Here at Nationals, Kaitlin Antonneau had a strong early race, but a crash dropped her out of contention © Focal Flame Photography
by Kat Statman
It’s that time of year again, folks! That’s right, my third favorite cycling event of year: the Giro d’Italia. For any cycling fan, of all the grand tours, the Giro is the most interesting, especially because ’crossers or former ’crossers have a tendency to do really well. Even our fat-tired cousins from the mountain bike world can surprise us, like Ryder Hesjedal with his amazing win last year (fingers crossed he does it again!). So, what has been going on in the world of Rumors and Rumblings since our last time? Well, we could do the obligatory Marianne Vos post, but, with an American that seems to be racking up the wins like Vos, let’s give a little love to Katie Antonneau. On the men’s side, there was a little “manly competition” going on between Ian Field and Sven Nys on Twitter. Styby goes under the knife. And it was another successful Ride on Washington by Tim Johnson, People for Bikes, Jeremy Powers, Richard Fries, et al.
For those of you that missed the amazingly “deep” and “extensive” coverage of US road collegiate national championships, you may not have heard that Kaitlin Antonneau brought home another set of stars and stripes jerseys, taking both the road win and the omnium win, just beating out her Marian University teammate Coryn Rivera. If you think, “Oh well, she had a good year last year and this is just part of that,” think again. This is the third straight omnium that Antonneau has taken in the collegiate national championships and goes to show that maybe, just maybe, the next Marianne Vos is not from Europe, but from the US. Even Antonneau’s coach, Katie Compton, is quick to point out that Antonneau is faster than she was at that age (stay tuned for that interview!).
Sometimes Twitter devolves into a series of amusing moments and one-offs that just keep you laughing, but when Sven tweeted about his seven-hour training ride and then Ian Field realized he had done a few hours less, but was told that because he weighs less, this is OK, we ended up with a training volume contest on Twitter, the perfect place for this and why we have the Internet. If only it had gone on longer …
In injury-related news … We all watched with horror as Styby rode into the dude on the side of the pavement in Paris-Roubaix a few weeks ago, saving himself, but losing Cancellara’s wheel and his chance at a podium. But to find out that Styby had a knee problem he needed surgery to deal with the whole time, well, it just makes you wonder. What is going to happen when his knee is better and he’s ridden a grand tour? Or better yet, what would happen if he did that for a few years and then came back to ’cross full time? If only.
For those of us who race bikes and have other lives going on, often it is difficult to bring more bike-related stuff into our lives, but sometimes it’s for a greater good. So, check out this video over at CXhairs.com regarding another successful Ride on Washington and then go and tell people about it, because what People for Bikes does is important to all of us, regardless of what type of cyclists we are.
