Cycling

Rob Garza... best known for his work as one of the men behind the curtain of the Oz that is 18th Street Lounge and Thievery CorporationThievery Corporation http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/search?q=thievery+Corporation+

Megan Guarnier has taken her U.S. championship pedigree to the road for Rabobank in support of Marianne Vos in 2013. Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.comCHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (VN) — 2012 was a year of highs and lows for Megan Guarnier. The 28-year-old New York native narrowly missed her goal of being named to the U.S. women’s Olympic cycling team, but found glory weeks later in Augusta, Georgia, as she captured the U.S. elite women’s national road race championship. For Guarnier the win was both a chance to shake an Olympic-sized disappointment and check off a life goal years in the making. “Winning a national title had always been a dream,” said Guarnier, who placed winning the championship on a list of personal goals developed some six years prior. “To be able to track your own progress and say ‘I’ve put in all these hard hours on the bike and now I’ve achieved this goal’ is remarkable. When I put [winning nationals] on that list I didn’t know when or how it would happen, but it did. Being able to wear [the champion’s] jersey is really something special.” Guarnier achieved another goal at the end of 2012, signing as the only American rider on the Rabobank-Liv Giant team of world champion and Olympic gold medalist Marianne Vos. Transitioning to full-time European racing was another dream come true for the rider. But that doesn’t mean it was easy. “I can’t say I wasn’t nervous,” said Guarnier. “It was nerve-wracking because I didn’t quite know what I was signing up for. I didn’t know them and they didn’t know me. So we were both taking really big risks. But they’ve been very open to bringing me into their team and into their culture and I’ve loved it.” In Europe this spring, Guarnier has achieved major success in the stars and stripes, placing second in the cobbled Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and helping to guide her team leader to successes of her own. Working alongside Vos, a superstar in the world of women’s cycling, has been an eye-opener for the American. “It’s been an adjustment to being much more in the spotlight,” Guarnier said. “Clearly not as much for me as for Marianne, but the reaction of the European fans is really incredible. It kind of gives you a taste for what the men experience at that top level of professional cycling. They want our signatures and they want our pictures. They find the sport so fascinating.” Guarnier says her team leader has been a role model, both on and off the bike. “I can say that being around Marianne has taught me a lot about being gracious and thankful to people. I knew coming into Rabobank that it would be all about the team. And really, whether it’s me making the podium or my teammate just doesn’t matter. Teamwork is what cycling’s all about.” Guarnier sees this weekend’s Volkswagen USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial National Championships in Chattanooga as an opportunity to promote the women’s sport to a growing American fan base. The event is the first to include the elite men’s and women’s fields at the same location. “I think it’s incredible that more people will be exposed to women’s cycling,” said Guarnier. “When we have races at the same time as the men there are fans around who might not otherwise be. It gives us more exposure and it’ll show those fans that women’s cycling is fantastic. We race just as hard as the men and often our races are even more animated because they’re shorter. We get right to the point.” As for defending her jersey, Guarnier knows she’ll have her work cut out for her. As her team’s lone American she’ll be without teammates on the road. But that doesn’t mean her ride won’t be a team effort. “I’ll be missing my teammates this weekend, that’s for sure. But I can’t get too hung up on the fact that I don’t have them here, because that’s not going to win the race.,” she said. “And the more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve realized that, even without them, I’m still here for the team. I have a job to do and a team to represent and I’m go

Junior world champ battles virus

Brent Bookwalter came close again, finishing second for the second consecutive year. Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.com

In the sports drink market, you have a ton of options with a basic sugar, carbs and electrolyte...

Aru and Kangert shine at Tre Cime di Lavaredo

As the many of you who I've seen in person in the last couple of weeks already know, I'm in the process of making a big change in my life. After 16 years of making my living as an architect, I've quit my job, and am starting on another path, running a bicycle shop specializing in transportation cycling.As longtime readers and locals know, Cambridge, Somerville, Boston, and environs have a flourishing transportation bicycling scene. More and more people are realizing that a bicycle is the most convenient way around a dense and parking- challenged city, as well as being healthy, green and fun! So it's almost shocking that there's no place in town to test-ride a bakfiets, and very few where you can buy a traditional step through city bike with fenders, chainguard, rack and lights built in. There also aren't many places that focus on bicycling with kids, which I think is increasingly needed as people who bike everywhere start families and want to continue their cycling lifestyle, and pass it along to their kids.So, I'm going to try to fill that gap with a new shop called Bicycle Belle. I've rented space on a prime cycling route- the corner of Beacon St and Oxford St (368 Beacon) on the Somerville/ Cambridge line; hopefully soon to be the head of the new cycletrack. It's freshly painted and I've replaced the fluorescent tubes with decorative lights. I'm in the process of ordering bikes and accessories, installing shop fixtures and generally getting things sorted and set up. It's been a busy couple of weeks, both before I quit my job, and this first week that I'm working full time on the shop.The first boxes of accessories and the first set of bikes will arrive next week, and we'll be getting bikes through the summer as longer lead time european bikes (Workcycles and Paper bikes) start to trickle in.It's a big scary leap into the unknown, as I know absolutely nothing about retail- I never even worked in a shop in high school- I was a waitress instead! But it's something I have a passion for, something I follow obsessively in my free time, and something I hope that the city needs and wants. I've already had some ups and downs, and I'm sure that will continue, as I learn the ropes and figure out the industry, the retail business and the market. I hope that I can provide a real service to people looking for these kinds of bikes, and maybe even make a living doing it. I just have to trust that I can figure out all the details along the way!I'm incredibly grateful to the support of my family, the Scientists' family (my family too now!) my bikey friends who have been giving support- especially Velouria from Lovely Bicycle who has been meeting with me for months helping me plot and scheme. And more than anyone the Scientist, who is not only taking on the responsibility of supporting us while I get this off the ground, but has enthusiastically encouraged me through all the planning and dreaming and teeth-gnashing.I don't have a firm opening date, but I expect it will be in the month of June. I suspect that this blog may become a diary more about opening a bike shop than riding, as I work to make it all happen.Please let me know if you have any suggestions for inventory or other ideas, and I hope to see those of you in the Boston area at the shop once it's open for business!

Colombian gains time on Majka to become best young rider

Christian Vande Velde said Saturday was a beautiful day — for skiing. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.comTRE CIME DI LAVAREDO, Italy (VN) — The Giro d’Italia went from spring to winter in about 30 minutes Saturday afternoon to put a dramatic finishing touch on the season’s first grand tour. After riding most of the day in perfect summer-like conditions, the peloton rode straight into a brutal snowstorm as the course climbed the spectacular wall at the Tre Cime summit deep in the heart of the Dolomites. When the peloton turned right and up with about 7km to go, conditions went from bad to worse. By the time stage winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) had crossed the line, winter had returned with a vengeance to northern Italy. Heavy snow pelted riders crossing the line. In the chaos that is unique to the Giro, riders desperately searched for ways to get warm and dry. Riders were routed off-course to a parking area, where soigneurs directed snow-bound cyclists to waiting team cars. “It was epic today. The roads were fine, but it’s snowing hard right now. It’s a beautiful … ski day,” said Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) as he wiped down inside a team van waiting for a drive back down to the waiting team buses. “I just hope we can get out of here.” Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) crossed the finish line screaming. Not because he had lost out on a chance to secure a spot on the Giro d’Italia podium, but because it felt like someone was pushing razors into his frozen hands. “Freddo! Molto freddo!” Scarponi said with a grimace, sticking his hands into his soigneur’s jacket. “I have never been so cold!” Others came across with chattering teeth, helmets covered in snow, and exposed skin turning mottled pink and white from the extreme cold. Riders found themselves thrown into the finish-line tussle of shoving officials, prying journalists, stressed-out soigneurs, and the occasional fan who had infiltrated the restricted zone. With snow whipping around and everyone pushing and shoving, riders would stop short interviews to try to find refuge. “There was just some snow. It didn’t bother me very much. We were very confident,” Tanel Kangert told VeloNews. “Vincenzo was in good shape — hey, do you know if there is another tent up here? I am freezing. …” Others took the pandemonium in stride. For them, it was just another day at the office. “It actually wasn’t that cold when we were climbing, because the body creates a lot of heat,” said Peter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge). “Now I am getting cold once we stop pedaling and talk to all of you.” Winter-like conditions took the teeth out of the final weekend of racing in the Giro, so officials breathed a sigh of relief that at least they could finish Saturday’s stage on the Tre Cime summit. Heavy snow on the high passes forced Giro officials to cancel Friday’s stage in its entirety and prompted a major re-routing of Sunday’s “queen stage.” Rather than tackle five major climbs, the stage hugged the valley floor, where temperatures were pleasant in the mid-70s, before tackling the Tre Cime climb with ramps over 20 percent. Things quickly changed once the route turned south and started to climb into the upper reaches of the Dolomites. Clouds blotted out spectacular views of the towering rock walls above the finish line at 2300 meters. Vande Velde, who raced without leg warmers, said conditions went from one extreme to another very quickly. “The whole day wasn’t so bad. Considering how bad the weather’s been so far in this Giro, it was pretty successful today,” Vande Velde said. “In all honesty, I’ve been much colder other days. It’s the wind chill that gets you. We can finish on the uphill; it’s the descents that are dangerous. And that’s when you get that chi

BMC rider slips to third overall after gear problem