Me ride 299km? What, in a week?

Even that's doubtful these days. In my heyday I rode Sydney (ie Surry Hills) to the Blue Mountains (ie Katoomba) and back (that's 200km) for fun and 200km races for the jolly experience of it all, but 299 in a day? No, not ever. So to finish - let alone win - the Melbourne to Warrnambool (the 'Warnie') is simply miraculous, and these guys pulled off exactly that miracle.

I do wonder about the physiology of it all. I found that doing 500-700km a week gave me great endurance but knocked my pace down a notch. Which is to say I suffered in crits something fierce. But 200-300km a week was just perfect for club A-grade crits and my sprint came back. Occasionally I'd do 500, but anything above 200km was a bonus.

And come the track season the big winter road miles (Aussies do their road racing in winter) had built my strength up, so it was a case of simply dropping the miles back and sharpening up.OTOH if I'd had a slack road season I needed 400km a week and maybe some weights to get up to speed.

Even when doing those almost-slack 200km weeks I could still jump on the bike and ride Sydney to the Central Coast and back in a day (200km) with my time each way almost exactly the same. I had 'endurance memory' locked into my legs, I guess. But I seem to have lost it in the last 7 years or so. Back then I was knocking over 100km in 3 hours or less on my own, now I'm cramping after 50 and crawling home. Could it be my age? Nahhh. I've just slacked off the miles, haven't I?

Evans leads the CQ rankings

The what? The CQ rankings, for Cycling Quotient, a la IQ. Hmmm. Well it's designed to plug a gap that the UCI left when they opted for the ProTour, anyway. And now Aussie Cadel Evans leads both the ProTour and the CQ standings.

The CQ is comprehensive and gives us loads of stats on every pro race, all year long. Can't be bad, eh?

ProTour winner Evans on his season

Cadel Evans seems the least-rated contender no matter where or when he is racing. He's generally acknowledged as one of several contenders but always with a qualification of some sort. Either someone else is stronger or has won more recently, or Evans is tired, or perhaps injured. It never seems as though the guy is really likely to win, like Armstrong, Ullrich or Basso were and Bettini, Contador and Di Luca are now. Yet he's so consistent, when he gets the chance. Perhaps it's his quiet demeanor. After such a great 2007 maybe 2008 will be different for Cadel.

Interesting overview of his season, here at Cyclingnews.com.: Cadel Evans won the ProTour classification on Saturday after a consistent stream of steady results over the past four months. Before the Giro di Lombardia, he talked about his performances in the Vuelta a España and world road race championships, the Tour Down Under's graduation to the ProTour calendar, his plans for the months ahead and his Olympic aspirations.

Yes, that's quick

The 2007 Masters World Track champs are being held in Sydney right now, and I have to say (as a master myself) that's damned quick...1 David Le Grys (GBr) 0.34.14 (52.73 km/h)

I've done just one timed 500m run on Sydney's Tempe velodrome, a 40.09sec effort. I reckon I could get below 40 with some practice... but under 35secs?? Yikes!

Rider diaries are always fun

You have to be there to really experience it, but any racing cyclist can imagine themselves riding with Stuart O'Grady, can't they? Maybe Stuey jumps on your wheel as you attack the C-grade bunch, ha ha, or you come around him and take the sprint win? Well, maybe. Or maybe we should just read the rider diaries during stage races and get a feel for what it really feels like. From cyclingresults.net:After joking around with Stu Shaw, saying “I hope you have your sprinting legs on Stu”, with him replying “They’ll be on as long as you get your attacking legs on.” I decided I better do my part and got up the front jumping on everything I could. At around 25km to go, there was a break at around 30secs and I thought I should one more time. I looked around to find only Stuart O’Grady on my wheel, and along with him managed to bridge across. I must say, after only a month on the bike I was absolutely on the max just holding his wheel, but it was a pretty exciting experience for me.

As the season winds down... Steegmans wins again

Gert Steegmans is certainly proving his worth as a sprinter - not that we doubted that, having seen his explosive lead-out work for McEwen and Boonen in the past. He's done it again in the Circuit Franco-Belge with 2 wins and the overall (results via Cyclingnews.com):
1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick.Step - Innergetic 16.58.00 2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team 0.04 3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 0.14 4 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 0.16 5 Marco Marcato (Ita) Team L.P.R. 6 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole 0.17 7 Allan Davis (Aus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.18 8 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 9 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Quick.Step - Innergetic 0.20 10 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick.Step - Innergetic 0.21 11 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 0.23 12 Hervé Duclos Lassalle (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 13 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 14 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quick.Step - Innergetic 15 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 16 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 0.24 17 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 18 Aliaksandr Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance 0.25 19 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 20 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.26

Plenty of Aussies in that list, too.

A state of general unease

Does anyone else feel uneasy about this? Is it just me? Am I just a doubter by nature?

From Cyclingnews.com:Spanish media reported Wednesday that current Tour de France winner Alberto Contador was close to signing with Astana. Along with Contador would come Johan Bruyneel in a management role. Both Bruyneel and Contador are free to find new teams effective December 31, when their current Discovery Channel team comes to an end.

Maybe it's fate and it will all turn out for the best.

Sulzberger gets 2nd at U23 Worlds

From CN:Peter Velits of Slovakia powered to the head of the sprint to become Under 23 World Champion. The 22 year-old successfully capped off the 171.9-kilometre day that was marked by numerous escapes. Two bike lengths back at the finish were Australian Wesley Sulzberger in second and Brit Jonathan Bellis in third.

Hey, it's the World's. You can't complain about 2nd, Wes, surely?

Protour: Tour de France out, Tour Down Under in

Bizarre. But true! The Tour de France (and the other grand tours of Italy and Spain, for that matter) has excused itself from the ProTour, and the Aussies are in instead. Of course it's meaningless outside of recognising the very real break in relations between the grand tour organizers and the UCI, but it's fun to play with the idea that the Tour Down Under has replaced the TdF... from CN: The first non-European ProTour event status has been awarded to the the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia the UCI announced on Thursday. The South Australian race will kick off the 2008 ProTour calendar on January 22. With the exclusion of the Grand Tours from the ProTour calendar, the UCI will now focus more efforts globally, and the Australian race is the first beneficiary of the new direction for the series.

Luke Cridland - great result but...

Why do kids have to grow up so fast? Luke was just a little tacker hanging with his mum and dad at the Heffron Park crits and now he's doing this sort of stuff: Cridland 3rd in 8th stage of the Tour de Nouvelle Calédonie Young FRF NSWIS rider Luke Cridland has ridden an amazing race to finish 3rd on the 8th of the Tour de Nouvelle Calédonie. The 8th stage, which traveled from Bourail to the Mission de Nakety, saw large time gaps across the field. Results 1 Samuel Rouyer (Fra) AS Police SLN - Kleenex 2.44.24 (39.8 km/h) 2 Tom Hanover (NZl) Hot Cycle New Zealand 2 1.09 3 Luke Cridland (Aus) F.R.F. Australia 4 Mike Michel Villaz (Fra) Champion / New Caledonia 3.33 5 John Ebeling (Aus) F.R.F. Australia 6 Vincent Garin (Fra) Lyon Sprint Evolution 3.37 7 Ralph Justin (NZl) New Zealand 1 8 Jérome Maillot (Fra) Savexpress 9 Brodie Talbot (Aus) AS Police SLN - Kleenex 3.40 10 Jérome Bonnace (Fra) Champion / New Caledonia 5.24 11 Tony Hurel (Fra) SFAC. Via cyclingresults.

Goulburn to wherever it goes now

It was the Goulburn to Sydney, reversing to be the Sydney to Goulburn; then it was shortened due to traffic hassles, to end at Liverpool, 30km or so west of Sydney. It was still 200km, it was still tough. I did it 3 times to no good effect, either puncturing on Governor's Hill a mere 5km out of town or getting dropped with about 50km to go. I could never get it right. So even now, shortened to finish at Camden, some 50km out of Sydney, it's a race that commands my respect. To finish it is fabulous, but a top20 is magnificent:
1 Robert Williams (Drapac Porsche) 4.13.20 2 Shaun Higgerson (South Australia.com-AIS) 0.18 3 Mitchell Pearson 4 Joshua Wilson (Praties Cycling Team) 0.19 5 Stuart Shaw (Drapac Porsche) 2.11 6 Nash Kent (Equity IT) 7 Cameron Hughes (Ord Minnett Racing Team) 2.12 8 Ben Mather (Praties Cycling Team) 9 Brendan Brooks (FRF - NSWIS) 2.14 10 Steven Robb 2.15 11 William Ford (South Australia.com-AIS) 2.17 12 Peter Mcdonald (FRF - NSWIS) 13 Blair Martin 2.18 14 Robert Hodgson * 2.19 15 Angus Morton (Drapac Porsche) 2.26 16 Gilbert Gutowski (Ord Minnett Racing Team) 2.54 17 Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett Racing Team) 3.12 18 Nicholas Sanderson (South Australia.com-AIS) 3.13 19 Dean Windsor (Drapac Porsche) 20 Dale Scarfe (Team FSA) (via Cyclingresults).

Vuelta 2007 Stage 21: Menchov grabs the glory

Menchov takes the overall, Petacchi nosed out of the stage win by Bennati, yet again. Cadel finishes 4th. Not bad all round.

From CN: "This is the biggest success of my career," said the quiet Russian, who has ridden for Rabobank since 2005. Menchov, who lives in Pamplona, Spain, was also awarded the victory in the 2005 Vuelta after Roberto Heras' doping disqualification. "But you can't compare that with the win today," he said.

Steegmans: the Boonen you have when you don't have Boonen

Gert delivered, Graeme missed it - just. Tour de Rijke. From CN: 1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 4.24.30 (44.915 km/h) 2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 3 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Team Wiesenhof Felt 4 Borut Bozichz (Slo) Team LPR 5 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 6 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 7 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 8 Frederic Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner 9 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 10 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astana

Vuelta 2007 Stage 20: Sanchez takes another

Nice to see Samuel Sanchez and his Euskaltel-Euskadi team do so well in this race, but still a shame to see Evans knocked back another peg, and off the podium. It was on the cards after yesterday's faltering stage but given his still-recent efforts in Le Tour probably not surprising to see him now off his peak. Good to see Menchov claim the title without relying upon a doping-disqual this time. He was probably motivated to prove he was worthy without relying upon the failings of others. Or he just like to win.

From CN: Samu' has taken a step onto the final Vuelta a España podium in style. 29 year-old Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the 20-kilometre time trial in Villalba by 12 seconds over Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and 14 over Stef Clement (Bouygues Telecom) in third. By winning his third stage of the 2007 Vuelta and gaining 19 seconds over Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) he was able to move up onto the podium - a position he should keep when the three-week race concludes tomorrow in Madrid.

Vuelta a Espana 2007 Stage 19: Sanchez snatches it

2 stage wins now for Sanchez and he moves to within seconds of 3rd place overall. Tomorrow is a 20km TT and it hard to imagine Evans giving up any time to anyone at this stage, especially so since he lost time on this stage to a glued-on Menchov and an aggressive Sastre, dropping one place in the process. Still, Cadel obviously suffered today and may be at the edge...

General classification after stage 19 1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 77.59.17 2 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 3.02 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 3.49 4 Samuel Sánchez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3.58

Vuelta a Espana 2007 Stage 18: Rodriguez snatches stage

It was a more tactical, difficult stage and a big break got going, with Luis Perez Rodriguez first over the line. Evans and Menchov proved strongest, but Sastre the most aggressive and dangerous to the leaders. Efimkin weakened, dropping to 4th overall. Evans now 2nd, with Menchov looking solid on top of the GC.

From CN: Luis Pérez Rodriguez has signed off on 13 years as a professional cyclist in style. The 33 year-old Spaniard of Andalucia-Cayasur, who will retire on Sunday, won the 18th stage of the Vuelta a España to Ávila. Pérez Rodriguez powered clear of an escape group of race overall favourites at 10 kilometres to go.

Vuelta a Espana 2007 Stage 17: Bennati beats 'em all

Stung by non-selection for the Worlds or not, Daniele Bennati proved up to the task of beating fellow countrymen Bettini and Petacchi to the line...

From CN: "It is not very easy to win, especially in the Vuelta, which is a great tour," explained Bennati after the win. "This is the third week; I did the whole Tour de France recently. I am so very happy because my condition is very good. I am really happy."

Vuelta a Espana 2007 Stage 16: Put up your Duques

A Columbian shows off both his attacking and climbing prowess to take the stage, but nothing moves at the head of GC. Who will take the initiative in the remaining tough, mountainous stages? Will Menchov look to cement his lead, or will Efimkin and Evans take turns in doing him over?

7 hours on a bike... do you have to ask why?

Turning those pedal for 7 hours. From Grafton on NSW's north coast to Inverell, inland and high up over the escarpment... 230-odd kilometres of fun, fun, fun in the wind and sun. I say this from personal experience. Well, I almost made it - once - anyway. You'll see all of the winners - and any finisher is a winner - and the 2007 DNF's on this list at CyclingResults.

In 1987 I was on that DNF list, disgusted that Dave, the only guy left in my "bunch" wanted to quit just short of Glen Innes (about 180km or so from the start). So disgusted that I stopped too, threw my bike down (gently) and tossed my $100 Oakley glasses into a ditch. Now it seems harsh that I even slightly blame Dave (sorry Dave), and it was my fault that I was riding with Dave and not with the winning bunch, but there's more to this than meets the expensive US-made eyeglasses. 50km to go doesn't seem much unless you have already ridden 180km. And when you have what bike riders call a "sag" wagon following you, waiting to pick you up when your physical and/or mental day is over, and that wagon is now following just you, or just me as it now was, the pressure mounts really fast. Do I keep everyone enthralled, watching me creep along, or do I swallow my pride and say, 'oh well, that bike racing!'. Now 50 kilometres in that terrain when already exhausted can easily mean another hour and a half, or even 2 hours if the wheels really fall off. That could be a nine hour day on the pushie. So I quit.

Years later I went back to the same spot (believe me, it's etched into my memory forever) to look for my Oakleys. A forlorn gesture I know, but I had to stand there again and relive the pain... at least in some measure. They weren't there, or not visibly anyway. Now is that closure, or do I have to go back and ride the darn thing again?

McEwen makes it 3 in a row

I guess if you are going to have to sit out the Vuelta you may as well make the best of it. Is 3 in a row a good consolation prize?

From Cyclingresults.net:
Queensland’s Robbie McEwen has won his 3rd straight and 4th in total Paris-Bruxelles, edging out Brit Jeremy Hunt and Colombian Honorio Machado. Victorian Baden Cooke just missed out on a podium position for 4th.