I got a chance to redeem myself at the Highway to Heaven Hill Climb this past Saturday after having to abandon a completely disappointing Tour de Christiana the weekend prior due to a lingering respiratory infection and an anomalous knee flare up. I like riding up hills, especially steep ones, so I was excited for […]
In the words of Aesop Rock, holy smokes! I did my hill sprint workout today on Ilchester Road in Ellicott City, which is the course for this Saturday’s hill climb time trial. It’s only .9 miles long, but it is brutal. The first section, especially, at an 18% gradient. Every competitive cyclist must be somewhat […]
The wedding excitement has been pretty consuming, but I have been racing my bike. Last Saturday was the Pleasant Valley Road Race out in western Maryland. This was the most brutal race I’ve ever done. The course wasn’t really that tough, but at 100-degrees with humidity, the weather proved to be a huge factor. Mostly […]
So, you ride a great race. You stay out of trouble and tucked in the bunch. You cover a couple attacks to show that you’re willing to work and to avoid the post-finish line snide remarks (”Dude, that guy just sat in the entire time and didn’t work at all. What an…). You hammer to […]
How Brian Becomes Irritable During a 2.5 Hour Bike Ride
Headwind going out and coming back
Bitch in SUV insists on passing me on a descent despite the fact I am traveling in excess of 50mph
Gears keep slipping on steep climbs
90-degree heat plus humidity
Bad pavement
For most people who don’t follow professional cycling, I imagine the sport seems like a very individual pursuit. But teamwork—an often overlooked portion of professional cycle racing—plays an incredibly important role. The only race that Americans pay ay attention to is the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong’s 7-year dominance of it before his retirement […]
Okay, it’s been a while since we’ve commented on the world of professional cycling here at SLN, but it’s about time to chime in on recent developments. First a quick question: In Lance Armstrong’s last two Tours de France, name the only two riders who were able to stay with him on some of the […]
Stats: Time: 3:04:40; Distance: 51.67 miles; Avg Watts: 172; Kilojoules: 1906.
Playlist: Warren G, “Regulate”; Amerie, “1 Thing”; Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, “Déjà Vu (Uptown Baby)”; Lupe Fiasco, “The Instrumental”; Jay-Z, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”; Gorillaz, “November Has Come”; Lupe Fiasco, “Kick, Push”; Jay-Z, “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”; Kanye West, “Drive Slow”; […]
No! No! No! Please, Floyd. Say it ain’t so! I hate myself for thinking this, but when the UCI announced yesterday that one rider had tested positive for a banned substance during this year’s Tour, I immediately thought the worst—was it possible that Floyd’s Stage 17 epic was simply too spectacular? Like, illegal spectacular? My […]
An appropriate image on the eve of the Tour’s first big day in the mountains. Will there be a major sorting out tomorrow? I’m not even going to hazard a guess. However, I’ll wager that Rasmussen puts in a big KOM bid on Thursday. [Image courtesy of Brother Pachucki.]