Saturday Fun

Saturday afternoon was filled with a trip up to the high lakes above Chico. It's quite a drive considering the first lake we went to, Philbrook, is only about 50 miles from Chico. The first 42 miles is pretty easy as it's all on paved roads, but the last 8 or so are best traversed with a 4x4 vehicle. I did see a couple of sedans out there but I imagine it took a bit longer to make it out in those. Take a look at the map to give you an idea as to where these lakes are in comparison to Chico. The red arrow is pointing to Philbrook Lake and the black arrow to Spring Valley Lake.

Philbook has campgrounds and a little store to support the boaters and fishermen who go out there. Spring Valley is slightly more remote. It's about 7 or 8 miles up the road and you need a 4x4 to get out there. It took about 30 minutes to go that 7 or 8 miles and I figure I could probably go that fast on my mountain bike. There were about 4 groups of people camping out at Spring Valley, but there are no services what so ever. It's a great place to go if you have motorcycles and like to trail ride as there are roads all through the Plumas National Forest from these lakes. The roads will take you from lake to lake and inbetween highways like 32 and 70, if you like going the slow way.

It was nice to get out of the valley given the warm weather. Up at the lakes it was in the high 80's at best as the elevation there is somewhere above 6000 feet. I took a couple of videos of the lakes, so here they are:

Philbrook [ASF format - 7 MB] (use Windows Media Player to view)

Spring Valley Lake [ASF format - 8.8 MB] (use Windows Media Player to view)

Governator in Chico

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be visiting Chico's world renouned Sierra Nevada Brewery today, not to shwill brews, but to be the guest of honor at Sierra Nevada's dedication of its fuel cells, which produce electricity for the beer maker more efficiently, more quietly and with less air pollution.

Sierra Nevada's fuel cell installation is considered the largest in the state.

Vinokourov to Liberty Seguros

Not much of a suprise, but Alexandre Vinokourov has left T-Mobile for greener pastures. Can you blame the guy? Especially after creating many breaks in the Tour de France in which his own team chased down and brought back. So, with such great team chemistry, I see why he made the move.

Liberty Seguros is getting quite a catch in Vino, who has been strong in the spring classic races as well as the 2003 and 2005 Tours where he has been in the top 10. Roberto Heras might be the only Liberty rider not so happy about Vino coming on board as he is the Liberty rider for the Tour. But with this years 45th placing and a poor showing the year prior, Heras might be thinking Vino is his replacement for GC in next years Tour.

Manolo Saiz, Liberty manager, attempted to stress Vino is here as a compliment to the current team rather than a substitute. Only time will tell who will ride in who's service next Tour.

Trader Joe's Coming to Chico

Article link

Well, there are going to be some happy people in Chico once this store goes in. I've been to their stores in the bay area and also in Sacramento and thought they were alright. Once they set up shop, I'll probably go over and check it out, but if it's on the other side of town, I can't say that I'll shop there. First off, my diet is pretty basic and I eat the same stuff pretty much everyday and secondly, I'm not going to drive 5 miles across town to shop for a few items when there are 3 stores a mile from my house.

So, while I welcome new businesses to Chico, I'm not doing backflips for Trade Joe's.

Work Stuff Panning Out

Ok, just a quick update to our internet woes at work... All is better! After much seaching around for the problem we realized our Cisco PIX501 firewall was on the fritz. The config looked to be correct after discovering a couple conflicts but it still wouldn't let us connect. We also noticed there were a ton of packet collisions when the firewall was connected to the network but not to the T-1 modem. Not sure what that was about but once we replaced the unit the problem was no longer a problem. So, we're connected again and I'm relieved!

I'm Better, Finally

Ok, after sitting around for two weeks with out doing much of anythng I think I've kicked the sinus infection. Yesterday was the first day in about 10 which I could smell things other than the dry yuckinss in my sinuses.

I also was able to go out for a 90 minute ride, which didn't wear me out like I was expecting. As well as over coming the illness, I think my body was ready for a little time off the bike. Other than loosing a little stamina and a little power, I'm feeling pretty good. I really hadn't taken more than 2 or 3 days off the bike in more than 4 or 5 months. So, I'm looking forward to doing some solid rides and efforts in the next 7 days before I leave for vacation (which is another post).

Floyd Landis Clairifies Comments...

After a great Tour where he placed 9th on GC, Floyd Landis was asked, amongst many other things, what the conflict with Lance was all about.

"I think my comments from L'Equipe [about Armstrong being more about business than friendship] were taken out of context or misunderstood...first of all, I just want to thank Lance and Johan and the team for everything they did for me. That's it."

That sucks if what Floyd said upset Lance, but they don't do this just for fun. It's great to be friends with those you work with but what it comes down to is both are there to do a job and business is business when out on the bike. But at the same time I can also see how Lance could be upset as US Postal was more than just a team with it's family type atmosphere.

Neat Old Picture

This is a picture taken by one of the best, if not the best photographer of cycling events, Graham Watson. It was part of an exhibit in Dublin in 1998 to celebrate the Tour de France visiting for four days.

So, if you couldn't tell, it's Lance after becoming the World Champion in Oslo, Norway in 1993. Note the Stars and Stripes under the rainbow jersey. This doesn't look like a rider that could win the Tour, eh? But, you know the rest of the story. What's impressive is that he is going out on top 12 years later.

You Don't Dis the Boss!

For those who don't know, Lance's nickname in the peloton is the Boss.

While reading the stage 17 post race summary on cyclingnews.com I noticed a little blurb about how right at the end of the stage, Lance & Co. put the pedal to the metal to come across the finish line 20 seconds in front of a group which contained a few noteable riders including Floyd Landis. It doesn't seem like much, but it made a difference, though that wasn't the interesting part. Read the quote from cyclingnews.com:

Motivated perhaps by the chance to distance Floyd Landis, who Armstrong considered had made unsavoury comments about him in L'Equipe, Discovery floored it all the way to the line, with Armstrong himself helping to drive the pace. The group came in 22'28 behind Savoldelli but 0'20 ahead of the next group, containing Evans, Landis, and Moreau. The top six placings in GC remain unchanged but Vinokourov overtakes the latter three in jumping to seventh overall.

I searched high and low and even used babelfish.altavista.com to translate an L'Equipe article with Floyd, but I never was able to find anything that seemed unsavoury.

But, I did hear an interview with George Hincapie and when asked about putting 20 seconds into the following group, he said T-Mobile were the instigators but that Discovery, as well, was at the front so that T-Mobile couldn't attack the jersey.

Either way, Floyd will be able to make up that 20 seconds on Vinokourov in the final time trial.

Well, if you didn't know, now you know. Don't dis the BOSS!

Well, it was bound to happen eventually.

The internet connection is finally going to work now that we have received a new T-1 modem. Tomorrow it's to be configured and we'll be back to business as usual.

So, in the mean time we've been renting space at the new Marriott Residence Inn. Here are two small pics I took with the Treo of our make-shift office..





Thursday evening, we'll have to breakdown all the equipment and reassemble it at the office. Should be fun.

[Posted with a Treo 600 & hblogger 2.0 by Tony]

my friend Chris Castillo visiting from Ventura.

[Posted with a Treo 600 & hblogger 2.0 by Tony]

Another cute pic of Velo. He's so photogenic!


[Posted with a Treo 600 & hblogger 2.0 by Tony]

Tour de France Taking It's Toll

I can't tell you how tired I get waking up well before sunrise to watch the stages. But all kidding aside, Tom Boonen, the current green jersey owner didn't take the start this morning due to a knee injury. Yesterday Boonen crashed on the very first descent after only 12 kilometers. He injured his right knee, but was able to continue and finish. Though it was reported the knee was really swollen last night and in the end Boonen realized he couldn't continue. He forfeits the green jersey to Thor Hushovd.

Also, during today's stage, Discovery rider, Manuel Beltran crashed, but I missed it on the TV because I didn't start watching until 5 AM and it happened about 15 minutes earlier. Discovery and Postal before them are know for bringing all their riders home in the previous Tours, so this is unusual for them.

Velo in the sink

Here is a picture of Velo in the sink while I was getting ready for work.

[Posted with a Treo 600 & hblogger 2.0 by Tony]

Trouble for Fassa Bortolo Cycling Team...

As if the announcment that the sponsor (read about it here at the bottom of the page) won't be renewing it's contract with the cycling team next year wasn't bad enough, but now one of their riders has been arrested at the Tour de France.

Italian cyclist Dario Frigo was arrested Wednesday in Courchevel after doping products were found in his wife's car at the toll station at Albertville, police said.

Police said Frigo's wife was arrested Tuesday with about 10 doses of the banned endurance-boosting hormone EPO.

The cheaters must be good to avoid detection with the number of times each rider is tested while at the Tour.

Dell for Sheryl, HP for Lance...

As many of you may know, HP is touting LiveStrong notebooks with special yellow accents all over the machine. For each one they sell, they will donate $50 toward the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Thanks HP, that's mighty kind of you!

Now there seems to be a little competition in the house as Sheryl and Austin-based computer giant, Dell, have announced a Texas-sized marketing deal with the "If It Makes You Happy" singer, based around Dell's Media Center PCs.

Oh, which to buy, which to buy? I'm torn because I'm a Dell guy but also a big Lance fan!

Doctor Rant

Since it's on my mind I feel that you should hear it.

I'll bet you my co-pay which, in essence makes it double or nothing for me, that the doctor will not tell me something I didn't know already; I don't feel well. I hate the thought of going to see a doctor with that attitude of the situation. But I also hate giving someone $20 to tell me something I can figure out myself in less than the 5 minutes he spends with me. Maybe that's why I rarely go to the doctor, luckily I'm not ill often. There, I've said my piece.

I'm Sick

Or at least on the verge of getting sick. I didn't feel well after I took a late lunch on Thursday and stayed home the rest of the day. I went to work Friday thinking I was ok and that Thursday was a fluke. I had planned to ride my bike on Friday after work, but felt really tired and decided against it. I had previously planned a ride for Saturday and didn't want to back out so I ended up riding. It was a mellow 40 miles, but alot of hills. I felt pretty good afterward and thought maybe I had kicked the sickness. Even on Sunday I felt pretty good and sat around nearly all day, but sure enough this morning, I just didn't feel right. I'm going to see the doctor tomorrow morning, even though I'm not sure it's worth it. That's a whole different rant I won't go into here.

Fun-loving Work Stuff

We've been into our new building now since June 20th and there are still issues that need to be dealt with. For one, and the most important issue to me, is the lack of internet service. Secondly, the building isn't really complete.

So, the internet service... where to begin. We were planning to move our current connection from the other building but then there were issues where that couldn't be moved in a timely fashion. This was due to lack of infrastructure at the connection office that was getting installed. In the mean time, the state registry which, oversees all the regional registries, were nice enough to pay for a two year contract through a top tiered provider. So, the fact that our old connection was taking longer than we would have liked to get installed now seemed not so important. If you are not asleep by now, click the read more link below.But then the new connection would also take 30 days to be installed after the contract was signed, but they did have a plan where as we could give them an extra $1000 to be moved up the install queue, but there were no guarantees. So, we began the process of expediting the order with the new provider.

Then, while in that process, the old provider got back to me with install information and shortly after an SBC tech showed up to install their equipment. Two days later (just on Friday of last week), SBC had finished and tested the connection. Then the third-party vendor who sold the connection to the ISP we purchased it from tested the connection. All was good! Then last Friday, a tech from our old ISP called and wanted to check if the connection was OK. It wasn't, so we began to trouble shoot and he finally said he thought it was a problem with the SBC equipment and that he would have the tech back out. He is supposed to be out today, we'll see.

So, all this time we haven't had a connection at work and most the work we do is internet based. We really needed to get back to work and that meant finding some place that could accommodate us. After a little looking around we decided a nearby hotel would do. After some testing of their connection and some great negotiations by my boss, we had the space reserved for this week.

My co-worker, Adam, packed up all the computers needed at the hotel on Friday evening making it easy for me to load it into my car this morning. I then went to the hotel to set up. Now people are able to do their work.

I'm hoping our internet woes are resolved by weeks end. But the free breakfast at the Marriott is looking pretty tasty!

I didn't get to watch but the first hour or so of today's stage, but I was able to follow along thanks to the folks at www.cyclingnews.com. Don't forget, you to can get the play by play at http://live.cyclingnews.com.

Today was another day for the sprinters, but not before a long attack initiated by Juan Antonio Flecha. He was later joined by three others.

The stage seemed pretty exciting and contained a number of interesting episodes. The race was stopped at the end of the neutral zone because Lance wasn't wearing the yellow jersey out of respect for Dave Z and his crash but the commissaire insisted. I suppose it's better to wear yellow than get get kicked out of the race!

Then there was the 2012 Olympic host city announcement. You'd figure by now the French would be used to defeat, but no, they were still upset London received the honor.

Next was a crash in the feedzone. I'm not sure who caused it, but nearly all of CSC were involved. Luckily, Dave Z didn't go down, that would have really hurt! Everyone was able to reintegrate afterward.

In the end it all came back together for the sprinters and unlike two days ago when Robbie McEwen was relegated to last for illegal sprinting, he come across the line first.

So, here are the days results. Nothing changed in the GC and for the maillot vert very little changed.

Results
Provisional
1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 3.46.00
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step
3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis
5 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Domina Vacanze
6 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros
7 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Francaise des Jeux
8 Baden Cooke (Aus) Francaise des Jeux
9 Jens Voigt (Ger) CSC
10 Robert Forster (Ger) Gerolsteiner

General classification after stage 5

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 13.45.12
2 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 0.55
3 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 1.04
4 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 1.07
5 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) Discovery Channel 1.14
6 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 1.16
7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 1.21
8 Benjamin Noval (Spa) Discovery Channel 1.26
9 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC
10 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC

[Posted with a Treo 600 & hblogger 2.0 by Tony]

My Ride Stats

After watching the stage yesterday, I hit the road myself. I rode from Chico up through Paradise to Magalia. Then up Coutolenq Rd to Lovelock and then on to Stirling City before ending up in Inskip and then back on down the hill.

total time about 5:15
miles about 85
elevation, about 6000 to 7000 feet
average speed, no idea as I don't ride with a speedometer, but probably around 15 to 16 MPH.

Stage 2 Info

After a long breakaway, it all came back together in the end as the sprinter's team's set up their sprinters for the finale. Without the worlds best sprinter, Alessandro Petacchi's strangle hold on the sprints, the race has opened up for other sprinters to showcase their stuff. Tom Boonen was the benefactor, winning stage 2 ahead of Thor Hushovd and Robbie McEwen.

So, my predictions have survived one day and Dave Z is still in yellow, only the fifth North American to wear the Tour de France maillot jaune and only the third American after Greg Lemond and Lance.

Still, 6 Americans in the top 14! Here are the top ten for the stage:

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step 3.51.31 (47.037 km/h)
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
5 Luciano Pagliarini (Bra) Liquigas-Bianchi
6 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
7 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner
8 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
9 Baden Cooke (Aus) Française Des Jeux
10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Würth

Now it's my turn to go out and ride!

Stage 1 News

We knew Dave Zabriskie was fast when racing the clock as he had previously won both the prologue at the Giro earlier this year and at the Vuelta last year, but no one really expected to see him in yellow. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!

But, it easily could have been different if Lance maybe had not slipped out of his peddle directly coming off the starting ramp or if he didn't pass Jan Ullrich when he did and had to push harder to catch him. Either way, I believe the results were great for American racers and race fans. We have 3 of the top 5 riders and 6 of the top 14. 10 years ago, that would have been unheard of.

So, how long will DaveZ ride in the yellow? My prediction, given CSC rides for Dave, which they seem to be as I'm watching this morning, is up until Tuesday's team time trial. It's at this point that Lance will take the jersey as I suspect the Discovery team will win the TTT (team time trial) and Phonak will come in second, followed by CSC. Following that line of thought, after Tuesdays TTT, Lance will be in yellow, George will be second or third (depends on CSC and Phonak's TTT times) and Dave Z will be either second or third followed by Floyd Landis. Meaning that Americans will hold the top 4 spots. Bobby Julich also has a great chance to be in 5th or 6th after Tuesday. Of course my predictions depend on the peloton finishing together in the next two stages and don't take into consideration time bonuses for those stages. But given they are sprinters stages, the sprinters should get the time bonuses therefore not effecting the general classification standings. Click read more for more stage 1 news...The days before the Tour have been tough on a couple of top riders. Both Lance and Jan crashed in the days leading up to the race. Lance crashed on Thursday moments after being stung by a bee and Jan, Friday, while testing out his time trial bike. Jan's crash seemed much worse as he wasn't wearing a helmet and crashed through the rear window of the team car. He sustained a nice cut to left side of his neck based on the size of the bandage, but said that it didn't effect his performance. Either way he is already down 1:06 to Lance after one stage, which is not good given there aren't many places for him to make up that time.

Yesterday was the first time ever Jan was passed during a time trial. Lance passed Jan with about 3 kilometers which must have taken all the wind out of Jan's sails. To loose over a minutes time to your main rival in a 12 mile race will make Jan question his chances this year. It certainly has journalists and race fans talking, as everyone is questioning whether Alexandre Vinokourov should be considered the new leader of T-Mobile. He is up 15 seconds over Jan on GC (general classification) and in my mind is a better climber, but we'll have to wait and see.

In closing... Go Dave!

Comstock Century, finally...

Sorry it took so long to get this little story up, but it's been busy, as you may have realized from prior posts, plus the training never ends. Oh, and I was planning to blog over the last weekend from my phone, but sure enough, when I attempted to post my first entry on Friday evening, I got error messages. So, I kind of gave up on that idea for the trip.

So, the Comstock Century... Basically the most beautiful hell you could possibly ride through. The funny thing, it wasn't the hills that killed me but the headwind in the last 8 or 9 miles. Or maybe it was trying to keep up with Carlos that killed me, either way, when I pulled back into Genoa, I was a zombie! You know the deal, click the Read More...I drove over from South Lake Tahoe early, the views from the Kingsbury grade were great at sunrise.


We started around 7 AM from Genoa, in the coolness, at least I was shivering. Rob just had shorts and a jersey and seemed happy about the temperature.



Out to the first rest stop it was mellow cruising just trying to warm up and not expend too much energy as we knew the torture that was ahead.

From there it was out on to HWY 50 for a few miles before hitting HWY 341 into Virginia City. There was another rest stop before hitting the hill into Virginia City where we overheard a story of a man and his dog. Well, this man was throwing the signs letting cyclists which was to go over into the canyon. As we were at the stop, he came pulling in with his dogs asking about who was in charge and needing their phone number and address... yada yada. The best part was when he claimed to own the road and said that cyclists were pulling over and peeing on his property. We took the steep route not only because it was steep, but also because that guy lived on the other route. Oh joy, the grade on the optional route we took was nice, probably between 15% and 18% but it didn't seem as steep as some sections at the Sierra Century a few weeks back.

So, on the road up to Virginia City, we kept seeing signs for the Suicide Table at a particular casino. Of course, we stopped and I ran in to take the following pictures.


The table display.


explanation of the table's history.


Story about the game Faro.

Then it was out to conquer Geiger Summit which wasn't really long or too steep, but a nice climb with views of the shrub brush and deep valleys. Once to the top of Geiger it was a long fast decent, about 9 miles or so and what seemed to be a few thousand feet. Rob had one scary episode with a passing vehicle where they had to swerve in front of Rob to avoid an oncoming car. There wasn't much of a shoulder on that road if I remember correctly but who needs a shoulder when you are doing 40 to 50 MPH.


Heading toward Geiger Summit


Rob giving the victory salute as we near the top.


Carlos at the top, I believe the mountain in the back ground is Mt. Rose. The next climb.


Rob, summoning the cycling gods


Tony and Rob at Geiger Summit.

Once off Geiger we were on south side of Reno heading for Mt. Rose on HWY 431. There's not much to say other than it was 17 mile or so long, never really steep but also never ever flat. I'm not sure of the actual elevation gain, but I'd have to say it was around 4000 to 4500 feet. But before we got to the actually summit of Mt. Rose, we stopped for lunch at the ski resort. Port of Subs was tasty, but after all that climbing, eating was tough. Not to mention, it was cold, probably in the low 50's if not into the 40's.

The it was off to finish the rest of Mt. Rose and head off to Incline Village before hitting the last climb, Spooner grade.


The road up vanishing into the trees with faint glimpses of Geiger Summit in the back ground.


Entrance to Mt. Rose ski area. 8260 feet up.


There was still a fair amount of snow on the north facing hills for the last weekend in June.


Rob at the Mt. Rose summit.


Tony at the Mt. Rose summit.


Tony again at the Mt. Rose summit.


Snow on the mountains alongside the road to Incline Village.


Another fast decent.


As we were getting close to Incline we could see the lake.

Ok, unfortunately that's all for the pictures because the road had almost no shoulder to ride on much of HWY 28, ha, I should have taken a picture of that. The ride into Incline was fast and fun but only made the next hill arrive that much more quickly. Hwy 28 coming around the lake was really the turning point when I began to get tired, the hill wasn't much but after all the miles and climbing he had done, it really put me into the red zone. Ultimately, HWY 28 dropped us off on HWY 50 to Spooner summit at the last rest area. It was needed, but we couldn't stay long, we knew at this point the end was near and there was no reason to put it off for too long. Plus, the next 10 miles was all down hill on HWY 50 into the south side of Carson City. It was really fast and really windy so it was a little scary. I don't think we ever broke 50 because I found myself peddling to go faster but with the wind it was challenging as you would get wobbles when the wind hits the wheels. The fun part was riding in a 5 to 6 person pack at those speeds taking up an entire lane of HWY 50.

Once off of Spooner we turned south on HWY 395 to only turn again for the final run back into Genoa. Someone turned the winds on HIGH when we made that turn. I was dead at that point and took a short pull and could do no more. I rode Carlos' wheel for another few miles but his pace was too much.

After regrouping in town, Rob had family obligations and Carlos and I chatted for a bit over the customary post century meal. BBQ chicken, rolls, potato salad, and best of all ice cream.

The ride was great fun, though painful at times, but the true pain was the one in my butt after driving 3.5 hours home after riding all day. Ok, I'm getting tired just thinking about it, so I'll leave it at that.