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 ...
Posted: Tue, Dec 16th
Michael Barry's Diary: Back in the saddle againIn a sterile hotel presentation room, roughly 40 male and female cyclists, dozens of staff and seven managers and directors, sat and listened. The group was pushed into the last rows of seats while the front two were empty — like school kids scared of the front, the spotlight, ...
Posted: Fri, Nov 14th
Michael Barry's diary: The story of a cyclistBehind the story there is always a greater story, one which is often missed.
The Tour of Lombardy unfolded in traditional fashion: a breakaway, a gauged acceleration in the peloton, the knife-stabbing attacks that seal most riders’ fate, and then, finally, the winning ...
Posted: Wed, Oct 15th
Michael Barry's Diary - The final attacks of the seasonAlessandria, Italy ─ The peloton, stretched thin into a long single line, stuck to the white line marking the edge of the road with the riders on the front pushing the cool yet fresh autumn air as they rode a hard tempo to control the race and bring back the breakaway. ...
Posted: Wed, Oct 1st
Michael Barry's Diary: Attacks, crashes and goodbye kissesThe crowd roared as we, the handful of riders that was once over 200 riders large rode slowly around the course on the final lap of the six and a half hour race. Paolo Bettini sat on the front of the 30 man group, blowing kisses to the tifosi as they chanted his name, ...
Posted: Wed, Sep 24th
Michael Barry's Diary - Head down and go As the road climbed uphill into the lower Alps the peloton began to shatter. Riders attacked, while others drifted against the flow of the group. Gaps formed in the long line of riders. At the back, groups of dropped riders pooled together while, up front, sensing it was the ...
Posted: Sat, Aug 16th
Team Canada's Michael Barry reports on his Olympic road race.The motorcade of team cars raced through downtown Beijing, the usually congested roads virtually emptied for the Olympics, to the start. In each unbranded white car, the riders were piled in the back, as the directors drove. A small flag on the side was the only thing ...
