After a self-professed frustrating year, the 2-Time USPRO Time Trial Champion, in 2003 and 2005, Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) is skipping the TT this year to focus on the road race in the upcoming US Professional Championships in Greenville. Combined with the lost of the team sponsor, 2008 has been a rough ride for the (almost) always smiling rider but that didn’t dim the tremendous passion the 32-year old still feels  for the sport or his  optimism about the state of cycling in the US.

After playing phone tag with Chris, I caught up with him while he was on an afternoon bike ride with his lovely wife Kimberly, a retired professional cyclist. He took the time to answer all my questions about his year, his future and his thoughts about US cycling.

Let’s talk about the US Nationals coming up this weekend.
Chris: I actually decided against doing the time trial this year, I’m really trying to focus on the road race and hoping that goes well. With the time trial the day before, I think that takes the sting out of your legs for the next day, so that is the focus and I’m looking forwards to ride with Chris [Wherry] and Justin [England] and we have kind of a small squad but a good hit squad, so it should be fun.

What do you think is going to happen this year? Current Road Champ Levi Leipheimer is not riding and you were one of the few that stuck with him last for a bit anyway.
Chris: (laughs) I think a bit is right. I think that’s it going to be pretty similar with everybody looking at Garmin because they have so many riders, they have the most opportunities to use the riders for breakaways and what not, key on them, and then George [Hincapie] is going to be good and I think he has a couple of teammates.

What’s the plan for the Toyota-United team? Are your teammates riding for you?
Chris: No. We’re just three guys, I don’t thing anyone is riding for anyone else, we’re all riding for each together, we’ll see how it goes. Luckily, it’s kind of a mountain bike race in its style, in that it’s a hard enough race that the selection happens naturally, I think it bodes well for a smaller team.

Was the decision not to do the TT based on the road race the day after or the new course?
Chris: I would say all of the above. If there had been a decent break between the two, I would do it regardless just to do it. But with just not feeling it and not time trialing well all year, and the course, just like you said, is now flatter and two turns, a u-turn… All these factors combined, it doesn’t look like a good course for me, I’m not timetrialing well, not enough rest before the road race, it just kind of all pointed towards to just not do it. Not having it as a goal, well it’s a load off my shoulders, I’ve been training hard to timetrial all year and it just hasn’t happened, there comes a point where you feel like beating a dead horse, banging your head against the wall. Personally, it’s nice to focus on the road race for a change.

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Glen Chadwick (Team Type) has had quite a season so far. The 31-year old New Zealander was hospitalized for several weeks in February after doctors discovered he had the Epstein-Barr virus in his spine. After his recovery, he went on to win two stages and the overall title at the inaugural Tour of Arkansas, in May. He then topped it off with his first participation at the Olympic Games, where he represented his country along with two teammates, Julian Dean and Tim Gudsell, in the road race.

Chadwick, or Chaddy as he is known, finished fifteen minutes and fifty-three seconds behind the winner, but finish he did.

After spending only one week in Beijing, Chaddy was back in the United States, racing at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah with his team, and that is where I caught up with him. A relaxed and joking Chaddy shared some of his memories about his Olympic experience.

Chadwick went on to a third-place finish overall at the Tour of Utah and claimed the King of the Mountain title.

When did you leave Beijing? Did you come directly to Utah?
Chaddy: My flight was like at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in Beijing, which is 3 am east Coast time, and then I got into Utah midnight, Monday night. I flew from China across America to Newark and back to Utah.

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For over a week, the BMC Racing Team lived and trained at altitude in the Utah Mountains, preparing themselves for the challenging stages they will face in the 2008 Tour of Utah.

I caught up with Utah native and resident Jeff Louder and his teammate, and sea-level dweller Ian McKissick prior to stage 2 to get their thoughts on altitude and the Tour of Utah.

The team just finished a high altitude training camp, what were you looking to do?
Jeff: I just wanted to be sure to show the guys the terrain and also I think that this is the kind of race that you really have to know the conditions to perform, to do actually some actual race performances in the heat and on the climbs could be beneficial so it’s good the team out, adapt to the altitude, adapt to the heat, the dryness of the air an then just ride the courses and see real world how they feel. You can look at a course on a profile but until you ride up it with a group of strong guys you really don’t know it. Hopefully, these guys have a bit more knowledge than the rest of the field and we can use that to our advantage, we’ll see.

How does altitude impact a cyclist?
Jeff: It’s as much mental than physical. It;s just the way that you feel that is so much different, you can’t breathe, your legs don’t hurt but you can’t breathe, you feel like you’re going to have a heat attack. That’s what I assume, I’ve always lived at altitude, I’ve always trained at altitude. I think it’s just an adaptation like anything else, just getting used to heat, to humidity, it’s just something that the more you do it, the more it becomes normal, so for us to come out and spend some time at altitude and suffer on the climbs like that, it just helps when you get in the race, it feels more normal, well as normal as racing allows you to feel.

What’s the plan for the BMC team?
Jeff: This climb coming up at the beginning, it’s really important to be attentive also it’s a bit of a wait and see, it’s going to set the tone for the entire day but you just don’t know who’s climbing well and who’s not, what kind of cards are people going to lay on the table. For us, we know what’s out there so we’re going to wait and see how the others react, try do use our knowledge to outperform them and then as the race progresses, just try … we have a strong real deep team and hopefully we can use our numbers to good effect.

Everyone is going well?
Jeff: Everyone is going well, they’re all adapted, they’re all tanned (chuckles) been in the sun.

Are there any surprises to watch for in stage 2?
Jeff: The first climb is real steep and it’s pretty long. And it’s really early, it could all come all together but it’s definitely going to take a little strings out of some legs real quick. It’s not like a lot of races we see where everything happens at the end, it’s going to happen at the beginning and the finale is also very tough. I think the heat will play a factor and the wind. It’s a cool stage, it’s dynamic, it’s going to benefit people who are aggressive.

Are you still carrying the Cascade form? [Jeff finished second overall]
Jeff: I think I’m going pretty well. It’s today and Saturday. If there’s someone close in the time trial but otherwise it’s not quite long enough to make a big difference. If you want to win the race, today is the beginning and Saturday is the confirmation.

What is the impact of altitude on a cyclist?
Ian: I think the key is, one of the things you have to be really conscious of is not to go too hard because if you go too hard then you end up never re-covering. So like yesterday, when the attacks were going, everything seemed to be in slow motion and if you’re not careful yeah you’ll go too deep and you’ll never recover.

How long would it take to get acclimated in a race like this?
Ian: I couldn’t tell you, I can say that we were up at the training camp, the first three days were hard, pretty miserable and after that I started feeling pretty normal so I think after three days you’ll be okay.

What about the heat?
Ian: I’m not a big fan of the heat but yesterday was pretty hot and I didn’t feel that I was melting so not too bad.

The high-altitude training camp seems to be paying off with 3 BMC riders at less than 28 seconds from the leader after stage 2. Darren Lill is in second at 4 seconds back, Louder in fourth at 24 seconds and Brent Bookwalter in the fifth spot.

Jeff Louder (BMC) finished third in stage 2 at Tour of Utah

All photos copyright Lyne Lamoureux

Billed as America’s Toughest Stage Race, after taking a hiatus in 2007, the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah is back in 2008, bigger than ever. From August 13 until August 17, the 17 teams will be challenged by the 5-day, 5-stage, 336 mile race with 30,000 feet of climbing will all take place within a 100-mile radius, encompassing Salt Lake City, Nephi and Ogden.

Who best to describe the course than Bissell leader and Salt Lake City resident Burke Swindlehurst who finished fourth overall in 2006. I chatted with Burke last week during his final preparation for the Tour of Utah.

Burke Swindlehurst at Tour de Nez where his teammate Aaron Olson won the overall

Lyne: We talked way back in February, just before the Tour of California, where you had basically just joined the Bissell team, and we talked about your goals for the year – which were “help the team get results” and “personally, Gila, Hood, Cascade and Utah”. You finished second at Gila, and Ben Jacques-Maynes finished 3rd at Hood. How satisfied are you with your year so far?
Burke: I’m actually very satisfied so far, it’s been better than I expected so far actually. I had a couple of races where I wanted to do well where things didn’t work out but it was more of … just how racing pans out more than not being prepared or not having form. Obviously the podium at Redlands was a really nice unexpected surprise, I usually don’t have super good form that early in the season, so that was nice. And then, Gila, pretty much went according to plan but there was just one little Columbian guy that kind of got in the way of things (laughs) but overall, I’m pretty happy with it.

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At just 23 years old, Steven Cozza (Garmin/Chipotle) has faced adversity in his cycling career. In 2007, he sustained a serious head injury after crashing in the rainy Stage 3 at the Tour de Picardie and still suffers from the trauma. Upon his return, after a 3 month long recovery period, Steven won the Best Young Rider classification at the Tour of Missouri, and then followed that up with his first professional victory in Stage 6 of the Vuelta a Chihuahua.

His 2008 season started off with top ten showings in the Tour of California prologue and stage 1 of the Vuelta a Castilla y León, but Steven was sidelined with a broken collarbone from a crash at the Three Days of De Panne in early April.

Steven Cozza (Garmin/Chipotle) attacks in Stage 1 of the Tour de Nez

I caught up with Steven right after the first stage of the Tour de Nez, the 75-minute Reno criterium, had put in multiple attacks that were neutralized and he finished tenth in the bunch sprint. With his well-known honesty, Steven answered my questions with self-deprecating wit and a smile.

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With a stage win in the 2008 Tour de Gila under her belt….and currently riding in the Tour de l’Aude with the USA National team, we thought it would be a great time to re-visit a fierce competitor and talented rider, who is also one of the nicest members of the peloton…Amber Rais of Team TIBCO.

Rais left Webcor Builders at the end of 2007 to join her coach, DS Linda Jackson, and Team TIBCO. “I was with Webcor for two years. I have never been on any other team. I felt like it was time for something new. Webcor was great but I am really excited about the riders on Team TIBCO. I feel there are riders on TIBCO invested in riding for TIBCO’s future. That’s really important to me.”

“I am viewing 2008 as more of a diesel engine type season. It’s taking a little while for me to get going this season,” commented Rais at Sea Otter this April, “but once I do, watch out.” Rais broke a rib during a training ride prior to the Sea Otter Classic race. After riding Tour de l’Aude, she is planning on racing the Triple Crown, Nature Valley, and many of the late season races. “I love riding for my coach. It’s been awesome. It’s like the stars have aligned for me this year. It’s going to be a good season.”

Rais entered cycling late. She earned an athletic scholarship to attend Stanford and compete on Stanford’s Swim Team, “I worked really hard for swimming and academics combined,” Rais said. “I swam there for three years but had to have shoulder surgery and stopped swimming. It was also becoming too much with school and everything else. After I stopped swimming I wanted to stay fit but I had burned out on swimming and didn’t set foot on a pool deck,” Rais continued. “I didn’t want to be competitive either. I would have been happy not participating in competitive sport ever again.”

Rais then moved to Monterey California to work on a research project at the Hopkins Marine Station. “I went down there and fell in love with marine biology,” Rais said. “I concentrated my studies on marine biology and environmental policies when I discovered the Earth Systems program that offered interdisciplinary courses based on environmental sciences, economics and sociology that impact the environment. I then graduated with a Masters of Science in Oceanography through the Earth Systems program at Stanford.”
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I caught up with Rock Racing’s Doug Ollerenshaw at the Mt Hood Cycling Classic. As a Portland native, Doug received some of the loudest cheers during the race. I could tell when he was on the attack during stage 1, the Mt Tabor Criterium in downtown Portland, as the screams of ‘Dougie’ could be heard all over the course.An all-around nice guy, the 29-year old is known to slay himself for his teammates and race aggressively trying to get into breaks. Oh and he’s also a mechanical engineer.

Doug at Tour de Georgia, Photo by Ken Conley

Lyne: What did it feel like to have your name yelled out loud during the Mt Tabor Criterium stage?
Doug: It was great, I had a lot of friends out there, it was motivating, I had hoped for a bit more from myself in front of the home crowd but it’s a tough field, tough to do much against the field. I put in a hard attack early on, and it got loud, it was fun.

Lyne: There was a lot of drama surrounding the Rock Racing team early this year, how did it impact you in your training?
Doug: The uncertainty was a little tough, I think a lot of it was a bit overblown, the riders we’re all normal people, it was a lot of the media attention. A lot of it was also cultivated by Michael Ball I believe, he was trying to create a buzz and he certainly did so but things have definitely settled down a bit. Everybody has a better idea of what to expect, things are going really smooth now, no problems at this point.

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The ValueAct Capital Professional Women’s Cycling Team came to Mt Hood Cycling Classic with the aim of getting rider Leah Goldstein on the top step of the podium for the fourth-time. In a row.

Last year, while riding for the Symmetrics team, Goldstein along with one and only one teammate Marni Hambleton, took the yellow jersey on the fourth stage, the time trial and successfully defended against onslaught of attacks, especially from the Aaron’s Women Pro Cycling Team. Ironically, Goldstein took the yellow jersey from the ValueAct team.

Leah Goldstein (ValueAct) powering through the Mt Hood prologue, photo c. Lyne Lamoureux

Goldstein and Hambleton joined ValueAct in 2008, and with a full squad of 6 riders, the team is ready to go to work a Hood. Joining Goldstein and Hambleton are Lara Kroepsch, Emily Zell, Martina Patella and Sharon Allpress.

I caught up with the team prior to the start of the prologue to get their thoughts on the upcoming race.

“Last year we were really in the yellow jersey for 3 of the 5 stages with Katie [Mactier]. Last year, we were a first year team, a young team and we learned a lot, we made mistakes, I think this race is going to be an opportunity for us to show that we’ve learned from those mistakes and that we’ve learned to control a race more effectively.” said Patella about the lessons learned from last year.

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Phil Zajicek of Health Net presented by Maxxis team is starting the Mt Hood Cycling Classic with winning on his mind. Finally, Zajicek can re-focus completely on racing and training, now that he has a name and more importantly a treatment on the illness he’s been fighting for almost all his career - Crohn’s disease, a chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Photo by Ken Conley

With his previous team Navigators, Zajicek twice finished second overall in 2007 and 2006 at the Mt Hood Cycling Classic, and now wants to move up to the top step of the podium. Health Net-Maxxis is sending a strong squad to support him including Rory Sutherland, winner of the Joe Martin Stage Race.

“I’ve got Rory working for me, got the best rider in America working for me so how can I lose.” replied Zajicek when asked if he was the leader for Hood.

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There’s a new professional continental team in the pro cycling peloton this year. But this team is different, it has a message. Team Type 1 was created by Type 1 diabetes racers Phil Southerland and Joe Eldridge to inspire people living with diabetes to take a proactive approach to managing their health and overcoming the obstacles often associated with the condition. The 15-rider professional roster includes four riders with Type 1 diabetes.

Phil Southerland starts the Redlands TT; photo c. Lyne Lamoureux

The team is serious about the racing, and big guns were recruited, General Manager Tom Schuler and Directeur Sportif Ed Beamon, two of the most established names in domestic cycling, having previously directed the longtime Saturn and Navigators Insurance teams, respectively.

Team Type 1 finished third in the team classification at the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T, second on team classification at the Tour of Langkawi in February and in March, Shawn Milne finished second overall at the Tour de Taiwan.

It all started with a bet. During the college days, Southerland noticed that his friend Eldridge was not taking care of his diabetes and started placing bets on whomever had higher blood sugar paid for dinner.

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