Bike-Y goes NUTS!

Wow,

If you thought last week was bike-y crazy, then this week will push you over the edge. I've also discovered that pushing stories back results in me never getting to them, so I'll just slam all the stuff I've got into one Ultra-Large Bikey on week's like this. And I promised Canadian Olympic Triathlon team stuff, so keep reading to the bottom. But first we begin with…

London Marathon - Awesome stories everywhere here. Mens race was possibly the fastest marathon ever run, with the top three guys running under 2:06. Yeah yeah yeah...so what? Up until Sunday, it had only been done 5 times in history. Yep, that's uber-fast. 3 men were together with a mile to go,Martin Lel, Sammy Wanjiru, and Abderrahim Goumri. At the 26 mile mark, it was only Lel and Wanjiru together, but a full-on sprint by Lel earned him the glory (the last 365 yards took him 57 seconds...unreal). The funny thing is Goumri ran the 6th fastest marathon of all time, and only finished 3rd in the race.

Although Ryan Hall got excluded from the last paragragh, he too had an amazing day. He ran 2:06:17 (47 seconds behind the winner) to finish 5th after getting dropped around mile 15. He caught the leaders at mile 21 (after running about 30 seconds behind) but got dropped again. This is only his third marathon and confirms him as an international superstar. He will definitely be a medal contender in Beijing.

The womens race came down to a relative no-name (compared to the two faves anyhow) from Russia, Irina Mikitenko, who ran the whole race from the front of the pack and pulled away alone in the last 5 miles to win by a comfortable 25 seconds with a solid 2:24:14. The two faves, Wami and Adere, finished 3rd and 7th. Personally, i think Mikitenko won because of her socks.



Oh yeah, the Maasai warriors finished their quest pretty well, and it's estimated they raised about 60,000 GBP (pounds) while running the marathon. Although they took a bit longer (5h24m) and one of them had to go to hospital because his costume or uniform or whatever you call their outfits was too tight.

That last link also contained a note on Haile Gebrselassie, who might have to do the marathon in Beijing because he might not qualify with a fast enough 10,000m time to qualify for the Ethiopian Olympic Team. That would be great (for us anyhow). Stay tuned.

On to Paris-Roubaix, where the race went as expected. Not a lot of breakaways (teams kept them close) then an epic three-person break with about 34 kms to go with two of the biggest names in the sport (Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara). It came down to a sprint (on the finishing velodrome no less), but you'll have to watch the video to find out who wins. But the video does have Phil Liggett, so that makes it extra cool.



And if you'll be in Paris (or Roubaix) in June, you can do a supported replica (for only 20 Euros!) of the 260 kms of Paris-Roubaix (with all the cobblestones). Now that would be fun, except for the 10 or 12 hours it would take most of us. Maybe something for the calendar in 2011 or so? The best part, in the rules, it says "Wearing a helmet is highly advised". Glad they added that little nugget...

Speaking of velodromes, Edmonton is getting a covered one! Yep, city council approved the funding to convert the outdoor velodrome to a beautiful UCI-approved (1 of 2 in North America!) 250 m indoor velodrome. Sweet. This is great for cyclists in Edmonton...can't wait to try it out on a frosty winter day!

Couple of miscellaneous updates: Trek is getting rid of Lemond bikes. Probably should have seen this coming a long time ago, since Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong have never seen eye-to-eye about anything. Anyhow, I guess that reduces our bike choices by one…

...and I found this one interesting too. Turns out in Germany you can dope all you want but get off if you pay a big fine. At least that it what appears to have happened with Jan Ullrich, who was being charged with fraud (deception of public, sponsors, and team). Anyhow, it appears that a cheque of one million Euros makes that all go away.

On tap this weekend: the Granddaddy of Marathons. The 253rd running (okay, not that many - just the 112th) of the Boston Marathon is Monday. With so many of the top men and women in the world having run London this past week, the pro field is a bit weak (although they do have almost $800, 000 in prize money). But the Monday race is overshadowed by Sunday's running of the US Women's Olympic trials. 162 women are supposed to start, the top three go to the Olympics, the rest go home. Very cool. The race is live on nbcsports.com at 8 am ET on Sunday. The fave here is Deena Kastor (who medalled at Athens, qualified with a very fast 2h19m) with a whole bunch of other women who have a chance (34 women qualifed with times between 2h31 and 2h41). From a Bikey point-of-view, I'll be cheering for #25 Desiree Ficker (2nd at Kona 06) who is trying to qualify. Although her best time is only 2h40 or so, who knows what could happen on Sunday? Plus she's much cuter than the other Texan who's running Boston on Monday...that would be Mr. Armstrong...



Okay, Canada's Olympic Triathlon spots. Here's the latest...Canada should get three Mens and 3 Womens spots for Beijing. Based on last years very confusing criteria, two Canadians (Simon Whitfield and Lauren Groves) already have their tickets to Beijing. Now for the rest of the probable candidates they need a Top 8 World Cup finish PLUS a Top 8 at Worlds (in Vancouver) to get an automatic spot. Then Triathlon Canada has some discretion on a potential third, as they have language in the rules to pick an "Team Concept Team Member" which I think means a domestique for the medal faves. They can also pick the discretionary third member as "potential podium winner for London 2012". Okay, where are we right now? Men: Paul Tichelaar already has two Top 8's so far this year, so he just needs the Top 8 at Worlds. The other 3 guys (Kyle Jones, Colin Jenkins, Brent McMahon) all need to get their first Top 8 before they get to Vancouver. If none of them make it, my personal fave for the last spot is Colin Jenkins, since he can swim fast and thus protect Simon on the bike. Plus he has a blog on slowtwitch.

For the ladies, Groves is in. That leaves Carolyn Murray, Kathy Tremblay, Kirsten Sweetland, and Jill Savege fighting for two spots. Tremblay finished 5th last week, and Sweetland/Murray/Savege are all signed for next weeks race in Korea. We'll keep watching this battle closely, but I'll pick Sweetland and Murray right here.

Oh yeah, the US has their second Olympic Qualifier this weekend. First male and female across the finish line at a race in Tuscaloosa. As of right now, 11 women and 9 men are registered. Both Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper still need a spot on the mens side (i'll pick Potts) and i'll pick Sarah Haskins over Becky Lavelle for the second womens spot.

And, since we're talking, Australia picked their team for Beijing this week. Only notable since Greg Bennett got named to their team. Family reunion for him, since his wife Laura has already got one of the US spots for Beijing. Their kids will be wicked fast I guess...

Next week, tons and tons of IRONMAN updates, plus some other triathlon tidbits...