I know I should be writing about the Classics right now, but it's the Giro that has got me thinking today. Or to be more exact it's the attempt in the UK to give the Giro more of a profile. Being an evidence devotee I base this on the facts that the publisher of Pro Cycling and several other magazines has just put out a Giro box race pack, and Rouleur have just published a Giro history book by Herbie Sykes. Perusing the latter in Condor Cycles the other day I can tell you that it is stunning, but I need to find a spare £29 and a way of sneaking it back into the house (hmmm maybe I should also sneak it by the shop alarm? That would solve one challenge).
For some reason I had always seen the Giro as a minor league event used as a warm up for the Tour de France, or as a chance for riders with no hope of winning the Tour to get on a stage race podium without having to stoop as low as the Vuelta. But over the past few years the Giro seems to have got my attention. It's combination of the impossible profiles in the mountain stages and the inclusion of white gravel roads. Oh and if Lance complains about a stage being too dangerous then it must have some excitement to it! (Lance - personal message...I loved you but I can feel it souring).
In my own little cycling world I ventured out on only my second club ride since October last weekend. We have a new mountain goat who presents a challenge in what I considered to be my speciality. But a much more pressing issue was a young woman I chatted to on our ride back to the our start. The pace went up 3 miles out and I sat on her wheel and then she left me! Oh the shame! Even bunny hopping over a pavement, careering round a bus and every underhand tactic I could think of didn't help. This cannot continue! Normal service must be resumed!
