Steve Tilford

I just was looking at the results from the Tour of Qatar this morning and saw that Alexander Kristoff beat Mark Cavendish in today’s stage by nearly nothing. That should be an interesting duel this season. Anyway, it got me thinking about how important a bike throw can be at the end of a race.

I’m really not sure where I learned how to throw my bike. It was just part of messin’ around training back when I was a kid, I think. It was one of the things we all did when we sprinted for stop ahead signs or city limits.

Wherever I learned it, if you don’t know how to throw your bike, then you need to learn. And I guess you do this by going out and training with other guys and doing sprints.

One thing this individualized training has done is made the handling abilities of the riders much worse. Cycling is such a complicated sport it isn’t like anyone can have all the abilities by the time they turn professional. No rider has encountered all the conditions they need, even in 5-10 years that they can’t learn something. I learn or relearn something in just about every race I do.

Anyway, I deviate. Since nearly all races are photo timed at the finish, your front wheel is where you finish. Being able to position that wheel a few inches further ahead at the end of the race can make the difference. So many races have been won, or lost, by a bike throw.

I suggest if you’re not comfortable throwing your bike at the finish of a race, you skip the intervals one day and go out and practice.

You can see that Cavendish (in yellow) is going much faster than Kristoff because of the relationship of their rear wheels.

Here is a photo of a finish at Burlington Road Race a long time ago. John Puffer is on my left. I'm pretty far off the back of my seat. It is over a 40 mph sprint and I wasn't really as close as it looks.

Here is a photo of a photo at the finish of the Burlington Road Race a long time ago. John Puffer is on my left. I’m pretty far off the back of my seat. It is over a 40 mph sprint and I wasn’t really as close as it looks. He is much faster than me.

Start of the daily puppy pictures.

I think I do a pretty good job of staying happy. Of course I get down some, but not that much. I do this by constantly reminding myself that I have it better than 90% of the planet’s population at the start. Sure there are nicer places to be born, but in general, we all won the lottery being born in a 1st world country. We have options, that we consider rights, that most of the rest of the humans on the planet can only dream of.

Anyway, I hate being sick. Honestly, I don’t get sick as often as I used to. I’m not sure why that is. I used be sick every spring, bar none, and then usually again once again during the season. When I get sick, I don’t get well quickly. I think that might be because I don’t have a spleen, but that is just a guess. Whatever the reason, it is hard to stay upbeat once I know I’m in for a long run. Athletes, in general, are horrible patients.

It is easy to reminisce about how much time and effort I’ve already put in, all for not. I rode close to 800 miles the previous two weeks and now I am struggling to do a 30 mile ride. It seems like I’m at square one.

But in reality, you never go back to square one. I know that. But when I’m sick, the doom’s day thoughts come to the forefront of my mind.

This morning, for some odd reason, I got a Facebook notice on my phone. I clicked on it and it showed a picture of me 3 years ago and there I was, sitting in a hospital in Vail, looking all disoriented after rotator cuff surgery. That might have been the worse 6 weeks of my life.

All of a sudden, I am cheered up, thinking how stupid I’ve been dwelling over a chest cold when I could be where I was three years ago. Weird how that is. Happy being sick when you acknowledge the other situations that could be much worse.

Anyway, it is only going to be in the 20’s today. I feel badly for some of the weekend riders because the winter weather in Kansas has been super this year, but only during the week. The weekends seem to be the worst days of the year.

But, it is only going to be warmer. Next week looks amazing, minus the wind. It’s funny, even just a few warm days to look forward to can cheer me up.

We have a group ride going at noon. Just for a couple hours. The KU vs. OU rematch is at 1:30, so we’re going to probably miss the start. I haven’t had the luxury to be able to just go out and do the miles sitting on this past week. I hope enough guys show up so I have that option.