Racing was one of the biggest priorities during Lance’s preparation for the 2009 Tour de France, because there are physical and psychological demands found in competition that cannot be replicated in training. This is true for elite athletes as well as amateurs and novices, so I encourage all the athletes I work with to enter competitions and events prior to their goal events. Read More

One of the key ways to prepare for a challenging athletic event is to break it down into its smaller, individual challenges. For instance, the Leadville 100 mountain bike race is 100 miles and takes me around – and hopefully less than – nine hours to complete. So there’s obviously an endurance component to preparation. The majority of the course is also above 10,000 feet in elevation, with the high point at 12,600 feet above sea level and the low point at only 9,100 feet. And within that 100 miles there’s a the normal climbing, descending, and flat/rolling terrain. Read More

Colorado Springs, Colorado is located at 6200 feet above sea level. It’s a high desert, and normally by the end of July every bit of scrub grass is brown, tinder dry, and ready to burn. But every few years, it really rains. This year happens to be one of those years, and just about every day Colorado Springs is getting rocked by big thunderstorms that roll through in the afternoon. Read More

George Hincapie is a bad, bad man, and I mean that in the best possible way. The American veteran of 14 Tours de France announced today that he broke his collarbone in a crash on Stage 17 of this years race. No only did he get back on his bike and ride the final 70 kilometers of the stage, but he also refused to go to the hospital afterward. Basically, he didn’t want to know whether it was broken or not, and preferred instead of just start Stage 18 and see if he could make it all the way to the finish line of Stage 21. Read More

I forget exactly which year it was, but one of the six years that German sprinter Erik Zabel won the green jersey points competition he didn’t win a single stage. This year, Team Columbia-HTC’s Mark Cavendish won SIX stages and DIDN’T win the green jersey. There’s little doubt that Cavendish is the fastest sprinter on two wheels, so it’s a testament to Thor Hushovd’s savvy as a competitor that the Norwegian captured the second green jersey of his career. Read More

Sometimes in cycling, the results don’t tell the whole story. To the casual observer, Stage 20 of the 2009 Tour de France doesn’t look like it was much of a challenge. After all, the overall leader board remained relatively unchanged. But anyone who watched today’s stage closely knows differently. Including Mont Ventoux on the penultimate day of the Tour de France had exactly the effect the organizers were hoping for. Estimates are that there were half a million people lining the roadside up the Giant of Provence, and they were treated to quite a show. Read More

Nineteen down, two to go. Of the two stages remaining in the 2009 Tour de France, it’s tomorrow’s race to the top of Mont Ventoux that is likely to decide the composition of the final podium in Paris. Alberto Contador’s position in the yellow jersey is secure – barring incident or injury – but the second and third steps of the final podium are very much in play. Read More

Although his performances in the mountains proved he is the strongest climber in the race, Alberto Contador’s victory in today’s Stage 18 individual time trial in Annecy went one step further and proved that he is the strongest man in the race. Period. What you’re watching is a man at his peak, and he’s young enough that he may be able to return to the Tour de France with similar strength for the next few years. Read More

One of the important – and sometimes overlooked – aspects of stage racing is the fact that you have to be constantly aware of both the people ahead and behind you in the standings. We all tend to focus on the riders right behind the yellow jersey, and their obvious motivation to overtake the rider or riders ahead of them. But the riders in the top ten positions in the overall standings are not necessarily united in their sole pursuit of the yellow jersey. They also have to adjust their tactics in consideration of each other. Read More