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A new start: The Tom Danielson diary 2005
After his ill-fated stint with Fassa Bortolo in 2004, likable American climbing specialist Tom Danielson looks to have found a more conducive home for 2005 with Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel team. Follow his diary on Cyclingnews as he rides alongside the Boss as part of Discovery's ProTour arsenal.
Post Tour of Austria: July 14, 2005
Bring on the second half!
Hey Cyclingnews readers!
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Thought I would drop in and give an update on what is new. Although I am not at the Tour, I have enjoyed watching the Discovery boys ride so well. Being part of this team inspires you to ride at a new level and you can definitely see that within Discovery. Take George for example; he has worked so hard all year and achieved many big goals. However, he is here in July in incredible form and this is one of the best climbers in the peloton. Today he showed this by reducing the peloton down to ten or so! Wow! Lance looks great and very motivated - so nice to see.
As for me I just finished the Tour of Austria. I am very happy as all the hard work I put in last month and a half 'rehabing' my injured knee was put to the test. Mentally and physically I was focused the month of June on not only healing my knee injury, but building it stronger. It was very difficult to be off the bike for 2.5 weeks. Your mind goes crazy as you think you are loosing all of your fitness, while at the same time you are stressed that the pain in your knee will never go away. The pain and swelling I had lasted almost the whole time I was off the bike, and with three days to go until I started up again my knee still had pain!
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I was really freaking out; fortunately I had great people around me in the form of Dr. Frank Jarrel and Dr. Dave Farmer to closely monitor my progress and help with physical therapy. The day I started back on my bike, exactly four weeks from today, the pain had almost diminished and all the hard work I had done in the gym to correct my imbalances really started to show.
After 3 days on the bike the pain was completely gone, however, so was that form I had before Georgia and the Giro! Nevertheless with the support of my team and my wife Kristin I began my journey towards September. The first two weeks I trained only for 1 to 2 hours every other day. The third week I increased the duration, but very little intensity. My knee was feeling very strong and pain-free. I also noticed the strength I built in the culprit weak muscles was there and improving my power over the longer rides.
Then, the fourth week I put all the therapy to the test in a seven day stage race, The Tour of Austria. This race had it all: mountains, flats, rolling hills, and a time trial. Not only were the stages very diverse, but so was the weather! The first day we had extreme heat, followed by winter conditions that brought lots of snow and hypothermia to the racers.
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Then, the rest of the stages were a bit more consistent following the trend of rain, and of course, cold. I tried to be conservative in this race, and really, had no choice. I didn't have much high end, but rode through the race very motivated to build fitness for September. In the process I finished second on the uphill time trial and fifth overall. I also came out of the race with confidence that my knee is back and stronger than ever. Through all the weather and difficult racing it passed the test! No pain and with each pedal stroke it felt very strong, no matter when in the race.
My teammate Michael Barry, who I train with and did Georgia and the Giro with, won a stage and finished sixth overall. He was flying and I can't wait to see what he does in the second half of the season! Back in the US, my better half was causing havoc in the women's peloton by finishing second in the critical mountain stage of Cascade Classic! A big result for her and very inspiring for me. She will be with me for the start of the Vuelta which will push me to a new level I hope! I can't wait to see her!
Well, I am eager to see how the rest of the Tour unfolds. It already has been awesome with Zabriskie winning the first stage and then for Lance and team Discovery to put forth all there hard work to dominate the first half of the Tour.
I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the Tour and are excited for the second half
of the 2005 season...I know I am.
Tom