Levi saves the day

Well, he saved professional cycling for me. I'll never get off my bike, but I had just about sworn off ever watching another pro bike race again. This year's tour kicked fans in gut. On the one hand, it's a good thing they caught so many cheaters. On the other hand, it's really hard to handle when the yellow jersey gets kicked out along with Vinokourov. It was a week long nut shot.

Then Levi rode the Stage 19 time trial. I've never seen anything like it. Fourth fastest in tour history. He made up almost two minutes on the yellow jersey. He was flying on his bike and it was a beautiful thing to watch. I even found myself standing up screaming "Go Levi Go!" right along with his coach in the car. Still, I gained even more respect for Levi for what I heard he did after his time trial. He was back in his team's motorhome, watching his team mate, Alberto Contador ride his TT, the man who was wearing the yellow that Levi wanted so badly. Levi couldn't win the yellow, Cadel Evans had held an eight second lead (down from :50) over Levi. Now Levi was standing in the motor home, screaming for Alberto. Cheering his 24 year old team mate to hold onto the yellow.

Alberto held it, and Levi could not have looked happier.

He's a true professional, a great cyclist, a great guy, and he's never been mentioned in the same sentence as doping. It was a privilege to watch Levi race this past Saturday.

Apparently this is Veloporn

What in the hell is going on with the Tour? Vino apparently went old school. Went back in time to a place before EPO and did the whole transfusion thing. Now Rasmussen, who basically wrapped up the GC today, has been kicked out of the tour BY HIS OWN TEAM. He missed FOUR mandatory tests and lied about where he was all June. Screw him. Why was he allowed to ride in the first place? They tested Lance while his wife was in labor, and this guy skips four tests? He didn't deserve the yellow, and I'm glad he's out of it.

Here's the link to the Velonews.com story: http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/details/articles/12944.0.html

And here's a picture from that article. I'm guessing it's some sort of fan protesting like when the fans at a San Francisco Giants game held up a bunch of syringes and asterisks. If so, well done. It's also a lot safer picture to show than the naked guy that was running with the leaders in today's stage.

Despite the Tour getting an enormous black eye, I had a good day. I woke up and was still pumped about setting a personal best while doing my triathlon training. Casey Gibson, who has a gallery on Velonews.com took this picture, which sums up nicely how I felt when I was done riding yesterday.

Dopers Suck!!

Shit meet Mr. Fan

Yep, the shit is hitting the proverbial fan, and there is no lack of poo. Name a rider, any rider, don't be shy. Did he dope?

Probably.

Dopers suck. They suck, they suck, they suck.

In case you don't know, Alexander Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping. (Check the Velonews RSS feed on the left) He was the team leader for Astana. The one who was fighting through pain with stitches in his arm and knee. Completely out of the hunt for the yellow jersey. The pre-race favorite gutting it out, riding with class, and winning two stages to prove he could have done it and he was no quitter.

Well screw him. Screw Basso. Screw Hamilton. Screw Floyd??? Maybe. Am I an idiot for still holding to belief that Lance was clean? He'd one of the main reasons I ride. If he can beat cancer and win seven Tours, I can get off my ass and shake off knee surgery to run marathons and triathlons. I even set a personal best today (for a 20 mile ride, which is the distance of the bike leg in my next triathlon). Still, every single rider that stabs the sport in the heart with a doped up dagger makes me believe less and less in Lance.

Damnit. I had a great day at work. I set a personal best on my bike, which has really fired me up for my triathlon on August 25th. It finally hit me that I'm going to three Red Sox games in about a week and that I'm finally getting down to the beach in about a month with my girlfriend and a bunch of my closest friend. However, this doping bullshit is still eating at me. It shouldn't. I know that. I ride because I like to. I will never be a professional. I ride against myself. Still, I wish the sport I have grown to love would not do this to me. The sport I grew up loving, baseball, has already done it to me.

Are there any clean sports out there?

Bad week to be a dog.

With all the Mike Vick/Ron Mexico/ Ookie stuff coming out and then riders slamming into pups at the Tour, it might be a good week to hide your pets. Thank goodness there's no video of what Vick did (I guess if there was it would be easy to convict him, though). But, since the dog walked away, here's the video (look at the wheel crumble!):

Dog vs Bike

Dog wins!




Those pictures are from velonews.com (link on the left).

I've been getting some good tour updates and analysis from the masiguy (also linked on the left). It's good stuff, you should check it out.

Starkville, MS Bike Race

Awesome. A bike rice in the ol' college town. Where was this when I was there? Not that it would have mattered since I've only been biking a year and a half. Anyway, it was scheduled for August 25th but it seems to have been postponed till the Spring of '08. It's a crit with a road ride (apparently not a road race) on Sunday. I've never done a crit before, but they have a relay, which could be a nice intro for some folks. Here is the link:

http://www.starkvilleinmotion.org/Starkville%20Cup/Home.html

JMC July the 4th Cruisin' Clinton Club Ride

The Clarion Ledger posted some pictures. So here is proof I at least woke up in time to make it to the thirty mile ride. The route was great and so was the turn out. It was a great holiday morning (despite threatening to rain all day).

Clarification and the Friday Brew

When I said my knee was acting up (in the previous post), here is why:


Those screws are holding in my posterior cruciate ligament. Well, it's not my ligament per se. It used to belong to some kind cadaver. Now it's bolted to the femur and tibia, and threaded through my right knee. There was also some MCL stuff they had to fix. It was quite cool before the surgery. My tibia would move back and forth and twist a bit. A great way to gross a lot of people out. Eventually, though, it became painful to run, so I had the operation to tighten things up a bit. The Doc was surprised I could walk into his office.

What was the point of that story? Well, it's how I got into cycling. The orthopedist and the therapist said a bike would a great non-impact excercise that I could do. It would keep the strength in that leg, and I would be able to do it as an endurance sport (I was training for my first triathlon when I had to go in and get the operation..... bummer). Needless to say, I got hooked.


Then the doc made the mistake of telling me I was cleared to do whatever I wanted. The next day I signed up for the Mardis Gras Marathon. Since then I've done the marathon, two triathlons and a metric century. This isn't that astounding to some people, but it is my first summer of endurance sports. So, I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.


Anyway, I think the knee pain was just a little reminder. You know, a "hey jackass, did you forget what you're working with down here?" But, I'm back to normal. I've put 60 miles in this week and I hope to do another 30-40 this weekend. I've got some new pedals and shoes coming in for the Trek that I hope to break in on an easy Natchez Trace out and back.


Now, on to the beer:



Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is probably the best American Style that is readily available at the local grocery. It may be the only one, actually. That is no matter, it is still a great pale.

Been a while...

Couple of things happened recently that have kept me away:

1. The knee started acting crazy. It hurt like hell for a while, but it has passed.

2. Work got a little crazy as well, but that has passed.

3. They cut my cable line doing prep work for the foundation of the house being built next door.

Anyway, enough excuses. Hope everyone enjoyed their Independence Day. Here are two things that helped me enjoy mine:


That's the Specialized Tri-vent and four pints of Boddingtons Pub ale.

The Jackson Metro Cyclist had a club ride on the morning of the 4th out in Clinton, MS. It was a great route and a great time. I had planned to do the metric century, but I over slept. So I ended up rushing out there to do a 30 mile loop. After that I headed home for more sleep (since that's how I spend most holidays). I eventually got out of bed and watched the History Channel for a while. They had a great series called 'Revolution' on. Definitely worth Tivo-ing if you can. Then, a few pints of Boddington's and the neighbours setting off fireworks capped the day. So, all in all, I had a good day off.

However, I really just wanted to show off those shoes.