New TdF Odds

The new odd for the TdF came out just a while ago but there are still names that seem like they could be still withdrawn. Here's the list:

* Alejandro Valverde (ILL) -7/2
* Alexandre Vinokourov (Wur) -7/2
* Levi Leipheimer (Ger) -7/1
* Floyd Landis (Pho) -7/1
* Cadel Evans (Dav) -10/1
* Yaroslav Popovych (Dis) -12/1
* Paolo Savoldelli (Dis) -20/1
* Andreas Kloden (T-M) -20/1
* Michael Rasmussen (Rab) -25/1
* Denis Menchov (Rab) -25/1
* George Hincapie (Dis) -25/1
* Iban Mayo (Eus) -25/1
* Jose Azevedo (Dis) -25/1
* Christophe Moreau (Ag2) -33/1

But I still think Vino will be out and possibly Menchov.

Either way, this incident is both good and bad for cycling. Bad because it tarnishes a great sport, but good that an honest effort is being put forth to get the dopers out of the sport.

5:30 AM tomorrow should be interesting.

My New TdF Podium Picks

Talk about an uncertain winner, well, we wanted suspense and drama, so now we've got it. Now we must all reselect our podium picks. Now it gets me wonder what all those betting sites are going to do about the bet made on Basso and Ullrich. Could this finally be a chance for a French rider to win in over 20 years? Well, let's not get crazy.

Ok, my picks are:

1. Levi
2. Floyd
3. Azevedo

I'll bet Lance is kind of kicking himself for not being in form, cause he could have walked away with another victory quite easily or would he have been dragged down with all this mess too?

I'm still shocked about all this news.

TdF Gone Crazy!

I saw it here first: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060630/ap_on_sp_ot/cyc_tour_de_france_suspensions_3?printer=1

This is unbelievable! I first thought the article was a spoof but then I saw other reports of the same.

ALL and I mean all of the favorites have been barred from the Tour de France. All, all of them!

Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo, Oscar Sevilla, Constantino Zaballa, Jose Enrique Gutierrez, Jose Ignacio Gutierrez, Michele Scarponi, Marcos Serrano, David
Etxebarria, Joseba Beloki, Angel Vicioso, Isidro Nozal, Unai
Osa, and Jorg Jaksche.

There are bound to be more considering the following statement:

"ASO public relations man Bernard Hinault told radio RTL
that he expects 15-20 riders to be ejected before the day is
out. The UCI will then ask the national cycling federations
to start disciplinary proceedings against the riders named
in the Spanish network."

It looks as if the proverbial rubber has met the road for doping in cycling.

Note to Self...

And really to anyone who might think about buying a drink at LaSalles. They didn't do well on their last Food Facility Inspection as you can see if you click on the Read More link at the bottom, to be able to read the report.

Here are the dirty details:

Observed bar-back employee using unlabeled (ice) buckets to scoop ice
directly from inside ice machine and into buckets; buckets had previously been stored
directly on wet, soiled floor (bottom of bucket came into direct contact with ice). Label ice buckets as “ICE ONLY”. Provide handled scoop(s) to sanitarily dispense ice from machine. Clean inside of both ice machines to remove accumulated mold/algal growth.
12, 27- No sanitary paper towels dispensers available at hand sinks/bar utensil sinks.
18- Clean black rubber beverage gun holders of algal residues. Clean beverage guns
and lives to remove sticky residues. Remove tape from beverage lines (at middle ice bin) to facilitate cleaning. Clean tracks and insides of slide door display refrigerators (at both ends of bar) to remove misc. debris (broken glass, dust). Replace damaged and rusted/peeling, shelves inside slide door display refrigerators. Clean, then repaint/reseal, inside beer walk-in refrigerator to remove mold/dust and so as to be smooth, nonabsorbent and easily cleanable. Replace missing bottom panel to Jack Daniel’s display refrigerator (at poolroom bar).
26- Clean drainpipes throughout facility (under all utensil sinks, ice drainlines, etc.) to remove accumulated mold/algal residues. Clean all floor sinks throughout facility (all bar areas, ice room) to remove accumulated mold, algal residues and trash.

Note: Ensure that all pipes draining to floor sinks are positioned so as to be directly over floor sink.
28- Men’s Restroom Observed missing/damaged floor tiles. Observed damaged (peeling,
bowed, stained) ceiling around ventilation/fan. Properly repair floor and ceiling. Repair running toilet.
29- Replace torn/damaged plastic netting lining storage shelves throughout facility.
Refinish/replace any damaged/worn/deteriorating wooden shelving (shelves storing liquor and pitchers at main bar and outside bar; shelves storing liquor/bottled foods in basement, etc).
31- Clean floors under all utensil sinks throughout facility and under ice machines (in ice room) to remove accumulated mold. Clean floors in hard to reach areas throughout facility (under equipment and shelving) to remove accumulated trash, misc. debris and residues. Observed several damaged wall and ceiling areas throughout facility (holes, unfinished “patches”, moldy/peeling paint, bowed/exposed wallboard, etc.) in hallways, ice room and storage rooms. Repair tiled floor of eroded grout in outside bar. Replace damaged door to outside bar. Repaint worn wooden base where beverage syrup boxes and rack is stored.
33- Clean janitorial sink to remove mold and blackish staining. Replace damaged wood
‘splashguard’ at janitorial sink with durable, non-absorbent material.
34- Replace damaged/dusty plastic light cover to overhead light fixture in ice room.

Note: Basement used as space for featured bands (with makeshift bar) and for storage.


You can find all the recent reports at this address: http://buttecounty.net/Default.aspx?tabid=312

Click the Read More link to see the report. Sorry, my jpg of the report isn't loading for some reason, but the above details pretty much tell the story. Check back later and I should have it up.

Astana-Wurth Out, Again!

Via PEZ.

Unbelievable, first they're out, then they're in, and now out again. Read the linked article above for lots of juice doping details.

Correction to Previous Posts...

Where I mention the Cahors affair. It's actually called "Operacion Puerto" and I have been mistaken calling it Cahors.

Cahors is an entirely different doping incident involving Belgian's such as Freddy Sergant, Laurent Jalabert, Laurent Roux and his brother, Fabien.

Sorry for the confusion but I'm sure you can understand with ALL the doping news flying around in the past week.

Bad News, Good News...

Bad news for my bike, good news for me. The bad news is that the headset that was installed with my new, all carbon, fork woundn't stay tight, so I brought it back to Sports LTD a few times to get it worked on. Well, I brought it back again yesterday and come to find out that because the headset wouldn't stay tight and the old stem didn't interface well with the carbon steer tube, there is now a crack in my Easton SLX fork. Sports LTD is sending the fork back to Easton to get a new one.

Now I also need to replace the stem, but the good news is that the fork didn't break on a 40 + MPH decent and kill me. Well, it's not entirely good news as I'll now be without my bike for a week unless I bring back my original fork to be installed in the meantime. Probably have to do that but since I'm not planning to ride today, I'm not in much a hurry.

Thanks goes out to Edd at Sports LTD for noticing the crack and ultimately saving me from a horrific crash!

In Discovery Cycling News...

The Portuguese rider, Jose Azevedo, is to wear the #1 for the Discovery Team at the Tour de France. This essentially means he will be the leader of the team if you believe the lowest number specifies the team leader. Wonder how George Hincapie feels about that or whether he cares? Is this maybe a way to relieve some pressure from George? We'll have to see how it plays out.

Found over at TdFblog.com. Pay them a visit!

More Cycling Fallout...

Today, more names were dropped by El Pais, the Spanish newspaper in regard to the Cahors affair. They are all BIG names, most planning to ride on Saturday when the Tour de France begins, or so they hope.

El Pais has alleged that Jan Ullrich, Roberto Heras, Oscar Sevilla, Joseba Beloki, Santiago Botero, Santi Pérez, Tyler Hamilton, Quique Gutierrez and Angel Edo are all mentioned in the 500 page report that will be delivered to the Spanish Secretary of State for Sport.

An interesting aspect of this comes into play when the TdF arrives in Spain for a stage ending in Val d'Aran for the 11th stage, on July 13. It's suspected by the media that riders involved might be taken in for questioning by the Spanish police, the Guardia Civil, when they arrive there.

Hey, on a bright note, Astana-Wurth have been given the green light to race the TdF by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after appealing the ASO's attempt to exclude them.

Gotta love the drama!

Dell Laptop Explosion

Read the article here. But I saw it at Gizmodo.


This is a concern to me as I do the computer purchasing for the programs in my office and I buy Dell. I also happen to use a Dell laptop myself, but I've check all our machines to be sure they have the correct battery or have had them replaced. If you have a Dell laptop and are concerned, check here to see if your laptop battery is one that's been recalled:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/batteryrecall/en/main

July 1 a Big Day...

In the morning it's the Prologue at the Tour de France and then at noon it's Brasil and France squaring off to see who will continue on to the simi-finals of the World Cup.

The Brasil vs. France match up should be good. I personally don't think France is very strong and I'm actually surprised they made it past Spain. I didn't see the game so I can't really comment as to what happened. But, when they play Brasil on Saturday, undoubtedly, many will be thinking of the 98 cup. If you're French, then you may think there is a chance otherwise you'll be thinking about revenge.

Now let's discuss something the French are good at, putting on a bike race. This years edition is already a media star. Endless controversy abounds. We've got the Spanish Cahors thingy going on and teams being removed for their riders being involved, a high profile, previously suspended rider making his return to cycling, and no Armstrong.

Astana-Wurth, the team who was at the forefront of the Cahors affair is currently awaiting a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as to whether or not they will be allowed to compete, thus potentially knocking out a top contender in Alexandre Vinokourov. Already ousted, Comunidad Valenciana, was next in line with one of their team staff being implicated in the affair. Being that they were not a Pro Tour team, they were easily removed from the race, unlike Astana-Wurth, which probably took a little more maneuvering to be removed.

Oh and if you aren't all up on the cycling news, the Cahors mess can be read in chronological order at this address: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jun06/jun28news2

Now to the other side of the spectrum as we have a rider who will be making his return to racing at this years TdF, David Millar. If you remember, David was caught taking EPO and sidelined for two years as well as relinquishing his World Championship for the individual time trial amongst other victories. Well, he's clean and he's back. Now to see if he can still go fast sans the dope. The truth will be known on Saturday as the Prologue is his specialty.

Now for the most exciting part about this edition of the TdF, no Lance Armstrong! Not that I didn't enjoy watching the guy race, but it made for a predictable outcome. Well, it's still kind of predictable as in my mind it's a two man race for first between the Jan and il Basso. I'm actually siding with Jan, I think he deserves one more time on top after all those second place finishes. Plus, he was rumored to be involved with the doctor in the Cahors affair and if he's hitting the dope, I'm not sure anyone can stop the twin towers of pain as the weak will break against the Jan's massive thighs like the ocean against the shore.

And then there is Armstrong. He isn't even racing and still gets more headlines than any riders. Well, what can you say, Lance Incorporated, always at the forefront!

So, be ready to spend some quality time on the bike trainer in front of the TV this weekend, cause it's going to be hot and not just outside!

Been a Couple of Days...

Well, it's been a few days since I posted last and that's because I've been consumed with life. Spent all Saturday going to Roseville to look at and then purchase the Subaru Baja. Sunday was spent riding up above Forest Ranch to avoid the insane valley heat. The World Cup has been taking up some of my time as well. And then there is this Cahors affair and all the doping madness going on in cycling. Who exactly isn't doping in the pro peloton?

it's here it's here!



[Posted from the Treo 650]

USA Soccer...

Was a total disappointment this World Cup. They played flat and poorly overall. The only game where they actually played like they were interested in winning was against Italy. If they played with that type of urgency the entire cup, they might have scored more than one goal for themselves.

This cup, for the USA, could be compared to a #1 losing to a #16 in the college basketball tournament. The USA has been ranked #5 for the better part of the year, they should have been able to show us a little more than they did. I'd say this World Cup was more of a setback for the US than a step forward.

Take a quick look at the FIFA rankings, here and then compare some of the teams ranked lower than the US against the teams who have advanced to the next round, by looking at this page.

Does it surprise you that a team like Ecuador, ranked 39th, advances while the USA, ranked 5th, can hardly score one goal the entire tournament? As well, Ghana was ranked 48th and was able to advance from the same group the USA was in, sad!

What's up?

USA Soccer...

Was a total disappointment this World Cup. They played flat and poorly overall. The only game where they actually played like they were interested in winning was against Italy. If they played with that type of urgency the entire cup, they might have scored more than one goal for themselves.

This cup, for the USA, could be compared to a #1 losing to a #16 in the college basketball tournament. The USA has been ranked #5 for the better part of the year, they should have been able to show us a little more than they did. I'd say this World Cup was more of a setback for the US than a step forward.

Take a quick look at the FIFA rankings, here and then compare some of the teams ranked lower than the US against the teams who have advanced to the next round, by looking at this page.

Does it surprise you that a team like Ecuador, ranked 39th, advances while the USA, ranked 5th, can hardly score one goal the entire tournament? As well, Ghana was ranked 48th and was able to advance from the same group the USA was in, sad!

What's up?

Yahoo Issues, Gino?

Logging into my Yahoo accounts wasn't going so well last night and into this morning. It wasn't until about 8:30 AM today when I was able to log in. I noticed problems with Yahoo Mail, Messenger, and My Yahoo, but didn't think to check Flickr until just now, though I assume it also is working again if in fact it was down.

Funny thing was that Messenger on any of my desktops or laptops wouldn't connect, but from my Treo 650 I was in like Flynn.

So, Gino, you know what was going on? I read over here (http://yahoo.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/21/yahoo-email-and-messenger-login-problems/) that others were having issues but that people at Yahoo weren't aware, or at least the people this guy talked to.

BTW, I love Yahoo and have relied on their service to provide me with news, information, email, messenging, and now pictures since 1997. Good stuff.

Tour of California News

Slowly but surely, news of the second annual Tour of California will be arriving and over the past couple days a bit of information has leaked out. The tour will again take eight days, start in San Francisco and end in Redondo Beach. As many as 18 teams, two more than in the inaugural race, are expected.

San Jose, CA will be hosting another finsh, but will not be hosting the time trial as they did last year. The reason being, Floyd Landis put too much time into the other competitors and essentially won the race that day. The promoters want to save that type of excitement for later in the race and create a situation where the outcome won't be decided until the final stage.

It will be interesting to see which Eastbay city will host the start of the stage ending in SJ. Last year was my home town of Martinez, which made it even more exciting for me and my family. I'd expect a start somewhere near Martinez, but I wouldn't expect Martinez to get the nod again this year. One idea I have is to make the start in Benicia and race across the bridge into Martinez. I think this could work because a new bridge is being built next to the current bridge and it should be complete by next February so as not to hold up traffic. Ah, just a pipe dream on my part, huh?

The stage following the San Jose finish will begin somewhere around Monterey once again. So we can expect a stage similar to last years Monterey to SLO stage as SLO is confirmed as the finish host for the stage run on Thursday afternoon February 22.

That's all I've heard so far but I'll have to ask my brother to ask his friend, Officer Mike of the SJPD about getting the inside scoop for at least the SJ stage. As well, Amgen is expected to drop the lowdown on the route sometime during the Tour de France.

No Car, No Problem

Well, that's not entirely true. I'm going to be walking home today unless I can get ahold of my wife. Luckily, I work about 1.7 miles from home. Tomorrow I'm planning to ride my mountain bike to work and just carry my stuff in a backpack; stuff being my laptop. I've already somewhat prepared for this by stopping by the Raley's to get a few pounds of salad mix and salad condiments for the next few days lunch so I don't have to worry about carrying food.

Either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday the car I've transfered from Vegas should arrive in Roseville for me to go test drive. I'm crossing my fingers the car will not disappoint and I'll drive it home that day.

Thanks to Gino for getting me started with some thoughts on car names as he left some of his old vehicle's names in the comments of a previous post. I've been kicking around a couple of ideas and like the thought of naming the car JoJo after one of our favorite cats who died unexpectedly nearly four years ago.

JoJo was a white beauty who was fast, agile, and just fun to be around. I'm hoping the Baja will have similar characteristics and will live longer than poor lil JoJo did. I really would have trouble burying a car in the yard like we did JoJo.

So, that's the news with the car. Vroom vroom!

Weekend Wrap Up...

Typically, a weekend without the bike is cause for withdrawals, but this weekend it wasn't the case. We were up early on Saturday morning to watch soccer. I was able to watch the entire first game and most of the second game before leaving for the water slides.

As usual, my Mom was looking to stuff me like one of those cows you see as you drive south of the bay on HWY 5 with a large breakfast. I couldn't resist but was happy I ate it as it kept me going for the rest of the day. Mom's are always good for making sure you are properly fueled, or at least my Mom is. It's a wonder my Dad doesn't weight 300 lbs.

Promptly at 10:30 my friend Andy arrived to pick me up so we could cruise out to pick up other friends and drop off his wife at our other friend's house. We arrived to the slides around 11:30 and immediately began reliving day long past.

There are 4 slides there, with #2 being the only one that never was very good in terms of our sliding style. Our style is high on the coping, 360's, and I enjoy pulling the barrel roll. Sliding is like riding a bike, I hadn't been there in 18 years, but on the first time down was getting up pretty high. Oh, I would have taken pictures and video, but cameras are not allowed in the park because of some law suit having to do with someone's top coming off and ensuing pictures which were taken.

Sure enough, I got a cut on my knee the first trip down and that was only the beginning. Future runs had me pulling major coping rides and barrel rolls. But before the day was over, I had about 20 cuts on various parts of my body, and elbows swollen like baseballs and red as the stitches on a baseball.

But, being the talk of the water slides and having the adoration of the teenagers made it all worth it. Even though now I can't even rest my left elbow on my desk, or anything else for that matter. Every time our group would come down the slide, there would be a crowd of kids waiting at one of the vantage point on the path back to the top. In closing this section of the post, it's easy to say we were 18 again, if just for a day. Oh, the next morning I felt 36 times 2.

Afterward, I went to visit high school friends still living in the area and remembered why leaving Martinez was so difficult. I wonder what it would be like to live down there again, I probably would kill myself over the price of homes or traffic, so I imagined what it would be like in a perfect world instead. Ah, nothing like dreaming.

Sunday, Father's Day, was for soccer and BBQ. On 5 hours sleep, I was up at 6 to watch the first game and prepare myself for the real game, Brasil vs. Australia. Australia played tough, but Brasil played it cool and as usual won. I'm knocking on wood right now, so don't give me a hard time about that comment. So, all was well on Father's Day after the victory and then we were able to relax. Two games down, five to go for a record 6th World Cup (more knocking on wood).

I also enjoyed a short visit with my grandparents and got a bunch of plants to take home. All in all, great trip. I'm going to have to make a point of going down there more often.

Big Thanks...

To all the folks who spend their precious time to read my drivel. Special thanks goes out to those like Olaf Vanderhoot, Chico Gino, Chico Cyclist and all the other folks that linked me! Sorry I don't have the entire list, but my host just migrated my site to new servers and the stats aren't working, currently, so I can't list everyone. Just know you are important!

More thanks goes out to readers in Fairfield, CA and Arnold, MD for being the two top readers with 66 and 60 views respectively. If any of the folks reading this have a blog, please send me the link at AERocha at Yahoo.com and I'll link ya!

OH, and thanks especially to my parents who I didn't mention last time I did shout outs because they were on vacation for a month and actually didn't register on any of the stat programs I use.

Thanks everyone!

Car Update...

I just forked over $150 for Carmax to transfer a Subaru from Las Vegas to Roseville so that I can take a better look at it and give it a test drive. I'm about 95% sure I want this vehicle, but it's best to do due diligence before dropping $20,000.

Then again, $20K for a 2004 Subaru Baja Turbo fully loaded with every feature they offer seems like a great deal to me. The Kelly Blue Book says it's worth about $24K with 26K miles on it with all the features it has.

I'm especially excited about the heated seats and mirrors (totally necessary in the sub-artic areas of Chico) as well as the little bedliner. This lil beaut has all the features of my Lexus and more, so I'm excited. I might have mentioned that already. There are a couple of things missing though, like a trailer hitch and I'll probably get a little shell for the back too. I'm also looking forward to putting 1 of my 2 Thule racks up there since there was never a fit kit for the Lexus and our other car is a convertable XK8, so no rack allowed on that. It's been a while since I've put a bike up on the roof and I look forward to carrying them that way again.

So, all my friends tell me the Lexus had bad carma (or karma if it wasn't a car) and are wishing me better luck with the Baja.

Now to come up with a good name for the new car, since I plan on keeping it for a long time. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments section. I would love to hear them!

Weekend Fun!

I'm sad to be missing out on the fun in Nevada City where there is a big bike race. Chico Velo people are planning to ride from Chico to Nevada City the morning before the race so they can get there in time to watch. Unfortunately, I have already made plans.

I'm heading down to the bay tonight so that I can wake up early and watch the first World Cup game on Saturday morning and maybe a little of the second game. Then a friend I grew up with and his family are going to pick me up at my parents and we're heading to the waterslides.

A little side note on the waterslides. We are going to Shadow Cliffs in Pleasanton/Livermore which are the waterslide we grew up going to back in the early and mid 80's. When I mention that I'm going there these days, people ask why we are going to the ghetto slides. We always enjoyed going there because of the type of slides they had; open air tubes. These are ideal because you can ride the mat from side to side building momentum as you would go down the slide. That way, you can grind the coping at the top of the tubes each time. Plus, 20-some odd years ago, I used to be able to pull a barrel roll on slide #3 right before getting ejected into the pool of water at the end. We used to be pretty good at this stuff to the point that the people working there used to bust out the video camera and shoot us do our moves. And this was back when having a video camera was ritzy. So, if you're out there this weekend, look for old guys pulling insane moves in the tubes!

So, essentially we are going out there to relive our youth and teach the youngin's how it's done. Hopefully we won't hurt ourselves or worse yet, embarrass ourselves.

After the slides, I'm going to cruise by an old high school and college friends house to visit with him and his family before going back to chill with the parents.

Then on Father's Day, we're watching soccer all day with Dad, since Brasil is playing. And then it's BBQ time, unless Brasil doesn't win, then we'll all be pissed and won't want to eat. Either way, it's all going to be a great time!

Here is a picture of my wife, Karin, and I at the Crows show.

The person who took the picture was a gal named Angie who recognized me from a class at Chico State. Small world, eh?



[Posted from the Treo 650]

HA HA...

Sorry about the posts for yesterday not posting until today, I'm sure you were all waiting eagerly for my updates. My host migrated all the accounts and in the mean time changed the name of the ftp server. I wasn't paying attention to all the emails sent by my host because since the car accident my life has been chaos. So, yesterday was the day that the previous ftp server was swapped to the new one and I didn't make the approptiate changes in my blogger account.

Being my life is chaos, I barely read the FAQ's on their site before calling support. I figured it was the ftp server name, but figured the path of least resistance was to call support and have them tell me.

You'd figure an IT guy would have figured this out quickly, but I've been distracted.

My distraction is set to end shortly, though. I've found a car in Vegas that I'm going to call to have transfered today. It's a 2004 Subaru Baja that is fully loaded, and I mean fully. It's got the leather, sunroof, turbo charger ups the horsies to 210 or something like that, and only has 26K miles on it.

Hopefully once it's transfered and I drive and see it, I'll be happy. This vehicle seems to fit all my needs beginning with the options listed above. Beyond that I like the fact it's got 4 doors and the 3.5 foot bed. I'll be able to haul stuff, put my bikes up top on the rack while still feeling like I'm driving a car. Oh yeah, this call will also haul one other thing, ASS! It's got as much power as my Lexus had but in a much smaller package.

I'm excited, except for the payments I'll have to start making. Bummer.

Black Crows @ Sleep Train

I first saw these guys about 15 years ago in Berkeley and they were good. Last night, they were incredible. Chris Robinson's voice sounded as good as it does on the CD.

They played a combination of old and new songs opting to start with the new stuff and work into the classics. They also did a few nice long jams and even a drum solo. Unfortunately, words cannot explain the brilliance of their performance, but these fuzzy pics from my cell phone might help in the visual department.

A Little Pressure Off...

Ok, so I'm sure everyone is fully involved in the World Cup by now. Today Germany plays their second game, so the next set of games is underway.

Yesterday Brasil played and they looked pretty good, except Ronaldo, who maybe ran for 2 minutes the entire time he was in. It's always a nail biter in my family when Brasil plays because soccer is everything and a loss is only slightly better than death.

It reminds me of the 1982 World Cup. We happened to be on a two week camping trip to the Grand Canyon and on the drive out there, Brasil was playing Italy in the second round. We watched with the rabbit ears on some 13 inch TV in the old family station wagon. Well, they freakin' lost 3 to 2 and the hopes and dreams of an entire country of millions were dashed for another 4 years. I remember this day to be equally painful to the 1998 finals loss to France.

But, that was then, and there are new hopes and new dreams today. One game down, six to go.

Happy Flag Day...

Oh, that reminds me, it's our anniversary, celebrating 3 years of marital bliss!

Weekend Ride Report

I have been riding but it's been tough. I've added physical therapy to my schedule and that takes up about 4 or so hours or more a week which gets in the way of riding.

Not to mention, the therapy makes my shoulder and left arm very sore. This makes it hard to sleep because I like to sleep with my left arm over my head or under my pillow. Both of those positions cause irratation and interfere with my sleep.

So, riding, yeah. I did two hours inside on the trainer on Friday while watching soccer. On Saturday, after watching more soccer and catching a bike race online, I did 75 miles up and back to Butte Meadows from Chico. Excellent ride on an excellent day.

Unfortunately, the day didn't end with the customary couch surfing but with house cleaning. UGH! I did about 4 or so hours until it was about 8 PM before giving into the pain in my shoulder and my utter exhaustion.

Finally, I was on the recliner and ready to chill, which I did for a few hours. Then it was time for bed, but whouldn't you know it, I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep at like 2 AM or something crazy like that.

Of course, I had to get up to watch two more bike races on Sunday morning and 3 soccer games. So, sleep only lasted until about 5 AM. Needless to say, there was no way I was going to be able to ride on Sunday.

But, feeling good today so the schedule looks like ride, PT, then some yard work. Woot!

TdF on OLN

There must be a God as American cyclist's prayers have been answered. OLN will once again cover the entire Tour de France. That means we can enjoy daily, weekday coverage, at 5:30 AM on the west coast. I'm looking forward to hearing Bobke say, "Tour day France" and to hear some new Liggettisms.

Found over at TdFblog, so if you pay his site a visit you can view the PDF document with the OLN TV schedule.

Yahoo Matchcast...

Yahoo Matchcast is a pretty cool alternative if you can't watch on TV. But if you happen to have the Slingbox installed at home, you could just watch all TV over the internet. I don't have this. So, I'm following the play by play on Matchcast.










Here's the place to start if you want to watch as well:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

Then pick you language of choice and in the resulting page look for the section like the picture below.







Then click the link for the currect match. In the resulting page you will see this, click it!:





And enjoy!

Game On

Like waiting for summer vacation when you are a 3rd grader, waiting for the World Cup is painful, but when it gets here, it's oh so sweet.

Well, it's finally here!

GAME ON!

Go Brasil! I've got my shirt on today.

Blogger.com Sucking!


Well, I was going to blog about how going to the physical theraist made my shoulder really hurt but blogger.com is sucking.

So I'm trying this from the cell phone. Not sure if it'll work but worth a try.

Yeah, the therapist was poking around and got my shoulder really inflamed. Then it was time for the magic wand to break up the tension. The combination create as much or more pain then the accident itself.

Lovely! I had to hit the meds which I try to avoid because the Naproxin ruins the tummy and Soma makes me groggy the next day. I'm groggy!

I was able to ride the trainer for 1.5 hours and do 20 minutes of stomach. My legs really needed the spin after this weekends rides.

Oh, the road bike got some shop love and was done early. Thanks goes out to the guys at Chico Sports LTD!

So there it is. The sans-blogger post.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 & Treo 650]

Praying Landis, Effective!

Floyd's TT position seems to be pretty effective. I first saw it in SF at the Prologue of the ToC and then again in San Jose, CA during the ITT of the ToC. Currectly at the Criterium du Dauphine Libere, Landis has powered his way into the lead. Dave Z has still not come in, so we'll have to see.

I must say, Americans have really become some of the best TT guys in the world.

Oh my, Dave Z just went through the intermediate point and already has 43 seconds on Landis. Dang!

Doesn't that just prove my point.

Let's see, we've had Lemond, Armstrong, Julich, Dave Z, Landis, Hincapie and even Hamilton wasn't too bad.

Ode to a Triple: A Cycling Haiku

This story begins about 2 years ago. My friend Paul was interested in getting a road bike and asked me for my opinion on double and triple chainrings. I suggested he get a double as triples were for old men and women, a la Henri Desgrange's comment about gears on bikes. If you aren't familiar, here it is:

"I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft... As for me, give me a fixed gear!"
Henri Desgrange

Well, he got the double and I've been hearing about it ever since, especially when the road turns upward toward the sky.

Since we all rode the Sierra Century this past Saturday and it's a hill ride, the topic was at the forefront of our converstations once again. During one of the double/triple bitch sessions, Paul came up with the idea of the "Ode to a Triple."

So, I'd like to see if anyone else has any thoughts on this double/triple thing by proposing you write a haiku about it.

Here's mine:

insufficient gears
crank will not turn easily
I loathe double rings

Feel free to join in the fun and submit you own via the comments section

Summer Mornings

This morning, as I getting out of my fabulous Pontiac G6 rental car, I noticed that wonderful early morning summer smell. Maybe you know the one I'm talking about, it's like morning dew on dried field grasses. It has a kind of sweet smell that reminds me of early summer. It brought back memories of when I was younger and this smell meant that school was out and I had over 2 months of freedom. Freedom to ride my bike 8 hours a day or more with my friends, freedom to build BMX tracks and big jumps.

It was a fleeting moment as I enjoyed the scents as I walked from the car to the office. Now I spent my 8 hours sitting in front of a bunch of computer screens, servers and workstations. I'll be out there soon enough!

Helicopter Video

Click the Read More link if you want to see the video of the helicopter landing on HWY 89 to pick up a cyclist who crashed while riding the "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride."

AMBBR Report

No, not Amber Alert, but we could have put out an Amber Alert for my brain after Saturday's ride.

I wasn't sure I'd even be able to ride America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride, Lake Tahoe. I could barely walk after the Sierra Century. Arriving in South Lake Tahoe, Paul, Mark and I went to Sports LTD to register and get our swag before heading over to the wonderful resort, Lakeside Resort, where Paul and Mark's families were waiting for us at the beach. After some R&R in the hot tub it was off to dinner.

At dinner, we met up with Greg and Tom who came up to join in the fun. Darn them and their fresh legs. Then again, thanks for pulling us around the lake!

After dinner it was time to play bike mechanic because we all had some bike issues from the day prior before getting to bed early. Our plan was to meet up in front of the Lakeside at 6:45 so that we could be back by at least 2 PM. The first few miles were pretty tentitive for the three of us who rode the day before, but after about 5 miles the legs loosened up.

If you aren't aware, AMBBR is a ride which kind of caters to the Team in Training people who ride to raise money for Leukemia. Bless them for the work they do for cancer and for their own bodies while training. So, there were thousands of riders from all across the country and they all attempted to represent their states by wearing contraptions on their helmets.

The folks from Georgia had peaches, Washington DC riders had the Capitol Building, and people from Cleveland had Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitars and so on. This was one of the things that made this ride fun, meeting people from all over. The only issue is that some Team riders are new to cycling and or come from very flat states. This can be a problem when they head down the grades in Tahoe, even though they were nothing compared to the grades at Sierra Century.

Things would occasionally get a bit dicey when a more experienced rider wound decend at 50 + while less experienced riders might break the entire way down only going 30 or 35. I had heard that this ride, in past years, had an abundance of crashes and this year wasn't much different from what I could tell.

Not more than an hour into the ride we had our first crash coming off the first grade. A lady hit a rock and took a tumble. I couldn't see what her injuries were, but someone said they saw a fair amount of blood, but that could have been just road rash. But, to be on the safe side, the firemen immobilized the lady on a strecher before driving her a half mile up the road where the helicopter could pick her up. That meant that close to 3000 riders were held on the road for about 45 minutes. There are some pictures of the helicopter and all the people at my Flickr site, go check them out. As well, there is a video I took of the copter landing in a previous post.

Once we got going agian, we were concerned that such a large group would be riding down the road together and decided to ride hard to put some distance between us and them. Emediately we put Tom and Greg on the front since they had the freshest legs. Instantly we were going 25 + and not many who were around us when the large pack took off could follow. Of course, this pace put the three of us who rode the Sierra in difficulty. We finally found that 22 was the pace we all could keep and motored out to Truckee.

After coming back to the Lake from Truckee, it was time to head for the lunch stop and then on to Spooner Grade. The ride to the lake from Truckee was a 13 mile grinder, not steep, but long with a head wind. I had been up the Spooner grade last year while riding the Comstock Century and I remembered it as being painful. It really wasn't and we managed to pull up the thing at between 13 and 15 MPH. I believe my issues with this climb last year was that it came after climbing 7500 feet. I was very happy to find the hill not as tough this ride.

The rest of the ride was pretty quiet except the ride off the Spooner Grade was windy. Oh, until we got back to the Horizon where for about 100 yards on either side of the run in, there were gaggles of people cheering on the the Team in Training folks. Their support was pretty impressive.

Ok, that's about all I can put to words about this event. Maybe my fellow riders will comment and fill in some of the stuff I left out.

Sierra Century Ride Report

Brutal! And then we had to drive to South Lake Tahoe.

It couldn't have been cool weather conditions but had to be mid 90's. That alone did me in. I had no issues what so ever for the first 65 miles after going over a couple of good size hills, but then after lunch and sitting around for 20 minutes, the legs weren't happy.

Oh, BTW, the food at the Sierra is always tasty stuff, plus they stock V8, of which I drank maybe 6 or 7 for the sodium.

Of course, right after lunch was the lead up to Hale Road. 16% to 19% is what the profile says and I believe it. I'm not sure if it is more tough than Slug Gulch, but it was plenty challenging in the 42x25. So much so, coupled with the massive cramping in my quads, that I had to get off a couple of times. Like I said, I believe it was the heat. But, with my never say die attitude, I pushed on with my two friends, Paul and Mark, giving encouragement. That lasted only another 10 miles before I had to send them ahead while I waited for a SAG and walked off the cramps. Now I know what they mean when riders say their legs seized up.

The SAG dropped me off at the last rest stop about 20 miles and 1200 vertical feet short of finishing, where I ran into Paul who had called it at the rest so that he'd have some legs left for Tahoe on Sunday. Mark, the man who seems to feel no pain, pushed on and chewed up the last 20 miles like it was nothing.

On his way back in Mark thought he'd take a shortcut and actually added a mile to his ride along with another small hill. To boot, he then flatted 3 miles from the car. With time saving in mind, Mark just filled the flat every half mile or so to get back to the car.

After coming back to the last rest to pick us up, we headed up HWY 89 to South Lake Tahoe. The drive was wonderful with the scenery and well, just sitting in the air conditioned car. If you've never driven from Jackson, CA up to Tahoe on this highway, I can highly recommend it. You can check out some of the photos over at my Flickr site by clicking on the badge in the right side nav bar.

So, it was a great day and a great way to spend my birthday; doing the stuff I love with good friends.

Now for the tragic part of the ride. There was a fatality in Fiddletown when a rider coming down the grade into town came upon a slow moving backhoe. We had past the tractor only 30 minutes earlier and were heading toward Hale Road when we heard the sirens.

It seems that this gentleman was riding down the grade, came upon the tractor and attempted to pass on the left. As he went around, there was on coming traffic and he breaked hard and crashed. Unfortunately, he crashed as he was coming past the tractor and fell in between the front and rear wheels and was crush.

I'm not really sure what else to say about it. We ride these things fast and accidents occur. It's terrible.

Read the article about the fatality here, in the Sac Bee. Careful, it's kind of a tear jerker.

Be safe out there folks!

I got the news from the insurance adjuster today and they estimate $9000 damage.

Kelly Blue Book has a retail value for a 1995 Lexus SC300 at $11270 and resale value is $8700. I suspect they will offer between 7 & 8 grand.

Guess I'll be making more car payments!

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 & Treo 650]

Ouch

I hurt. But 40 MPH impacts will do that to ya I suppose. Surprisingly, my neck doesn't hurt as badly as when I was hit back in February. But, my shoulder really hurt. So, to lift my arms above my head is painful.

Good thing riding a bike doesn't require that type of movement because I have two rides planned for this weekend; the Sierra Century and America's Most Beautiful Ride, Lake Tahoe.

Should be interesting as I really haven't ridden much if at all in the past 10 days because of a leg issue and then friends in town over the long weekend. Either way, I'm sure the body will survive, it's really just a question of enduring the pain.