After our own short section of Pave on the way to Friedensfeld on Saturday, I was motivated to get up early this morning to watch a reformed, cocaine-free, Tom Boonen make his decisive attack with over 50 km of Paris Roubaix to go.  Only Boonen’s team mate took his wheel. The two quickly pulled out a lead of 15 seconds.  After several minutes his mate shelled off the back and Boonen was left to soldier on to the finish with the fragmented peloton unable to respond.  By the time Boonen entered the velodrome he had built a lead of 1′ 37″. Truly one of the outstanding performances in the history of the Classics.

Now imagine if Cancellara had not been injured last week and had been able to race Paris-Roubaix. It is likely he or Boonen would have attacked to create the break but with the other on the wheel.  What a contest that would have been.  Both men being equally strong, it would have come down to the sprint at the end.  With the potential for competition between these two powerhouses, the classics might yet get some of the media attention they deserve.  In the 1980′s, at the height of the 7-Eleven era, when Steve Bauer and Greg Lemond were competitors, CBS actually covered the race.  Perhaps, with the drama of competition alive and well in the classics, some mainstream North American station will  pick up coverage and show viewers on this side of the pond that cycling is more than the Tour de France.  Here’s hoping!  Perhaps MIT also needs a classic ride now and again; an opportunity to pull out our old steel or whatever we’ve got and cruise some of the dirt and gravel roads of the area.  Hmm!

It was, perhaps, suitably dreary and cloudy for a ride following sombre Good Friday reflections.  However, undeterred by stiff winds, a little spittle from above and a feel of snow in the air, eight hardy souls gathered at the tower for the weekly roust.  MIT regulars Jim, Merle, Mark, Rob S., and RJ where joined by Ed, Haley, and Pat.  With a harsh headwind the (normally) MTB trio quickly proved their mettle by ably pulling the group up the Ridge Road and onto a wind-at-our-backs final stretch to Schellenberg’s.  Haley (The Hammer?) opted to go for a solo 45 minute ride while the guys tanked up on eggs, toast, and that generous bottomless cup always served in Kleefeld.

Chatter included numerous references to communists, fascists, stalinists, marxists, and socialists somehow triggered by a passing reference to the idea of starting a bicycle co-op/cafe in Steinbach.  Both relief and disappointment was expressed at Merle’s lack of a decent Arkansas redneck lilt following his spring break excellent adventure.

The departure from breakfast was a bracing 38 kph blast to PTH52 that had RJ eating his eggs for the second time (how the heck do you guys ride that hard after a meal?).  The final 14K saw the group break-up into stupid-fast, in-shape, and i-don’t-give-a-damn-31k-is-plenty-fast (my category).

I think the season has begun.  I had to go and pick-up a big mac and milkshake tonight because I was just famished at about 9 pm.  The calories are burning up again.  Weather permitting, I will ride to Oakbank tomorrow for my traditional spandex clad triumphant arrival at the Janzen family Easter BBQ.

Good evening all

Just got back from LUD of Mitchell general meeting.  A discussion came about regarding people crossing PTH 52 from the south side to the north side.  Brent Wareham, the regional director of operations for Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation was asked to speak to the issue.  To be fair, Brent was in there because he lives in Mitchell, not as a government representative.  I know Brent but could not help but be very disappointed about what came next.  He side stepped the issue of safely getting people across the 52 and then specifically pointed out that cyclists (not just kids on bicycles) on busy highways were a major issue.  He added that the provincial government’s movement towards active transportation was making it worse.  He strongly recommended that cyclists ride against traffic in order to be safe and stated clearly that the local RCMP would ignore this violation of the traffic act.  He stated that he had seen the accident report and went on to imply that the recent death of a cyclist on the 12 would might have been avoided if the cyclist had not been riding with traffic, on the pavement.

A couple of us at the meeting pointed out that bicycles riding on the road are vehicles and that riding in the opposite direction would be more likely to cause an accident.  I understand he is trying to make highways safe and I might even agree that if there is a wide paved shoulder (like between Mitchell and Steinbach) his recommendation might have merit.  Otherwise I was left with the sense that the “victims” were being blamed.  I for one am going to contact the local RCMP and see if they really are onside with this.  We have such a long way to go before cyclists can be safe on Manitoba roads……

Glen

I don’t actually know how this works, but I’m sure I could figure it out.  So, if there is enough interest with MIT members, I’m volunteering to run a UCI WorldTour Cycling Pool.  I’m guessing it works like an NHL hockey pool, which I was once a part of (also the statistician) back in my Yant Zied (Winkler) days.  Up to date UCI stats are available here.

So, let’s see your interest by leaving comments to this post.  If there are at least five more players, besides yours truly, I will look into setting something up.  For “skin-in-the-game”, I am open to suggestions.  You know, something suitable like making the low point scorer show up at a FOG ride with a three-speed CCM Road King wearing sweats and having a coffee thermos strapped to the rat trap (or was that was me on the first MIT ride seven years ago…).