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2011-12-16T15:48:00.007-05:00

And, I need to link to the image for our race team blog. Which you can check out here: http://veloworksspokes.wordpress.com/

3 more Race Reports

2011-12-05T16:36:00.002-05:00

The editors here at Team Landall are doing a pretty terrible job of actually updating and writing race reports. They're going to blame it on fatherhood.

Schooley Mill CX | Maryland | 11.13.2011
This was a pretty cool race. Upon pre-riding the course I thought it was nothing but turn, turn, turn, turn, turn and wasn't going to suit me very well, but during the race I felt like there was a lot of actual pedaling which I generally like. I started really close to the back because of my late registration. I was number 68 or something. The start went up a hill and wasn't very fast, which didn't actually lead to much opportunity to pass. I rode the first lap pretty aggressively to pick my way through the field. I continually passed guys the entire race and then on the last lap made contact with one of the better placed riders in the series. He was on a different bike than he started so me must have had a mechanical. Instead of trying to ride by him I decided to follow him to see how he cornered, since I assumed he was better at that than I am. This strategy also let a guy I had previously passed catch back on and we had a group of three in the last half of the last lap. We all came onto the pavement pretty much together and he opened it up right away. I ended up winning the uphill sprint for 12th. This was the first race I felt like I pedaled hard and sprinted out of corners for the entire 45 minutes. I was really pleased with 12th, especially considering my starting position. This also meant I'd score some series points and get a better starting position at my next Super8 race.

Bloomer Park CX | Rochester, MI | 11.20.2011
We went to Michigan for Thanksgiving and luckily there was a race in their CX series going on in the same park where Jill used to play softball as a kid. We invited all of her friends she grew up with and I couldn't believe it, but they actually came out to watch. It was awesome having a cheering section and was definitely motivating to keep the gas on.

The race had a really weird mulch pile feature. There was a dip in the middle instead of just being one pile. That dip got really rutted out and going into it on the first lap I stacked it pretty good. I was able to get my bike and get the chain back on while running out of the mulch pile, jump back on and start the chase. I lost probably 3-4 spots there.

It didn't take too long and I had moved my way up to 2nd. I chased as hard as I could but couldn't bring the guy in first back. He was their series leader and ended up beating me by about 30 seconds and I beat the guy in 3rd by about 45 seconds. Except for the mulch pile it was a really fun course and I even got heckled by strangers at the top of one of the hills. That was pretty cool too.

Capital CX | Reston, VA | 12.4.2011
I was really stoked to start on the 3rd row for once but I did not have a very good race. At least not physically. Not sure what was going on but I felt completely gassed after the first lap and just never quite felt like I was riding fast through the hard pedaling sections that I normally do pretty well through. I ended up sprinting for 11th, won the sprint, but the judges recorded me as 12th. Upon not seeing a camera I decided not to file and official protest, but probably should have. I just wasn't sure how I'd prove that I beat the guy other than saying, "I know I won that sprint." Oh well.

My favorite part of the day wasn't the insane drop-in with snow fencing to catch riders gone astray. It was the guy who on the 3rd or 4th lap chose to cut the course after the tape had been broken by someone else and rode straight into a giant hole filled with leaves. Karma will do that to you.

That may be the end of my 2011 CX season. There's a race in Luray this weekend but it's a 2 hour drive and with the baby that is sort of a logistical concern. Jill has been so great about letting me race this year, and really so quickly after Hudson was born. He was only 3 weeks old when I raced Kinder Kross. I realize how lucky I am to have such a supportive wife. She's always on the side of the course yelling words of encouragement and telling me where I'm at in the field. It's really awesome. The racing side of me definitely wants to race Luray. I've managed to eek out 6 upgrade pts and there's a decent chance I could get the remaining 4 I need for my 2 upgrade. The husband in me thinks I should probably count my blessings and not push it by asking my wife and baby to sit in the car for a 2 hour drive while I race for 45 minutes and turn around and drive 2 hours home.

Either way, I'm really happy with the way this season went and I'm already looking forward to next year when I've had to time work on the limiters. I'm confident I'll get my 2 upgrade and start racing for 60 minutes. It's just a matter of time.

3 Race Reports and a Rant.

2011-11-07T09:58:00.002-05:00

First, here's three race reports:

Kinder Cross, 10.30.11, Cat 3/4:
First race back after the birth of Hudson. About 2 weeks off the bike and the entire week going into that race I rode indoors on the trainer. The first time I rode outside was from the parking spot to the reg table to get my number. Got a good start despite being on the 6th or 7th row and went into the first bottle neck in the top 15 or so. Fought my way up to about 5th and then starting making mistakes from not having actually ridden my bike in a while. I ended up dabbing a lot more than usual which forced me to chase harder than needed which caused more dabbing. I finished 9th out of 40 something starters. Not bad for the first race back.

VCU CX, 11.05.11, Cat 3:
This was a smaller race with only about 20 guys on the start line. The course was awesome and had a bunch of really cool features. It was also short so we rode 10 or so laps for the 45 minutes instead of just 4-5. Moved into the top 5 by the end of the first lap then into 3rd by the end of the 3rd or 4th. I got caught by a guy somewhere around the 5th or 6th lap and I tried to recovery a bit while keeping him in striking distance. He was cornering better than me but I was riding faster through the pedaling sections so I figured I just needed to come to the pavement with him and I'd beat him. That's what happened and I out sprinted him for 3rd.

Ed Sander CX, 11.06.11, Cat 3/4:
At the MABRA races the staging takes place based on the order in which you register. The only good thing about this policy is that at least it's transparent and everybody knows it. The bad thing about this policy is that it's dumb but I'll get to that in my rant in a second.

I started 89th, third from last row. I couldn't even see the helmets of the guys in the first 5 rows. I liked half of this course but the section through the Lily Ponds I didn't really find very useful. It wasn't hard as it was just a series of 90 degree corners through the ponds, but it was almost impossible to ride fast because it was turn, pedal twice, turn, pedal twice, turn. I think you get the idea. The other half of the course actually required some fitness, some bike handling skills and concentration. That part of the course was much better.

I ended up in a group of guys and had almost nothing left on the last lap. I was hoping I could hold them off but I gave up a few spots late. I finished 26th on the day, which, in retrospect isn't terrible considering I started 89th. On the results sheets they had a column marked kills, which, in theory is the number of guys you beat based on where you started. I had the 2nd most on the day. The guy with the most started on my row and ended up on the podium. I have no idea how he got through traffic to get all the way up there. Hats off to that guy! http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

And, my rant.

Staging is supposed to act as a means of pre-ranking the riders based on their achieved results that year. At UCI races you are staged based on your UCI points and so the person with the most points it's 1st and it goes from there. At these local races each race assigns series points. And I think that's a good system and those people should get call ups and priority staging. But, after that, staging should be done based on a scoring system that ranks every single rider in the field against one another. But, you may ask yourself, how would the race promoter know how to rank people in that fashion? Easy, crossresults.com already does this work for every single race promoter who uses bikereg, which, all of ours do. All you have to do is copy/paste the url for the confirmed riders into to the race predictor tool and it automatically spits out a list of registered riders based on their crossresults score. In theory, and obviously this wouldn't be absolutely perfect, but you'd get a much more accurate staging line up based on riders previous results. This wouldn't even be any extra work for the race promoter because you're already using an excel sheet to assign race numbers, all you'd have to do is copy/paste the race prediction into an excel sheet and carry on like you previously did. This, would make for a much more accurate race and would still encourage online registration, because you could revert to the old system for anybody registering day of by making those people start in the back, first come, first served.

Obviously this rant is based on the fact that in races where I don't start 3rd row from the back I have all top 10 results and 2 podiums. When I have to fight through rows and rows of people I'm faster than I'm just out of the top 25. Again, I'm not suggesting extra work for race promoters to do a better job with staging at these larger races, but this solution would fix the problem and create a much more accurate race. I just don't like that people get rewarded for sitting at their computer and trolling for registration to open instead of out training. You shouldn't be penalized for pre-registering even if it's 1 minute before online registration closes.

Tachinno CX Race Report

2011-09-26T09:33:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I won a cyclocross (CX) race. I’ve never written a race report from a race I’ve won because, well, I’ve never won a bike race before, of any kind. It’s sort of hard thinking back on the day to write about any details that would make it interesting to read about in this format but since I have friends and family who don’t get to come to races I’ll do my best to recap how it went.

In CX the start is sometimes the most important part of the race. If you’re unfamiliar they stage us all in rows of 8. Every region seems to have a different method of handling staging, but here, they do it by order of registration. I was number 36, which meant I was the 36th guy to register and found myself on the 5th or 6th row. The field was probably over 100 deep so if you’re on the 10th+ row your race, if you’re trying to place, can be over literally at the first corner when 100+ guys are trying to squeeze through, and the further back you are, the more likely you come to a complete stop. Obviously this is bad when the guys on the front are riding as hard as they can while you’re standing still.

With the importance of the start in mind I lined up on the far left of my row. There was about a bike width of room between the edge of the road and the course tape and so my plan was to shoot up that side through the grass as long as it was open and available. Luckily, the guys lined up in front of me were content with staying on the pavement and I was in the 3rd row before some guys were even clipped in. When that lane of grass ran out an opening to my right presented itself and I shot into that gap continuing to move up as far as I could before the choke point. At this race the choke point happened to be a right hand corner at the stop of an uphill drag. I went into that corner in around 10th position. Out of that corner was a slight downhill that went into an off camber left hand u-turn. I was surprised at how many of the guys in front of me were coasting this downhill so as I continued to pedal I was able to move up maybe 2 or 3 more spots. What goes down must come up and so the next section was another uphill drag in which I was able to continue to move up a few more spots until I found myself sitting 3rd wheel. At this point, I was pretty content to sit there and try and feel out those guys to see who was strong and who just sits at their computer to register the second registration opens so they can start on the front. We went through a few more off camber sections and I noticed that there was a small gap, maybe just a second or two forming behind me.

This brought us into the run up where the first guy shouldered his bike while #2 and I pushed ours. The ground wasn’t muddy so you weren’t at a disadvantage just pushing it. Number 1 tried to make himself wide which isn’t a terrible strategy but he wasn’t running fast enough I went to his right to pass him. He sort of blocked me with his front wheel (maybe not intentionally) so I just assertively made some room for myself and ran by. #2 got the top of the run up at the same time I did so I decided it’d probably be better to get at least a little bit of draft so I let him get on first and followed him for the remainder of the lap.

The run up definitely stretched our gap out but only by a few seconds. There were still plenty of guys within striking distance. It was still early in the race so I didn’t want to attack this guy only to have him sit on my wheel and then smoke me at the finish. And, to be honest, it didn’t seem like he was working that hard. About half way through the second lap I looked back and realized we had a gap of probably 10 or so seconds to the chasing group so I figured at this point it was well worth the effort to work with him to increase that gap and then deal with any winning tactics on a later lap. I pulled around him on the straight away beside the pit and said, “We got a gap, let’s go,” and he responded, “Good job.” I was completely puzzled by the response but decided to just keep the pace high and I could ask for clarification later. After this straight there was a sweeping left that led into a flat right handed u-turn. When I got through the u-turn I looked and saw that he wasn’t into the turn yet. I didn’t feel like I’d accelerated but I read that as a sign that he was gassed so I decided to roll the dice and I hit it hard to try and make that gap expand.

Describing 90% of the rest of the race wouldn’t be very interesting. It was a lot of me riding as hard as I could, alone off the front. I was definitely nervous that I went too early as I was in completely unchartered territory, but, I like racing my bike, not riding in packs, so I figured even if this was a fly and die move, at least I’d tried.

Apparently my gap continued to increase over the next four laps, which was good considering that I crashed on an off camber corner on the last lap. Luckily my friend and teammate Thom, who wasn’t racing, was standing right where I crashed. He immediately started with the reassurances of “It’s ok, stay calm, you’ve got a gap.” Then, when I got up and realized my chain was off, again, “Just put the chain on. You’ve got time.” That made a huge difference. I don’t know how long I was on the ground or how long it took me to get going again but it felt like an hour. I’m sure without his reassurance I’d have panicked and taken at least twice as long. Luckily, the gap I’d built it up was more than enough to recover from that crash.

I rode the rest of that lap pretty cautiously, which ironically meant I actually took a lot of the corners much smoother and faster than before. I guess that’s a lesson for another day. About half way through I realized I’d won as long as I kept it upright and so I started to think about the finish line celebration. I’m sure I’m not the only bike racer who has stood in front of a mirror and thrown my arms up in the air until I got one that I thought looked cool. All of that practice was for absolutely nothing because when I did cross the finish line I had no idea what to do. I did post up but it was more of absolute shock that I’d held everyone off and somehow managed to win a bike race. I rode slowly for a bit and then went back to find Jill because if anything, she’s the one who helped me win that race. I spend a lot of time on my bike and she’s always been nothing but supportive, encouraging and motivating.

With the baby due in a week but could decide to show up anytime I haven’t registered for any more races. This means that I’ll be playing them all by ear and registering at the race if the baby is still holding out for a higher signing bonus and incentive package. With registering at the race I’ll likely be starting dead last in the field. That means I’ll probably get stopped behind the choke point and have to chase and fight my way through traffic instead of leading it and picking my own lines through the corners. But, that’s ok, because bike racing is still fun, no matter what, and just because I got 1 result doesn’t deviate from my goals for the season. I can still ride my bike hard regardless of where I start and regardless of where I finish. But finishing first sure is nice!

And a link to some photos my friend Thom took.

Candy Pedal Question

2011-09-23T09:21:00.007-05:00

Hey Fellow CX folks, I have a question for you. I switched pedals this year to egg beaters but wasn't having the easiest time getting back into them. I won a set of candy 1s so I switched over to see if they were any better. I like the extra platform they provide and they're easier to find when oxygen is no longer at a maximum level in my brain, but I do have an issue.

Eggbeater:

Candy:

The big plus of eggbeaters or candy pedals are the 4 points of entry. But, I find that's only sometimes the case with my candy pedals. The engagement piece (we'll just call it the eggbeater for ease of visual aid and referencing) spins freely from the platform which in theory should still allow for the 4 points of engagement. However, I find that it doesn't spin free enough not to also spin the platform and what this means is that occasionally I end up with the eggbeater orientated perpendicular to the platform with only 1 piece sticking up through the platform instead of 2, which is what you need to "properly" clip in.

I say properly because you can still get clipped in this way but the amount of float is almost zero and the amount of twist required to disengage is also a lot greater. They still "work" when this happens but it's not ideal.

Visuals of what I'm attempting to describe above.

Good:

Not Good:

So I basically have 2 questions:

1) Is there a fix for this? I've applied lube to the connecting pieces and spun the two pieces independently trying to get them to loosen up more but it doesn't seem to do much good unless I'm physically holding the platform and spinning the eggbeater with my other hand. If I just push the eggbeater portion the platform spins as well.

2) If there's not a fix, does it make sense to somehow (maybe super glue) fix the eggbeater into place so that there are only 2 points of engagement, but they would be perfect points of engagement and provide reliable, consistent performance. While this option would eliminate the benefit of the 4 points of engagement of the crankbrother's systems it wouldn't be any worse than most companies standard 2 point systems.

I'd appreciate any input that anybody has. Thanks!

CX Season Goals

2011-09-22T11:04:00.004-05:00

I'm a big believer in the value of goals. I like to have things to strive for and most importantly, remember what I'm working for when the going gets tough. Sometimes, just like the tag line on this blog says, we set completely unrealistic goals and then get frustrated when we fall short.

Three years ago I raced my first cross race. It was ugly. I'll spare you most of the details but I dropped my chain 17 times (yep, I counted) and was lapped twice. It was probably the most fun I'd had on a bike in a long, long time. After that race I immediately made some changes to the bike, not least of course, to prevent the chain from falling off, and raced again the next weekend, and the next weekend, and so on and so forth.

Since that initial year though I've done a terrible job of managing my motivation and fitness through late summer. I always found myself burned out and needing a rest from the road and then all of sudden it was late September and I hadn't done anything to get prepared for CX season. This left me feeling flat and exhausted and not willing to spend my hard earned dollars on entry fees when I could take a beating for free if I really wanted to.

This season I somehow managed to remember that CX season was on the horizon. I was approved the purchase of an aluminum CX bike with working shifters which, in theory, should make a huge difference in my racing. I find myself coming into this season mentally and physically prepared, at least as much as I can be. I'm ready to race and I'm excited to get in as many races as I can given life's commitments (there is a baby set to be born any day now).

So with all of that in mind I decided to write out some goals for CX season. Realistic goals that I think I can stick to but most importantly use to define success. Winning bike races is hard. If 100+ guys show up to an event only 1 guy wins. It doesn't happen very often for a variety of reasons and because of that I'm going to no longer use "win" as a goal. If all goes well, hopefully I can find myself in that hunt and make that happen. You can't control what other people do in a race, but you can keep control of what you do and so my goals are written from that perspective.

Goals:

1) Ride as hard as I can for the entire race.
2) Improve technically.
3) Have fun.
4) Race.

If at the end of every race I can look back and say I did those 4 things, maybe I'll get lucky enough to snag a result or two.

tumblr.

2011-09-14T13:28:00.002-05:00

The management team here at TeamLandall has decided that we needed to venture out and utilize another social media tool. Sometimes the writers on staff here have something to write or post but it doesn't quite justify an entire blog entry but it's a bit more than 140 characters. In those instances we've decided to post thinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs to tumblr.

We can be found at teamlandall.tumblr.com.

Right now there isn't a lot posted. In fact there isn't much at all. But there is a video of me going through the barriers at cx practice last night. I've been working pretty hard on this (the barriers, not the posting to social media) so I'm pretty stoked for the upcoming season.

See you out there.

The Community Fund

2011-09-13T09:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I read this. Which, I suggest you stop reading my post and read that first. But, if you're not going to, because for whatever reason you can't get enough of my grammatical mistakes, I'll give you the reader's digest version.

Guy hangs out in drum shop and starts to notice a trend in the customers. There are guys who only want really specific vintage drums. There are guys who can't play a lick but have a ton of money so they buy expensive drums anyway. Then there's a kid who doesn't look the part but when he plays it's amazing and they ask him what kind of kit he has and he says he picked it up from the ChuckECheese when it was about to close down. It's the kit that the fake animatronic mouse played on. He then points out that now as he likes to hang out in bike shops, he notices the same trends in bike consumers. Then he wraps it up a with a question of how many kids with tons of talent have shown up at a local group ride not looking the part, being ignored, and talent gone to waste?

I guess that's a valid point, except every time I've been on a group ride with a super talented guy, it generally doesn't matter what he's riding. He kicks everybody's teeth in pretty quickly and we stop making fun of his socks.

When I was in high school my baseball coach used to always say, "Son, if you're not a ball player, at least you can look like one." That was his way of correcting all of the sideways hats and un-tucked jerseys. I remember pretty vividly one game when the other team's short stop had on bumble bee stripped socks with his pants rolled up high to his knees. We all made fun of him. Then he went 3-4 with like 4 RBIs and made a couple great defensive plays that left us all in agreement that he could play in a tutu if he wanted.

It's the same in cycling. We all dress the part, mimic the pros, follow the rules and quietly poke fun of the new guy with hairy legs and a pie plate. Well, until he drops your ass on the climb and then you go find out his name as you're still gasping for air.

But just as the author notices a trend in rich guys buying drum kits way more expensive than they need, there are no shortage of rich, fat guys rolling around on $10gs worth of carbon fiber and it's always drove me absolutely insane. I know it shouldn't bother me. In fact, it should make me smile every time I drop one of those guys on their sub 14lb bike on my 19ish lb aluminum CX bike. But, jealousy takes over and one always wants what one doesn't have.

A long time ago I came up with this Title IX-esk system that I thought all bike shops should employee. Every time some slow, rich dude comes in and buys a PRO level bike there should be a sliding scale that actually increases the mark up of that bike based on his ability to actually ride it fast. That extra mark up would then go into a community fund that would help those uber talented poor kids get on bikes that are actually worth riding. When I first proposed this concept to anyone who was unlucky enough to be in ear shot the extra pot of money was to benefit me. But as I've gotten older, wiser and much more philanthropic, I realized I don't need fancy stuff to continue to ride my bikes medium fast. Instead, the talented kids who can't even afford the level of stuff I have should get it so they can go from riding plastic Sora junk to at least Rival or 105.

Obviously this is never going to happen but I think about it every single time I see a rich dude on a [fill in the blank] bike with [highest level component line] rolling on [$3k+ wheels]. But, a boy can dream can't he?

(In the drum scenario there are those guys who want vintage kits and there are those guys in the bike world as well. They ride custom bikes hand made by some buy in a garage or a boutique artists space. While those bikes are often just as expensive as the primary offender I'm speaking of, they are excluded from this discussion as they are riding art slowly, not bikes meant to win the cycling's biggest races.)

Day12 | Stationary Helmets

2011-09-12T08:58:00.002-05:00

#30daysofbiking | Day8 | it keeps raining.

2011-09-08T10:18:00.001-05:00

#30daysofbiking | Day7 | Fondriest.

2011-09-07T13:54:00.001-05:00

#30daysofbiking | Day6 | 2x20s.

2011-09-06T20:07:00.001-05:00

#30daysofbiking | Day5 | Indoor Wheelies

2011-09-05T16:28:00.000-05:00

#30daysofbiking | Day4 | CX Clinic

2011-09-04T19:09:00.001-05:00

#30daysofbiking | Day2 | Rule #80.

2011-09-02T08:13:00.004-05:00

#30daysofbiking | Day1

2011-09-01T10:33:00.004-05:00

One of the bike people I follow on twitter (@cycloboredom) had a series of posts he titled #30daysofbiking. Then, I found this, http://30daysofbiking.com/ and for some reason that spurred me to take on the challenge as well. I obviously already ride my bike a lot but not necessarily every single day. I suspect this will on occasion pose a challenge or two but we'll see what happens. We all know I don't like to lose, not that this is really something that can be won, but you know what I mean. The rule seems to be pretty lax. All you have to do is ride. Doesn't have to be long or to get somewhere. Their site says it can just be around the block. There may be days where I ride up the alley and back because that's all that fits in. There will be other days where I ride 60+ miles (it is cx season after all) and there will be days when I race. Either way, I'm going to ride my bike everyday for 30 days. It's pretty convenient that I'm starting on 9/1 since there are 30 days in the month of September. I'll try and post a photo everyday. If I weren't so attached to TeamLandall I'd start a flickr feed for this, but I like this site, so we'll use it.

Here's day 1.

Stage 18, Great Stage, Only 1 Gripe

2011-07-22T08:36:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's Tour de France stage 18 was, for the most part, excellent. Andy Schleck attacked from a long way out, which was bold, and daring, and all of those other adjectives that people are using the describe it. But, what it really was, was necessary. Andy needed to get back a lot of time and so the only way to do that was to go from a long way out. He wasn't going to get back ~3:00 just on the Galibier. I read a funny quote on twitter yesterday in reference to Andy's attack. The scenario is exactly the same except Andy sent teammates up the road and Floyd just went by himself.

I do have a gripe though. I couldn't help but wonder why on the slopes of the Galibier Voeckler and especially his teammate, Rolland, didn't work with Cadel to bring Andy back? I know Cadel was going hard. His tempo shredded those last few guys and the look on Basso's face pretty much showed how hard they were going. But, still, at least Rolland should have pulled through once or twice to give Cadel a tiny bit of a breather. There's only one minor downside for Europecar by helping Cadel in that scenario. Rolland probably doesn't finish the climb with those guys and isn't in the hunt for the white jersey for the best young ride. In my opinion, that's the wrong strategy to employee.

Voeckler, while not a good time trialist, can't really be any worse than Andy or Frank Schleck (I admit I haven't poured over TT results that included all three guys but the Schleck's are notorious for giving back huge chunks of time in TTs so my assumption is that Voeckler could at least limit his loss to them with a cushion). And, if they helped Cadel bring back Andy and Voeckler can stay with him at a steady, turbo diesel pace, he's not really losing any time to Cadel. Europecar's strategy here should have been to keep as big of a cushion as possible to take into the TT on Saturday. Once Contador was popped off that group, there was absolutely no downside to Rolland coming to the front to help ensure the put as much space between them and Contador as possible and close that gap to Andy. Rolland, was the only guy in that group, outside of Frank Schleck, that looked like he could have contributed to the pace making and clearly Frank's not helping in that scenario. Maybe Rolland has a great poker face, but he certainly didn't look to be struggling as much as everybody else. I think their strategy should be to race for the Yellow jersey even if that means risking losing it, rather than for the podium in two categories. Voeckler finishing on the podium in Paris is still not guaranteed so playing a safe card isn't necessarily any better than laying it all on the line. Nobody's going to remember the white jersey winner anyway unless you end up being a real contender in the future. Maybe Rolland is, but I always see the white jersey (and team classification for that matter) as a fun little competition that teams should be excited to win but unless it's your only option, nobody should care about. Especially when caring about that competition interferes with another.

I also realize this is easy to say from the comfort of my couch.

Armstrong, My Thoughts

2011-06-01T10:51:00.004-05:00

In the last month I've written about half of 20 or so posts. They never make it to completion because at about that point I ask myself, "Am I saying anything that isn't already being said?" Generally the answer is no and since there are plenty of professional and amateur writers out there saying it better than me, I hit ctrl+A, delete.

It's really no surprise that most of the cycling world is still talking about Lance. What is surprising, at least to me, is that so many people still seem to live in some dream land believing he didn't do it. Come on people, at this point, it shouldn't even be a question anymore. Lance's doping allegation defense strategy has always followed a very simple strategy: 1) Act insulted. 2) Angrily deny. 3) Use the tested more than anyone else line. 4) Question the credibility of the accuser, whether that be 1 person or an entire nation. 5) Threaten lives/livelihoods.

With Hamilton's 60 minutes piece it was pretty obvious that the Lance response would follow those 5 steps just like it always does. This response was so predictable I'm not entirely sure it happened because I didn't even bother to look for it. Yes, Tyler denied doping for years, took donations and now comes clean about the whole thing. Does this on the surface seem like the accusations of someone with credibility issues, sure it does. Does this person come from the camp who probably coached him on this life of denial, seems likely.

Hincapie won't comment on it but it's been reported that in his grand jury whatever it's called, he also testified that he witnessed Armstrong doping and that he used PEDs himself. To me, and it should be for all you believers of the fairy tale, that's the nail in the coffin. The other three guys who have come out and said Armstrong doped all have agenda/credibility issues, not Hincapie. There's no alternative agenda for Hincapie except making sure his ass stays out of jail to raise his kids. He doesn't need to rat Lance out because he's mad at him but he certainly doesn't need to keep his mouth shut and do time for the Don either.

In a small way I find this incredibly ironic because a lot of people attribute George's lack of classics success to his loyalty to Armstrong. Instead of being able to put up a sprinting fight against Boonen on the velodrome in Roubaix he was becoming a better climber to be more loyal to Armstrong. Without Armstrong, Hincapie probably wins Roubaix at least once because he'd have ridden for a team who would have surrounded him with guys in those races. Instead, Hincapie stayed with Lance and continually lost the race that meant the most to him while helping Lance win the race the meant the most to him. Let's say Big George goes to another team early on and wins a bunch of Roubaix's it doesn't necessarily mean that he still isn't testifying that Lance taught him to dope, but in the present scenario, it makes it very hard for Lance to use his typical 5 step program against his accuser. If there's anybody the American cycling fans see as the model of credibility, it's Hincapie.

The other piece that strikes me as ironic is that Armstrong is always so quick to point out the previous denial pattern of all those who have accused him of doping. When it's official and he can no longer deny it, what does he think that's going to do for his image? He's essentially lumping himself right into the same category as Tyler and Floyd and in the end, the only thing that's going to separate Lance and those guys, is that he survived cancer and they didn't. But all three will be convicted dopers who denied it for years and took others money under some sort of false pretense. An obvious argument to that is that Lance's money raised went to cancer research, not a fake defense fund, and that'd be absolutely right, but how much less money would he have raised if the story wasn't so grand and dependent on PEDs?

I'm not smart enough to understand exactly what he's up against if some sort of rico charges against him as he used government money to buy doping products. That side of this entire situation seems insanely unlucky since the same thing would have happened regardless of the sponsor printed on their jerseys.

I wrote sometime last year that I hoped for the sake of the cancer community that he didn't get caught. I wrote that I believed 100% that he was guilty but that I didn't think any good would actually come of it. I'm still not sure that much good comes of Armstrong getting busted. For everyone but the most casual cycling fan the writing is on the wall and we've all made our minds up regardless of what the feds find out. But at some point, people, regardless of how big they are need to be accountable for their actions and I think this line of thought is what changed my opinion on the seemingly impending Armstrong trial. Just because you create a larger than life persona doesn't mean you're larger than the law and at some point, you have to lay in the bed you made.

Race Report: The Bunny Hop Crit

2011-05-03T11:25:00.002-05:00

Race: Bunny Hop Crit
Date: May 1, 2011
Location: Suitland, MD
Course: 3 corners, flat.
Conditions: Rainy but surprisingly not windy.

To not completely bore you with the details of a 42 lap crit I'll recap the race really quickly:

It was rainy and I figured it'd be sketchy. I went to the front and went with or instigated every move of the race. None worked and it came down to a bunch sprint in which I got pinched in the final corner and got 14th with all my skin fully intact.

Race Report: Meadows Farms or something like that

2011-04-26T08:35:00.004-05:00

I'm not entirely sure what this race was called because I just referred to it as "the race down in Doswell" whenever people would ask. I find that to be much more useful than the names of races unless they have some sort of history. It's even better when the name of the race is actually where it's being held. That certainly makes things simpler. But, that's not the point.

This was my first race of the year and I'm pretty pleased with how I felt throughout. It was a 30 mile circuit race on a really technical course. They claimed to have 9 90 degree corners but I only counted 7. There were 3 big sweepers so maybe a few of those were thrown in for the 9 count. There was also a hill but it wasn't long enough or steep enough to really make a difference.

The 4s started out with something like 70 people but that was whittled down to about 25 or so by the time we were at 5 laps to go. We ended up doing 31 miles in just over 1:10, so it was fast. But I think the yo-yo through the corners probably shed more people than the hill or the actual speeds.

With 2 laps to go there was a group of 6 that were about 30 seconds or so up the road. We came through the start finish and everybody slowed so I went to try and bridge up to those guys. It seemed pretty obvious to me that everybody else left in the main field was content for sprinting for 7th and I wanted nothing to do with that. In hindsight I probably went a bit early as I attacked into the cross wind, then into the headwind after the right hander and burned a really big match creating the separation through there. I'm not sure if anybody would have tried to come with me had I waited till the tailwind, but I wasn't interested in towing guys with me to the break so I wanted to make sure I was by myself. Some guy after the race said he tried to go with me and couldn't, so that's at least encouraging.

Trying to get up to the guys I had to fight my way through a ton of lapped traffic who were kind enough to essentially take whatever line they wanted through the corners. I'm not sure why these people weren't pulled but they were still on the course chatting with each other or picking their noses.

I knew I had to make it to the break before the downhill with the headwind or I'd never catch on. I didn't make it so at the bottom of the hill I sort of sat up a bit to wait for the field. As they came by, much to my surprise, it somehow ballooned to at least double as all the lapped traffic decided it was a good idea to latch on and get a free tow. I wasn't sure who in this group was actually still on the lead lap so I forced myself in somewhere about 20 guys back. As we turned left into the headwind it became apparent which guys weren't on the lead lap as they all blew back up and I was left with at least 15 bike lengths between me and the guys in the main field. This was obviously annoying and so I yelled at quite a few of the lapped guys to get the F' off the course as I tried to close that gap down to the main field. I think we're all friends now. (I did apologize to a few of them on the cool down lap) But seriously, what makes you think that getting back onto the main field after you've been lapped is ok? They'd obviously be pissed if they were in my situation as well.

I chased as hard as I could the final lap but couldn't quite catch back on to field. I ended up being scored 19th but I have no way of knowing if that's actually accurate or not. If I hadn't tried to bridge up I'm sure I could have finished top 5 out of the main field but that's only a 7th place finish at best. Anything after that gets the same upgrade points as my 19th. I'm happy with my decision to try and bridge that gap. I'd rather risk losing in an attempt to win than sit in for a marginally better finish on paper.

And a small rant:

Once again the USAC officials enforce all the rules that don't make a difference and completely ignore the small things that can actually make a difference in a race. Why they stopped pulling lapped riders with 2 to go is beyond me. It seems like that is the time they should have been most vigilant about getting guys out of the race off the course. They are the only people at the race being paid to be there so I wish they'd do their jobs a bit better. I know in the grand scheme it's still just amateur bike racing but it's an amateur bike race that everybody there paid to race in and part of that entrance fee certainly pays their wages for the day. They need to worry less about the imaginary perfect place for a number to be pinned on and whether a rider has his/her hands on the handlebars and more about ensuring race results are actually accurate.

At the same time, if you're a 4 you've done at least 10 races and should in theory understand a bit of race etiquette. If you are out of the race, get off the course or at least get out of the way. You do not get to take the good line through a corner when the group is coming up behind you and you are about to be lapped. In fact, you may even need to pull over, slow down, and let the field pass you before you go into that corner. Also, under no circumstances should you get back into the main field that is on the lead lap when you are not. The guys that are still fighting to stay in the field shouldn't have to try and remember who is and isn't on the lead lap. It should be pretty evident by the people that are around them in the group.

I also saw an official up a rider taking a free lap due to mechanical into a breakaway instead of the main field the other day. This is completely inexcusable. Getting a free lap is nice enough. You shouldn't get free entrance into the break as a reward for your flat tire. Luckily that guy wasn't good enough to be in the break and after a few laps was shelled.

The Value of Good Teammates

2011-04-11T12:58:00.002-05:00

Johan van Summeren was able to win Paris-Roubaix yesterday because Thor Hushovd refused to work with Cancellara, forcing Cancellara to get frustrated and eventually sit up. Hushovd was 100% in the right for not pulling through since he had a teammate up the road. While it was probably annoying for Cancellara and he obviously wasn't interested in towing his competitors to the finish line, Hushovd is not obligated to work in that situation. The result, van Summeren stays away.

In my opinion Sylvain Chavanel lost Flanders because Tom Boonen attacked while he was up the road drawing Cancellara out. Once Cancellara had neautralized that move and then realized Boonen wasn't that strong he kept going and eventually bridged up to Chavanel. Maybe that would have happened later, anyway, but it certainly should not have been sparked by Boonen with Chavanel up the road.

The casual observer of bike racing might not have seen either of these scenarios play out that way. But bike racing is much more about team work and tactics than the casual fan realizes. Most big races are won and lost because a strong team played their hand perfectly. This doesn't matter if it's a one day classic or grand tour. Nobody wins a bike race that matters all by themselves. Just ask Cancellara.

A Retraction (sort of)

2011-04-11T08:29:00.002-05:00

With Gregory Rast's 4th place finish at Roubaix I was clearly at least a little bit wrong about Radioshack's chances. Because of that I would like to offer a mild retraction. If it weren't for the long breakaway producing the winner and a bunch of top 10 placings, which he was apart of, who knows where Rast would have finished. But, that's neither her nor there. He was in that long break. It went a LONG way and he got a 4th.

Euskatel on the other seemed to follow my exact predictions. Their best placed rider was Alan Perez Lezaun in 103rd place. How many riders finished Roubaix you may wonder? 108. Perez was the only Euskatel rider to bother to finish the race. Good show!

Obligated to Race

2011-04-08T10:35:00.004-05:00

This weekend is Paris-Roubaix. If you're reading this blog, you know that already. As one would expect most of the cycling chatter this week on the interwebs is directly related to Paris-Roubaix. Pictures of Roubaixs in the past, descriptions of just how terrible the cobbles are, technical reviews of the changes being made to team bikes, and, if you're velonews, a sort of odd story that features Ben King, current US National Champion and his upcoming first attempt at Roubaix on a squad that has about no chance at winning.

In the end, what I took away from this particular story is that the current system where the UCI requires the teams with ProTour license to race all the races on the ProTour calender is clearly screwed up. To prove this point, look at the roster that Radioshack is sending to Paris-Roubaix:

Ben King
Bjorn Selander
Jesse Sergent
Fumiyuki Beppu
Robbie McEwen
Nélson Oliveira
Gregory Rast
Sebastian Rosseler

My assumption would be that these guys are working for, I have no idea, nobody in that group is even a long shot at winning this race. I'm going to actually make a point to see how many of these guys even bother finishing. Clearly Radioshack is built to win stage races. With Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, Andres Kloden, Janez Brajkovic and the rest of their climbing/TT focused team, they don't really give a damn about the cobbled classics. Even Rast and Rosseler are flat stage body gaurds, not classics specialists in a true sense. And that's fine, but for the sake of the race, let's stop forcing teams to participate that don't care. I'm pretty sure whatever squad Euskatel is sending this week will be heavily seen at the back of the bunch and drawing straws for who gets to abandon at the first feed zone. Whichever unlucky riders draw the long straws have to abandon at the second.

Instead of forcing teams with ProTour license to show up and abandon why not give Radioshack and company the opportunity to offer their spot up and enter more wild card Continental squads. I'd be willing to bet if you replaced Radioshack and Euskatel and a few others who don't care with two Belgium squads, you replace pack filler with recognizable jerseys with guys that show up motivated to make some sort of statement in the biggest race of their careers.

Let's face it. The chairman who approved the sponsorship of Radioshack isn't going to brag at the end of the year that their team had two riders finish Paris-Roubaix and most of the Basque fans who go crazy in the mountains during the Tour de France can't possibly have any hope for their guys come Sunday. Those teams are focused on a different kind of racing and that's a perfectly justifiable decision. But the governing bodies are doing both the race and smaller, more motivated teams a disservice by forcing participation on teams that couldn't care less. I'd rather have a race that includes five teams I'd never heard of throwing hail marys every chance they get to make the race exciting than a bunch of feed zone abandons out of obligation.

Top 5 Cyclists

2011-04-01T10:00:00.004-05:00

I have a paper to write which of course I'm putting off till the the last possible minute. This is unfortunate because I obviously have other stuff I need to be doing as well. What I don't need to be doing is updating this blog twice in one day, but you know how that goes. This is much more fun and interesting to write than any old paper that's going to earn me a Master's degree.

As I was procrastinating from writing said paper I found this on Rapha's Blog. They polled some of their peeps for a top 5 favorite cyclist list. It's worth a quick look and of course the comments sections are a bunch of strangers top 5 lists as well.

This made me pick up a pen and jot down my top 5 and so I decided to share them and why. I also have my top 5 least favorite cyclists as well. The thing about this list is I tried to be as honest as possible. That's why in the picture you'll see Lance Armstrong was crossed out. In the Rapha blog they mention that most people pick their top five based on how they were drawn to the sport. I'd be lying if I tried to deny the fact that when I first gained interest in professional cycling I lived for July and Lance Armstrong dominance. But, over the years, I've become much less of a Lance fan for a variety of reasons, most of which I'm sure you can guess or know if you're a TeamLandall regular reader. They also mention that you usually pick guys based on what kind of rider you see yourself as, which is also true in my list. So, anyway, here they are and a brief why.

Top 5, in no particular order:

Chris Horner
When I first started following cycling, or really, the Tour de France, there was this American guy who would always do interviews after or before each stage. His interviews always talked about team tactics and how the race unfolded. His explanations were in depth but simple enough for a new student of the sport to understand what he was saying. This guy was also a fantastic domestique for what I have always considered a 2nd tier contender. That has to take a great deal of dedication which I admired. That guy was Chris Horner. He's been my favorite cyclist ever since.

George Hincapie
I'm a bit Scottie Pippen fan and George Hincapie is basically Scottie Pippen with shaved legs and bunch of bicycles in hanging in his garage. He's the guy that every single team knows is absolutely invaluable to their success. Though, I'm not sure I've ever heard George or Scottie say that in an interview. As I became more of a fan of the classics I started to like George for an entirely different set of reasons. It's easy to cheer for the favorites in Flanders and Roubaix, but my allegiance will always be with big George.

Floyd Landis
That's right. I said it. I know he's an admitted doper. I don't care. I liked Floyd when he was on Postal because of his quirky personality. I liked him when he moved to Phonak and have argued till I was blue in the face that he was clean. Obviously I was wrong. He's a polarizing figure and people can feel however they want. I'm not sure there's much that could be revealed about this guy that would knock him off my top 5 list. Floyd was not afraid to risk losing in order to win. That's something, doped up or not, is worth taking note of.

Jens Voight
Jens Voight is on everyone's top 5 list. I like guys that try to win races with suicidal moves that go from a very, very long way out. I wish I had that kind of engine.

Thomas Voeckler
Most American cycling fans think of Thomas Voeckler as the little guy that Lance was nice enough to give the yellow jersey to so many Tours de Frances ago. Thomas Voeckler is not that guy. He is a bad ass bike racer who knows his strengths and takes advantage of race situations that play into those strengths. He's not the best climber. He's not the best sprinter. He's really good out of small groups who have been off the front for a long, long time. He's got a ton of guts and when he does win races it's generally in a dramatic fashion.

Bottom 5, in no particular order:

Heinrich Haussler
The guy just strikes me the wrong way. He wears weird Ed Hardy hats in interviews, which is a characteristic you can hold against anyone! I may be of the "what have you done for me lately?" mentality when it comes to Haussler, but he just strikes me as all hype and little pay off.

Andre Greipel
Remember last year when Greipel cried constantly about not getting to race in big races? Now he is in big races and he's still not winning big races. Blah blah blah, good luck in the Tour of Turkey. I hear you're very good there.

Alexander Vinokourov
I am aware that I picked a former doper and two attacking riders in my top 5 and put a former doping attacking rider in my least 5. That doesn't really make sense right? Yeah, I don't care. I don't like the guy. He made a jersey with his face on it. That's just ridiculous.

Carlos Sastre
I remember watching the CSC documentary Overcoming and being left with the impression that Carlos Sastre is a whinny baby. I had never paid much attention to him before seeing that film and then it was the same thing in every interview. I know he won le Tour. I know he's never been tied in to any doping controversy. I know all of these things, but still, I'm just not a fan. He seems slow to respond to attacks in the mountains and except for that one time on Alpe d'Huez, he certainly doesn't attack on his own. Maybe I should make a list of wheel following grand tour contenders as well?

Alessandro Petacchi
This one probably isn't even that fair of an assessment. I'm sure there's somebody I like less than Petacchi and I'm just not thinking of them right now. But for as many times as he's busted for some sort of over the counter banned substance, I figure he's always on some sort of juice. Not to mention the fact that he gets very whinny in the media when nobody considers him a favorite in sprints.

That's enough procrastinating. That's my top 5 and least 5 favorite pro cyclist. If you feel so inclined put yours in the comments. They can be alive, dead or me for that matter. I'm probably a good choice for your list.

Successful Customer Survey Campaigns

2011-04-01T08:32:00.002-05:00

Businesses clearly want to know what you think of their business. Take a look at just about every receipt you're given these days and there is some sort of online survey that could be filled out with some sort of incentive for doing so. I fully understand why and even believe they want real feedback. But what I don't understand is why so many of them get the incentive to the customer part of this so wrong.

From my possibly limited experience, though I'd assume I'm just about as average of a consumer as the next guy, there are basically two strategies that companies use to offer an incentive to gather feedback. The first, which seems to be the most common, is to offer a chance at some insanely large reward for filling out the survey. I was at Giant over the weekend and was informed that if I filled out the online survey I could be entered into a drawing at a chance to win free groceries for an entire year. The other day Jill and I ate at a large nationwide chain restaurant which I won't name from being slightly embarrassed that we actually went there and the bottom of their receipt included a chance to win $5,000 in a drawing if you filled out their survey. I would easily characterize both of these incentives as big, but neither made me sit down at my computer and give them any feedback.

The second, which I see a lot less, is a guaranteed discount or free product on your next purchase in exchange for information. Currently Dunkin Donuts is running one of these and if you fill out their survey you get a free donut with the purchase of a medium or larger coffee on your next visit. When I lived in Portland, the greatest fast food chain on the planet, Burgerville, offered a similar incentive where you could get a free basket upgrade (think combo) if you ordered any sandwich. You know how many of these survey's I fill/ed out? Every single one of them!

I'm sure the survey I would fill out from Giant would take the exact same amount of time as the survey from Dunkin Donuts (3 mins by the way) but I'm just not that interested in the chance at winning free groceries because to be honest, I don't really believe that the drawing ever takes place. Now, I'm sure for legal reasons that it does take place, but if you don't win you're not notified of that and so to me, it just seems like a waste of time. I understand that my and everyone else's feedback is valuable to helping you improve your business, but I like stuff I can touch, feel and walk back into the store and cash in on the exchange of information I provided you with.

The thing about the guaranteed incentive is that it doesn't even have to be big. The free donut with a medium coffee at Dunkin Donuts costs $1.75, which basically saves me a little less than $1 if I didn't have the coupon. But, I'll also admit that because I do have it in my wallet, I'm a bit more apt to go get a donut and coffee on a Friday morning than if I didn't. So while I realize it's cheaper for Giant to offer a drawing that they only give away to 1 person and not 1,000s, I might not be as likely to return and purchase additional groceries for a variety of reasons (convenience being one of them) than I would if I had some sort of small tangible incentive to do so.

Maybe I'm in the minority here and everybody else rushes home to fill out the survey on the bottom of their Giant receipt to try and get free groceries for a year. To me, it's just not worth it. I'm aware these companies aren't dumb and have a lot of smart people and consultants figuring out all of the breaking points for what incentive is just large enough to generate survey results but small enough to remain profitable. But for me, I'd rather take the time to offer feedback on a business when I'm given a guaranteed return for that information, even if it is much smaller than the chance at winning a very large prize.

Please Try!

2011-03-31T12:34:00.002-05:00

An open letter to all Pro-ass bike racers not named Fabian Cancellara.

Dear Pro-ass bike racers not named Fabian Cancellara,

I know you're 100% aware of this but the Tour of Flanders is on Saturday which is awesome. It happens to be my favorite spring classic, not that this should matter that much to you.

I stumbled upon a little video on VeloNews.com where a few of your colleagues were making comments about how Fabian Cancellara is basically unbeatable and while nobody came right out and said it, everyone was pretty much insinuating that if he attacks it's a race for second. Look, I get it, he's really fast. And, I've read and heard the accounts that say even just staying on his wheel is tough. I get that too. But please, for the love of Eddie Merckx do not, and I repeat, DO NOT have another pitiful show of cowardliness that took place at Paris-Roubaix last year. When Cancellara attacked with 60k out every single one of you besides Tom Boonen all sat up and felt sorry for yourselves that you were now going to get 2nd. Don't do that again. Please chase. Make me and all my fellow cycling fans believe that you guys actually want to win races, even if that means you risk losing them.

If Fabian wins on Sunday fine. He's a super fast bike racer and I'm sure he'd like nothing more than to prove he's unbeatable. Shouldn't all of you take that as a challenge to prove he is? I don't even care who wins I just want to see a good race where all the "stars" of cycling actually look like they've earned that title because they're willing to bury themselves to win.

I know you all want to win to so I'm sure you'll all be trying very hard and that's all we ask.

Sincerely,

TeamLandall

Finish Line Salutes

2011-03-23T11:18:00.007-05:00

I really like it when riders have finish line salutes other than simply sticking both hands in the air touchdown style. Mostly I like them because they make absolutely no sense or actually need to be interpreted. Now, most of the time these types of celebrations take place on tops of mountains or after successful breakaways where the rider is coming to the line alone. It's hard to fault the bunch sprinter for not being overly creative at 70kph when he's just trying to see straight to avoid any arrant photographers. Although there was that time that Robbie McEwen did the weird running arms gesture after winning a stage of the Tour de France. He later said that was a dare from Levi Leiphemier.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Christian Vande Velde rocks the baby since he and his wife recently had a baby. Cut to about 1:30.

Carlos Sastre shows some real planning by having a pacifier available. Maybe VdV should have had some better planning. Possibly an entire bottle would have been cool.

Then there's the guys who like to incorporate weapons, real ones.

Ryan Trebon takes a sword from a fan on the finishing straight of a cross race. At least I'm pretty sure he didn't have it sheathed throughout.

Juan Antonio Flecha likes to shoot a pretend arrow.

And of course we're all familiar with Contador's fake pistol shot.

But this is something new. Today, Contador wins solo on top of a mountain and instead of pulling out his fake pistol he does what I can only assume is asking the world to have some heart when discussing his pending doping situation. It's all about the subtle suggestions.

Bikes are Great!

2011-03-18T09:50:00.003-05:00

Like most people who love bikes I didn't grow up riding in lycra or even know what a derailleur was until about 8 years ago. My parents had bikes that changed gears but that didn't mean much to me. I was always more interested in finding some pile of dirt to transform into a jump. Or, if it was big enough, a table top. My first real bike, and I still consider it that today, was a Redline 220. It was a low end bmx bike that cost $200 and I remember I saved for what seemed like 1,000 years to buy it. The guy at the bike shop told me I could spend another $30 and get a Dyno something that was better. But I didn't care, I like the Redline and I had enough money for it on the spot. Didn't he realize how long it'd take me to save another $30?

I don't often speak very highly of where I grew up but one perk that even I can't bash is that we had plenty of access to trails, open fields and in some cases heavy machinery we had no business operating to build a new bmx track whenever we wanted. There were about 8 of us that would split up and make teams of 2 or 3. We were inspired by the movie Rad which we'd watch religiously and dirt bike racing, which we all wished we were doing but were too poor to afford motorcycles. Team Green (Kawasaki), Big Red (Honda)and Suzuki, if the other two got picked before you had a chance, would all work together to build a track and then race in 3-4 up matches. A lot of the cyclocross racing strategy that I employee today I learned on a bmx bike trying to pass my friend or get the whole shot. I'd do almost anything to get my Redline 220 back.

I remember one summer I had a job cutting the grass at my dad's church. Man I hated that job. But one day I decided instead of getting driven out there I'd just ride my bike. It couldn't have been more than 10 miles thinking back on it now, but on a bmx bike with a single gear ratio of something like 33x15, it took a while. It seemed like it was so far, but I remember the sense of accomplishment when I got there. At the time, I never would have guessed that a bike would eventually lead me around the perimeter of the US in 2006.

To me, bikes are beautiful. From the incredibly simplistic and clean track bike to over engineered full suspension mountain bikes and time trial rigs, bikes are beautiful. Because of that, I will watch just about any video that has something to do with cycling. My wife makes fun of me constantly for it, but the bike geek in me just can't get enough.

The bike world is incredibly diverse and I should be the first to admit that sometimes that diversity drives me insane. At times I want there to be some sort of outlaw on guys on hybrids with day-glo jackets clogging up my commute to work by riding a top speed of 12mph and swerving all over the place just to try and remain upright. I realize that's incredibly selfish and I'm working on it. Those guys have just as much a right to enjoy the bicycle as I do.

Today I saw the video below. It is absolutely amazing to me what some people can do on a bike. The bike handling skills and control that this guy has is absolutely amazing. To me, it's equally as impressive and no less brave than sprinters rubbing elbows at 70kph (~42mph for those of us in America). It's seeing a video like this or reading an update about the work that Richmond Cycling Corp is doing as they work with under-privileged Richmond youth and use cycling as a vehicle to do so that simply reinforces just how great I think the bicycle is.

Watch this video and be amazed. Watch Milan-San Remo this weekend and be amazed. Go to the Richmond Cycling Corps website and be amazed. But, don't forget to get on your bike and remember what it was like to ride as a kid.

A Hill in Spain from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Stay Classy Ohio State

2011-03-09T09:29:00.002-05:00

Remember last bowl season when the news broke that Ohio State's star quarterback and wide receiver had violated NCAA sanctions by selling memorabilia? Then remember how Jim Tressel came out and said he wasn't going to suspend his players for the bowl game because it would hurt all of the seniors who had worked so hard for four years. Instead, he would suspend his players for the first five games of next season so they'd learn their lessons. Obviously the only people that bought this line of crap were Ohio State fans because everybody knows the first five games of the next seasons are cream puffs and scrimmages. Clearly Tressel saw a way to "punish" his star players but not have any the record of Ohio State be tarnished in the process. So, if you remember all of that then you remember Ohio State went on to beat Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Good plan Jimmy!

Then there's this which hit the news today. Looks like Tressel's boys were slanging a little more than throw back jerseys. And, the best part, he knew about it and did nothing.

Mr. Tressel your sweater vest, parted hair and principle glasses are obviously just a costume. If you want people to believe you when you say you're trying to mold young men then the prudent thing is to actually act on those beliefs. Sometimes this may mean that your seniors are affected by the actions of your star players. But those are the players you recruited. You become responsible for them when they show up for the first day of practice and throughout their tenure at your institution. If you don't want to have to make tough decisions then recruit players that won't put you in a position to do so. But, how would you continue to win BCS bowl games without them? Take a look around. Some of your colleagues seem to be figuring it out.

Since we're talking about BCS bowl game wins here's a fun fact about old sweater vest. Ohio State has not won a BCS bowl game under Tressel that did not include a player(s) who were later sanctioned by the NCAA compliance violations.

2003 - Ohio State beats Miami for national title - Maurice Clarrett - improper gifts
2004 - OSU beats Kansas State - Troy Smith sanctioned
2005 - No BCS
2006 - OSU beats Notre Dame - Troy Smith again
2007 - Lose to Florida
2008 - Lose to LSU
2009 - Lose to Texas
2010 - Beat Oregon - Terrell Pryor & Company
2011 - Beat Arkansas - Terrell Pryor & Company (with known NCAA sanctions)

Overall BCS Record without an NCAA sanctioned star player on the field: 0-8.

Stay classy Ohio State, stay classy!

Burglars, Dopers and Thieves

2011-03-02T09:31:00.003-05:00

I'll be the first to admit I waffle on this whole doping issue quite a bit. Sometimes I want to figure out a way to be a champion for a cleaner sport. Other times I figure it's a losing battle and it would make more sense to have a buffet of drugs available to every rider before every race so that the playing field is leveled. But this argument assumes it's an accessibility issue, which, it hardly is.

I read Steve Tilford's blog on basically a daily basis. I'm not really sure why because to be honest, overall, it's not that interesting. He mostly writes about himself and changing the brake lines on his really old van. He also writes in a very "good old days" fashion, which at times can get old. But, like most blogs, there is occasionally something that is really great. A perspective on a subject that I couldn't get without the insight of an old pro. Today was one of those days and if you have a minute, read this.

At the end, Steve refers to the dopers as common criminals, robbers, thieves, burglars, etc. In a sense I've never thought of them quite like that. I've heard the argument repeated by the cycling world that you should own your victory and that dopers can not. But this is much more powerful. It takes away any onus for the dopers to have a moral dilemma by the decisions they are making. Anybody can justify their criminal behavior to themselves, that happens all the time. I think the more powerful stance is to start referring to the dopers as thieves, because there's no way of getting around it, they are absolutely stealing victories.

Confused

2011-02-16T11:30:00.002-05:00

The Contador suspension being overturned confuses me. It makes me believe Floyd even more that there is basically a top ring of cyclist where conspiracy boils over. It makes me wonder how Don Alejandro Velverde actually got suspended when to my knowledge he's never actually tested positive for anything, only linked to the Puerto issue. I could be wrong about that as now days doping stories and facts are all running together. I'm also confused as to why Contador's defense is really any different than Tom Zirbels? Seems like they both had tremendously low amounts of clenbuterol in their system. Both claimed it was ingested without their knowledge. Only difference is Contador isn't proving it came from meat but that it's the only explanation because it couldn't have been anything else and Zirbel couldn't prove which supplement it might have come from since he was notified so late. Neither seem like realistic defenses but if one works why wouldn't the other?

I'm obviously not a lawyer or a chemist working in a testing lab but as average as my mind may be I can certainly tell that if this doping issue is really going to get resolved, fair/equal treatment and adherence to policy is a good place to start.

Response To a Piece on GMA

2011-02-11T09:20:00.003-05:00

GMA ran a story on a kid this morning who got cut from his high school baseball team because he's not good enough to make the team. Unfortunately, the kid is a double below the waist amputee and therefore the version of the story they ran was about that and not about what actually gets you cut from a team, lack of skill set. I firmly believe and have written in this space before that sports are the great equalizer between a lot of other socially driven issues that face society. Take a look at at almost all professional sports from their beginnings to present day and it's clear to see the changes that took place from a socio-economic prospective. Sports, at their core are about winning, and in order to win you need the best players available to you. The owners of every major sport in the world didn't all get together and say, "Hey, let's help the racial divide by giving minorities a chance to make a living playing this game." No, they went out and found the athletes with the highest skill set and thought it was a wise decision to pay them for that skill regardless of race, creed or anything else that makes one person different than the next.

There were a few facts that GMA pointed out that I thought did not help their point in the story.

1) The kid is a pitcher. While pitchers aren't often thought to need a lot of mobility there are very specific plays in baseball where a pitcher needs to be able to run. Covering bunts was brought up in the piece. I can also think of covering home plate in the event of a passed ball and a runner on third. And, a ground ball fielded by the first baseman often requires the pitcher to cover first. These are not un-athletic moves and often turn into a foot race between the pitcher and the base runner. You would be a pretty bad coach if you simply over looked this skill set for your pitching staff. While they didn't give his 40, 60 or shuttle times in the piece, they did have ample footage of him walking at it looked a bit awkward and forced leading me to believe mobility in any of these situations would definitely be an issue.

2) The kid has a fastball of 80 mph. Without calling names I could go through a litany of guys I grew up with playing against that at the little league level threw the equivalent of 80 and were dominant. Probably the case with this kid. But, like all those guys I'm not naming, everybody else grew up too and by the time we were playing varsity baseball, the kids you used to fear were the ones you hoped were pitching because their 80mph fastball was the same as it was 5 years before. What used to be dominating was now basically a batting practice equivalent fastball. I played on a lot of pretty good baseball teams growing up and an 80mph fastball was easily on the low end for most of the guys on our staff. It certainly is not an impressive number and I'd also venture to say it's probably not accurate as there was no video footage of a gun actually recording an 80mph fastball.

3) The kid is right handed. If you know anything about baseball this is a big factor. If he's left handed and throws 80 and can't run but has other decent off speed stuff, he probably makes the team.

The thing that gets to me most about this story is that it's so easy to see this situation isn't about this kids disability or his ability to overcome it to this point in his life, but the media sensationalizing it and skewing the facts to get a reaction out of the uninformed masses sitting on their couch drinking their morning coffee. Whoever the correspondant was doing the story said the kid had a real shot as a big league prospect. This is just a ridiculous statement and no big surprise that there were no MLB scouts offering their opinions on his skills.

Jim Abbott is probably one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game and he only had one hand. His disability didn't hold him back because the rest of the skills he brought to the table made up for the fact that he only had one hand. There was another story I saw the other day about a division one basketball player who is an amputee from the elbow down on one arm. At some point, his playing career will probably end as well, but for now, he's able to bring other skills like size to the table to make up for that fact.

Unfortunately for this young man he's reached that point where, at least to this coach, the level of the game has passed his skill set. It sucks. Believe me, I know. But no coach would be around very long if he cut talented players simply because they didn't have the legs he was born with. If you're good enough to play, you'll play regardless of what may be seen as a disability to others.

I'm not here to bash this kid. In fact I think it's great that he's overcome all of the obstacles he had to just to make it to this point in his life, much less baseball. He loves the game of baseball and wants to keep playing and he's hurt that now he's reached that point where the level of the game has passed the skill set he has to offer. Unfortunately, this happens at some point to 99% of the people who play sports growing up. Even the ones who work really hard and really want to be professionals. If it didn't, professional athletes wouldn't be as well paid as they are because they'd be easily replaceable.

Football Trick Shots

2011-02-09T12:15:00.005-05:00

Holy crap, this has nothing to do with cycling!

I found this retweeted on twitter through the various channels. I guess this guy is the backup QB at UConn and if you're the backup QB at a small program, this is probably the best way to showcase your arm strength and accuracy. I'm not sure how many other D1 QBs would watch this video and shrug as something they all sit around and do and never thought to film. I'm guessing a lot. Still, it's pretty good stuff if you like this kind of thing. Some of the throws are pretty impressive, especially if you go ahead an assume it was the first take on each one, which, there's no real proof of that. In my opinion the best throw is when he hits the ball that's been kicked off the tee. I would think those don't exactly fly in straight lines.

What I've never understood about these videos, since there's basketball versions all over the place, is how excited the other guys around get when he makes it. Sure it's impressive, but jump up and down, leap over a trash can impressive? I don't know...

Finally a Non-Doping Cycling Controversy

2011-02-08T09:17:00.003-05:00

The latest cycling controversy has nothing to do with anything that can be put in your body to help you perform better. Well, that's not entirely true. Radio ear pieces are inserted into your ear and without them as a modern day rider you probably perform less efficiently.

As most are aware the UCI wants to ban the use of two way radios used by riders and their directors in professional cycling. This year they have instituted a ban on the radios at all but the largest races and the riders are not happy about it. Most of them cite safety concerns about being alerted to road conditions and other crap like that. But, let's face it, most of these guys have matured through the professional ranks with someone in a team car, watching the race feed on a tv, telling them exactly what's going on. I don't have any specific statistics to back it up, but I'd be willing to bet way fewer breakaway attempts succeed these days because the team directors can tell their boys exactly how fast to ride to catch the break inside the final kilometer. This is insanely valuable information if you're the guy/s who is/are assigned to lay down a pace that will ensure the break gets caught. You don't want to catch them too quickly because other attacks will get launched. You don't want to leave it too late, because, well, you lose. Without a team director in a car with a calculator and a radio you've got to send a guy back to that car to try and find out this information. The riders can give me all the lines about safety they want, I'm not buying it.

But, the real concern here shouldn't be safety or the dissemination of information. The real concern should be what long term affects this fight between the riders and the UCI will have on the sport. We've already seen our first protest by the riders at the Mallorca Challenge. They all defied the rules by using radios and the UCI fought back by neutralizing the stage and not recording results. Tyler Farrar won the bunch sprint, but without real results he basically won a group ride on closed roads. Minus the closed roads, I now have something in common with Tyler Farrar.

On twitter this morning Robbie Hunter writes that the UCI will lose the fight. But, I'm not so sure. The UCI is nothing if they aren't stubborn and I think we can clearly see with their constant denial of ever doing any wrong and their need to always be the ones dictating policy, I don't know that they'll ever back down.

The way I see it the two sides both have these chips to play. Riders can continually defy the rule by wearing radios. Which, they've already shown is sort of a weak hand to play because even after their first little exhibition at the Mallorca Challenge they already folded for the rest of the race and will not use radios out of respect to the Mallorca Challenge fans and race promoters. At the Tour of Qatar, same thing. Riders were going to protest and then the chest beating ended when a punishment that nobody was really willing to chance was laid out in front of them. Every time the riders decide they want to protest by using radios, the UCI, who has the power here, can simply lay out some harsh punishment and call everyone's bluff.

The real test is going to be for much bigger races with a larger viewing audience and much more prestige to the winner. Sure Tom Boonen really likes being the winner of the Tour of Qatar, but I'm sure he'd trade every Qatar victory for just one more Paris-Roubaix (They can use radios at Roubaix). Criterium International and Ghent-Wevelgem are both big races where radios are banned. Player lockouts and strikes happen in other sports all the time. Maybe a unified rider strike at either of these races would get the point across. But, it just seems apparent to me that as soon as riders stop racing big time races over something as frivolous as the use of radios, sponsors start fleeing and taking their money elsewhere.

We've already seen big time teams struggle to find title sponsorship and with the other controversy that is consistently hanging over the sport like a black cloud, who in their right mind is going to pony up a few million bucks just to have their logo on the butt of some cyclist planted firmly on the ground?

I'm not saying the riders are completely wrong. And I'll admit this opinion completely omits a larger problem that the radios are really just a piece of the total problem. The UCI is basically a tyrant writing new rules without consulting the constituencies they represent. But, in the end, like most things, it's going to come down to money. If the riders stop racing their bikes I hope they all have some other form of gainful employment lined up because the money that feeds them is going to dry up pretty fast.

And, while I clearly think the safety argument from the riders is stupid, I'm not in favor of the ban. I actually think Craig Lewis has the best idea.

Connect the Dots

2011-02-04T11:56:00.004-05:00

With all the new talk about the Floyd interview and what that might mean there are a set of dots that I'm connecting that I'm not sure most people are. It's not a complicated line of logic to follow but it's sort of indirect.

Bill Strickland, editor something or another at Bicycling magazine, wrote a blog where he looked at all the podiums of Lance's 7 Tour de France victories and he wrote something along the lines of fine, you want to say Lance was on the juice, here's the other podiums and how many of those guys have been connected to doping so who do you give the award to? How far down the placings do you have to go before you find the first legitimate clean guy to FedEx a yellow tshirt too? His podiums here. And, obviously those are more my words than his because he gets paid to type things and I just do it because I want to.

Sticking with the same idea we make it to the 2006 Tour de France and Floyd wins, then he doesn't, and Oscar Pereiro becomes the new champion and he makes public statements about how Floyd stole his Tour de France title but Floyd says he knows for a fact that Pereiro wasn't clean either. Floyd was his teammate the year before on Phonak and witnessed Pereiro taking part in blood transfusions. Then Floyd says he talked to Pereiro before the final TT of the 06 Tour and Pereiro says he still has half a bag of blood to take. But, Pereiro says he's clean, Floyd says he isn't, you can decide for yourself who you want to believe. But, if we go by the same sort of logic that Strickland is using above, if Floyd's dirty then the next guy probably is too, so who should actually be winning the 2006 Tour de France?

This brings us to our most current doping controversy in this drama free sport. Three time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and contaminated beef ingestion related positive. Here are the facts, the amount of clenbuterol found in Contador's system is so little that the performance boosting affects are scientifically questionable at best. Here's another fact, on that great battle to the summit of Mt. Ventoux this is past Tour de France a seemingly clean Andy Schleck had no issue matching a doped Contador pedal stroke for pedal stroke. This can only mean a few things, 1) Contador is really clean or 2) Schleck isn't so clean either. I guess it could also mean 3) Schleck is super human going uphill but sucks against the clock?

Basically, what I'm trying to say here, is all you Andy Schleck fans out there might want to keep your stones in hand before chucking them at Contador through the walls of your glass house. I know Andy Schleck is the golden boy in the media, but I'm not sure you've got to jump to too many conclusions to connect the dots in this situation. I'm not convinced that if you want to find the real clean winner of the 2010 Tour de France your search will stop at the 2nd step of the podium.

And, please don't take this as some sort of cry to give Levi the jersey. Levi used to be a guy that was good for two weeks and then dropped time like a rock in water. There's no way I believe age and experience have suddenly made him a 3 week contender. Gonna have to keep looking down the results list further than that.

I Believe Floyd

2011-02-03T09:26:00.002-05:00

If you follow cycling and all the related drama you are well aware of the interview that Floyd Landis recently did with Paul Kimmage. I would post the link to the entire 30,000 word un-edited transcript, but, like most things that speak ill of Lance Armstrong, it has been taken down. Or, at least I can't get to it anymore.

When I started reading it I thought there's no way anything new will be said. It'll be the same old Floyd sounding a little bit crazy, but there were parts that completely blew me away. Without access to actually quote them, I'll be paraphrasing as best I can remember so, bear with me.

First, I've always thought that Lance Armstrong doped his way to 7 Tours de France victories. I've had conversations with people as far back as 2004 where I took that exact stance. Whenever he was questioned about it he always took the exact same stance that I did when I was questioned about my fake ID at the age of 19. I would pretend to be completely outraged that anyone would question me. I would act tired of reciting my birth date and address. I would then grab the idea back from the person and insist that I would take my business elsewhere. Sound a bit familiar?

What I didn't ever say was that I blamed him for it, just like I don't blame Floyd, or any other guy who wants to race, much less win, the Tour de France. I've always taken the stance that every single one of us makes some sort of decision at work because that's what we're expected to do or even what we think we have to do to keep our jobs. For some of us those decisions are easy, for others, they are not. One could obviously make comparisons to other professions decisions that need to be made, but that's neither here nor there. For a Pro Tour level cyclist, that's the decision you have to make and I am not about to point the finger at anyone, whichever direction they decide on. So again, I've always thought that Lance doped, just like I always thought everyone else did also, but I never realized how corrupt and just how much of an asshole he is.

There were two main pieces of that interview that stunned me.

1) When Mercury stopped paying Floyd and the UCI wouldn't force the team to pay him out of the bank guarantee and Lance stepped in to tell Floyd to quite down and even apologize because down the road they'd need a favor, ie., make a positive go away like (maybe just like Lance's 1999 test), I was pretty blown away.

So that's how you do it? Wow. Tough to fault anybody for doping when you proceed under the impression that the guys who are meant to govern the sport are complicit in the act. It's one thing if everybody dopes and everybody has the same access to all the same drugs. Then, essentially the playing field is leveled. But, if only the biggest and richest stars can dope without having to worry about a positive test because it can be made to disappear, then the playing field's not really so level is it?

2) People always talk about how much of a difference the dope makes. I've always found that the people talking about this difference aren't the people on the juice and therefore don't have a first hand experience of just how effective the stuff is. The reason for this is pretty obvious; if you are juiced up you can't exactly come out and say how much better you’re riding thanks to the extra blood bag you just shot up the night before. But, in this case, we have Floyd, who has stopped pretending like he was clean and flat out said, it's helpful, but probably not 40% more helpful, which is the made up statistic that is generally thrown around.

Floyd says in the interview that the stuff helps, but you still have good days and bad days. It's no surprise that his incredible ride in stage 17 on the way to Morzine at the 2006 Tour was the day after a transfusion, but, the wattage numbers have been looked at from that day, and it wasn't exactly impressive from the standards of a guy with double the fresh red blood cells in his veins. So, who knows, maybe everybody else was just too tired to chase?

In fact, Floyd says that the guys in the peloton speak pretty openly about what they're doing and that he knew, from speaking to Oscar Pereiro (who denies all of this, obviously) that he still had half a bag of blood to transfuse before the final time trial. If you remember, Floyd ended up beating Pereiro in that time trial by enough to take the yellow jersey back and win the 2006 Tour de France. Floyd doesn't specifically say that he didn't juice more before that last day, but he does say that he knew Pereiro had the bag and that he still wasn't worried because he knew he was just a better time trialist.

Again, this is pretty useful because if the stuff is going to make you 40% better and the guy I need to beat basically has a turbo button and I don't, I'm pretty nervous about my chances. Even with knowing that Pereiro would be juiced up for the final TT, Floyd still knew he could beat him. So is the stuff effective? Of course, but it's probably not the turbo button that everybody thinks it is. Especially if you just go ahead and admit to yourself that everybody else is doing it too.

So again, I believe Floyd. Why? That'd be a good question because he did write a book that I bought that was 100% about how he didn't use drugs. But I believe him because at this point he's giving this information away. We live in a world where TMZ and all the other smut rags are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to get first pictures of celebrities kids. This morning I watched another 20 minute piece on GMA about Charlie Sheen. If Floyd wanted to, he could make all of his money back by selling this information to those news outlets about how everybody's cancer hero used drugs. If the person that Floyd is essentially accusing of doping all these years wasn’t a huge celebrity, then there’d be no opportunity to sell it and, there obviously is. But that's not what he's doing. Instead, he sat down with a journalist, answered a ton of questions and then allowed the unedited transcript to be posted online for anybody who was interested to read it.

I'm not sure what implications this has for cycling in America or the world or if at all. The more of this stuff that comes out the more convinced I am that Lance Armstrong is in a ton of trouble. And I also have a feeling that Lance isn't a guy that's going to go down alone which means that all his boys from all of those postal days, which makes up most of the popular US Cyclist (Hincapie, Zabriskie, Vande Velde) probably aren’t sleeping so well either.

I do know that the more I read about all of these exceptions being made of Lance recently it adds a ton of credibility to what Floyd's saying about his power to have the higher ups make positives go away. What exceptions you might ask? When Lance came out of retirement the UCI waived his biological passport requirement so he could race the Tour Down Under. At this year's Tour of California there's another doping requirement being waived for Lance if he wants to race there. I get that race directors would be foolish not to push to have Lance at their race. Any race with Lance is bigger than without. But if the UCI and WADA and any other governing body wants the public to believe that they were and are anything but complicit in the doping issue, these would be good times to tell even Mr. Armstrong that he's not above the law. Or, maybe he is?

Losing Motivation

2011-02-02T12:02:00.003-05:00

Back in November I decided I wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon for a really good reason. I want, and always have wanted, one of these:

When I decided to do this I convinced myself that running through the winter would be better than riding through the winter and I've got to tell you, no the weekends, it is. Going out for 10-15 miles in sub freezing temps for a run is a bit easier to do than the equivalent long ride. It's easier to stay warm and besides the occasional 20mph wind gust freezing my face off, I can generally tune out the cold and just run.

When I first started this plan I was able to run outside at lunch. Now it's gotten a bit cold for that considering that I'd have to bring tights and the whole super hero get up to work on a daily basis. The obvious solution to that was run on the treadmill and while that was ok for a while, I'm over it. I just can't seem to get motivated to run on the treadmill at all anymore. This really shouldn't be surprising since it's about the most boring thing you can do. I rode indoors on my rollers the other day and was blown away by how much easier it was to mentally get through a hard 90 minute roller session with intervals than to stay on the treadmill for even 5 minutes. As soon as I start I just want to get back off.

So, here I sit, typing this instead of running during my lunch hour. It's supposed to be close to 50 today so I was looking forward to getting the change to run outside. When I just checked the weather, it's 35 and feels like 32. Warmer than I'll probably run in this weekend, but I didn't bring the right clothes for it.

All of this for a silly jacket. Hell, I don't even care if I run 9 hours in Boston (ok, that's not completely true) but I just want to qualify once and get my jacket. And, while we're sort of talking about motivation, why is it easier to get motivated to run 15 miles in 20 degree weather than 30-45 minutes indoors on a treadmill in a temperature controlled environment? That part confuses me a bit also.

Alright, I better go run because later Jill will ask me about it and I like telling her I did it rather than making up an excuse. I want warmer weather and longer bike rides!

State of the Union and a Hail Storm

2011-01-26T09:55:00.000-05:00

I think I need to write more. I had a paper due in one of my grad classes and the act of just getting it going was tough. That’s usually not the case when I spend just a little bit of time each day filling in the 4 relatives of mine who read this thing on what’s going on inside my brain. If you’re reading this, you realize this place is mostly used for commentary and filled with grammatical and spelling errors, but if nothing else, it helps to keep that side, whichever side it actually is, of my brain working when it’s actually needed for class.

There’s another cycling blog I frequent, http://www.theservicecourse.com/ where the guy (who happens to live just blocks from me in Alexandria but we don’t know each other, but maybe we should) ends each of his posts with a section called the “Broomwagon.” For those of you not in the know, the broomwagon is the car that follows a bike race and when riders abandon, they are swept up in the broomwagon. Or, rather, they get into the thing and generally slump down and try to stay out of direct sight of the fans who are going to try and figure out who dropped out. At the 2009 Tour of California I saw Freddy Rogriguez in the broomwagon on the last stage but he clearly didn’t care about being seen as he was waving cheerfully, probably happy to not have to climb Cole Grade outside of San Diego. But, I digress. I bring up this idea of the broomwagon simply to give myself an outlet to write about things I’m thinking about if they wouldn’t make an entire post on their own. And, with that in mind, here we go:

--

I watched the State of Union last night and wasn’t entirely sure what to think. I’ve always been a big believer in the saying “Actions speak louder than words” so when politicians cut into network programming to speak, I generally take whatever they say with a grain of salt. One commentator summed up the speech by comparing it to cotton candy, it sweet but doesn’t fill you up. I think that’s probably about right, but, to be fair, what’s he supposed to say? People who listen to these speeches and then get all fired up from the promises of the president are probably the same people who get really disappointed when all of the change that Obama ran on hasn’t quite made its way into reality yet.

To me, the most telling piece of that speech had nothing to do with what Obama had to say. It was the democrats and republicans sitting with each other as opposed to across the isle. Hopefully, this is the first step to a government where cooperation and compromise start to enact change. For as long as I can remember it’s always appeared to me that the reason our government doesn’t get much accomplished is because the biggest issue isn’t the issues at all. It’s the power struggle between the democrats and republicans who instead of compromising, filibuster and sabotage any bill from the other party. Maybe America is finally sick of this behavior and government is taking note. Maybe we’ve finally elected some officials who are tired of not actually accomplishing anything in this old style. Whatever the case is, I’m encouraged for the first time in a long time, but, we’ll see what happens…

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This commuting by bike thing has been working out. Today the weather was a beautiful 36 degrees, wind chill somewhere in the high 20s with a mix of drizzle and sleet. At first it was just drizzly, which is no big deal but then about ¼ of the way to work it turned into sleet which, without sugar coating it, sucks. However, somewhere along the way I started smiling and really enjoying the ride in. My fingers were freezing off and my face but the exfoliation of the sleet on my face has got to be great for my complexion. But, the reason I started smiling is because I remember the last time I was on the Fondriest and found myself riding through upper 30 degree weather in sleet (well, that time it was actually big pieces of hail).

It was on my bike trip and I was leaving Show Low, Arizona and crossing into New Mexico heading to a tiny little town called Quemada. It had rained the entire previous day and through the night but when I woke up that morning I could see that the storm had moved off to the east in the direction I was going. The roads were damp but for the first 4 hours of that day I had completely clear skies and temps around 70. At this point my trip I was really starting to struggle with being lonely and just wanting it to be over so this clear day was turning out to be pretty great.

As I followed the storm up ahead I could sort of tell that I was catching it but I was hoping that maybe I wouldn’t. About 20 miles from Quemada it suddenly got really dark and really cold and I knew my luck had run out. This stretch of country is high desert at about 6,000’ of elevation and there were no trees or anything taller than me on a steel bicycle in sight. So, when the first bolt of lighting hit the ground I started to get a little nervous. It of course started to rain but with no place to take shelter I kept on pedaling because I figured I didn’t have any better option. As more lighting struck in places that seemed a bit too close for comfort and the thunder boomed loud enough to actually vibrate me and the bike, I peddled faster. The sudden drop in temperature wasn’t helping matters and I was starting to shiver and lose feeling in my hands. When the rain turned to hail I started to curse and even I was a little surprised I had kept in until that point. The occasional car would drive by and optimistically I would stick out my thumb. Not that any of these cars or trucks were obligated to pick up some weirdo riding through a hail storm on a bike pulling a trailer, but I would curse at their taillights all the same.

After what seemed like forever but was probably 15 minutes of surviving the hailstorm a white extended cab pickup truck pulling a trailer pulled over in front of me. As I approached the driver was already out of his truck to stop me, took my bike and trailer and put them in his trailer and told me to get in. When I got into the truck his wife handed me a quilt and I saw on their digital thermometer in the rear view mirror that it was 34 degrees. It took a while before I stopped shivering enough to actually tell them where I was going and why. They were nice enough to drive me the remaining 10 or so miles into Quemada and drop me off at a service station where I could get some coffee and call the family I was staying with. I have no idea who those people were but I wish I did so I could send them a Christmas card/thank you note every single year.

I’m sure if they hadn’t stopped I would have made it into Quemada just like I made it to work this morning but it wouldn’t have been pleasant and that’s why I was probably the only cyclist commuting to work this morning with a smile on my face. This beautiful January morning reminded me of another ride and the kindness of strangers.

BCS Championship Game Recap in 10 pts or less.

2011-01-11T09:38:00.003-05:00

This should be quick.

Last night I watched what must have been the worst national title game I've seen. And, by the reaction to sports fans that I follow on twitter and facebook, I'm not alone in this observation.

Here's what I took away from it:

1) Dear SEC everyone, stop talking about how f'in great you are. If you were so good you would have destroyed the Oregon team from the weak Pac-10. Instead, what we saw, were two teams that were probably just about evenly matched play a pretty crappy football game. They both had a seemingly infinite amount of time to prepare for each other and were able to pretty much contain the other's offense.

2) Chip Kelly is insane with play calling, both good and bad. He goes from looking like a genius with huge balls on his 2 pt conversion and fake punt that both work, to, in my opinion, three to four terrible play calls in a row on the goal line.

3) Great athletes don't make great [name sport or position] players. Cam Newton is an incredible athlete but he's just an ok quarterback and that seemed obvious.

4) What was up with the field? It's the biggest game of the year and you have some turf down that guys are slipping and sliding all over? Good job Fiesta bowl.

5) It's easy to say retroactively that someone should have taken the points instead of getting stuffed on 4th and goal, but when you lose the game by 3, you gotta sort of wonder what Chip Kelly was thinking? I know you run a razzle dazzle offense with like 80,000 option reads and all, but you're really going to just leave points on the field because you think you can score 50 in the second half?

6) Farley, the DT for Auburn should have been the MVP.

7) Oregon's socks were ridiculous. Their helmets were worse. I sort of love that they have absolutely no desire to conform to any of the norms about a uniform. It's obviously that Nike is a big fan of that fact as well.

8) TCU would have beat either of those teams.

9) So would Wisconsin.

Floyd Landis, A Man of Many Talents.

2010-11-03T08:42:00.004-05:00

So there's this. Apparently, the Floyd Landis as a hacker case is real, at least to some dope of a french judge. I can't really wrap my head around this entire thing for a few reasons. Allow me to expound in no particular order.

1) In my opinion, which may be wrong, but I feel as though a court case shouldn't be a total waste of time. If the state is going to prosecute someone I feel like there should be a good reason to do so. I also realize as I type this, that this happens all the time, but in a case that will require a US citizen to travel to France to defend himself on allegations of hacking into a database of lab results, what's the real end game? What do they really hope to prove? Even if Floyd really did do it, doesn't it seem as though the real charges should be attempted identity theft or something along those lines? Basically a drug lab got hacked, what's the worst that happened, somebody found out a bunch of people's blood types? Or, maybe, from a complete conspiracy theory angle, the french are mad because some positive tests they're hiding could have been found. Ohhhh...

2) Am I really supposed to believe that Floyd Landis is a computer hacker? Remember the movie Hackers from the 90s? I must have watched that movie a dozen times as a young teen. It made hacking seem so cool and it was right about the time that internet became readily available where I lived. I even tried to do some computer hacking of my own. Though, I found that when I tried to hack into other computers I was not presented with visual of binary code forming columns and I also never seemed to float through the inside of a computer's motherboard looking to unleash my cookie monster virus at just the right section of 000000001. Yes, those are incredibly geeky references to this movie. I also remember that I wanted to spray paint my dad's computer tower in camouflage since that's clearly what all the real hackers do. That request was denied. Basically, what I'm saying, is that while Hackers the movie was probably a far far cry from what actual hacking involves (for full disclosure I did once successfully hack into some else's computer. However, it was mainly a .exe file that I tricked them into downloading and then it gave me access to their cd-rom, keyboard and the ability to screen shot their desktop. Randomly opening and closing someone's cd-rom drive and changing the order in which keys type was fun, but not really hard core.), I don't think Floyd would know how to do it any better than I do. Could he have hired someone? Sure, but why isn't that guy being called to France? And, at the time this alleged hacking took place, Floyd had plenty of dough to pay off a hacker. I mean, if that's what happened and that guy ratted you out, don't you think you admit to that?

Watch this movie. The sub-title is clearly foreshadowing for Floyd Landis in some way.

3) The comments on the VeloNews article once again restore my faith in the fact that most people who take the time to post comments to articles are insanely ridiculous. (The same could probably be said for people who write blog posts about comments being made on articles...) Most of these people clearly hate Floyd, which is fine, but I was pretty surprised when some say things like, "I'd like to see him defend himself in the french court..." to which I sort of wonder, why? I'm pretty sure the US is not going to extradite (I have no basis for this belief) Floyd on stupid hacker charges and it seems pretty clear that all of France is not Floyd's biggest fan so he probably doesn't much of a fair shot at this trial, so if I'm Floyd, I just go ahead and make France one of those countries I'm never allowed to go to again on va-kay. Why would Floyd want to pay to defend himself in this mess? It won't prove anything either way. I think this is one of those court orders you conveniently ignore. He could always take a super aggressive stance like the golden boy and say he's not participating in a witch hunt. That would at least get some blind American backing.

4) I feel like I already covered this, but who gives a damn?

Cyclocross Rivalries

2010-10-15T10:01:00.004-05:00

I really like this little blog. I like writing about things that are not about me. Mostly those things that I write about are cycling related and for most people that's simply not interesting. So me and this little blog run into a bigger problem of things to write about when for the casual cycling fan the road season has come to a close and my personal favorite time of the year, cyclocross, has started.

I've expressed how hard I find it to describe cyclocross to someone who's never heard of it many times. We're a niche within a niche so that makes it pretty tough. I guess this shouldn't really matter to me because I've never bothered with google analytics (?) to see how many people stop by and read my ramblings, so I suppose it's not out of the question that I just write about whatever I want to write about and assume that it's simply getting lost in the interwebs. Which, I also suppose, is fine.

That brings me, in a totally unrelated sort of way, to today's topic, rivalries. Boy do I love a good rivalry. There's just something about a group of people deciding they dislike another group of people for really no good reason beyond their own attraction for someone or some other team. I am a pretty firm believer in that rivalries are 100% good for any sport. You know why Nebraska decided to leave the Big 12? Mainly because they felt like their old rivalry game with Oklahoma was being ignored. When Nebraska officially moved to the Big 10, both Michigan and Ohio St. were quick to make sure that their game stayed on the schedule. Both of those schools need that game. College football needs that game. Rivalries are what keep sports interesting and meaningful and they extend well beyond the scoreboard.

Cyclocross, while growing, is still a terribly small niche within the already niche sport of cycling. The races are often not close to where you live and the tiny amount of coverage they are given make it very difficult to follow and stay up to date on. One website trying to fix that, and doing a pretty good job, is cyclingdirt.org. Through their attempt to bring better coverage to the sport, they've also shined the light on a rivalry that has apparently existed for quite some time between Tim Johnson, current National Champ and Johnathon Page, former multi-time National Champ.

The first time I became aware of the rivalry was watching videos of the 2009 GP Gloucester last year when this happened:

Visit cyclingdirt.org for more Videos

Let me try to break the video down, just a bit, to help people who may still actually be reading but not understand what they saw. In a cross race there are sections, sand especially, that you are a huge advantage if you are in the front. The reason being, if the guy in front of you looses his line or dismounts and has to run, you then have to go around him through a bad line which may force you to dismount giving the guy in front a huge advantage. Similarly, if you're in front and you bobble then at least everyone behind you is equally affected and you are in a sense still in control of the situation. These two guys, Page (who crashes) and Johnson (the one with his leg out) both want to be in the front going into the sand so they are racing for the entrance.

Here are Page's post race comments when asked about it:

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And Johnson's at about :38 :

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There's also a video of Jeremy Powers who's response is basically, "rubbin' is racin' and we're all friends."

Disclaimer:This is where I clearly take a side and show my loyalty in this rivarly.

I could dig up a ton of videos of Page after every race he doesn't win complaining about how everybody was using negative tactics and nobody rides hard and nobody wants to race and nobody's being aggressive and blah blah blah. But oddly enough, these comments only come after he doesn't win. Page races mostly in Europe where, rumor has it, the races are way more aggressive than in the states, with guys chopping corners for 30th place, so it seems odd, that he's always upset when these things happen in the US. This year in Madison for the first round of the USGP, while there's no video of the incident, apparently Page took issue with Johnson once again.

Look here at about :15 where he interrupts an interview.

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And here, in his own interview, where he can't even answer questions he's so angry:

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This is how Ryan Trebon responded on twitter after the race.

Powers once again denied all rivalry. Which I actually believe because he's probably the nicest person in lycra.

But, I think this video, if you can actually get through it all, the bike geek level is really, really high if you haven't noticed, these guys, totally independent of the situation, without naming names, pretty much call Page out. My assumption is that he's "that guy" when they say "that guy," but I could be wrong.

Visit cyclingdirt.org for more Videos

Anyway, what do I know? No matter who's at fault I think having a rivalry like this is 100% good for the sport. Polarizing figures/situations make people take sides and when you take a side you cheer louder for your guy. This weekend at the World Cup in Switzerland will be the first time these two have raced on the same course since Madison at the USGP. With the larger field size and both guys having to start 3rd or 4th row it seems unlikely that they'll be spending as much time in small groups where they can annoy one another as they do over here. That's also the unfortunate thing about this rivalry, it's pretty short lived on a yearly basis since Johnson races mostly in the US and Page races almost exclusively in Europe. But, you take what you can get I suppose.

What I'd really like to see is a Ryan Trebon v. Jeremy Powers rivalry. It sort of exists. I feel like there's a the Kona v. Cannondale mind set with a lot of fans. It doesn't hurt any that the Kona guys are west coasters and the Cannondale guys are east coasters. I think it would be good for both of those bike companies if they could figure out a way to build that rivalry up. I have no ideas for how to make that happen. Especially since they also seem to actually like each other, which, in my experience, dampens the spirit of a true rivalry.

First Cross Race, Ouch!

2010-10-11T09:46:00.003-05:00

I don't want to make any excuses here, I basically sucked. I raced in the 3/4 instead of the 4 because it had a 2 hour later start time, 11am, and I figured it wouldn't be that much fast. Truth be told, I don't know if it was that much faster or if I was just going that slow the whole time. But I finished way, way, way, way off the leaders and must closer to the last place guy than the first place guy.

The course was not suited to someone like me. Of course the only course actually suited to my needs would be on that starts at sea level, ends about 1,000 to the 2,000 feet higher. Throw some barriers and a few tricky corners to screw up the purest of pure climbers and I probably have a chance. This course was a fun one, but only gained an approximate 1' of elevation per lap. There were technical sections but there also a lot of wide open power sections, which, made one of my greatest limiters glaringly obvious. That limiter being the ability to put power down.

I started pretty much in the back because they staged us by registration number. I registered like a week before the race so apparently that means I start in the back. I felt like I got a decent start, you know, considering and was trying to make my way up through the first half of the course. Somewhere in there, and I'm not exactly sure where by my moving up switched to moving back and that was a pretty consistent theme for the rest of the day.

Things you need in a cross race:
-Power
-Bike Handling Skills
-Snap
-Muscular endurance, a lot!
-Aerobic endurance, not a lot, but it certainly helps.
-Will power.

Things I had for this race:
-will power.
-1/2 bike handling skills.

Will power does not win races. It does however make you fight really hard to catch the group of three guys in front of you that somehow seems to be getting further and further away. It then transitions that focus to holding off the guy behind you who seems to be getting closer by the lap until he finally passes on the last power section. It also motivates you to sprint to get on his wheel which I was unable to accomplish.

So, the positives, because I mean, it was still fun:
- I beat the guy in the bowling shirt. But, if there were 2 more laps, who knows.
- My tubeless tire set up seemed to work great. I was running about 30lbs of pressure in both tires and with all the roots in the tree section I'm pretty sure I would have flatted with a tube in there.
- There was an obstacle of logs lining a walking path. The course went over it, 180 degree u-turn and then back over it again. I rode that section every lap which makes me feel good about my bike handling skills. Not sure it was faster to ride but I wasn't getting passed by guys getting off their bikes either. Even in traffic.
- I was sort of motivated before, now I'm really motivated because getting your ass kicked by that much is bad for your soul, or something like that.

Links to Cool Stuff You, yes You, Should See

2010-10-07T10:21:00.003-05:00

Random things I've run across today that I think you should see.

Read this article about the current life of former Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. Like him, hate him or refrain from caring, but this is a pretty piece about a guy who seems to honestly want to right his wrongs. He's still one of my favorite pro bike racers, even if he isn't really a pro bike racer anymore.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5652787

I pretty much stand by my position that Greg LeMond is an old, angry, bitter man. But I saw an add for the new trainer that his company, LeMond Revolution put out and this thing is genius! I'm still a much bigger fan of riding on rollers but sometimes a trainer would be nice. Like the times where you just want to watch a movie and not worry about getting caught up in a chase scene and following the action left to the point that you are now crashing into the wall. Yeah, that's happened to me more than once. The problem with trainer and rollers has always been that they destroy your tires, problem solved!
http://www.lemondfitness.com/product_detail/465/lemond-revolution

My personal favorite pro ass cyclocross racer is Jeremy Powers. Like most folks I pick my favorites based on personality and I find him entertaining, insightful and charismatic. Basically a person I'd like to hang out and ride with if I personally knew him, which I don't. This year, he's working with Sam something or another, a guy that makes cyclocross films and their putting small episodes of what is supposed to be a larger, season long film at the end. Anyway, if you go to http://www.jeremypowers.missingsaddle.com/ you can see the first three installments.

Cyclocross is a hard sport to describe. I often stumble through some "You ride a bike that looks like a road bike but has knobby, fatter tires. It's off road and on. There's obstacles..." Needless to say, that's not very good. This guy, who I just stumbled across, does a pretty good job of describing cross through a cartoon of sorts. Check it out: http://slonie.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/cx-comic/

I didn't find this one today but it's worth a mention. http://www.cyclingdirt.org/ is a website dedicated to off road cycling. That means that during the year they cover mtb races, which I don't really follow much, but during cross, they follow cross, so I go here about a ga-billion times per day. If you're a super dork like me and like pre and post race interviews from the super fast guys and some really good race coverage, get familiar with this site. This year, during the USGPs they have live video with three different cameras on the course. That's pretty awesome.

Last but not least, and I don't want to harp on this, but with Amgen Tour of California 2011 route was announced today, http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/amgen-tour-of-california-host-cities-announced/144560. Is it just me or does bringing back the Solvang TT seem like an obvious attempt to give Levi an edge? The state is GIGANTIC! They're going to new places every year. Solvang is a cool little town and all, but there are other places that could host a great TT. Even a hilly TT like this one which Levi seems to really like and win. I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist here, but it just seems like the head honcho for the ToC is a big Levi fan. I'm just saying...

Winning the Tour with Seasonal Allergies

2010-10-01T10:10:00.003-05:00

I haven't really formed much of an opinion or done much research on the Contador testing positive news. My initial response, since it's a positive for Clenbuterol, which is a steroid product used inhalers, was that I remembered an interview I read with him a few years ago where he complained about having really bad seasonal allergies and that he liked it when it rained so that he could breath. I also remembered his losing one of the week long stage races, maybe Paris-Nice, and he blamed it on allergies. Who knows?

I'm not sure I care if he's positive or not. He's trying to go with some food ingestion theory, who knows, maybe it's true. I find it more surprising this year since his performance, while obviously good enough to win, wasn't that explosive form that he usually embarrasses everybody else with. If he had tested positive last year it would have been the same as when Ricco tested positive after riding faster than the motorcycles to the summit finish. But not this year, it just didn't go that way. It seemed like he was always on his limit and sort of relieved that nobody else was just a tad better. Maybe that means that in 2007-2009 he was way doped up and this year he was only a little doped up. Again, who knows?

The other thing that jumps out at me is the timing. Why'd it take this long to report the positive? Floyd's positive was announced within a week of the end of the Tour. This was announced at the end of September? I'm sure they told him ahead of time as that seems to be the practice, but what took it so long to hit the media? Especially the American media who have a pretty clear anti-Contador agenda. A Contador positive will make all the Armstrong lovers out there shout with "I knew its!"

Maybe I'm just a cynic but I just don't care any more. I want the sport of clean up like everybody else but when this story hit the velonews front page, I skipped it to read about cyclocross races I'd already read about. I guess I'll be more interested after the trial or case or hearing or whatever they're going to hold to decide what happens.

One thing that I do find sort of ironic, no Riss rider is ever caught up in these scandals. It's clear that this one pre-dates the Riss/Contador relationship, but, it's there now. With everybody else fleeing the Riss Cycling ship I wonder how Riss plans on handling the situation? Seems like in the past he'd have taken a hard line right from the start, but when it's your new golden boy that essentially brought the sponsor money in, it's got to be a little tough to tell him he's out of a job.

Lion Attack

2010-09-08T09:28:00.002-05:00

This shouldn't take long.

This morning on Good Morning America there was a story about a Lion attacking his trainer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Here's a youtube clip of the video:

1st, that dude is not being attacked. If he was being attacked, this video doesn't end with him hobbling away. It ends in two ways, 1) carted off on a stretcher. 2) a few weeks later he's being passed through the Lion's poop. It looks like there's a 400lb animal who wants to rough house a little bit. I also feel like if he's really being attacked the other trainer doesn't come over and coax the Lion off, he gets the hell out of dodge.

I'm not a crazy PETA person and I really have no problem with these kinds of exhibits, but when a wild animal acts like a wild animal I don't think there should be some insane overreaction with investigations and even the remote possibility that the animal be put down as a result. That Lion did not seek out to live it's life at the MGM Grand and because of that, if the Lion occasionally acts like a Lion who would prefer to live in it's natural habitat, I don't blame it. If you chose to be a lion trainer this is an inherent risk that you take and I find it telling that you never hear the trainers coming out and saying the animal did anything wrong.

For all of my waxing I think Gilbert Arenas on his blog a few years ago during shark week summed up my point the best (of course I am paraphrasing), "Nobody gets attacked by a shark. The shark lives in the water, you don't. You're the one trespassing. If you're at home watching tv and a shark comes into your house and bites you while you're on the couch, that's an attack." There's been on update on how Gilbert feels about sharks carrying unloaded weapons.

Good Move by Trek

2010-09-02T09:07:00.004-05:00

Sticking with the theme from yesterday of bike companies supplying bikes to top level riders, Andy Schleck just announced via twitter that he and Frank will be riding Trek's next year. I'm not sure what the rest of their team will be riding, but this is obviously a great move for Trek.

No other bike company in the world, except maybe Cervelo, but on a much smaller scale, has seen their business explode like Trek has, simply because a fan favorite rode their bikes to victory. Trek could either predict the future or got extremely lucky when they landed the Postal Service contract and Lance Armstrong crazed fans around the world all rushed out to ride bikes with the same decal on them.

I would imagine, but I'm obviously just guessing, that Trek's market share declined a bit during Lance's first retirement and would start to fade even more now that his second retirement is much less of a ride off into the sunset sort of fashion. This would leave Trek trying to figure out what team they can provide bikes to that would most likely lead to another craze from fans to ride the same bike as their hero. Sure RadioShack seems to be sticking around for another year, but I also assume that Trek won't be too sad to put some distance between themselves and Johan the wizard of eBay (unconfirmed and not his actual eBay user name).

If I were Trek the obvious and logical answer is the new team without a name from Luxembourg which happens to have every American's new favorite grand tour hope if only because they hate the Spanish guy that was mean and beat their previous hero, Andy Schleck. I don't know what kind of hold Trek has on the Luxembourg bike market, or if there is a Luxembourg bike market, but they certainly like their place in America and since Americans like to look like their heros, I'm sure that Trek hopes that this Contador-is-the-devil and Andy-is-the-savior made up rivalry plays itself out for years. Which, thanks to VeloNews, it probably will and America will sit on the edge of their desk chairs waiting to learn the latest reason to hate Contador and Specialized but love Andy and Trek.

I'm just hoping that Trek's new commercials can compete with the Specialized commercial from this past TdF where Andy Schleck claimed to knock out a bear. While this claim is totally unreasonable since he's the only person on the planet with skinnier arms than me, it makes for riveting advertising. I could barely contain my need to own a Specialized bike as soon as he said that, because I once saw a bear while riding my bike and I'm pretty sure if I'd been on a Specialized I'd have been much less scared and would have simply got off and fought it. If you missed it, the commercial is below. Now, let's all wait and see what Trek comes out with, probably something involving rain and fireflies.

Garmin-Cervelo Merger

2010-09-01T08:50:00.005-05:00

I'm just going to come right out and say it, I'm anti the Garmin-Cervlo merger. I read an interesting piece a few weeks ago, which I'm too lazy to find and post a link for you, describing just how bad of a decision it was for Cervelo to start their own team and how much more successful they were as the bike supplier for Riss Cycling Inc. (CSC and then Saxo Bank). What most bike companies need to remember, and what most pro level teams always know, is one high end carbon frame is just as good as another. Pro teams need bikes but they don't need your bike. Obviously most consumers forget this fact which is obvious by fat dudes riding $5,000+ carbon frames because their man crush won a big race on it. But I'm sure if you could get Fabian Cancellara off the record to tell you what the best bike he's ever ridden is, he'd have a tough time narrowing it down. As they say in the industry, they're all laterally stiff while vertically compliant.

This little test team that Cervelo put together was mostly a bust. To me it seemed like they could never quite decide if they were going to be a classics team, where they had reasonable success, if you could success as a lot of podium finishes but never the top step, and pretty dismal grand tours, thanks in a large to Carlos Sastre, who apparently thinks just showing up is good enough to meet contract obligations. When you're the bike company and you decide to step out on your own you better win some races, else, what's the point of funding it from both sides? For the most part, Cervelo failed to do that, which is why they are now closing up shop and moving back into a role that makes more sense for them in the market place, bike supplier, not team management.

So, while I think Cervelo is doing a smart thing by cutting losses, I don't think the Garmin merger is the right fit. It seems to me that all the high level Cervelo riders who are now going to be donning argyle lycra have their rival already on the team's roster. I read the piece where Vaughters basically says that Hushovd and Farrar will be complimentary to one another, but I don't buy it. Is Hushovd now going to give up his attempt to win points jersey's to lead out Farrar? Doubtful. So who is Garmin going to hang their hat on? They seem to have made a huge investment in branding Tyler Farrar as the future of that team, but for the most part he's come up sort of short in grand tour sprints. Sure he's got a few, but not enough wins to wonder why they went looking for another sprinter. But Hushovd? Anybody who watched the Tour de France this year could see that his best sprint days are behind him. Pure top end speed just isn't coming out of the legs of the God of Thunder anymore and if you want to beat pure sprinters and win points jerseys, you better do better than a consistent 10th place bunch finish and getting in the early break for scraps on the road. That strategy worked for Hushovd in 2009 but he was faster then and Cav got a goose egg on one stage. In 2010 Hushovd used the same strategy and ended up 3rd in that competition. It just seems that by adding all of Cervelo's top level riders you create a delima over who you're bringing to the biggest races of year and who's working for who. I don't see either of these guys, at least honestly, behind the scenes, taking a step back and saying the other guy deserves to be the leader. When Garmin brought Julian Dean and then Robbie Hunter over to lead out Farrar it was pretty obvious that these guys, while once top level tour sprinters were now past their prime and were happy to take on a mentor role to guide the young talent. I don't see Hushovd taking that same approach.

And, this doesn't even bring up the problem of Haussler. Where the hell does he fit into the equation? 2010 was basically a bust for him, which was just royally capped by being left off the Australian World's team despite giving up his German citizenship to ride for Australia in Australia. He's been injured all year so who knows what 2011 will hold. Maybe Haussler was a one hit wonder and this question will answer itself. But if he comes back strong in 2011, that's going to also cause some scheduling issues.

I don't know where I think these guys should have gone. Maybe as an American I think that Cervelo's biggest market is America so sponsoring a Milram or FDJeux wouldn't make much sense and the other American teams are already locked into bike deals. I also realize it's easy for me to sit at my computer and say these guys won't work together and this and that but I am not the guy writing the pay checks. Vaughters seems like a really smart guy from both a business and racing stance. While I disagree with this merger, they must see value, so we'll see what happens. I do think this clearly points to the fact that Garmin will no longer even pretend to think Christian Van deVelde (sp?) can win a major grand tour. They now have the roster of a classics team who will go to grand tours to support sprinters and stage hunters. I actually think this strategy is a really smart move for them as a team, but that does not alleviate the concerns that I mentioned before. When you've got this many talented people who are all trying to win the same races, somebody's not going to be happy. Maybe this new Garmin-Cervelo team will be the modern version of Mapei. I hear Cancellara might be leaving Saxo Bank. Maybe he wants to ride an R3 again...

Figuring It Out

2010-08-24T13:24:00.003-05:00

In my opinion one of the great things about cycling is that there is no shortage of etiquette that has never been written down but is simply passed on through the generations. Some of it explicitly through direction and conversation, often times through observation from watching the guy on the ride that kicks your butt weekly. A, "Man, if he's that fast, I gotta do what he's doing," sort of thing.

I really enjoy all the aspects of cycling that make it a great club once you know how to act, but sort of keeps out the riff raff until they figure it out. Why do cyclist shave their legs? You want to know the truth? Because all the other fast guys do it and I(us) want to emulate that. I have a friend who says when he goes on group rides he tries to follow the fittest looking guy with hairy legs. Why? Because in his opinion that guys not likely to get dropped, because he looks fit, but if he does, he'll have a partner also getting shot out the back. My friend does not shave his legs. Shaving your legs is just one example of the unspoken rules of cycling that if nothing else, lets everyone around you in the group that you've committed to this masochistic sport. I'm leery of guys on rides with hairy legs. I try not to follow them or get stuck close to them when the pace starts to lift. Why? They haven't committed. They're ability to handle their bike at 28+ mph with handlebars 6 inches from mine is questionable. At the same time, I'd expect a pro would have the same concerns about riding next to me. That's just how it works.

Recently, and by recently I mean over the last 4-6 months I've noticed a growing trend that is both comical and really weird amongst people on bikes and that's the use of aerodynamic gear for everyday riding purposes. I can't tell if it's the same guy or multiple guys, but I've seen an aero TT helmet bobbing up and down the Mount Vernon Trail as I commute to and from work a bunch. The guy wearing the aero helmet isn't on a TT bike either, which makes it more odd. Some people probably wouldn't even notice. In fact, most people probably don't notice, but I do, and that guy should really get a regular helmet. But hey, at least he's wearing a helmet.

This morning, it was really windy. Not like coastal Belgium windy (not that I've ever experienced coastal Belgium wind) but none the less, windy, which is exactly why I shouldn't have been surprised to roll up on a guy from one of the local teams on his TT bike with full race wheels, disc in the back, deep section up front. He sort of caught me snickering at his disc wheel as we were stopped at the same light. But, I mean, what do you expect? You're riding at least $3gs worth of carbon wheels around on a Tuesday morning training ride? Of course I'm going to laugh at you. Isn't training supposed to be harder than races? That's why pros train on 32 spoke box section wheels, not Zip 808s.

Your equipment should have a purpose, and all of it shouldn't be for training and racing. If it's going to be, there's a level of equipment that meets that criteria. If you have to ask what it is, you should look around more at the guys that are faster than you on your local ride, you'll start to notice.

Age has almost nothing to do with this learning curve. Guys who got into the sport really young will know way more than guys who suddenly decided their disposable income should buy a $4,000 bike with a 45 degree rise stem. But, there's hope for everyone, that's the great thing about cycling. While you might not get welcomed to your first few group rides with hugs, just stick it out, and eventually, you'll either learn what you need to know, or prove that you already know it, and somebody will say hello, and at that time, you'll know you're in. When I lived in Richmond it took making it to the end of the Tuesday night ride three times before people in the parking lot started saying hello. In California, it took months before I was able to make it over the climb with the fast guys and then eventually win a few uphill sprints before I started getting welcomed into the ride. But I like that aspect. Once I made it in I felt like I'd earned it. The people there trusted me and that felt good. Riding bikes is dangerous. You can't just open your doors to anyone with a pair of lycra shorts. If you do that, you become another sport that happens to use a bike.

The guy with the aero helmet is clearly has a lot to learn and the guy with the disc on a Tuesday morning thinks he's the best in town. Both need to pay a bit more attention, but they'll figure it out. Hopefully I will too.

The "Value" of Team?

2010-08-23T10:05:00.002-05:00

I know as American cycling fans we've all been taught by the Johan and Lance era that having the strongest team possible focused on only one rider is the only way to win a stage race. In fact, many of you reading this right now probably argued that the reason you thought Lance could take down Contador at the 2010 Tour de France was because Lance's team was stacked and Contador's was not (well, that's not entirely true, they just weren't people most American's were familiar with). In 2009 I argued that the lack of cooperation from Lance and co. on Astana would do absolutely nothing to hurt Contador's chances at winning that year's TdF. The reason? Because while having a team around you is nice, if you're the best guy there, it doesn't really matter. Ok, so where's my proof? I think we only have to look back to the recently concluded 2010 Tour of Utah.

Levi rolls up to the race solo with no teammates and wins. I guess it could be argued that the Trek/Livestrong team would certainly be there to help out if needed, but in the stages that ended on mountains, none of those kids were around long enough to really be considered helpful teammates. Especially not in the Floyd with Lance in 2003 or Novarro with Contador in 2010.

In every interview Levi insisted that he wasn't there to win the race, that he only came for training, and hopefully a stage win. I don't know about anybody else, but I found this to be almost insulting to everyone else there. It's one thing to be humble, but everybody pinning on a number knew who the best guy was. All you had to do was look around and see how many other guys starting that race had return flights from Paris back at the end of July. (Sure, Hincapie and Bookwalter both raced the TdF, but neither were an overall threat there, nor in Utah.) Levi continued to say that he had no teammates and it'd be hard to control the race, but again, when you're the best guy there, especially by the leaps and bounds that he was (or Contador has been in his other 2 TdF victories), having teammates is simply a luxury. My biggest concern would be who's going to go fetch me a bottle?

The racing went pretty predictably as I thought it would. Levi doesn't lose much time in the prologue but the guys that beat him aren't threats. He wins an early big mountain day and gets a cushion. He rides a solid TT which he retains his lead. Marks the guys that are threats throughout the following stages and if he feels good on the queen stage, attack and see what happens, if you don't feel good, follow wheels and collect another domestic stage race overall win. And, that's exactly how it happened. The one scenario that throws my prediction and feeling about the supremacy of teamwork off, he flats and is forced to wait on a neutral wheel instead of having a teammate hand you theirs.

More than confirming, at least for me, my thoughts on how teamwork is sort of overrated, or at least grossly under utilized, especially in these scenarios where one guy is clearly better, is that the Tour of Utah made it really obvious just how wide the gap is between top domestic talent and the guys racing in Europe. Levi seemed to win this race by opposing is will on everyone else. At the Tour de France, he to took a beating daily. He was never close to finishing in the lead group in the big mountains and his time trial was just ok. But, when Levi comes to the Gila or to Utah all the domestic guys must be at least a little pissed. Prize money, which is arguably a lot more valuable to them than to him, is literally going up the road in a Mellow Johnny's kit. Chris Horner at the 2009 Gila remarked that "You're a pro, I'm a pro, this is a pro race," when he was asked if they should feel bad for coming and beating up on these guys. While I certainly see where he's coming from, I also sort of feel like it's the same as when my high school Varsity baseball team had to scrimmage the JV and our coach told us with absolute seriousness, "If they score, you guys lose." If Levi doesn't win when he goes to Utah, teammates or not, it'd throw up some kind of red flag to me. I don't know exactly what kind of red flag, but the final outcome just seemed so obvious as soon as he announced he was racing. The level in Europe is just so much faster than most of our top domestic pros and the level between them to your local 1,2 hero, also great. Cycling's funny that way.

Basically, I have one simple point to make that I think the Tour of Utah helped solidify, at least to me. The overall value of teammates, when it comes to racing strategy, ie., pulling back breaks, chasing down attacks, etc., has been over hyped to most of us. Whether it's Levi pulling that guy back or his teammate, his legs still have to do the work to make up that distance. Sure there's the aid of the draft, but when you're climbing, even at their speeds, the draft is so minimal that it's not the same aid as it is cruising at 30mph through some valley. If you're that much better than everybody else at the race, you're going to win, and I think that's what people should keep in mind. Nobody's bringing a squad to the Tour de France made of local cat 2s because they like the way the guys look in the kit. Everybody, except maybe some of the French squads, are bringing the best guys they have available, and in most cases, a mediocre climber (Remember, Levi wasn't even the best guy on Radio Shack in Paris. He consistently finished in a group behind Horner.) in that group would be finishing in the front group at Utah. So even if your TdF squad isn't stacked with previous podium winners, they're still a solid bunch and it's still going to come down to which team leader is better. And, in my opinion, that's what makes bike racing great. Most of the time, the best guy wins.

Bike Dreams

2010-08-13T14:13:00.002-05:00

I have dreams about bikes almost constantly. You'd think for someone so obsessed with bike racing that in my dreams I'd primarily be winning races. But in reality most of my bike dreams have nothing to do with racing. The other day I dreamed up this weird solution for bikes with only one set of bottle cage mounts on the frame. It was a cage that would somehow stick to the frame. I dreamed up some sort of adhesive that was as secure as normal mounts but could easily be removed when you no longer wanted the cage there. Seemed like an awesome solution for cross bikes if you don't want the screws in the frame while you're racing. I obviously have no background in adhesive chemistry technology so if someone else out there has some ideas on this, let me know. We could makes 10s of dollars.

I also have a recurring dream that I own a custom bike building company. I'm never the primary builder but people in these dreams are always asking me what they should do on the frames their building. I always give them answers but know that I generally just make it up on the spot. My bike building company is a sham. I don't know anything, I don't build anything, but apparently I'm successful. That's kind of weird. I like my dress code in those dreams though. Always jeans, a t-shirt and a shop apron. I guess you have to look the part.

Sometimes I have dreams where I'm a pro-ass bike racer but I'm never racing my bike. I'm always dealing with the other stuff like sponsor obligations, r&d, that sort of thing. When it comes time to race, I wake up.

Even though these are just dreams I feel like they sort of mimic my current life. I love bike racing. I want to race my bike all the time but I never seem to be able to. Something gets in the way. I only raced twice on the road this year. Another commitment just got in the way. At this rate, I'll never upgrade. I'm destined to be a 4 for life. Cross season is right around the corner and I really want to race. I want to race every weekend, but that's neither feasible or fair. Not feasible because I can't afford to race every weekend. Not fair because Jill shouldn't be subjected to standing on the sidelines of a cross race every weekend. Racing my bike is what keeps me motivated to ride, even if there are no races on my calender. It's weird. That doesn't even make sense to me and I just wrote it. Jill says sometimes when I'm sleeping and I have my hand on her that I move my fingers like I'm shifting gears. She says she knows I'm dreaming about riding my bike. I don't doubt it, but it's odd that I don't remember those dreams. Hopefully I'm winning.

Outliving Your Competition

2010-08-11T13:03:00.003-05:00

I know I'll probably catch some flack for this but I just read an article reporting that Julie Lockhart, the current women's 65+ cyclocross national champion, just won three more national titles in the 65+ road, tt and criterium events. Far be it for me to take anything away from Ms. Lockhart's national champion status but the road race, along with her cyclocross race from 2009 was, well, uncontested. She did apparently beat a field of 3 in the TT and no field sizes were reported in the crit, and quite frankly, I'm too lazy to google. it.

So what does this actually mean? Well, it certainly doesn't prove that Ms. Lockhart is fast, even in relative terms, what it proves, at least to me, is that Ms. Lockhart really enjoys the bicycle and continues to plunk down the coin to travel to national events where she's outlived her competition to claim another title.

Back when I used to race triathlon, before my Favre-esk running retirement, it was sort of a long standing joke that if you wanted to qualify for Kona you just had to wait until you're 80. For a lot of people that's the only way they'd ever qualify for that race because they can't come close to sniffing a finish time that would do it. Does this take away from an old person's accomplishment? In my opinion, it sort of does.

There are people who want to race and those that want to race. The italicized racers show up because they want to test themselves to see if they're better than the other people who also showed up. If you qualify for some event because you benefited from a slow field, that, to me, still means more than being the only 70 year old who's managed to fend of osteoporosis.

I think it's cool when old people show up to races and still have a lifestyle where they stay active and participate in races. Let's face it, the age categories in triathlons were made up to be able to recognize middle of the pack finishers for giving it a go.

When I think of cyclocross national champion I think of Tim Johnson who beat a top field of pro racers. I don't think of 65+ year old ladies who were the only ones in their category to show up. When the call up is only for 1 person, why bother running the race? Make her do a lap and hand over the jersey.

One day, when 65+ and win my first national title, I will re-write this entry proclaiming myself the greatest champion to have ever lived.

On Hold

2010-08-11T09:13:00.002-05:00

This is not going to be terribly interesting, I'll just throw that out there from the start. Nobody is going to be upset if you stop reading now.

I work in education and sometimes it absolutely baffles me that various offices around campus seem to get away with such a low level of productive service. I understand that the bottom line isn't the focus of an institution of higher learning, but when you call an office that services maybe a couple thousand people and you sit on hold for over 20 minutes, you gotta assume someone on their end just decided to either not answer, or take a smoke break.

It's also always the same offices too. You call their general line and the first thing the automated system says is to refer to the website, but shocker, their website is next to useless. When you show the patience of Job and finally get a representative on the phone, the chances your question is answered fall squarely in the "unlikely" category.

Call centers constantly monitor productiveness of their people and if you don't meet the requirements set by some metric, you get canned. I'm not saying everybody that works for these offices at universities should be losing their jobs, but would it be so terrible for these offices to have some level of accountability?

When I call United Airlines and sit on hold with them for 30 minutes it's frustrating but I also realize that they're an international company with millions of clients. In most cases, I'm at least given an answer to my question, whether it's the one I'm hoping for or not.

I think the competitive playing field of higher education is changing as more and more people seem to be perfectly happy with a degree from the university of school online. The university of school online runs their university like a business and the bottom line is key to their success. I've had plenty of interactions with students who tell me just how great their experience was with any of these online colleges. Again, I'm not saying that a degree from one of those should be valued the same as one from an established university, but, in a lot of ways, that's the way the worlds going. University offices need to start treating their customers as if they are actually customers. Treat your office as if it's a business. Develop some sort of measure of productivity so you can actually tell if you're people are doing a good job.

Then again, I guess it doesn't really matter since you have no option but to contact these offices because they are you're only option. They know it as well as you do so there's absolutely no incentive to start doing a better job. Such is life I guess...

2010 Tour de France Recap

2010-07-26T08:21:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year when the Tour de France comes to close and 90% of American cycling fans think that the cycling season has also ended. This was the first Tour de France since 2006 when I was on a bike everyday that I didn't watch it on a daily basis. This made for interesting following. I'd like to not repeat this in future July's. In no particular order of importance here's what I took away from this year's Tour de France.

- Mark Cavendish gets two goose eggs for points on two sprint stages and still finishes 2nd in the competition? I don't think you'd be crazy to assume that Mark Cavendish has a chance to win EVERY sprinter stage. With a lead out, without a lead out, he obviously just needs 200 meters of clean road and it's over. Obviously sprinting is rough and tumble activity so there's never a guarantee that any sprinter will make into the last 200 meters to actually sprint, but if he's there, he's gonna win. It has to suck to be other sprinters right now. Without a crash you are just racing for 2nd.

- You've got to give it to Thor Hushovd, for a guy who was sprinting about as fast as a Cat 3 he did his best to collect points and build a buffer. But, when you come to the line with more than 5 other sprinters and you lose to all 5 of them every time, you're not going to win that jersey.

- Since I didn't watch the stage yesterday I didn't see the jersey controversy, but I'm going to take the opposite stance that almost everybody else I've read is taking and that is, Why does Lance Armstrong thing he's above the rules that everybody else plays by? If any other team shows up to the tour and decides they're just going to wear different jersey's this day, he'd be the first to say, "well you can't do that." But, that rule doesn't apply to him? I don't care if the jersey's were symbolic of those living with cancer. Aren't all 200 bikes he came to the tour with symbolic of that as well? I understand that Lance came out of retirement to spread the good word of cancer survivor ship and all that jazz and I'm not knocking that mission. But, I also feel like that became a pretty good story line to make up for the lack of wins during this 2nd run at professional cycling. When you're winning a bunch of races you often don't need a constant gimmick to try and over shadow your mediocre results or remind everyone that you're here for some other reason. Lance has stated that he's going to be doing plenty of non bike racing starting now, couldn't he have worn his 28 jersey's then?

- It also drives me nuts that the two guys doing velo center (who are terrible by the way!) Bring back Jason Sumner and Neal Rogers and the old format! Take the time to point out, "Lance isn't happy by the way" as the video shows Lance complaining about being forced to wear the jersey of the sponsor who's actually putting up the funds for him to joy ride around France. Who gives a crap if Lance isn't happy. The story line here should be, "Lance tried to wear a different jersey, but just like you, I and he knows, that's not in the rules."

- Somewhere in the Lance comeback tour I lost interest in the story and only wanted to see results. Obviously that didn't happen. But I also got fed up with the fake rivalry between he and Contador. I also got fed up with all the people asking if Lance was working for Levi once he started giving up massive chunks of time to go for a stage win. Seriously, 90% of RadioShack fans have no clue about bike racing. I know the fairy tale is sweet and all, but come on, Levi lost California when there were other guys in the race who were actually fit. No shot he even sniffs the podium of the Tour de France on a year when there's actually talent there.

- I guess I have to mention the "chain gate" incident. I read from velonews live update "Schleck drops his chain, Contador attacks." But really, that's not what happened. Schleck attacked, Vino and Contador respond, Schleck drops his chain. That's not even close to the same thing. If I'm Contador I'm not sure I stop right there either. Contador wasn't sitting behind Andy both riding piano, Andy's chain falls off and then Contador jumps him. Tons of pro riders backed up to the idea that if you start the attack and have a mechanical, sorry about your luck. Nobody's obligated to wait. Could he have waited, maybe, but he doesn't have to. I think too much was made of this, and most of it was made by the pro-andy and pro-lance and anti-contador factions out there.

- Looks like Contador is fallible. Who would've thought? I'm obviously not training with him daily so I don't know what differences he made to his tour prep this year but he lacked all sorts of snap that we've seen in the past. If going into this tour you had said that Andy would have set a tempo up the Tourmalet that Contador wouldn't be able to attack from, I'd have said you're crazy. Obviously he didn't need all that extra fire power to win so it's sort of a moot point. But, if Andy, or even somebody like Jani Brajovic, is close in the TTs, these races are still up for grabs.

- Some french dude won the KOM. 6 French dudes won stages. And a French guy won the most aggressive rider of the race, which seems like a dumb and impossibly subjective award, especially since the winner, Chavanel, was aggressive early and on the Champs-Elysee. But, you know, if some sponsor wants to put up money for it, no problem. But, with all this french success does that mean the French will have a contender in the near future? I don't think so. As Bob Roll said when I went to hear him speak recently, "the cheese is too soft."

- I know it's easy for me to sit here and be a Monday morning quarterback on Schleck's tactics. Maybe he was already at his limit on the Tourmalet or even other stages, but if I'm him I'd rather attack Contador repeatedly in hopes of gaping for whatever time I can get and run the risk of dropping out of the top 20 than ride a super fast tempo that he's holding on to and assure myself 2nd. I just feel like at that level, 2nd is as good as 15th. You either win or you don't. I can think of another promising stage racer who wouldn't attack when he was young because he was afraid of blowing up and losing his podium spot. That guys wasn't riding in this tour de france because that strategy basically has huge long term negative side effects. That rider, Tom Danielson. Let's hope Andy doesn't turn out like Tommy D in terms of long term racing success.

- If I were Chris Horner I'm on the phone with Johan saying, "Either I lead this thing at next year's tour or I need a release." He finished top 10 at the tour and part of his job was to fetch bottles. If he's not wasting energy going back and forth from the front of the race to the team car and back or chauffeuring a broken Lance up the mountains, he's at least in the group with Sanchez and Menchov. He's the ultimate teammate so he never once complained about doing his job as it was assigned, but seriously, it's got to suck to be the best guy on a team and have your chances of doing your best ride being weighed down with 7 bottles shoved into your jersey.

- I think a lot of Americans who thought that Contador didn't have a strong team learned some new names. I wasn't surprised at all that he had a solid set of climbers to help in the mountains. Daniel Navarro obviously opened some eyes. You don't have to a team of previous podium place holders to ride around france the fastest.

- No positive drug tests in this tdf. Does that mean that riders are clean or the doctors are better? Who really knows, but I guess we have to assume clean. Well, Petacchi seems like he's going to get busted again. You'd think after about the 4th or 5th time his name gets brought up in this stuff he'd have figured out the right amount of inhaler medicine that he can take and still fly under the radar.

- I almost forgot. Congratulations to RadioShack for winning the team classification. You made it such a big priority after realizing you had no shot at the podium with a single rider. Way to stick to the message throughout the race so that everybody was aware of just how important of a goal this was for the team. Oddly enough, I remember a few Postal and Discovery teams that laughed at this competition because it was meaningless. I think you have to notify whoever came in 2nd because I'm not sure they're aware they were racing you.

I guess I'm out of stuff to say. What a pity.

What We (I) Learned from Stage 8

2010-07-14T08:57:00.004-05:00

As luck would have it the entire staff of TeamLandall was far away from computer access during what has been the most decisive stage of this years Tour de France, #8. By the pure definition of decisive, people lots and gained time they either desperately wanted or couldn't afford to lose, yes it was decisive. But, I think in the grand scheme of things, it didn't show us all that much, and simply made for a new story line and one day of drama. I think it may be easiest and best, especially since I'm pretty late here, to do this in points rather than narrative.

Things that happened:

- Lance crashed. A lot. Bob Roll said that Lance never suffered a puncture in his 7 tour victories, and while I find that a little hard to believe, it's easily accepted that he basically had 7 years of insanly good luck. During those 7 years if he crashed, it was after the split had been made and at that point all the leaders are obligated to wait. When Beloki decided that going through a huge patch of melted tar at 50mph was a better idea than the perfectly good asphalt to either side, Lance was able to ride through a field without puncture. I'm not really sure what voodoo lady Lance paid for 7 years of good luck, but one things for sure, his check this year bounced.

Phil Ligget said if you're going to lose 2 minutes you may as well lose 10 and while I don't fully agree with him, I do see his point. I am on record before this race as saying Lance had no shot of winning and would be scratching to stay in the top 10. But nobody, not Andy Schleck or even Contador want to beat anybody because they had the worst day they've ever had on a bike. You don't want to beat somebody because they fell down. You want to be them because you're better and you want to get the opportunity to prove it. While I don't think anybody except maybe Phil Ligget and Trek bicycle riders really thought Lance stood a chance, this isn't the way you want to see him go out.

- I have a theory (go figure) about Lance and the peloton. Back in the day, Lance ran the show. He left the sport for three years and when he came back he wasn't the same dominant force he was before. There are plenty of stories of Tours in the past where Lance at the beginning of a stage would say, "ok guys, nobody races until the bottom of the first climb" and they'd essentially soft pedal as a group to that spot. When guys would attack out of that group it was Lance who would chase them down and bring them back into the fold. He had that kind of power. Since his departure, that power has shifted. I don't know who exactly has it, but it ain't him. There's now hope among "everybody" that Lance can win a stage. At this point, I'd be really surprised to see that happen. Not only because I don't think Lance is fast enough to win a stage, but also because I don't see the group letting him. I think there are plenty of people in the peloton who were somehow affected during the King Lance reign and can use this opportunity to exact some revenge. Not that I think he can win a long time trial anymore because he hasn't ridden a long time trial in 2 years that would lead anyone to believe that, but I think soft pedaling and attempting to have the freshest legs for the TT is his only chance. No Gifts right?

- Andy Schleck put the drop on Contador. As soon as Contador looked over his left shoulder I knew Andy was going on the right. He put in a great move and stuck with it to the line. Clearly waiting on Sanchez once he realized that Contador wasn't coming with. While it was a great move and it's tough to get a real perspective of speed due to the motorcycle with the camera riding beside them, it just didn't look as explosive as the moves we've grown accustomed to seeing from Alberto. Either way, that doesn't really matter, because for that day, it was enough, Contador couldn't follow it, and Andy is in yellow.

- Contador has got to be pretty satisfied with where he's at. :41 down on a guy that he beat by over a minute in last years last TT. Let's face it, :41 isn't enough of a head start in the prologue when they were all on fresh legs. I know Andy's the TT champ of the great cycling nation of Luxemburg, but even he can't be too comfortable with anything less than :90 going into the final TT. Contador wins TTs routinely and Schleck routinely talks about how he's improving. I'm not sure Contador needs to do anything but follow wheels. But, I think he's too competitive for that so we'll see some fireworks. Andy has got to repeatedly attach him. Even if he can only get 5-10 seconds at a time, he needs as much of a cushion as possible.

- I know I'm supposed to really like Cadel. He's tough and crazy. But, I just don't. He's a diesel engine and I just don't like that kind of riding in the mountains. As soon as Schleck attacked he went 10 guys backwards. He can't respond to any of that and nobody else seems to have too much trouble riding at his tempo. However, he has won races wearing the rainbow stripes so I think that's pretty cool. And, I guess it should be noted that the anchor attached to his new yellow bike on Stage 9 was caused by a broken elbow. The dude is tough. No doubt about that! Remember when Tyler Hamilton rode himself into 3rd overall with a broken collarbone from a crash in the 1st week? Sometimes I don't ride if I have a stomach ache. These guys are insane!

- Everybody stand by as Levi plummets out of the top 5 as soon as the third week hits.

- I'd probably be remiss if I didn't at least mention Ryder Hesjedal and the incredible first week he's had. He put on a show on the cobbles and has rode outside of himself in the mountains to stay respectively high on GC. Nobody saw that coming, not even his team. Hopefully this surprise success doesn't peg him as the future stage race hope of Canada. I think it's obvious he's better suited as a classics guy and the un justifiable hopes of tour de france victory have done more than one potentially great classics rider in, ie. Daminao Cunego, Sylvan Chavanel, etc. Still, he's put on a good show thus far. But, it should be noted that I'm sort of partial to tall, anorexic looking cyclists though. Go figure.

So that's it. That's what I think we learned from Stage 8. Stage 9 saw Andy and Alberto work together to stretch their lead even more. Barring a crash, it's definitely a race between those two. Sanchez is riding out of his mind and can't help but watch them go up the road. That's got to be frustrating!

"The (Bad) Decision"

2010-07-09T08:21:00.005-05:00

Watching the news this morning made it pretty clear that the only people who are currently fans of LeBron James are, his entourage and anyone living in Miami. I didn't watch "The Decision" because I was in class. Well, that's not entirely true, I wouldn't have watched it anyway, but one thing is most certainly true, the method in which LeBron James used his free agency did not help his image and I would assume that he's actually running a net loss on fans, despite acquiring all of Miami-W(D)ade county.

I realize that all of the hype certainly wasn't LeBron James' fault. In today's media circus nobody could afford to be the network not giving you ridiculous predictions and updates on how many times he said anything that could be seen as a clue. I also realize that the cities/teams that put together recruiting campaigns were nothing of his doing. It's not LeBron's responsibility to call New York, Chicago or any of the private groups and say "hey guys, don't take a billboard asking me to come there." LeBron James didn't buy a billboard or ask actors and celebrities to make a video begging him to come. I think it's also pretty obvious that while these were probably seen as nice gestures, they had absolutely no impact on his decision to play in Miami.

It was pretty obvious that this free agency market was a unique situation for both players and teams. Other huge names, not just LeBron were hitting the free agency market and teams saw the opportunity to put together a "big 3" like we've seen in Boston the last few years and immediately started opening up cap space. Again, it's not LeBron's or any other free agents fault that their contracts all ended during the same off season. And it's certainly just good business to try and take advantage of those opportunities from both a player and management prospective.

I've always thought one of the things that made LeBron so unique is that even with his immense talent he tried to win in the town he was from. When he was drafted by Cleveland he didn't moan about how bad they were, instead, he put his head down and tried to win basketball games. For the last two to three years LeBron James was essentially the 3rd or 4th best team in the NBA and I can say that pretty confidently because he's never been surrounded by any other marquee players in their prime. Since being drafted LeBron James was the Cleveland Cavaliers, period.

But, even the people of Cleveland couldn't be too upset with LeBron's decision to go play somewhere else, somewhere with a legit shot at winning rings. Obviously there'd be some negative press but I think in a pretty short period of time people would realize that he really gave it a go. He tried the best he could to win with the team that Cleveland was willing to give him. It didn't work out, so he had to go else where. I think deep down the people of Cleveland saw the writing on the wall and the crucifixion of LeBron James would have been quiet and short lived had he held a press conference saying that he and the Miami Heat had reached an agreement. He'd thank the city of Cleveland for 7 years that helped him grow and shape him as an NBA player. He'd talk about what a privileged it was to play in essentially his hometown in front of friends and family on a nightly basis. He'd then say, it was time to move on. But, as we all know, that's not what happened.

No, instead, LeBron James revealed himself as one of the most self indulgent people on the planet. Anybody who creates an hour long special to announce the team they'll go play for has fallen a bit too in love with the lime light. I know he said the proceeds from the special would go to charity, but, that doesn't change my opinion. You just received a max contract and it's not as if you were begging for change before that. If you're so altruistic that you're just dying to donate some money, pull out the check book, you don't have to foster the spectacle that was already created. This incident, "the Decision," honestly changed the way I perceive LeBron James, and like I said, I don't think I'm the only one. The team player, hometown, grounded, image that he built for himself for those years in Cleveland all crumbled with this snafu of a PR disaster. I don't blame LeBron James for leaving Cleveland. If he had stayed I'd have questioned his sanity. But I think the last piece of goodwill he could have done for that city was to walk away as quietly and as respectfully as he could. But instead the show was produced, the decision was announced and angry fans in multiple cities burned LeBron James jerseys in the streets. I'm no expert, but I wouldn't exactly consider that outcome a success.

Just thoughts of little value

2010-07-08T10:51:00.003-05:00

See title for description of what's to follow.

- Yesterday I witnessed the most bogus ticketing of all time. At the intersection of Rock Creek Park and Ohio Drive, continuing on Ohio Drive, the light was 2/3s out, meaning that only the red light was operational. As I waited at the intersection and cars went by I noticed that the light was out and there was a cop standing there with a whistle in his mouth. I assumed that because the light was out he was there to direct traffic as needed. Incorrect assumption! As cars went through the light changed from nothing to red with no usual yellow light warning as it was apparently out as well. The cop immediately stepped off the curb in front of the last car in line, blew his whistle, pulled them over and wrote them a ticket for running the red light. So let me get this straight, as a driver you're expected to predict the turning of the light to red so you don't get ticketed, but the city isn't obligated to immediately fix the light once it's out? Way to go DC! You just saved money on a few light bulbs and increased revenue at the same time. What a f'in joke. No way I'd pay that ticket.

- Before witnessing the ridiculous ticketing incident I apparently offended a shirtless, kmart mtb rider who confused his "bike" for one of those toys you rode as a ride that required a side to side motion for forward momentum. After essentially coming to a stop, saying "on your left" three times and then shouting so that he could hear me over his iPod, he got angry and sprinted after me for a slow moving confrontation. Apparently the explanation to his question, "why do you need to pass me?" was found sufficient when I said, "because I was going faster than you." He then apologized for cutting me off. For a second I really thought this guy was going to try and fight me or something. He seemed pretty angry. You never can tell what you're going to get from topless toy bike riders on your afternoon commute.

- This morning on the news some political expert was talking about Sarah Palin and was asked if she's running for president. He of course gave the same answer everybody does, which is no answer at all. Why the hell don't all of these people just say what's obvious, "nobody is currently 'running' for president since it's not an election cycle. However, it seems like she's doing her best to stay relevant when that time comes." 1st, why is that statement not an appropriate response? 2nd, who the f cares if Sarah Palin does anything? I would make some statement about no chance she'd ever get elected, but I'd only have to be reminded of the double term W administration to realize that dumb people vote in mass.

- The Tour de France is well under way and so far it's either been "epic" or boring depending on who you ask. I'm torn somewhere in between. Looks like Hushovd has already wrapped up the green points jersey. He has about a million point lead which I think is good. Since I don't have cable I thought I might be able to avoid the made up Lance vs. Alberto drama but no, even the websites I go to love to talk about some made up shit.

Check out this picture! Looks like they're BFFs to me. Of course Lance says he hasn't spoke to Alberto all race and has no recollection of this exchange. When questioned about whether he'd recall talking to his biggest rival as something that might stand out, he took his usual stance of threatening the journalist's life, calling him scum, calling his work ridiculous and the paper he writes for toilet paper. Apparently, everybody likes it when Lance does this because everybody seems to just nod in agreement. Must be good to be the king.

I found it pretty funny that after stage 3 when Lance lost the most time and Alberto rode on the cobbles great that most journalist just decided to leave the story alone instead of saying, "yeah, well, we really botched the prediction on that one." I was never really sure why everybody thought that Contador was going to have such a tough time on the cobbles anyway. I mean the guys a good bike racer, knows he needs to be at the front in critical parts of a stage. It's not as if because he's from Spain the cobbles are some sort of weird kryptonite that repeal anyone totting a fake gun. His ride on stage 3 was exactly what I thought it would be, smart. I really didn't think that stage was going to immediately ruin the hopes of any of the GC guys. The stage was less than 10% cobbled, but you'd have assumed that there were going to be tigers let loose on the side of the road by the way people were talking about it.

- Speaking of Kings, does anybody give a shit about where LeBron ends up? And who on his PR team thought that a 1 hour special was a good idea. I can't speak for the world but I'm pretty sure this free agency extravaganza has hurt his image. For example, this guy has 9,200 followers on twitter and posted this, I think it's a good indicator.

I know MJ only played for one team and Kobe's only played for one team, but none of this is good for LeBron James. Most people don't like to think about how much more money professional athletes make than they do for playing a game. So to make such a big hype over how much richer this already insanely rich person is going to get, just doesn't sit that well with normal folks. We all realize that athletes are a well paid bunch and that's fine, hold a press conference, put on the hat of your new team, and then report to practice. We don't need all of this hype.

- The World Cup has basically cemented for me the reasons why I can never be a soccer fan. The rules of soccer just don't make any sense and the understood rules and tactics are even worse. I've always disliked the fake flopping and crap that goes on, but this world cup seems to be even thicker with it. If your strategy to win is to simply lay on the ground and play dead, then you don't deserve to be there. I'm not talking specifically about Ghana. This happens in every game as soon as the time starts rolling. I understand that controlling possession is a good strategy in any sport, but in basketball there's a shot clock and if you foul someone the clock stops. In soccer, even if you foul the guy, he gets to take as much time as he wants to start the action again, meanwhile, clock runs. An arbitrary amount of stoppage time gets added on, unless you're in stoppage time, then it seems to be ignored. It's not a "beautiful game" as it's often described when theatrics are more important than skills.

I think that's it. I'm hungry and going to eat my 2 daily PBJs.

BAM!

2010-06-28T08:27:00.003-05:00

1 class down, 11 to go. Off to a good start!

Tour de France, Predictions

2010-06-25T10:05:00.002-05:00

As another blog I read, The Service Course, pointed out, the weeks after the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France leave a lot of not much going on in the world of cycling. National Championship races and such, but I, and most people, don't really care who emerges as the top road racers in the Slovenia. What does that leave me and others who feel the need to share their views with tens of readers who have bookmarked their blog? Easy, time to make predictions. Like my dad used to, and probably still does say, "excuses are like assholes, everybody's got one and they usually stink." Predictions are the same. They don't mean anything. Nothing I say from here to the end of this post will affect a single outcome on the roads of the Tour de France. If I get all of these predictions wrong I will reference the previous sentence. If I get just one right, you better believe I will proclaim myself a prophet.

The Tour de France has four major competitions within the race itself. The Overall, or Yellow Jersey competition. The Points, or Green Jersey. King of the Mountains, the god awful, ugly polka dot jersey. The Best Young Rider (Under 26), or White Jersey. There are other competitions, like the team competition, which nobody cares about and is only vocalized as a "big goal" after nobody on the team ended up on the podium but 3 or 4 guys ended up placing high and so by default they win the team competition. Also, there's a most aggressive rider award given out daily and that person gets red race numbers the following day. I actually think this is really cool and I'd want to win it for a day if I were to race in the Tour de France, but it couldn't be more subjective and meaningless. (A quick tangent. It's only slightly more meaningless than the blue jersey they give out at the Tour of California which symbolizes the "bravest" rider from the previous day. They should change it to the most "popular rider" because it only goes to guys like Hincapie and other big names and is used a marketing tool for sponsors. Which is fine, but who are you fooling?)

On to predictions. I'm only going to pick the winner, except for the overall, in which I'll pick the podium.

Best young rider competition.

I always find this to be a bit of a trivial competition. Outside of Andy Schleck I'm not sure it's done a lot to predict future tour success. I also feel like this competition is often won by a young rider who happens to ride for a relatively weak squad which is why he's in the race to begin with. For example, if Tejay van Garderen were racing the tour, I'd pick him, but he's not. Since Jani Brajkovic is a couple months too old I guess the obvious choice now is Peter Sagan who somehow managed to win a bunch sprint and the Big Bear stage in the Tour of California. He also won a U23 silver medal at the cyclocross world champs a few years ago. He's either really talented or has a really good doctor, if you know what I mean. Either way, he'll win it, as long as his doctor doesn't screw things up.

King of the Mountains.

Am I the only one that misses Richard Virenque? A guy who seemingly got out of ever being suspended for doping by simply ignoring the charges. Am I also the only one confused as to why the winningest man in KOM competition history is shown time trialing in his wikipedia picture*? The TT is why he couldn't win the Tour. Weird.

Anyway, this competition is really hard to predict and is sometimes won by someone who finishes on the podium, or sometimes by a guy who gets into every break that happens to have a categorized climb and makes deals with his break companions for points. It's a tough one to predict because of that factor alone, but what you really need is someone who's a good climber, but who isn't on a team that stands much of a chance of winning the overall because they'll be free to chase points instead of setting pace.

Carlos Sastre keeps jumping out at me. He has no shot at winning the overall as Cervelo is clearly coming to the tour hedging every bet possible. Bet hedgers don't win the tour de france, they win stages, or, KOM jerseys, but, Sastre is confused and thinks he's the best rider in the world even when he's been dropped by everybody. For this reason, he likes to whine and cry about shit so once he's out of the GC he won't care about chasing KOM points. He'll blame his team and the secret flu he had going into the mountains and hell try and win one day. If he wins one day, he'll finish all the rest of the climbs in the grupetto next to Cavendish. How's that for a prediction?

I'm going to step out on a limb and go with Linus Gerdemann. He's got some tour experience and can climb really, really well. But I think he also realizes he's on a team that can't support him for the overall and probably isn't going to try to. Get yourself into some key breaks kid and bring home some points. My prophet like status is on the line here!

Points (not sprinter) Competition:

Just because a sprinter wins the green jersey every year doesn't necessarily make it the sprinter competition. True, the most points are on the finish line, but last year showed that you can win just one stage and win the green jersey. Thor Hushovd did just that, but also dragged his gigantic UFC fighter look a like frame over a few climbs to collect some points to build a cushion as well. (And, he may or may not have won because Cavendish was relegated on one stage and posted a goose egg for points, but that just depends on who you ask.) Even though it's not the sprinters jersey, a sprinter will win it, so let's talk sprinters.

Tom Boonen's won the green jersey a bunch of times. He seems slower than usual but if he starts the Tour, which is questionable, he's got to be motivated for it. If he's not, he may as well stay home because he won't make an impact otherwise.

Last year's winner Thor will be there, but, I don't know, he seems like the 5th fastest sprinter in a bunch of the good ones, and probably the 2nd fastest on his team after Heinrich Haussler. But I refuse to cheer for a guy with that hair cut and who is always wearing those stupid Ed Hardy hats. (Take a look at the URL this image was taken from "reallydope.com" enough said!)

As some one pointed out the other day Mark Cavendish has yet to finish even a week long tour yet this year. And even though he was clearly going to win before he decided to DDT Haussler in Switzerland, I'm not convinced he's in good enough form to make it over even the smallest of bumps before the finish line. He might be, what the hell do I know? But, his tooth does hurt, so there's that.

Nobody is going to be more surprised by this prediction than me, but I think of all years, this is the best shot Tyler Farrar has at a green jersey. I think Farrar is typically the 3rd or 4th fastest guy but he's won a few big races this year and took a nice little break and won some small race that not even locals have heard of last week. If he can get himself over the climbs, which, I mean, who knows, he's got as good of a shot as any.

Honorable mentions, Oscar Freire and Robbie McEwen. Both men have won the green jersey before and both are capable of winning bunch gallops without any sort of personal lead out train. It doesn't seem like that long ago that McEwen was absolutely untouchable in bunch sprints. Maybe the lack of Fast Freddy is the problem. I'm pretty sure Katusha can afford him. And Freire has already shown this year he's still got some decent top end speed by winning Milan San-Remo.

I'm still going with Farrar, but I hope it's McEwen.

That brings us to the big boy, the overall, the yellow jersey.

Of all the competitions, this one is the easiest to predict, at least the top step. It should come as no surprise that I'm picking Alberto Contador. I could care less about any of the preseason races. When it matters, he goes with the move that counts and then punishes everyone around him for thinking they deserve to be in the same bike race. If all the other teams conspired against him and worked together with their best climbers I'm still not sure anybody can beat him. Barring a crash or something like that, it seems pretty obvious that it's a race for second.

I think the race for 2nd could be interesting. I'm hoping the race for the top step is interesting, but I just don't know. Andy Schleck just won national TT championship in Luxemburg. I'm not sure that really means he rode very fast, comparative to beating the former Spanish TT champ, Contador. The problem with Andy's chances of beating Contador is pretty simple. He's never beaten him up a climb or in a TT. That basically means you lose right? If Andy can drop Contador by a lot, and by a lot I mean by minutes, he might be able to limit enough losses in the TT to hang on and win. But, that just seems like a best case scenario, and I'm not sure probably. Contador seems to falter in races that don't matter or at least that aren't long enough for him to make back up the bad day he had.

So anyway, I'm picking Ivan Basso for 2nd. Without much of an explanation than if he comes into the tour recovered from the Giro, he's a tough tough man and I sort of like the story line of him winning the Giro-Tour double since the last guy that won it was a doped up Pantani. You may or may not believe that the current Basso is doped up, but if he can pull the double, the comparisons would be fun to read!

Third, I'll go with Andy Schleck. I think Andy's got the best shot of beating Contador, but I think he'll kill himself trying and would leave enough room for someone else to slip in and steal away his chance to repeat on the 2nd step. I wouldn't be too surprised if this tour ends with some big gaps from the podium to 4th place.

Uh oh American bike race fans, otherwise known as Lance Armstrong lovers, guess who doesn't make my podium. That's right Lance. I don't see Lance finishing in the top 5. I think he's the 3rd or 4th strongest guy on his team. And while he'll absolutely finish higher than everybody else on RadioShack because they all know who's writing the pay checks, it doesn't mean it's right. I mean Jani won the Dauphine and Horner won the Tour of Basque country and they're going to usher Lance who's last win was at the Nevada City Classic in 2009. I know it's more valuable to sponsors and all that crap and I know Lance won 7 tours but this Lance ain't that Lance and it'll be nothing short of a miracle to see him end up on the podium, much less in the top 5. I see him getting beat by Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins, who I think is a total wanker. As you know I'm not a fan of Cadel's follow the wheels style but all I've seen of Lance is the former tour champ doing his best Cadel impression this year. Even if the wheels are following are fast ones, he's not beating anyone. I think Cadel will finish in all the same groups as Lance and TT better.

To recap, in case you got lost in the rambling, my overall is:

1: Alberto Contador
2: Ivan Basso
3: Andy Schleck

Young Rider: Peter Sagan

KOM: Linus Gerdemann

Points: Tyler Farrar, but really Robbie McEwen.

Viva le tour!

*After further copy/pasting of wikipedia pages for links I noticed that almost none of the pictures are relevant to what these guys are famous for. Who's posting those pictures?

People Like Soccer, Every 4 Years Anyway

2010-06-24T11:52:00.002-05:00

I'm no huge fan of soccer. I follow what I feel like is a pretty typical cycle for Americans where I pretend like soccer doesn't exist until it's World Cup time. And then, I only passively pay attention to what is going on. Yesterday, the good old USofA beat Algeria in stoppage time, whatever that is, to advance out of it's group, or bracket, or whatever they call it. Even if you're like me, and had no interest in watching the actual game, the reactions of people who did watch the game are pretty incredible. I'll concede the point that there aren't many other times, not even in the Olympics, when an "entire" nation erupts in this fashion over a game.

Check out some videos that have been compiled here. It's well worth taking a look.

The Crash Heard Round the (Cycling) World

2010-06-17T08:33:00.005-05:00

Much has been made about the crash the other day at the Tour de Suisse (that's Tour of Switzerland for those not in the know). The riders protested Cavendish the next day for about two minutes, which, I think is more like a tribute, but, what do I know? I'm not a super duper fan of Cavendish but I also don't hate the guy for winning which seems like the norm if you read the comments below any article about the guy on VeloNews.

I looked at the video (below) and the picture. and I find it hard to totally blame Cavendish for the crash. Watch at about 25 seconds and it's pretty obvious that Cav and Haussler have both come around the guy in blue on opposite sides. They both move to the middle of the road at about the same time. I've always been taught in bike racing that the wheel in front has the right of way. Take another look at the picture and the crash video. Maybe Cav impedes on Haussler but they were both moving off their lines to get to the center. Cav was in front, Cav has claim over this new line.

Now, it's important to note that the "rule" I just cited isn't written down, it's just understood. It's also understood that you don't talk bad about guys in the peloton because the next day you have to come back to the same office they do. If everybody in the group is pissed at Cavendish it can't be just because he's a cocky SOB. Every sprinter is a cocky SOB. That's how it works. Obviously in a sport where the cameras can't catch everything Cavendish's antics in the group have finally struck a nerve with enough people and his colleagues are reacting.

Like I said, I think the crash was just as much Haussler's fault as Cav's. I think crashes like this happen all the time in bunch sprints. The crash was simply the event the group needed to make a public statement. When it comes to sprinters I'm not sure if it matters if people like them or not. I'm inclined to think it doesn't. They all fight for position in the sprint anyway and nobody other than teammates are politely giving them room. The Tour will be telling...

Sorry, Not a Perfect Game

2010-06-04T08:38:00.003-05:00

By now you've certainly seen this highlight and heard the story. Two days later I'm going to weigh in on a part of the story that I think is now a bigger story than the blown call. People everywhere are calling for Bud Selig, Commissioner of MLB, to officially change the call and award Armando Gallaraga the perfect game. Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan, has officially issued him a perfect game, whatever that's worth. Selig isn't doing so, and I think it's the right call.

It doesn't take more than one look at the video to clearly see that the guy was out and Jim Joyce missed it. In any game the officiating crew has a small window of opportunity to huddle up and collectively change a call. When they didn't do that, it was too late, the perfect game was done. You can't go back, retroactively and award this kid the perfect game. If you had instant replay Jim Leland could have tossed a red flag instead of his hat and maybe something could be done, but we don't, so it wasn't.

When I saw the video for the first time I was totally blown away that Joyce missed such an easy call. For someone who spent most of his life playing baseball the thing that shocked me was that the unspoken rules didn't automatically kick in for Joyce. What are some unspoken rules? For one, a tag almost never actually as to be made in a non-force out situation. The umps obviously need you to swipe at the guy but if the ball beat the guy and the tag accidentally misses a body part, 99.9% of the time, you're still out. Ever noticed how first basemen always seem to be moving forward be the time the ball gets to them? If you watched hours of film you'd find that the first baseman is hardly ever still touching the base when he actually catches the ball. Tagging up on a fly ball? It's almost impossible to watch both the ball and the runner. So as long as you aren't obviously way too early, nobody's going to say anything. These are the kinds of things that are simply accepted in baseball. So when there's a tough ground ball for the last out of a potential perfect game and the first baseman busts his ass to get there and the pitcher busts his ass to cover first and the play is even remotely close (which this wasn't) you call the guy out. No one from the other team is going to come out and argue with you that their guy was safe and screw up the celebration of a perfect game by the other team. It's baseball after all. It's a gentleman's sport and their are gentlemanly understandings that just accepted.

So why can't the call be reversed and the perfect game be awarded retroactively? Because like them or hate them, the umpires hold the game together. There's a reason that close calls aren't made a best two out of three rock, paper, scissor show down at home plate. As a kid growing up you hate the umpires because at any level below professional baseball, they aren't very good. But as I've gotten older I've come to realize just how good the professional guys are at their jobs. I'm amazed by how many close calls that with 30 views of playback show that the ump on the field only needed to see it once in real time. That's amazing. Do they get every single call right? Obviously not. But the umpires are an integral part of the game and their job is 98% objective, 2% subjective and that's just the way it is. You're asking a human being to see something happening at a speed that most of us can't relate to and within less than a second make a decision on what they've just witnessed. Occasionally, the subjective nature takes over and they blow one. Unless you want cameras suspended from all different angles and a guy in the press box controlling the cameras and making the call, an occasional blown call, be it big or small, is what you'll get when your officials are people. Say you do go back and change the call giving the guy a perfect game, what happens to the next at bat? Does it get erased and we pretend like it never happened? Does some take an eraser to Gallaraga's pitch count? These are small things, but in baseball, they matter.

Gallaraga seems to be handling the whole thing with a lot of class. Even as the call was made he just sort of smirked. Me, I'd have been nose to nose with the guy in seconds. Gallaraga handled it correctly. The Tigers celebrated in the clubhouse after the game and treated Gallaraga as if he had just tossed a perfect game, not a 1 hitter. I think that might mean more for that organization and that young man than if he would have thrown the perfect game. When your teammates want to celebrate your accomplishment even though it didn't actually happen, that means something!

To be honest, I'd never heard of this kid before this story. And the controversy over this call has thrust him into the limelight more than if the call had been made correctly. Not that the time GMA spends talking about it really matters, but it does, in a way. In today's baseball record books there are cases where people want to see astrix put beside a guys name and there are accomplishments made that some people who probably rather not be remembered for. I think this is a situation where he'll be remembered for something he won't get credit for doing. I guarantee at the end of the season Gallaraga's 1 hitter will be mentioned in the same breath as the A's pitcher's (already forgot his name) perfect game. It's basically a technicality, but in baseball, there are plenty of those.

Why Lance Armstrong Should Not Get Busted

2010-05-28T08:32:00.002-05:00

I want to write about anything else, I really do! But the only thing swirling through my head is Floyd telling the truth and tossing everyone else under the bus and by everyone, I mean Lance Armstrong.

I've always said, and I believe I said it earlier this week, that it's easy for all us who have never had to make the choice to dope and compete in Europe or be "moral" and race crits back in America, to wag our fingers and take a holier-than-thou stance against athletes who confess or are caught doping. I've often argued that if everyone else is doping and cycling is your best prospect for increasing your quality of life, it's a poor economic decision not to dope. I've never argued that it makes it morally better because everyone else is doing it, but, in a case like this, the morality of doping is a gray area.

For issues like this I often like to turn to the opinions of pros. What do they think about Floyd and if Lance doped, etc, etc? Yesterday I posted on twitter a link to a blog entry by Adam Myerson who I think has an insightful take on the entire issue. You can find it here. Maybe I like his take because it matches pretty well with what I already think, but, I still think a pros opinion should carry a bit more weight than the guy who beats up on you at your local Tuesday night ride who's been a Cat 3 for the last 10 years and refuses to upgrade because he knows he can't compete at the next level. Man, that's a tangent.

Back to the issue at hand. There is now a full on federal investigation into whether Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs during his career. First off, let's just all take a moment to reflect on what's going on in the world today, this instant:

(In no order of importance)
1) Oil Spill with little to nothing being done about it.
2) Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that cost ga-billions a day and don't need to be fought.
3) Schools all over the country and firing teachers and closing doors because of budget short falls.
4) Economy still in the shitter.

Now, I realize that a federal investigation of Lance Armstrong doesn't cost so much that it would have any affect on the issues listed if the money were spent in those areas instead. But, one can't help but wonder why the hell the US Gov't gives a shit if Lance Armstrong used drugs or not. I had the same argument about their investigations into baseball and football and I think the same reigns true now. If they want federal investigations, fine, but do it on some topic that actually makes a difference. In reality, whether Lance was doped up or not doesn't change anything about the world in a positive way. If you're going to take away his tour titles, a lot of years you're going to rolling that title down to the 4th placed rider before you get to someone not busted for doping. Is Lance going to write a check to Andre Kivilev (Finished 4th behind Ulrich and Beloki) for the 2001 Tour de France if he's found guilty? If so, that same investigation better go find out if Kivilev was doping because chances are high he was and so on down the line. It may change the outcomes on paper of who won 7 straight bike races in France. Big F'in Deal!

For the longest time I've had the internal debate over whether Lance used drugs because I feel like he did but I want to believe he didn't. While some people don't think that Floyd's statements are credible because he lied for so long, I'm not sure I agree. Floyd's got nothing to gain by naming names. Nobody's paying him to do so. Maybe he gets a reduced punishment for lying under oath or some shit but I'm not sure that's reason enough name all these names. If he had just kept his mouth shut he wouldn't have to face that charge to begin with. I think Floyd was simply tired of being the guy taking the fall for everyone else. This sentiment is backed up by Myerson's comments.

Do I think Lance Armstrong used drugs? Yes. There I said it. I know I have no evidence that could prove anything in court. I'm just a guy who rides a bike and writes an opinionated blog about various crap. I have a ton of reasons to believe he was and I think he's just smarter than everybody else. I think Lance's inner circle is better paid and more loyal than any of the guys he beat in the Tours that got busted. Lance didn't work with a doctor who was going to put his name in some easily deciphered code in his balance sheet. You know why king pins of drug rings hardly ever get busted? Because they're so far removed from the product the guys at the ground level don't even know who they're working for. Lance isn't stupid. I'm sure he and Johan set up their circle the same way. Whoever was supplying the dope probably thought it was for some junior in Bulgaria trying to get to the next level. Everybody's got a price and if there's one person in cycling who can afford to meet someone's price, well, that answer's obvious.

Do I think Lance Armstrong should get busted? No. I know, that's a contradiction, but remember, I don't personally get into the whole morality issue of doping. Some people don't like Lance Armstrong. Those some people are a tiny tiny minority of the people who travel across the globe to stand in a crowd 20 deep to take a picture of the guy at an event they had never heard of before. You know why? Because they've got/beat cancer and this guy is their inspiration. Is that a reason to not get busted for doping? Maybe not to some people, but to me it is. Worlds will literally crumble for people fighting that disease if their hero is exposed as a fraud. I'm not making this up. It's not hard to find accounts of people battling cancer who say they'd never had made if it weren't for such an inspiring figure as Lance Armstrong. There is plenty of science that backs up the claims of having a positive outlook or a reason to live as a helpful factor in beating deadly cancers. If Lance doped his way to 7 Tour de France victories and millions of millions of dollars, does that infraction negate the insane amount of money he's able to raise for cancer research? You think if Lance Armstrong didn't win 7 Tours de France he'd be able to sit down with Senators, Congressmen and other leaders to talk about legislation and funding for cancer? Absolutely not. I obviously can't prove this but my assumption would be donations, funding, meetings and support that is currently driven by the Lance Armstrong Foundation would all but dry up upon a conviction or confession of using drugs.

When Floyd confessed nobody's life was altered. The people who donated to his fund certainly had every right to be outraged but if you had the excess cash to donate to that anyway I imagine you're still doing alright. I doubt anybody would even call it a setback once discovered you donated to a scam. If Lance confesses, critical money being used to fund cancer research could go away. In the grand scheme of things that could definitely mean a set back in someone's life battling the disease. It could mean they die.

I don't care if Lance Armstrong used drugs. But I like cycling and the history of the sport in a totally different way than most fans. Most people that are Lance fans aren't cycling fans. They don't care or haven't even heard of Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders or any other race that Lance didn't win 7 times. Most of them don't even understand how the Tour de France works. But they love Lance Armstrong and that's all they need to know. Maybe Lance built a really elaborate house of cards. And for no reasons besides those I mentioned, I hope beyond hope that he used super glue.

2010-05-27T15:04:00.005-05:00

Chris Horner Vs. Michael from Biggest Loser

2010-05-26T11:29:00.006-05:00

The managing editor here at TeamLandall is sometimes known to be a bit indecisive. Especially when it comes to topics to write about. Well, maybe not especially since it's well known we basically write about cycling, but, mostly when there are multiple topics of interest and one or so happen to be about something other than bikes. When this happens we generally decide to cover both. Or, however many there may be.

First up, cycling.

The Tour of California wrapped up on Sunday and much like I predicted Levi wasn't standing on the top step this year. My favorite quote came from Dave Zabriskie, "I'm sick of finishing second in this race." Yeah, no kidding. But, I think there are much more important things to be taken away from the Tour of California than just the overall GC.

First off, the biggest DNF of the race, Lance Armstrong. I know he crashed and got stitches in his face and I'm not about to question a guy's toughness. But regardless of the fact that Lance didn't finish there is one thing that's pretty clear, Lance Armstrong is not going to be anywhere near the top step of this year's Tour de France. For all my Contador-hating-Lance-loving friends out there, it's time that everybody just prepare themselves for a good old fashioned whipping in the both the high mountains and the TTs and probably behind a wood shed if available. Will Lance embarrass himself at the Tour de France? Absolutely not. Will he even be a factor? Only if you measure factor in media attention and crowd clapping.

So, if I'm right, and I think I am, this brings a whole new question to the table for the higher ups at Team RadioShack. Who should be the team leader at the Tour de France? For me, this answer is easy and obvious, Chris Horner. Take a look at the RadioShack team and tell me who was won a stage race that drew real talent? Let me help before you start googling, it's Chris Horner. Levi's only win is at the Gila and while I think it's a great race and great that bigger squads are sending guys; while Levi was beating up on Fly V Australia, Chris Horner was beating up on Alejandro Valverde. No disrespect to Fly V, but I would be surprised if Alejandro Valverdo has heard of them. Can Chris Horner beat Alberto Contador? I don't know, probably not. But he's certainly got a better shot and can be on much better form in July than Lance has shown all year. I think Horner has proved himself to be worthy of the leader role on that team. He worked his butt off for Levi in California because he's a great teammate, but as a domestique and finishing only 1:09 off the lead, one has to wonder what might have been had the reigns been turned loose. I think Lance and Levi should do the same for him in France. He's easily their best shot at being on the podium.

Also, from a racing tactics stand point, the only way anybody is going to beat Contador is to isolate him and make him chase down on his own early and often into the climbs. If RadioShack has three guys who can continually counter attack when Contador covers the move, I think eventually they can whittle him down. That is unless Contador just gets sick of that game goes on the attack himself and buries everyone. I sort of feel like my strategy is the equivalent of poking a bear with a stick, but maybe they can get a big stick?

Up next, not cycling. The Biggest Loser.

I watch this show every Tuesday night and cry like a baby. It's ridiculous. I think it's actually embarrassing for Jill. Something about people who have finally hit that bottom and are willing to do whatever it takes to make themselves better is awesome to me. People working hard to make themselves better is just inspiring, period. Being that I'm 6'3" and weigh 153lbs I don't really have a lot in common with the people on this show. At the beginning of every season I sit there and wonder how they've let themselves get that way. The funny thing is, in their interviews, they all ask themselves the same question. They never have an answer, they just know that now, they're sick of it, and they're ready to do what it takes to change their lives. And you know what? They do.

Last night was the results show and the winner, Mike, lost over 50% of his original body weight in less than 6 months. He didn't have surgery, he worked his tail off, quite literally. When he was sore, he worked out. When he was hungry, he ate correctly. I know being in an environment like they have on the ranch would really help to jump start anybody's weight loss and not everybody has access to those facilities or super star personal trainers. But what everybody does have access to is the outdoors. You don't need a gym to get healthy. You just need will power.

The obesity rates in this country are ridiculous. Just take a look around you on any given street and see how many people you'd categorize as healthy. Not fit. Not about to run a marathon, but just healthy. Not that many. I wish it was absolutely mandatory for obese people to watch this show. To see that it can be done. The show does a great job of showing how hard the contestants are working out, but also how hard their journey is outside of a gym as well. Like I said, I can't really relate, but I bet most people could, and they could be inspired even more than I am. But, the one thing I think I take away from every season is that the decision to work that hard comes from within. You see the people that get to the ranch and then don't make it very long because it's too hard. But you also see the people who are serious about changing their lives.

For a visual, here's the before and after picture of this season's winner.

After seeing these kinds of transformations it's tough for me to listen to people make excuses about how it hurts when they work out because of this or because of that. This guy, O'Neal, could barely walk his knees were so bad. Not too bad for a guy who wanted something bad enough to deal with the pain. After more time than anyone should spend searching for a before after picture that would load I have given up, go here to see what I mean.

Floyd Doped. Get Over It.

2010-05-25T08:24:00.003-05:00

If you're a fan of cycling and didn't crawl into a cave sometime between Wednesday night and today you are well aware that my boy, Floyd Landis, confessed to doping. If you're a fan of cycling you probably go to all the same websites that I do and so you've read about a hump-teen-ga-jillion articles on the topic. Being that this blog talks mostly about cycling I guess I feel (even though that's weird) some sort of obligation to at least express my thoughts on the ordeal.

I read the story Wednesday night from VeloNews on my iPhone. When I woke up the next morning there were about 15 emails that had already started circulating on the cycling team's list serve. Everyone was calling Floyd Landis an asshole. A friend who I used to ride with in San Francisco sent out an email to his riding buddies calling Floyd a huge asshole. Everyone but me, it seemed, had this knee jerk reaction to this news to the point that they thought they needed to share it. I found this odd. Just weeks ago there was a story on the news where a teacher beat a student and they have it on video. Nobody sent me an email calling this teacher an asshole. But Floyd Landis' drug confession warrants outrage...

I get why people are upset. Floyd put on a charade since the positive result came back. In actuality I think he did everything he should have done to try and over turn the case. He's not the first cyclist to question the validity of the test used or the ethical practice of the lab doing the testing. There's another pretty famous cyclist who has done this on several occasions and seems to walk away from it each time with his star power tripled. The one thing I do think that Floyd did absolutely wrong was establishing the Fairness Fund or whatever he called it. Basically Floyd went bankrupt and couldn't afford to pay his legal bills. So, he set up a fund where people who believed him could pitch in. It was all very "for the good of cycling." What it turned out to be was a sham and it's a shame he took his fan's money and squandered it away when he knew the truth all along. That aspect of this entire case I think justifies calling Floyd an asshole. But the doping? I'm not sure.

As a cyclist with a lot of non cycling friends, I always get asked the question, "Do you think Lance doped?" That is probably the single hardest question to answer in all of cycling. Legally, the answer is no. He's never been busted, he didn't do it. Logically, it seems almost impossible that he didn't. I was asked that very question this weekend and again I had to dance around the topic so that I don't crush the image of someone's favorite cyclist but I feel like there's a truth that people, especially Americans, just need to realize about that era, and more importantly, the history of cycling. It was, and maybe still is, a culture of cheating.

Lance is one of those guys who loves the science of what he does. I think that's one reason he's been so successful. When other guys thought TT bikes looked funny he was investing in wind tunnel testing to get as aerodynamic as possible. When other guys were eating chocolate in the off season (Jan Ulrich) he was taking advantage of testing things like his VO2Max and using a power meter to establish baselines for measurable results and projections of fitness. Because of this, it was often thought that Lance Armstrong was a freak of a human being recording numbers so high and off the charts that nobody else had anything of this level. Truth be told, everybody who rides in the professional peloton has V02Max numbers at least in the range of Lance, and he's certainly not the owner of the highest (That's some cross country skier from one of the Scandinavian countries). I remember reading a few years ago that our boy Floyd Landis had higher numbers than Lance and it's long been known that Tom Danielson (or Jan Ulrich) is the most "gifted" cyclist from a pure scientific stance. But, as they say, that's why they don't play the games on paper.

What's this have to do with Floyd doping and accusing Lance of doing the same? Bill Strickland pointed out on his blog, Sitting In, that of the 7 tours that Lance won 14 other podium spots up for grabs. 8 of those 14 podium spots were held by the same riders and 5 of those 8 have admitted to doping or were suspended for it. If Lance was surrounded by guys that were doping (not to mention the domestiques that left US Postal or Discovery to be busted later, ie., Roberto Heras, Tyler Hamilton and Floyd), and they're all pretty equal on paper, how'd he beat them so consistently? I know that question looks like I'm throwing Lance under the bus and I really don't mean to. Again, legally, Lance is clean and innocent because he's never tested positive. Maybe he beat them because he was willing to hurt more than they were. Maybe he beat them because he's just flat out better at racing his bike. Maybe he beat them because it meant more to him than it did to them. Maybe he beat them because instead of eating chocolate in the winter he was training. Those are all factors that would certainly make a difference in a 3 week bike race.

I have a tough time, except for the Fairness Fund, of telling all my friends how much of an asshole I think Floyd is. I defended him to just about every person who I've rode a bike with because I like/d Floyd and I really wanted to believe he won the Tour de France. I made up all sorts of excuses and debate points based on science I didn't and don't understand all in the name of trying to convince one more person to side with Floyd. Still, knowing now that it was all a waste of time, I can't say that I blame him. I've said it over and over again that it's easy to point the finger at these guys when they get busted and scold them and say "how could you?" But until you've had someone come to you and say "If this is how you want to make your living, this is what you have to do," I'm not sure you're in any place to be upset that Floyd chose to dope. If Floyd is telling the truth and all those other guys were on the juice as well, he has to feel betrayed that he got busted and nobody else did. At this point, I'm sure he looks at himself in the mirror and says something like, "Fine. I did it. But I'm not going down a lone." Isn't that what happens to drug dealers and the mafia? Eventually one person can't take it anymore and simply isn't willing to be the only one doing time for doing what everybody else was doing?

Floyd doped. Get over it. Did Lance and the other's named? Who knows. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But, in my humble opinion a cyclist doping isn't nearly a big enough deal for everyone to send out mass emails as if they've been personally assaulted by the guy.

Just for fun I responded to my friend's email using "reply all," which I generally despise. I wrote, "He's no Richard Virenque, but he's doing ok for himself." I'm not sure if a single person on that email list even knows who Richard Virenque is, but if not, hopefully they looked it up and found a story of a guy who somehow managed to dope his entire career and seemingly by ignoring the charges, won more polka dot jersey's than anyone in the history of the Tour. Mr. Virenque is French and to the French dopings not a serious crime. It's just part of the sport. It creates drama and that's what the French love about cycling, the drama. How's the saying go, "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying?" Maybe that's just how it goes in cycling.

A Trip To Detroit

2010-05-24T11:48:00.012-05:00

I've been lucky enough to convince a great girl from Michigan to love me. For any of you that know me, you know my undying love for the great state of Texas. Well, take my love of Texas and multiply that by some coefficient that represents actual knowledge of why they love something and you get how much Jill loves Michigan. This past weekend we drove to Michigan for a few family festivities and decided to turn it into a little mini-vacation since we haven't been on one in a quite a while. A vacation to Detroit you might ask? That's right, and here's roughly how we spent one of the most fun Saturday evening/nights I've had in a long time!

Detroit has three casinos, the MGM Grand, Greek Town and Motor City. The MGM Grand could easily be in Vegas. It's that nice! Greek Town and Motor City are both really nice as well, but not laid out in your typical giant gaming floor casino style. Both are in renovated buildings. Motor City is in the old Wonder Bread plant which is really cool and Greek Town is in something old as well. Brian, like Jill, loves Michigan, but especially Detroit so he gladly took on the role of tour guide and took us all over Detroit Saturday night once our casino hoping was done.

Detroit is an awesome city. I know that most people will read that and laugh because all you hear about Detroit is how dangerous it is, how there are no jobs and a plethora of other things you wouldn't necessarily associate with a city being described as "awesome." But, I've been to the city twice now, the other time was in the winter, and my opinion was only confirmed more on this trip. I like cities that have character. Cities that when they were built took the time to make their buildings beautiful. Most people when they think of the buildings of Detroit they think of abandoned factories and burned out neighborhoods. But there is some seriously amazing architectural details in Detroit. And not just the biggest buildings that make up the skyline as you're coming in. Pretty much 1 out of 3 buildings, regardless of size or stature in downtown Detroit has really extensive and beautiful details. They didn't just build a bunch of rectangles that shoot to the sky. They built character and that character, whether people chose to look past it or not, is still there today.

We ate dinner at this little place called Small Plates. It was like a tapas restaurant but not Spanish. We all ordered a bunch of stuff and shared. It wasn't the best meal I've ever had in my life but it was good. And, like every meal you buy in downtown Detroit, you're helping a place that obviously needs it. It was nice to support local Detroit business owners instead of eating at a Friday's out in the suburbs.

After dinner we went to Astoria in Greektown for assorted pasties of awesomeness. The place was so packed it took at least 10 minutes just to get your order taken. Not only were the deserts some of the best I've ever had, Astoria is full of character and charm. When people think Detroit, they certainly don't think places like this exist and that's a shame, because it's awesome. The Baklava I ate literally caused an "oh my god" verbal reaction while my mouth was still full from the bite.

Did you know that Detroit is the home to the only urban state park in all of Michigan? Yeah, neither does anybody else because the place was deserted. When we parked I was a bit nervous because it was already dark and we were on the riverside of an abandoned factory or warehouse. But, we were troopers and found a picnic table to eat our treats. I know I keep going on and on about how great it is, but this park was really pretty. It's waterfront location, the Renaissance Center and the rest of the skyline was right there. The Windsor skyline was just across the river. There's a lighthouse. It's quite and peaceful. It's a great park hidden right there in a city where people think the only green spaces exist after a block's been leveled and the grass has started growing back again.

Cliff Bell's as you can see from the menu was established in 1935. I don't want to pretend like I know all the details of their story but I can say, from my experience, this place is awesome! It went under for a while and then somebody bought it and restored it. They didn't renovate, they refurbished, which I think is really cool and only adds to the unique charm. It's a blues/jazz bar. While we were there a 92 year old lady who recorded her first blues album in the 1930s sang with the band. I'm not the biggest live music fan but that was freaking awesome. She was incredible. I hope at 92 I can remember the words to one song, much less a five song set from the 30s. I've lived in a bunch of places and I can easily say that Cliff Bell's is the most unique music bar I've ever been in. Again, it's in downtown Detroit.

This was the last picture I took in the city. It was on the wall of an abandoned building across the street from Cliff Bell's. It stood out to me first because I really like this kind of art and I think this one in particular is really cool. The other thing that stood out to me is the contrast in perception I think people would have seeing this piece of art on a wall in Detroit vs. a city like San Francisco. In San Francisco pieces of art like this are everywhere and the hipsters, thugs and high class a like all look at it with some sort of appreciation, but it's seen as art. My assumption, because this wasn't an advertisement and it was on a building that was clearly vacant and behind a chainlink fence, that in Detroit it's probably graffiti. I guess this picture sort of wraps up my own feelings towards Detroit vs. other cities that I've visited or lived in.

Detroit is obviously in this battle perception vs. reality vs something in between. In today's media environment where the blood and guts lead the headlines, Detroit isn't exactly leaving the media searching for stories. But, if you take a look at the news in your city, is it any different? I lived in DC for a year and a half and it's lead the nation in murders/capita on several occasions. Even a city like San Francisco has it's bad parts of town, they're just pushed off to the side, out of view. I'm not trying to instigate a debate over the socio-economic ramifications of urban planning, but there's something to be said about at least trying to keep everything mixed together. It doesn't help Detroit any that it's biggest industry is on the ropes and has been for a while. I don't think I'm blowing minds by suggesting that if the domestic car industry as a whole hadn't taken such a huge hit, all those abandoned burned out buildings would be thriving industry and a city that can hold over 2 million people might still be busting at the seams.

I'm not from Detroit and until seeing it I was one of those people that blindly teased it whenever it was brought up. Detroit has won me over. All it needed was a couple people who still think it's worth saving to show me around. Imagine what might happen if the people of Detroit thought there as value in doing that with their friends, instead of throwing their hands up in defeat.

Tour of California, Stage 3, What We Learned

2010-05-19T09:37:00.004-05:00

We have the slowest, crappiest, cheapest, most un-reliable internet that money can buy thanks to Verizon dumbing down the service but not the prices. But, yesterday, I was able to do what all day I had wondered about and was almost certain that I wouldn't; watch the video feed of the Tour of California (Toc) once I TTd my butt home from work in a kit that was still wet from the morning's slog-fest in. That part isn't important.

I've got to admit really quickly that I was a bit disappointed when the video started and it was just the Versus coverage online. While there is not a better duo, at least in the English speaking world, than Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen, last year's video cast had Frankie Andreu who would make fun of the riders for doing dumb stuff in the pack. He'd also often forget his mic was on and throw out some f-bombs for good measure. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised he wasn't invited back, though I found it highly entertaining.

Last year when they announced the date change for the ToC I went on record saying I thought it was a bad idea. Mainly, I thought that if you were going to compete against a grand tour for riders, that it made more sense to take on the Vuelta. I still stand behind those statements, but yesterday proved something to me that I thought, but I don't think I ever wrote down.

If you've read this blog enough you'll know that I'm no Levi fan. Not that I don't like Levi, I'm just generally not a fan of his riding style. I think that Levi has benefited greatly from the return of Lance and suddenly he's popular because he has a popular friend. I think most of Levi's fans probably don't even realize he used to follow wheels for Gerolsteiner and got dropped by Lance and others constantly during the Tour de France.

So, back to what I thought but maybe didn't write. We all know that Levi has won the last three editions of the Tour of California and my sneaking suspicion has always been that he was able to win this race because the was the only rider that was actually in peak form. Now, I know we could sit here and debate all day on whether that's his fault or not, or if that should even be a factor that detracts from his victory's, but what we saw yesterday I think proves my point. Last year on Bonny Doon Levi attacked and nobody went with him. Yesterday he attacked and you could clearly see that Michael Rogers and Dave Zabriskie both went across the gap with ease. In fact, Rory Sutherland probably would have made it had he not had to come around both Armstrong and Horner who had started soft pedaling as soon as Levi jumped to create a bigger gap quicker. Maybe Levi saw that the guys came easily so they all just rode a hard tempo instead of more attacking, but when the cameras were there, no one seemed to be in the pain cave.

When they got to the line, Levi finished third. Which means he won the least amount of time bonus of the three. We'll have to see how this all plays out but if I'm Levi I can't be comfortable with the fact that I came to the line with the two biggest threats to beat me and they both got bigger time bonuses than I did. Sure Levi's a good time trialist but last time I checked he's not the former three time world time trial champion or the two time national time trial champ. Those would be Rogers and Zabriskie respectively, if you're wondering.

We'll see how this shakes out but it looks like when the other guys are actually on form Levi's not quite so dominating. This will make things interesting as now it's going to be up to Levi to try and drop those guys on the Big Bear climb (Which isn't very hard according to a lot of the pros) to get back some time before the TT in Los Angeles which, isn't exactly a role that suits Levi.

Maybe I don't agree with where they moved the ToC on the calender but it certainly has made for a much more interesting race already.

Race Report, Poolesville Road Race 5/15

2010-05-17T08:52:00.003-05:00

Here's what went down:

Before the gun:
- We lined up and the race official told me my number wasn't visible from the side. Pinning on a race number is like a fine art. I like to think I've gotten pretty good at it. It's a tough balance between getting it on there in a way that it's comfortable and keeping the official happy. The way they want it, it's not comfortable. I guess she wasn't happy with the pin job and the guy next to me had to fix it. I'm pretty sure these officials have never bothered pinning a number on themselves.

Lap 1:
- I felt like crap. I was about half way back in the field for most of it. I had no snap. Every corner seemed like a death march to get back on the wheel in front of me. I somehow ended up in a small pocket of guys who didn't want to ride close to anyone else. They were squirrely so I got out of dodge and moved up.

- The dirt section was uneventful with everybody riding really cautiously.

- Some guy crashed on a little down hill and everybody seemed to get around him. When I came by he was sitting on his butt clutching the back of his neck facing the direction of the race screaming at the top of his lungs. I'm not sure if he was hurt or if this was his strategy to draw attention to the fact that he was in the middle of the road. Hopefully it was the later. It didn't seem like an "I'm in pain scream." It certainly made me take notice. Oh, and I guess the fact that everybody was swerving around him also.

Lap 2:
- A group of about 10 missed a right hand turn and kept going straight. Equal blame should be on the guys who went straight and the road guard in that corner who as basically hidden to the outside of the turn and saying "left turn" while pointing to the right. Of course the guys who were numbers 11-20 went right and instead of sitting up to let these guys get back on, they hit the gas. I've never understood this tactic or etiquette in amateur racing. I'm not saying you have to sit up and wait every time there's a crash or someone gets a flat, but when something like this happens, do you really feel good if you won because some guys didn't make the turn? I shouted to wait, but nobody did so I had to go with the pace. What can you do?

- Gravel section: Uneventful except for the two guys behind me who were dropping F-bombs at each other for something. I thought they were joking till I looked back and saw rage in both their eyes. I was sort of hoping they'd fight. That'd have been funny.

- There was one guy off the front and nobody was riding. I took about a 2 mile pull to just see if the body would respond. I wasn't exactly punching the gas during this pull but at least I put my nose in the wind and came through the start/finish where Jill was sitting on the front of the group. That turn was sharper than I remembered and I almost overcooked it. Almost.

Lap 3:
- I moved off the front and flicked my elbow. Nobody came through. I look back and the guy behind me looks dead. So, I move back over to the front and keep driving it.

- Gravel Section: Finally some excitement! Three dudes go down on the inside of the turn. Me and another guy have to go around them changing our lines once we're already in the gravel. I see his rear wheel slide and I feel mine do the same. We both get back on the packed stuff and chase back onto the group. Well, actually that wasn't that exciting at all.

- I get to the inside of the group to get a shield from the wind on this back section. This position means I'm forced into the gutter a bit later as a couple guys are moving to their right for some reason. I can't say for sure, but this is probably where I hit some weird section of pavement or rocks or sticks or some sort of shrapnel.

- About a mile later a guy behind me is saying "NCVC you're flat." But there's like 1,000 NCVC riders per field so I have no idea if he's talking to me or not and since I don't feel like I'm flat I ignore him. He says it again. I look down and it doesn't look like either tire is flat. He rides up beside me to ensure that he's talking to me. I look back down, I'm flat. I throw my hand up in the air so people will go around me and I coast to a stop. I'm pretty sure I curse a lot in the process.

- I wait for the sag wagon. Day over.

It's a shame. I was starting to feel better and where I flatted we only had a bit more and 1 lap to go, probably like 10 miles or so left. Definitely enough to stay in and see what happened. Maybe take a last lap dig. I was trying to figure out what I thought might make the most sense. For all the hype built up around this race about how hard the course was, I found it to be just the opposite. I was feeling like total crap for the first 20 miles and was still able to safely stay in the field. When I pre-rode the thing solo I thought it was hard, but maybe that's because I already had 60 miles in my legs before getting there? Who knows. I have no idea who even won. Once I was flat and got a ride back to the parking lot, I walked back to meet Jill, we got in the car, and left.

An odd thing that stood out:
There was a lot of cursing in this race which I'm generally a fan of. I don't know if it was high nerves because everybody was scared to flat out or what but it seemed like the slightest touches or movement made guys fly off the handle at each other. There's one little steep pitch after the gravel section that nobody was really riding up very fast. On the second lap one guy moved over into another guy on the right and the guy on the right just lit into him, "M-fer, get the f off of me. Ride a straight f-ing line." The guy who receiving this lashing immediately blamed somebody else for moving in on him, which is clearly the right defense, even though as I was right behind them, it was totally his fault. This guy caused a crash a few weeks ago, he sucks at riding his bike in a straight line. But this was just an example where I was right there to see it go down. There were f-bombs been tossed around everywhere. Lots of angry Cat 4s. Must be something in the water?

The War Wages On

2010-05-13T08:47:00.005-05:00

A lot gets made of the cyclist vs. driver civil war that has been waged. It seems like every month there's another magazine that puts out another list ranking it's 10-50 most bike friendly cities. Having lived and ridden in two cities that are generally pretty high on those lists and in one that doesn't I feel like with pretty good authority I can say that the general motorist in Portland is no friendlier to me as a cyclist than your average metro-DC driver. You might find that odd because of all the articles you read about how Portland is nothing but a series of bike lanes connecting one side of town to the other, and while that's true, so is DC. No matter how many bike lanes a city builds, the motorist who is forced to cautiously pass a cyclist, thus forcing them to slow down from whatever speed they were traveling, is going to be annoyed. That's just how it is. Portland is the owner of great statistics like 6% of their residents commute to work by bicycle and they won't build a mile of road without building a mile of bike path/lane. Those are great and all, but that's still 94% of people who use some sort of motor to get to work and would prefer their tax dollars go to something else besides infrastructure that slows down their motorized commute.

By now I'm sure that everyone is aware of the Tony Kornheiser rant. If you're not, allow me to recap without bothering to look for a link or even linking you to my own discussion of said rant on this blog. Kornheiser, annoyed by a new set of bike lanes that have been proposed, suggested that motorists just run bikes down. "Give them a little bump" is a much better paraphrase. Then the all mighty Lance Armstrong got wind of it, called Mr. Tony and they had a dialogue. Mr. Tony apologized and then Levi Leipheimer tweeted something that he thought made him sound tough saying he'd never heard of Tony Kornheiser. Got news for your Levi, he's never heard of you either. But I digress. I bring up this point because it's just one more example of how in today's world of where people want to be eco friendly and "green up their lives," there's still an on going battle for the right to the road between cars and people on bikes. I don't think it's going to go away, but there's a lot more positive thinking people out there than me looking to do anything to make even the smallest difference.

That brings me to my point, sort of. Somehow, and this is beyond me because I haven't been a subscriber to Bicycling magazine in about five years, I have ended up on their email distribution list. So, about once a week I am treated to the same electronic articles that convinced me to stop paying for their print version. Any one who can competently show up and not get yelled at on your fast local group ride will have a hard time finding any article in Bicycling magazine that is either useful or interesting. I feel the same way about Runner's World and Triathlete, but that's another topic for another day. The subject line of these emails is always the headline of the most important article and today's really caught my attention, "How to Drive Around Cyclists." I'm obviously a cynic but they really paid someone to write this and then paid another person to put it into a online friendly format with graphics they basically stole out of a 15 year old's drivers ed manual.

Please, take a second an flip through, but don't spend too much time, there's nothing in there worth reading. Maybe, even though I'm a cynic, I give people too much credit because the biggest problem I have with this is the entire 16 page/point article can be summed up in 1, "Use common sense." Maybe most people don't have common sense? Maybe that's a portion of brain activity that goes completely blank when they see an odd two wheeled person in front of them on the road. They point out all these factors like, the two second rule, the 3 feet rule, slow passing makes for safe passing (which I'm not sure I agree with), etc. These are things you teach to a 15 year old who is going to take a driver's test and by the time they are 16 and two weeks will have forgotten it all to simply let the common sense of driving take over. Having moved from VA to CA to OR and now back I have taken all three states written driver's tests. I am a really good driver. I've never been in an accident that was my fault and I haven't been stopped for speeding in over 4 years. Still, it took me two tries at the CA test to pass and I only passed the OR test on the first try by one point. The score on that test has no correlation with one's ability to drive a car. It has a direct correlation with one's ability to memorize a bunch of crap that happens less than 1% of the time when you're behind the wheel.

Regardless, isn't this little electronic pamphlet directed to the wrong crowd? Ostensibly the people reading it are the people on the bikes and when they are in their cars they're probably not the ones laying on the horn when there's traffic an a cyclist is keeping them from getting to the next stop sign two seconds sooner. I suppose it's a great effort to produce some sort of little manual on the 15 most important tips for not killing a cyclist, but shouldn't it be distributed to the drivers? There's a reason that Martin Luther nailed The Ninety-Five Thesis to the church door and didn't just distribute it at his underground meeting. It's safe to say that Martin Luther does not work at Bicycling magazine.

I think my point, if I'm making one at all, is that it doesn't matter where you live, how many bike lanes or multi-use trails you have access to, at some point, you have to ride in the road and chances are both you and the cars sharing that space, wish the other wasn't there. The driver doesn't need a lesson on how to get around the cyclist just like the cyclist doesn't need a lesson on how to let the driver's by, though sometimes, neither of these are true statements. But that's life. There will be cars and there will be bikes and as long as you don't hit me I won't throw my water bottle at you. I think that's a pretty fair compromise.

Cadel Evans Values Personal Space

2010-05-07T09:11:00.004-05:00

Due to the fact that I get the majority of my cycling news from sources that discuss Lance's last bowel movement as if it's an indicator to his next TT ride (probably mediocre), I've been left to think that Cadel Evans is a meek, mild, shy guy who more or less just follows wheels and is afraid to take chances to win. I'm not completely sure that last part isn't true, but I like it's more likely that Cadel Evans is grossly aware of his own limiters and when the el pisterola hits it, he's well aware he's already on the limit and rides tempo to manage losses rather than chase, blow up, and lose a lot more. This isn't very exciting racing, but it is smart racing. I can think of another guy who for years and years rode with the same style and used to get the same criticisms but now seems to have revamped his image through twitter after hanging out with a guy who is really good at PR and personal branding. (If you can guess this rider, please do so in the comments and you'll receive an electronic long distance high five from TeamLandall.)

Yesterday, in my quest for bike tossing videos I ran across a couple videos of Cadel that I had to watch a few times to believe it was actually him. Maybe Cadel isn't such a soft guy after all. I know us Americans like to pretend like we're tough, but when it comes to feelings and shit we're all a lot more sensitive than our straight forward talking European and Australian Earth-mates. These videos seriously changed the way I think of Cadel Evans. I'm not sure it elevated his chances of winning any Grand Tours (although this Giro seems a little thin on high end talent whose real goals aren't the Tour de France.) but it certainly changed my perception of him as a soft guy who wouldn't punch back, literally.

I don't think he's interested in being interviewed:

The threat to cut someone's head off is probably enough, but listen to the laugh after he says it, creepy!

So, what have we learned today, Cadel Evans may not ever win the Tour de France but your critique of him should be done at a safe distance.

Bike Throws, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2010-05-06T13:46:00.004-05:00

For some reason on my ride to work this morning I started thinking about people throwing really expensive bikes. I'm not really sure what prompted this, but it made me laugh. I started out thinking about Dave Millar tossing his bike in the Giro when his chain snapped. That made me remember Norman Stadler's meltdown after a flat tire at Kona a few years ago. Then I sort of wondered just how pissed I'd have to be in a bike race to actually throw my bike. The answer I came up with was pretty immeasurable because unlike both of these guys, I don't have Felt and Kuota on speed dial to ship me a new one. I got distracted earlier and wrote the stupid rant that is directly below this one. Instead, this is what I should have concentrated my efforts on. Here's the videos with a bit more explanation.

This was in the Giro a few years ago and David Millar was still hunting for a personal win to show everybody he could win clean. I really like Millar regardless of the irony of his anti-doping pilgrimage. He's in the front group and the winner is clearly coming out of this group. He said repeatedly he had good legs and was absolutely sure he was going to win. You know, they always say that. But, if you're in that position and your chain snaps with 1km to go, I'm pretty sure tossing the bike is justified.

While the bike toss in the next clip isn't actually captured, the meltdown from his inability to change a flat is hilarious! The situation is a bit different. Norman Stadler's entire strategy revolves around mounting a huge lead on the bike because he can't really run. You'd think that the possibility of a flat during a 112 mile ride is high enough that he'd have figured out how to take care of this before the big day. I've seen plenty of Ironman videos to know that other people have fixed flats and gone on to win. "ZEE TYRE!"

The term "bike throw" is actually used all the time in cycling. It's an action taken by sprinters that are close to each other and so they "throw" their bike at the line to try and get there before the other guy. I've always wondered if this is really effective but enough people do it, so it must be.

Here's a properly executed bike throw. It's actually a great example as these Cavendish and Husholvd are joking around, (It's the top of Mt. Ventoux and the winners have already showered by the time these two guys "sprint" for the line.) going slow and both of them actually throw their bikes at the line. It's quick, so pay attention:

And then there's this little gem I saw the other day. This is not a properly executed bike throw:

And, to answer his question, yes, there's nothing in the rules that say you actually have to cross the finish line on your bike. You both just have to cross the line. Tough win!

Who Are You Kidding?

2010-05-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

Last year I worked for a company that started all of it's meetings with some sort of "share" time. This obviously annoyed me to no end because to be quite honest I didn't give a crap what everybody else at the table's favorite memory of a baby sitter was. These also annoyed me because not only was I forced to participate but because I wasn't interested in sharing actual details of my life with these people. I'd make something up that wasn't as outlandish as everybody else's stories and would once again be the office outcast.

One such meeting the opening share time question was "What's a pet peeve and how are you working on it?" People went around the table really talking about things they were actually working on in their personal lives. I think one girl even cried which forced me not to laugh. I'm not saying I'm perfect, because who is, but when it comes to the crap I'm working on in my personal life, to me, work just ain't the forum where I'm going to openly discuss that stuff, and, it shouldn't be for anyone.

As it rolled around to me I was torn between my current real answer, "these meetings" and how I was working it, "looking for a new job," and "people who wear the wrong socks in cycling." I went with the socks. I made up some crap about how you can't just have gym socks and don't be ridiculous and show up with tube socks. They have to be cycling socks and they they should be straight and pulled up as high as they'll go. To be honest, this wasn't an entire lie, but I am obviously not affected by other people's sock choice while on a bike.

This morning, I was reminded of that meeting because I received an email that cuts right to a life long pet peeve of mine, but one I have no intention of working on. That pet peeve is when people make completely empty threats to try and get something done. I won't go into the details of this one, but there is absolutely no merit to the threat as it was laid out. The more I think about it, I don't think it's the threat itself that bothers me, or rather the non enforceable consequence for not following the actions. The part that annoys me is that for someone to make such a ridiculous threat, they must think that all the people who read it are so stupid that instead of quickly realizing the lack of merit, they'll all be scared into doing whatever this person says. I find as an adult most of these empty threats made by people have some sort of financial link to them which instantly negate the person's actual ability to follow through if you ignore the action they want you to take.

When I worked at summer camp I was amazed by the staffers who would throw out empty threats at the campers all the time. The problem is, kids are way smarter than most people give them credit for and if you tell little Johnny that if he keeps doing x behavior he's going to get y punishment, but you don't actually hold him to it the next time he does it, he not only keeps doing that, but you just gave him permission to do whatever the hell he wants because he knows you're not going to follow through. I never had this problem as a staffer at summer camp because I had no problem taking every bit of little johnny's fun away when he didn't do what was asked. In the end, guess who never had follow up issues with little johnny?

It just doesn't make any sense to threaten some consequence that you can't enforce. It only makes you look stupid and you lose the respect of your peers. Whether it's your kids, your staff, your peers or your enemy, you're better off never crossing that line if you can't or don't plan to actually enforce what you say. And besides threatening people doesn't make them jump to action, it makes them all quickly form an alliance against you. And, in my own case that spurred this little discussion, I'm still sitting right where I was before I received that email. No action on my part is being taken.

A Rant of Sorts

2010-05-05T12:36:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I fret over what non-sense I can spend a few minutes of day writing on this thing. Some of those days I come up with something that is just a little bit less pointless than everything else and so I write about that. Some of those days, like today, I can't really think of anything that would make for a full on post. Sometimes, awesome things just fall in your lap.

We've all had our run ins with customer service and as the world of business moves away from people and more towards automatically generated email messages it would seem that responses like the one below are going to be all the more common. Will someone on the other end even read this? You wouldn't possibly say this had their been a person on the other end of the phone as opposed to server space on the other end of the interweb. One thing's for sure, sometimes, it just feels good to say/type exactly what it is you feel.

(The author of this beautifully crafted email's identity will be kept anonymous)

Dear ProFlowers.com,

No way will I "finish my order" on "flowers for mom", despite your ridiculous 10% off offer that I just received via email. Advertising flowers for $19.99 and then charging $30 for delivery, $3 for some other bullshit, sales tax, and whatever other crap you tacked on is some crazy shit. My order total once I placed it in my shopping cart and provided my info was nearly $58 - for delivery of a $19 bouquet on Mother's day. I can't even begin to imagine what the total would be had there not been a special discount and a free vase on that order. It was reduced down to $48 when I changed the delivery date to the day before (but who wants to send their mom flowers on NOT-mother's-day?) Still some crazy shit.

So let's just break this down real quick: I spent time picking out the right flowers, filling in all your forms, all the while assuming that the delivery fees would be high, but somewhat reasonable. I was a happy camper. Then, all of a sudden out of nowhere, WHAM!! BAM! FIFTY-EIGHT DOLLARS PLEASE! Screwed.

You should feel guilty.

Regards,

Person

--

On another totally unrelated note I'm becoming less and less interested in watching the news with is sad because I feel like I'm just starting to get to that age where I should be more and more concerned about what's going on in the world. But, it's hard to watch the news when the leading story is the latest saga in who Tiger Woods is banging or that Kate from Jon and Kate plus 8 got kicked off of Dancing with the Stars and it makes her kids sad that people critique her mom. I got news for those kids, what those judges are saying is nice compared to how 90% of America feels about either of their parents. But I digress.

Yesterday, Jill sent me a link to a story on the Washington Post's website where an author literally did a write up a tiny pile of snow still left over from February's snow storms. I mean really? We live in the DC area, somebody is bound to have just gotten shot and that's at least better news than well packed snow that refuses to melt. They posted a before and after picture as if the snow had gone on The Biggest Loser or something. Why is that a story?

Am I the only one that is pretty sure Metro is being ran by an intern? This morning there was a report there will be adjustments to the Red Line. I don't know this for sure, but I've always heard that the Red Line is the most use of the five options. The adjustments were described as follows:

Add Cars.
Cut Trains.
Increase Time Between Trains.

But, if 2/3s of those jump out at you as the opposite of progress, don't worry, Metro authorities say that these adjustments will help ease Red Line congestion. Let's do the math. Most trains have 6 cars, but they can have up to 8. If you cut 1 train, that's 3 trains that now need 2 extra cars each just to break even. When you increase the wait you aren't spreading out those 2 cars per train as evenly as you would if a standard 6 car train showed up on the current schedule. That's just more people standing on the platform trying to squeeze into two extra cars.

I know this might be crazy, but here's an idea, how about adding cars to the same number of trains and keep the same schedule. Maybe metro is just being ran by idiots.

Race Report - Michael Murad Road Race

2010-05-03T08:10:00.004-05:00

Saturday, May 1, I lined up for the first time this year at the Michael P. Murad Memorial Road Race. Everybody was complaining that it was really hot, but I sort of like it hot, so I didn't care about that. It was in the upper 80s and just 3 days before there was a high of 60 so I can see how it would bother some people.

The course is a pretty standard 8 mile loop. A couple really well paved roads and a couple country roads that don't get a lot of attention. There wasn't a single hill to speak of. This isn't to say there weren't a couple little rises, but a hill that almost everybody in the group is going over in their 50/53x15 isn't exactly going to do much damage to the group. We did 6 laps for 48 miles.

The results haven't been posted yet (way to go bikereg and the promoters) so I don't know my exact finishing spot. I feel like it's top 20 but it could be top 30. It's so hard to tell the line when you're seeing cross eyed. Either way, the result page won't tell the story of how I felt the day went, so I'll get on with it.

Last year in California I went into most races with the strategy of staying out of the wind and trying to sprint. This strategy doesn't really work for me because while I might be an ok sprinter, I'm not crazy like they are, as we'll come to see later in this report. So with this race I started with a couple goals.

1) Win.
2) Be active getting in breaks and starting breaks.
3) Don't pull back any breaks because somebody else will do that.
4) Stay in the front half at all times.
5) Finish with all your skin.

I can honestly say, for the first time in any race, I accomplished all but 1 goal.

The first lap started like most first laps with a couple guys on the front acting as if the finish line was around the next corner, then we got to that next corner and it slowed down. After we came through the finish line on the 1st lap I just wasn't happy with the pace and decided instead of being frustrated, I'd go do something about it. I put myself on the front and ramped the pace up just a bit, nothing drastic. After about a minute I moved left, flicked my elbow and nobody came through. I looked over my shoulder and saw that not a single person had bothered to stay on my wheel. Without trying I opened a gap of about 10 or 15 seconds and so I decided maybe I should start trying. Realistically speaking I knew I had no chance of staying away for 40 more miles, but you never know what might happen in a group of Cat 4s. One guy from DC Velo bridged up to me, which I was happy about, except he took the shortest pull ever and stuck me right back out in the wind. Then two more guys came up, both from the team hosting the race, AABC. The four of us tried to get organized. I'm sort of suffering like a dog as I've been off the front of like 10 minutes, most of which was by myself so I really just need a wheel to follow. The DC Velo guy starts yelling at everybody to work together. I yell back at him that I need to recover and he needs to take a longer pull. Meanwhile the 2nd of the AABC guys is literally just following his teammates wheel not even peaking at the wind. As soon as I saw this I knew this break had as much chance as if I were by myself. I took one more long pull trying to inspire my new friends, but when it was my turn to work back through the pace line I looked back and realized we were basically caught, so I sat up.

That effort hurt! It took a lot longer to recover from it than I thought it would so I sat just at about what I determined was the middle of the pack to drink, eat and gasp for air. About half a lap later I started to feel normal again so I began picking my way up through the field to get closer to the front. This was no easy task as the center line rule (can't cross the center line whether it's actually painted or not) was in full effect on every road and 4 guys from AABC decided they'd rather ride shoulder to shoulder on the front and pick each other's noses. For most of the day this was the pace, at times I'm told we were going 15mph. Why didn't someone go to the front and make it faster? Well, to be honest, it was a game of thread the needle just to move up one row towards the front because it was basically 3 or 4 wide all the way across the one lane we were allowed. The refs were being really strict on the center line rule relegating lots of dudes to the back so there wasn't much you could do. Also, see what happened with me when I just went up there and tried to pick up the pace. Those guys just let me roll off the front and nobody was going to chase until the group up the road was at least 4 deep. Then, they'd work to bring it back. This was sort of the story of the day.

With about 1.5 miles to go in the 3rd lap I was sitting about 10 guys from the front and again the pace was crawling and I was getting bored. Since Jill comes to all my races and basically just sits there in the sun for a few hours to see us go by 5-6 times I decided I'd try to get off the front for the sole ambition of coming through the finish line by myself so she'd be impressed/happy/proud/something. This time I went with a bit more purpose as I didn't really want to draw anybody out with me. It didn't take me long to realize I'd misjudged how close we were to the finish line but figured I'd already committed so it was head down until I got there. One other guy bridged up so we rotated a few times but he lost my wheel on the right turn into the final stretch because he grabbed his brakes and I didn't. I decided not to wait for him since I didn't care if this move stuck for another 3 laps, I only wanted to make sure it stuck through the finish line on this lap. With about 200 meters to go I glanced back and saw about 5 guys working to get up to me. They caught me just before the finish line and we started working together pretty well. I saw Jill smile when she saw me come through in this small group off the front and that really made my legs instantly feel better.

This group was motivated and another two guys came up to us. So now we've got 8 because the first guy to bridge to me latched onto the back of the group of 5. We were rotating pretty well, I took a smarter pull because I was now hoping we could make this stick and everybody was saying, "we've got a gap," "go, go, go" so you knew everybody was motivated to work. When I rotated off the front the next guy came flying by me way too fast and had essentially dropped the guy behind him. I yelled "Don't blow it up, ride tempo" and he backed off and let the next guy catch back on. As I made my way to the back the guy that originally bridged looked like shit and was fading. I asked if he was ok and he just shook his head no. There was a gap opening between him and the wheel in front so I asked if he could close it, he shook his head no. Since this meant I was now going to have to sprint to fill that gap, which my legs weren't excited about, I put my hand on his butt and slung him back up to the wheel. I figured if we could get just one more pull out of this guy that was better than letting him slip out the back. Also, it was easier to throw him up to the wheel than close that gap myself. I rotated through one more time before looking back and realizing the guy behind me was the head of the entire bunch. Good try.

That group seemed the most promising and about five of us stayed at the front of the group. It didn't take long for counter attacks to start going and when I saw three of those motivated guys jump, I jumped to go also. I was basically riding up the gutter already so when I went my move was a combination of sprinting, tip toeing on the edge of the road, shouting for guys to get out of my way, and riding through driveway gravel that spilled on the road hoping for the best. I made it up, we had five guys, we rotated once but nobody's pulls had much to them and we were brought back pretty quickly. Again, decent try.

At this point it seemed prudent to stay close to the front to see who would try and get away, but also start mentally preparing myself for the chaos that always ends up when the pace is slow and not that much of the field has been shed. There was a pretty senseless crash on the last lap. Overlap of wheels and a couple over reactions. I heard the wheels touch, immediately realized I was close enough to get caught in the dominoes so I got the hell out of dodge instantly to the left. Sure enough, if I had stayed put I'd have definitely caught a $3,000 Giant frame in my drive side. Whether it'd have made me go down, who knows, glad I didn't stick around to find out. The guy took out at least 10 dudes, maybe more. Hopefully they're all ok.

Like in most races, when the guys on the front hear cursing followed by scrapping of bike and flesh on pavement, they hit the gas as if they're trying to outrun the fall out of a nuke. I have no problem with this strategy and was happy to tuck in and hopefully make the group we'd be going to the line with a lot smaller. No such luck as the pace slowed and it was once again, groupo compacto.

The finish ended up being chaotic. Shocker! There's a big guy with tons of horsepower that races for NCVC in the 4s so I decided I'd follow him as long as I could and hopefully use him as a lead out. We came through the final corner somewhere between 5 and 10 wheels back. He hit the gas hard and for a second I couldn't believe how well this working out. Then, just as I had that thought, two guys came from my right side and decided they wanted to be on his wheel also and knocked me straight to the left out in the wind. I tried to get back on his wheel but I'm not good at the battle royale that goes down in the last 500 meters of a race. He was willing to risk crashing a lot more than I was to stay on that wheel and so he won it. And, apparently, he won the race too. Now being in the wind with 500 to go I quickly realized I wasn't going to just TT myself to the line with these guys so I started to sprint and it didn't take long before I realized that wasn't going to last to the line so I sat down and TTd, then I sprinted, then I TTd and then I sprinted. I'm pretty sure I was decelerating after the 2nd effort to sprint. The line seemed to be an infinite distance away. Finally it got there and looking around I think I was in the first 20 across, but who really knows.

Since the finish I must have replayed that finish a thousand times in my head and with no real fast wheels coming by to get on after I lost my original lead out wheel I don't know what I possibly could have done differently. I was happy to not sit in the group all day and complain about how slow it was like most of the field. The result is nothing to brag about but at least I made some efforts getting off the front three times and helping to at least shape part of the race. And, of course, it's always nice to finish with all your skin intact. That's it. Thanks for checking in.

Cycling, It's Fashion on Bikes

2010-04-28T11:38:00.008-05:00

Often people joke that 90% of cycling is fashion, but the truth of the matter is it's only a "joke" because 90% is probably a low ball number. Don't believe me? Have you ever noticed how many go out of their way to look like professional cyclists? Ever noticed how many pro team jersey's and sometimes full kits you see on fat, out of shape dudes with deep wallets and shallow aerobic capacity? If not, take a look around. People who ride bikes want to look good. Or, they ding bells and shout "on your left."

The SRAM Tour of the Gila starts today and once again our good friends Lance and Levi have decided it's a great training race where they can go beat up on the domestic pros. This is a tangent, but this year Garmin has sent a few boys themselves, three actually, because that's all the archaic UCI rule allows for, so maybe Levi will actually have some competition, I'm hoping so at least. Either way, it's GREAT, in much larger font than that, when these guys race stateside. It does so much for the sport. No sarcasm intended. No really, none! But, you're probably wondering, what does this have to do with fashion? While we(I) may type in circles here at TeamLandall, we(I) often, at least have some unifying theme.

Because of that stupid rule I mentioned above the boys from RadioShack and Garmin aren't allowed to race as RadioShack and Garmin. Last year Levi, Lance and Chris (yes, I am on a first name basis with them, duh!) raced as "Team Mellow Johnny's" after Lance's famed and overpriced bike shop (I mean really. I paid $12 for a water bottle and the logo wore off in like a month). This year, they're doing the same and the Garmin boys are racing as "DZ Nuts" after Zabriske's chamois cream company.

Again, the fashion, I'm getting to it! A picture was released on twitter this morning that showed the kits that the Mellow Johnny's crew will be sporting during their brief stay in the Land of Enchantment and they are bad ass. And to prove that, I've provided you with this picture.

I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty much always a fan of retro and so is everybody else, because it's awesome. Ever been to a baseball game on throw back day? The game can be the most boring life less thing ever and just seeing dudes in uniforms made to look like they're from the 40s makes up for it! Remember when the Pistons changed to those ugly teal uniforms with the horse logo? No, well, don't worry, because after a season or two, they went back to the good old tried and true.

Ridiculous!

Much Better!

Back to cycling. When fashion plays such a huge part in recognizability (I'm coining that) you'd think teams would do a better job of making kits that look good. When RadioShack released their new kits for this year I was more than a little disappointed. Lance had bikes custom painted by world famous artists for the Tour de France last year. Shepard Fairey, of Obama's Hope Campaign fame, is apparently Lance's buddy and this is what they settle on?

I mean, it's a bit plain. If RadioShack or "The Shack" as they seem to be referring to themselves, wanted to get in this cycling game to revolutionize their image, while shortening their name so they're "cool in the streets," why didn't they insist on some sort of old school retro jersey to begin with? Nobody in their right mind likes the standard RadioShack kit better than the retro one only being used at the Tour of the Gila. Everybody knows that making your logo look retro makes you look progressive and ahead of your time. It doesn't make any sense but I'm not opening that point up for debate. RadioShack missed out on a great chance to capitalize on their cool*. (*I'm not actually sure they are cool. I actually thought they had gone out of business before this sponsorship was announced.)

But really, without the marriage of cycling and fashion you'd have a bunch of dudes with hairy legs, gym socks and hi-vis yellow performance jersey's cluttering up the road. While I really think RadioShack dropped the ball, they at least did better than these guys. Who without a doubt have the ugliest kit I've ever seen. There isn't a single nice thing to say about it. It makes the "Venom" kit from Rock Racing two years ago look good, which is saying a lot! I can only assume the guy in the middle of these two is the designer. Just like parents of a really ugly child, only they could love something this hideous.

Since I have some experience in kit design I think I come to this from a place of exponential expertise. The B Sample Racing kit was and probably will be the best looking kit I've ever worn and yes, it was designed by yours truly. I'll admit I completely ripped off the original Rock Racing design but by the time these were made nobody was even able to remember those kits. If I had to do it again I'd decrease the center logo a bit so you could see more of the white bursts that go directly horizontal. Still, even with that discrepancy, it's a thing of beauty! See for yourself:

If I ever get the opportunity to design another kit I want to stick with the retro theme and have something that pays tribute to the greatest baseball uniform every adorned. From 1975-1993 the Houston Astro's fans were lucky enough to get to gaze on these beauties. Hopefully, one day, fans of TeamLandall will get the same opportunity. Fingers crossed!

Really Vino?

2010-04-26T09:57:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, this happened:

Alexandre Vinokourov won Liege-Bastogne-Leige, one of cycling's five monuments. I didn't see the race because I live in America and went to ride instead of watching it in Flemish or some other foreign language and to be honest, with this result I'm sort of glad. I don't really know what the think. Here's a guy that rode out of his mind only to test positive for blood doping, deny it, do the two year suspension, come back from his suspension and immediately start winning races. The first couple races he won weren't big ones by any means, mostly time trials, but now he wins Leige in a totally dominating performance? I think you're more than a bit gullible if you look at that result and don't at least wonder how clean it is.

In recent history there's been a handful of guys that mattered that got busted and return to the sport. David Millar, Tyler Hamilton, Ivan Basso, Michael Rasmussen, Floyd Landis, Ricardo Ricco and Alexandre Vinokourov. This list isn't exhaustive, but it is telling. Let's take a look at each of these cases.

Upon David Millar's (admitted to doping after being busted) return he rode for Saunier-Duval and basically did nothing spectacular. He had consistently lack luster results in time trials and to my knowledge, didn't win anything. Then, he signed on with Garmin and now, in his third year with them, he's won some races.

Tyler Hamilton (has always denied it with some pretty creative claims), he didn't win anything.

Ivan Basso (says he "considered" but never actually doped), still win-less to my knowledge though always "a threat." Whatever that means.

Michael Rasmussen (denies) is riding for basically a high level amateur team based in Italy. He's not going to any big races and either it's because the races he's riding are too small for anyone to care to report results or he's not winning because basically his name has been silent since his comeback.

Floyd Landis (denies, with solid evidence that the testing procedures were f'd up) just scored a second at the UCI Battenkill but that's hardly a big result for a guy that won the Tour de France in 2006.

Ricardo Ricco (he was basically sweating CERA so who cares), seems to be winning just like the days of old. Out sprinted Vino and Basso at Trentino last week for a summit finish.

Vino (denies, but actually eluded to admitting in a press conference), see above.

So what does this mean? It's hard to tell. Does this mean that Landis', Hamilton's and Rasmussen's seemingly mediocre performances within the first couple of years of returning prove they were doping before? Seems likely. Does it mean that it's impossible to win when coming back from a suspension? Not if you believe that Ricco and Vino are riding clean. But, it something about that just doesn't make any sense.

In the reports I've read Vino more or less fended off a solid chase effort by Valverde, Evans and Gilbert. There's no shortage of horsepower in those three guys and Evans alone is at least as good of a time trialist as Vino. In theory, one guy shouldn't be able to stay away from three guys working together, you know, in theory. If you're clean now, and you're a couple years older than you were then, but you're still able to put in that kind of ride coming off contesting the overall at Trentino, why'd you need to dope in the first place? Suddenly now, with you maturity and time to reflect you've gained the confidence in your own abilities to not try to hedge the bet just a little? Maybe the dope isn't that effective to begin with? Maybe he's clean, maybe he's not, but it just doesn't make much sense on the surface.

He was booed as he crossed the finish line and really, who can blame anyone that doesn't believe in his performance? He hasn't really given us a whole lot of reason to.

Hains Point, Like a Crit, Only Sketchier

2010-04-23T08:24:00.003-05:00

If you live in the DC area, ride a bike and have ever considered shaving your legs, then Thursday nights mean you go to Hains Point for sprint night. If you are unfamiliar with Hains Point I've included this map to help this diatribe make a bit more sense.

View Hains Point in a larger map

You'll notice that Hains Point is basically a triangle. I've color coded the route for how it usually behaves. The blue line begins after the arbitrary sprint line when in most cases people sit up, soft pedal and let it regroup, doesn't always happen. The red line is when people drop the proverbial hammer and decide to not only ride fast, but try and run into every parked car, pedestrian, slower cyclist, dog, cat, child and tour bus until reaching that sprint line. Then, as you'd guess, the process repeats.

Last night I decided that I'd go give the good old Hains Point ride another chance. If speed work is really as important as people make it out to be there's really not many rides in the area where top end speed is going to be hit as frequently as here. The reason why I've started to skip Hains Point in recent weeks is because as you'd probably guess from my description of the red line above, it's basically the sketchiest shit on the planet. As if getting 50 or so super ego driven cyclist together and painting a line on the road that means absolutely nothing wouldn't make things dangerous enough, Hains Point is essentially where everyone in DC who is trying to get fitter goes. And for the very reason that Hains Point is attractive for all of these various fitness seekers, low traffic and one way street, it's basically now made it more dangerous than if we did this ride in the middle of the mall. That doesn't make any sense you might say. Oh no? Allow me to give some examples that I witnessed from just last night before deciding my life was more valuable than an imaginary green jersey ripped to shreds and stuck to road rash.

What might come as a surprise to you, is the biggest hazard at Hains Point (controlling for the fact that a bunch of cyclist are riding well above the speed limit just inches from each other) isn't traffic. Traffic is relatively light and when their are cars, the group is moving so much faster than they are, they generally get out of the way. There are actually two hazards and their percentage of danger is probably hard to calculate, first, pedestrians, who I'd like to classify as walkers, runners and tourists, second, other people on bikes.

The pedestrians at Hains Point literally come in all shapes and sizes but one thing they have in common is no interest in getting out of the way. I guess because it's a touristy area with light traffic people forget that it's still a road and just walk across it at will. There aren't really sidewalks so apparently to joggers, running both with and against the flow, the best place to run is in the middle of the road. It's nothing for a group of 5 or 6 power walkers, "power" being used loosely, to walk six wide taking an entire lane and refusing to move. All of these obstacles are encountered every single lap and depending on who's at the front of the group, the reaction and subsequent avoidance can be smooth or a poetic sequence of brake grabbing, swerving, sprinting back up to speed, swerve again, fight for a wheel, grab some brakes, swerve, sprint, curse, brakes, swerve, repeat, all the way around.

Last night on the second lap there was a gentleman training for the next Rocky film running up the dashed white line in the middle of the road shadow boxing the air as he went. The group was 2 to 3 wide at this point and I was right on the white line. I saw the Rocky impressionist and said to the guy trying to fight me for the wheel in front that we're gonna need to move and he ignored me. I got a bit closer and said it again, ignored. Our arms are now touching and he still isn't moving to the inside to create space. I weigh my options which are to lean on this guy and force him in, which could create an insane over reaction by him and everybody causing a massive pile up, or at the last second, swerve out of the group around the boxer and create pass manic, I chose that, panic and cursing ensue. One guy yells at me for not calling it out and I point to my friend who wouldn't move in and that seems to settle the debate. When I told Jill this story she did not feel my same amount of annoyance since there actually wasn't an accident, but this could have ended very, very badly. Glad it didn't. Oh, I then went on to win that sprint. Where's my green jersey? (Jill thought this should be the story I lead with, not the boxer I almost ran over from behind.)

More and more people seem to be riding bikes these days. Great for the bike industry, bad for people on bikes. Why would I say such a thing? Because there's only so many places to go where a ride of this nature can take place safely and coincidentally it's the same place everybody who has a bike wants to go to ride as well. I couldn't tell you how many pairs or groups of 3 or 4 on hybrids all cruise around at 12mph side by side, but not shoulder to shoulder, effectively blocking the lane. There are far more people on bikes than pedestrians but just like the pedestrians, most of them think the lack of traffic equals a free reign to ride on whatever piece of the two lanes they feel like. Last night, after the third lap and avoiding at least one disaster per lap I decided I'd had enough. When I soft pedaled by the parking lot I saw a group of at least 100 bikes in a big group being given instructions by one guy. From the looks for the group and bikes straight lines were not going to be ridden. I have no idea what that group did to effect the fast group, but I'm certainly glad I wasn't there to find out.

When I lived in Oakland and used to do the Port Ride on Tuesdays I would marvel at how sketchy it was with all the squirrels that would show up. But, at least at the port, the only people out there were bikes and the occasional semi on a 4 lane wide road. There's a solid number of squirrels at Hains Point which would naturally give one cause for concern, but in order to be safe you've got to not only watch for squirrels but pedestrians, outside bikes and an erratic group, for me, it's too much. Going down in the obvious inevitable pile up that is going to happen at Hains Point is not worth any amount of top end speed work gained. I think winning a sprint against guys who go there every week proves that. Last night was the last time I'll be participating in that ride. Hains Point Sprints, nice knowing you, but I'm out.

Random Musings of No Consequence

2010-04-21T08:43:00.003-05:00

Even the title of this post doesn't make any sense. Everything has a consequence and I'm not even sure I am "musing" or know how to "muse."

--

As I'm "watching" (it's actually reading) live updates on VeloNews of La Fleche Wallonne and CPelkey, the guy doing the updating, mentions Contador seemingly every chance he gets I start to wonder if there will ever be another rider like Eddy Merckx who could win every race he ever showed up to? And, I almost immediately answer my own question but with a caveat; no, but maybe.

Even a guy like Contador can't win all the time. Contador isn't going to ever win Paris-Roubaix and maybe because he just won't ever race it. It's a different age of racing where people are much more specialized.

Here's an MAT style analogy I definitely would have gotten correct:

Eddy Merckx : Cycling :: LaBron James : Basketball

LaBron can basically play every position on the floor and in a lot of cases better than the guys who are actually, 4s or 5s. Want to put a small guy on him to disrupt his ability to drive, fine, he shoots over the guy. Want to put a big guy on him to take away the outside jumper, fine, he drives past. He's really a defensive match up nightmare and I'm obviously not the first person to point this out. LaBron James isn't a 2 or 3 or anything, he plays the position of basketball player and that makes him phenomal.

Much in the same way Eddy Merckx wasn't a classics rider or a stage racer. He won practically everything he ever entered and instead of riding the first week of the classics and then taking a break he basically raced every time there was a starting line. I'm pretty sure Eddy Merckx would turn himself inside out at the local 5k if he decided he wanted to win the thing. And, he probably would.

Today, guys specialize. That's just how it is. You know why Lance Armstrong could win 7 Tour de Frances in a row, because it was the only race that he went to with a real objective. If Eddy Merckx had focused solely on the Tour he'd probably have won it at least a few more than 5.

To answer my own question, no, nobody will ever be a rider like Eddy Merckx, unless of course there is, and won't that be fun!

--

If you're a fan of bike racing then you're a fan of Phil Ligget. I dare anyone to try and justify a single reason as to not love the way this guy commentates a race. The same VeloNews coverage posted some "Ligget-isms" and they are each awesome, funny and true. If you don't know what he's referring to, allow me:

"And so, the first pedal has been turned in anger," - They've started trying.

"The elastic has snapped" - When chasing a guy/break and you realize you're not going to make it and you sit up/give up.

"And the heads of state have come to the fore" - important riders are now showing themselves.

"Are they on the road to stardom? Or are they lambs to the slaughter?" - gutsy dudes on long breaks and it looks like they just might make it. Win a long break, you're a star, get caught, well, you feel like you're that lamb.

"He climbs like an angel" - apparently angels are very good at riding bikes up big mountains.

"The little man with the big heart" - Think Thomas Voeckler circa 2004 Tour de France.

"He's dancing on his pedals in a most immodest way" - Attacking on a steep climb.

"He's suffering like he never suffered before" - Ouch.

"He's wearing the mask of pain" - You can tell that he's hurting.

"Once you pull on that golden fleece, You become two men" - Referring to a rider to keeps the yellow jersey in the Tour despite all odds that say he should lose it. It can make you ride above your own limits to keep it for one more day.

"He turns around to look, But he's not going to see any riders back there.
Not even with glasses on because they're all far, far behind him." - I've actually never heard him say this. Doesn't mean he hasn't.

There are so many more.

--

Lastly, saw on Twitter that Bob Roll is going to be in Waldorf, MD at a bike shop on Friday night at 8:30p telling stories. I obviously got excited, but this event has confirmed just how awesome my girlfriend is. She has no idea who Bob Roll is but immediately insisted that we go. Probably because of the ridiculous five year old grin and maybe the jumping up and down with excitement that suddenly came over me. Hopefully she finds him entertaining and his stories will make sense to someone that isn't a self described bike geek. She's the best! You should all be jealous.

I'm Pretty Sure What You're Riding Isn't Actually a Bike

2010-04-16T09:05:00.007-05:00

As a cyclist of questionable skill but lots of "knowledge" it's only natural that I become somewhat snobbish and annoyed by other people riding what by definition is a "bicycle" but by real world standards needs a new describer invented almost immediately. Let's take a quick look at what I'm talking about.

Unlike some guys who ride a bike I'm not really anti the hipster-fixie crowd. I often find their bikes really pretty, full of matching colors and thought out decoration schemes. I also find most hipsters on fixies to be better bike handlers than a lot of guys I ride with so they've got that going for them. I will say that riding a bike with no brakes is pretty stupid, but in most cases they do have an extra layer of protection in the form of an almost grown in mustache.

One group I can't even start to wrap my head around are the idiots who decided a regular double triangle bike just wasn't good enough for them. Maybe they're short and couldn't see over their fellow freak shows while riding the wrong way up one way city streets. Maybe they found a bunch of old bikes at a yard sale, did some drugs with a guy who was an "artist" who happened to own a welder and decided that they could fix their vision issues by stacking two bikes on each other and achieve unrivaled panoramic views of oncoming angry traffic. If you've never seen a tall bike in person, consider yourself lucky, but, here at teamLandall we believe in visual reinforcement, so I found a perfect example in about 2 seconds using a google search.

I never really noticed this until the other day when I saw a guy on a tall bike using the old foot-jammed-on-the-rear-tire-braking tactic. As you can probably guess this is a marginally effective method for controlling speed and I can only imagine the likely hood of broken bones from bailing out on an out of control tall bike is at least 4xs as likely as your average out of control fixie. But, if you look closely, you'll notice our friend in this picture also prefers his tall bike, sans brake. How can I tell? First, take a look at the handle bars which are turned up in such a way to make his position more relaxed and comfortable, no brake levers. "Yes," you might say, "but my bike as a kid didn't have brake levers but a coaster brake on the rear wheel." Great observation, except you see that derailleur turned in almost a vertical position to redirect his 38' long chain? If there's coaster brakes that thing's getting ripped off first time he applies them. But why be bothered with a mechanism to help control speed when you're enjoying your ride at least 6' off the ground? I can't think of any rational reasons. I'm sure you're having the same struggle.

I'd like, for just once, to have one of these clowns explain to me why they'd want to ride a bike that requires some sort of complimentary object just to get on the thing and then why they enjoy having to time all the lights so they aren't forced to get on and off? I once saw a guy in Portland (city of weird bike culture) remove a stilt looking object that was fashioned to the non drive side of the bike. He used this stilt at stop lights to tripod himself up. Once he got rolling again he re secured the stilt to the bike. I'm not gonna lie, all things considered, and ignoring the fact that he was still riding a tall bike, this was pretty impressive. But I still disapprove. Obviously.

These bikes are a product of some dumb urban bike culture that I will never understand. Am I the only one that silently (and sometimes, most of the time, not so silently) hopes that the person riding one falls over every time I see one in the city? I doubt it.

Next up, folding bikes.

I remember the first time I saw one of these and couldn't decide if the design was genius or ridiculous. I'm still stuck. Every time I see one I can't help but imagine my junk getting smashed into that back leg of the triangle where the seat is fixed. It seems like a pretty efficient design if you don't mind the occasional junk bashing. As someone who races cyclo-cross and getting about 75% of my remounts wrong, I can tell you, that shit hurts. On a side note, moms should not stand with their young kids at spots on the course where remounts are being attempted. Unless they want their kid learning a bunch of new vocabulary. You're call. It sort of looks like it's trying to pay homage to the first bikes with the gigantic front wheel and tiny little back wheel. Or, maybe that's just me trying to give this thing some sort of justification. But, even with junk smashing, from a design perspective, it's got to be stronger than one of these things, which are a lot more common:

A lot of people point out that they like these bikes because you can take them on the train during rush hour. I agree, that is a nifty feature, except most people use these bikes for commuting and thus avoid the train during rush hour. But, maybe not? I think my favorite part of seeing these bikes on my way to work is really the people riding them. If you ever wondered who keeps the companies that make reflective gear and hi-vis yellow clothing in business, look no further than the guy with a folding bike. One morning I thought I was interrupting some weird race as there was a pace line of these dudes at least 6 guys deep. I was more than a little nervous passing them because you never know how 6 guys in hi-vis yellow and cranking along in their 65x23 are going to feel being passed buy a guy on a "normal" bike. Have you ever noticed how big the front chain ring is? I'm pretty sure when Magnus Backstedt attempted to break the hour record and used some ungodly large gear (I can't find a picture or video) he must have borrowed the chain ring from one of these things.

Maybe I'm just a traditionalist but doesn't it make these people nervous that all the stress points on the bike are so far away from where they're making contact? In essence these things have a steer tube and seat post of like 3'. Any 5th grader learning about fulcrums can tell you that given a long enough lever a baby could produce enough torque to turn over an elephant. I'm sure they test these things and they're "safe" but it'd make me nervous having that much tubing flex and absorbing shock as I roll over every bump. I guess I've never heard of those things snapping in half, but I don't really roll in circles where people are riding these bikes.

Almost daily I see a guy on probably the weirdest two wheeled machine that gains forward momentum through pedaling (I know, needs work). I tried so hard to find a picture of his exact set up but couldn't. To be honest, I don't even know what to call it. The best I could do is this, which, doesn't do it justice, but it's a start and I'll of course elaborate.

The one I pass all the time has a gigantic front wind shield but the cloth fairing piece is way bigger than this picture. This guys barely covers the tubing on his super cool recumbent, but the guy I pass barely has ground clearance. He's cruising the low rider version of a recumbent with weird cloth fairing. At first I thought this was a shield from the cold, which, on one ride into work, I was a bit jealous of this guys self created micro-environment. But, the other day, it was about 80 degrees and I saw him again, which, who knows, maybe he's got that thing equipped with AC? All I know, is this thing looks like he's from some other planet or at least trying to get there. I can't for the life of me figure out what the advantage is, but can't help but think how funny it'd be if a bee were to make it's way into his little cocoon and then do what trapped bees do. I'd like to watch that go down while I'm behind at a safe distance so when he careens out of control, I can call 911 and tell them to bring the jaws of life. Or, at least a good pair of scissors. I'm sort of surprised I can't find whatever it is this thing is called online because the guy around here has two different covers (there can't possibly be two different dudes riding these things!?), one in blue and one in black with hi-vis yellow zebra stripes. Having the hi-vis yellow is obviously key because nobody is likely to notice a seemingly rolling space ship. I mean without that, he's practically camouflaged.

I'm just going to leave out any sort of criticism over the fact that this guy, when it's boiled down, is riding a recumbent. My thoughts on recumbents are long and confused. I'll spare you.

I didn't realize it until just now but it appears, after looking back over this little blurb that it's really just about visability. We started with our urban bike culture weirdo welding two bikes and connecting every chain he could steal off bikes locked up to parking meters, to an old guy (I'm guessing here. It's impossible to tell who's pedaling the space ship since he's entirely closed in.) who'd prefer a more relaxed position but realizing he's now inches from the ground, looked for ways to increase his visibility by imitating space travel.

The other day I was riding with a guy who went on quite a rant about how he wanted to respect everybody on a bike. I believe the quote was something like, "Hey man, we're all on bikes. If you're on a Pinerello with a 45 degree stem facing up. That's fine. We're both on bikes." I know what he was getting at and I agree that cycling/cyclist (myself included) should do a better job of being more welcoming of new riders because we all started out somewhere. But, in some cases, you just gotta draw the line somewhere.

Stay Classy PG County

2010-04-14T09:12:00.003-05:00

Have you ever noticed that when you sit around in a group and one person mentions a bad incident with a cop it doesn't take long for every single person in the group to share a similar story or at least express their distrust in general law enforcement? Have you ever sat back and wondered why that is? Why the guys/gals that are paid with tax dollars are pretty much disliked as a whole by the general population? Is it because everybody has something to hide and they're nervous the cops are going to find it? Not usually. It's because of incidents like the one at the University of Maryland where a kid gets clearly beaten by multiple cops because he wandered too close and they were probably frustrated that their night off turned into riot control. And, as if beating this kid senseless with billy clubs wasn't bad enough, the officers then lie on the police report (which are filed under the penalty of perjury) by saying this kid assaulted them (which is a felony) and that his injuries were sustained because he was kicked by the horse (try finding that in the video). AND, as if that wasn't bad enough, to attempt to hide the abuse and kill the paper trail they forced the kid to refuse medical attention because if he went to the hospital they'd have to file another report saying why he needed the medical attention in the first place. He was instructed that if he refused the hospital visit he'd be let go, if not, he'd spend the entire weekend in jail.

I know that every cop doesn't behave in this fashion. Doesn't lash out at some drunk kid because he's an easy target and then to cover their own asses try and pin a felony assault charge on him. But too many do, and luckily for this kid, it was caught on video and now hopefully he can sue everyone involved for as much as humanly possible. Too many incidents like this occur that don't get caught on tape and that's why when you're in that previously mentioned group it's so easy for everyone to go on and on about their experiences with police. It's too often an abuse of power by people who finally have a chance to show you just how tough or powerful they are. I feel sorry for the good cops out there who know are going to be looked at with the suspicious eyes as if it were them in the video beating this kid for no reason. But, like they say, one bad apple spoils the bunch.

Seriously, watch the video and see if you can see this kid do anything other than put his hands up and seemingly try and back away from the horse and cops until he backs into the wall. He doesn't even try to defend himself, he just curls up in a ball and takes the beating. I hope all the cops involved have assault with deadly weapon charges filed against them, sentenced to the same jail time this kid would have received and then upon their release from jail, forced to struggle to find gainful employment because of their record, just like this kid would have had to do if this video hadn't emerged.

Pave of Old Town

2010-04-13T09:21:00.006-05:00

Sunday morning I needed to go out and spin the legs for a few hours. I had a time restriction so I couldn't really go on any of the medium-long routes that I would usually ride but that left me without a real plan of where I should go. Since it was Paris-Roubaix day after all I decided to head into Old Town and seek out some cobbles. I knew about Prince St. because it's marked and there's signs that don't allow trucks on it. What I ended up finding in addition to Prince St were three alleys that were all cobbled with their own unique personalities. Here's the pictures and my take on each.

Prince St. It's a standard block long and is on a slight hill. Traffic is one way down the hill but I rode it twice, both times, up. Since there's essentially no traffic on this road, it wasn't an issue. It's hard to tell by the pictures but the stones that make up this road are not laid in any sort of pattern and they aren't uniform in height or size. They very in size from pebbles filling in gaps to rocks larger than softballs. Riding up this street definitely sucked. Racing it would be a nightmare as you sort of have to just let your front wheel bounce and find it's way. To the couple taking your engagement photos as I bounced my way up this street, sorry I ruined your obviously awkward moment. Hopefully you had many more as a stranger with a camera kept directing you to kiss. To the lady watering her flowers on the sidewalk, thanks for not even looking up to acknowledge some idiot was riding his bike the wrong way up your street. I'm guessing your lack of reaction means I'm not the first one you've seen.

We'll call this sector 2 as I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a name. I found this alley and decided to give it a go. It's far less maintained than any of the others with grass, roots and a water system run off up towards the top. Obviously that middle brick section would have been smoothest but if I was looking for smooth rides I wouldn't have gone on this little adventure. I rode this alley three times, twice on the left and once on the right. The right side was a lot smoother. Overall suck factor was pretty high.

You can see that this alley which is relatively smooth leads to the 4th section above it. Even though these were "smooth" and put together like a puzzle they still vibrated you quite a bit. These you could basically ride just like a regular road, it was just a bumpy, teeth chattering road. Suck factor was pretty minimal. The cook from one of the restaurants that use this alley was not amused with my riding past while he was enjoying his smoke break.

This last section came just across the street from the previous. I wanted to link them up at full speed but there was the occasional car so I had to at least slow down enough to make sure it was clear. The stones in this section were a lot like Prince St and less like the previous alley, except there were big sections that were just missing and had been filled in with sand. As you bounced off a big stone and hit a sand section big enough for your tire to roll through your speed would plummet and then you'd be bouncing across the next section and a much lower speed. Carrying speed all the way through was almost impossible and I felt like at the top I was using a lot of body english to try and pick some sort of line, but I don't think I was really dictating where the bike was headed much. I rode this section twice and the first time I startled a couple runners who were stretching in a parking lot about 3/4 of the way up. They exchanged suspicious looks. The second time they wondered out loud what was wrong with me. Which is weird, because you know, they were running.

Those were the only sections I could find that were long enough to bother riding. There are a couple of other half alleys that are laid with bricks but I figured they weren't worth the effort. I saw a picture that I thought was taken in old town of a cobbled climb however, I couldn't find it. I'm sure the pave of Paris-Roubaix can't be compared to the stones in Old Town, but, it was fun none the less.

Paris-Roubaix. Sitting in for 2nd.

2010-04-12T08:30:00.004-05:00

I should start by saying I don't want to take anything away from Fabian Cancellara. To make his move like that with 60k to go is ballsy beyond belief. So much can go wrong at Roubaix and to put the hammer down with so many more kilometers to race was an impressive show of force. Cancellara did exactly what he knew he needed to do, he attacked and went solo just like I'm sure he had planned. He did what every bike racer has to do to win a race, he risked losing it. Well done and congratulations.

Now, here's my beef with the rest of the field, except Boonen.

Remember when Texas was driving the ball down the field pretty much at will against Alabama in the BCS title game and then that big gigantic Alabama guy laid that seemingly normal hit on Colt McCoy but when Colt got up you could clearly see his arm was hanging in an awkward position. Remember when they sent the freshman Garret Gilbert out and he looked scared and nervous and remember how for the rest of the game, you just sort of felt like regardless of the outcome this wasn't the game you were hoping for. All my personal feelings of being a huge Longhorns fan aside I felt like the game had just been taken away. That happens, it's football, and guys get hurt. But when you remove a big star and all the hype and anticipation just instantly dissipate, you can't help but feel a little bland, no matter the outcome.

For me, yesterday's Paris-Roubaix gave me the exact same feeling but for different reasons. There were clearly two guys in that race on a different level than everybody else, Cancellara and Boonen. If I you didn't know who I was talking about before I wrote that, you didn't watch the race. At 60k to go Cancellara attacks, I screamed out loud to no one, "there he goes," and when the camera pans back all you see are a bunch of other guys looking around seeing who's going to be the one to burn all their matches to try and bring him back. I'm not totally convinced that that move was the one that Cancellara was even trying to make stick. If you remember about 10k before that Boonen jumped out just to see who still had some juice but didn't really put the hammer down. I think Cancellara was doing the same thing, looked over his shoulder, saw a bunch of already defeated faces and then decided to give it a go. The only reaction at all was from Boonen, who very un-wisely had dropped back about 8 wheels to take a drink and a bit of a break. He quickly moved out of line, pedaled a couple times really hard and then realized that nobody else was even flinching and that there's no way he'd bring back Cancellara solo. The race was over, right there, 60k from the line because a bunch of other guys just gave up, they all decided then and there that racing for 2nd wasn't quite so bad.

If you watched you saw Boonen on several occasions go to the front, put in a massive effort, pull off only to see that nobody was pulling through to keep up the chase. He'd wave his hand and it looked like everybody was drawing figurative circles in the dirt because they were embarrassed of their tactics and couldn't look him in the eye. The tactics for the "best of the rest" out of that group became very obvious; very fast; make Boonen do as much work as possible and when he seems to be tired, we'll attack him too. If everybody in that chase group had already resigned to racing for 2nd, it was a brilliant tactic by all of them and since Boonen lost a sprint for 4th to Roger Hammond, he clearly took the bait and did 90% of the work trying desperately to race himself back into a chance for the actual win. It was a goal that did him in and eventually left him with his worst finish at Roubaix since he became "Tom Boonen."

At some point Flecha and Hushovd attacked the group and built up about a minute lead over the Boonen group. Everybody in the world watching this duo knew what each man needed to do to place 2nd on the day. For Flecha he needed to attack Hushovd far enough out to break him so he didn't carry him to the line. Hushovd needed to do enough work to keep Flecha happy and then jump him on the track with 200 meters go. I kept wondering why Flecha hadn't attacked? It was so obvious that it was his only chance. But there they were, on the velodrome with Flecha leading it out. Even Paul Sherwan or maybe it was Phil Ligget, basically said that Hushovd would wait till the last minute so as not to embarrass Flecha in the sprint. Flecha's legs aren't my legs so I have no idea how he was feeling, but it just seems like he missed a bunch of chances for 2nd place by not attacking Hushovd repeatedly starting at 15k out.

Big George once again missed a decisive split. His twitter account reports that he didn't have the legs he had at Flanders and I guess that's how it goes. I was certainly cheering and hoping that he'd have some magic at Roubaix. It would have been great to see him in one of those final groups.

So, I guess that's it. That's my humble, completely useless take on the 2010 Paris-Roubaix. It's always a great race and yesterday's edition was no different. I just can't help but feeling like there were only 2 guys that really wanted to win and everybody else gave up that goal when they saw the red Swiss flag on the back of Fabian Cancellara accelerate. Even though nobody cared to respond, what a great move and an insane display of power to ride solo for 60k.

Guilty Before Proven Anything

2010-04-09T08:22:00.003-05:00

VeloNews reports that BMC has suspended former World Road Race Champ Alessandro Ballan since his name has now appeared to be linked to the latest doping raid of some Italian pharmacist. This bothers me for a few reasons and of course, I'm going to tell you about them.

On the side of innocence:

In the article there's a statement from BMC that says the suspension isn't an accusation of guilt, but due to UCI and team guidelines, it's the proper course of action. How is this not an accusation of guilt? To me it's the exact same thing when a girl cries rape and she isn't sure that she was actually raped . Whether the guy did it or not, now he's a rapist and Ballan, with no actual evidence, is now a doper. I'm not saying that Ballan did or did not dope, what the hell do I know about his case except that he's been suspended for something he's been "allegedly" tied to. VeloNews now lets it's readers comment on the bottom of all it's stories. Most of the time these comments are exactly what you expect from people who comment on news stories, they're dumb, but there's one regarding this case that I think makes a lot of sense and brings up a good point.

madisonwi writes, "at what point is "allegedly" equate guilty? based on this type of reactionary policy with regards to doping would the texan still have 7 tour victories? or would he have been suspended by the team for the comments made by the french press of his alleged "doping" during his tour reign. not that i want to give dopers a free pass, but this system is starting to destroy a sport, or game if you will, that i am very fond of."

If you're familiar with the Armstrong dominance of the Tour de France you know that there wasn't a single season that some news story didn't link him to doping. There was the Ferrari scandal, who by the way was found guilty of providing cyclists with EPO. There's the case of the soigneur who testified in court that she had been instructed to drive great distances to pick up unmarked packages and bring them back to the team. There was and still is no shortage of people who accuse Armstrong of doping and claim to have evidence, but he's never been suspended or withheld from competition while they investigate. Why does Ballan have to sit out arguably the most important race of his season but Lance never did?

Let's assume he's guilty:

There are a lot of cyclist who seem to get busted when various Doctors keep fantastic records of who they're supplying illegal products too. From the Doctor's side I can't say I blame them. They get no prize money when a guy they've supplied dope to wins, but they get all the jail time if they get caught for dealing. The only bargaining chip they have is to supply names of the people they've been juicing. But, what I don't understand, is why any of these cyclists would readily allow their name to be put into some log, or in the case of Operation Puerto, some ridiculously easy to decipher code name? If it's me, and I'm going to make the decision to dope and I have to go find someone to provide me this stuff, it's sure as hell not going to be me that he's selling it to. I'm going to get some friend who I've known for a long time and he's going to be the go between. In exchange, he gets a cut of my salary as a pro and any extra prize money that comes a long with it. My name isn't showing up anywhere! Maybe these cyclist need to watch the Wire and treat their dope buying like dope selling where you use a clean name as a front for everything. It's always seemed so simple, yet, there they are, cyclists names written down on logs and in diaries and even in balance sheets.

I know this makes me sound like a proponent of doping and I'm not. I'd love to believe that the sport is totally clean but I'm also not an idiot. There are still plenty of guys in the peloton so juiced it's coming out of their pores. That's the nature of a sport where you can't test for something if you don't know it exists. EPO was around for decades before scientist finally figured out a way to test for it. If you don't think there's some modern day form of EPO flowing through the veins of dirty cyclists that the labs haven't even heard of, you're naive. It's just the way it goes. But that's what makes it a soap opera because the plot is predictable yet entertaining. New drug gets invented, new guy uses it, new guy wins a bunch of races, test is created, new guy gets busted, everyone is outraged, guy swears he had no idea, proclaims his innocence, gets suspended, maybe comes back, maybe doesn't. Meanwhile, just like when you sing in rounds, you can start the process all over again at "test is created." It's a cycle and it's not going away, but there still needs to be some sort of accountability for throwing guys out of races just because their name popped up on some dirty Dr.'s record. Doesn't he actually have to test positive to be positive? Isn't that why they have crews of people all over the globe showing up at cyclist's houses at 5am to take hair, blood and urine samples. The system is set up to try and catch them off guard and I have no problem with that, but I just think you actually need to catch them before you suspend them.

Vote for Me!!

2010-04-07T08:28:00.004-05:00

Cyclocross Racer

Landall P.

Prilosec OTC is looking to sponsor people doing what they love in exchange for some brand ambassadorship. There's not much that I love more than Cyclocross and there's nothing I hate more than heartburn (see how good I am at this already). I've been approved, but now I need votes, and that's where all of you come in. Tell your friends, tell your co-workers, sign your dog up and then vote twice. They haven't indicated how many votes I need so we'll set the goal at 10 ja-billion. This would really be awesome if it could all work out. I'll be sure to thank you specifically when I win the World Championships in Louisville in 2013.

Follow the link and VOTE!

I got yelled at!

2010-04-06T08:35:00.002-05:00

As reported I have recently started commuting by bicycle. Over the last three weeks I have ridden to work everyday that it hasn't rained. Surprisingly I really like it. I've tried this before and could never really get into it for a lot of logistical reasons. But, now that I'm so much more mature and laid back about details (not really!) I'm making it work and making the best of things like, ironing my shirt only to have it re-wrinkled in my back pack. Oh well...

So far one of the major downsides to riding to work are the other people that also ride to work. I'd like to take a second to discuss the three types of riders that I find annoying.

I use my ride to work as a nice and easy spin. I don't have a computer on my bike but I can't imagine I ever break 15mph unless it's downhill, but not everyone on the bike to work circuit uses this same approach. On my commute I am kitted up. Not because I want to show people how cool I look in my fancy lycra duds but because those are the clothes I ride in and my work clothes would get way too sweaty. Because of this, I seem to be a target for all those people who use their bike commute as a daily world championship to an arbitrary finish line that they always beat me to. On almost a daily basis I get passed by some middle aged guy who has bought every piece of reflective gear possible but not chain lube. And inevitably, in the drops he will give me "the look" as he mashes along in his 52x25 (52 is the big ring on a triple. Take that for bike humor!). I have no interest in chasing this guy and I'm actually really proud of myself for reaching this mature state in my cycling career where I can let that guy go. I can only assume that this guy sees me in my kit and something inside of him wants to show me he's still got it. Trouble is, I'm pretty sure this guy has never had it, and if he had to find it, he couldn't. But, if beating me up the Mt. Vernon Trail on your way to work makes you feel good, then in the wise words of Bill Walton, "Throw it down big man."

Another type of commuter is the guy who doesn't want to blow by me as if I'm his minute man at the World Time Trial Championships, instead he's the guy that wants to sit on my wheel as we weave through families and walkers and joggers and dogs and then, inevitably on a downhill portion, attack as if I've just lead you out for a sprint finish. First, get off my wheel on the trail. There is no where to go if I need to hit the brakes because some kid has decided to lay down in the middle. Second, when I look over my shoulder and you look like you're on the rivet at 15mph, your helmet is cocked to the side, your leg hair is flowing, I heard your chain from 100' back and your right pedal cage is scrapping the ground at 6 o'clock because you still can't get your foot in it, you don't exactly strike me as a person I want that close to me on a bike. Don't be offended if I yell at you to get off my wheel. My commute to and from work is not a race. I am not riding hard enough that any sort of draft you're getting is actually helping you and, even if it was, we're not on a group ride, I don't know you, and I'd prefer not to get taken out by you.

The third type and probably most prevalent are the guys with helmet mirrors, bar mirrors, bells, horns, whistles and a voice well trained in the art of shouting "on your left." I hardly, if ever, say "on your left." You want to know why? Because in almost all cases I find that it does absolutely nothing to make my attempt to pass you any safer. Here's what generally happens when someone yells "on your left" to either a cyclist or a walker/runner.

Cyclist: "On your left!"
Other Person: Looks over left shoulder and swerves that direction.
Cyclist: Has to also swerve to avoid the swerver. And let's face it. Most of these people aren't skilled bike handlers so any swerving is a whisper away from losing skin.

Because of this, I assess the passing situation as I approach it. If it's obvious that I can fit I just go. There's no need to call out or ding your bell or blow your whistle or toot your horn for every single person on the trail. You aren't storming the beach at Normandy or warning the town of Godzilla. You're passing another person that you're going faster than. This act shouldn't take longer than a second or two and if it does, maybe the pass isn't necessary.

Speaking of which, this morning I got yelled as I went to pass a guy who was passing another guy so at the height of this maneuver we were not even three wide. There was no oncoming traffic and the trail could easily hold 4 across if needed. The guy I was passing of course used his bell and alerted the rider in front of him that he was passing, to which the rider in front swerved to the left as he looked. As soon as this ship was righted I just calmly made my way past both of them. The bell ringer, obviously offended by my silent tactic starts shouting at me for not warning him and continues to lecture me as I continue on my way. I am sorry if I ruined your morning by not creating a scene while I passed you. I'll try harder next time, maybe a bull horn will make you happy.

Mel Gibson Would Not Approve

2010-04-05T08:57:00.006-05:00

For most of America yesterday was a very important day, Easter. To little kids it's the day that you get to run around and find hidden eggs made of chocolate or filled with prizes. To adults it could mean a couple things from the day you hide those eggs, one of the two days a year you bother to go to church and convince yourself you'll be better in the future, or, it's a day that really means nothing and you carry on as usual. Generally for me it's the later, but yesterday Jill and I made a great trip down to Richmond to hang out with my brother. It was certainly a great time and no pastels were worn for the occasion.

It seems to me, as an admitted outsider, that churches (especially protestant ones) are going more and more extreme in their special holiday services. I understand that attendance will jump by like 200% on both Christmas and Easter and that each is a special occasion, according to your doctrine. I guess it's only appropriate to do something a little extra to try and encourage those C&Es to come back the following the week, which, inevitably they won't.

There's that crazy church down in Dallas that does the weird haunted house where they depict abortions and drug over doses and selling your soul to the devil to scare kids into believing. Obviously this is a terrible way to go about completing your mission, but they keep at it, and lots of souls are temporarily saved. I've gone to a living nativity scene at Christmas where you drive your car through a giant church parking lot that has been converted to some sort of down town Jerusalem complete with farm animals, people playing parts of beggars, roman soldiers and other stuff. I'm not sure what I was supposed to take away from that other than it was sort of creepy and when I offered to actually buy the bread one lady was holding because I was hungry, she wouldn't sell it to me. This was confusing because she was playing the part of a baker. What else were they going to do with all that fresh baked bread?

This morning, I was clicking through some pictures on facebook and came across one that literally made my jaw drop. I don't know what church this is, but they have decided the best way to observe their Easter holiday was to have a fake crucifixion right there on church property. Again, I'm not totally sure what you're supposed to take away from this. It's sort of like that scene in Religious in the crazy amusement park where fake Jesus carries the cross through the tourist and people start crying. Maybe that's what this church is trying to accomplish, to conjure up some sort of emotional connection to the story by having some dudes they actually know on fake crosses being fake killed? I do know that one of the comments on this photo was something along the lines of, "Thanks for capturing this. What a powerful service!" Apparently, to at least that person, it had some sort of impact.

But, for me, it would have to go further. I'd need the guy playing Jesus to sleep in a cave for 3 days and then magically escape, round up his followers, give them some sort of crazy inspiring motivational speech and then ascend to heaven in a bright light while still living never to be seen again. I mean, that's the rest of the story right? It doesn't just end with a miraculous coming back to life, it ends with a magic ascent to a magical kingdom in the sky. Why aren't they trying to recreate that piece? Oh, that's right, it's so obvious... I also kind of wonder if they made the guy drink vinegar out of a sponge. I always thought that was the worst part when I was a kid.

Speaking of magically coming back to life, has anybody ever really considered the aspect of the story where Mary discovers the empty tomb and freaks out? It just seems to me that instead of freaking out she'd just assume the body was moved and confer with the cemetery management. Put the story in modern context, let's say you go visit someone at the hospital and when you show up to the room you were told they were in and they're not there, is your first instinct to sprint out of the hospital in some sort of panic, or would you go to the nurses desk and ask for some clarification?

And, as Jon Stewart would say, you're moment of zen:

Douche Bag of the Universe

2010-04-01T09:00:00.005-05:00

Chances are, by now, you've heard the story. The above pictured asshole, Fred Phelps, and his likely inbreed family headed off to disrupt the funeral service of a US soldier killed in battle. If not, here it is.

My interest isn't in the story isn't the court case or the ruling. though I find myself feeling like the appropriate action by the soldier's father wasn't to sue, but to walk across the street and knock that SOB out. I'm pretty sure no one would blame him and everybody would be on his side. Sometimes self policing is the way to go.

My actual interest in this story is with Mr. Phelps and his "church." You have to put "church" in quotations because really it's nothing more than his brainwashed family members. Their reason for protest is they believe that God hates America because of America's tolerance of homosexuality and thus anything negative that happens to Americans is a direct message from God. They believe that we're all at fault because two dudes or chicks or whatever find each other attractive. I find it hard to believe this guy is actually serious, but, it's obvious he is, so I wanted to take a second to point out a couple of things that jump out at me.

First, the idea that God hates America for being so "tolerant" of homosexuality is pretty ridiculous. Let's take God out of the equation and just look at this idea of America being "tolerant" of homosexuality. I guess we might be splitting hairs here but I'm not so sure that I can give Mr. Phelps the benefit of the doubt on the idea of tolerance. In my humble opinion America is still by and large very anti homosexuality. Why do I think that? Because in order for America to act in a manner the gives homosexuals the same rights as heterosexuals more than six, that's right SIX, states would be performing same sex marriages. Three more states "recognize" but do not perform same sex marriage. So, let's just say that 9 states (DC is included) are leading the way, that's 17.6% of the states believe that people, regardless of sexual orientation, deserve the same rights as everybody else paying taxes. Real F'in progressive! But, I suppose if Mr. Phelps defines "tolerant" as the rest of the population isn't walking around with rifles and blowing gay people's heads off just for breathing, then yeah, I guess I can't argue with him there, America, land of the free and home of the tolerant! The tragedy is that America for the most part is so damn tolerant that we let people like this idiot run around, brain wash his kids and grand kids and their kids and so on, so that this ridiculous line of thinking will continue and this level of un-justifiable hatred will continue.

My other issue with this lunatic is that he calls himself and his family a "church." If you've read enough of the bible it's easy to see that if you pick and chose the parts you want to pay attention to (like every doctrine does) God and Jesus are some pretty spiteful dudes. But, even with that, if you're a church, you're essentially a business, and you're not a business whose success is measured in profits and losses according to dollars and cents (I also realize this isn't entirely true but should be), but in how many people you recruit into your church and thus should be growing your numbers and saving souls for "the good side." As far as I can tell, and I can't prove this, but the church of Fred Phelps only grows when a new family member is born. That should tell you something. If the only people crazy enough to go around and picket the funeral of a dead soldier are your equally crazy relatives, maybe your church isn't exactly on the right path. Maybe you're insane, and you're so insane you can't see it. So insane, that maybe you need to be institutionalized. I also wonder if Mr. Phelps recalls the story of Saul from the bible. For those not in the know, Saul was a guy that went around killing Christians until a big shiny light popped up on the road, blinded him, he got a message from the big guy and suddenly he loved Jesus and Christians and changed his name to way most know him as, Paul. Maybe Mr. Phelps is just playing Saul hoping for a big shinny light? Problem is, that's a story, and he lives in reality, where his protests do nothing to help or promote any cause. Any other business with this kind of growth would have been forced to close shop a long time ago, but somehow, his manages to survive.

My own religious views aside I hope this guy has a moment where he wakes up one morning and realizes what an asshole he's been practically his entire life. Then I hope he gathers his big giant family in one room and apologizes for dragging them into this crazy lifestyle and they go out and do something positive with all this free time they seem to have. But, until then, Fred Phelps, you are a Douche Bag! Maybe the biggest Douche Bag walking the planet at this given moment.

First Bike Commute Disaster

2010-03-31T09:13:00.002-05:00

I thought my back felt a little warm on my ride into work this morning. It was chilly out, low 50s, and the wind was, as they say in the south, "a whoopin'!" so I figured it was just because of my backpack. Well, turns out that was partly true.

When I got to work I discovered that my trusty thermos filled with my landall strength brew had decided today wasn't the day it was going to stay closed. There was a solid puddle in the bottom of the back pack but luckily most if it soaked through and only my back and riding clothes, not my work clothes, located in the same compartment. I'm not really sure how this worked out, but the only place with any real coffee saturation were the inside of both knees on my pants, which are black, so not really a big deal.

I suppose the lesson learned is to both check the thermos to ensure it's actually sealed tight and put it in a different compartment just in case, maybe in a freezer bag also.

On another only vaguely related note, there's been a lot of news stories of some guy using a cloth to determine what Jesus looked like. I'll admit I'm skeptical and unsure as to why anybody would fund this project. But if I were funding it I'd be a little more than pissed that his rendering basically looks like every picture I've ever seen painted of Jesus in white churches where Jesus is always portrayed as a ripped white dude. Whether Jesus existed or not, beyond the claims of savor-like, he was not a white dude as white dudes aren't from Israel, you know, sort of. I'm pretty sure I'd ask for all my money back. Speaking of the face of Jesus, I don't see one in the coffee stain of my under shirt, which is really too bad because if one were there I could probably sell it on ebay for at least the price of a new cup of coffee.