Cycling Season 2015... It's On

With all due respect to Tour Down Under (still giggity), and the various Tour de Place-Thats-Way-Too-Hot-To-Hold-A-Reasonable-Race-Oh-And-Did-I-Mention-Sand-Storms, they really are warm up rides.  Much respect to the winners, they're still clearly 1%ers in the cycling world, but Warren Buffet and Bill Gates didn't show up.  This weekend, s*t gets real.

So Far (mainly about the Hour)
All told, there have been 40 races around the world already this year that received some level of UCI ranking.  The biggest of these were the TDU, Tour de San Luis, Dubai, Qatar, Oman, probably Sun Tour and Volto ao Algarve.  Rohan Dennis took the TDU, right before getting on the track and posting an impressive new distance for the Hour record (52.491 km).  Seriously, he averaged over 32 mph for an entire hour.  I go 32 mph if I have a nice downhill, before I have to break for a corner.  This is sure to be challenged a few times this year, as the Jensie sparked an Hour frenzy.  A Jensie Frenzy.  Sir Wiggo is expected to take a shot in June, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him break it yet again.
Tour de San Luis was taken down by Daniel Diaz (who?), with solid showings by Nairo Quintana and Joe Dombo.  I don't put much in to the fact that they were several minutes down, they're working on finding their form before the Grand Tours.

Upcoming
Two big races start this weekend, the young-but-fresh Strade Bianche in Italy, and the biggest early test on the calendar, Paris-Nice.  Though Strade Bianche hasn't been around, the single-day race has become a proving ground for the Classics riders.  Fabian Cancellara will be present, along with Peter Sagan and a host of classics specialists.  It's a 200km route, with a lot of dirt.  And props for the organizers for putting in a women's race this year, too.  The women of the sport have so few big stages on which to perform, I hope it garners them the attention they deserve.  My money is on Sagan, even though Fabian aka Spartacus aka Mr Classic is present.  I expect him to peak for Milan-San Remo or Paris-Roubaix.
Paris-Nice is definitely the jewel of first quarter of the year.  In it's 73rd edition, the 7-stage race (8 counting the prologue) will really test the legs, and give us good insight to how the offseason went for these guys.  Michael Kwiatkowski, Richie Porte, Andrew Talanksy, Bradley Wiggins and Tejay VanGarderen are all expected to compete.  Richie Porte should be the team lead for Sky, with Wiggo looking ahead (Paris-Roubaix may be a goal this year).  Stage 4 should set the tone, with over 200km and 8 categorized climbs, ending at the top of the worst one.

Ouch

I don't really have a good enough feel for the all-rounders yet to wager a bet, but I'm going to be watching Talansky and Tejay closely.  It would be great to see one of them up on the Giro or TdF podium this year, and this will be a good test.

Following right on the heals of those 2 is the Tirenno-Adriatico, which periodically gives us some spectacular viewing by torturing the riders with blizzards.  A lot of the top riders are choosing this over Paris-Nice, including Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali, and Chris Froome among others.  Still, some of these big contenders might take it a bit easy, but it's exciting to see them all on the same course in March.  And I'm perfectly ok having them split between the 2 races right now, because it allows me to still speculate and get excited for them all being together in a HUGE race later in the year.

Dear USAPCC

I don't want this to get too awkward or anything, but I love you, USAPCC/USPCC/USAPC/Totally not the Tour of Colorado.  Last year, I sang your praises and the race turned out to be the most exciting yet.  The TT on the penultimate stage left it wide open, while the course design allowed for maximum fan viewing.  Bravo.

And this year, I believe you've done it again.  A circuit race on the first day in the beautiful and bike-crazy town of Steamboat Spring is going to be a riot.  Adding in a finish in A-Basin was a brilliant way to find another uphill finish (if not summit) without being too far from anything.  I've ridden that section from Keystone to A-Basin a lot, and while not terrible, it's a grind and should create some separation.  Of course, that's after coming all the way from Steamboat which I can only imagine will start over Rabbit Ears (going the other route would involve Vail Pass which isn't real suitable for a race).

Stage 3 is Copper to Aspen, and if it's the expected route we'll hit Fremont Pass straightaway and then work in Indy Pass again (I'm hoping it's that, because I did that exact route a couple years ago).  Then Aspen back to Breck, which keeps making for some great finishes.  The real shakeup this year is the Breck TT on Friday.  I, for one, have no problem with occasionally switching out the Vail TT.  Especially when they've worked Independence back in to the mix (need a few iconic features every year!)  I don't know what the TT will involve, but I expect it to be less climbing than the Vail TT, which could potentially open the door for a wider range of riders to make a mark.

Then, it's Loveland to FoCo, which means any of a number of the terrible climbs up here in the foothills (terrible for them, good for us).  It brings the race to the Front Range for the weekend which is vital.  And then finally Golden to Denver.  Which means another trip up Lookout, which I applaud for being both iconic and leaving the KOM up for grabs until the last day.  It's important to still have that to watch, when you know the overall will be decided by the previous day.  Another thing I don't have a problem with, because I think the finish NEEDS to be in Denver, and the TT in LoDo was kind of a shrug for me.

All in all, I think they've once again worked in a great mix of challenging climbs, spectator involvement, a race that will still be up in the air until stage 6 (well, probably 5, but we'll see...), and highlighting Colorado.  I know people were upset it didn't make it further south or east (sorry plains, you're not that interesting), but you can't hit everywhere every year.  I love this course, and I can't wait for the final course announcement.  USAPC, if you're bored sometime, you know, give me a call, I'll buy you a drink.  Smooches.

Parting Thoughts: You can't not whistle to The Walker.  Oh!  Here we go!

Food: Frasca

So, I decided to add food reviews in to the mix.  This is probably more for me to remember what I've had and where I've been than anything else.  But if you want to talk food some time, it's one of my top favorite topics to ramble about, along with cycling, basketball and Vegas.

Quickly about me, and food: I consider myself fairly well-traveled in the foodie world.  I've hit 11 Madison Park, Atera, Redd, La Toque, as well as many of the top restaurants in the Denver area, Duo, Cholon, Fruition, Oak, Rioja, etc.  Which brings me to this, my first actual review...

Frasca - Boulder, Feb 23, 2015

Frasca has consistently been my favorite restaurants in the area.  In fact, the only one of the aforementioned I've eaten at multiple times, and I keep going back.  The food is, of course, excellent, but it's a lot of the little details that make me love Frasca. The entire staff is always top notch, very knowledgeable, friendly, and accommodating.  This particular visit was for their Monday night wine dinners, where they always bring in a winemaker to pair a 4-course meal with a single winery at a reasonable (for fancy dinner) price point.

The menu:
Antipasto: Barba di Becco - Salsify, blood orange and black trumpet mushroom
Primo: Penne Rigate - Wagyu beef, prosciutto and romanesco
Secondo: Maiale - Berkshire pork, anson mills polenta and sugo naturale
Dolce: Torta - Winter citrus, ricotta and orange agromato

The pairings
All from Robert Biale, all big reds, 20% new oak.
2012 "Basic Black" - A petite sirah blend, with zin and mourvedre
2012 "Black Chicken" - This is a Napa Zin.  And the fun fact is that the old grocery, owned by the Biale family, used Black Chicken as the codename for booze during prohibition.
2012 "Monte Rosso Vineyard" - Another Zin, but from a Sonoma vineyard.

The result
Although another delicious meal at Frasca, there were a couple slight misses for me. But I'll start at the top.  The Basic Black on its own was my least favorite of the 3 wines, but that first pairing was definitely the best, and a fine example of how a great pairing takes both the wine and food to the next level.  The earthiness of the black trumpets played fantastically with the wine.  However, I took my first bite without the mushroom, and the citrus and salsify didn't have the same affect.  But this was an extremely inventive appetizer, and well executed.

The penne with wagyu was simply delicious.  Simple, and delicious.  Ground wagyu, perfectly al dente pasta, oil and some magic seasoning.  I loved it.

The maiale had the single best and worst bites of the meal.  The pork was served 2 ways; a couple medallions, and some cripsy, amazing short ribs (?).  I always leave Frasca plenty full, but I would have taken another 3 servings of that.  The polenta was rich and smooth, and matched well with the pork.  But the greens, which I'm usually a fan of, just tasted too... green.  It took away from the overall experience for me.  So I ended up eating all the greens (you know, gotta be healthy) and then proceeded with the pork.  The fatiness of the pork and polenta went great with the depth of the big Monte Rosso Zin.

I'm pretty sure the dessert was excellent... but just not up the alley of either me or my wife.  I heard the table next to us raving about it, but I just wasn't in to the heavy citrus and fruitcake like texture.  However (insider secret coming!), Frasca makes their own chocolates daily, and I requested a couple though they weren't on the evening's menu.  White chocolate filled with coconut goodness, and some delicious coffee (I need to find out who their roaster is).  I left happy.

Summary
Another solid performance, but the couple off notes loses some points from it's usual 10 spot.  8.5/10

Coming Soon
Me swooning over the USAPCC course announcement.  Seriously, I love it.
Giro preview.
Maybe nothing at all since I write in this once like every 6 months.

Parting Thoughts: Uptown funk IS going to give it to you.  You don't believe me???? Just watch,