Our reliable friends at Wikipedia define free solo climbing as “a form of free climbing where the climber (the free soloist) foregoes ropes, harnesses and other protective gear while ascending and relies only on his or her physical strength, climbing ability, and psychological fortitude to avoid a fatal fall.” Those same folks describe BASE jumping as “a sport involving the use of a parachute or the sequenced use of a wingsuit and parachute to jump from fixed objects--with the parachute unopened at the jump.” Combine these two acts and you get something called BASEclimbing… Castleton Tower reigns supreme as the…

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In a nation known for its hilly stage races and flat, fast criteriums, northern Michigan’s Tour de Leelanau is a bit of an anomaly in the U.S. With its one-day format, relentless rolling hills, and cold, damp weather, this race is more typical of a Belgian Classic than a standard American road race. Knowing the tough course would whittle the race down to a select few by the finish, BMC race director Gavin Chilcott made sure his team was represented well in the 16-man break that finally escaped the peloton at 72km. “The race unfolded as we expected,” Chilcott…

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It was quite a first weekend of racing at the Giro d’Italia. Team Slipstream—Chipotle left its mark on Day 1 with a huge win in the 23.6km team time trial to open the 91st Giro d’Italia. What an accomplishment. Thanks to a wonderful team effort, Christian Vande Velde became the first American since Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro to sport the stylish maglia rosa leader’s jersey. There’s a nice TTT write-up on VeloNews and for those who are interested in receiving the latest Slipstream updates via cell phone, get all the deets about Slipstream’s Twitter service on their website.…

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Last weekend at Wildflower Team Clif Bar athletes showed up and left a worthy mark. Chris McCormack turned on the afterburners on Beach Hill and took his 4th Wildflower win after battling with Eneko Llanos all race long. Chris remains undefeated at Wildflower with wins in ’01, ’02, ’04 & ’08. “The last three miles, Eneko and I ran together and I just rolled the dice on that last downhill to the finish,” said McCormack. “I’m very proud I am unbeaten in my four tries at one of the greatest races in our sport.” In the women’s race, three TCB…

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Sometimes dealing with the stress of starting a major athletic event can have adverse effects on an athlete’s performance. Strong athletes tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves to do well in races, only to have that pressure render them exhausted during the event. Having only recently come back from an IT band injury that slowed her training over the winter, TCB athlete Kelly Couch rolled into last week’s Wildflower Triathlon with no expectations and reaped the benefits of competing in a relaxed-but-focused manner. Since she was unable to run with much intensity during the off season, Kelly…

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