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 ...
Posted: Sun, May 10th
Michael Barry's Diary - Together we triumphIn first kilometer of the 20-kilometer team time trial we found what we needed to win: speed and fluidity.
Riding together prior to today’s opening team time trial we knew what we were capable of doing as a team but we also knew that if the race wasn’t ridden prudently ...
Posted: Fri, May 8th
Michael Barry's Diary - Waiting in VeniceIn a crowded boat full of tourists, nine of us, dressed in our bright yellow team kits sat together as a calm wind blew our hair. The sun was low in the sky and the Adriatic a murky turquoise. School kids touring Venice with their class pushed, laughed and sang songs to beats ...
Posted: Tue, Mar 24th
Michael Barry's diary - The road to San RemoMonumental.
The night before a race, the last thing I do before I climb into bed is to prepare my bag for the next day. Each rider has a suitcase and a race bag. The suitcase travels to the finish in the team truck and we carry the race bag, which holds everything we’ll ...
Posted: Thu, Feb 26th
Michael Barry's diary - From Qatar to CaliSuffering, speed and sore legs.
Game on. The fans were fervent, the racing intense, and the media abundant. From Australia to Qatar to California the races were closely followed and cycling seems to be more popular than ever.
For a month Mark Cavendish and I have ...
Posted: Thu, Feb 5th
Michael Barry's Diary: Wind, Eddy and a victoryGusting gale-force winds are not ideal for bike racing. Qatar, a peninsula that juts into the Persian Gulf off of Saudi Arabia, is a wide-open windy desert with few trees and fewer roads. The races are lost on the windy open roads as the peloton quickly splits into echelons, as ...
Posted: Fri, Jan 30th
Michael Barry's journal: Peloton on a plane; Boonen and Cavendish chat on the flight to QatarOn a plane bound for the Persian Gulf, the peloton sat together on our way to start the season. In an odd contrast of environments we traveled from Paris to Qatar, from the damp gray to the arid sun, from rolling roads in green and brown pastures to straight flat motorways in ...
