"Senior Citizen" Prevails!

   I took a little break from writing lately, mostly because my mind and time has been occupied by other things, namely the health of my parents. For the last couple of weeks I have been spending significant time at my folk’s place in Bethlehem, dropping in for visits at the hospital and helping around the house as they recover from their respective ailments. 

   During the down times I took in as much coverage of the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) as I could, since it proved, once again, to be the most exciting of the pro cycling season’s stage races. I believe this is the case for a number of reasons: 1. the quality of the Spanish teams (or those teams led by a Spanish rider) wanting to win on home soil, 2. the desperation of the teams who have missed out on a big prize as we near the end of the season, and 3. Team Sky doesn’t mark this event as an important goal on their calendar, so they don’t bother taking the starch out of the peloton with their usual high-tempo, race-excitement-killing pace.

   The race was riveting, with the lead changing several times in the early days of the race and unexpected winners coming from outrageous breakaway attempts. Giro d’Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali eventually gained control, by virtue of consistent finishes near the front and two solid time trials. The real surprise unfolded when American Chris Horner (photo below), who turns 42 in a couple of weeks, started taking chunks out of Nibali’s lead with brutal mountain attacks to which the Italian, and the other contenders, simply could not respond.

   Nibali may have been a bit fatigued after a long season trying to hold peak form, but with perhaps the strongest team on paper, the overall victory still seemed very likely. However, in the later stages, as the Euskatel, Katusha and Movistar teams turned on the gas in order to launch their team leaders into attack positions, it was a shocking to see Nibali’s teammates shed out the back, leaving their leader isolated with no help to cover moves. Indeed, as Horner took the red leader’s jersey for good after stage 19, expert analyst Sean Kelly was heard to say, “I would have put all of my money on Nibali holding onto this Vuelta title”.

   Horner has been a solid climber throughout his career and was a valuable teammate to Lance Armstrong during his Tour “victories”, however, when given opportunities to lead on his own, the Radio Shack – Leopard rider has had incredible bad luck with crashes and injuries. In fact, he had missed most of this cycling season with a knee problem, so perhaps Chris was just fresher than the top cyclists going into the Vuelta.

   For years the ever-smiling Horner has been known as a really likeable guy in the pro peloton, and similarly, he has always made himself very available to the press. I like to think maybe he is one of those guys who suffered competing against the dopers at the top level in the past and now he is getting an opportunity to shine. It is a bit sad that it had to come so late in his career, but I bet there are a lot of young pro cyclists who wish they were in his condition!

   I have some cool projects planned for the upcoming months, the most immediate being a build-up of a carbon fiber Specialized Tarmac frame for my neighbor Bob. I also recently purchased the “guts” of an early 1980s Colnago Super Saronni bicycle, which I am going to restore to as-close-to-original condition as I can. Stay tuned…