Why the Pisterolo may have shot himself in the foot!

During the Tour de France I made statements as to why Alberto Contador was basically going to win the Tour without any real threats from the other contenders. I also made statements about how he'd win every Tour de France he raced in the future. (Both of these, as all statements regarding cycling wins come with the un-spoken condition that he doesn't lose because of a crash.) However, since the Tour de France the cycling news has been buzzing with the Lance vs. Alberto soap opera as well as the guesses as to where Alberto will end up. Here's my take.

On the Astana Camp:

Alberto doesn't want to ride for Astana anymore, and why would he? Vino's coming back and everybody knows Vino has too big of an ego to work for anyone. He's already made public statements about coming back as the team boss and now his statements of riding as a super domestique for Contador can hardly be trusted. Besides, with Lance and Johan both leaving for the new RadioShack team, the powerhouse that was Astana is now going to be a bunch of obligated Kazak's who can't get jobs anywhere else, a few loyal spanish guys and a reigning TdF champ. He's got to get out of town!

RadioShack is going to pull with it all the internal parts that have made every USPS, Discovery Channel and Astana team so strong. Everybody that is in the infastructure of that team is 100% loyal to Johan Bruynel. This is evidenced by their moving where he moves. If your job in pro cycling is to work behind the scenes and do really important stuff and get no credit for it, it's probably easier to do these jobs for a team that is going to continually win big races. I'm sure the guys at Silence-Lotto like their jobs less than the current crew at Astana. So these guys can go with a proven producer of champions or they can stay with a team that apparently has a tough time making pay roll. Easy choice!

Not only will all of the staff follow Johan but the majority of the young talent will as well. Why would Jani Brakovich (sp?), a future stage race contender, stay to ride in support of Alberto Contador for pretty much his entire career when he could go with Lance (who loves him) to RadioShack and be molded into a future contender? That choice seems obvious and he's just one of the few young riders who would be foolish (in my opinion) to stay with Alberto. Obviously the Americans are going, Levi and Chris Horner, as they have no love for Alberto anyway. That's three of the strongest guys in the pro peloton guaranteed to split town.

The question mark is Andreas Kloden. Clearly Kloden is no longer a real contender to win a big stage race, however, he's still one of the best guys in the business and anybody would be lucky to have them as a super support rider. I imagine that Kloden feels this way also and realizes where his value lies. I also think he's got to be at least a little bitter that Alberto dropped him off the podium when he didn't need to. (Whether Alberto did this on purpose or not, I don't think he did, doesn't matter.) It's hard to get a real read on Kloden since the last time he spoke to any media was, well, never. I'm not even sure he speaks. My assumption is that Kloden has no love for Alberto either.

Let's assume that Alberto can get out of his contract, which I'm sure will, where should he go?

Unfortunately for Alberto professional cycling is not professional baseball or soccer. He can probably demand the highest figure in cycling and that'd be around $4m Euro's a year. That ain't A-Rod money by any means. But, what that also means is that if Alberto does demand a salary of that magnitude the riders that he gets surrounded by are going to be lower level riders who the teams can afford to pay less, or, young riders without much experience to support him in these big races. I think he's found himself between a rock and a hard place so speak. He demands what he's worth and he gets paid but greatly reduces his chances of being surrounded by top level domestiques or he takes a pay cut and gambles on prize money instead of gauranteed salary.

There's really only two teams out there that show much interest and that's probably a factor of being the only two teams that can really afford him. (Columbia HTC is the exception. They can certainly afford him but don't seem to care at all about adding his ego to their team.) These two teams, Garmin-Slipstream and Caisse d'Epargne.

The case of Garmin:

This is the option that makes both the most sense and the least sense for Alberto. Weird huh? It makes the most sense because we saw in this year's tour, if they have another Team Time Trial without time limits on losses, your team can force you out of contention, ie., Cadel Evans and Carlos Sastre. The reason Alberto ran away with this tour was because his team was made of really exceptional time trialist. The team they beat, Garmin-Slipstream. For this reason alone it makes sense for Alberto to be in argyle next year. However, that's also the exact reason it doesn't. Two main compenents in Garmin's ability to ride the TTT so well, Bradley Wiggins and Christian Van deVelde (sp?). Wiggins was clearly the surprise of the tour and has made public statements that he's 100% focused on coming back to win it. The question there is will he be on the new Sky team out of Britian who's main goal is to have British TdF champ in five years? If so, then that opens a big spot for Alberto. Even if Wiggins jump ship for Sky that still leaves VdV who fills that ever so important role for Garmin of being an American leader on an American team. Will this be a factor? I don't know, but VdV has certainly done a lot for Garmin has he's immensly popular in America and since everybody in America seems to have a huge crush on Lance, they seem to be less and less enchanted by the fake gun totting Mr. Contador. While this makes sense or not doesn't matter. I think Garmin would need to take this into consideration. I also don't see Vaughters forcing VdV into the domestique role as it seems he's also banked a lot of personal interest in showing the world that he's a real contender.

Caisse d'Epargne is the most likely fit for Alberto, however, that was until the most recent reports that Astraloza may have set off a bomb in the world of spanish cycling. Astraloza, as you may or may not know, won a stage in this year's tour and then tested positive out of competition after the tour. Due to this it's rumored that a bunch of Spanish teams (like the German teams last year) are no weary about having their names tied to doping in the sport. If all the Spanish teams pull out there is one small factor that could keep Caisse d'Epargne active, they're actually sponsored by the biggest bank in France. It's never made sense to me that a French bank sponsors a Spanish team, but maybe that's because I'm American and civil diplomacy isn't what we specialize in.

If Caisse d'Epargne is around this makes the most sense for Alberto. There were rumors in this tour that a lot of those guys had said they'd support him if Astana didn't. I don't know if that's true, but cycling does have a tendency to allow nationality to effect the racing. A lot of people think this is a bad choice because of Alejandro Valverde. I actually don't think it matters at all. In my opinion Valverde is not going to be a real TdF contender. He's never shown he can ride that race well. I think he's much more suited for the hilly classics and would be better off if he'd focus on those. He's certainly a huge talent, but time trials like I do, slow, and that just isn't going to cut it if you want to wear a yellow tshirt in Paris.

I think the bigger problem for Alberto and Caisse d'Epargne is Luis Leon Sanchez, who already beat Alberto this past year at Milan-San Remo. Certainly Sanchez isn't a real TdF contender, but I'm sure he's willing to put all those years of establishing himself to work for Alberto. I could be wrong here as I don't know much about Sanchez. But, I do know a lot about professional athletes and egos. My assumption here is that if Contador signs with Caisse d'Epargne, Sanchez opts out of his contract, and Contador is left with the guys who couldn't support Sanchez in the mountains.

The Tour de France is absolutely won by the efforts of your team. This year, was sort of a freakish year where Alberto was absolutely dependent on the team to help establish a margin over his rivals in the TTT. After that effort, he really didn't need them because there weren't enough contenders left to continually attack him. (Explaning this if you don't understand cycling tactics would take another post in itself. If you're interested I'll write it. ) He was the strongest man so all he really had to do was follow wheels, whether they were the wheels of team mates or not and then drop everybody on the climb. He is so brilliant in the mountains I'm sure he can use this tactic every year as long as he has at least teammate (often Armstrong only needed 1) on the last climb to set up the launch.

However, the question will be the Team Time Trial. Contador can't pull his entire team along to keep a bunch of mediocre time trialers closer. Cadel tried to do this and miserably failed. Luckily for Alberto the Team Time Trial doesn't show up in every edition of the Tour, though, I think it should.

These will all be factors in the decisions that teams and Alberto make in the next few months until we find out where he ends up. During the Tour I was as much of an Alberto fan as you could be and defended him to all the love struck Armstrong fans blinded by their nastaglia. However, I'm such a fan of guys going out and publicly bashing their teammates who rode for them during the race. I think Contador may be setting himself up to be one of those really strong grand tour riders who ends up on teams that just can't help him win.

Reaction to Menchov's Crash

It's tough to convince people that bike racing is a team sport. People only hear of the guy that won the race and it's almost impossible to explain how his team helps when it's really up to him to finish the job. Sometimes I wonder how well these domestiques take on their role of laboring tirelessly for one guy. Let's not forget that everybody who rides a bike on a pro team in Europe could come to your local crit and lap the field. These dudes aren't chumps.

Of course you always see them on tv going back and getting bottles, setting the tempo, doing the work that has to be done, that's their job. But I always wondered what it was like on a the team bus. Do they really care what happens to their leader? Are they really that concerned when their actions aren't going to be seen on TV? I think this video does a pretty good job of answering those questions.

In the final TT in Rome Denis Menchov had an 18 second lead over Danilo DiLuca. The TT was not ceremonial for those riders. It absolutely mattered and could determine the winner of the Giro. Menchov crashed in the last kilometer. This video was taken by someone. I think it's pretty clear the guys aren't putting on a show and have completely forgot the camera is even there.

Bonus Seconds

Grand Tour stages all offer bonus seconds at various places out on the course as well as big bonuses on the finish line for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. I've never really understood why a three week race would need to employee such a gimic as bonus seconds. In some cases, like last year's Vuelta, if the bonus seconds weren't there, the guy that won, wouldn't have. It's hard to blame him for winning because of the bonus seconds. He's simply just operating under the rules that he's given, but do we really need them? What are they really for? To encourage racing? For guys to sprint for 2nd and 3rd places on stage 14 of 21? I'm not so sure they serve a positive purpose to the race.

Today's stage of the Giro ended in a perfect example of why bonus seconds are dumb. Pellizoti won the stage on his own so he swept up the 1st place bonus seconds, 20 seconds I think it was. A group of 3 came in behind Pellizoti and that group contained two guys that bonus seconds are very important too in this race, Di Luca (second on GC at like :40ish seconds) and Menchov (1st place). The other member of this group was Garzelli, who is winning the KOM competition but is no where close to being a GC threat.

The bonus seconds are important for Di Luca because he realizes Menchov is a much better Time Trialist and would like to take as much time back as possible before that TT in Rome to have a chance to win the over all. Menchov bascially wants bonus seconds for the same reasons, except he'd rather have a bigger cushion if Di Luca storms off on a climb and he can't respond. Those bonus seconds would help to limit his losses if that were to happen.

When those three came up to the line there was indeed a sprint for 2nd place, but it was between Di Luca and Garzelli, not Menchov. Garzelli sprinted all the way to line and took 2nd place and the bonus seconds that go alone with it, maybe :12. Di Luca was clearly not happy with this and glared at Garzelli as he was left to only take back :8 or so on Menchov. Later, when Garzelli was on the winner's podium collecting another green jersey (mountain jersey in Italy, not sprint jersey like in France) he was booed by the Italian fans. He was booed because he decided to race his bike all the way to line and not sit up and give Di Luca those extra :4 seconds as a gift.

Cycling is full of unspoken rules and riders on different teams making deals with each other all the time. Often guys from the same country will join forces in breaks to try and attack the rest of the bunch. I guess the idea is if at least I get beat it's still a victory for the mother land? Because of the nature of cycling I can see why Di Luca might be a bit frustrated with Garzelli. Those seconds didn't mean a damn thing to him, but they would have helped Di Luca in his bid to get the maglia rosa back in italian hands. And, obvoiusly, since Garzelli is Italian that should be his goal too?

It's hard for me to fault Garzelli for simply racing his bike. That's what he's paid to do and even though a 2nd place is really nothing more than a line in a future listing of palamares, he's still a competitive guy and wants to beat whoever he can. It's not like he was sprinting for 40th. But, because of the bonus seconds on the line the aspect of racing is thrown out and Garzelli is villionized because he didn't hand Di Luca those extra :04. Just do away with the bonus seconds and then it won't matter either way. Then that sprint to the line is simply one of pride and might make it worth more in the end anyway.

The Best Thing to Happen to Levi, is Lance.

If you'd have asked me at the prologue of the Tour of California how I felt about Levi I'd have had one answer for you, "he's boring." Until I saw Levi cross the line in the TT in Solvang holding up 3 fingers to signify his third straight TT win I was pretty convinced the guy lacked any personality at all. And, even after that, I wasn't sold on him. In fact on the top of Palomar Mtn. the guy next to me after we'd discussed how I wasn't a fan, actually turned and apologized after cheering like mad when Levi came by us in the lead group. "You shoud like who you like man," was all I could say.

There are basically two things that I think make for awesome bike racers. One of those is to be entertaining. Guys like Dave Zabriskie, Chris Horner and Floyd Landis are hugely entertaining but for really different reasons. Zabriskie and Landis are entertaining because they make fun of themselves and basically what they do for a living. A few years ago in Bicycling magazine they interviewed each other which was pretty hilarious in itself but when they talked about going "mullet hunting" through the peloton, I almost peed my pants. Apparently the Russians have the best mullets, who knew? Chris Horner is entertaining becuase he gives the best interviews of anyone of the pros. When something went down in the stage that he didn't like, he tells you about it. He's also understands bike racing and gives incredible insight tactically for those of us who enjoy that part of the race. It doesn't hurt that he's probably the best super domestique in the peloton and rides selflessly for his team captain day in and day out. You gotta respect that!

The other thing that I admire in bike racers is the willingness to risk lossing for a shot at winning. Anytime a bike racer attacks on a mountain stage he's taking that risk. If he goes too early fine, at least he tried. He took advantage of the situation and actually raced his bike. Landis' ride in the 2006 Tour when he charged off alone on the first mountain of a 3 summit day in an effort to take back time was a perfect example of rolling those dice. It worked, but it could have been a disaster. Lance used to attack guys in the mountains with the intention of punishing them for simply showing up to race that day. Gotta love that. Contador's not afraid to pull off his cycling glove one half finger at a time and slap his opponent in the face with it. And this list of examples couldn't be complete without mentioning Jens Voight who goes on the attack all the time and almost never wins. But when asked about it he says, "if I don't try, I've already lost. So I might as well try."

Before that Solvang TT Levi had neither of these characteristics. He was a guy who never did interviews so one could only assume he had nothing interesting to say. It's not really a surprise that journalists gravitate towards Horner and Zabriskie because they know they're going to get something worth while. There's 180+ guys starting a grand tour. They can't interview all of them everyday, but you can assume if they're 1 of 5 or so Americans in the race and they never get interviewed, there's a reason. My other impression of Levi, which I also think was totally justified, was that he wasn't willing to take that risk of losing in order to win, which is why he's chronically finished on the podium but never the stop the step. Levi, like Cadel Evans, always seemed to simply follow wheels up the mountains. They'd respond to attacks the best they could, but they were never the ones forcing other riders to match their acceleration. Since I like the guys who are willing to gamble I didn't find Levi's penny slots approach to bike racing very interesting.

However, with the return of Lance I've started to see Levi in a whole new light. Lance, in an effort to raise awareness for the global fight against cancer has taken full advantage of the new technologies available to keep his cause in front of your face as often as possible. Everyday on twitter he posts pictures and links to videos that are uploaded to the LAF website. The videos are generally short, less than 3 minutes, but they give some insight into whats going on in the race, but most importantly I think they put you on their website where it's my assumption they hope you'll click some links and check some things out. For an example of a video click here.

Levi is becoming quite the guest star to Lance's online blogging world and I think it's doing wonders for his image. Lance is a great bike racer, but he's also a PR genius. Consider for a second how many other bike racers get accused of doping just once and everybody throws their arms up in complete decision that the person is guilty. Now think of how many times Lance has been accused of doping and through press conferences, tv appearances and variety of other methods, he convinces people he's clean. That statement is not in any way a finger point in either direction, but I think it's a great example of how Lance knows what he's doing when it comes to how the pubic views him. There's no one better that Levi could mimic.

I used to think that Levi just happened to be the American who got lucky enough to be there when Lance retired and Floyd got banned. Americans like rooting for Americans, there's no secret there. I thought everybody would jump on the Levi bandwagon and we'd all follow cycling wishing that he'd attack or say something interesting while constantly finishing as the bridesmaide, never the bride. Until that 3 finger salute in Solvang I was absolutely right and I've got years of results to prove it. But, as it turns out, all he needed was a little coaching.

Now, Levi, for the love of god, in the fine words of your boy Lance, "...make them hurt in the mountains."

Everybody Likes Pictures

I have no idea what this feels like:

I know EXACTLY what this feels like:

Pain!

More Pain!

And hopeful suicide.

Do Level Feet Really Equal Efficiency?

For a long time I've heard coaches instruct cyclists on the efficiency of keeping your foot level throughout the pedal stroke. For those of you that know me, you know that I rarely accept anything just because someone else says it, and recently this has been on my mind. The more I think about this concept of keeping your foot level throughout the pedal stroke the more it just simply doesn't make any sense.

First, let's think about the pedal stroke for a minute. Basically what you have is a device that can rotate attached to an arm that is attached to a sprocket. I just described a crank set with a pedal for those of you not following. As you push, pull and ideally move that pedal around the circle it turns the sprocket and because of the chain attached to another sprocket on your wheel, you move forward. What makes the pedal stroke slightly more complicated than simply turning the crank is a factor of being attached at a point that is not directly under your own "arm," which in this case is actually your leg.

I found this 3D animation of how a steam engine uses the same process to turn it's wheels as a cyclist does their cranks. Pay attention to the rear wheel.



This is exactly what your pedal stroke would look like if we attached ourselves to the pedals at the ankle. However, we don't. Cleats are generally placed pretty close to the ball of your foot so this adds another pivot point, your ankle, to the equation. If you think of the rod connected to the rear wheel in the video as a very long foot, then the other end, connected to another rod can be thought of as acting as an ankle. Clearly there is a some vertical motion necessary to move the rod or foot around the circle.

The power of you pedal stroke comes from various muscle groups, but none of which are really located in your foot. Your foot is simply the connecting point and transfer of that power to the pedal. Because of this, it doesn't make sense to restrict your foot from being able to move vertically through the circle. It's no question that the closer to an actual circle you pedal the more efficient your stroke. But why does pedaling a circle require a flat foot?

I believe there are two places that it makes the most sense for your foot to be flat in the pedal stroke. Thinking of the pedal stroke as a clock, I think those two points are 3 and 6 o'clock. The only reason I think they should be flat here is because I think these are the two places where your foot would pass through a flat stage in order to continue to deliver the most power to the pedals. At 3 your foot would be leveling as it pushes down and at 6 o'clock it'd pass through level as your heel raises to start to pull.

People have always described the bottom, 6 o'clock as the place where you should "scrap the bubble gum off of the bottom of your shoe." This analogy is great for getting someone to initiate the upstroke required to pedal a full circle, however, it's also impossible to do this both literally and figuratively with a flat foot. Next time you step in gum or dog crap, try scrapping it off your shoe without at least slightly lifting your heel. See how well that works out. I think it's also obvious that if we want to begin to move a point in a vertical fashion and the point can pivot, it makes sense that we'd lift it from a higher point. Nobody picks up a box by laying down next to it and levitating. We pick it up by applying force at a point higher than that in which we make contact. The same physical properties apply to a pedal stroke.

I've also read that the biggest dead spot, meaning we aren't applying direct force, in a pedal stroke isn't the back side where it's assumed that leg takes a break and is simply lifted by the other leg pressing down, but actually at the top between 12 and 2 o'clock because this point requires pushing forward. It would make sense to me that through this place, where you'd generally get yelled at for having anything but a horizontal foot, your heel can be tilted higher than the pedal to help push through and then rotate below the pedal to continue to push to 6.

It's been suggested that if you look at most pro riders they all have level feet throughout the pedal stroke. So, I have been looking at their pedal strokes in both pictures and video and have found the exact opposite to be true. I don't think anyone has a level foot as they pedal because I think your body, as a mechanism that wants to be efficient because it's always trying to save energy, naturally starts to figure out the best way to move your feet around that circle repeatedly. Feel free to youtube or watch the current Giro coverage on Universal Sports and see for yourself.

I guess through all of this pondering it brings me back to the original question of why are coaches constantly telling their athletes to keep their feet level? My only assumption is that it's more of a process of planting a seed so that the cyclist is aware of the pedal stroke. In the base portion of a training plan and even on recovery rides it's valuable to do pedaling technique drills to enforce good habits of muscle memory for later when you're suffering like a dog trying to stay on that wheel. While I am against the idea of forcing your foot to stay level foot during the 360 degree rotation of the pedal stroke, I am also against drastic examples of heels up or down. I'm not saying that when you go through 12 o'clock your heel should be so vertical that your leg, foot and crank arm are all a straight line. That extra effort of motion to get your foot in that position would be an obvious waste of energy and zap efficiency. I don't know what degree range I'd like to see from people. I think in most cases your body figures it out and if I or anybody else looks at your foot and doesn't immediately marvel at the ridiculousness of it, you're probably fine.

I wish I had a lab where I could set up a machine and test a bunch of variables with a fixed axle to simulate keeping your foot level and one that is free to move in what I theorize as more efficient. However, I don't. I also don't have fancy illustrations to show or a lot of videos. This is really just my own hypothesis about something that has never made much sense to me. I welcome any and all comments that may feel I'm totally off.

So Much To Say...

As I take the responsibility of delivering mind shattering insight into completely marginalized topics very seriously there are days where I just can't decide what is going to serve my readership the best. Today is one of those days.

There are a few stories that jumped out at me that I could write much longer responses to but instead, I'll mention each and then do my best to keep it brief.

Former Duke PG Greg Paulus to play QB at Syracuse.

I, like most of America, and probably even a lot of Duke fans if you pressed them, think this kid is a punk. Anybody remember in 2007 when Paulus had no response to Eric Maynor of VCU in the opening round of the NCAA tournament so he did what any punk does in that scenario? He got in Maynor's face, blocking his way to the bench during a time out, trying to insite a reaction to get Maynor in trouble. This is memory of Paulus sums up everything I can remember from this kid's career at Duke.

Apparently he was a good quarterback in high school so he's going to go give that a shot again. My hope is that he either uses the same tactics on the football field and some linebacker does what Eric Maynor and the rest of Division 1 basketball no doubt wanted to do, rip his head off. The difference being that in Division 1 football that makes a highlight real for bowl season as opposed to an ejection in basketball. Let's keep our fingers crossed he makes the starting lineup to increase the odds of his getting pummeled.

Andreas Kloden is now "Implicated" in some doping findings.

Of course he is! He's from that era of cycling and was the teammate of guys who have been found to be dopers. He rode on the same T-Mobile team as Ulrich, Vino and Eric Zable who has admitted to being doped up during one of his green jersey wins at the Tour de France. Nobody should be surprised. What I find surprising is that it's taken this long to link his name to some dirty doctor. But, should we care?

At this point what does it matter? It was a long time ago and a different age in the sport. I honestly think cycling is cleaning up and if he's passing the drug tests now, then he should be considered a clean rider. I think that the UCI, WADA or who ever else keeps going after these guys for past discretion is actually hurting the sports chance at moving forward. We all know what cycling was like back then, but the question should be is it going to be like five years from now. In a regular legal system there is a statute of limitations on how far back you can go and still convict someone of a crime. I think we need something similar in cycling, especially considering that doping in 2006 doesn't do a thing for your 2009 results.

Michael Vick wants a second chance.

And he should get one. If there is an NFL team that would like Michael Vick as their quarterback, then I'm sure he'll get hired. I think the Lions could do worse! He did his time and that should be enough. That's what our correctional facilities are there for, to rehabilitate our criminals. In most cases do I think it's an effective system? No. But do I think Michael Vick's running a dog ring should keep him out of the NFL? No. I'm not Michael Vick fan, but with his talent I don't think he needs Tony Dungy to get back into the league. I do think their cooperative effort to try and get criminals jobs after prison by using Vick as a high profile example is an interesting cause. I'm all for that!

Armstrong's Astana team will change kits?

I tried to keep this post to a bike geek minimum but I mean, I am the one writing here. Astana is under financial problems and apparently hasn't been paying some of their riders. They've been handed the ultimatum to solve this by May 31st or the entire team will be suspended. There have been rumors that the Lance Armstrong Foundation was going to swoop in and take over as title sponsor, but there was a press release from the LAF that while it was an exciting prospect they couldn't swing it financially. The latest bit of news in this drama is that Astana would be outfitted in new kits to indicate some kind of change by the end of the week. These new kits are going to continue to include all the same sponsors as the current Astana kits but will be some different color, or something.

Basic knowledge of how money works tells me that outfitting an entire team in new kits is the opposite of saving money, which it seems to me a team struggling financially would be trying to do. But who knows, maybe new colors that don't make them look like smurfs (Levi is really short) will bring in new sponsors and save everything. I hope they go with Hi-Vis Yellow and reflective piping

Clemens denies steroid use on the radio?

I have to admit I didn't click the link to read the rest of this story but isn't it too late for Clemens to say he didn't use steroids? I thought he already admitted to it or they found it or something? All these steroid witch hunts are hard to follow. Who cares if he did use steroids? It's not like while on them he threw the ball harder than anybody ever in the history of the sport. And, if 'roid rage was a real thing, don't you think he'd have actually hit Mike Piazza with the wooden bat when "tossed" it towards the dug out? He'd have clearly used it as a weighted louisville spear!

Contador vs. Armstrong is shaping up nicely

Today's stage of the Giro d' Italia was short, less than 70 miles short. But for what it lacked in length it made up for in vertical gain finishing with a 15k climb that was being compared to le Alp de Huez of Tour de France fame.

In predictable mountain top finish fashion all the contenders and a few super domestiques blew the peloton apart on the opening slopes of the climb. By the time they were half way up it was a very select group.

On his twitter account this morning Lance Armstrong wrote that he hoped to stay within 2 minutes of the leaders by the end of the day. Across the line he missed his goal by a minute finishing 3 minutes back on the day's winner Denis Menchov. So, what's this mean? And what's it have to do with Alberto Contador? Allow me to explain.

It's no secret that Lance is "racing" the Giro to get the extra miles in the legs for the Tour. So, on a day like today, he stays at the front, out of trouble, and then rides with the tempo for as long as he can. Once the accelerations start he's content with letting them go and riding in on his own. Lance is now a super domestique for Levi. I'm not breaking news here, it's well documented.

So, riding for Levi at the Giro means that Armstrong still isn't at top form and he's hoping the Giro, a break and probably the Dauphne will be just the ticket to arrive in Monaco like the Lance of old. But, as I'm not the only one with access to various cycling websites, I'm sure one Mr. Alberto Contador is checking in on these results daily and seeing what I see as well, that Lance is planning on coming to the Tour to win, and in Lance's style of team leader that means Alberto's fetching bottles.

I'm not Alberto Contador so I don't know exactly what motivates him, but I have seen his face grimace in pain as he refused to let off the gas after clearly dropping all opponents off his wheel on a climb. Alberto and Lance aren't so different when it comes to winning bike races. They both not only want to win, they want to destroy you both mentally and physically. Don't think for a second that Alberto is sitting at home crying over the fact that Lance is now trying to come in and steal his spot as team leader at the Tour. No. I'm sure he reads the reports just like everybody else, kits up and heads out into the mountains for some self inflicted pain that most of us can't even imagine.

I hope beyond all hope that Lance shows up to the Tour in the absolute best form of his life because an internal show down between these two would be amazing. I don't even care who wins. I just want to watch the drama!

Bikes and Traffic

As someone who spends quite a bit of time on my bike for training purposes as well as in a car for transportation purposes I am constantly doing battle with myself on how I feel about bikes on the road. When I'm on my bike, I want cars to see me, but not do anything drastic because I'm there. And, along those same lines, I do my best to ensure they don't have to. Riding in traffic can be fun but I'd be naive not to realize the insane danger of putting myself in some of those positions. However, in most cases, if the cars simply drive predictably with the flow of traffic, we'll all make it home for dinner.

I have plenty of friends who hate bikes on the road. I'm pretty sure my friend Durlak has dreams that night where he's given the right to run them over in his own arcade game style of revenge. I'm not sure what any cyclist ever actually did to Durlak, but I'm going to make a confession, I don't really blame him. Since moving to California I have encountered about a billion times more people using the bicycle as their main form of transportation. While it saves the environment, is affordable and a bunch of other pleasant things, it's actually a huge pain the ass for me as a driver and as a cyclist.

The problem with most people riding their bikes is that they have no idea how to do it and it's not really their fault. I don't know who's fault it is, but let's blame someone. While on a bike, you're supposed to act as if you're a vehicle and vehicles are supposed to act as if you're a pedestrian. This has never made any sense to me because how many pedestrians do you see walking in traffic through city streets? Well, actually, if you're in downtown San Francisco you'll see this a bunch because the crazy homeless people have long since stopped caring about cross walks or stop lights. But I digress.

Another issue with bikes in the street is that there is no uniform way that people ride them to get from point A to point B. That might not make any sense so let me try and explain. Cars use lanes in order for their to be a sense of order to the road. When someone is going to turn left, they are in the left lane, they have turn signals on their cars, traffic lights, stop signs, and general right of way rules that help things, for the most part, flow in a manner of chaotic poetry. While driving a car is a dangerous act, if you consider how many people are driving on a daily basis in an urban environment and how few accidents there actually are, I think you'll agree that the traffic system we operate under is pretty efficient. But bikes don't have this. Some people on their bikes do their best to actually follow traffic rules when riding. They'll turn left from the left hand lane. They ride in the furthest right hand lane (in most cases, even when riding fast, we're far slower than traffic) as close as they can safely get to parked cars or the shoulder allowing cars to pass us. While others ignore all of these rules they would follow if they were driving and use a mix of sidewalks, cross walks, the street and in a lot of cases, riding in the middle of the lane is something that could only be described as a wobbly line.

When I'm in my car and I see a cyclist who falls under the latter description I get just as frustrated as my friend Durlak. Not only because this person is going to cause a delay in my getting where I'm going, but also because later, when I'm on my bike, someone is going to hate me because they hate them, even though I'm not causing any of those problems.

I have defended cyclists rights to be on the road to many people and will continue to do so because I need that right for myself. Bike paths and trails are great in theory but not an effective system for actual training. This could be another post all it's own so I'll just leave it at that. Still, I completely agree that 90% of bikes on the road are a huge clog due to all of the factors I mentioned above. But what can we do? I personally wouldn't be opposed some sort of license requirement to ride a bike on the road. However, I couldn't imagine police actually being willing to enforce this as most of them are already annoyed when asked to enforce traffic violations for cars.

Since moving to San Francisco I was introduced to a weekly event that takes place every Friday called Critical Mass. Critical Mass is an organized bike ride that takes over downtown city streets during the afternoon rush hour to basically clog up traffic and get in people's way. Due to the fights that used to break out (and I don't blame anyone at all for wanting to beat the crap out of these idiots!) between the idiots on bikes (they are no cyclists) and motorists they now have a police escort which stops traffic along their route, which also changes weekly. I have only only seen critical mass once and I wanted to punch those idiots in the face. They claim their mission is to help promote cycling as a means of transportation and raise awareness but it just seems to me that they make everybody in a car hate everybody on a bike even more. It won't not make me sad if during a critical mass ride the entire group had a huge pile up, all their bikes broke, and they all sustained some freak injury that wouldn't allow them to pedal a bike every again but could go on with whatever else they do with their lives just fine. Rant Over.

I'm obviously torn as both a cyclist who needs to ride on the road and a driver who gets incredibly annoyed by the average bike rider swerving all over the place as they go grocery shopping. I guess all I can do is continue to try and not be a nuisance while I'm on my bike and avoid fulfilling Durlak's fantasy while I'm in my car.

And, just to kill it before Durlak leaves a comment on it, I've pretty much stopped running red lights. I'm not really sure what prompted it, but all of a sudden I find myself stopping at them these days and waiting with traffic. Probably, most of this is due to the $300 tickets I hear of people getting.

Tom Boonen Likes Cocaine

Disclaimer: I do not promote, encourage or think that the use of recreational drugs is ok, good, or whatever. I'm pretty generally against the use of all recreational drugs.

It's been released and now well talked about that Tom Booned test positive for cocaine for the second time in an out of competition doping control. The first time he tested positive for cocaine it was determined that since cocaine being used out of competition isn't technically against any anti-doping rules and so he was suspended by his team but not whoever the governing body of cycling is. He also avoided any real criminal charges because he's basically the biggest sports star from Belgium since Eddy Merckx. Boonen's got techno songs written about him, Merckx doesn't have that so maybe he's bigger? No.

I feel the need here for a second disclaimer before I move on. I don't think Tom Boonen should be doing blow, period. However, as much as I don't think Tom should be doing blow, I think the release of this test result is a huge invasion of privacy. When one becomes a professional athlete in today's age you are also agreeing to be tested for banned substances. That's part of the job, so no athlete should have any issue with that. However, as the athlete, you're also trusting that the people doing the testing are only running tests for certain substances and anything else they find is really nobody's business.

I don't know what all shows up in these tests. Maybe the fact that you ate a steak the night before shows up? Maybe the fact that there's a lot of pollen in the air and so maybe that's floating around in your system? I have no idea how it works. However, if those two extreme examples do show up, I'm just as interested to know about them as I am about any recreational drug that isn't banned.

The part I don't understand is what the lab or doping control people hope to gain by releasing this private information about Tom Boonen. Again, I don't know all the legal ins and outs of Belgium, but I'm pretty sure here in America we just had a pretty similar drug related story. Anybody remember that picture of Michael Phelps taking a hit out of what appeared to be a bong and what we all assumed was filled with weed? Remember the outrage? The sheriff where the picture was taking saying they were going after Phelps? Remember how it ended? They couldn't prove anything because it's a picture. You can't drug test a picture! This is a similar situation. The prosecution in this case would have to somehow prove that Tom Boonen ingested cocaine knowingly because all they have from the lab report is that it's in his system. In most cases you have to prove either possession or distribution in order to prosecute for illegal drugs. In this case, they don't know either, so again, what's the lab doing reporting it? What's their agenda?

I'm really starting to get the impression that everybody that works in these labs are all failed athletes who are all angry they couldn't make it so they're out to get the current athletes. It's really the only scenario that makes a lot of these reports make any kind of sense. Maybe there's a code of obligation to report findings of this nature if you work in a lab, but I doubt it. It just seems to me this is a huge breech of privacy. If the governing body of anti-doping and cycling expects the athletes to give up their blood and hair and whatever else they decide to test at any given time, I don't see how they aren't equally obligated to only test and report on any findings that break the rules they are asked to abide by for competitive purposes.

I'm sure the only thing that will come out of this whole ordeal will be a lot of public apologizes by Tom Boonen and another Tour de France where we won't be present. Where that's probably the biggest shame. With the public rivalry that he and Cavendish have going I was really hoping for some fireworks in Tour de France finales. Throw in McEwen, Hushvold, Freirer, Farrar and Petacchi and those would have been some very rapid, star studded finishes. I guess now we'll be left to wonder how Tom's doing sitting at home?

Moving the Tour of California

The news broke yesterday that the organizers of the Amgen Tour of California are moving the dates of the race. Since it's inception 4 years ago the ToC has been run in early February and grown, both in stages and popularity each year. The first two years the race got extremely lucky and saw nothing but sunshine and warm weather. These past two have been the exact opposite with most of the Northern California stages being cold, rainy and miserable.

The idea to move the race on the calender isn't in and of itself a bad idea. The chosen dates however are terrible! I don't know what the big picture goal is for the tour of California. I don't know if they want to create another three week grand tour down the road or if they want to keep the race somewhere in the 9 stage range which is it right now.

The dates this year of Feb. 14-22nd allowed the race to see the biggest names in cycling and teams sending grand tour caliber squads. The support of this race by teams was in direct relation with the fact that guys could come and get good hard racing in their legs before the classic season. Something they couldn't really get anywhere else in the world for this time of year. The new dates, May 16-23rd, just happen to clash with the Giro d'Italia which will be running its 100th edition starting this Saturday. What in the world are they thinking?

The ToC has been doing wonders for American bike racing by conveniently allowing our biggest names in the sport to race on US soil without having to bypass something more important else where. This year the fan turnout was insane. Trust me, I was at 6 stages including the top of a snow covered Palomar Mtn. on the last day and though it was freezing, the crowds were deafening as riders raced by. It's no secret that one of the biggest reasons for such a turn out was the return of Lance Armstrong, which, if we're honest with ourselves probably won't be the case next year even if the race was during the same week. However, there are still plenty of other great American bike racers besides Lance that will probably be skipping the ToC in order to get the grand tour miles of racing in their legs as simple preparation for the Tour de France.

Teams like Garmin-Slipstream who carry a roster full of American pros will definitely still be at the ToC next year, but don't expect to see the likes of Christian Vandevelde, Dave Zabriske, Danny Pate, Tom Danielson, Tyler Farrar or probably even Steven Cozza. Those guys will be in Italy because as much as I like the ToC, it's not the Giro and winning the overall at ToC is probably still less important in the grand scheme of cycling as winning the Team Time Trial or a single stage at the Giro.

And that's just the American riders that won't be showing up. Remember this year when Mark Cavendish and Tom Boonen were heads up for almost every sprint? You won't see that again because those guys will both be in Italy battling for stage wins and the points jersey. Remember when Thor Hushovd won that stage as a surprise? Even if he's not racing in the Giro (which he isn't this year) it's doubtful that Ceverlo would pay the money to send a full squad to the Giro (for Carlos Sastre to take a shot at the overall) and another full squad to California (for Thor to maybe win a sprint or two). Saxo Bank brought a full tour line up! Cancellara, the Schleck brothers, Jens Voight. I'm glad I got my one chance to see those guys this year. No shot their coming back.

So where should they have moved the race? They wanted nicer weather and they want to take the race into the high mountains of the Sierra Nevadas. Both great ideas in my opinion but moving the race is going to inevitably mean that it must compete with other races that are already on the calender, but it doesn't have to compete with a grand tour! Here's some alternatives that I think would have been a better choice.

June 6th-14th, The Criterium du Dauphine Libere. This is an eight stage race that takes place in France. Many, many Tour de France winners have used it as the last little bit of tune up before the tour starts just a month later. The biggest most popular aspect of the Dauphine is that it often goes over some of the same mountain passes as the Tour de France, specifically, it usually includes a mountain top finish on Mont Ventoux. This would certainly be tough to replicate but not impossible especially in the Sierras. And June isn't going to be any hotter really than May in the valley and when went over Donnar Pass in late May of 2008 on my move to California it was snowing, so I'm not sure they aren't gambling with those May dates anyway.

Don't like those? How about June 13th-21st when the Tour de Suisse is ran? Again, it's basically a tune up for some of the Tour de France contenders. Obviously the races overlap by a day so they are in direct competition with each other. I'm not sure that it'd be that tough of a sale for the Garmin guys specifically to stay stateside with their families in preparation for the Tour.

What about earlier? This might seem sort of mean, but, bike racing is still a business. The Tour of Georgia used to be a great race, however, notice the passed tense because it folded because it couldn't find a sponsor. In my opinion that leaves, late April open on the calender, specifically the 2008 version was ran from the 21st-27th. I don't know about snow fall that time of the year in the mountains and it might be too close to the Giro. However, the Tour of the Gila just wrapped up and a few big names showed up for that little show down in New Mexico. I had no idea that Georgia and the Gila were ran at the same time. The Gila sounds like a much better race in my opinion. Shows what sponsorship and marketing can do for a race. But that's another subject.

Clearly it'd be race suicide to try and compete with the Tour de France, especially if they're trying to grow the race to be included on the UCI calender in the future. And, with the Tour de France being such a main objective I feel like putting the ToC too close after the Tour would also produce a watered down field of tired guys obligated to show up. This would not be good for the race. It would also battle with the Tour of Utah which in the middle of August from the 18th-23rd. I sort of feel the same way about Utah as I do Georgia. If the ToC is going to compete, I think they should be going up against these races and not the Giro. But in general I really think August is a bad idea.

The Veulta starts in late August and runs into September and the UCI World Championships are in late September as well. I think competing with either of these is bad, but I think they should go up against the Vuelta before they do the Giro if they had to pick a grand tour to do battle with. Also, I'm not even sure this is a big deal, but the Tour of Missouri is running from Sept 7th-13th. It's in direct competition with the Vuelta, but big squads have already signed up to come. In my opinion the Vuelta doesn't get nearly enough respect, but you know, Missouri might be nice?

So, in true teamlandall fashion this much longer than intended and if you made this far you're probably my mother because only she could sit through that purely due to a sense of obligation. I think they should move it to the sometime in June. It'd be good race prep for the tour and allow the bigger teams to still send full squads to the Giro, ToC and Tour de France. Let's face it, there isn't room on the calender for another three week grand tour and going up against them to compete for teams just isn't really a good idea. But I think the Tour of California can offer plenty of good racing that it could easily compete with the Dauphine as well as the Tour de Suisse, especially for the American squads. If anybody at the race organization reads this on accident and you like my ideas, I'd be more than happy to come work for you guys. Inquire within.

Prevent Teen Pregnancy Day!

Who knew this was even a day? Anyway, I'm all for preventing teen pregnancy. Luckily for me nobody wanted to give me the opportunity to make this mistake until very late in my teens. I avoided it the lonely way. But, my own pity party is not the point.

This morning Bristol Palin was on GMA promoting abstinence and all that crap. Here's a clip of the interview. I have no idea how much of it is actually covered in this clip because I can't sit through the thing a second time!



Now, I don't want to be one of those people that picks on Bristol Palin because quite frankly it'd be impossible for me to care any less that she has a kid. However, it does annoy me that she's now the spokes person for abstinence when it clearly didn't work for her!

Abstinence. What a stupid idea! In fact, to quote the young Palin herself, "Abstinence just isn't realistic." I have never understood why these ultra conservative christian groups continue to believe that kids are going to refrain from doing it. Doing it is fun, so, people do it. Instead of trying to scare people with disease and pregnancy, which clearly is a failing tactic, why not educate people and provide condoms and other information to help people make the right choice that will be effective for them. Promise Keepers and other groups like them want to believe that if they give kids condoms it gives them the green light to go have sex. I think this is an old line of thinking that drastically needs to be reconsidered. I think more accurately, if you don't give kids access to condoms, your putting them in the position to chance it. And let's be serious, a quick search on google, wikipedia or webMD will tell you pretty quickly that the actual ovulation cycle when a women can actually get pregnant is a very small window. If you don't let me have condoms, it seems like the odds are still on my side!

When watching the above interview this morning I couldn't help but wonder why an abstinence group would want Bristol Palin as their spokesperson? She clearly didn't live their message. Not only did she have sex, she has a kid! It was suggested that she's now the example of what can happen to you and your life from having unprotected sex. You can be thrust into the spotlight and become a paid (I am assuming) endorser of something you clearly don't believe in. You can be flown all over the country to make appearances, do interviews and give talks. You can be featured in national campaign commercials to try and show other teens just how bad your life can be from having unprotected sex.

Really? Is that the message? I'm always baffled that people believe that the major of kids can be detered from having sex by these silly scare tactics. Are there risks that go along with having sex, sure there are. And I'm all for the promotion of knowing those risks and then making a decisions based upon them. Just like I'm well aware of the risks of eating donuts for breakfast with the frequency that I do. They aren't good for me. They probably raise some sort of level of something bad. They're fried, they have tons of sugar and so with each bite I'm probably increasing my chance of getting diabetes and in general getting fat. But, they taste good and I work out so I feel like I minimize that risk. Hopefully anyone reading this can easily follow that analogy.

I'll leave you with this card from someecards.com, which, while funny, could have saved everybody a lot of headache!

I was right!

A bitter Simeoni returns national jersey.

If you are a regular reader of teamlandall then you will have no problem remembering a few weeks ago when I made fun of Gilbert Simeoni for being mad that his small time squad got left out of the Giro. You'll also remember that I said he'd eventually make the insinuation that he was left out because Lance Armstrong didn't want him there.

Well, guess what? I was right. In Simeoni's final chance to get any sort of media coverage before the Giro starts on Saturday he has decided that he no longer wants to wear the national champion's jersey of Italia because he feels it has been disgraced, or something like that.

This is all ridiculous and Simeoni is showing exactly why he couldn't get a contract on a bigger team and why none of the other riders in the peloton like him. Which is evident by the rider's not taking up for him when he was left off the start list at the Giro.

But, at least now America isn't the only country without a national champion to wear it's colors on the road!

Race Reports: 2 for the price of 1

I raced twice this weekend. One was planned and one was a sort of punishment. Here's what went down.

Race 1: Cat's Hill Classic

Cat's Hill is a crit down in Los Gatos that's been going on for 34 years. I guess that's why they call it a classic. It's got a cool bit of history as the past winners list includes the likes of Greg LeMond. And to maybe save some suspense, I did not add my name to that list.

It's called Cat's Hill because there's a hill. It's about a block long and it's steep, like 23% grade steep. While a hill like that is hard by itself, the rain didn't help, nor did the fact that the hill starts immediately after a left hand turn from a slight downhill approaching. One might think this would be helpful as you could hit the hill with some momentum. In theory this should be true, but in practice it created issues because you had to shift to the gear you were going to climb it in early. It also didn't help that since the roads were wet guys were grabbing hands full of brakes going into the turn to the bottom so momentum was lost there as well.

The field started at about 70 guys and apparently it was half that in two laps. I found myself fighting to stay in the front group and then somewhere I found myself in a second group with no idea where the front group went. I was starting to get frustrated with racing and wondering if all the training I put in was ever going to pay off. This was around lap 7 when at the top the hill I was riding over the "stop" that is painted on the road. Because the paint is slicker than the pavement my rear wheel spun out with two pedal strokes. Luckily I didn't crash my junk into the top tube or stem but I did lose a ton of momentum. This little mishap put me over the edge. As I looked behind me on the hill I didn't see another person so I assumed I was in last place and around 30th on the road I decided I was sick of racing for 30th and I pulled over and sat under a tree.

Much to my surprise when the groups came by next time I discovered the front group only had about 7 guys in and the group I was in was the 2nd group on the road and they had about 7 guys as well. This clearly didn't help my frustration as now I wished I was back in the race, but it doesn't really work that way. I would have finished somewhere between 10-15th had I stayed in. Lesson learned.

Race 2: Sonora County Road Race

I wasn't going to race this one for a few reasons but after the debacle at Cat's Hill I needed to redeem myself in a way. Luckily I have a very supportive and great girlfriend who was willing to give up her Sunday, wake up at 4am, drive 2.5 hours into the Sierra Nevada foot hills and sit in the car while I raced my bike. She's the best!

This course was described as rolling with a few short climbs. After racing it I'll say a better description would have been rolling with all short climbs. There wasn't a single flat stretch of road. We were either going up or down the entire time. The course was hard, somewhere around 5,000' of elevation gain in the 50 mile course.

Our field was small as this was a first time race that just got it's permits weeks before. The rain and all around crappy weather probably didn't encourage too many people to show up on the day of. I think we started with somewhere around 30 guys. We had a neutral start to the course where we went the wrong way and the flat people didn't even bother to yell at us and let us know. That was pretty funny as we passed another group on the road later who had done the same thing. Their field was 6 with 4 guys from the same team so they apparently had decided to just cruise it as they were not putting in any effort.

The first lap was pretty slow as everyone was trying to figure out the course. There were a couple sets of railroad tracks that caused a crash in the back but luckily those guys were able to get back on. Going into the second lap I learned a very valuable lesson of placing in the group. I pulled out a bar to eat and in the process of opening it up I lost 3 or for spots which is pretty normal. After taking the first bite I noticed a gap starting to open from where I was to the people who had moved in front of me. I jump around them and tried to catch back on but it was too late. I was gapped and the combination of bar in my mouth making it hard to breath and the group in the front turning the screws made it tough to get back on. I chased hard for about another 10 miles keeping the group in sight but never really able to make up ground. There were only 2 guys who tried to go with me, but neither were strong enough to help in the chase so I eventually just put my head and and went for it alone.

I basically just chased/rode tempo for the next 30-40 miles hoping to catch the other people in that front group who'd get popped. At about the end of the 2nd lap the two guys who had followed me caught up and asked that we work together. Again, every time I'd get on the front they'd just sit on for miles. Their paces up the climbs were too slow and they couldn't stay close on the other rollers or descents. For the most part these guys stayed with me for 2 laps, never doing any work, and basically just sitting on for the ride. I thought I was clearly establishing that I was the strongest in the group and figured I'd climb away at the finish if it came to that, or that my tempo would eventually just ride them off my wheel.

Because I wasn't planning on doing a 50+ mile road race this weekend I only packed smaller bottles. With 1 lap to go I was essentially out of fluids. Since it was cool and rainy I almost didn't notice and it didn't strike me as a big deal, but I learned that lesson about half way through the last lap. I towed those two guys up to another guy who had been dropped off the front group. He still seemed pretty strong and set a fast tempo up one of the longer climbs on the back side of the course. About half way up I popped. It was so sudden. Going into that climb I felt tired but ok then all of a sudden I felt about a half second from dying. The other two guys came around me and rode the rest of the way in with that guy and I was left to painful get myself to the finish alone. The last quarter of a lap was round and going up the finishing climb I was in the smallest gear I had, which I hadn't even came close to using the previous times up. I'm not sure I've ever bonked like that but it was definitely a lesson in just how important having enough fluids really is. This part is gross but I was so dehydrated that when I peed after the race it was literally brown. I've never seen pee that dark so I trying to drink whatever I could get my hands on as fast as I could.

I have no idea where I finished. I have no idea how many people that started even finished. It was a great race and a great learning experience. My legs haven't hurt like they did a few hours after since my Ironman. Getting up from being seated was a challenge. I'm really glad I went and did that race regardless of what shows up on the results sheet. It was a really tough course combined with terrible conditions and the perfect punishment for not finishing at Cat's Hill. I'm not sure what would have happened had I not gotten gapped and had to chase. I feel like I could have stayed with the front group, especially as I could have sat in the wheels through some of the faster sections instead of plowing through it on my own.

All in all, great lessons learned!

I Disagree...

How Lance Armstrong's decision to race the Gila unintentionally hurt Team BMC.

I'm starting to sound like the biggest Lance apologist on the planet but really it's not that way. I just simply don't agree with a lot of the stuff that seems to be floating through the tiny little world of domestic professional cycling.

In the above article the guy presents his theory that by the Astana boys racing at Gila they are hurting domestic cycling, specifically team BMC, rather than helping. BMC is an odd case because they fall under the category of "Pro Continental" which isn't the same as Astana who are "Pro Tour," but really the important part is essentially the "Pro." Unfortunately in professional cycling there are lots of ways to be a pro, and just as many weird quarky qualifications that go along with them. For example, I have some buddies who are professional cyclists. However, they have never applied for their "pro" licenses because as American bike racers if they stay as category 1 racers they can race in smaller, regional or local races with smaller fields and a better chance at earning prize money. On the same note they can race in the tour of the Gila if they wanted because the field is Pro/1/2. Confusing? Yeah, I know.

The problem with the professional classification of "Tour" over "Continental" is a bit larger and different than being a pro or a 1. As a continental team BMC is at the upper crust of US cycling and it allows them to gain wild card entrance into races in Europe that aren't really options for other domestic teams like a Kelly Benefits. But, because of their status, this rule that was enforced because of the even higher profile riders of Astana essentially effects BMC for the rest of the year. Is it unfortunate that five BMC riders got sent home because of this rule? Yeah, for sure. Is it Astana's and more specifically Lance's fault? Not even close!

First, I should point out, this rule is stupid! If you read the article above the guy does a good job of trying to point out what the rule is intended to do, in Europe. Unfortunately, it's a one size fits all that reaches across the pond to America, where it doesn't really fit. However, whether the rule is stupid or not, it's there and until they change it, a team in the position of BMC should be aware that this could happen and weigh the benefits of racing Paris-Roubaix and being a non factor versus having a legitimate shot at winning races domestically like the Tour of Utah, which they did last year, but might not be able to enter with a full squad now. Just because the rule was never enforced before now doesn't make it a responsible decision for team management to ignore in hopes of having their cake and eating it too.

That article wags it's finger at Lance for pushing some domestic guys out of the Gila because he wanted to come train/race. What it should have done was point the finger at both BMC team management for trying to sneak under the radar as well as the magic person with a pen who makes these rules and demand there be exceptions based on various countries where races are being held.

The part about the rule that doesn't make any sense to me is why through the enforcement the rest of the BMC guys actually went home? I'm sure there are plenty of bike shops around the country that would have gladly express mailed 3 team kits to these guys so they could race and their shop could get some face time. And, BMC has the budget to front the entrance fee, and in reality it's not like anybody is suddenly confused and forgets that Scott Nydam doesn't actually ride for "Gila Hike and Bike" but for BMC. Those guys could have raced as individuals just like the three from Astana and BMC are currently doing. Maybe they would have ended up working together, but different teams help each other out all the time. B Sample Racing would have certainly kicked in some free kits, had we known they needed them, or actually had free kits to send. They're more than welcome to wear mine, I wash them regularly enough!

1st 100 Days

I read a book once that mentioned a man who said he wasn't very interested in politics because what they did in Washington didn't seem to effect his life on a day to day basis. But what did effect his life was what happened right there in his neighborhood. So, instead of asking the local government to put in a bench at a bus stop where he always saw a little old lady waiting for the bus, he built one, and put it there himself.

This analogy really stands out to me as the media is currently making a big deal about the first 100 days of the new Obama administration. At first I was sort of surprised to realize that he's been our new president for 100 days. Sure I voted for the guy and have vivid memories of thinking that being in downtown Oakland on my bike the night of the election was probably a bad idea, but since then, I have almost forgot that we've had a chance in administration.

Now how could this be? We went from good ol' W who many consider the worst president of all time to Obama who many have already crowned the second coming of whatever christ like figure you may believe in. But for me, I can't tell the difference. My life hasn't changed one bit. Is this because I generally don't find a lot of the political hooplah interesting? Maybe it is, I don't know.

I still wake up at the same time. My pay check still arrives on time in this "shitty" economic climate. And while I read the economy is terrible and certainly my minuscule retirement account is almost microscopic at this point, but I can still buy the same things I used to buy. I just bought plane tickets to Australia in this economy and I'm pretty excited about that.

And while I hope for the greater good Mr. Obama does great things, I actually take a bit of comfort in the fact that everything for me is pretty much the same. I like that fact that whoever is in office my everyday life isn't effected. I like living my life the way I choose to. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who disagree. I remember all of my crazy republican friends claiming they were moving to Canada if Obama won. (On a side note, can we think about that for a second? Republicans want to move to ultra liberal Canada to avoid a moderately liberal America?) Of course none of them did, and I'm sure if you asked them their lives are no different than they used to be either.

I can't think of a good way to sum this all up, so, that's it. Have a nice day and I hope the current administration doesn't make any decisions that change the way you live your daily life. Unless, I guess, you want them to?

Dumb!

Click here to read the professionally written article.

Here's the short of it because I don't feel like typing a lot. Astana was thinking of sending Levi, Lance and Chris Horner to the Tour of Gila, a pretty old US Stage Race that takes place in New Mexico, for some last minute race training for the upcoming Giro.

Apparently, somewhere in the stupid UCI rule book they've decided to enforce a rule that seems totally retarded that says these guys can't race it because they are ProTour riders, but it's a Continental race. Or some shit like that. All the different levels of professional cycling take no less than a PhD in chaos theory to actually start to understand who is what and how it works.

The part about this that bugs me is it seems like the UCI is stepping in and saying when and where these guys are allowed to earn a living. Would Lance or Levi or Chris win the Tour of Gila? Who knows. It's certainly not guaranteed, but that seems the only viable reason that the UCI would be stepping in and saying now. I read this as the UCI saying, "You guys are too good, you can't go to that race, give those guys a chance." I may be wrong on that and honestly I hope I am.

If I am a guy racing for a smaller domestic team and I get the news that those three icons of US cycling are coming to the race I'm at, you best believe I'm licking my chops at my chance to beat them. That's a story for the grand kids, even if it does take place in New Mexico.

From a simple financial standpoint the UCI is really hurting a lot of people. Look at the turn out for the Tour of California. It was huge. Sure it was CA and there were a lot of big names, but I was there, and well over 50% of those crowds were there because it was maybe their last chance to get to see Lance race in person. I know it motivated me when trying to decide whether it was worth it to drive 8 hours to watch for 20 seconds. If Lance was there that race would have fan turn out like they'd never experienced. All the little towns in New Mexico that I can only assume are struggling with the economy would have a short but much needed boost in their economy.

This race almost didn't happen this year because of the organizers inability to secure a title sponsor. Luckily, SRAM stepped up and the race can go on. You don't think sponsors in the future would like to put their name on a race that Lance did? It'd make that sales pitch a whole lot easier.

Bike racing in America has been around for a long time, but it's not a secure sport by any means. The modern day races that come to mind are struggling to stay or have already been scratched off the calender. Anybody heading to Georgia this year? Didn't think so! We don't have Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders or any of those other European classics that versus cuts down to a convenient hour. What we've got are a bunch of small, but beautiful races that maybe in 50 years can make the cut for Versus "Cyclism Sunday" or "The Epic Cycle" or whatever it is they're calling it this year.

I don't know who's in charge of the UCI or where it's located but I think this is a stupid show of brute force. It doesn't accomplish anything and does a lot more long term harm than if the final podium at Gila was all Astana. Nobody wants to win a watered down Tour. It's not Carlos Sastre's fault that it happened to him, but it did. The Tour of Gila had the opportunity to have what's already an impressive field of domestic pros be three deeper. But the UCI put a stop to that. I hope that whoever wins the Gila this year won't be remember as the guy that won the year that Levi, Lance and Chris weren't allowed to race.

So Much Drama in the LBC...

Simeoni steamed at Giro snub

Probably the best headline velonews.com has ever written. I think the reason I find it so awesome is because I have an assumption in my brain that the term "steamed" isn't one used by Italians. I have no evidence to back this up, but I'm sticking by my assumption of ignorance.

This is sort of funny on another level because as an American cycling fan and more importantly a Lance Armstrong cycling fan, I'm pretty much programmed to hate this guy. Simeoni for a long time was the guy in the professional peloton who bad mouthed everybody else in the sport of doping. Anytime somebody won, Simeoni would make public statements that the guy was on the juice. Of course he made these accusations towards Lance and anybody that's seen Lance in a press conference when he's angry knows he's not always a nice guy.

There was that one little incident in I believe the 2005 Tour de France when after making more doping accusations Simeoni tried to get into a break away. After bridging up he looked over his shoulder and saw that he'd been followed by a yellow jersey. My intention here isn't to get all cycling dork on you, anymore than I already am, but if you aren't in the know, a break with the yellow jersey stands about a 0% chance of surviving. The rest of the field simply won't let the yellow jersey ride up the road. The rest of the guys in the break see Lance and all exclaim, "what the hell are you doing here?" Probably in like 10 languages and what they actually said may or may not translate in that exact way. None the less Lance calmly explains that as long as Simeoni is in the group, he was going to be there too. If Simeoni went back to the peloton, he'd happily drop back as well. They voted and Simeoni was sent back. These kinds of decisions about who can stay in a group happen all the time, it usually doesn't involve quite the display of power that Lance threw down in this particular case.

Of course later that day Simeoni was all upset and crying about how Lance was hurting his chances of making a living and that he was a big Texas bully. Lance made it clear that he was basically protecting the interest of the group. Nobody in the peloton wants the guy that constantly bashes them to win, so he was making sure he didn't.

So, back to present day and Simeoni finds himself as the current Italian national champion on a smaller tier 2 pro squad. There are so many bike teams in the world that want to come to these big races that very, very few tier 2 teams actually get an invite. Simeoni's squad was left off that list for the Giro this May and of course he's upset again. He thinks the race is disrespecting him by not having the Italian national champ in their country's grand tour. Maybe I just don't like the guy but I don't see his point. It's not the national championship race, it's the Giro, they are totally different. If he wanted to ensure his presence in the Giro maybe he should have taken a contract with a team that would be big enough to get an invite.

When Lance announced his comeback and originally said the Giro would be his main goal there were about two weeks of articles where Simeoni was asked how he felt about it and if he thought there'd be any more battles on the road. Both parties stayed pretty neutral, but I am hoping beyond hope at this point that Simeoni starts crying conspiracy theory about his exclusion.

I mean, it only makes sense that Lance would keep him out!

Back to Back Fake Holidays!

Fake Holiday #1: Earth Day.

What the heck is Earth Day besides a chance for crazy recycle nazi's to send office wide emails out to everyone to remind them it's Earth Day and then make additional suggestions about things you can do to help save the planet. If I wanted to constantly hear about how to save the polar ice caps or my carbon footprint I'd have applied to work for Al Gore.

I responded to our office wide email by saying I only observe holidays that come with a paid day off from work. That was followed up with a request not to pro-create. Which, I thought was pretty funny.

However, I did do my part. I saved water by refraining from washing my hands every time I went to the bathroom.

Fake Holiday #2: Bring your Kid to Work Day.

In my opinion, this sounds terrible. Let's face it. Unless your a fireman or a professional athlete there isn't a lot you do on a daily basis that keeps you entertained. Imagine having your kid sit there and watch you do it!

The good people at someecards.com have posted a few cards for the occasion that I think sum things up better than I can. And I clearly think I'm pretty good at summing.

Picture test

Jill's solution to not having a working blender but being determined to make a milkshake!

Test

Testing out shozu as a blogger app.

Why is there no blogger app?

I realize I have now either entered a whole new level of dork or, well that's probably the only real explanation but why is there no app or at least an iPhone optimized version of the website for me to get my blogging fix in while away from my computer? Google has all sorts if other apps that vary widely in there actual value of utility but no blogger app! WTF? Ok. That might be abut much but it does seem a bit odd. Netflix needs to get on it too!

I want this as my iphone background

so if I post the images I want on here I can access them. I realize, this isn't interesting, but maybe you will think these images are cool too?

They forgot about gambling!

I recently came across a link to the above video and of course I have some thoughts.

1) Lifehouse isn't a christian rock band. It was always my impression this song was about a girl, not Jesus. So, I did a quick bit of research. According to Wikipedia the genre's they fall under are punk, post grunge, crap like that. Not Christian. It says they started as a "Christian Band" but if they didn't stick with that because of the money then the irony of using their songs for that skit is even better.

2) If you can make it all the way through, which, really, it's tough, the guy who hands her the knife and gun totally tosses her across the stage in the battle scene.

3) Everybody knows that Jesus has a beard and long hair.

4) Everybody also knows that Jesus wore linen, not choir robes made of polyester.

5) Why does Jesus waist his energy with the fake tug-o-war thing. I mean, he's all powerful right, zap people with lightening bolts or demonstrate your league leading rebounding boxing out technique a little sooner.

6) Everybody knows that wanting to be a model and drinking beer leads to suicide. Duh!

7) I love when the people in the crowd start to cheer. As if Jesus wasn't going to win the whole time!

My Latest Bio

Whenever I'm asked to write a Bio for a company I'm working for I take it as a challenge to point out odd things that I've done that are far from important, but completely factual. This morning I was greeted by an email asking for a bio that would go in a newsletter. This is what I came up with:

From an early age I had my eye on the prize. 1988 was the first year I tasted victory when my car crushed the competition to become the overall Champion at the South Hill Boy Scouts Pine Box Derby races. Still, that wasn’t enough to satisfy my insatiable appetite for success so I went on to dominate the South Hill 1 mile youth fun run for 3 consecutive years while in third through fifth grades. Wanting to be a well rounded individual I decided to take some time and focus my life on charity. However, my competitive spirit got the best of me even while helping others. In 4th grade I was honored with the “Most Valuable Jumper” award after raising the most money for the Dupont Elementary Jump Rope for Heart. As I matured I decided it was nice to let others have a taste of victory and backed off of my accomplishments showing my humble side. In 8th grade however I needed to remind the world of my greatness. I did so by winning both the Mecklenburg County Math and Science Fair with some break through research in Statistics and Optical Illusions as well as taking gold in the Virginia FFA Meat Judging competition. Few people can say they lead all of NCAA Baseball with a perfect 1.000 batting average over several weeks, but I can. After hanging up the cleats to concentrate on my studies I was asked to use my wealth of basketball knowledge to steer the ship of the AOPi Intramural team. With my guidance those girls went on to win 3 straight All Campus Championships. It was a dynasty of domination that some people compare to the New England Patriots, but I don’t want to get carried away.

Jill says it sounds too cocky if you don't know that I'm being sarcastic. I think she's right, but I also think that's the point.