Again, another hugely busy week...here goes nothing.
First off, I felt bad that I didnt A) make a bigger splash about Carolyn Murray's huge breakthrough last weekend, and B) Sam McGlone's big win that day too! Ok, first Carolyn. Her and I were classmates at Paul Kane High (Class of '94) and I remember how excited I was when she started racing with the elites. I think she finished in about 25th in her first time in Edmonton ITU race way back in 2002, and even though she might have been in the 6th bike pack, it was pretty cool to see her racing. Now she wins a race against Olympic medalists! That's pretty cool indeed. Good luck to her moving forward, even though I'm not sure she's "the fave" to make the Olympic Team. I would love her and Sweetland to both make the team though!
Oh yeah, I absolutely didn't make a huge deal about Sam McGlone winning Wildflower (half Ironman) last weekend. Sam McGlone keeps improving (her run at Wildflower was 1h24m, unreal) to win by 5 minutes, but there are too many long-distance triathlons to really have all the faves compete all the time. So Sam beat a few elite females, but not the super-elite field she'll be facing at Kona. Still, she'll toe the line in Kona as a potential winner every year for the foreseeable future. Macca won the mens race if you care.
Here is an rather risque ad (some would say controversial) featuring Ms McGlone for fizik saddles. Pretty funny since she's rather shy in person. But I guess if it gets people talking...
Before I move on, I should add that there was another big race last weekend, the St Croix Ironman 70.3. It was won by probably the two best 70.3 athletes in the world (who are both Australian I should add), Craig Alexander and Miranda Carfrae. This known is known for two reasons, one being the fact that it's on a Caribbean island, and the other is simply known as The Beast. This hill has an average grade of 14% and touches 21% in sections. Awesome. Even the pros suffer on The Beast!
Before moving on two some real bike-Y stories this week, two more quick tri-related things. The first is an article from NBC on Javier Gomez where it says that he can swim 1500m in under 16 minutes. Hmmm. That is rather fast. So assuming he can swim up front and doesn't flat on the bike, there is really no reason why he shouldn't win in Beijing. Unbelievable talent that can swim as fast as he can and still be a world-class 10K runner too!
However, Simon Whitfield's blog had a great picture of him as he trained to beat Gomez. It's him right after he finished a treadmill workout in a heated room. Looks like fun...
Ok, now on to 100% bike-y stuff. Before we move on to the race stuff, the much-vaunted Biological Passport in Pro Cycling (basically a blood sample that gives a baseline value for each rider) appears to have caught it's first cheater. Surprisingly, it appears that there have been no leaks and they haven't announced who it is. Stay tuned...it might be a big name!
Speaking of big names, this weekend (tomorrow) the Giro d'Italia starts! This is the second biggest race on the cycling calendar (except for the Spaniards) and it goes for the next three weeks from Palermo to Milano. The three early faves are Gilberto Simoni, Danilo Diluca, and Alberto Contador. Oh yeah, Astana got a last minute invite, so Contador, Leipheimer, and Kloden are all in! Should be an epic race. But among all the world champions, olympic champions, and grand tour winners, i'll be watching a Canuck! Yep, Canada has a rep in the Giro. Ryder Hesjedal is riding for Team Slipstream, and the 27-year old is hoping to have a great Giro and become the first Canadian in 10 years to ride in the Tour in July. He's an ex-pro mountain biker, and now he's one of 198 starters in the biggest race of the year. He actually has ridden the Giro in '05 for Discovery and the Vuelta in '06 for Phonak, but he was there for experience. He's now ready to be a key team member. This article has lots more on him. I'll be sure to be keeping you up-to-date on his results.
Scary story out of Australia. A group of 50 amateur and pro cyclists were out riding at 630 am in Sydney when a driver, apparently upset at them blocking the road, accelerated around the pack and then stopped quickly, resulting in about 20 injuries and numerous broken bikes. Be careful out there.
But I do have a solution for those before-dawn or post-dusk rides. Yeah, a light on the helmet is great, but what about a bike that glows? Check out this bike from Puma, part of their Urban Mobility line. Cool. Very cool.
Okay, that's it for now...i need to go ride my bike-y!
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