A lot of times I scratch my head and try to figure out how these supposed professional cyclist come up with the stuff they do.  Case is point is the statements by both Nairo Quintana and his team mate, Alejandro Valverde, who sit is 1st and 2nd overall in the Tour of Spain currently, that power meters have no place in bike races and should be banned.

Quintana said – “They take away a lot of spectacle and make you race more cautiously. I’d be the first in line to say they should be banned.”

Then Valverde added – “I think they’re really useful for training, but they take out a lot of drama from the sport. In competition you should be racing on feelings.”

Okay, I get it.  They were pissed/disappointed that Chris Froome decided that he didn’t want to go over his limit a couple days ago and rode steady, losing nearly a minute, only to come back and sprint for 2nd on the stage.  He was probably looking at his numbers, both power and heart rate and decided that the pace wasn’t for him.

But, in my opinion, that only made the race way more exciting.  It added, to use Alejandro’s word, “drama” to the race.  You thought Froome was done and then he is resurrected from the near dead.  It was good drama.

Froomes’ answer to those guys – “What? We should go back to single-speed bikes as well?”

There is a ton of stuff that I’d remove from the pro peloton before power meters.  Race radio for sure.  Maybe even carbon rims.  It seems like these guys can’t seem to handle their bikes so good anymore and a constant braking surface would help out immensely.  How about anything electronic on a bike?  We could go on and on.

Power meters and heart rate monitors are personal tools.  I don’t ever look down at my Garmin and think, jesus, I need to ride differently because my numbers are all over the top.  That is just me.  But, I don’t train by these numbers either. Every World Tour team has a power meter sponsor.   Here’s a link to what power meters each World Tour team is currently using. 

I’m sure Chris Frrome knows exactly what he’s capable of at any given moment.  So yes, he uses that tool better than Quintana or Valverde.  Does that mean it should be banned from racing.  I think not.  And really Nairo is a bit of a hypocrite here.  Check out this video at Velonews.com. Nairo is just about ready to crush the field, but is screwing around with his Garmin for a long while.  Go to about 1 minute it to view.

Did you see the finish of today’s stage in Spain?  Think Quintana thought Froome was riding by power numbers there?  I think not, once again.

I’m using a Quarq Elsa, with Shimano rings on my road bike.

And a Stages Dura-Ace left are on my cross/gravel setup.

Tucker ran over to Tuesday night Beer night. He was too hot to hang with the gang.

It is so strange how long people wait to enter races nowadays.  I’ve always waited until last minute, but when whole teams are going, you’d think that they would be entered way earlier than two days before.

Case and point is the Gateway Cup this weekend.  Earlier this week, I looked and the PRO 1 field had 40 riders entered.  I waited one day and there were 80.  Now there are 103 guys registered. The races start tomorrow night.

I do understand the rationale of individuals waiting.  The entry fee is substantial.  It is $200 for the weekend, plus USAC charges something like a $12 fee to process the electronic entry.  That is bullshit.  Just because USAC has taken over a lot of turf from BikeReg etc. doesn’t mean they should still charge the fees that an independent company charged.  USAC is the organization that is supposed to represent us.

But, these races all are on the National Racing Calender, thus important to some teams.  But the teams didn’t enter until last minute.  I’m not sure what that is all about.

I like the Gateway Cup.  The first two days are pretty wide open and normally are field sprints. Then it gets progressively harder.  On the Hill on Saturday can be hard.  It is in the Italian section of St. Louis, thus has a lot of character.  Sunday is a very hard race.  Especially if you get too far back in the field.

I thought I was riding okay, okay enough to gain form through racing.  I’m not so sure about that now.  I’ve been waking up the last two days with splitting headaches and feeling generally run down.  I hope it is just allergies, but Bill told me his is sick last night, so that goes around in tight circles.  I hope it works out.  I am banking on these 4 races to get some form for Chequamegon and then Jinglecross the next weekend.

Off subject, but does anyone know that this tool is for?  I found it in my mom’s stuff.  It is pretty cool, but I don’t really know its use.

Tucker at the coffeshop. He likes to go because a lot of people pet him. Bromont wasn’t much into petting. Tucker loves it.