@Tom: So far so good. Check it out:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/stybar-very-happy-with-top-finish-in-first-road-race-for-quick-step

this is interesting: apparently some guy keeps proposing the development of Velodromes as revenue generating projects for cities, gets paid big bucks to plan, and then the financing fall through and cities are left with stalled or unfinished projects.

website is not great and a little conspiracy theory-ish, but interesting nonetheless

http://www.velopork.com/home

I'm always skeptical of research that isn't done independently, but it makes for some interesting comparisons:

http://www.wheelbuilder.com/enewsletter/aerojacket_disc_cover_edition.htm?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Wheelbuildercom+Aerojacket+Disc+Cover+Wind+Tunnel+Data&utm_content=Wheelbuildercom+Aerojacket+Disc+Cover+Wind+Tunnel+Data+CID_5e925f17140fae58d181eba1201e0f8d&utm_source=Email+marketing+software&utm_term=Read+More

Who's up for this one?

I think I am going to be taking the train out for this. The cat 4 race starts at 10:30AM. I was figuring getting there in the 8:42 train to Wantaugh

from atlantic to wantaugh:
start arrive Transfer depart time
8:42 AM 9:36 AM Jamaica 9:05 AM 54 min.
9:12 AM 10:06 AM Jamaica 9:35 AM 54 min.

In and looking forward to this one. Jim N. & Patrick G. also in I believe.

See also: http://kissena.info/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=235

Redneck (Chris Horner to the uninitiated/Canadian/French/John Malcolmson/no offense) is my hero! He literally smiles when it hurts, and he was ear-to-ear today at ATOC. Here's your ass, service with a smile. Anyone else watching this shit?

I was able to catch the last seconds of the race! Where was Levi?

Levi had to let him go and shadow Hesjedal. I bet he's pretty grumpy tonight.

No offense taken—I'm honored to be my own nation state!

He definitely stuck it to Garmin and Levi. Kapow!
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/watch-now-stage-4-race-highlights_174332

Could never figure why he was a domestique all those years.

Posted By: John Malcolmson

Could never figure why he was a domestique all those years.

Bad teams, got stuck doing races he wasn't suited for, and racing for domestic teams in the prime of his career. Joe Lindsay has a good recap of his career.

http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2011/05/18/long-ride-to-the-top/

Oh and that nickname, bestowed by ol' Uniballer himself. Not exactly the nicest but you know Texans and their love of nicknames.

"The objective as a professional is always that the team wins. That’s the first objective. The second objective is of course that you wish it to be you."

"...with the exception of Alberto Contador I don’t think there’s anyone that can drop me.”

What I like about Chris Horner is he calls it like he sees it. What's even better is he can usually back it up. I'm curious what he could do as a protected TdF rider. Top 5?

that was awesome yesterday

i love to see that guy win

Another super-domestique, Rory Sutherland (Aussie on UnitedHealthcare), flew up Sierra Road yesterday, taking third behind none other than Andy Schleck who is probably 30 pounds lighter.

VeloNews published his power numbers for the climb, which are absolutely staggering -- 6.3 w/kg (462 watts) for almost 20 minutes.

If you want to feel very, very weak, check it out:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/california-power-analysis-of-rory-sutherlands-stage-4-power-data_174455

And for even MORE Aussie power data, check out Greg Henderson's leadout-turned-sprint data from ATOC two days ago -- nearly 1,000 watts for 27 seconds!

http://bicycling.com/blogs/thehub/2011/05/18/atoc-notebook-trainingpeaks-stage-3-analysis/

I think somebody on VN editorial team missed the mile/km conversion part of middle school math

Stage 4: Livermore to San Jose
Distance: 81.8km (131.6 miles)
Winning time: 3:27:51
Athlete: Rory Sutherland, UnitedHealthcare, 3rd place, 1:15 back

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: Dan Reiners</cite><blockquote><cite>Posted By: John Malcolmson</cite>

Could never figure why he was a domestique all those years.</blockquote>

Bad teams, got stuck doing races he wasn't suited for, and racing for domestic teams in the prime of his career. Joe Lindsay has a good recap of his career.


Gotta disagree. Horner has progressed tremendously, both in terms of what he does on and off the bike. In 1996, he wasn't the only guy who seemingly lost out on a spot at the Olympics. Many tipped Frank McCormack for the spot that went to Greg Randolph. Randolph himself was surprised he was chosen, and it was clear that Armstrong's hand, or maybe Chris Carmichael's, was at work. When he went to FdJ in '97, it seems that he didn't make a great effort to learn French, and he didn't find the living in Nice accomodating. I think even Horner would say he wasn't ready for the jump to Europe. Even so, he did have some good results in mid-mountain-type stages. For the 2000 Olympics, there were several riders tipped for the one open spot, but that rider had to win the selection race. Tony Cruz won the race. Same thing happened in 2004, with Jason McCartney winning. UCI points dictated the rest.

Horner was a team leader at Mercury, Prime Alliance, Saturn, and The Leader at Webcor. And has the results to back it up. At Webcor, only he and Charles Dionne were full-time pros, the other "pros" were amazing working stiffs and were stoked to have Horner teach them.

When he went to Europe in 2005, it was in "the american spot" on Saunier Duval. Since Scott Bicycles was a sponsor, they stipulated that the team had to hire at least one American. In 2004, it was Tim Johnson. In 2006, Aaron Olson. Basically, the rider would get hired at the UCI Division One minimum salary and had a year to prove themselves. Horner was their best pick--and to thank him, Scott tried talking up Horner's salary so that when he left, he could get a nice income boost. Canadians Dionne and Peter Mazur (ex-Kissena, sort of) also got this ticket punched.

I had a snack with Horner at the Ville Depart before the Grenbole-Courchevel stage of the 2005 Tour. He was telling the waitress that at the Tour, he was on the outside edge of the top 20 climbers. I think it was an accurate assessment at the time.

He's improved tremendously since then. Some of it has to do with getting lighter, and I think his broken bone year of 2009 is evidence as to how lean he got. Horner is definitely one of those guys who could probably score better results with the radio ban in place.

Posted By: Jeffrey WhiteAnother super-domestique, Rory Sutherland (Aussie on UnitedHealthcare), flew up Sierra Road yesterday, taking third behind none other than Andy Schleck who is probably 30 pounds lighter.

VeloNews published his power numbers for the climb, which are absolutely staggering -- 6.3 w/kg (462 watts) for almost 20 minutes.

If you want to feel very, very weak, check it out:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/california-power-analysis-of-rory-sutherlands-stage-4-power-data_174455

Holy Crap 462 w for 20 mins

Here's Horner giving a lift back to the finish line to a fellow racer, Billy Demong, and his smashed bike on a stage of the Cascade Classic in 2008. Demond crashed out 2k from the finish. He was in no shape to walk and his bike wasn't functional. Horner rode up to him and told him to hop on. Or so the story goes.

Puuuuuurrrleeezzzeee. Someone almost 40 years old is blitzing the youngsters ? Can't he make it a little less obvious ? As I've said before ... it's just a matter of time

one of the many unfortunate consequences of doping, is that it takes the dream the away.

I want to believe Horner's story. I want to believe he is as awesome as his life and today's ride suggests. I want to be his fan.

Is it possible to watch the whole race? I keep tuning in when they say the race starts + 3hrs for the eastern time conversion, but most of the time it says the race isn't on and wont be till 2 pst. Then I tune in at 6 est and the damn thing is over. Am I missing the start times or are they shorting the race to an hour? Any clues?

@Eloy: I feel this way about pretty much all the racers in peloton. Sadly

Granted, his riding may seem too-good-to-be-true, but FWIW his biological passport history was consistent, netting a 0/10 on the UCI's suspicious list from last year's tour. Of course this isn't conclusive but neither is great riding.

So I know a couple of guys at Berkeley and the surrounding area who rode with Webcor in the Horner years. They were grad students and lab rats and racing on the side.

One thing I remember, I'm pretty sure it was about horner, was that he had some insane diet. He only ate salmon and rice or something wacky like that. These really smart guys thought it was so interesting but all I wanted to do was call bullshit.

I did find it interesting Horner was so low on the UCI TdF list, though I wonder how many out-of-competition tests Horner has been given. Horner does have a curious winter training plan,or at least he used to have a curious plan. He hit the road with a 24' trailer and would park it in front of friend's homes for a few nights at a time. He pitches it as he gets to visit his friends up and down the California coast. I love the idea of it, htough there is another side to consider; it is kind of hard for testers to track him down when he's on the road like that. And when he stays in Spain, he doesn't stay in Girona, but in a very remote place in the south.

I looked him up on the USADA website. He's been tested a total of 41 times since 2000 by USADA. No word on whether in or out of competition. I'm guessing mostly in competition as he raced in the US for most of the first half of the 2000s.

Also, Rory's numbers? That's ProTour material (Rory was on Rabobank several years ago, but got busted for clomid). Makes me wonder if the meter or his weight are accurate (his team lists him as 6'2", 172lbs), though the shorter distance might also have helped. I think Frank Overton is a good coach and I like the guy, but those numbers seem ridiculously high.


Here's the big story of the weekend. wonder how it will impact Horner. It's about time Tyler told the truth.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20064406-10391709.html

Ugh. I'll never forget how completely I was freaking out when Landis stuck that insane suicide break at the Tour a few years back. Jumping up and down, pounding my knees, calling everyone I knew to tell them to turn it on, screaming at my roommate's TV, etc.

I really hope Horner is clean, because I really have been a fan of his since I've started watching races. The way I read it was that he couldn't cut it in the pro peleton before the EPO test came out, and once they started testing and the big climbs started to slow down, he kind of came back out of the woodwork. Wishful thinking, maybe.

Speaking of Landis:

http://outsideonline.com/outside/features/200607/tour-de-france-2006-floyd-landis-1.html?page=1

Too bad he cheated.

A wee bit off topic, but we are talking about Horner's blood values, the science of sport piece about the leaked rider "ranking" is very interesteing. I think the most important thing in this, is that this list is out of context. We are subjectively saying, well he's a 0/11 so he must be clean, while somebody who is a 6/11 is dirtier. A 0 may mean that he's got incredibly consistent blood values (suggesting that he is a robot that never gets sick, or under-recovered, or he is monitoring his own blood and doing things to keep the values in the same range).

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2011/05/ucis-suspicion-score.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/cJKs+(The+Science+of+Sport)

@ Chris Horner: Kissena riders watch you while your sleeping.

@ Jeff White: Are you messing with me? Greg Henderson is a bloody KIWI!

@ Dan: You'd expect they'd push riders up the scale if their values were too perfectly consistent as well no?
UCI just banned needles, microscopes next please.

@John
I don't know what to say about what the scores mean. there is no context. The UCI is just going to say something along the lines of "this is confidential, you shouldn't know this." Rather than sacking-up and saying "this is how we arrived at these values, and this is how scoring works." There is no explanation to what a 0 means or what a 10 means. We assume that 10 is highly suspicious of doping, and 0 is none, but does 8 mean somebody is twice as suspicious of doping than a 4? That kind of information isn't shared in the leak, so we can all speculate what it means but until the UCI decides that the best way to stop doping is transparency, all we have is speculation.