Pre Tour lull

Many things to get to today since it has been a long time since I last wrote, but hey, I've been riding. I have been reading a spectacular group of essays by Marco Pinotti (Team BMC) on cycling and how to be a professional bike racer and all around intelligent guy, called "The Cycling Professor". It's available on Amazon or Kindle for cheap, check it out. Would love to interview him but don't know what I would ask since most things were covered in the book. He is a pro's pro who is against all forms of doping and in my opinion is doing cycling the right way, at least from what I read. Needless to say i will be pulling for him in the TT's in the Tour, provided he is riding. He is also a good follow on Twitter although you may have to translate from Italian.

Next is the Tour de Suisse. First of all, the stage to Crans Montana was epic. Ryder Hesjedal was very impressive, riding most of the climb in the big ring. 0|0. Its too bad he crashed the next day and was taken to hospital. He may still ride the Tour, so be on the lookout for some crazy climbing form from him. Rui Costa was impressive in the final uphill time trial to take the win. I felt bad for Mathias Frank, as he rode his ass off to maintain his lead all week only to lose it on the last stage. However, he is young and should be one to watch over the next few years. Tejay Van Garderen also looked strong until the last day when it looked like he went a little hard on the flat part of the uphill TT and cracked big time on the climb. Or maybe he does not want to show his cards before the Tour. Who knows. All in all though a very entertaining race and absolute beautiful coverage by BeInSport USA. Their HD coverage can be pretty spectacular. 

So here I sit, biding my time until June 29th, spewing all sorts of propaganda. I "accidentally" purchased a Castelli Gabba jacket on ebay last week and let me tell you, if you live in a wet, cold part of the world, get one, no matter the cost. It was perfect for the June gloom weather in the early morning in California last weekend. It was a little misty rain and about 60 degrees and I was warm and dry and focused on riding instead of the weather. Even set a few Strava PR's, which I usually only do in sunny weather. The long sleeves zip off to reveal an elbow length short sleeve that is perfect with arm warmers, if the sleeves get too hot. The cut is long in the back to keep the drops from chilling your spine and tight and aero in the front. End of shameless plug. 

Well, its time to go get the form right for the Tour. Everybody put in some hard miles so you can peak for the final stage on the Champs.