Levi, did you screw your teammate?

(Warning: only bike racing content.)
(also: I dont like Levi. I do like Horner)
Last stage of the ATOC. Horner bridges up to the lead group. Why? Horner Leads out the sprint... why?

Results after the TT
1 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC-Columbia 29:46:06
2 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Transitions 0:00:09
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:00:25
4 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0:01:12
5 Rory Sutherland (Aus ) Unitedhealthcare Presented by Maxxis 0:01:26
6 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack 0:01:32

Last 10 minutes of the race.


-Horner needs 1:32. He has 45 seconds with 5.7 to go.
-Langeveld is on the front of the chase group. Im sure Rogers put some money in his pocket.
- 50 seconds at 5k
-4.4k to go POPOVICH is on the front
-3.7k to go Radioshack has 2 guys on the front!
-3.5k to go Horner is riding like a guy not interested in a stage win.
-3.3k to go Does Hincappie have a freaking pink back wheel?

They do not show the yellow jersey group from here.

@7:10 Rogers pulls off and the Radioshack train is chasing full charge.

-Horner looks back, sees nobody and drills it from 1k.

Results of the stage
1 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Transitions 3:21:56
2 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
3 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick Step
4 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack
5 Oscar Pujol Munoz (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:00:05
6 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:28
7 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack


Final GC
1 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC-Columbia 33:08:30
2 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Transitions 0:00:09
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:00:25
4 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack 0:01:04




So the question is, if Radioshack sat on Rogers could Horner have gotten the 25 seconds to take the podium form Levi? What about the 34 to take 2nd from Dave Z or even the 1:04 to WIN THE RACE OUTRIGHT?

So much for the "dark horse" strategy.

Also from a strategy point of view. If Ryder H still won, Horner would have beaten him on GC even with the bonus time. Ryder would have finished 2nd, same as Dave Z his teammate. I think Garmin hates Columbia or whatever, so maybe they would have liked to have seen them not win.

bike racing. bike racing. bike racing.

Real bike racing:

If you have not been watching the Giro, you should catch up. World Cycling Channel 2 on youtube is amazing. Stages 7 and 8 had the excitement of the classics, but were in the middle of a grand tour. Amazing.


Other bike racing:
Saturday
Did the legendary Poolesville race near DC. The race is characterized by a 1.4 mile dirt road every lap, for seven laps. By dirt, they mean gravel. Note to self: when a race is "characterized" by something, whether its a hill or a certain stretch of road, it would make sense to check that bit of the course out beforehand. The first lap I was kind of amazed by the road that we were on. Pretty awesome.

Rowley looked good, and I think the course suited him. So where do you ride to avoid crashes? At the front right? There was break right in front of us, some super strong dude started drilling it, then totally stacked it. He was on the front and he crashed. Bummer. Killed the chase a good bit too.

Otherwise the race was cool. It is not fun being up against teams of super strong dudes when they all have 5-9 guys. It is almost as unfair as deep carbon wheels.
Anyway.

I dont want to talk smack on a stupid blog, but Joe Whitman rode like a total stud. He almost brought the break back on his own. I did some chasing and attacking, but Joe bossed that. There was a PRO dude who missed the break who did not see wind until 3 miles to go. I dont really care, but he yelled at me at one point to close a gap. Maybe it is a game he plays with himself to see how long he can go until actually seeing wind (even after missing the move) and I forced him to lose against himself. Whatever.


yeah we stopped at mother truckers

Sunday
Went to Ohio for an OMBC mountain bike race at The Wilds. I got second there last year and thought that I could maybe win. I would really like to win a bike race at some point. Anyway, it was for sure not my course. Tons of roots and rocks. Like afterward, dudes who are like mountain bike racers with hairy legs and stuff were saying that it was technical, which made me feel better about myself.

Anyway, rode with the front group for most of the race. Me and another dude, Ben Ortt. I dab, he rides away. He had the place dialed and was riding way smooth. I had to ride alone for like 5 miles maybe, and hit maybe 45% of the trees during that time. I was just trying to chase him back, and was trying in a way that was not smooth, and not successful. Oh well. Lost by 12 seconds or so. The dude that beat me was a good dude. At one point I took the long way where a trail split, and he took the short, he totally waited up for the 5 seconds I had to bridge up.

Cheating.

Worse than doping? A denver post story about a 36 year old who raced in place of a 40 year old to sandbag the Women's 40-49 age class of the Leadville 100. Apparently the woman was injured and could not race, so she gave the entry to her friend. However, in the end, the (injured non racing) woman took the award.

What the hell is wrong with people?

Bumper Bike

This is for people not from Pittsburgh.
"Bumper Bike" as he is known locally is one of the most visible cyclists in Pittsburgh.
He is really stoked on life each time I see him. He doesnt care if you are on a fixie, in spandex, or on a junk bike, he will still smile and be stoked. He even offers to hook up your bike for you.











Pics taken from the bike-pgh board.

Come and Gone by Joe Parkin

Sorry to redirect, but I got to review the new book by Joe Parkin.

http://urbanvelo.org/come-gone-by-joe-parkin/



Yes, I can read.