Scott Nydam

two weeks ago, during the middle the Giro, a gift showed up at the door from a good friend. A total surprise

photos by @KentWells via Twitter.com

Painting credit Charles Beck of Meyers Grade

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VIDEO from the man

Scott Nydam at Tour of the Battenkill

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may10news
By Kirsten Robbins

Scott Nydam returned to his Santa Rosa, California, home after being released from a four-day stay at the Thomason Hospital in El Paso. Nydam was airlifted to the hospital following a high-speed crash in the final stage of the Tour of the Gila on Sunday. The 33-year-old suffered head injuries and recently underwent surgery to correct a broken collarbone. According to BMC directeur sportif Gavin Chilcott the team is looking forward to his return to the peloton.

“He seems to be doing pretty good,” Chilcott said. “Now we are marching forward to see how his other injuries from the crash proceed and how quickly his doctor will give him the green light on activity level.”

Medics first drove Nydam to the local Silver City clinic where upon further review he was airlifted to Thomason, a much larger facility. “He was very bruised up, cut up and he hit his head pretty hard and needed the most urgent care,” said Chilcott. “He hit his head during the crash and that was the second time he had hit his head. It was decided that they needed to watch the situation more intensively and deal with it at a bigger facility.”

Nydam recently returned to the peloton following an accident at the Tour of California in February. According to Chilcott, there is no question the two accidents mark a major setback for the talented cyclist. “He was in the pipeline to compete in some big races at the first part of the season that he missed,” Chilcott said. “He did such a great job re-training for this next block of racing that he will miss, too. Two big accidents is hard on anyone.”

Nydam was next scheduled for the Tour of Belgium to prepare for the highlighted French event, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré held in June.

a week ago Wednesday, back in sonoma county, we put in a big day. 4x 20min climbs .. the kind of day you don’t take lightly. the kind of day you hope goes well, especially when you do it at the end of a training block, and also with a racing approaching. Vennell, Pesces, Leipheimer, Plaxton, and Best were “present”

the legs finally felt good again. each of the 20min climbs were consistent, not tapering off. i hadn’t felt as though i was owning it for a long time. probably since before tour of CA.

thursday, the next day, i caught a 3am shuttle, 6am flight to Albany for The Tour of the Battenkill.
The Battenkill River, due to it’s brown trout population, is the namesake for an Orvis reel (Ron Nydam information)

The Battenkill River Valley has a bit of an old-worldly feel to it. .rolling landscape and villages/town spread apart by family farms and pasture land. Old barns, narrow and twisting roads, most of which are dirt.

i didn’t realize how much i needed to win until I did; how much my psyche needed it; how much energy I was wasting with worry and fret.

Chad, with the help of Jackson and Jonathan in the breakaway, went ahead and lightened the mood for the team by winning the first day, setting the tone for the night before, and the morning of the 2nd race. The team was relaxed, joking and enjoying the process of getting prepared. Director Sportif Mickey Sayers was walking around like he was Vince Lombardi, and all was well and good, a recipe for racing without hesitation.

I managed to get off the front with the right guy from the right team, on the second dirt section, just after a 150 degree left turn, when the pack slowed down on the dirt, and guys looking around to see who’d push the pace.
“I threw my coins in the wishing well” and went up the left side.

“genie let out of the bottle”

The Times Union, Albany NY
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