Levi giving 100%

The ToC has gotten off to a bang! Levi took the prologue in a nail bitter and then held on to it in stage 2. As you probably know, there was a huge crash in the lead pack, which split the field with seven kilometers to go. Usually if there is a crash with three to go, the riders receive the same time as the field. The head refs got together and decided that due to the huge amount of riders going down, that the time of the peloton would stand when they entered the circuit the first time. If this had not been the case and they had upheld the three kilometers rule, Ben Jacques-Maynes would have taken the leader’s jersey. Tim and Al ran into Ben after the race and he was upset, but took it well. “Tomorrow’s another day of racing.” The weather forecast is for rain Wednesday and Thursday, so those will be epic days.

David Zabriskie after the crash looking a little dazed

David Zabriskie, who I am a huge fan of, crashed hard and is out of the race. Thankfully it is nothing serious, but it is sad to see a top contender go down.

While Al and Tim were out on the course, I got to ride with Greg LeMond. The reason being was I was testing the LeMond Triomphe Ultimate with Bontrager components, which included the Aeolus 5.5 wheels . The ride route was an out and back with a steep winding climb that I’m guessing went up for three miles with some pitches of 15%. I’m a little sick with a nagging cough and at one point I thought I was going to puke as we climbed toward the clouds. But between the need to throw up, I took the time to check out the amazing scenery.

The quick evaluation of the Triomphe Ultimate: very light bike that is super stable. We rode to the top of a really steep windy climb and then bombed down. The LeMond tracked well and was not nervous. The only thing I could feel was that it felt a little slower in the turns. However, I only rode it for an hour and a half. In the near future we’ll have a Triomphe Ultimate for a proper test.