Keeping Tempo: 4-4-08

It looks like the elite men may get a break from the weather on Saturday at Walkersville, which they certainly deserve after Jeff Cup's special circle of hell. Weather.com shows a daunting morning, likely to soggy up the 8am races (Juniors and Elite Women), with rain abating throughout the day. Women, it may be a good day to channel your inner Belgian.

• Speaking of Belgium, The Service Course gets us there, via preferred local libations and Martha Stewart's frites. Next best thing to being there. (If anyone has recommendations of where to get those beers around here, please tip us off in the comments.)
• Why settle for the next best thing to being there when you can actually be there, like Mark at Shenandoah Cycles, and Sambo? Tip a glass for us, fellas. We'll be with you in spirit, when we're racing around in circles at the mall.
• We all know that the greatest determinant of cycling potential is genetics. But I'm seeing more and more that it's not just the genes you receive that impact your success - it's also the genes you give away. You young bucks might not be able to finish that 10th VO2 Max interval because your parents just didn't give you the engine. But lots of us miss the workout entirely because our gene recipients - our kids - have music lessons, or play dates, or in Johnny Frites' case - soccer practice. Says Johnny, "Soccer practice is kind of like doing intervals.  I dread them.  I do them.  I actually enjoy them, and we start all over again."
• On that point, I think racing categories should be determined not by how well you did last year, but by the number of hours per week you have to train, with a 10% deduction for every kid under 16 you have, to roughly equate to the negative training impact of lost sleep and/or added stress, depending on the kid's age. That might level the playing field a bit.
• Redlands Cycling Classic is this week out in Cali. Relevance here? Local hero Matt Cooke, now with Health Net - Maxxis, snared 18th in the opening prologue. That was faster than some names you've seen on the ProTour, including Fred Rodriguez, Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero and Victor Hugo Pena. OK, he pretty much stomped the entire Rock Racing team except Sevilla. Solid work. And halfway down the results list is neo-pro and current MABRA Road Race Champion Tom Soladay, riding this year with Time Pro Cycling. Good luck out there, guys.

Comments

[matt cooke]

Hey guys its me here, in sunny redlands. I just found this site, i like it lots.
the prologe was good and I'm pretty happy about it. but today not so good. I'll let you read about it online before I give you my own thoughts. Thanks for calling me a local hero, I miss DC.

[Ryan]

Hi Mike-

In the DC area, Harris Teeter and Trader Joe's are both reasonably good sources for Belgian beers. Whole Foods is another good bet.

-Ryan

[The Fatguy Racer]

Your best bet is Chevy Chase Liquors on Connecticut Ave. They carry hundreds of brands of beer and sell them as singles so you can mix up the selection. Bring money. Import singles are not cheap. For instance, a Rochfort Trappist 10 will set you back 8 bucks for a single 12 oz bottle.

Also Corridor Wine and Sprits on RT-198 in Laurel (Maryland City) has the 2nd best selection of import and microbrew singles in the DC area after Chevy Chase.