When I told Trudi that Cadel was going to be racing the Pro Challenge in Colorado next month, she said, “That is going to change everything.” – In a not such excited voice. Trudi doesn’t avoid work, just the opposite, but there is just a lot more work to do when the Tour de France champion shows up.
I think it is awesome that Cadel is racing here. Of course he raced here a ton when he was a MTB rider. I remember doing a lot of laps of the Vail World Cup with him way back in the day. I didn’t remember/realize that Cadel won that very World Cup.
I’m interested in seeing how well Cadel deals with altitude. Obviously he has an off-the-charts VO2. But, not being acclimated can make a super star a mere mortal. Maybe he’ll go to St Moritz or somewhere high in Switzerland, where he lives, and spend some time there. I know Cadel doesn’t use an altitude tent. Last year at the Tour, we were talking about altitude tents and he told me a that he gave his to a friend in Australia. But not without a huge hassle. I guess in Switzerland it is super expensive to ship something that heavy to Australia, so he wanted to cross the border (he lives on the Swiss/Italian border.) and ship it from there. The problem is that it is illegal in Italy to possess an altitude tent if you’re a competing athlete. Something about sporting fraud. Anyway, I don’t quite remember how the whole story played out. I think he had a friend in Switzerland ship it to his friend in Australia from Italy. The point is that he doesn’t sleep in a tent, so won’t be acclimated unless he goes to altitude either in Switzerland or Colorado.
Anyway, if you’re looking to take an end of the summer vacation, The US PRO Cycling Challenge should be it. The Coors Classic is having a reunion get together in Vail the night of the Thursday TT there, so a bunch of the “old” superstars of the past are going to be mulling around Vail. And, it seems, the whole podium of the Tour this year are going to be there, if the rumor of the Schlecks and Contador prove true. Not such a bad way to spend a little off time, riding your bike in Colorado and watching the race in person.
Photo by Michael Wilkinson
Here's a photo from the 1984 Coors Classic in Colorado. We had to ride for National Teams, so they bent the rules by having 3 National Teams, red, white and blue. This is Alexi, Ron Kiefel and myself.
Those yellow fork legs and bar ends! I was so excited when I got mine. I think I raced a Clark-Kent with Mag 21’s at Vail. That was 1995 IIRC…I raced expert and couldn’t summon the courage to do Bailey’s Bailout. You? I remember Julie Furtado rode it…badass!
Crap crap! Already have a vacation planned there the week before this. If only I could stay and take two weeks off from work… hmmm…
I had those shoes…
He tested at the AIS with a 89 Vo2 max. This was one of the reasons he was beating the Elites when he was still U17 in the Australian MTB races back in the early to mid 90s.
Those 80s-issue national team jerseys (the blue versions were used at the world championships) were still the best looking kits the United States has had. Would love to see those brought back for the 2012 Olympics.
Yeah Sean-I agree that those were the best national time jerseys of all time. I was so stoked to be on the blue team, since I already had a bunch of the clothing including skinsuits.