On the road again. Seems to be a reoccurring theme here in the land of the coached. This week – a day late I must admit – I’m coming to you from the great American city of Philadelphia. And of course I am here to cover the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling – and get in a few maintenance rides time permitting.

As you surely know, two of the three Triple Crown races are already in the books, with heretofore unknown Ukrainian Yuri Metlushenko taking a sprint win at the opener on Tuesday in Allentown, and then Rock Racing’s Oscar Sevilla flying away solo late in Thursday’s Reading Classic.

Not to take anything away from Metlushenko, but his triumph was probably more a case of right place, right time, than a precursor of regular future success. The guy’s been around a while, so there must be a reason he’s on Amore & Vita-McDonald’s and not Astana or Ag2R.

As it was, dude’s win was literally porn star mustache thin. Moments after the race I caught a glimpse of the finish line photo, and the distance between Metlushenko and second-place finisher Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) was about the width of a pencil.

Let that be a lesson to all the boys and girls out there – when in doubt, celebrate victory after it actually happens. Metlushenko posted up for the cameras way early and it nearly cost him.

On a side note, a sympathetic get well goes out to Menzies. After a pair of podium finishes (third at the CSC Invitational and then second at Lehigh), the burly Aussie stacked it hard in Reading, suffering cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Barring the miraculous, his season is done.

As for Sevilla, dude absolutely crushed it on the last lap in Reading, riding away from the entire peloton to give the Rockers their first truly significant win. I’ll be the first to admit that initially I chalked up the Rock Racing program as all style, no substance. But maybe, just maybe, there is something to all the “We’re gonna race in Europe. We’re gonna take names. We’re gonna kick ass,” hot air emanating from team boss Michael Ball.

Give Mr. High Fashion credit, he is putting his money where his mouth is, and that’s something you can’t say for all the former-sponsor companies that lately have been jumping off the cycling ship like it just hit a flaming iceberg. Now if I could just get my hands on a pair of those cool jeans.

Looking ahead, Sunday’s showdown on the means streets of Philly has all the makings of a classic. We’ve got a solid field of contenders – Bennati, Backstedt, Maaskant, Eisel, Henderson, Sutherland, Rodriguez, Rollin and Dominguez – and a seriously hard day on tap.

Yes, I know that generally the Philly course isn’t the most selective, but when you throw in a forecast of high 90s and high humidity you are bound to get high attrition. Says here that of the 190 or so starters only 45-50 actually get finishing times.

As for a winner, I can’t find a good reason to pick against Benatti. The Liquigas leader put on a show at the Giro, and would be psyched to grab Philly gold for team bike sponsor Cannondale, which is based about 3.5 hours away in Bedford, Pennsylvania. My sleeper pick – if you can call it that – is Toyota-United’s Dominique Rollin. The Canadian’s team has been fairly quiet here thus far, but something tells me they’re going to be a player tomorrow. Should be fun to watch for sure.

On the personal front, thanks to the gang at Fuji bikes, my fitness level has not been swamped in a sea of cheesesteaks and hotel bar beer. Back on Monday, Fuji marketing man Chris Mesigian dropped off a loaner SL-1 for me to tool around on. The sexy carbon fiber number has proved a solid steed on several base-mile excursions out of the city, and over to Manayunk and beyond. And yes, I rode the famous 17-percent wall a few times. And yes, it’s legitimately steeeeeeeeep.

What it isn’t is very long, which is why despite 10 trips up, the pro race typically comes down to a field sprint.

I’m not going to say the riding around Philadelphia is all that, because coming from Boulder, where you can leave civilization behind in about 10 minutes, I’m pretty spoiled. But I will say there are tons of people on bikes, lots of wide bike lanes and paths, and when you do get away from the city, the rolling, green hills make for seriously good times.

What I’ll never miss, though, is the humidity in these parts. I was out for about three hours today, and sweating buckets is not overstatement. We weren’t riding all that hard, and I still went through about four bottles.

Sunday’s race is going to be a big, ugly bear.

Due to time constraints, no Q&A this week. But make sure to keep them coming and we’ll get them all answered in the next dispatch. If you’d like to ask coach Neal Henderson a question, please send e-mail to CoachNealQandA@gmail.com. Please include your name and hometown. Questions may be edited for content and clarity.

His coach, Neal Henderson, is sports science manager at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and a well-regarded elite-level coach. Henderson’s clients include Slipstream-Chipotle’s Taylor Phinney, Jelly Belly’s Scott Tietzel and Trish Downing, a nationally ranked paraplegic athlete. Henderson is also the winter triathlon coach for the U.S. national triathlon team, and was recently named USA Cycling National Development Coach of the Year. This summer he’s heading out on the road with Phinney, helping the young phenom get ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Henderson is working with Jason Sumner on a pro bono basis.