I was sad to wake up this morning and see the headline in Velonews that Laurent Fignon had died. I raced with Laurent Fignon many times. Actually, the first trip I made to Europe with the US National Team, Fignon was at nearly all the races we did that month. He was riding for the France National Team at the time.

The first race I did in Europe was a PRO/AM race, the Tour of Vaucluse. I just dug the results out and saw that he finished 12th overall. I was 31st. I remember being totally surprised that he signed a Professional contract that year. I was even more surprised when he won the Tour de France just 2 years later. I had raced with him nearly a month throughout France and Italy and he did nothing to reflect that he had that in his ability. But, those were the days when being a great athlete allowed good results.

Anyway, after Fignon retired, he did a lot of things that benefited cycling. It is kind of unsettling when your peers start dying. Kind of makes you think.

Here’s a nice tribute to Laurent Fignon’s life written by John Wilcockson.

That is Bernard Thevenet that finished 2nd. Man, that was so long ago.

It's only appropriate that the photo is of Fignon and Lemond. It was like Lance and Ullrich.

Excellent photo of The Badger and The Professor.

On the podium, at this year's Tour de France, receiving a special award from Bernard Hinault.

You know the problem with having good fitness, or for that matter, bad fitness? Well, not really bad fitness, but feeling bad or not riding well. The problem is that when I’m riding good, that’s all I want to do. It is easy to train hard. It is easy to do anything. But, when I’m riding bad, nothing comes easy. Everyday life is difficult, so it is hard to accomplish any hard task.

I think it has something to do with your blood. I posted earlier, I think I might have been riding better at the first of March than I am now. That was after nearly two complete months of not riding. I know that I have a lot of miles on my legs and I don’t lose form very quickly. But, that doesn’t explain being able to ride at race pace without any racing. Or training at race pace.

Why I think it has something to do with your blood is that when I’m riding well, I can do almost anything physically great. When I have a great day training, I can plop down on the floor and knock off 100 sit ups without any stress at all. But, when I’m riding badly, I might only get to 30 and then can barely struggle to 50. It isn’t a training thing. It is a muscle supply issue. Your muscles are getting supplied everything they need to function properly.

Right now, I”m just going mediocre. Yesterday I went for a 70 mile ride to Lawrence. It was in the upper 90’s and super muggy. Heat index off the charts. I was pretty good until 10 miles to go. I met up with Bill and had to stop almost immediately. I drank a 32 oz. Coke and a 32 oz. Gatorade. I felt better riding into town. When I got home, I weighed myself and was still 9 lbs. light. That was after drinking over 4 lbs. of liquid within the last 1/2 hour. That seems a little extreme. I’m still 5 lbs. lighter than yesterday. Maybe I was over hydrated? Probably not.