‘Today is Eddy Merckx’s birthday.  He is 70.  Pretty incredible.  I never raced against Eddy.  He was just a tad before my time.

He is uncomfortable being labeled the best of all time.  He said, “I don’t like it when people say I was the best ever. It’s silly. I am not the best ever. I was the best of my time. You cannot compare generations. There was Fausto Coppi after the war, Anquetil, Hinault, Indurain, Fignon. I never rode for the glory. I rode because I like cycling and winning. But not to say I am the best.”

He might not think it, but he didn’t convince me much with that statement.  He won 5 Tours, 5 Giros, 7 Milan-San Remos, 3 World Road Championships and set an hour record of nearly 50km, on a “regular” track bike.  He won 525 professional races during his career.  Doubt that is going to be repeated anytime soon.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Eddy.  You are the best.

I have one of Eddy’s special edition books. 525, one for each of his professional wins.

Merckx with Tom Simpson, Jacques Anquetil and Rudi Altig in 1967.

Yesterday I was on my feet all day.  And the day before and the day before.  I pretty much painted a whole house in 3 days.  I’d already scraped and sanded it, so I just needed to do some caulking and then paint.  My legs were throbbing each night when I went to bed.  Last night was the same.

I was waffling between going out to Colorado and doing the Bailey Hundo, a 100 mile MTB race outside of Denver, or up to Minnesota and race the Elite criteriums that they are doing along with the North Star Gran Prix.  I couldn’t manage to get up there by Wednesday to do the stage race, so this is the next best thing.  I definitely can use the speed work, my jump stinks.

Two weekend from now, there is a 100 mile MTB race in Lutzen, Minnesota.  I think a couple of my guys, Matt and Brian are driving up and if that is true, then I’ll go over there and race that race.  Even if they don’t show, I’ll probably do it anyway.  I’m looking to do some stuff I haven’t done before and this fits that bill.

It is super late on Thursday already, really Friday morning, so technically I’m racing today. I hope to get 6 hours sleep before I have to start driving.   It is about 500 miles up to Minneapolis from Topeka.  It’s a easy drive.  The race is at 6 tonight. Should be good and stiff again by then.

Did you see my friend, Stefan Rothe won the St. Paul criterium two nights ago at the North Star Gran Prix.  It was a pretty great move, jumping out of the break, just when they were getting caught with a lap to go.  They video is below.

https://vimeo.com/131061667