--And the most talked about man in the peloton is back. Way to go. Unfortunately, he won't be rocking the Giro like he did in '08...
--And...another few bite the dust. In case you were thinking all these positives were bad, they're not. The sport is getting cleaner. Not to mention, Pellizotti will have more time to work on his hair. Life's good.
--The Manxman is angry! Cav, it's okay dude. You're still the greatest. Greipel will be lucky to win A stage of le Tour, little on six! (Btw, his own website only lists four for last year. Time to get a new webmaster?) I digest.
Just to play the shrink for a minute: bad showing at Milan-San Remo, sore tooth, and now little Greipel's getting uppity! (Btw, is it just me or does talking bad about your current employees/employer NOT sound like a good idea???)
What can he say? He follows the hawk, like Borat! I like!
This is almost as bad as the jersey he wore when he first came back:
Vino ride for Vino...
--Another riveting interview by VeloNews. Great headline: Fulgsang: ‘I dream to win the Tour.’ These days it's so hard to find a cyclist who dreams of winning the Tour...
--Lastly, I gotta get to work. The other day it was raining but I told MUNI to get stuffed (a la Cavendish, only without the finish line). MUNI was stuffed all the way to Grant when I attempted to cross the tracks. They ate me again.
Cable car tracks: 2 (they got me once before)
Me: 0
The wrist is bruised but not broke. I'll be back at it soon.
In the meantime, you can find me @jstreebin on Twitter. (Not sure if that linkage is correct since I'm new to Twitter links.)
--Rode Alpine Dam today. Some of the most beautiful roads I've ever ridden. The descents were unbelievable. I thought when I left Berkeley I'd miss the riding. Tunnel Road seems to quaint now... I'd take pics eventually.
--In other news, BMC has been rocked by the recent issue with Ballan (tears) and now Frei makes the list. Joe Lindsey has a nice write-up on them.
In addition, the first Chinese in the PRO peloton, Li Fuyu, has been suspended. Not that any of that matters when it comes to doping. Wasn't it Johan who said internal testing wasn't needed? Hmm...
--I recently, as in two seconds ago, came across a moral dilemma that's preventing me from reposting this killer pic. This guy has a sick blog so he gets the traffic. No, I won't stop stealing your pics Mr. Watson.
--Speaking of, okay this isn't Watson's work, the Graydioshack service course. I love these galleries.
That, is a pantload of chamois cream. I'd love to visit one. I think the United Health (formerly Ouch) one is in Oakland. Actually, I went to the Kings North Wheelers service course last summer...
The guy on the right is the New Zealand national champ, Jack Bauer. I paid rent when I lived there, he didn't...
--This is crazy. Niko Eeckhout, known as "Rambo," had been racing for the racing for a week with a broken vertebrae. Apparently his chiropractor was on vacation...
Not sure which is worse, this or Hamilton doing the Tour with a broken collarbone.
--Lastly, this year's Dauphine (I'm not going to copy and past the special e's) Libere will feature the Alpe d'Huez. Enjoy the commentary... (apperently "poker face" is a cognate)
--First off, way to go Gilbert! I've been pulling for him and I'm glad he got one. Also, big-it-ups to Ryder for an amazing finish. He's definitely on the up and up, if you will. If you haven't watched the last k yet, I recommend it.
I have nothing else insightful to say about the race. This was the first classic this year for which I didn't wake up at 6 am to catch the jank feed. So, I only caught the last K. Oh wait, so initially I thought Gilbert was on the front a bit early, towards the finish. I thought he might burn out but he was just avoiding the carnage as his opponents fell. Then, Ryder came through for second which was cool.
Maybe once Jobs gets on the cycling ball and supports the iTeam (I'm in the process of tradmarking that) they could use these in the peloton. I like the idea, at least until a suburban minivanner sees the "5 for a dollar" deal at Jack in the Box and makes a hard right into you crushing your pre-ordered, $500 turn signal.
--Lastly, I went on my second SF ride today. I moved into my place in the Lower Haight this weekend so I headed over the bridge both days. I had ridden up to Pt. Reyes before but nothing on the bay side of Marin, at least not past Saulsalito. What a scene.
I did the short loop, at leas that I know of called Paradis Loop. It winds down to Saulsalito, then through Corte Madera. Then, it turns back and you head to Tiburon along Paradise Drive. This ppart is just stunning. The view of the bay and the boats reminds me of Florida, only minus the humidity. I'll take pics next time I'm ride it.
The climb up to Tiburon is a slight incline with a major tailwind. It's a big ring climb in the trees with occasional views of the bay. The mild incline plus the killer tailwind gets a guy feeling so...so...Riccò!!
After Tiburon there's Beach Road which blows me away. It reminds me of Lake Como with the narrow roads on the waterside cliffs.
When I came home my neighbor asked what year I'd ridden for Cal. Turns out he's a Cal grad I'd met at the Port Ride. Cycling's a small world.
--On Saturday I drove up to Napa to race a small crit. I had heard it was a small field so I thought it would be a good way to...re-release myself into the wild.
The field was 15 strong including one deaf guy. This reminds me of the blind guy who was in a ride I did last summer. The ride had one of the hardest climbs I've ever done and some insane descents. The guy finished way before me. I digest.
The race fee was $40 for day-of reg. My last race cost me three Euro. In short, this is what's wrong with American bike racing. The kids aren't racing because they can't afford it.
The race was a reverse win and out (first guy across with four laps to go got fifth, first guy with three to go got fourth, you get it). On that note, I decided to sprint from the start and go off the front for a bit (in case you didn't get the format, this wasn't advantageous). I figured I'd at least mark my territory.
Shortly thereafter it was someone else's territory. I sat in for the rest of the race because it was all I could do. I thought if I waited until the last lap some of the stronger guys might have gone for the earlier placings. They did, but there were still plenty of guys left. I fell off midway through the last lap.
After the race I rode to the car and collapsed. It was good to be back racing my bike. It also made me want to get some fitness back. On that note, I've been doing the Port Ride and plan on making it a regular again.
Then, I packed up and drove over to Santa Rosa to see Jim race.
I watched their Cat 2 race and then we headed over for lunch before the PRO/1/2/3 race.
Jim had a buddy out from the East Coast named Elliot who rides for Garmin. I asked him a ton of questions about the team, working with Lim, staying with Landis, and if he'd sell me all his gear so I could look PRO.
He ended up going down amidst a mass of stupid crashes.
It was just like old times, spending all day out at the races. Afterwards, I headed home to rest up for Paris-Roubaix.
--Speaking of, Spartacus strikes again!
What a stellar finish. In fact, it was almost as good as if Cancellara HADN'T been told by race radio to attack at exactly that moment. Ahhh!!! The last 50k, ruined, because of the radios.
Yes, it was exciting seeing Spartacus roll solo to victory. It was in no way more exciting than seeing the pack of them or maybe a smaller selection duke it out for the last 50k. Had Boonen not been caught unaware he could have sat on to Spartacus, unlike Leukemans, and we could have seen them fight it out for the last hour. The last 50k is mostly flat, unlike Flanders, and they would have been relatively well matched.
Okay, I can't keep talking about this. Please, whatever you do, make cycling as boring as possible in an effort to rack up wins. Control breakaways, keep Hincapie out of yellow, yada yada. The real goal, after all, isn't entertainment, it's winning.
--On the same note, Boonen was basically predicting his loss before the race even started.
“The most important thing about riding a bike is to enjoy it,” said Tom.
Really? The Hell of the North, the hardest of all the classics. Enjoy it? This, coming from the guy who's won it three times. Translation: I'm not going to win this one.
Okay, a few last notes and I'll wrap up this one.
--Looks like ASO doesn't own the Tour of Cali but they are incahoots. I'm not sure the extent of the connections between AEG (the guys who own the ToC) and ASO but I think this is why they moved the ToC to May, as I mentioned. Either way, goodbye Giro. I love you, I'll watch you, but on May 16th I'm gonna be all hopped up on U.S. bike racing, not canolis.
--Lastly, way to go Bos. I've been pulling for you since your crash:
This crash has been debated ad nauseam but it's quite clear, after repeated watching, it was an accident.
What a shame. Like most (no, not your Ricco), I hope it's not true.
--In other news, remember HTC? How they came onto the scene last year and everyone was like, "Okay, we knew Columbia was lame, but who's HTC?" Well, after putting out a new smartphone, basically every week, they've had killer revenues which they attribute to their marketing. Woohoo!
What's this mean? Cycling's not broke! For a long time I've thought the cycling ad model was quite weak. What say you HTC? Ich don't think so! According to soon-to-be Haas grad J. W. Bender, Milram went from the number 4 milk producer to the number 1 milk producer, all on the backs of Gerdeman and Ciolek!
Hopefully we'll see more tech companies support cycling. I can see it now, the Googlers! Or better yet, the iTeam! They could wear really tight lycra "jeans" with ear buds and iPhones for race radios.
--Speaking of HTC (Columbia), did I mention Cav is coming out in May?? What a sweet summer it'll be. I mean really, this is a TdF quality lineup.
--Tyler Karnes goes from jankset to Velonews in under 12 months! Way to go kid!
--Lastly, le Queen of le Classics is this weekend. The big one. The grand salami. Who's gonna win?
I'd like to see Gilbert win one. Yes, I love Spartacus as much as the next Roman, but I gotta cheer for the underdog. Or maybe Nibali gives it a go? What if Cancellara peaked for Flanders, which we can assume he did given is pre-race comments about targeting Flanders, and Boonen is peaking for Roubaix? Wouldn't that be sweet? A fourth for ol' Tom? Oh and Devolder, it'd be cool to see him win it. He's caught the ire of Lefevere and so I'd like to see him stick it to him.
For the record: 1. Spartacus, 2. Boonen, 3. Gilbert
