Wannabe Bike Girl

Edvald Boasson Hagen has a lot going for him. He’s young, he’s strong, he’s Norwegian Time Trial champion (best everyone’s favorite Norwegian, Thor Hushovd). And, best of all? He’s winning.

When I first hear that Hagen was going to T-Mobile, I was upset (same with Mr. Thomas Lövkvist). But, it turns out that T-Mobile went away, replaced by High Road and … Even though they have Hincapie, who I don’t like, the team is pretty awesome. Which was totally a surprise for me.

Speaking of surprises, unrelated to Boasson Hagen though, Slipstream turned out to be a dud for me. Not the team or their accomplishments, but the fact that they changed their style (in my eyes). Last season they were this upstart, US team with nothing to lose. This season they’ve imported talent — good talent, don’t get me wrong. But it feels like a thrown together team. I know that, really, this is an off year, but I miss the fun that was Slipstream last year.

I think I’m just too picky and spoiled to be a Slipstream fan, which sucks because I like Steven Cozza, Trent Lowe, and Lucas Euser. I liked the NY Times article my mother sent me last year. I like how these guys are really dedicated. But I just don’t like the team. I suppose I had it coming. I have always said that it’s hard for me to like teams in cycling. Never hard for me to dislike them, just hard to like. I had that problem, even when I liked Christian Werner on T-Mobile, hell even back in the days when I liked Hamilton and Armstrong (ugh). I think that maybe the only team I really liked completely was FDJ, and that didn’t last.

Anyway, I lost the point somewhere around here. Just that while High Road isn’t my favorite, I do like Boasson Hagen and I especially like it when he wins things.

Photo (c) jaydoubleyougee @ flickr.

It’s becoming harder and harder for me to watch cycling. And before you jump to any conclusions, let me make a couple of things clear. This post has nothing to do with the price of cycling.tv, nor the availability of free streams or doping in any way. Instead, this has to do with the way my life has changed. And what I say when I mean watching cycling, is really everything that goes with it. Watching and following it online (whether at cyclingnews or Podium Cafe).

None of this is related to doping, which I am sure many people expect. But, instead, this is directly related to working. I go to bed early and get up early or I got to bed late and get up late. My sleep schedule is directly related to one thing — work. The thing that makes cycling different from soccer is that cycling tends to go on longer, the start times aren’t readily available to me (at least not as easily as the soccer ones) and most of the races tend to start when I’m rushing around getting ready for work.

Really, I love going to work at 9 am on a Saturday morning (I work every Saturday, just so you know). I’m not really whining about my inability to watch, mostly the fact that it’s a pain in the ass. Especially this year. For the first time my boys are doing well. Or at least they were (kidding, I know they’ll win again). But this is the year that I feel the only race I can watch in full will probably be the TDF and only if Verses is showing it and I can record it. Otherwise, I just don’t have the time.

And now for the thing that’ll shock some of you. I don’t care that I can’t watch. I get far too much into sports and my emotions are wrapped up in the riders (players/teams) that I love. And when they lose, it’s like I’m losing (read this to see what I mean). Which means that watching this stuff is stressful. We’re talking nerve-wracking, stomach twisting, make myself sick kind of stress. Yes, I know this makes no sense and it’s probably unhealthy, but this is how I am a fan. I already follow so many sports that watching one less live is much better for me. Of course, that doesn’t stop me completely from having an emotional response. I practically cried when Sylvain won some of the races/stages.

I get emotional about sports, it’s who I am. And cycling is clearly no exception. I miss watching cycling, up to a point. I don’t miss hating the riders who win when my boys don’t. I don’t miss the heart-in-throat moments as the finish line approaches. But I do miss the excitement, the thrill of watching my favorite rider cross the line. But the world rolls on without me, it’s not necessary for me to watch every race that Sylvain races in. Last year I watched almost every single match Arsenal played. I can’t do it this year and I had to tell myself that it’s not that important. I watch what I can and that’s okay. And the same applies to cycling.

Not being able to watch the races doesn’t make me less of a fan. It might make me disconnected and out of touch, but it doesn’t mean I love the sport any less, because I don’t.

(The Dwars door Vlaanderen picture in the post was taken by lieven_vs @ flickr).

I haven’t posted about this, mostly because I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to say. I mean, you’ve read the posts below. Everyone knows how I feel about Sylvain. It’s … I don’t know, this isn’t something I’m used to. Kind of like when Arsenal got to the Champions League final or the Buckeyes were in a third national championship game in the 2007 season.

These are things that happen. Especially to people I like. And yet here we are. Sylvain’s won two good races and stages of two more huge races. He’s having an extraordinary season and I am at a loss for words. Which probably means this blog post will end up being huge. But moving back to the whole thing about Sylvain winning. To me, it’s not unexpected. I always believed he could do it, I just never thought he’d find the right races. Even during the Tour, you could see the determination, the drive that he has to win. It was just waiting for the right way to manifest itself. And it turns out, that way is found in Belgian.

I have never believed he was capable of winning the Tour de France and I’ve said so, many times. Even Sylvain himself has said that’s not what he’s capable of either. I know the French are looking for a Tour winner. They heaped so many expectations on Sylvain that it’s obvious this was one of the reasons he hasn’t won anything at TDF. Last year, though, was something special. He came so close to winning stages. He drives breakaways and he took KOM points and jerseys and was fantastic. It was clear to me that he’s only getting better.

If you ignore his two stage wins and the day of yellow at Paris-Nice, because he’s won smaller French stage races (and stages of French races), you see that he was waiting for something. It took the cobbles and bad weather for it to come through. Instead of doing what he’s doing every year, he managed to go a different route.

Without ever having raced in these two Belgian races, Sylvain managed to win both Dwars door Vlaanderen and De Brabantse Pijl. And, of course, everyone is shocked and surprised, including myself and, of course Sylvain. Because no one, not even the boy himself, knew that he was capable of winning either (or both) of these. Of course, the chances of him repeating these wins Sunday at the Ronde van Vlaanderen is low, if not highly unlikely. But he is, of course, still a favorite. While the race is potentially too long, if he’s in the right break and if his teammates are working for him, you never know what will happen.

Of course, this isn’t just about Sylvain winning races. It’s not about a Frenchman winning Belgian races and knocking the hard hitters (as it were) down a few blocks. It’s not even about the French taking back “their” sport. It’s about cycling at it’s finest. It’s about a boy I’ve believed in, practically since I started being a fan, finally proving what I knew all along. Sure, you might ask Sarah, how did you know and I really don’t have an answer for you. I could see his potential, even on that day when he should have won a stage of the tour and Armstrong had to prove a point. Or when Chris Horner ruined another one of Sylvain’s chances.

But you also have to weigh all of that alongside how much was working against Sylvain. Riding for Brioche La Boulangère made life harder for him. He had to compete with a team full of young, French riders. And it was on that team that he had to give up all hope of winning things at the Tour in order to be super domestique for Thomas Voeckler (and who can forget how hard Sylvain worked to keep Voeckler in yellow). It was really not until he left BLB for Cofidis that we saw a change in his riding. He was still, and remains even now, the best young French hope. But people have written him off. He became yet another in long list of French riders who failed to live up to their potential. Of course, that’s not the case at all.

As we’ve seen both last year and this year, he’s more than just what the French media have depicted him as. He’s special, like all people are special, but he finally seems to have found his spot. To me, it’s more than amazing. It’s everything I wanted as a fan. It’s better than rooting for Armstrong to win the Tour back in 2003. Better than Christian Werner getting to rider in the Tour. It’s better than Matt Wilson winning the Australian road race championship. To me, Sylvain winning these races proves to me that sport is not lost. That if you hang in there long enough, good things do and will happen. Of course, as a fan of team sports, I already knew this, but cycling is different.

We cannot forget, of course, that cycling is a team sport as well. Sylvain could not have won as handily as he did in any of his races without his teammates. Especially the Belgian ones. Nick Nuyens, once a QS teammate of Tom Boonen, has worked his ass off for Sylvain. There were some great pictures of Nuyens celebrating as he crossed the line. Not, of course, because he won, but because his teammate had won. And Nuyens had helped in that effort.

So, while to me this is mostly about Sylvain, it’s not just about him. As a former (reformed?) Armstrong fan, I will never forget how important the rest of the team is. And, also, as a fan of both Wilson and Werner (two tireless team riders), it’s hard to forget how vital teammates are. So, while Sylvain’s wins are great for him as an individual cyclist, they are fantastic for his team. Just as they are fantastic for his nation.

As a fan, this is as good as it gets. There’s nothing better than wins such as these, which I’ve said before. I only hope that he can keep this form until July. Just once, I’d like to see him win a stage of the Tour. Not the whole tour, not even the yellow jersey (though that would be brilliant, but too much for even him to bear — we saw what it did to Voeckler), but just one stage. A mountain one in the heart of France. That is what I want.

But if it never happens? That’s fine. Sylvain has done more for me as a fan than any other rider. And he hasn’t let me down. That, in the end, is what’s important to me. Hell, if he never wins another race, I’m okay with that (though that’s highly unlikely to happen). I’m proud of him and proud to be a fan of cycling. And nothing can take that away from me.

For the second year running, I’ve decided to play fantasy cycling at Podium Cafe. And like last year, I’ve basically picked a team of cyclists I like, instead of cyclists who are known to be good on a regular basis. This might come as a surprise to some of you, but it’s really not. I’m basically kind of lame like that and so of course my team leader is Sylvain Chavanel. You can see the full team behind the cut, but here’s what you need to know.

Somehow my team, Team Gunners (yes, named after Arsenal FC) is in third place after Paris-Nice. No, I don’t really understand it either. This is a one of a kind thing, and like I said over at Podium Cafe, it’s never going to last. But, damn, I sure am proud of my boys and my team. Mostly I threw it together one day when I was bored. I have a few regrets, too many High Road riders, but hey. You never know — you can have too many big names and I basically avoided them, except for Thor Hushovd.

I will talk more about the fantasy cycling team later, I just wanted to document this moment. Click through the cut to see who I actually picked for my team.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well. I said somewhere, probably LJ, that I didn’t think this would happen again. This being one of my boys doing extremely well. I was wrong. I was really really wrong and I take it back. Not all of it, because it’s still rare. But, god.

So, what happened? I wish I’d been able to watch it, but such is life. Instead, I followed along at Cyclingnews’ live ticker. I read about Sylvain’s attack and I kept saying (even though clearly he couldn’t hear me) that he could do it. Then I read about the two riders going off the front and I thought ‘god, not again.’ Because, seriously, who would have expected this? Definitely not me. Though maybe I should have, as people sometimes like to joke that I am his biggest fan. I root for him above all others.

So, it will come as a surprise to some of you that I still can’t believe he really won it. Even after I knew, after cyclingnews has posted the results, I kept checking back. And then I looked for pictures, because this wasn’t really real, was it? But look, there he is. And from the way he looks, he can’t believe it either.

I know it’s just a stage of Paris-Nice. I know it’s not the Tour or the Giro or the World Championships or whatever. But it’s something fantastic and extraordinary and I am just so proud of him. Sometimes it’s hard to be a fan, especially when it comes to cycling. You root so hard for the boys you adore and yet they’re always giving everything for someone else. Or they come up just a few seconds or bike lengths short. And then there are days like today. When everything just works and what you knew your boy could do — he does.

Sylvain, thank you. There’s nothing better than knowing that your favorite just won.

I figured I’d better write this up before I got to despondent to do it. It’s been a long time since I’ve, as a fan, had such a decent run of cyclists I like doing good things. Of course, it ended today, but for the moment I’ll remain in denial. I actually didn’t realize what had happened until Pete emailed about it.

I was so excited when I saw that Kjell Carlström had won, that I failed to scroll further down to see just exactly why Pete was emailing me. We’ll come back to that, though. For Carlström, this probably was the biggest win of his career. I’ve been following his racing for a couple of years and he’s done moderately well. He’s a breakaway guy, especially in the bigger stage races. During last year’s TDF, he spent some quality time in a nice breakaway. And in 2006, he finished second on stage 8.

The top 10 itself didn’t tell me anything and I just skimmed the cyclingnews report, I don’t even think it was completed when I got Pete’s email. A few seconds later, I was even more excited. But mostly I was totally stoked that Kjell had finally managed to win a huge race. And then, of course I scrolled down a bit more.

And that’s when I saw it. Leader of Paris-Nice after Stage 3? Sylvain Chavanel. I couldn’t believe it either. I was like, this is not real! It’s Sylvain and this is a French race. But yeah, there he was. Of course I knew it wouldn’t last (even though I wanted it to) and I knew that it was just one stage. But he made history, being the first French rider to lead the stage since 2002.

But look. Just look at him. He did it, even just for a day. I know today sucked for him, I know he ends up four minutes back. But for a day, he was leading that race. One of the more famous races in France. Sure, he’s won races and stages and I’ve accepted that he’ll probably never win the TDF and probably not even a stage of it either. But this is good, was good. It was great.

Every time I think about how cycling makes it hard for me to be a fan, something like this happens. To me, stage three was spectacular. I didn’t get to see it, and in previous years I would have been devastated, but that’s life for me. I can’t see everything, but I can read about it. I can find the pictures and I can see that someone I adore, two of them in this case, two cyclists I love, did exceptionally well.

And for me, as a fan, this is what’s important. While in many other sports I watch, it’s the team that matters to me, in cycling it’s different. I don’t care how Liquigas or Cofidis do. I care about Chavanel and Carlström. Maybe that makes me a bad fan, maybe that makes me superficial and fickle, but I can’t do it any other way. It just doesn’t work. It might get my heart broken, but I’m not going to change.

So, I will enjoy what these two boys did. I will be extremely proud of them and hope that they will do more throughout the season. It’s long, so you never know what will happen.

So, there’s a race going on. It’s nearly impossible for me to watch this because I’m working and don’t really have access to the stations it’s on. I know, I could probably find some way to buy coverage, but unless cycling.tv will only charge me $10 for a year, that’s never going to happen. I simply can’t afford it. I can barely afford my cable as it is. And now that Europsort’s live audio doesn’t really work for me, I’m shit out of luck. That doesn’t mean I’m not following Paris-Nice, because I am. It just means that I’m supremely annoyed with how things have turned out. I can watch practically any football (soccer) game I want, but not cycling. I know this is because football/soccer is the global game and more people like that sport than cycling, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be mad about it.

It also doesn’t help that the powers that be in cycling basically suck. The make it hard to even want to follow the race — any of them. I don’t know the details about what’s happening with Paris-Nice, and I’m not even sure I want to. But my boys (well, Sylvain) are there and I’m playing Podium Cafe’s fantasy cycling, so it helps to pay attention (that’s an entry for another time). But at the same time, it really bugs me that the people in charge of cycling want to alienate their fans. I get that they’re pissed off about doping, but it’s not like they’re innocent. Turning a blind eye and pleading ignorance just makes you look stupid, people.

Well just have to wait and see what happens, both with the doping in general and Paris-Nice specifically. Thor Hushovd (who happens to be on my fantasy team) won the Prologue and QS’ Gert Steegmans won the first stage. Apparently Sylvain Chavanel screwed up his attempt to win the stage (as usual) and left a bit too early. Color me surprised, only with less sarcasm then that statement implies. That’s just the way things go for a cycling fan. It’s also why Sylvain Chavanel (and yes, he is on my fantasy team) probably won’t ever win the TDF.

Omloop het volk 2008 - Philippe Gilbert
Originally uploaded by KarolusLinus

Hey look! Someone I like actually won a race. I know, it’s hard to believe. Especially after Francis Mourey’s disaster of a cyclo-cross season. I didn’t get to watch the race (I was at work, as usual), but I’m actually okay with this. Really, the only race I need to see fully is the TdF, because I blog that. But otherwise, the summaries on CN and other sites do just fine.

Anyway, Philippe Gilbert won the Het Volk and I am extremely pleased. Here’s the top ten:

63rd Omloop Het Volk

1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 4.55.25 (40.417 km/h)
2 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis 0.58
3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 1.06
4 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2r-La Mondiale
5 Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr) Liquigas 1.12
6 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 1.13
7 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence-Lotto
8 Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC 1.16
9 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner 1.53

Hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the season. Not just for Gilbert, but for the others I like as well.

I’m still here, alive and kicking as it were.

Let’s see, Francis failed to win any major race he was in (aside from the French Nats for cyclo-cross). First it was a crash, then mechanical failure, and then another crash. I’m not sure about the World Champs, but the other two World Cup races he could have won — and was in the position to win — but something managed to go wrong and he didn’t. I certainly hope his road season is better. And, hey, at least he wasn’t a DNS at the World Champs, just a DNF.

Am I bitter? Hell yes. But that’s the way sports works. Either you win or you lose, although in cycling, things are a little bit murky after second place.

Seriously, is this for real? This being the Tour of America. It’s going to be put on (in theory at least) by Aqu Sports. The route is here.

I have to say, there are no stages in Michigan, that’s really disappointing. We have some kick as roads here, and if the race were to bring an economic windfall to the host towns and those along the route (I’m trying not to laugh as I write that), Michigan really, really needs it. The closets to Michigan it gets is Southern Michigan (which, sure, is something like five hours away — well within driving distance to see it. But still, it’s rather disappointing that it’s so far South.

That being said, I hope this is for real. It could be really awesome, but I doubt we’d see many (any?) European based teams racing in it. It’s be fun, but as has been shown with tennis and golf, it’s really really hard to keep fit and overcome jet lag to race/play in Europe and then over here in the States. Tennis, I think, does it right, having part of the season in Australia, part of it in Europe and the end of it in the US. I feel that cycling could do this, but would that mean that one of the other Grand Tours should go? It’s a hard sell. Perhaps teams could send riders to the Vuelta and the US tour (I’m blatantly crossing my fingers now).

Only time will tell, which seems to be the theme of all sports I follow.