The Rundown - 26 Jan

A few bits of information leading into the weekend. I am on a rest week so my rides are shorter this weekend. That'll give me time to work on information for the site, and to post a couple of other random items like a coffee shop blog and workout tips.

Leading off.....

It's the last Friday of January, so that means Critical Mass Nashville is getting together for its monthly ride. CM meets at Dragon Park in Hillsboro Village underneath the pavilion at 5:00 PM. The ride will depart the park at 5:30 PM and will ride the streets of downtown Nashville. If you attend it's suggested to have lights on your bike.

Million dollar, baby!
Whenever you talk about the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi in the same sentence you know there's a boat load of cash involved. How about a $1,000,000 prize to the winner? Essentially this becomes for lack of a better term, the All-Star Game of Cycling. The race will be open to the winners of the three grand Tours and their respective teams, the top three teams overall in each Tour, and three wild card teams. Total participants is low at 72, which should make for some really animated racing. Making it more interesting is that it's only three stages over four days. The only downer is that it's late in the season, but with such a huge prize list it's going to get the attention of everyone.

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: Too close for comfort
The hardest training workout I have ever done involved motor pacing, but it's the best feeling in the world. Bob gives you some things to think about when doing this as well as sharing a few of his own stories. I love how Bob starts off his response though, "I do not recommend that you motor-pace your friend." Gotta get that legal disclaimer out of the way at the start.

Filmed by bike
Anyone have a movie camera I can borrow?

Snedeker flirts with golf's magic number
This isn't cycling, but Nashvillian Brian Snedeker is on fire after the first round of golf at the Buick Invitational. Look down the leader board to see he's beating some guy named Tiger Woods by five strokes. Hopefully he can maintain his momentum through Sunday.

Joseph Sunde Memorial Criteriums
Jeff Hopkins couldn't pull off the magic to defend his title, but teammate Trent Wilson was in the winning break and took 2nd place. There's a good writeup about the event along with pictures of the boys. FYI - there will be Hopkins' sightings in Nashville after the beginning of February!

Do You Believe in Magic?
We have discussed the difference between superstitions and rituals before here on NashvilleCyclist. This takes the discussion to the scientific level and explains it can lead to obsessive compulsive disorder.

Free the Mind and Fewer Injuries May Follow
Lower your stress and you'll reduce the risk of injury. It's a bit more scientific than that, but that's the overall theme. Sports team are beginning to implement visual imagery, breathing and relaxation techniques in order to get their athletes to handle stress better. If one copes with stress better they'll in turn perform better and be less susceptible to injury.

I remember sitting in a meeting during spring training once and a guy was speaking about the EAP program with the San Diego Padres involving mental health. This was in the early 90s and his prediction then was that more teams and athletes will be incorporating mental health programs into their team's every day culture. It's been almost 20 years since then and while small progress has been made in utilizing these techniques at least the stigma of receiving it has subsided quite a bit.