On Saturday, January 30, 2010, I traveled to Lisbon, Portugal to compete with my team-mates at Gracie-Barra Marbella in the brown-belt, lightweight, Senior 2 category of the European Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu championship. Despite an unfortunate previous evening (having eaten something obviously bad), I managed to win my category — making this the third time I’ve won gold in this competition.
Sports
14
Aug 09
Dieting and weight loss report.
In the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I’ve been fortunate (having trained under some great coaches) to have won gold medals two times at the European BJJ championships. On both occasions, I fought in the lightweight division, 76 kg (including the gi/kimono). Generally walking around at 76 kg, I would need to only lose about 2 kg a couple days before the event (to compensate for the weight of the gi), and would generally be one of the bigger and stronger participants in the division (being at the very top of the weight range).
30
Mar 09
Homenaje de Ronda, 2009
Background.
Every May, thousands of people from around the world gather in Ronda, Spain, to subject themselves to the grueling endurance event known as the 101km of Ronda, hosted and organized by the Spanish professional military, La Legión. A bit lesser known, this group also organize a warm-up even in March, known as the Homenaje de los 101km de Ronda. While I’ve done the 101km three times now, this was the first year that I participated in the Homenaje.
This past Sunday, we got up early–especially early, given the switch to Daylight Savings Time–dropped the kids off at the grandparents, and headed off to Ronda. I’d planned to do the 70km mountain bike ride, while my wife planned to do the 43km running option. We got to Ronda about an hour later, parked and headed to the start area.
28
Jan 08
Gold Medal at the 2008 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships
Man, I’ve been on some kind of good luck streak lately! First the brown belt a few weeks ago, and now, this past weekend, I competed and won the gold medal in the Brown Belt, Senior 1 division of the European Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships. Woo-Hoo!
In the picture below, the guy on the right is my coach, Edson Jorge, who I believe is the best BJJ coach on the planet, in addition to being a world class competitor in BJJ and MMA. On the left is some dude we met who’s interested in signing up for some BJJ lessons with us in Marbella. ;-)
Just kidding, folks! As any self-respecting BJJ aficionado will quickly note, that man on the left happens to be none other than the very best BJJ and grappling practitioner walking on the planet today — current world champion, Roger “The Man” Gracie!
10
Jan 08
Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
December 14, 2007 was a really big day for me, as I was awarded the brown belt by my brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher, Edson Jorge (of Gracie-Barra). There’s only five belts in BJJ — white, blue, purple, brown and black — so I’m only one step away from the BIG ONE. By no means do I feel like a brown belt (especially since I seem to sometimes still forget some of the very basics), so it’s going to take some getting used to I guess! In theory the brown belt represents the bridge between purple and black, where the student needs to focus on leading and teaching, so those’ll be my objectives this coming year.
On the same day I got mine, my long-time training buddy Mike Rios also got his brown belt. So all in all, it was a very special day!
28
Aug 07
Keen Hood River II Sandals
We tend to spend a lot of weekends river-walking in the local mountains. My Chaco sandals (which I love!) just weren’t cutting the mustard for this kind of activity — I was too frequently stubbing my toes on rocks, or slipping, or having to take them off to remove the odd pebble that found its way in.
So I did a little research, and ordered a pair of Keen Hood River II sandals from Altrec.com, in the US. They just arrived today, and I was elated to find that I’d ordered the right size (as ordering shoes via the internet is a risky business.) The shoes are very comfortable, as I expected being the owner of some other Keen shoes, and the soles appear to have a nice gripping surface. And the toe cup is definitely going to make boulder hopping a much less painful activity!
I’ll report back in a few weeks, after spending some time in the wild with them.
13
May 07
101 km of Ronda
Each year in May, for the past 11 years, the Spanish Legionnaires (“La Legión”, a Spanish military wing) organizes the famous, “101 km of Ronda” event, in which the 5,000+ participants endure a 101 kilometer (66 miles) tour through the mountains and sierras surrounding the beautiful namesake city of Ronda.
My wife and I participated for the first time last year, 2006. Of the three participation modalities — running/walking, mountain bike, and duathlon — I did the mountain bike option, and finished in a leisurely nine hours. She did the walk, and ended up having to quit at 70 km, due to an oversight. Not anticipating the extreme overnight temperature drops in the Ronda sierras, she hadn’t thought to bring cold weather clothes, and ended up having to quit before hypothermia set in around 1:00 am.
So this year, 2007, she wanted to give another go, and I decided to accompany her in the walk, as far as possible. In short, I ended up quitting at 1:00 am at the 65 km point, and my wife ended up completing the walk, in 23 hours and 30 minutes — a mere half hour from the official cut-off! Let me tell you — walking 65 km, much less 100 (!) is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done!
Preparations.
Unfortunately, there were very little preparations. We spent a lot of time thinking about what to pack, but precious little actually training. I think the only thing we did, was a 14 km walk one morning.
How it unfolded.
After a hard friday night of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training, we got up Saturday morning early, and headed off to Ronda, arriving about 9:30 am, one and a half hours before the scheduled start of 11:00. We got our Ronda 101km “Passport” signed, and joined the other several hundred walkers in the middle of the football field, waiting for the start.
At 10:30, the big artillery guns fired, and the mountain bikers took off in a big bowl of dust. Us walkers then grouped up at the start, where 30 minutes later at 11:00, the guns fired again, and we were off.
To walk 100 km in 24 hours, taking into account breaks (and the Legionnaires have a water/food stop setup roughly every 5km), you actually have to walk at a pace that’s a bit faster than feels comfortable (to me), so our strategy was to jog the flats (at a roughly 6:30 min/km pace, and then walk the uphills (at a roughly 10:00 pace).
This worked out for the first 35 km or so, until we came to the massive climb after the city of Arriate. Good grief — four kilometers of near vertical climbing, and I was ready to quit. I’d already started forming some blisters on my feet, and my hip had started hurting. After a rest at the top, though, I decided to continue on.
The daylight hours were marked by very high temperatures, and a beating sun. I was glad to be wearing my venting hat, draped with a connected bandana, protecting ears and neck from the harsh sun. I was also glad to be wearing my hydration system, and tried to drink approximately one liter per hour. The organized rest stops, every 5 km, had isotonic drinks, fresh fruit, and in one stop, sandwiches.
As I expected, my wife (and it’s true, women are tougher than men) looked fresh as a rose all day.
As the sun went down, around 9:00 PM in the evening, we arrived in Setenil, a major rest point. (Many people starting the race actually plan to quit here.) A lot goes on at the Setenil stop — there are doctors to treat physical problems, physiotherapists to provide massage and ice treatments, and foot doctors (“podologos”) to treat foot problems. It’s also the first stop where you can have, in advance, a bag waiting for you, in which most people include their evening/cold-weather clothing. Due to the long lines one usually finds retrieving the bags, we took advantage of a gracious offer from a friend, Luis Pérez, to meet us there with our stuff.
After a sandwich and a stretch, I visited the medical tent, to have the podologos take a look at my blisters. I had two — one on each side of my outer heels. After draining, and bandaging/taping them up, I was release to head off.
By this time, it was about 10:15 PM, and darkness had set in. I was wearing my Petzl headlamp, and marching off through the darkness. (The Legionnaires mark the path with glowing small lights, but one still definitely has to carry a headlamp, if there’s no full moon. And even still, I was tripping and stumbling through the potholes.
Pino and I arrived at the first rest point after Setenil, where under a lightbulb the Legionnaires were serving water and orange slices, and listening to a soccer game on the radio. At this point, people started to look in really bad shape. One girl waiting to be picked up appeared to be suffering hypothermia, and another man could hardly stand up.
I had planned to quit here, as my feet and hip were killing me, and more blisters had formed on my feet. My wife convinced me to carry on, and see if I could make it to the next stop. In fact, since Arriate, at 30 km, that had been my modus operandi the whole day — “let’s see if I can make it to the next stop.”
So we carried on into the night. At this point, it’s very desolate. We didn’t see anyone behind us, and so only a few small headlamps way off in the distance ahead of us. I told Pino that, definitely, the next stop was the end of the line for me.
And so about 5 km later, around 1:00 AM, we arrived at what for me would be the end of the road. To my happy surprise, they were serving some hot coffee with milk. After a short break, Pino and I hugged, and I agreed to wait for her at the Military Cuartel, where I would be taken by truck soon, and where she would arrive on foot some three hours later.
I climbed into the big military vehicle, in the dark, and could see about six or seven bodies — others for whom this rest stop would represent the end of their journey. There wasn’t any talking; just people wrapped up in blankets, ready to be driven back.
About 30 minutes later, I arrived at the Cuartel, and enjoyed a hot meal prepared by the military kitchen staff. There was a huge line for foot doctors, so I decided to have a leg massage. After waiting in line for about half an hour, it was finally my turn. (During the wait, I had the opportunity to stare at some of the most horribly blistered feet I’d ever imagined. My feet, by comparison, were pristine!)
The physiotherapist noted that one of my legs was much more strained than the other. Upon hearing that my hip had been hurting badly, he indicated that was the explanation; my walk had tried to compensate.
While waiting for Pino to arrived, I watched people slowly arrive at the Cuartel. A couple of them would get their hot meal, sit down, and then just fall over into the floor, holding their heads with dizzyness and nausea. I was tired and sore, but considered myself very very fortunate to be feeling, overall, pretty darn good compared to those folks.
At 4:00 AM, Pino came bouncing in. I’d kinda hoped she’s be in worse shape, and would want to quit and go back to Ronda with me, but no, she was ready eat and head off on the final 25 km stretch (which happens to be the worst of the day!). At that point, a sergeant opened the door and shouted, “Next bus to Ronda leaves in three minutes!”
So we hugged again, and I left, to climb into yet another big clanky military vehicle which would take us on back to Ronda. Pino finished her dinner, stretched, and headed out walking again into the darkness, towards the day’s second big climb up to the “Ermita de Montejaque”.
I arrived in Ronda at 5:30 AM, and walked ANOTHER THREE KILOMETERS to my car, where I climbed in, folded the back seats forward, and tried to rest on the hard platform, using my jacket for a pillow.
Someone walking by the car at 8:30 AM woke me up, and I called Pino, who said she was about one and a half hours from the finish. I drove as close as possible to the “Meta”, parked, and looked around for a bar to have a quick breakfast.
At 10:30 AM, I saw Pino coming with a small group of people, and had such a great sensation of relief and excitement. She’s done it. She’d walked 101 kilometers. ONE HUNDRED AND ONE KILOMETERS. It’s truly an amazing accomplishment for her. Congratulations sweetheart!
Tonight, back at home, neither of us can move very well, and neither have any intention of trying that again. I may go back and do the mountain bike ride, but definitely no more ulta-distance walks (unless I change my mind! ;)
Equipment.
We both wore standard long-distance running shoes. I carried my dearly loved Salewa Cumbra 38 backpack, and my wife wore a Lowe Alpine fanny pack.
Photos.
All the photos we too have been uploaded to Flickr. Have a look, and enjoy!
Elevation Profile.
4
Feb 06
Purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Yahoo! On Monday night, at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training just after returning from the European championships, instructor Edson Jorge awarded me the purple belt! After almost five years of training in this sport, it sure feels good.
This, however, is both good, and bad.
A lot of responsibility goes with the purple belt. It’s the first belt in BJJ that generally qualifies you to teach. And it’s the half-way point to black. That’s the good.
The bad, for me, is that the student are really gunning for you when rolling in class. I’d kind of decided to modify my training, to try to reduce the number of little niggling injuries that seem to have accumulated, by rolling hard only once a week. But now it seems like I’m going to be fighting for my life every time we train.
Technorati Tags: bjj
30
Jan 06
European Gold
This past weekend was very special to me, as, after several years of training in the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), I traveled with our team Gracie-Barra BH Marbella to Lisbon, Portugal, to compete in European BJJ Championships.
All the training paid off, as I won the gold medal in my category (Blue belt, 76 kg, Seniors 1) and nearly won a medal in the Open Class (all weights) category.
In all, I had five fights. Three were won by submission (foot lock, choke from the mount, and arm-bar) and one by judges decision. In the third round of the Open Class, I was disqualified as I went for a foot lock and rolled. The judge said that turned the move into a leg-bar, which is illegal.
I met a lot of interesting people at the event, including US grappler Mike Fowler, PrideFC fighter Fabricio Werdum, Carlos Gracie Jr., and Gracie-Barra north american representative, “Papa John”.
I plan to write up a team report on the GB Marbella website, with videos and photos.
4
Jul 05
Caption of the day
Mass sprints in professional cycling can be rough. I just love this image (from Graham Watson, via VeloNews) of today’s Tour de France stage 3 sprint in which Tom Boonen beat out (from left) Stuart O’Grady and Robbie McEwin. Obviously no love lost between these two Aussies. Can you imagine leaning on somebody like that at 60 kilometers per hour?!? (McEwin was later reprimanded and relegated to last place for this move.)
Anywho, this image looks like a fine candidate for a Caption-of-the-Day contest. Any takers?
29
Jun 05
Lance Armstrong’s War
For quite some time now, my primary way to read books has been the Palm device. eBooks, as they are known, can be stored on the Palm’s external memory card, allowing me to carry around practically an entire library. The Palm eReader application lets me take notes, create bookmarks, and remembers my current position in the book.
The only real problem I’ve had with eBooks has been the fact that their publication typically lags the print version by several months. But not anymore. Today I read that a new book on Lance Armstrong, “Lance Armstrong’s War”, was recently released. I checked eReader.com, and there it was! Yahoo! Just what the doctor ordered as I prepare to watch Lance this Saturday afternoon kick-off his final bid to win the world’s greatest bicycle race, the Tour de France. If he does so, it’ll be his seventh consecutive win of the race, something that is likely to be never repeated again.
17
Mar 05
First Degree Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Since, apart from my Mom, only about two other people read this blog, I won’t consider myself too pretentious in announcing that last night I was awarded the first degree of my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt, by Gracie-Barra black belt instructor Alexandre Albuquerque, here in Marbella, Spain. That means, two more degrees and it’ll be time for a Purple Belt.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was made famous in the mid/late 1990’s when Royce Gracie dominated the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as an expert in this relatively unknown martial art. He was beating — not just beating, dominating — people much bigger than himself, and without hitting or kicking. He systematically took his opponent to the ground, and proceeded to choke or arm/leg-lock his opponents into surrendering.
In the years that followed, BJJ and grappling martial arts have so thoroughly dominated all No-Holds-Barred (NHB) fighting competitions, that practically every combative martial art has today incorporated ground techniques, tending towards a common discipline known as “Mixed Martial Arts.” Even having trained in BJJ for nearly four years now, it never ceases to amaze me how easy it is, through the application of just a small set of fundamental positions and moves, to utterly dominate new students who are much bigger, faster and stronger than myself.
For those with a bit of knowledge in martial arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu would appear to be a fusion of Judo and wrestling. Whereas in Judo and wrestling, the objective is to pin your opponent, in BJJ, the objective is to force your opponent to “submit” (give up, via tapping the ground or you). You achieve this generally via arm or leg locks, joint locks, or chokes. In BJJ sport competition, you also can win by gaining points for things such as improving your position.
The things I like so much about BJJ include the fact that it’s totally reliant on technique, as opposed to physical qualities like strength, speed or flexibility. (However, at the highest level of BJJ competition, physical qualities can certainly provide an edge.) A BJJ match is really very much like a chess match, you generally win by implementing a solid strategy and then catching your opponent in a mistake. I also like that sparring (fighting) in BJJ can be done at almost full effort, with little risk of injury. This aspect makes BJJ a great physical exercise and is one of the reasons it’s so effective as a self defence. A real fight is hardly different than training. (At least that’s what I’m told. I’ve never been in a real fight, and don’t intend to.)
22
Jun 04
Marbella Submission Fighters
For those living on the Costa del Sol (Spain) — especially in the Marbella, Puerto Banus and/or San Pedro areas — and interested in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Submission Wrestling, Vale Tudo and Mixed Martial Arts, we are proud to announce the opening of Marbella Submission Fighters.
Opening Thursday, July 1, at the Apolo Gym in San Pedro de Alcantara, we’ll be training Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights from 21:00 (9:00 pm) to 22:15 (10:15 pm). If you’re interested, drop me a line via email or in the comments below.
PS: (Shameless Business Plug) Like that poster design? We’ve got some excellent design staff in our company, who, depending on our internal load, can be made available for your design project. Drop me an email if you’re interested.
4
Jan 04
Equipo Marbellero Bate el Record!
El equipazo de Matt Henderson y Carlos Cortes, trabajando duramente y con mucha colaboracion, ha batido el record mundial de ir en bici desde Marbella hasta Benahavis y volver en el tiempo mas largo. Hoy, Domingo, 4 Enero 2004, han hecho el recorrido (entero!) en un tiempo extrordinario — 2:05.
“Hoy hemos comenzado nuestro programa de entrenamiente de 2004. Como dicen los profesionales, el primer dia hay que salir tranquilamente. (Para no tener agujetas mañana.) A nuestro ritmo, hemos disfrutado la mañana, viendo el paisaje, incluso las lagartijas subiendo la rocas.” comentó Matt Henderson, un top-ciclista de Marbella.
29
Sep 03
Cruz de Hierro!
It was the “Queen Stage” of the season — the long and mighty climb to towards Ronda and the “Cruz de Hierro” (the Iron Cross). Except for some rather extreme suffering at the very end, I had a great ride and finished in the top six or seven. Cycling buddy Diego managed to snap some fotos — even without chopping off my head!.
1
Sep 03
Photo Finish
Months of training finally produced some results today. For the first time since my injury last year, I was able to stay with the pack in the mountains. We rode from Marbella to Ojén, then to Coín, and then to the mountain-top finish at the “Parador de Juanar“. I started off slow, even dropping on the climb to Ojen, but then recovered well, felt strong, and finished just a few meters behind some of the top people in Juanar.
Top cyclist, good friend, and reliable photographer Diego was there to capture the moment — and chop off my head — with a photo finish snapshot celebrating the best day of my season. :-)
28
Jul 03
Congratulations Lance Armstrong!
I’ve been an avid cyclist, cycling fan and Lance Armstrong fan, since, well, longer than I prefer to remember or state here. So you can bet that for a good portion of every July you’ll find me glued to the tele watching the Tour de France. (One of the benefits of living in Europe and being the company boss. :-)
This year was a special Tour, as the American Lance Armstrong went for an amazing fifth consecutive win at the world’s largest and most important bicycle race, to join the mythic likes of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only cyclist in history to win five Tours. When you couple this with the fact that Armstrong was near death just a few years ago suffering from cancer, his story just becomes truly epic.
The 2003 tour turned out to be a nail-biter to say the least, probably the best since 1989!
Stage 1 saw a mass sprint crash that took out American up-and-comer, Levi Leipheimer with a broken tailbone, and resulted in a fractured collarbone for the American favorite Tyler Hamilton. (The crashed was caused by the same inexperienced Team Kelme rider that took out Mario Cipollini in this year’s Giro de Italia. They need to get that guy outta there!) Even Lance himself was caught in the crash (but fortunately not hurt).
Lance appeared far from his best during the stages in the Alps, when it was learned that he came into the Tour with a bit of stomach problems (and, later revealed, a bit of hip tendonitis.) He was attacked left and right by the likes of Iban Mayo and (the surprisingly strong) rival Joseba Beloki. Tracking Beloki seem to be the best Lance could manage. Just seeing his face during the climbs, one could tell he wasn’t the same as in past years.
Then things really got bad when Armstrong, whose dominance has always been in the Individual Time Trail, lost over a minute and a half to the German powerhouse Jan Ullrich! During the stage, Armstrong lost over 6 kg (10 lbs!) due to a mysterious case of dehydration. (Later Armstrong revealed that he himself thought his tour was over at this point.)
The following stages in the Pyrenees mountains saw Armstrong struggling to just keep up with his rivals, while his body slowly recuperated from the dehydration. Smelling blood, his key rivals such as Ullrich and the Russian Vinokourov tried their best to drop the American.
Bad luck came to Joseba Beloki, trying to break a string of second-place Tour finishes, descending a mountain with Lance on his wheel. He entered a hairpin turn too fast, and locked the back wheel. Trying to compensate by braking on the front, he tossed himself over the handlebars and cracked his hip and arm in the fall. His race was over. Armstrong showed the abilities of a champion, when Beloki’s fall left nowhere to go except into a field! Reacting in an instant, Armstrong used his mountain biking skills to navigate the farmland stretch to rejoin the race course about 50 meters below. It was amazing! (The race judges agreed not to penalize him for cutting the course short. ;-)
The key stage for Armstrong came during the next-to-last mountain stage, at Luz Ardiden. This mountain-top finish was the make or break section of the race for Armstrong. With only a 15 second lead over Ullrich, he needed to gain serious time on the German if he was to have any chance to win after the final individual time trial. Ullrich made a tactical mistake attacking Armstrong on the day’s penultimate climb, and gave the American the confidence he needed to launch a major attack on the final climb.
But then disaster struck!
Some fan on the side of the road, just a bit too close to the action, hooked Armstrong’s handlebars with his souvenir bag, and brought Lance crashing to the ground. Iban Mayo crashed on top of Lance, slightly cracking his (Armstrong’s) Trek bicycle frame. Both riders got up and took off… Then as Lance tried to change gear, the rear derailleur stuck (from misalignment due to the cracked bicycle frame). Lance’s foot popped out of the pedal (from force!) and he darn near crashed again!
But then one of the highlights of the entire Tour came, as Jan Ullrich and Tyler Hamilton displayed examples of true sportsmanship by waiting for Armstrong to rejoin the group. (It’s an unwritten gentleman’s rule that the racing stops when the leader crashes, until it’s determined whether he’s continue or not.)
The surge of adrenaline from his crash boosted a desperate Armstrong to launch his second, key attack on the Luz Ardiden. Ullrich couldn’t follow. Mayo tried, and failed. Lance was off once again on his way to a stage win, and another spectacular display of superiority that we were used to seeing in past years, and by the top, taking a full minute out of Ullrich. More than the gained time was the regained confidence, and possibly the blow to Ullrich’s.
And so it would all come down to the final time trail. A show-down between Lance and Jan for the rights to the Yellow Jersey the following day in Paris. Who would win? Lance lost 1:36 to Jan in the first time trial. But Lance was dehydrated. Lance was down. Now Lance was back in form, and the German knew it.
The next days leading up to the final time trail produced one of the greatest individual stage finishes in the Tour’s history. Tyler Hamilton, riding with a cracked collarbone and having suffered more than anyone could imagine during the tour, attacked on the last mountain stage, and rode over 100 km in isolation, holding off the charging pelaton, to single-handedly win the biggest stage victory of his life. It was really something to see. To do that under normal conditions would be something, but to do it with a cracked collarbone was simply incredible. Allez Tyler! The Man from Marblehead (or as my friend Niall says, “The Man with a Marble Head”!)
Well, the day of the final time trial arrived. Ullrich need to beat Lance by one minute and five seconds to win the Tour. Difficult, yes, but not impossible for the German known to end his Tours with increasing strength.
Rain and wind made for some of the most treacherous racing conditions ever. Over 40 cyclist had crashed by the time Ullrich and Armstrong left the starting blocks. After the first time check, the two were within a second of each other. By the second time check, the situation hadn’t changed. Ullrich (knowing this) then began to take some risks. At first he gained time on Lance, up to five seconds (but far from the 65 he needed), but then crashed in stunning style in a round-about. He must have slid several meters before finally hitting the hay bells (face first!) Disoriented and possibly panicked, he jumped back on the bike and nearly crashed in the next turn. He went on to finish the stage, in fourth place on the day — even losing a few seconds to Armstrong.
For Lance, he knew that he’d won the Tour. Having heard of Ullrich’s crash in the helmet radio, he slowed down to reduce the risk of crashing, and finished the day’s stage in third place. Ullrich later explained that he took the risks to win the stage, as by the second time check he knew he wasn’t going to take enough time from Lance to win the Tour.
(As a side note, Armstrong averaged about 53 km/hour in that time trial. Yesterday I was descending a mountain on my bike at 50 km/hour, thinking how unbelievable it must be to have the strength to motor oneself on the flats at 53 km/hour!)
The following day’s stage to Paris saw Lance and the US Postal boys celebrating Lance’s victory in one of the most amazing Tours in recent history. For Lance, the win — which places his name on the pages of history in the Club of Five — was especially satisfying, having overcome everything he suffered in the race this year.
As a parting note, Lance has already announced he’ll be back next year gunning for a record-breaking sixth win. It’s kind of a pity that many Americans don’t realize what that would mean, or what it means to have won five Tours! Cycling, much less popular in the United States than throughout the rest of the world, is one of the most difficult and demanding sports that exists, and in this sport Lance Armstrong is (even more than) the Michael Jordan of our generation.
Great job Lance, you did it and good luck next year!
1
May 03
Vaya Paliza!
With three cycling clubs in a small town like Marbella, you can imagine that its a fairly popular sport here. A friend of mine (Diego López Luque) and I even started a small website, MarbellaCycling.com dedicated to local scene. As you can see from the website, there’s a weekly calendar of rides.
Today, May 1st (a holiday here), was probably the hardest of the year –Peñas Blancas. This ride starts from Marbella and heads down the coast to Estepona. In Estepona, we turn right and began the monstrous 16km climb up to Peñas Blancas. When the professional tours come through this area (e.g. the Vuelta Espana), this is considered a “Category 1″ climb, one of the hardest.
The first five kilometers of the climb are brutal, and that’s precisely where the attacks started. I’ve still got a long way to go in recovering my form from last year, so I didn’t even attempt to cover the attacks today. I arrived at the top in good condition, and was pleased not to have experienced any hip pain. (I think I’ve finally recovered.) Diego did very well, finishing 3rd. Palmi won the race (no big surprise), and Belga was extremely strong today, finishing 2nd.
This coming Sunday, it’s Estepona and then Istan, another climb, but not nearly as hard.
28
Apr 03
Tyler Hamilton wins at Liége-Bastogne-Liége!
In the biggest win of his career, Tyler Hamilton becomes the first American to win the Liége-Bastogne-Liége, one of Europe’s most important cycling events! Although all eyes were on fellow American Lance Armstrong to win the famous World Cup race, it was Hamilton who lauched the key solo attack with 3 km remaining for the win.
Former Armstrong teammate, Tyler Hamilton is making quite a name for himself as the leader of the Danish CSC racing team, beginning with his 2nd place finish at the 2002 Giro de Italia. CSC won’t be defending that position this year, however, as all their efforts are focused on denying Armstrong his fifth Tour de Fance victory. With riders like Hamilton, Levi Leipheimer and Jan Ullrich showing strong form, the 2003 Tour de France is shaping up to quite a battle!
