Overview:
This classic, relatively flat loop makes an excellent lunch hour ride.

Difficulty: Easy

Distance: 22 miles.

Description:
Like the “Fruit Loops” ride posted previously, this one starts at the north end of Broadway Road where it meets Highway 36. Go left (north) on 36 and ride approximately 6 miles to Nelson Road. Take a right (east) on Nelson and enjoy the descent down to 75th Street. Go right on 75th (south) and continue through a dog-leg where the road veers slightly west and becomes 73rd Street. Continue straight (south) on 73rd until you reach Niwot Road and take a right (west). Follow Niwot for a little over a mile to 63rd Street. Go left (south) on 63rd until 63rd meets with the Diagonal Highway (Hwy 119), where you’ll go right (southwest) and continue on the Diagonal back into Boulder. You can then take a right (west) on Jay Road, then another right on 28th (Hwy 36), or continue straight west on the Diagonal - which turns into Iris - back to Broadway, then right (north) on Broadway back to your original starting point.

Variations:
There several common variations to this ride if you’d like to increase or decrease the mileage. To add a few more miles, you can continue north on Highway 36 past Nelson Road and take a right (east) on St. Vrain Road - which is roughly 3 miles past Nelson - then take another right (south) on 75th Street to connect back into the original loop. Or if you’d like to cut the ride a little short, you can take a right (south) on 63rd Street from Nelson (instead of 75th) and take 63rd all the way back to the Diagonal to connect back with the original loop.

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In today’s stage 2 at De Panne, my spring campaign came to an end in the blink of an eye.

After about 180 km of easy racing, I went to move up the right side when I got totally tackled by a German rider. Later on, I heard he had his head down and just smashed me from behind. When I was on the ground in pain, all I wanted to do was get up and beat the crap out of him. If it wasn’t for him crying in pain also, I probably would have. Later, at the hospital, I learned he had only sprained his pinky. Man, what a wimp!

I came off a bit worse with a broken collar bone to the left side. The exact same place and break that I got in November. I’m pretty bummed and surely depressed about this. I am not ready to take time off and am in the best form of my life. I just want to punch a hole through the wall. I’m pretty dark right now, so sorry for the downer report.

Tyler and Maggy gave me some advice and told me to keep my head up and that it’s a long season. Then Huub came by and helped me get dressed. This all made me feel better, raising my spirits a little. I love this team because we’re like brothers. Any ways, I’ll be back racing in three weeks. I’m sure of that.

Back to the race. It was probably the easiest, slowest race I’ve ever done. A break of two took off in the beginning so that the rest of the race was controled and crawling. It wasn’t until the three finishing circuits that things took off.

Watching the finish of the race from the hospital TV, it looked as though Mark Cavendish was untouchable. My teamates finished safe and solid today ready to go into tomorrow’s 119 km road stage and the finishing 13 km time trial. I’m hoping the best for them and wish so bad I could be out there in the mix helping out.

I’m determined to come back from this injury stronger then ever.

Thanks for reading, Cozza [pictured above with Allen Lim during the Tour of California.]

Damn, I hate calls like this. Johnny Weltz called to let me know that Steven went down in stage 3 of De Panne and landed badly on his shoulder breaking his clavicle (”collar bone”). The x-ray showed a crack near the end of the clavicle where it joins the scapula (”shoulder blade”). For a refresher course on clavicle fractures.

We tease Steven about crashing a lot. In fact, he does seem to be a bit “vertically challenged”. I don’t mean he’s short (he’s not). Rather he seems to have some difficulty staying vertical. He’s not the first young rider with that affliction. It’s something that some have to learn - the fine art of staying out of mishaps and therefore vertical.

Steven is so aggressive and focused on his riding. Despite this relapse into horizontality, he is making good progress in this area. He is one of the toughest guys I know, plus this is a very stable fracture. So look for him to back at it before you know it.

Today’s stage 1 at De Panne was both good and bad for our classics crew. For the first three quarters of the stage, it was fairly mellow. One single rider went off the front and gained up to ten minutes at one point. Then we approached the first of two 38 km finishing circuits with the day’s first cobblestone stretch.

When a cobblestone road approaches, the peloton goes crazy and the stress meter goes way up. This race isn’t nicknamed the three days of “bleep hole” for nothing. There were three times when I had my brakes lock-up and was sliding out of control to where I thought I was going to die. Luckily, that never happened.

But we did have Chris Sutton crash into a ditch while trying to avoid a pile-up. And Meatball, as well as Huub, broke their machines doing the same at a very fast moment in the race. They never managed to make it back on. Will crashed as well and banged his knee pretty good, but managed to impressively hang in ’til the finish.

While all this chaos was going on at the back of the race, Magnus, Tyler and Martijn were crushing it at the front. Martijn rode well in a break for awhile before it got reeled back in just before the finish.

Since I’m writing this report, you would think I would want to talk about how I raced. Besides the fact that I felt strong but failed at racing at the front during crucial moments, I’m going to forget about today. My focus now is on tomorrow and the final day’s TT where I think I can go fast.

All in all, there were no broken bones. I think today was another great step up the ladder towards our big goals, Flanders and Roubaix. I think tomorrow’s long 228 km stage will suit us “classics boys” just fine. Check in tomorrow after stage 2 for the inside scoop.

Thanks for reading. - Cozza (pictured above during Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne)

The Three Days of De Panne got off to a dry start despite threatening skies. Things remained calm until about 80 km in when the speed picked up and the crashes and flats started raining down on everyone. Unfortunately, Chris Sutton, Huub Duyn and Mike Friedman got tangled up in the day’s bad luck.

Martijn Maaskant, on the other hand, had an excellent day and was in on a 15-man breakaway attempt that included George Hincapie. Lotto, however, was having none of it and chased them down. The race finished up with several small breaks. The Argyle was well represented at the finish by Martijn, Tyler Farrar and Magnus Backstedt - who finished just within one minute of stage winner Gasparotto.

Slipstream stage 1 results
1. Enrico Gasparotto 4:58′11″

36. Martijn Maaskant +59″
42. Tyler Farrar +59″
45. Magnus Backstedt +59″
77. Will Frischkorn +6′09″
124. Steven Cozza +17′11″
160. Huub Duyn +18′55″
162. Michael Friedman +18′55″
164. Chris Sutton +18′55″

Slipstream GC after stage 1
1. Enrico Gasparotto 4:58′00″

36. Martijn Maaskant +01′10″
42. Tyler Farrar +01′10″
45. Magnus Backstedt +01′10″
77. Will Frischkorn +6′20″
125. Steven Cozza +17′22″
160. Huub Duyn +19′06″
162. Michael Friedman +19′06″
164. Chris Sutton +19′06″

Scientific American uses game theory and prisoner’s dilemma to try and explain the pervasive use of drugs in sports. The article talks to Slipstream/Chipotle H3O Jonathan Vaughters about his approach and whether it can work:

Vaughters, who is now director of the U.S. cycling team Slipstream/Chipotle, has already started a program of extensive and regular in-house drug testing. “Remember, most of these guys are athletes, not criminals,” he says. “If they believe the rest are stopping [the doping] and feel it in the speed of the peloton, they will stop, too, with a great sigh of relief.”

The classics crew made it back up to Belgium today. First up on our plate is Three Days of De Panne on the windy coast of Belgium. This race is three days, just like the title implies.

What’s missing from the title is three “windy, rainy, sand-in-your-eyes, cow-poop-in-your-face, dangerous” days.

De Panne is known for its danger. In fact, some teams refuse to have their riders do it before the bigger, more important races around the corner: Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

I personally am stoked for this race, and so are my teammates. Since I was a little junior racing over here, I have been watching this race on TV. It’s a dream come true to be doing these races alongside riders such as Magnus Backstedt. In the next couple weeks, I have a feeling I’m going to learn quite a lot from Magnus about how to ride the cobbles.

The first day here is a 190 km day, the second day is 228 km and the last day includes a 119 km morning stage and a 13.7 km ITT to finish off the race. These longer stages are crucial for getting ready for Flanders and Roubaix.

Thanks for reading. More to come after stage one. - Steven Cozza

Overview:
This classic Boulder ride is slightly over 40 miles, and is great for days when it’s too cold to go into the mountains.

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Distance: 41 miles.

Description:
Start at the end of Broadway Road where it meets Highway 36. Go left (north) on Highway 36 and continue for approximately 11 miles where it tees into Ute Road (which is still actually Hwy 36) just outside of the town of Lyons. Take a left (west) and Ute Road turns into Main Street as you pass through the town of Lyons, then continue on 36 (northwest) until you reach Apple Valley Road, about a half mile outside of town. Go left on Apple Valley to begin the first of the “fruit loops” and continue until it winds its way back to Highway 36. Take a right (east) on Hwy 36 back into the the town of Lyons, but this time continue straight (south) past the light at Main Street at which point the road becomes 5th Avenue. Continue straight on 5th Avenue and it turns into Highway 7 near the southern end of town. Then about a half mile beyond that, take a left on Old St. Vrain Road to begin the second “fruit loop.” Follow Old St. Vrain until it winds back around into Hwy 7, then take a right (northeast) on Hwy 7 and continue back to the town of Lyons. You’ve just finished both of the Fruit Loops.

Once you’re back in Lyons, take a right on Broadway (east). It turns into Main Street after a few blocks then becomes Ute Road (or Hwy 36) as you head out of town the way you came in. However, instead of taking Hwy 36 back to Boulder, continue east on Ute Road (aka Hwy 66) toward Longmont. Continue on Ute Road to 75th Street and go right (south) where you’ll pass the township of Hygiene, until you reach St. Vrain Road. Go right (west) on St. Vrain to 65th Street, then left (south) on 65th Street continuing on 65th to Nelson Road. Take a right on Nelson (west), then a left (south) on 63rd Street and follow 63rd all the way to the Diagonal Highway (Hwy 119). Go right on the Diagonal and follow it back into Boulder, where you can take a right (west) on Jay Road, then another right on 28th (Hwy 36), or continue straight west on the Diagonal - which turns into Iris - back to Broadway, then right (north) on Broadway back to your original starting point.

Variations:
Some people prefer to turn around at the end of Apple Valley Road and retrace their way back to Lyons rather than taking 36 back into Lyons. Depending on the day and time there can be quite a bit of traffic on 36. The same is true at the end of Old St. Vrain Road, often riders turn around rather than taking 7 back into Lyons. The only problem with these variations is that you’re not really doing the Fruit Loops, rather you’re doing the Fruit out-and-backs… not quite the same ring.

If you’re short on time, another option is to return to Boulder via Hwy 36 as you head out of Lyons on Ute Road after doing the second “fruit loop.”

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