July | 2016 | Steve Tilford

Seems like everyone interviewed far at the Tour has complained that the race is super dangerous. Peter Sagan, current World Champion, was first to speak up and say that the riders themselves have no respect for each other and are taking excessive risks.

Then Berhnard Eisel called the fighting for position “ridiculous”. He said that so many teams are fighting for the front of the field that he can’t even get to the front to do his job. I was thinking that maybe it isn’t his job to pull at the front if all these other teams are doing the work. But, he did agree with Sagan that it is getting worse and worse.

Then on the coverage going on today, Michael Matthews, Orica, agrees that it has gotten more and more dangerous, but doesn’t have an answer. He said that the “World Champion”, which is Sagan, needs to address the situation, which he already has.

If they think that the race has gotten dangerous now, they should have been racing 25 years ago. This sport is much, much more dangerous than it was then. I’ve complained about it often.

When I first started racing, riders went out of their way to not make contact. When incidental contact was made, the riders got smaller, not larger. Now as soon as someone brushes up to another, there is most likely an elbow thrown, or at least words exchanged. Incidental contact will happen in cycling. The reaction from it is what has “evolved”.

Right now, there is 10 km to go and the teams at the front are Astana, Sky and Movistar. WTF. It is going to be a field sprint and “the wrong” teams are at the front. Those guys should just be sitting in and not clogging up the front of the field.

The reasons of the crashes are obvious. Not enough room at the front of the field for all the guys that “are supposed” to be there. It is simple. The teams themselves need to figure out how to deal with it. It has become an arms race and everyone loses it these type of things.

Yesterday I took the last pill of the antibiotics I have been taking for the past 10 days. I am surprised. Normally, I bail on taking pills as soon as I feel better. I know that is against all physicians normal protocol, but I grew up in pre-finishing-all-antibiotics instructions, so I am grandfathered in.

I have been pretty flat, but yesterday I felt better. It is weird, because I’ve had a sore throat since the criterium nationals on Sunday and thought it was going to get worse. I couldn’t understand how I could be getting a sore throat when I was taking antibiotics. Normally, if I get a bad sore throat, it is strep throat. Guess not this time.

I started out riding yesterday with Karl. We were going to ride MTB’s over to Telemark, then ride the Danky Dank trail that now connects to Rock Lake. It was going to be around 2 1/2 hours I thought.

And it was. I started feeling better after about an hour. Funny how that goes. I think I’m going to have to ride a couple hours before cross races this fall. I have historically refused to warm up on a trainer, but that is always changeable. The weather was in the mid 80’s and sticky. The trail is super cool and a joy to ride.

I’m riding my “new” Eriksen dual suspension bike. It is 650b and I like that wheel size for dual suspension. I’m not sure I wouldn’t like a 29’r, but this bike really rolls bumpy still great.

Anyway, Karl twisted his ankle and was limping back. We all went down to the lake to swim. After swimming, I decided to go back out and ride again. So I rode over to Boedeker and rode the Seeley Pass Trail back towards the North End Trailhead. About half way back it started raining. It was refreshing riding through the woods in the rain. It wasn’t cold, so the rain felt great.

Anyway, I still have a mild sore throat, but it is better than yesterday. I’m cautiously optomistic that I’m starting to come around. I looked at Strava and was riding pretty fast yesterday compared to the last few years being up here.

There is a race in Clear Lake Iowa this weekend. It is another Flyover Series Event, which means a good field and great promotion. It is called Bicycle Blues & Barbeque. Can’t beat that. Tom Zirbel from Rally is racing. He is from up there, so he always makes the effort to come home and support the local event, which is super cool. I hope to finally be able to participate in a race and not just follow wheels.

On another note, Tucker has turned into a swimming fool. Last time up here, just a month ago, Tucker barely got into the water. Now I can’t get him out of the lake. He loves chasing dragonflies that are flying low along the water. He is more of a bug/butterfly dog than a bird dog at this point. It is super fun swimming having him swim along with me. I’m doing two-a-days now at the lake.