Posted: Sat, Oct 10th
Michael Barry's diary - Radio ga gaThe time trial is said to be the race of truth: a rider alone, without aid of drafting, sets off in a race against the clock. In many ways it is the purest form of bike racing.
Tactics are few, the effort is completely individual and the event can be ruthlessly difficult ...
Posted: Sun, Oct 4th
Michael Barry's Diary - The peloton unpluggedSitting in the middle of the peloton, riding along at a steady tempo as a team controls the pace on the front, I hear our director in the radio: “There is a dangerous descent coming up in four kilometers. Move to the front to stay out of trouble. There is gravel on the corners ...
Posted: Fri, Sep 11th
Michael Barry's diary: An ending looms, along with a new beginningLaughter resounds through the camper as Mark’s joke carries from the back to the front where George, who is at the brunt of it, sits. On the puffy pleather couches and fabric chairs we lounge in our cycling shorts, waiting until the last minute, like school kids, before ...
Posted: Wed, Aug 26th
Michael Barry's Diary - Victory is secondaryAs we drove to the course, the small team camper bounced and creaked as it followed the motorcade of team cars along the small sinuous roads through the rural Brittany countryside.
We passed dozens of cyclists ranging in age from 12 to 70, dressed in a mosaic of pro team and ...
Posted: Sat, Aug 15th
Michael Barry's Diary - The time of transitionTransition.
In the hotel in San Sebastian the atmosphere was different than that which I left at the Dauphiné Libéré.
There had been a switch in mentality in the six weeks between the two races. Like a student entering the final semester, there now seemed an eagerness ...
Posted: Tue, Jul 21st
Michael Barry on Hincapie's five secondsEditor's Note: Michael Barry is a member of the Columbia-HTC team.
Pedaling up the climb without a car in sight, the sun beating down, my open jersey fluttering in the breeze and my legs turning fluidly, my mind started wandering. The road was one I ...
Posted: Sun, May 31st
Michael Barry's diary - Down to the wireAfter racing from the north to the south to the center of the boot, we finally reached Rome and completed the last fourteen kilometers of the Giro.
In the flamboyant, dramatic fashion that we have now become accustomed to after three weeks of racing in the circus, we whizzed ...
Posted: Fri, May 29th
Columbia-Highroad's Michael Barry examines the routine of the grand tour lifestyle.Naples, Italy — At the stage start, the town’s square has been invaded by the race. The announcer belts out riders’ names, introducing them as they sign in on the podium set up in the center of the square. The amplified voices reverberate against the ancient ...
Posted: Thu, May 28th
Lance Armstrong interviews Michael BarryPosted: Tue, May 26th
Columbia-Highroad's Michael Barry gives an inside view of Monday's brutal Giro stage.Pescara, Italy — Each hundred meters of the two final kilometers of every stage is signed at the roadside. On a flat stage I take little notice of the signs as we speed through the kilometers in two minutes as the sprinters charge to the line at the head of the ...
Posted: Wed, May 20th
Michael Barry's diary - A matter of safetyAs we near the summit of the mountain the speed increases.
The peloton passes the one-kilometer to go sign, riders suddenly burst out of their saddles to hold the wheel in front, no longer able to maintain the speed while seated.
Over the race radio we are told the ...
Posted: Tue, May 12th
Michael Barry's Diary - We will surely fight until the end While the Tour de France is formulaic in its structure, the Giro is a mishmash of stages.
Four days into the race and there have been three different leaders, challenging finishes and varied terrain. The Tour doesn’t reach the mountains until the end of the first week ...
