Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Life - Sick

Yep. Yesterday and today. Didn't go to work. On either day. Coughing. Hacking. Stuffy head.

Please make it stop.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a real shame, especially since you seemed to have found your good shape back...

Maybe you should use the recovering time to give your opinion on last saturday's sprint in San Remo. A remarkable sprint in more than one way: the whole bunch sprinting from the saddle, except for two guys who are able to make a 2" gap in the sprint! One (Haussler) started his sprint even from... 10th position or something like that. The other one gave a fenomenal demonstration on how to throw your bike on the line.

I'd love to hear your (i.e. a sprinter's) opinion on this sprint...

Get well soon... hopefully you feel stronger this weekend already

March 27, 2009 at 10:02:00 AM EDT
Aki said...

I have to revisit the clip that I watched about 10 times already, but basically this is my "from-memory" feel of what happened:

- Field bearing down on finish.
- Lots of tired legs, except for two riders who feel unstoppable. Everyone trying to steel themselves for the final sprint, even those ostensibly working for others. Sprinting in San Remo is like climbing a HC climb - due to fatigue, roles can be blurred or forgotten, and riders meant to be protected may be weak, and riders who are strong enough to work for others may be in fact the strongest rider left on the team.
- As field slows a bit (to me it seemed like things paused for a second), Haussler doesn't slow, and in fact suddenly finds himself going something like 5-7 kph faster than the field. He does the only thing he can - he goes. Red Sea parts for him and he drills it.
- Due to slight slowing of field, Haussler gets gap.
- Due to gap, hesitation to jump. Even the workers are hesitating because, probably, everyone is thinking "Maybe I can win..". And those who aren't are thinking "Holy crap I hope I don't cramp and embarrass myself".
- Cavendish, way on the right side, realizes that if he can close, he may be able to beat him at the end. Since he's been totally saving himself for this, and he's been following Big G (a good field sprinter himself, so therefore the best kind of leadout man) for a bit, he's feeling pretty good.
- Cav goes, Haussler looks and thinks "Oh, fer cryin out loud, of all the guys it's got to be him!"
- Since Cav jumped hard, unexpectedly, from the other side of the field (everyone was looking left at Haussler), guys don't go with him on the right side. Fatigued legs, surprise, uncertainty, etc.
- Haussler reverts to thinking about tactics, rather than burying himself to the line. This because he knows Cav's hyperspeed final kick, and starts to "shake and break" (hahahaha, thanks to American Flyers) to deny Cav the draft. Cav follows because it's easy to follow someone doing that which is why someone who believes in their attack/sprint never does that kind of move (although guys who are frustrated with the wheelsucker will pull the move too).
- Cav's finishing kick is muted to a little thump due to the +100 meters of sprinting (after 300k of racing), but it's enough to win the race.

btw Cav's finishing kick is really, really impressive, the last 2 or so pedal strokes he gains probably 2-3-4-5 kph. Really fast, like throwing the bike forward but for 2 revolutions.

March 27, 2009 at 8:39:00 PM EDT

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