Punching The Clock: The Sunday Ride

What a difference a few days make. On Thursday, Mongo went for a ride with his buddy, Boonen and local legend, Diane. It was sixty degrees and sunny, and we had a brisk cruise for about thirty miles. It was my first ride on the road bike since I almost froze to death a couple of weeks ago, and I felt pretty good. My training on the hills with my mountain bike is legitimately showing results. Mongo is already in pre-negotiations with Chris Carmichael concerning a DVD release of my "Cat 5 Domination Training Method".

Feeling good about myself, Mongo saddled up LPE this afternoon and headed back to the MNR "Hammerfest" loop for another training session. The only problem was that it was thirty eight degrees and I had nothing in my stomach. The good news was that I was dressed properly, the bad news was that I only managed to ingest four hundred calories of fuel.

Mongo pushed hard the whole ride and had a strong performance. I've ridden this course seven times already this Winter. That's exactly seven more times than I did last offseason. By the end of the ride I felt like crap because of the aforementioned lack of food, but I think I might need to do this occasionally to keep my weight loss from hitting a plateau. If nothing else, my discipline has improved and my lameness has declined. There's something to be said for taking the hard way out. The results are more satisfying.

Czechmate

Zdenek Stybar wins the World Championships and confirms his place at the top of the sport. Two Americans finished in the top twenty...Tim Johnson in 14th, and James Driscoll in 19th.

(Photo:CyclingNews)

A Distant Ship's Smoke On The Horizon

"Mr. Vaughters...Even though you enjoy dressing like a cross between Elton John and Mr. Belvedere, and your sideburns are the only things you have left resembling a jawline, I would appreciate it if you would take off your shades and look at me while we do this interview...outside...at night."

(Photo:DanielBenson/CyclingNews)

Mongo Approved: Let The "Juice" Flow

(Photo:DanielBenson/CyclingNews)

Top Twenty?: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Jonathan Page (United States Of America)

Timothy Johnson (United States Of America)

James Driscoll (United States Of America)

Ryan Trebon (United States Of America)

Jeremy Powers (United States Of America)

The Fellowship Of The Ride Haiku

A day in the sun

Surrounded by friends and laughs

This is why we ride

If Douchebags Ride Treks, And This Guy Rides A Trek, Then...

"Heh, heh! I got strong arms...an' this bike's purdy light"

Overheard

"Cadel...I know how it feels to be World Champion, but...you don't have to wear the kit "all" the time!"

(Photo:EpicImages/CyclingNews)

I'm Rolling With Petacchi

You can have young Cavendish, Farrar, or Greipel, but Mongo is on board with "The Jet".

(Photo:CyclingNews)

I Catch A Brief Reflection

"The soul contains the event that shall befall it, for the event is only the actualization of its thoughts, and what we pray to ourselves for is always granted."

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Stupid Is As Stupid Does: Surviving The Ride

It could have been such a great day. All indications leading up to 9:30 am yesterday morning were that I was going to have a strong ride. It didn't really turn out that way...sort of.

Mongo had decided to once again venture into the land of Doctors, Treks, douchebags, Litespeeds, and Cat 1 racers... A fifty-man peloton, 40+ mile, 19.5 average speed, multiple sustained climb, hard-ass ride. Under normal circumstances, depending on whether the racers are feeling frisky, Mongo is hanging on near the end of the line...But after these last couple of months of "Cat 5 Domination" training on LPE, I was feeling pretty good about improving my stock on this ride.

All weather reports from the night before said that it was going to be 51 degrees and partly sunny during the meat of the ride. Since I knew I'd be pushing hard all day, I didn't want to overdress. I felt pretty confident, based on riding in temperatures this Winter from the 20's to the 50's, that I knew what I was doing when it came to layering. Had the weather forecast actually been correct, I would have been fine.

Here's what I was wearing...Shorts/ Short socks/ Two long-sleeve Under Armour base layers/ Short-sleeve jersey/ Scull cap/ Fingerless gloves.

Have you ever left on a long ride and just knew that something was wrong? I had that feeling as soon as I left my driveway. It was overcast, misting rain, and cold as shit. I knew that I was under dressed, and for a split second thought about turning around, but I was running late for the start of the ride and I anticipated the weather forecast playing itself out as advertised. It never did.

While staging in the parking lot, Mongo had to assure at least five guys that I was "indeed" freezing, and that I was neither a douchebag nor from Belgium...and I fully understood how ridiculous I looked. When we rolled out, I knew I was in for a long day.

I won't go into the details of the actual ride itself other than to say I survived. It was honestly the most miserable I've ever been on a bike for a sustained period of time. There was even a brief moment where I didn't think I'd make it. My toes, fingers, forearms, and ass, were all numb and useless because of the cold. It misted rain most of the ride, the wind gusted to 20 mph consistently, and the temperature never got above 40 degrees. But...Mongo hung tough, never cramped, and finished ahead of about eight people. All things considered, I was proud of my effort. I have no doubt that had I not been half way to hypothermia, all of my Winter training would have paid off nicely.

I Really Should Be Paying More Attention

Mongo has to admit that I don't normally pay much heed to the Tour Down Under. It's usually populated by has-beens, never-weres, and mabe-somedays. My Pro Cycling juices really don't get flowing until the peloton hits the monochromatic countryside and unwavering flats of Qatar. There's just something special about an endless horizon of sand, oil wells, Sheiks, Supermodel-quality "companions", Rolls-Royces, and of course, Camels.

That being said, the TDU this year is chock full of stars. "Slappy", "Mellow Johnny", "BanVerde", "Face Spinnaker"...they're all here for one reason or another. It's a race set up for sprinters to take the overall, but this time around, even though Andre Greipel has won three stages, Cadel and a few others have made things interesting.

One of Mongo's favorite riders, "L.L. Cool 'Chez", wins Stage 5 in a classic battle with Evans, Valverde, and a fast closing peloton full of sprinters.

(Photo:Mark Gunter/CyclingNews)

Manuel Cardoso Loves God

"Thank you, God, for letting me be the Portuguese National Champion...so that on the first stage win for my new team, I wouldn't be dressed like this."

(Photo:John Veage/CyclingNews)