Catching The Draft

Yesterday, while cruising along at the beginning of my Saturday “training” ride and not quite warmed up (even though the ambient temperature was plenty warm), another cyclist passed me and said hello. Not wanting to miss out on a good opportunity to save a bit of energy, I jumped on his wheel and rode with him until we got to the quaint little town of Port Washington. I hadn’t set out to go quite that far, but a nice tailwind and a good draft got us there pretty quickly.

By the time we rolled up to the local gas station so Steve, my new-found compatriot, could reload his water bottles, it was just about an hour since I’d left home. Not bad. I figured on doing about two hours on the bike. This was going to work out quite nicely.

I didn’t realize just how much of a boost we’d gotten until we started heading back. Steve did most of the pulling on the way out to Port Washington, so I obliged by doing quite a bit of the work on the way back. I think he got the better end of the deal, given how strong the headwind was as we returned, although I didn’t look back long enough to see whether he was in the prime draft or not.

Along the way, we talked about a number of things. Eventually, given two cyclists riding along this time of year, the talk turns to the Tour. And last year’s Tour. Steve hadn’t kept up on most of the details of the Floyd Landis case, but he knew a bit. By the time we parted ways and I headed home, he’d come to realize just what a clusterf*#k of a case USADA, et. al. have been trying to make against Floyd Landis. And he was a bit more enlightened about how the majority of the media have covered the story — poorly — though, I’d have to say, not all that surprised. Trial by media is a pretty well-known phenomenon these days.

Score one more supporter for the Landis cause. And speaking of supporting the Landis cause…

Floyd Landis will be in the Chicago area tomorrow and Tuesday, doing a couple of book signings at Borders in Wheaton, IL on Monday evening and at the Borders in downtown Chicago on Tuesday evening. I don’t know how much space they’ve devoted to the book signing, but you might want to get there early to get a seat for the brief remarks ahead of the signing.

Robbie McEwen Scores A Real Come-From-Behind Victory

Yes, my wife and I watched the last bits of coverage of today’s stage, from London to Canterbury. Much of it I watched with the DVR on fast forward, stopping whenever something interesting happened. But once the last 45 minutes of coverage came `round, we set the DVR to normal playback, fast-forwarding through the remaining commercials so we could keep up with the race.

I’ll be too busy to watch much more of the Tour, but today’s finish was a treat. Robbie McEwen staged a real come-from-behind victory, after getting tangled up in a mishap and being catapulted over his handlebars. By the way he was racing, it appeared he might have hurt his wrist. The incident left him and a number of others off the back of the main peloton, chasing hard during the final kilometers to catch back to the group.

The thought that he might win once he caught back on to the main bunch seemed a unlikely, as he would need to fight through a mass of riders to get to the front. And somehow, he did exactly that. In the final few hundred meters of the race, McEwen seemed to come out of nowhere, launching a blistering sprint past the riders at the front of the peloton, and charging to victory. Quite exciting. Thor Hushovd managed to get the best of Tom Boonen, as they finished second and third, respectively.
Those who watch the Tour over the coming days should expect at least a few more exciting finishes like that, as the next week should showcase all the usual sprinter suspects. I’ll be traveling hither and yon for the next four days, so watching Tour coverage probably won’t be in the cards. There’s always the Internet, however, and no shortage of places to see who placed in the day’s racing.

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I’ll be posting coverage of Monday’s book signing either late Monday night or Tuesday morning. If you live within driving distance of Chicago, take the time to attend. You won’t be disappointed.