was certainly the first test for the pre-race favourites. No it wasn't the high mountains, but it did show why you shouldn't base your pre-race preview on the profile you get off of Cycling News. As Mark Cavendish himself said on Twitter over the weekend: "If the last 3 days we've done are classified as 'medium mountain stages', then I'm totally shitting bricks for the Dolomiti stages!" Poetically put Cav.

The Inaugural shorts ride of 2012

My second MTB race of the season is this weekend, two weeks after the last and I feel gravely under prepared. I didn't have a lot of time to get the miles in I probably needed between the first round of racing and this in order to find any kind of improvement, but that's life as the daddy of a newborn and I don't mind it one bit. I did get out for a decent spin last Sunday but with no opportunities during the week I have reverted to the life of a student by going for some last minute cramming, albeit on the road rather than in the books.

The weather was fantastic for a ride though there was a stiff wind from the north-west and I ran into rush hour traffic on some roads through the first 12 miles or so. It made for a bit of fun cruising up the centre of the lane between the sets of cars sitting under the hot sun watching the drivers looking hot under the collar, wanting to be off these roads and home for the weekend. I'm sure they looked on at me with envy though nobody tried to run me off the road so I guess that was a bonus.

Had the ride come early in the morning or later in the evening when most cars had made it home, it would have been an even better ride, though I was quite proud of my overall average speed of 19.9mph. It was at about 17.9mph by the time I turned out of the wind so you get an idea of how much it aided my push for home. It'll be a good stretch of the legs ahead of the Saturday practice of the MTB course and then Sunday's race. That'll be three straight days riding by the time all is said and done and while I haven't got a lot of training rides in between the first round and this upcoming second round, the races themselves as well as the two rides I did get in should help a little.

Details:

Shock, Horror: Cav doesn't win, Phinney doesn't crash

Two strange things happened in this afternoon's Giro d'Italia stage. Mark Cavendish didn't win, and Taylor Phinney didn't crash. For the first stage that wasn't a time-trial of one kind or another and for the first stage that didn't involve someone taking him down, Mark Cavendish was held off the top spot on the podium thanks to a couple of dreaded hills that seen him lose a staggering 33min 12sec on the day as his group of eight finished just 30sec under the time cut. He did win that sprint though!

Whether the race organizers would have had it in them to eliminate the World Champion and a name like Cavendish from their race so early would be interesting to see but he never gave them the chance. Phinney was also in his group, his chances of wearing the Pink jersey again this year vanishing for good, ironically on the first race stage he didn't fall on. "Made time cut by 30 seconds. One of the most difficult days I have ever had on the bike! At least I didn't crash today... #littlevictories," he Tweeted somewhat sarcastically after the race.

Another big loser on the day was the man in Pink, Ramunas Navardauskas. He came in some 15min 40sec down, another victim of the tough stage. The Maglia Rosa as a result passed onto the shoulders of Adriano Malori who finished 2nd. Which I suppose brings me to the days winner. His name is Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli) and he rode solo to victory after escaping from his escape group that had gotten away earlier in the day.

Some big names however didn't make it to the finish. Tyler Farrar -- Cavendish's whipping boy -- had a terrible crash that forced him out of the Giro and into hospital, while one time sprinter turned there-or-there-about's man, Thor Hushovd, usually one of the iron men of the peloton pulled out with a bout of, what he calls, "nothing to give". Most of the big race favourites came in 1min 51sec down on Rubiano meaning that while some people struggled nightly, nobody who will truly effect the outcome of this race were tested too much.

But really, what's the point?

Lance doesn't care anymore. Photograph: EPA

After the prospect of time in the slammer was lifted from the shoulders of Lance Armstrong last February 3rd when the US federal case against him was withdrawn, the idea that he might lose a tour title courtesy of the US anti-doping agency (USADA) hardly seemed worth worrying about and that is exactly the case with Armstrong today as he revealed that "it doesn't matter any more" whether he is stripped of one or more of his tour titles.

The man who would once fight tooth and nail for his good reputation appears not interested, clearly worn down by the accusations against him. "In my mind, I’m truly done. You can interpret that however you want," he said in a Men’s Journal interview, being released this week as people everywhere jumped to the guilty interpretation. "But no matter what happens, I’m finished. I’m done fighting. I've moved on. If there are other things that arise, I’m not contesting anything. Case closed.

"It doesn’t matter anymore," he continued on whether he would be concerned about losing one of his tour titles. "I don’t run around bragging, feeling like I have to be a seven-time Tour de France champion," he continued before posing for a photo with a nearby fan with seven fingers up. "I worked hard for those, I won seven times and it’s great. But it’s over."

So there you go. Nothing to see here, right? ... Not a chance. Comments like that are like tossing the entire cow in front of a wake of circling vultures.

If the stage is flat, isn't a time trial and you can't get him to fall off, Cavendish will ALWAYS beat you

That is how it seems anyway. We've had five stages of this Giro now and Mark Cavendish of Team Sky has won two of them. Of the other three, two were time trials (one individual, one team) and the other was the stage in which he was brought crashing to the ground by a rival. Today's stage isn't super flat but it's still not lumpy enough to guarantee someone other than Cavendish wins. If the bunch is together with 300m to go and nobody can quite muster the confidence to take him out, then you can be sure he'll going to cross the line with his arms in the air holding three fingers aloft.

"If didn't feel good all day with that many anti-inflammatories," boasted Cavendish as if to remind his rivals how much he would have beaten them had he felt good. "I was suffering with the heat. It wore me out. I was comfortable on the climb, but I was dead at the finish," he continued as reporters around him checked the results sheet once again to make sure he actually won. "I could see Gossy's shadow the whole way, getting closer and closer. I was happy to hang on for the win."

Gossy is Matt Goss, winner of stage three. He finished second to Cav but maintains the World Champion is beatable. "If I didn't think he was beatable, there wouldn't be any sense in me trying to take him on whenever I can," he said without mentioning that beating him is only possible with the aid of Roberto Ferrari.

Cavendish was joined on the podium by his daughter Delilah who at just over a month of age can claim to have spent more time on the podium this season than Cavendish's sprint rival, Thor Hushovd.

Actually, it was a testament to Cav's form -- despite what drivel he rolls out about being dead at the finish -- that he was in the mix for the win. The group he sprinted with contained just 17 riders with the larger peloton five seconds back. Some of his would be rivals for the sprint including the American Tyler Farrar, Cav's good buddy Ferrari and the aforementioned Hushovd, all came in with a medium sized group 9min 14sec behind after being dropped on the rides speedy run-in.

Ramunas Navardauskas retains the pink jersey while Cavendish moves up to fifth.

Garmin stamp authority on the race as a man with a nice name takes Pink

With a rest day behind them and legs full of energy the cyclists of the 2012 Giro d'Italia were back on the road again and back on the roads of Italy with the team-time-trial. It was also the day Taylor Phinney lost the pink jersey and the first day (not including the prologue) that he didn't fall off. What does that tell you? Taking his crown was Garmin's Ramunas Navardauskas, the man with the longest name to ever lead the Giro -- I assume -- and the man with the most beautiful name to ever lead the Giro -- fact.

I didn't see the stage but by all accounts I have painted a picture whereby the Garmin-Barracuda team took a huge foot and stamped their authority all over the race. What damage this done aside from putting Navardauskas into Pink isn't known as of yet.

Phinney himself claims he had a bad day, probably resulting from his crashes on previous days and at one point his team had to slow down to wait on him ... strange for such a good rider against the clock. Speaking after the race he said: "The team had to wait for me a couple of times. I have to thank them. Fortunately I didn't fall today as well, but from my third pull on the front, I could see that something wasn't right. I'm very disappointed." Perhaps given what it did for him in the first two stages to stay in pink, he maybe should have fallen.

The result will be huge for Canadian Ryder Hesjedal who made up a little time on all his rivals and moved into forth overall 11 seconds back in a top four made up entirely by Garmin riders. Phinney drops to fifth and the nearest 'big-name' from the pre-race, Joaquim Rodriguez, is 10th at 19 seconds on Hesjedal.

Basso is 36sec down on the Canadian, Schleck at 58sec, and Scarponi already 1min 11sec down. It just highlights how important the team-time-trial and prologue can be in a grand tour.

Notes from the "rest day"

No-one knows what it's like, to be the bad man, to be the sad man, behind sun glasses. Roberto Ferrari, seen here winning the Flèche d'Emeraude - Saint Malo 2012 will today throw his arms up in apology to Cav. Photograph: Isabelle Duchesne

I'm not sure why they call it a "rest day" in cycling? We all know these guys don't actually rest. In fact, they take to their bikes on a rest day and go put in some big miles in order to "stay loose" for the next thousand or so race miles before the next "race day". If you ask me that defeats the purpose of a rest day entirely. A rest day should ban the riders from going near the bike...

I know if I was doing a 3 week stage race and was offered a day away from the saddle the last thing I'd want to be doing was stepping on the pedals. You'd find me in the hotel pub enjoying a few cold ones proud of what I had achieved so far and trying to pretend what was to come didn't really exist.

Anyway, a "rest day" it was and all the talk around the Giro d'Italia camp fire was the physical assault by Roberto Ferrari on Mark Cavendish in stage 3. It caused a mighty pile up and originally Ferrari refused to apologise. I hear it made for an interesting charter flight over to Italy from Denmark, with Cavendish and Ferrari sat beside one another. Rumours that the pilot threatened to land the plane on two occasions after disturbances broke out involving a small man with a slurring British accent, a dashing Italian and a bottle of Rum are as of yet unsubstantiated, as are those that they were even on the same flight.

Mamma Mia!! Things get spicy in Denmark

There is an unwritten rule in big-time professional cycling that no Grand Tour is officially underway until there is a crash involving Mark Cavendish. This year, the Giro only had to wait until the second sprint stage to get it, though on this occasion Cavendish was an innocent bystander. This crash appeared was absolutely caused by an inexplicable swerve by Roberto Ferrari, who like his name sake under the control of Michael Schumacher at the 1997 Jerez Grand Prix, swerved into the side of his rival at high speeds. Unlike Villeneuve that day in Jerez, Cavendish was unable to escape as he along with a host of others came crashing to the ground.

The most impressive bit of the video is the ability of quite a few to jump over Cavendish at such speeds without causing further accidents or injury to the World Champion.

Rightly Cavendish was furious after the race and took to his Twitter account to spit his venom. "Ouch!" he began as though he Tweeted it from his lying position on the road.
"Crashing at 75kph isn't nice! Nor is seeing Roberto Ferrari's manoeuvre. Should be ashamed to take out pink, red & World Champ jerseys," he blasted via the keyboard of his Blackberry. Indeed, it wasn't a good day to be wearing a recognised jersey what with Cav in rainbow being joined by Phinney (second day in a row on the ground) in pink and...someone else called Cavendish in red? also going down.

Inaugural Fingerless glove ride of 2012

Got a good little run in this afternoon. After a Saturday of sitting in the pub watching Liverpool attempt to play football in the FA Cup final and following it up with an evening at home making up for it by watching some NHL playoffs, Toronto Rock Lacrosse, and Blue Jays baseball, I had to do something on Sunday with the weather nice and the weekend running out of time.

It was also the inaugural fingerless glove ride of 2012 as the title suggests. The weather nice enough that I could not only limit myself to just cycling shorts with the tights left at home for what I hope is the foreseeable future, but I could ditch the warmer, full-finger gloves.

The result was that with slightly less padding on the palm of the hand coupled with most of the ride taking place on the poorly surfaced roads of Toronto and so-so surfaced roads of Toronto, I got that real numbing sensation on a couple of my fingers, but I'll get used to it.

Maybe it was the sudden appearance of that bight bright ball of light in the sky, but something melted my mind enough that at one stage when I stopped the Garmin when stuck in traffic, I forgot to restart it for a period of 3 miles meaning that only when home I could manually add on the distance to my total as well as the time taken. I normally have the Garmin set to stop at anything under 5mph, but here I was crawling up to a set of traffic lights behind cars at about 6mph and the average speed was dropping. Who cares you might say but I'd rode well for the first 20 something miles and wanted to keep it above 18mph.

Anyway below is the ride details though there is a section missing from the route map with a line drawn as the crow might fly from where I briefly stopped the Garmin to where I remembered to start it.

All in all a good ride in the sun but in breezy enough conditions and done at 18.4 mph.

Wait, what? Cavendish won a sprint stage? No way...

The question was never going to be whether Mark Cavendish would win a stage at this years Giro, with Cav these days it's always a given he will ... and he did, today. The question remains, how many will he win. With no serious climbing until the final week of the Tour there is every reason to think he might well break some kind of a record by winning a hatful of stages. Note the words "some kind of" and "hatful". I could go research the exact numbers but I'll assume they are beatable and that someone a long time ago didn't go win every single stage.

Cavendish beat out all the usual names (Matt Goss, Tyler Farrar, Thor Hushovd, Daniele Bennati) that don't stand a chance when the Man from the Isle of Man is on form and must always watch him crossing the line with his arms above his head (above) wishing they were professionals in a different era when he wasn't around.

After the race Cavendish broke from tradition and claimed that the win was all him and that he could have done it without his lazy team ... okay, I jest. Cavendish rolled out the usual lines of thanking the team heaping praise on Ian Stannard who according to the World Champion "did 150 kilometres alone reeling in the break," before emphasizing his effort with a "he did incredible."

Explaining the finish Cavendish took us through it: "Geraint took me perfect and went exactly when he was supposed to. I was able to come off him and win the stage so I'm very, very happy." Well good for you Mark, good for you.

It was the classic flat grand tour stage. Let a break get away early ... let them dangle in front of the group, getting a lead (in this case 13:15) large enough to make people think there is a chance ... then, with the aid of race radios, time the pull back to perfection setting it up for the fast men. I didn't see the race, but I have to imagine that but for the beautiful Danish scenery, and the final couple of kilometres, the race in full probably aided in your Sunday afternoon nap.

There was one other moment of drama however and it involved the man who loves pink, Taylor Phinney, who crashed with 8 kms to go and had to do his second prologue in as many days to catch the bunch before he lost his maliga rosa. "I just found myself on the ground, having touched wheels and lost balance," said a stunned Phinney. "Then I couldn't get my chain back on. So I kind of made a second prologue effort. I was quite scared there for a second that I was going to lose the jersey." How he managed to close the 30-second gap back to the field without his chain on is beyond me but surely the ride of the day despite what Cavendish had to say about Stannard.

No change in the GC thanks to no time bonus' on the line and tomorrow the race stays in Denmark for one more stage ... a super flat stage that I can confirm now will be won by Mark Cavendish.

A young man and his pink jersey, united at last

Taylor Phinney is a one time U23 World time-trial champion so it didn't come with much surprise yesterday to learn that he had won the prologue of the Giro d'Italia up in Denmark. What did come as a surprise however was the unrelenting love he has for the maliga rosa. "I've had it as the screen saver on my computer and on my phone for the last few months," he boasted like an... err... schoolboy in love. Wait... "I have like a school-boy crush on the jersey."

The American cyclist who informed the press pack that he lives in Tuscany, speaks Italian and "went to middle school in Italy" completed the 8.7 km course in a staggering 10min 26sec beating his nearest competition, Britain's Geraint Thomas of Sky by 9sec. This result would be all well and good for the Italians I suppose if it was actually in Italy, but they started the race in Denmark and as a result everyone went home disappointed as home hero, Alex Rasmussen could only manage a third place finish 13 seconds back.

Once the race was over and won and all the champaign used up, Phinney revealed his cunning plan. "We pre-rode the course 10 times over the last couple of days, but it was important to get on the course today before the race because of the way they set up the barriers was a little bit different," he said. "It's a good course for me and I just went out there and gave it everything I've got," he continued as opposed to demoralising his rivals by telling them that he rode it easy, saving his energy for later races. "There was only one corner that I felt like I could have done a little better." Indeed, imagine the time had he perfected the course?

Favourites such as Ryder Hesjedal (@ 29"), Roman Kreuziger (@ 36") and Ivan Basso (@ 39") all lost a bit of time to Phinney but not enough to worry about. They did however put decent time into others expected to compete with them for Taylor Phinney's maliga rosa come Milan. Frank Schleck was 108th on the day 59 seconds behind Phinney, Damiano Cunego was 124th, 1-03 back, and Michele Scarponi, 135th at 1-06. That's about thirty seconds lost by the trio in just 8.7 kms, and given stage 4 is a 32.2 km team time trial they had better hope their teams are up to the task or they could be losing more time long before any of the roads start to point upwards.

Phinney got modest when it came to winning the Giro claiming he would be just happy to keep it through tomorrow. "We will see, I hope to keep it even tomorrow. The stage in Verona is very important," he said talking of the team-time-trial. "I'll take this jersey day by day".

Giro d'Italia 2012 preview

This weekend the first Grand Tour of the season gets underway in Denmark. No, the Tour of Denmark has not expanded it's wings into a three-week stage race, but rather that is where the Giro d'Italia is opening up. Three days up there before returning to Italy. What follows is a preview by myself looking at the route and what you can expect followed by three riders to watch in this Tour along with a full start list and a run down of past winners of the Giro. Enjoy... 

My road bike may be starting to resent me

We all know fine well that bicycles are nothing more than bits of steel/titanium/carbon meshed together with rubber, wires and other bits and pieces added on to make them what they are. Whatever some fanatics might believe, they don't think, they don't talk, they aren't alive and they don't have feelings. We ride bikes, not horses (though they don't talk either).

But do you ever wonder what your bike might have to say for itself if it could talk? "Clean me more" may be one of the most common words out of the... mouth?... of a bike should it have a mouth.

I was wondering this the other day regarding my road bike. It's turning six years old this coming August and it's had plenty of miles and plenty of good roads on two different continents, but I wonder how pissed off it got, or might have got, when I went out late last summer and purchased a brand new mountain bike?

The road bike when we moved into our new home in early 2009 enjoyed pride of place in the living room while we got ourselves sorted. Much to comfortable an environment for a bike that already had 3,000 plus miles under its wheels, it was soon moved to the storage cage at the bottom of the building ... but a private storage cage I might add. There it lived for the next couple of years leaving only to be ridden.

The mountainbike also got its short spell in the corner of the home when it was first bought -- clean and new it took my wife a little longer than with the road bike to demand its immediate transfer to the cage.

These cages aren't that big so with all the other bits and pieces we have tucked away down there it was tight to fit two bikes in, but try I must and in my best real life version of a house of cards, I twisted and turned them, lowered the saddle on one, propped one up against the other and eventually got them to remain still long enough to get the cage door closed. And there they lived in harmony throughout the cold, but mild for Southern Ontario standards, winter of 2011/12.

When it came time to cycle once more it started to become too much of a pain to move the bikes delicately in and out of the cage -- now like a game of Jenga -- without the entire thing collapsing around me. I'll admit I came close a few times but always got away with it. I would take the mountain bike out more often than the road bike returning it washed, dried, oiled and clean to sit with the road bike once more. Did the road bike resent this clean bike returning time and again from its more frequent turns on the roads and dirt trails? If it could, it probably did.

I'm somewhat ashamed to say my road bike hasn't felt the touch of water that wasn't rain since I landed in Canada in August 2008 though I will say the chain is oiled regularly and it does get an annual service by the local bike shop where I don't hesitate to pay for the required replacement parts to keep in running well. With that in mind it is worth noting that in the five and a half years it's been serving me, my road bike has had but three or four flats, one new wheel on the back, one new crank, and one new chain. The thing has been as reliable as any bike there is and I take pride in thinking that my smooth riding has had a say in the lack of mechanical incidents over those six years. Or so I tell myself.

My building also has bike storage rooms, but I had never considered it before. The reason being that it wasn't until late last season that I got the mountain bike and even then it lived in my home until the winter arrived. One bike fitted in the cage nicely and it wasn't until mid-late March that I finally had to start negotiating them in and around one another. With a summer ahead in which I plan to do a lot of cycling, I had to now consider the bike storage room.

So I went for a look and discovered a large room with a dozen or so tangled bits of steel disguised as bikes, locked to a long block of wood that ran along the floor. Could I really make this my bikes new home? Would it be safe in here ... I mean sure I could lock it to the wood but it wouldn't take much to break that lock. Would anyone tamper with it? I added up the likelihood of both, accepted that my bike would be by far the most superior bike in the room, and decided it would be safe enough.

Choosing which bike moved out of the safe confines of the cage and into a shared cell with the most broken down bikes in society didn't take any hesitation. It was the road bike. It had to go and it went without a whisper of complaint.

Which brings me back to what it might have to say about me if it could. From the loan bike stored at one stage in my living room; to spacious storage in the cage; to being pressed against a much newer, much slicker, far cleaner mountain bike; to being moved into the bike room. I doubt it would be impressed. Jealous? Without a doubt. Angry? Absolutely. Out for revenge? Perhaps.

On my ride on Tuesday the dam gears were jumping everywhere anytime I put some pressure on the pedals. Faced with a steep section or a part I wanted to push, the gears would grind, drop down, and if I wan't preparing myself for it, I could well have been thrown off. Was this just age on the chain set or was this something sinister? I'm going with the later if only because the bike has been so kind to me for so many years.

With all that in mind and my own safety at a paramount, I'm going to give the bike a top to bottom cleaning this weekend, get it in for it's annual service, and maybe give it a night in the cage, though ultimately it's going to have to get used to living away from the high class of the mountain bike and in the bike room with the lowlifes. I won't compromise on that and my wife certainly won't compromise on it moving into the living room again.

A battle with my average speed on a ride to start a new month

May. A new month. A chance to get back into the grove. I didn't get a lot of miles in through April which is understandable given the birth of little Zoë, who gives perfect reasons to stay home after a long day at work, but now that we're both getting the hang of this 'being a parent' thing, I'm starting to find that a few days a week I can squeeze a ride in after work.

With that in mind I hope to get more miles in through May to make up for what I didn't do in April. I'm not about to starting knocking out 1000 miles a month like some people seem to have an unlimited supply of time to achieve, but perhaps two or three hundred for the month would be a good start. As May goes on we should get more time up at the lake and with those trips I hope to spend the mornings out on the country roads getting miles in uninterrupted from traffic lights.

My ever becoming beloved Toronto Blue Jays had a so-so month of April when it came to being productive. After a superb training camp that seen them get into the right shape they went through April 12-11 with the bats really letting them down. May however brought a new month and a chance to catch up. They started it with a 8-7 win over the best team in Baseball, the Texas Rangers, and followed it up a day later against the same team with a 11-5 victory. Undefeated (two games, I know) in May heading on a West coast road trip to Anaheim, California, and the batting department of the team finally coming alive.

So much like the Jays and their baseball season, I'm out to really kick start my cycling season with the arrival of May. With that in mind on May 1st I took the road bike out for it's first spin in a while putting in just shy of 20 miles around the Etobicoke area, on suburban streets and park paths in my best effort to avoid as many traffic lights as possible. Naturally that forced me to run into stop signs and so I never truly got into a good flowing rhythmn. But that's part of the territory of city riding and you get used to it... besides the stop/start of it all is like a form of interval training.

When I started my ride and clicked GO on the Garmin the timer, to my dismay, started up. I had it set not to record under 5mph so that my average speed wouldn't be skewed by traffic lights and other uncontrolable slowdowns, but for some reason it was ticking over while I was still putting on my right glove. I hit stop, but twenty some seconds had elapsed with an average speed of 0mph.

You see, I'm a sucker for my average speed. At least when I'm training. It isn't that I care how fast it is, but that it accurately reflects the effort I put in. On the old computer I used prior to going Garmin, I got frustrated no end when I would see my average speed of 17.4mph plummet to under 17mph every time I slowed down at a traffic light. A 50 yard slowdown would inevitably take a good mile of faster riding to make up. So when the Garmin came with a speed calculation cutoff, I was tempted to set it at anything under 14mph though settled for 5mph when I accepted there were plenty of hills I wouldn't be going up at close to 14mph.

Anyway. By the time I did get going it was a couple of miles into the ride at speeds pushing 20mph and the average speed was still sixteen point something. Sometimes I need to tell myself to relax and enjoy the ride and ignore the average speed, but it nags at me regardless. So my nice spin in the suburbs of Toronto turned into a race to push my speed to a level I thought appropriate for the ride I wanted to do. I suppose that kind of training doesn't hurt.

I was satisfied with it in the end after a fast blast through one park, though naturally I got home and wondered what it might have been had it not been recording idly for twenty seconds at the beginning. I'm sad like that really.

Details from Garmin Connect:

And Strava: