Eric's Arcana and RiderX

it’s Sunday night, with RAMROD looming on the horizon for Thursday. The dawn horizon, since the ride starts at 5AM. An hour to drive there and an hour to get ready means I need to get up at around 3 or so.

I’ve been assiduously applying myself to tapering for the last week or so. Did my last group ride last Tuesday, and then did an easy hour on Thursday and two easy hours this morning. My legs have been feeling better, and my resting (sitting) heart rate was 41-42 on Friday, pretty close to my historical low of around 39. I’ve been avoiding my granny ring since about April, and my legs are feeling strong than they have since – well, since ever.

All these factors imply that I’ll have no problem finishing easily on Thursday.

And yet, I feel more than a little apprehensive.

First of all, my record on long rides this year has been less than stellar. I’m having trouble with my nutrition in ways that I haven’t in the past.

Second, I’ve been having seat issues. Not that I’ve ever been really happy with any of the seats I’ve had, but I’ve been most happy with the Bontrager race lux. I have one on the bike that doesn’t have many miles, but I haven’t had the comfort on it that I’ve had in the past. Though, on the plus side, one I got beyond 3 hours in Livestrong I felt pretty good.

Third, the weather forecast is bad. Or good. Too good. I’d much rather have the cold and damp (well, torrential rain, really) from Livestrong than the 90+ degrees that is forecast for the ride.

So, I guess we’ll find out. Stay tuned…

I am posting primarily to gloat that Comcast now carries Versus HD in my area, so I get to watch the tour in HD. The on-bike feeds aren’t great, but they’re a darn sight better than the rented-50-times VHS cassette quality that we got last year.

The off-bike feeds bring the quality and crispness that I’ve come to expect from good HD feeds. Beautiful sweeping shots of Monaco from the helicopter. But there are two unintended consequences of having the HD feed.

The first is that watching the race is a bit like a fashion show, as you can comment on what the team kits looks like. For example, the Euskatel kit actually looks intense orange, and the Lampre kit has this saturated magenta part. And the quick step kit is, well, a pretty boring blue and white, but it’s a vividly boring blue and white. We like the Lampre and the Garmin ones, though the “missing upper arms” on the Garmin kit is more than a bit disconcerting.

The second unintended consequence:

Bob Roll in HD.