He won the Giro d’ Italia 20 years ago when racing bikes were a bit heavier (remember the Seven Eleven Huffy?).
But Andy Hampsten is fine, thank you, on a 20-pound touring rig that bears his brand.
Welds by Moots. Flawless. This is a serious bike. Not for racing. For touring in Italy with riders who pay to be guided through the vineyards and vistas. Bravo.
Our hot weekend has turned to a nice breezy spring. Time for 50 with p-i-a-n-o tempo. Love this Garmin 305 with heartrate function!
We have lots of board meetings. And we’re really just a bunch of pencil pushers. Includes cameo by Levi Leipheimer.
The 150-mile/14,000 feet of climb plan for Friday and Saturday was tossed aside by work deadlines. But managed to log 8,000 feet in 50, then cool down with a flat 20. Good vertical-gain-per-mile ratio, but not the huge day in the saddle required to help the body adapt for full day of rolling time up and down at Climb to Kaiser.
Had a blast with Mother’s Day and Gracie’s B-Day. Plenty of time to get in two big base rides of 100+ in the local mountains without fraying the edges.
Check out the switchbacks. Much is made about Alpe d’Huez in France. The Stelvio is no slouch.
From 2001 and Nike (sorry adidas and Jan Ullrich), this one is hard to beat.
Putting aside the negatives in just about all sport on the subject of performance enhancers, these 30 seconds inspire.
I don’t know about you, but as we prepare for the first grand tour of the year, I miss seeing Lance and Jan racing. Viva Le Tour.
Just for sport, I typed in a quick search on Flickr for “Stelvio Pass and HDR.” Only produced one image — and not a stellar one. A second search without HDR yielded this B/W from 1927.
Several more from that period that are part of the “Salisbury Slide Collection” can be seen here at mcwidi_2’s Flickr page.
And here is a cloer
The Italians have all the luck. The Giro starts this week. What a splendid cycling race in a lovely place. In anticipation of the Giro, here is a groovy movie poster, courtesy of Italiangerry on flickr… If you love Italian art and cinema, Italiangerry has some interesting images.
Cinco de Mayo done.
Mother’s Day next. Gracie’s B-day a bonus.
Kaiser build-up continues. Looking for 14,000 of elevation gain during a PTO Friday / all-day Saturday (with at least one century) for a combined 150-200. Doing fewer miles but more intense with better recovery. Last weekend, a quick afternoon of repeats on Scripps Poway Parkway produced 4,000 feet of 7% climb in under 30.
Experimenting with the program.
