Its Racing Time...What Are Your Plans?

2013 Tour of Oman, stage 5 - peloton

Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com

Lot's of exciting news in the cycling world these days to brighten the optimism regarding the outlook of the sport, especially after the dark off-season. We've got racing in Oman, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy through the weekend. On top of that, the Court of Arbitration for Sport corrected what I would call is the UCI's horrible injustice in denying Katusha a world team license. And, stateside, the Tour of California route was announced.

2013 L'Etape du California - Get Ready!!

Recently, the 2013 Amgen Tour of California host cities were announced. In contract to past years, the route will run from the south to the north, starting in Escondido on May 12 and finishing in Santa Rosa on the 19th. Unfortunately, in 2013 there will be no finish atop Mt. Baldy or the "grueling climb" up to Big Bear.For those of us not competing (which is all of us!), what of the L'Etape du California ?

This Is Going To Be An Exciting Month!

Aloha from Maui! As I enjoy my vacation in Maui, doing my tradewinds training, I started to think about about the month ahead.. If you are as passionate about cycling as I am, the next 30 to 45 days is going to be jam packed with top-notch cycling events.

First up are the Olympics. It is the eve of the men's road race and, although it may not have the drama of the Tour or a spring classic, we should be treated to an exciting finish. Considering the way he won the last two sprint stages at the Tour, if Cavendish can avoid the crashes and make it over Box Hill he has a great shot to win gold. Sunday's treat is the women's road race followed by the time trial events on Wednesday. The track events kick off on Thursday through Tuesday the 7th with BMX and Mountain Bike events on Aug 10-12. Not sure if all of the events will be shown by NBC (at least in the US) but definitely check online at Cycling CEO to look for live, online streaming.

Running concurrently during the Olympics are the Eneco Tour in Europe and the Tour of Utah in the US. The Eneco Tour marks the return of Alberto Contador to the peloton. I would expect that he will use this event to get his race legs under him in preparation for the Vuelta.

The Tour of Utah started as a domestic stage race and recently has increased its stature as a UCI World Tour event. The organizers have done a great job of creating stages which, combined with the dry heat, will create some challenging conditions for the riders. Although most of the teams will use this as a preparation for the Pro Cycling Challenge, I expect the domestic pro teams to put on a great show to prove they can compete.

August 18th gives us the start of the last grand tour, the Vuelta a Espana. Bjarne Riis, the Director of Team Saxo Bank/Tinkoff, has stated unequivocally that Contador must win this event. If Joaquim Rodriguez can ride with the same form he showed in the Giro and Chris Froome isn't burned out by having completed the Tour and the Olympics, we should be treated to some great battles in the mountains!

In the US, we will be treated to the second running of the US Pro Cycling Challenge on August 20-26. I am sure we will see some good racing but how good remains to be seen. As a cycling fan, it is great to see professional cycling in the US. As a competitive cyclist, I hope that it is more competitive this year than last year (I thought some of the stages were downright boring to watch!).

As always, if you have questions, comments, thoughts, etc., please leave them below or send me an email. And, if you like what you see here, head on over to the Cycling CEO website to see more exciting information.

Positioning

Last Saturday morning, as the group I was riding with was heading uphill, I came up behind a rider on his time trial bike. This isn't unusual in Southern California as there are a number of triathletes and cyclists who ride these aero steeds. I caught a quick glance as I passed him, made a mental note about his poor position and moved on. The note didn't come to mind again until today when I watched Cadel Evans in the final time trial stage of the 2012 Tirreno Adriatico stage race in Italy.
Now, Cadel is an awesome rider but what I saw today was surprising. Here is a seasoned professional who pays close attention to detail with what appeared to be poor positioning on his time trail bike. If you look at the photo, you will see that he is sitting more upright and his front area is wide open and creating a lot of wind resistance. When these aero bars were introduced in 1988 by Scott, they were designed to mirror the position of a downhill skier, arms out front with a narrow frontal area for aerodynamic purpose.
Which brings me back to Saturday's ride. Because many riders have a road bike and an aero bike, they will often set both bikes up with the same position. However, in doing so, your aero position becomes extremely inefficient. It was clear that this rider had tried to set up his position to match his road bike position, something that I was able to see easily when riding from behind.
My message - there is no one size fits all. In business, we cannot expect that a sales strategy that has led to a successful sale is going to work time and again. What worked last year that led to record revenues may not work this year due to economic changes, customer buying cycles, etc.
If you want to be the most efficient, it is important to have the proper situation or setup. Whether it is in business, sport or life, we need to be adaptable yet attentive to making minor changes that will lead to our success.

Word of the day - Crap!!

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This wasn't exactly what I wanted to write about for my first blog post. But, sometimes you have to take what you are given and go with it. I'll have to save the topic of my first post for another day.

Since it was a sunny but cool day (by Southern California standards) I decided to ride up to the Top of the World in Laguna Beach. The climb itself from the Pacific Coast Highway is just over one mile long but oh what a mile! The hill has an average grade in excess of 10% with the last part of the climb jumping to over 20%! This is a ride I've done numerous times so I knew what to expect. What I didn't expect was the unexpected.

As I turned onto Thalia Street to start the climb, I got out of the saddle and stepped on the pedals. Suddenly, I heard a snap and the sound of my chain hitting the spokes of my real wheel. My first thought was "What the h***??" followed by CRAP!

After frantically popping my feet out of my pedals before I fell over, I looked down to see my chain wrapped around the front chainrings. My first thought was a broken chain, something that is not unheard of.

Upon further inspection, what I saw was that the metal arm on rear derailleur had literally snapped in half with the only thing keeping it together being the internal spring. My day was done before it had hardly begun! Who would've thought that a Shimano derailleur would snap off? Not me but it did. I even took pictures to prove it!

What is the lesson you ask? Preventative maintenance checks cannot be overlooked. For the past week, I had noticed a clicking noise that I attributed to a worn chain being used on a new cassette. During each ride I would remind myself to check it out only to leave it for another day.

Could I have predicted this? Probably not but had I taken a closer look, I might have realized that in fact the chain was ok so perhaps there was a derailleur problem. Here is my advice:

• Listen for any unusual noises coming from your bike. If properly maintained, the only noise you should be hearing, other than the wind past your ears, is the occasional light noise from hub when you are free wheeling.
• After each ride, take a couple of minutes to look your bike over. If you did hear some odd noises, try to isolate the area from where you think it is originating.
• When all else fails, take your bike to a qualified mechanic and explain to them what you are hearing. Your safety isn't worth not doing it.

Happy cycling!