Sunday, October 07, 2007

Sunday Roundup

It's gonna be slow for news, as both of us are occupied much of the day.

News

The CyclingNews reports Michael Rasmussen is waiting for the results of a UCI investigation before he makes any plans, and the Spanish refuse to assist in the Ullrich investigation.

The Mt Diablo Challenge was held today. TBV in his first ever timed event, achieved all personal goals and smoked Floyd Landis, who assisted immeasurably by not showing up. A Landis spokesperson did not say, "he never committed to the event, is very busy with other things, and really, really needs to give the dogs a bath today. Stop pestering him about it." We are mystified by what else could be occupying his time, but do appreciate that dogs can smell bad if not bathed regularly.

One other Phonak jersey was seen, and we got one "Does the EPO help?" (evidently not) and one "Free Floyd" from riders who passed us. Pommi did not catch up and pass TBV, so he will undoubtedly retire in shame. The 10 minute head start because of start waves helped. His 1:24:29 was 306/393 in age group; my 1:28:51 was 131/171 with a stop for a "natural break". Both of us were carrying 1:30 goals, and met.

The PowerTap, a vital tool, gave 3 PRs for power/time at 5, 30 and 60 minutes, and two PRs for splits on the mountain. I fell apart, as usual, from Juniper to the Summit.

Blogs
Rant wonders why anyone would challenge a system when it's pretty certain to be a loss. For example, there is Curt Flood, who challenged Baseball's "reserve clause".

Cosmic Chronicles
wants Floyd Landis, and other "cheaters", to make room for newly disgraced athlete Marion Jones.

8 comments:

GMR said...

TBV

Was it the new chain on the bike that helped you race to the finish or the Phonak jersey that boosted your power? You haven't mentioned timings....are you making us wait?

Congrats!!

DBrower said...

GMR, I don't have the official time yet; it wasn't posted when I went down. I know my unofficial time may not be right because of a "natural break" that would have stopped the cycling computer, so I'm being cautious.

TBV

Pommi said...

2007 Diablo Challenge results:
http://www.doitsports.com/groups/results/timers-calendar.tcl?group_id=105

daniel m (a/k/a Rant) said...

TBV,

Well done. And good job, Pommi, too.

- Rant

strbuk said...

TBV great job, sorry I have been tasting wine all day. Floyd must have stinky dogs indeed, you and all who did Diablo deserve kudos!!

str

Unknown said...

I imagine that not too many riders with times around 1:30 had powermeters.

TiGirl said...

Aloha Ritterview...

I'd like to offer a different point of view on the powermeter/time issue....

Most of the athletes I coach are beginners, and just into cycling/triathlon for fun and fitness, (non-competitive) yet 90% of them have a PowerTap. (A few have the iBike)

Regardless of where one is at fitness-wise, a powermeter is a useful tool to reach one's goals. They are a good way to measure improvements (note TBV's PBs!!!), great for pacing in a ride like Diablo, and a really fun and interesting gadget!!

My athletes really like being able to measure their progress (or lack thereof! LOL), and then go home and download the charts and look at their rides.

Can you tell I really like my PowerTap??? (and no, I'm not a paid employee, or even related...not even a bike shop employee.... just a VERY satisfied customer)

I also highly recommend the Vitamix 5000.... ha!

Have a nice day!
Kate

And congrats to TBV and Pommi and all those other hill-climbing maniacs...I'm soooo envious!!!

DBrower said...

I was looking around at the start, and I figured that my used bike with the demo powertap probably still cost less than the median of what was there.

When I was investing in equipment, I figured the data was going to help me improve performance more than having exposed carbon.

TBV