Facing Obstacles, a Road Cyclist Pushes Forward
BEIJING - As a child, the road cyclist Amber Neben was admitted to a California hospital with meningitis. Doctors instructed her parents to prepare for the worst, telling them the odds were stacked against her survival.
"Obviously, they didn't know Amber very well," Jason, her husband of 11 years, wrote in an e-mail message this week.
He always admired the perseverance that poured out of his wife. Whatever the obstacle - the stress fractures in her legs, the switch of sports, and most recently the cancer - she continued to move forward.
Neben will compete Sunday in the women's road cycling race, starting in ancient Beijing and finishing at the Great Wall. She plans on enjoying herself no matter where she finishes. After all, she endured a great deal just to make it here.
She started as a cross-country runner, one good enough to earn a scholarship to Nebraska, where she majored in biology. (The degree would pay off in an unexpected way later.)
The stress fractures started during her junior year of high school. They plagued Neben for four years and made even walking up stairs torture. More than once, the stress fractures forced her to take eight weeks off of running.
During rehabilitation, she rode a stationary bike, reading biology textbooks while she pedaled.
"In my heart, I knew I had something special," Neben said. "Yet here I was, not getting a chance to use it."
Moving from stationary riding to road cycling happened almost entirely by accident. Once Neben found out she could race on mountain bikes, she was sold.
While learning road cycling, she again tested her perseverance, crashing often. Five days after one particular bad spill in 2006, she pulled a rock out of her elbow. Sense of humor intact, she still keeps it near the fridge in her Southern California home.
Eventually, Neben started dominating instead of crashing. She was the USA cycling national road race champion in 2003 and earned 11 fifth-place finishes or better from 2003 to 2007.
Skin cancer almost eliminated all that progress.
Neben found out she had melanoma last November. The diagnosis did not make a lot of sense. She was only 33 years old, she had never spent a lot of time in the sun as a child, and the melanoma had developed on her back, even though she always wore a jersey while riding.
(She later found out none of those things would prevent skin cancer.)
All that mattered was the marks on her lower back. "Funky" is how Neben describes them, like the pictures in those biology textbooks she once read on the stationary bike.
She went to the doctor for a skin check - she now recommends everybody get one - and the doctor sent her to a surgical oncologist who diagnosed the melanoma, certain that it was caught early.
The four days between those doctor visits were the worst. A woman who spent her career pedaling against others found her mind in a different kind of race mode. She asked herself a million questions. Am I going to be fine? Or is this it? Am I gone next week?
"When you think of cancer, you know it's a terrible disease," she said during an interview at the athletes' village earlier this week. "Most everybody knows somebody who has fought it off or died from it. It's a scary, scary word.
"But it hits a lot harder when it's you, when you hear that you have cancer."
Like her famous fellow cyclist Lance Armstrong, Neben beat the cancer. She gets skin checks every four months and visits the oncologist every six months, but she's healthy, more vigilant about using sunscreen and more attentive to her body.
Because the doctors caught it early, and because she usually takes October off from cycling anyway, Neben only needed to take two additional weeks off during recovery.
"The timing was good," she said, laughing. "At least if cancer can have good timing."
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
As they gather for Tour, cycling world hopes worst is behind them
BREST, France -- Tour de France organizers like to say that their beloved endurance race can endure anything, and the last couple of editions may have proved that.
Two years of near-unrelenting doping scandals and political upheaval in the sport threatened to do what two world wars could not -- force this three-week celebration of physical and mental fortitude permanently off course.
Yet as 180 riders from 20 teams roll out for the 95th Tour on Saturday in this windswept industrial city in western Brittany, cycling is holding its collective breath in hopes that the worst is behind and a new era of increased credibility and prosperity is dawning.
The systematic change the sport is striving for is symbolized even on the first day. The traditional prologue time trial has been scrapped in favor of a difficult road stage that culminates with two right-angle turns and a short, steep uphill finish. Early stages of the Tour are always nerve-wracking anyway. A peloton with fresh legs and pent-up psychological energy is a dangerous beast, and the race to see who will wear the first yellow jersey of 2008 promises to be suspenseful -- as does the entire race.
For the third consecutive year, the race will start without the man who finished first the year before. Seven-time winner Lance Armstrong retired in 2005, and the former lieutenant who succeeded him, Floyd Landis, had his 2006 title stripped after a doping conviction. The 2007 winner, Alberto Contador of Spain, is absent because his entire Astana team was excluded.
Though there are dozens of experienced riders in the field, there are no superstars. Only two men actually know what it's like to stand on the podium at the finish: Australia's Cadel Evans, the Silence-Lotto team leader who came in a close second last year, and Spain's Oscar Pereiro of the Caisse d'Epargne team, who was named the default champion after Landis was stricken from the records. Team CSC-Saxo Bank's Carlos Sastre was bumped from fourth to third in the same chain reaction. Another seven have finished in the top 10 at one time or another.
The enigmatic Evans is the favorite on paper because he has the best combined ability in climbing and time trials, but he's never been in this pressure-packed role before. His oddly named Silence-Lotto team, whose title sponsor is a company that makes a snoring relief potion, is a cipher as well.
"It's a tough call," said George Hincapie of Team Columbia, the veteran U.S. rider and longtime teammate of Armstrong's who will start his 13th Tour.
"I'd be surprised if a total no-name won the race, but it could be someone who's been top-20," Hincapie said. "Once you're in that position, you still have to have a strong team."
Hincapie is one of just four Americans in the race, the lowest number in many years, but there are two U.S.-owned teams in the Tour, Columbia, formerly known as High Road, and Garmin-Chipotle, the former Slipstream squad. Both recently attracted corporate sponsorship for their aggressive anti-doping stance.
Tour officials elected to leave powerful Astana off the invitation list because of its checkered doping history, depriving Contador of the chance to defend his title and taking veteran U.S. rider Levi Leipheimer out of the mix the year after a career-best third place. The exclusion ignited a feud with the UCI, cycling's governing body, that became so hostile the international organization removed the race from its calendar and suspended the French cycling federation.
In practical terms, the most direct impact on the riders will be that the French anti-doping agency, not the UCI, will conduct anti-doping tests throughout the race. Test samples will be processed at the Chatenay-Malabry national laboratory outside Paris, a facility that came under an intense but unsuccessful attack by Landis when he disputed his doping case.
French authorities had a dry run of sorts at the week-long Paris-Nice stage race in March, when the battle with the UCI reached a breaking point. Testing conducted by the national anti-doping agency were extensive and included taking hair and blood samples after stages. Before this race, the agency announced it was target-testing approximately 60 riders considered at-risk -- an approach first taken by the UCI last year. There's at least some cooperation between the warring sides, as Tour blood samples will be sent to a UCI laboratory in Switzerland to be included in a long-range "biological passport" program that establishes baselines and tracks irregularities in riders' physiological profiles.
"From what I saw at Paris-Nice, I think we're in good hands," Garmin-Chipotle team director Jonathan Vaughters said at a press conference unveiling the team's new uniforms. "It's a big challenge, but I think in the final result it's going to be pretty seamless.
"I'm extremely hopeful that this is going to be a fun Tour de France and that you guys in the press corps are going to be writing stories about tactics and strategy and equipment and technology, and that the story isn't going to turn into a negative quagmire."
The change from UCI testing ends at least one corny ritual, the "medical checks" riders used to undergo before the Tour, largely photo ops where riders posed with stethoscopes pressed to their chests. This year, teams strolled in and out of a drafty exposition hall for their press conferences without the dog-and-pony show and with little fanfare. It was a far cry from the days when Armstrong or now-disgraced Kazakh standout Alexandre Vinokourov swept in with rock star-level entourages and a scrum of photographers trailing behind.
For the most part, the riders seem relieved to start without the drama of recent times, though there is one persistent issue: Has the race been cheapened by the absence of Contador and his team, who recently won the Tour of Italy?
Adam Hansen, an Australian who rides for Team Columbia, said he's personally sorry for Contador, but supports the Tour's decision.
"It's sad for him, but the race will go on and the best man will be in yellow at the end," Hansen said. "Personally, I like the idea that it puts pressure on people. It's not just you that's affected, it's your whole team, the staff, the sponsor. When it was just the rider affected, riders took more risks."
(c)2008 ESPN Internet Ventures.
Course previewL Commerce Bank Lehigh Valley Classic
Starting at 1 p.m. on June 3rd, 25 of the world's premier professional cycling teams will wage a 12-lap, 85-mile battle on the winding roads of Pennsylvania's third largest city. At stake in this Allentown showdown is victory in the Lehigh Valley Classic, opening leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling.
The stage for round No. 1 is a new-for-2008 course that traces a rectangular path from downtown Allentown, across the Lehigh River, and up the scenic and rolling Lehigh Parkway before returning downtown via West Hamilton Street. While by no means a climber's course, this 7.1-mile circuit will test riders with a steady stream of punchy, leg-sapping rollers. But barring the unforeseen, the endgame will likely belong to the sprinters.
"There are some hills to be sure, but I don't think it will be enough to completely break up the race," predicted Robin Zellner, the race's technical director. "If the right breakaway combination forms, then maybe something could stay away to the finish. But the course definitely favors the sprinters. The run in to the finish is dead straight for about two miles, so they'll have plenty of time to get in position."
The crux of the race will likely be the gradual rise that comes near the end of that long finishing run down West Hamilton Street. It's just steep enough to drain the legs, and could prevent pure sprinters such as Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) and J.J. Haedo (Team CSC) from being well positioned for the final 600-meter charge to the line.
If Dominguez and Haedo lose touch with the front, there might not be enough time to regain the front, opening the door for shrewd riders such as Tour de France veteran Freddie Rodriguez (Rock Racing) or Dominique Rollin, Dominguez's French Canadian teammate whose varied skill set has earned him the nickname, "The Horse from the North."
"If teams can get their sprinters to the top of that hill in one piece then it will be a drag race," added Zellner, former team director of the Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada cycling team. "But the last trip up that hill could definitely break things up a little. It will be all big chainring, but they won't be able to stay in the hardest gear the whole way. That could open it up to some of the crafty guys who don't rely on a big lead-out train to get them to the line."
Before the final fireworks, spectators will have ample viewing opportunities during the race that's expected to last about three hours. Look for lap times in the 20-25-minute range, making it possible for the savvy fan to catch the riders in numerous places along the course. One of the best bets will be right before the feedzone on Lehigh Parkway North, an area chock full of small climbs that will guarantee plenty of action.
It's a nice shaded area that's near the river, a park and lots of walking paths," explained Zellner. "It will be a great place to set up a picnic and watch the race go by."
(c) Competitor Group, et al. All Rights Reserved.
Teutenberg takes one for the Road
German super-sprinter Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (High Road) won stage five of the Tour de l Aude after a 50-kilometre breakaway with compatriot Charlotte Becker (Nurnberger Versicherung). The pair broke away on the technical descent from the second climb of the day - the second category Col Fourtou - and they managed to stay away to the finish, despite the efforts of the rest of the peloton, led in the later stages by the DSB Bank team.
After building up a maximum lead of around two minutes and forty seconds, the German pair saw their advantage reduced to just a handful of seconds by the final kilometres. As Teutenberg took what proved in the end to be a simple victory over an exhausted Becker, Monica Holler (Bigla) led the rest home in almost the same time.
"I think we were lucky because I think DSB kind of lost everybody," a breathless Teutenberg told Cyclingnews after her victory. "At three K we had to go up this little bridge so I think they kind of lost their train. At two K to go they were nearly on us, and then all of a sudden I guess they stopped again with a kilometre to go."
"I had to pull the last two kilometres," she explained, "so I was worried Charlotte [Becker] would out-sprint me, but she was just really tired , too." In the end, Becker was too tired to put up much resistance and Teutenberg won an almost uncontested sprint against her compatriot.
"[We attacked] just after the second mountaintop, on the downhill," she continued. "There were constant attacks and then there was a lull in between and we kind of got the gap. That was perfect, really. We did everything we could, luckily we just [held] on at the end."
At no point during their breakaway did the pair's advantage reach an insurmountable margin, and with a concerted chase from an organised team it reduced rapidly to the point where they surely should have been caught. "I think [the gap went up to] 2'40," said Teutenberg, "but then DSB started chasing and it came down pretty consistently in the last 30 kilometres.
"I think my cold has gone!" she added with a laugh.
Dutch rider Adrie Visser (DSB Bank) described the team's chase to Cyclingnews and the reasons for its ultimate failure. "With 10 kilometres to go we heard it was just 30 seconds, so we decided to close the gap," said the winner of the 2007 Ronde van Drenthe, "only the sprint girls made a bit of a fault so we just had one for the last 700 metres. Then the whole peloton took over
Once the rest of the peloton had come past, the DSB Bank team found itself swamped and Angela Brodtka was beaten to the line by Bigla's punchy sprinter Monica Holler. "Otherwise I think we'd close the gap," she said of the final kilometre mix up that so disrupted the team's chase.
"Work for nothing!" she said with a philosophical smile.
"Yes, it was a good day," stated maillot jaune Susanne Ljungskog of her first day in yellow. "It was a fast day. There was a lot of attacks from the girls, and it was quite hard."
A hard day chasing her rivals has emphasised to the former two-time World champion that, despite holding a lead of more than three and a half minutes over her nearest rival Judith Arndt (High Road), the race is far from won. "[They attacked] a lot," she continued, "so it's going to be a hard four days, I have to watch out."
Ever optimistic, Amber Neben (United States) was on the attack again, both to try to make up time on Ljungskog and maybe to make up a few places in the overall classification. "There's a few people in front of me [in the general classification] and then a bigger gap," she explained, "so I don't know, I was just looking for opportunities. I figured people would be a little bit tired from yesterday; you know what: you never know, so you give it a try."
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Duggan finally home again
Slipstream's Timmy Duggan is finally home again, following his serious crash in the third stage of the Tour de Georgia. He suffered head injuries, as well as a broken collarbone and scapula.
The 25 year-old was released from the hospital April 28th and stayed in the Atlanta area until he was able to fly back to his home in Boulder, Colorado, on May 4. "I only raced three days at the Tour of Georgia but managed to extend my stay by an extra four days over my team-mates, who did the whole race," he wrote lightheartedly on his website, justgoharder.com. "I crashed on the third stage and promptly hitched an ambulance ride to Athens, where I hung out at the hospital for a few days and then at a hotel in Athens for another few days, until I was fit for travel."
In a more serious vein, he noted, "Dealing with travel and airports requires all my energy, believe me. I was lucky enough to have some guests take care of me in Athens. Upon hearing of my crash, my wife and my parents both hopped on a plane to Georgia to hang out with me for a few days, until I could return home. Once the race finished, one of our rock star soigneurs hung out with us in Athens for a while as well, waiting for one of our team cars to be worked on. In the meantime I slept most of the day."
His immediate plans are "for a week of sleeping and doctor's appointments. I feel well, although I'm definitely done taking pain medication…that stuff makes me feel terrible. I can barely get off the couch. I'll take some pain, at least I'll feel alive again!" (SW)
Copyrigth Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Best bets for biking along Vancouver's waterfront
Q: My wife and I would like to try some of the bicycle trails in Vancouver, B.C. We are trying to get info about paved bicycle-only trails along waterfronts. Something along the line of Seattle's Burke-Gilman or Alki trails. Any suggestions for maps or locations?
Ed, Alger, Skagit County
A: Vancouver has miles of waterfront biking trails. One of the best known is the six-mile Sea Wall route around Stanley Park - and it's one of the loveliest urban bike rides anywhere. You can also bike through the forested heart of the park. For more waterfront riding, go east from Stanley Park, along English Bay toward False Creek, where there's a bike/pedestrian path around much of the narrow waterway. At times you'll need to go out on the road on the south side of False Creek because of construction, however. You can see a good online city of Vancouver bike map at http://vancouver.caengsvcs/transport/cycling/pdf/bikemap_lrg.pdf.
Kristin Jackson, Seattle Times Travel writer
If you have a question about Travel, ask us. Go to www.seattletimes.com/travel (search the right side of that page for "Ask Travel"). You can ask about the Northwest or the rest of the world.
We'll do our best to get you an answer or a resource.
Copyright (c) 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Rabobank hopeful for Romandie time trial
Thursday's second stage of the Tour of Romandie, won by Robbie McEwen, was for Team Rabobank one to get through without expectations. "The only thing that counted was making sure that we did not lose any time," said team director Erik Dekker. The team had its eye set on Friday's time trial, where Thomas Dekker will have the chance to move into the lead. The defending champion is currently in fifth place, nine seconds down.
Although Rabobank went to Switzerland without a sprinter, Erik Dekker was glad to see youngster Bauke Mollema finish 14th in Thursday's stage. "He does that more often," he said approvingly. His prediction for the time trial were his riders Thomas Dekker and Denis Menchov. "I think that they, together with Andreas Kloden, will be the best."
Friday's 18.8 km time trial with start and finish in Sion will feature Jan Boven's debut as a team director. The 36 year-old retired last month after the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen, after 13 years as a pro racer.
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
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