thursday nite ritual - holy night

riderpitts, ridercrespo, riderchichi, ridercali, and first timer this year - riderzinni - played in the chilterns thursday night. Pace was a little gray much like the weather with the only noteworthy parts being riderchichi's double flat, ridercrespo's brush with death, and riderpitts's new R3 ride. Even the steak and lamb at the bull and butcher felt a bit drab. Traffic was heavier than usual with the first cut of hay taking place and the resulting wide load farm vehicles clogging 2 meter wide lanes especially on our training turville heath climb. To inspire ourselves with an infusion of a different sort of mind set - i have included a sign in german (picture above) reminding us of jan ullrich's legendary line with his faithful teammate Udo bolts - "qual dich du sau" - translated - torture yourself you pig.

Blenheim Triathlon 3 Jun 07

Over the weekend, the Ranch came out in force for the Blenheim Triathlon. The event began with a carbo-load dinner in the back garden at Princes Square. Ridermama organized the event, which was attended by the Riders racing the event - and girlfriends - including RiderChiche & beautiful Sarah, Rider Eazy-E and RiderWurzel & splendid Anya. RiderTurbo tooled on deep dish Mavic carbon wheel rims to help Riderwurzel prepare for the race. Ridermama whipped up a delightful pasta, pesto and sundried tomato dish accompanied by a refreshing spinach, pear and toasted seed salad, finished off with fresh strawberries and ice cream for dessert. The next morning, the Riders made their way to the historic Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill, for the race. The Argentine Ranch contingent was out in full force and looked ready to race. The swim course followed yellow and orange buoys down a long, freshwater lake aside the palace. The difficult 19.8km bike and 5.4km run courses weaved through the lush green undulating landscape, with small, sharp lactic-burning climbs to keep the Riders honest. Legs and lungs ablaze, the Ranch powered through the course with flying colors. Riderwurzel won top blog honors with a total time of 1:18 followed by Riderturbo at 1:23, Ridercrespo at 1:28, Rider Eazy-E at 1:29 Rider Chiche at 1:33. Bike splits reflected cohesive team training with a tight spread of 33:26, 35:35, 37:56, 35:49 and 36:40 for the five riders, respectively. The race was followed by a luxurious picnic setup near the finish line hosted by Ridercrespos family. Much pain, sweat and glory was enjoyed by all and a consensus formed to order additional Ranch tri gear next year to wave unified colours and stake the Ranch's claim on the Tri circuit.

drilander

http://www.wassermann-radgiro.com/english/ - we have 6 riders going - 3 weeks prior to the etape - flying into munich friday the 22nd june - out sunday evening. all legs must be as smooth as rideremilians read - no hairpants allowed. Its interesting to note - that drilander - translates as - 3 countries. The race is in the guts of the tirol - starting in nauders in austria - with 3,300m of climbing in switzerland, germany and ending 165k later back in nauders.

Eton Triathlon 19 May 07

Riderturbo, Riderwurzel and Ridermama represented the Ranch at yesterday's triathlon at beautiful Dorney Lake in Eton. Riderwurzel clocked his first triathlon ever in amazing time, flying out of the 400m swim in less than seven minutes, powering his steel Ritchie to a 35 minute 20k bike split, and cruising through the run to put in a very respectable 1:05:27 ranking 20th out of 103 competitors in the men's 25-27 year old age group category. Riderturbo had a solid swim then sported a new aero Giro TT helmet and Reynolds deep dish carbon wheels to save as many minutes as possible on the non-drafting bike split before crusing through the 5km run. He finished in 1:06:54 ranked 12th out of 104 men in 37-39 age group. Having trained the week prior at the Gimondi, and having done some quality training both in Turville on the bike and Hyde Park Serpentine on the swim, both Riderturbo and Riderwurzel booked respectable results for the Ranch amid the lush country setting of the season opener tri. Ridermama took photos and cheered for Ranchriders being seven months pregnant with Riderbaby. Riderwurzel was also accompanied by his lovely girlfriend Rideranya who cheered for the competitors and snapped pics. All look forward to joining Rider Eazy-E and Rider Chiche for the Blenheim triathlon in two weeks!

Tour du France- L'etap Foix-Loudenvielle July 16

who out there figures this beaten down hombre is going to lead the ranch in france - cause - those of you in the know - know we got spots - so register asap through eazy-e. photo - riderchichi - bergamo may 07

Ranch Arrives - day 2

RidersRanch found there way onto the grid - which owing to early prep - meant numbers 600-2,500 weazeled their way ahead of numbers 2,501 to 6,000. The new jerseys were broken out with only RiderChiChi opting for the ranchbooties. The start moved suprisingly well with a look at the clock showed 2 minutes to cross the start line. As in Italy its all about form and design- the most obscure of italian frame builders had representation somewhere. Ranch looked strong and stayed strong with 5 opting for the grand fondo (165k) and 2 for the short(95.7). RiderTurbo being a sprint triathalon guy and RiderHowe (dont mention my aching back) both turned it on early and cruised away on their respective course. The other 5 chums preceded to hack it out with the other teams on the big one. The Route can be charcterized by a series of long grindy hills, choppy decents, extraordinary panorama's with deep dark walled canyons and high alpine plateaus. For the most part the course was traffic free - well marked with metrics of all climbs clearly posted. One thing that struck me was the freshness of the air - London does bad stuff on that cord - but the damp spring air proved a real energy booster. Having just completed a race in Austria - the Riders stood out as a lot more friendly and talkative en route. Save for one or two moments - the race was remarkably free from attitude with numbers of different groups spending time pulling. The first couple climbs were easily manageable consistent grades of 4-6%. Feed stations were full of stuff - and Ranchers were able to transition in and out well with Eazy-E and RiderCali being the mules for banana's and refilling bottles. We found the tempo strong on the flats with consistent late 30's early 40's - kph - to be had with most guys sharing the load. The climbs were more of a free-for-all and here we were a little unsure of the course. The 20k climb contained a false summit - but was very doable staying in the 21 ring for most. Coming out of that decent we had a strong flat ride where just as we were finding our pace - brought us to a 9.5k climb which was a dandy. I dont think i have suffered that much on a climb - through cramps and exhaustion - but the team really held together and we summited together. At that stage of the race to put a consistent 7% climb with stretches of 10-12% is just mean - dont think i left my bail out gear which is a 26 and with a compact. Noticing riders wrapped in blankets at the side of the road - this climb has its own death toll. The decent was rough which i for one struggled with - but the ranch found itself together for the last 30k into bergamo. It was quite a site as our peleton showed the ranch train all at the front pulling into the town. With big engine chichi pounding away we cruised with that feeling of a job well done. On that day - we won.

thats how you do it - day 1

An incedible weekend by every measure. The Ranch trickled into bergamo friday and saturday morning to big blue, +28 temp, and 6,000 cyclists. Rider Mamma was found sneaking around the registration stand pleading that insurance shouldnt matter for a 7 month pregnant woman. As RiderHowe's registration never made it through - he quickly seized the opportunity to impersonate ridercrespo, london's newest millionaire, (who was doing what new millionaire's do - and didnt make the trip) - and picked up his starting pack. RiderSammy texted that he felt safer in the comfortable confines of his girlfriends bath robe and slippers - and decided to hit the snooze button. RiderZinni and Rider Schlem were both forced back due to health reasons in one case and two inches of dust on his bike in RiderSchlem's case. So the stage was set for the core of ranchcycling - RiderEazy-E, RiderTurbo, Rider-i got to find a cooler name- Josh, RiderChichi, RiderHowe, RiderCali, and RiderPitts. A great dinner was enjoyed by all Sat night with kids, begamo argentine expats, and a wonderful view of the rolling northern pre-alp. Who says Europe is expensive - when the bill for 13 people came out to a whopping 208 euro. Riders called it a night early, and prepared for the 6:15a.m start the next day. Picture of RiderEmilian and fan favorite Eazy-E.