Phil Gaimon Journal: Fish fry.

"I had a rough few weeks when I got back from Portugal at the beginning of March.

Between jet lag and fatigue from a month of racing in Europe, I wasn’t able to put together a good block of training, so I signed up for the San Dimas Stage Race to see where my fitness was. The stage 1 uphill time trial suits me perfectly, and I’ve won it twice, but I finished fourth this year. Not what I’d hoped for, but not bad.

I was tempted to continue the stage race and try to improve on my GC, but I nearly died crashing myself in that race in 2013. I thought I’d conquered my fear last fall when I returned to the scene of the crash.

I found the spot where my body was helicoptered from a puddle of blood to the hospital where they sewed my face back on.

I stood on that spot, and I danced. Then I peed on it. I probably won’t get to dance or pee on my own grave, but this was pretty close.

The ultimate conquering of fear is to get back on the horse, but I decided to head to Big Bear instead, to do some long rides with teammate Mike Woods, and get a little altitude into my system. As much as I wanted to conquer the San Dimas circuit race fear, I had bigger fish to fry.

The Tour of California is a fish."

Arno Wallaard Memorial LIVE.

Saturday's Arno Wallaard Memorial departs Meerkerk at *2:30pm CET (*8:30am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Meerkerk at around 6:47pm CET (12:47pm U.S. Eastern). 

Arno Wallaard Memorial live video streaming should get underway at *2:30pm CET (*8:30am U.S. Eastern, 5:30am Pacific).

Pocket Preview ...

Amstel Gold Race Preview.

Huge crowds, free-flowing beer, grand tour winners taking on one day classics specialists and a very tricky course make the Amstel a special race. The 50th edition looks like it’s made for Philippe Gilbert.

Who can stop him from a fourth win?

The route is 251km, the spiky profile says plenty, apparently more than 4,000m of vertical gain, impressive for the Netherlands.

It’s all packed into a narrow area and having the route loaded on a GPS device can help racers know which way to turn as the race twists and turns across the Limburg province.

In total there are 34 climbs, some repeated. Individually each of the climbs are not hard, typically a gradient of 5% for a kilometer although a few do have double-digit slopes and the Keutenberg, the nation’s steepest road.

2014-15 Races & Results.

Amstel Gold Race - Apr 19 (History),

Giro del Trentino - Apr 21-24 (History),

Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey - Apr 26-May 3 (History),

Giro d'Italia 2015 - May 9-31 (Stages),

Tour de France 2015 - July 4-26 (Stages),

Vuelta a España 2015 - Aug 22-Sept 13 (Stages),

UCI Road World Championship 2015 - Sept 20-27 (Stages),

De Brabantse Pijl - Apr 15 (Results),

Paris Roubaix - Apr 12 (Results),

Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco - Apr 6-11 (Results),

Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Apr 7-10 (Results),

Scheldeprijs - Apr 8 (Results),

Tour of Flanders - Apr 5 (Results),

GP Miguel Indurain - Apr 4 (Results),

Tirreno-Adriatico - Mar 11-17 (Results).

More...

Meet Hotel Lungomare: Bike Hotel in Cesenatico.

"Like so many things in Italy – the best access is reserved for those who ‘know someone’.

Italians are guarded by nature, but are naturally welcoming hosts – all you need is the right introduction.

Most of my best friends in Italia I’ve met through other friends. Several years ago my friends at NonStop Ciclsimo in Ventura CA introduced me to Nicola Verdolin, who along with his brother Alberto runs the GardaBikeHotel on Lake Garda (which I highly recommend).

They’ve been in the hotel business for years, and run one of the best bike hotels in Italy. Nicola in turn introduced me to Silvia Pasolini, proprietress of the Hotel Lungomare in Cesenatico on the Adriatic coast."

Quarq introduces new $799 RIKEN AL power meter ...

Power Meter Pricing Wars: Let The Games Begin.

Over the past few weeks there have been a number of notable price drops by power meters companies.  While some of these price drops may seem reactionary to news from PowerTap’s new products, or that 4iiii is now shipping Precision units – the reality is that most of these were planned months ago. 

Still, like when some gives you a candy bar – it’s best not to focus on the reason, but focus on the gift.  And in this case, it’s savings.

Of course, price drops aren’t the only power meter news hitting the interwebs these days.

If you look at what’s happened in the last 30-45 days, there’s plenty of reasons for companies to begin jockeying around for consumers money this spring.

Start list ...

Amstel Gold Race preview ...

Amstel Gold Race 2015 Live Dashboard ...

2015 Amstel Gold Race LIVE.

Sunday's Amstel Gold Race ("the race to the beer") departs Maastricht at 10:15am CET (4:15am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Valkenburg at around 4:36pm CET (10:36am U.S. Eastern). 

Amstel Gold Race live streaming video should get underway at around 2:00pm CET (8:00am U.S. Eastern, 5:00am Pacific).

Tour de Yorkshire 2015 Live Dashboard ...

2015 Tour de Yorkshire LIVE video stream.

 2015 Tour de Yorkshire LIVE May 1-3, Great Britain.

Stage 1 starts at -- BST (-- U.S. Eastern). Finish at around -- BST (-- U.S. Eastern).

Live video from -- BST (-- U.S. Eastern).

Peter Stetina: ‘I am lucky to be alive’.

Peter Stetina prides himself on being a safe racer. You never see him taking risks in the sprints or doing anything crazy on the downhills. Probably that’s why he’s never been in the hospital in his 10-year pro racing career. Until now.

On April 6, in the final sprint to the finish line in the opening stage of the Vuelta al País Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country), it didn’t matter how careful Stetina — or anyone else — was in the peloton that day.

Nearly two weeks later, Stetina remains in a Spanish hospital. He’s undergone surgery to repair a broken tibia and patella. Gone in an instant are his primary season goals of the Amgen Tour of California podium and a return to the Tour de France.

Instead, he’s facing months of rehabilitation and painful recovery. With luck, he’s hoping to be on a flight back to the United States in the coming days.

Fuglsang may sue UCI if Astana license is blocked, but believes disruption to 2015 races unlikely.

Commenting as the ongoing Astana scenario rumbles on, one of the team’s top riders Jakob Fuglsang has said that he and other riders on the team are prepared to go to the courts if the UCI strips the team of its license and the team ultimately stops.

“I have not done anything wrong, so if UCI take my job away from me, so I think it ends up in a lawsuit,” Fuglsang told Ekstra Bladet.

“If the team loses its license, it is likely that our sponsors withdraw, as they probably will not sponsor a team without access to the big races.

“Then us riders will suddenly be in a situation where we are from one day to the other without work.

“If that happens, then I expect a lawsuit from all the riders’ side against UCI, as is the UCI which has taken away our work, and it’s up to the UCI to cover our losses.”

Who are the bookies’ favorites? ...

Amstel Gold Race attracts the stars for 50th edition.

The Amstel Gold Race kicks off the Ardennes week of WorldTour Classics, with defending champion Philippe Gilbert leading the list of big-name rider in action as he looks for a fourth victory on the roads near his home and where he became world champion in 2012.

This year's Amstel Gold Race is the 50th edition of the Dutch race, and the third since the finish was moved away from the top of the Cauberg and nearly two kilometers down the road.

At 258 kilometers long, the Netherlands' biggest one-day race packs a punch with 34 climbs – or bergs – crammed in, making for more than 4,000 metres of climbing. The Cauberg is covered four times and is always important but any winner needs to have excellent form and the right team tactics.

Dumoulin hopes to continue Giant-Alpecin’s spring success at Amstel Gold Race.

The Giant-Alpecin team is hoping to continue its successful spring Classics campaign, with local rider Tom Dumoulin and France’s Warren Barguil leading the team in Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race.

John Degenkolb won Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, giving Giant-Alpecin a hugely successful start to the season despite health problems for team sprinter Marcel Kittel.

A Case for Suffering: The Heroic.

"The light was flickering like an antique cinema projector, hazy shafts of sun casting down upon the dirt double track, through the thick canopy of a hollow, secluded canyon.

Light. Shadow. Light. Shadow. Flick, flick, flick.

This was my vision, out of focus in the noontime light, but there nonetheless: Coppi, climbing, crouched into a coil of potential energy, his long nose guiding him like an unstoppable ship.

This was what flashed before my eyes and through my mind while climbing Cypress Canyon — far from Gaiole in Chianti, or the Strade Bianche, the birthplace of the original L’Eroica — inside this perforated tunnel of trees near the Central Coast of California.

This was Eroica California. Part Italy. Part America. A Civil War reenactment for cycling, brought to the shores of the Pacific Ocean."

Reconsiders 2015 Pan Am team ...

USA Cycling reconsiders 2015 Pan Am Championships nominations.

USA Cycling announced on Thursday that its Selection Committee will reconsider the athletes nominated for the 2015 Pan Am Continental Championships, which included retired double Olympic gold medallist Kristin Armstrong.

According to a press release from USA Cycling, it has reconvened its Selection Committee to reconsider the nominations because it was determined that modifications to the Principles of Athlete Selection (last published in 2008) were not published in a timely manner.

Carbon beware: Are aluminium frames making a comeback?

Cast an eye over a list of top-end road bikes and you may notice an oddity: Specialized’s S-Works Allez.

This suave-looking silver machine comes equipped with a mouth-watering spec list that includes a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Roval Rapide carbon wheels for £7,500. So far, so what?

The frame is not made from carbon-fibre — the ubiquitous material of choice for high-end bikes — but aluminium alloy.

Could this be the start of a return to the glory days for metal frames?

Trek's ultra lightweight aluminum Émonda ALR.

Trek has expanded the Émonda family with the addition of the ‘ultra-lightweight aluminium’ Émonda ALR.

The Émonda was first unveiled ahead of the 2014 Tour de France as Trek’s new featherweight, carbon fibre frame, with the flagship SLR chassis weighing just 690g and the top-of-the-range machine, the Émonda SLR, tipping the scales at a paltry 4.65kg.

Now Trek has applied the same weight-stripping philosophy to an aluminium version of the Émonda.

“The all-new Émonda ALR is built with unmatched attention to balance and handling, offering elegance on a new level and far surpassing the lightness, performance, and ride quality of many of its carbon competitors,” says the Wisconsin-based firm.

An Untuscany Likeness.

"Surely the ultimate accolade you can bestow any nice stretch of road is that you immediately want all of your cycling friends alongside you to share the experience and swoop and smile with you?

Maybe it’s just me but I’m on one such length of tarmac.

A small country road that starts nowhere in particular and goes nowhere in particular (some would say those are the best kinds of roads) but weaves and ducks and twists and bobs through the trees, with glimpses of the wooded hills we’re headed further into on the left, it ripples across the contours, through spattered collections of houses that could be considered abandoned but for the washing hanging up outside.

It seemingly goes on forever on its way to nowhere, curving into the folds and swelling around the spurs of the hill, we have to brake for goats, not cars."

Daily Distractions.

BSNYC: Friday Fun Quiz!

Sea Otter Tech Day 1: Helmets, sunglasses, and more.

Stuart Clarke: The 12 phases of every ride.

Cycling training plans: Get fitter, ride faster and go further.

Geraint Thomas: 10 ways to smash your next sportive / grand fondo.

Photos: Sea Otter day one: Raleigh, 3T, Yeti, and more.

Photos: USA Cycling women in Europe.

Video: How Lance Armstrong Ruined Everything.

Video: Tom Boonen rider profile.

Video: Dowsett prepares for Hour Record.

Kwiatkowski targets Ardennes classics for victory in rainbow stripes.

Pole Michal Kwiatkowski is going to the Ardennes classics this week to win and to win big, and he wants to take his first victory in the world champion rainbow jersey.

He will line up in all three classics: the Amstel Gold Race this Sunday, the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, and the most famous one, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, on Sunday, April 26.

“You always must have big ambitions to progress. Hopefully my condition is good enough to be competitive with the other favorites. It is difficult, especially with the rainbow jersey, but I never give up,” Kwiatkowski said in a press release.

“It’s tricky to win a race with the rainbow jersey, it’s not easy. But to be clear, I’m going for the win, not for a second place.”

Wide-open women’s Fleche should serve up exciting race.

With the absence of five-time Flèche Wallonne winner, Marianne Vos (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2013), the race could be wide open when the best of the women’s peloton gathers in Huy, Belgium next Wednesday. Without her prolific Rabo-Liv teammate, world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will have to defend her 2014 title with one less arrow in the quiver.

Wearing the rainbow jersey, the 23-year old Frenchwomen will be marked from the start. And her rivals may be more dangerous than ever.

Start List ...

Ronde van Gelderland 2015.

As the men race the roads around Maastrict in the Amstel Gold Race around two hours further north the women’s peloton are descending on Apeldoorn for the Ronde van Gelderland.

A course that typifies Dutch racing: narrow, exposed roads and tight turns across a largely flat landscape. It’s a race that home nation has dominated.

The only non-dutch riders to take the top step on the podium so far are Ina Yoko Teutenberg from Germany and Canada’s Anne Samplonius.

Vos is back ...

Marianne Vos returns to the road after hamstring injury delays her season.

Multiple World Champion, Marianne Vos will return to road racing this weekend in the Netherlands. Vos will start the Ronde van Gelderland this Sunday, her first road race since last year’s world championships in Spain, where she finished 10th, her lowest ever placing.

The 27 year old Dutch woman has recovered from a hamstring injury which saw her miss the start of the road season, including the first three rounds of the World Cup.

The injury initially manifested itself during the cyclo-cross season, bringing a premature end to her season and doubtless influenced the loss of the rainbow jersey she held since 2009.

That transferred to trade team mate, and road world champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.

Laments pay gap after winning just £871 at Tour of Flanders ...

Longo Borghini calls for better TV coverage after women’s Tour of Flanders win.

Elisa Longo Borghini has called for better television coverage and better prize money for women races, revealing that she won just 1218 Euro for winning the recent Tour of Flanders, the amount awarded to the 20th place rider in the men’s Tour of Flanders.

The Italian won the women’s Tour of Flanders with an aggressive solo attack but the race was given little live coverage on television because the men’s race was also underway.

Longo Borghini attacked alone with 36km to go and soloed to victory.

Her Wiggle-Honda teammate Jolien d’Hoore finished second, winning the sprint from a small group that finished 43 seconds behind Longo Borghini.

Casino in the Limburg: Amstel Gold Race.

The Netherlands’ most important one-day race is named after a beer, and with a course packed with so many turns, climbs, and curves, at the end of the 258km test of nerves and legs, most riders might need a drink.

Anyone who thinks the Netherlands is flat has never been to the Limburg region, tucked in the southeast corner of the country. The Amstel Gold Race loops over a seemingly endless string of short but steep climbs around Valkenburg, with no less than 33 numbered climbs, totaling more than 13,100 vertical feet in climbing.

Held over a mix of narrow farm tracks and urban roads loaded with traffic furniture, Amstel Gold Race is one of the most tense, nerve-wracking days of racing.

Avoiding trouble and having strong team support are key for any of the aspirants to reach the last of three ascents up the decisive Cauberg climb.

Porte and Aru to clash at the Giro del Trentino.

Two of the favorites for this year's Giro d’Italia and many of the riders who will be in action during the first Grand Tour of the season, will ride next week’s four-day Giro del Trentino in the mountains between Lake Garda and the Val di Non, east of Trento and Bolzano.

While many of the Tour de France contenders will be in action in the Ardennes, Richie Porte and Fabio Aru will fight for the fuchsia-coloured leader’s jersey and test their form just two weeks before the Giro d’Italia starts in San Remo on May 9.

Cookson: Verbruggen and McQuaid misled the media, the UCI and the sport.

Following interviews given by both Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid in which both former UCI presidents have suggested that the CIRC report absolves them of any wrongdoing, current president Brian Cookson has questioned those reactions and reiterated that he wants Verbruggen to resign his title of honorary president.

Speaking recently to CyclingTips, Cookson said that he had not personally received a reaction from either of the two to the CIRC report, which was released in March.

It was a year long investigation carried out by the Cycling Independent Reform Commission, and raised serious questions about several areas of governance.