Wednesday News and Views

With nothing really sticking in my craw of late, I will offer up these random bits for you all to check out.

Ouch!: Legs were super fatigued yesterday and I took the day off the bike. I will be spinning them out on the way to and from work today and aiming for another long day in the saddle this coming weekend, given that the weather isn't too bad.

Ouch #2: I see that the Giro went up a mountain in a time trial the other day. Well, it seems that some of those roads were "steratto", or gravel, with pitches of up to 24% as I understand it. Some of the riders were complaining about it being too tough after all the severity of the stages leading up to the mountain time trial. Guess they wouldn't like Trans Iowa too much then, eh? Might I suggest that they try a bit different type of bike next go 'round, (if there is one). Even Coppi and Bartoli knew enough not to ride a skinny tired TT rig up a steep gravel road!

Ouch #3: Think winter had it's icy claws into us far too long? Well, how about the Iron Horse Classic having to cancel it's event for the first time in 37 years due to a foot of snow measured at the finish line in Silverton, Colorado and daytime high temperatures forecast to only reach the upper 30's along the route. This happened just this past weekend! At least we had a glimpse of summer here, although yesterday had the distinct feeling of Fall in the air. Weird weather, I tell ya!

Ouch #4: Recently you may have heard the news that Dorel Industries purchased Cannondale Bicycles. A big dust up occurred over the thought that Cannondale was going to be reduced to a "department store brand" and other non-sensical hi-jinx mostly stirred up by a company that features a big red S in their logo. Well, at a recent stockholders meeting, company president and CEO, Martin Schwartz told the gathered crowd that Dorel intends to "...become the world's #1 IBD player." Hrummph! Another company looking for world domination? That sounds pretty crazy, like we should be calling The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or something. Anyway, the Dorel Corporation is into housing furnishings, which you can imagine is not a great market right about now. so they are throwing a lot of their 2 billion dollar a year might into this bicycle thing. Expect to see some "acquisitions" and other power moves from this Canadian giant soon!