Jar-bars Improved!

--Today I was totally dumbfounded watching the stage. There's Cav, he's made it through the melee, he's going, he's...what? Chapeau to Hutarovich for the win. Apparently the stage was SUPER hot and Cav puked a few times during the stage.

--I totally forgot the Schlecks were going to be at the Vuelta. On that note, I say Menchov gets 3rd, and the Schlecks split 2nd and 1st. However, I think it'll be Frank who gets the top step this year. He'll be well rested and ready to rock after having crashed out of the Tour early.

--I finally got around to posting my buddy Lucas Binder's race reports. He raced at Cal and has now taken some time off to train and race. He's a fantastic writer and his race reports are some of my favorite to read.

I put them up on Posterous and so far I really like it. You can blog by email so I just forward his emails to Posterous and then get a confirmation email that they've posted.

-I didn't know this but I guess Garmin crashed during their warmup the other night. Didn't look like it affected Julian Dean too much though as I think it was him doing the leadout today.

--Speaking of Garmin, Garmin and Cervelo are merging! This has me really psyched. I've wanted to see Garmin on good bikes for a while now. It'll be cool to see Cervelos in Garmin colors.

What isn't clear is why Cervelo is leaving the sport as a title sponsor. Initially they seemed to be doing really well but I guess that changed. A statement by Vroomen mentioned something about changes to UCI requirements for teams but he didn't give specifics.

Also, hopefully they'll pick up Theo Bos in addition to the other Cervelo guys.

--In other news, Brooke Miller has retired from cycling. For those of you who don't know about her, she was one of the best women cyclists out there. She didn't start riding until grad school but still made it to the top of the sport.

--My mom (@diehardokie) made some killer peanut butter oat bars.

Here's the recipe. I already put in an order for more!

--Universal Sports rocks. Period. Their Veulta coverage is a perfect example of how to cover long-tail sporting events (non-mainstream) and Versus could learn a lot from them.

First, a summary of why Versus's coverage of the Tour was so awful. I blogged about this after the Tour was over but wanted to expand a bit.

The major issue with the Versus Tour coverage was the amount of ads. Not only did they stack commercials beyond 10k to go, the programming itself was filled with ads. There were the repeated Specialized, RoadID, Clean Bottle--you name it--ads packed into the programming.

Why did they put so many ads? Well, tweets by Versus Cycling producer Joel Felicio (@joelfelicio) repeatedly stated Verus had to pay its bills. Of course, this is understandable. All stations must pay their bills, or it must be worth taking a loss on a certain program for some other benefit. The real question is why its bills were so high.

It looks like most of the money they spent was on commentary. They had Bob and the gang doing pre-games and Franky and Robbie doing on the ground interviews. I could go into how good/bad the actual commentary was, how Lance-y it was, et cetera but that wasn't it. The problem is: for football, or other events, the pre-game is fine, even enjoyable, but only because you get to see the entire game. With the Tour, every minute of Bob roll and his crew chatting and flashing their RoadID bracelets was a minute of the race missed. So, between mediocre, even outstanding commentary/interviews and watching the race, I will always choose the race. Always.

So you're sitting there watching ads instead of the race to pay for commentary that's also there instead of the race.

Additional monies were spent on their 30 second Tour clips advertising the "Toughest Race on Earth" but again, at the expense of showing the actual race. I think these were done in an effort to grab the interest of non-die hard cyclofans like myself, which brings up the other problem.

Let's think of cycling--an obscure sport where guant men shave their legs, wear spandex, and attempt to pedal the fastest--as analgous to an equally obscure sport known as curling. Although entertaining to some, no amount of graphics and production will make this interesting to others. Even if you have really good pieces about how tough curling is, you're not going to gain new fans that way.

For whatever reason, Versus did a football-esque overproduction of the event. Interviews, cut to the race, show 10 seconds, cut to Bob Roll, cut to graphic, cut to... It made me crazy and judging by the blogosphere during the Tour, I wasn't the only one.

Basically, less is more. Just show the race, have a little commentary, but show the race. Versus did this to a tee online. Their Tour Tracker was awesome. It had the French video feed and commentary. It had video on demand. I can still log in and watch stages. It's perfect.

This is what Universal Sports is doing and it's great. Although the Versus feed is better quality, the nice thing about the Universal Sports player is while it's live--if you wake up late--you don't have to wait until the stage is over to watch it on demand. While it's live you can scroll back and see ten minutes before.

Okay, I'm tired of ranting.

--Now that Devolder is gone Lefevere has found a new scapegoat. File this under "guys you don't want to work for."

--I'll leave you with these little Vino's...

¡Viva la Vuelta!

--It's that time of year again, time for la Vuelta a España! This time last year I was living the good life in Gent and took a trip up to see the start in Holland. That trip up to Holland was the best trip I've ever taken. Here are the posts from it (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).

Ah the nostalgia, anyways, now I'm in SF living the good life and it's time for Vuelta predictions.

First off, there's been a lot about Moncoutie wining his third consecutive king of the mountains this year. I remember him winning the KOM in 2008 and have been a fan since (that was the first year I got into cycling). I still like the would-be post man a lot and hope he wins a third.

Second, Cav is going to be there. I think he'll probably do the typical sprinter Worlds prep by dropping out midway through. This year the sprint stages are pretty evenly distributed (unlike the Tour where they're typically front-loaded). I saw the parcours the other day and these guys are doing a ton of climbing. Looks like it will be tough for him to make it to Madrid.

Cav's going to win a few stages, Moncoutie will win at least one, and Menchov will fight with some wild card, for the overall. That's all I've got. It's not the post-Tour slump, it's just I haven't had the time to really look at the teams.

I will, however, be up every morning watching the Vuelta on Universal Sports. Btw, big ups to Universal Sports (@universalsports) for their coverage of cycling. The other day they even had an hour of track on TV. They've also got a model where you can either watch it on TV or pay $1.99, for example, to watch it online. As people get more and more fed up with every aspect of cable (the cable guy, the high prices, the lack of ability to watch what you want...out of 1000 channels) I think TV will become more of an iTunes model. Buy what you want, period. I digest.

--Okay I'm sure you've all seen this by now but here's the video of the really cool NYC messenger who has problems, with logic...



--Haussler thought he'd pull a fast one on the German Cycling Federation by switching his citizenship to Australia. Well now it looks like it has cost him a trip to Worlds.

What a waste of a season. Think I have to give this guy the Boonen prediction. Once they start boozing it's all downhill. This guy got a DUI while recovering from the Tour of California. Not exactly a sign of a focused athlete.

The good news is maybe J-Bone (@jwbender) and I will catch him at Interbike this year!

--Speaking of Haussler, he and Hushovd might be heading to Garmin next year. Not sure what this means for Farrar but I guess now he'll have two other guys fighting with him for second...

It'd be cool to see all three of them sprinting in races. I mean, three Garmin sprinters, at least then they'd have some killer odds. They could even pull a flying V!

--Taylor Phinney had a cool kit in the Tour of Utah.

--I guess Petachhi--remember, the guy who won the green jersey--has decided to talk to CONI (Italian anti-doping authority). No comment.

--In other news, went to open one of my Jarbars and there was mold on it. This leads me to believe the baking process needs to be a bit longer. Really need to dry them out and then put them in the freezer.

Luckily, my mom (@diehardokie) is on the case and has promised some homemade bars this weekend. She's going to use a peanut butter recipe she got from Giada. I'll post the recipe after I try one.

For those of you wanting some less sweet riding food, here's another video with the master chef of cycling, Dr. Allen lim:



--Lastly, in case you were wondering what to do when you don't have a bike rack...

Jar-bars

--So my new thing is homemade bars. A few weeks back I was at the store about to re-up for the millionth time when I decided to make my own.

Here's my first batch:

Here's my second:

Basically, the recipe is this:

whole oats
fruit juice (I usually use some variation of apple but am tempted to try Açaí)
brown rice syrup
sunflower seeds
flax seeds
almonds/cashews/peanuts
protein powder (I've been using hemp protein powder lately but soy works too)
raisins or other dried fruit

Some people put wheat germ in these but I don't do much gluten so I leave it out. You'll notice I didn't put any amounts. I basically buy a large bag of bulk oats, mix in powder, seeds, et cetera. Then, I put in a liberal amount of juice (until it all mixes well together but not to where there is juice sitting in the bottom). You can also add peanut butter or any other type of nut butter.

I put the mix in a rectangle pan about an inch deep and put in the oven at 250. Every ten minutes or so I take it out and mix it up. When I get tired of getting up from the couch I decide to take it out for good.

VERY IMPORTANT: At this point you need to turn the oven to OFF.

I use the bottom of a cup and pack down the oats flat. You can add cinnamon on top if you like. Then, I let them cool for half an episode of Jersey Shore.

Once cooled, I cut them into bricks--I prefer roughly 4"x2" chunks because they fit well in jersey pockets. I wrap them in tinfoil and then toss in the fridge, or leave out.

Thus, you have Jar-bars ("jair-bars").

--For those of you looking for a less-sugary version, the master himself has a rice/egg/prosciutto version.

--The Eneco Tour is well under way. Last year I was fortunate enough to catch stage 2 and stage 3 of this tour and it was a blast. I digest.

Svein Tuft is owning it after a strong prologue. Way to go Garmin. They had a strong showing last year and it's continuing this year. Now if we could only get the tour on the U.S. radar...

--In other news, Ricco's not going to Quick Step. (Thanks to Sigberto for bringing this to my attention.) Looks like my predictions on him were less wrong, or more right...

Either way, I just can't see this guy staying clean for too much longer.

--Okay this is the last of the transfer news. Sastre is going to the new Fuji-Servetto team which will be called Team Geox. Just to be clear, this is Ricco's old team. It went from Saunier Duval-Scott, to Fuji-Servetto, to Footon-Servetto-Fuji, and now to Team Geox.

Oh and Kreuzinger will be following the hawk next year and riding for Astana.

--Big EuroStars in Mexico? Si, señor! Apparently some big dogs are headed down south for a Mexican criterium. I almost want to road trip it down there...

--Fly V is headed for the big time. Would be cool if they were still rocking Parlees!

Apparently back when CSC started rocking Cervelos they went to Bob Parlee and offered him sponsorship of the team. The riders all liked the bikes a lot and they wanted to ride them as a team. The only problem was they needed like 100 frames and a million ducats. The rest is history.

--Way to go Devolder! Guy is rocking the Belgian TT and Road Race champ!

Way to go Lefevere, too. After a whole season of badmouthing Devolder he's off to Vacansoleil with both championships. But, I mean, it's not like the biggest cycling team in Belgium wants those or anything...

--Looks like Schumacher found a team as well.

Here's an old Gerolsteiner spot he did. Not sure what's actually happening.



--In other news, ever wanted to watch a Euro feed but it was geo-restricted? Here's an IP cloaker so you can watch the feeds from RAI. I've yet to try it though so I can't vouch.

--I'll leave you with this Jens Voigt interview from the Tour:

Wie sagt man chamois cream auf Deutsch?

--The other day I took a short spin over to Sports Basement to pick up my chamois cream of choice
Beljum Budder. On the way back as I was waiting to turn onto Fell I heard:

"Excuse me."
I turned around to see a minivan with a German woman and her family.
"Yes?" I replied.
"What is that, eh, in your, eh..." as she points to the Beljum Budder in my jersey pocket.
"Ah, it, uh..." I point to my crotch. She's not getting it.
"Lotion!" I say, as I rub my hands together and motion towards my crotch again.
"Ahh, oh, hehe" she says as she begins to blush and her husband starts to laugh.
"Did you need some?" I ask.
"No!"

--In other news, Holloway (@The_Holloway) wins the US PRO Criterium Championships! Holloway's one of my favorite domestic PROs so I'm stoked he won this.

I saw him at the Berkeley Bike Club crit a few weeks back. Like a true PRO he rode to the race, from Morgan Hill.

At the beginning of the race he sat near the front for a few laps. This strung out the field and got rid of the riff-raff. We watched a few laps and then headed over to Gordo's for burritos.

We got back with about 10 to go. Holloway was in a breakaway with seven other guys. This was an ideal situation for the other seven guys. All they had to do was take a number and one by one go off the front and then everyone else sit in and make Holloway pull it back. The only problem is they had to agree to 1/7th a chance of winning, compared with the 1/0 chance of winning in a sprint against Holloway (he races Six Day's in Europe). The seven guys thought their odds were better than I did and the breakaway stayed together.

The last lap finally came and with it a foregone conclusion. Holloway came out of the final turn third of fourth wheel and 100 meters later he crossed the line bike lengths ahead of the others. PRO.

--Looks like Ricco has signed with Quick Step. Bam! Well, I was wrong about that one. Considering how reviled he is in the peloton I thought Quick Step would stay away.

(For those of you unfamiliar with Riccardo Ricco, he's the AMAZING Italian climber who had incredible performances in both the Giro and the Tour in 2008. If you haven't seen some of these videos you really should. He also completed what I've dubbed the "EPO Grand Slam." Unlike the Grand Tour Grand Slam which Contador has hinted at, the "EPO Grand Slam" is when both you and your baby-mama get caught doping.)

Either way, Ricco blew my socks off in 2008 and I'm psyched to see him back.

--Morabito loses the lead due to going the wrong way around a round about.

--Apparently the Luxemburg team is on schedule despite not having announced a sponsor.

--Kloden rails at the German cycling federation. Maybe this is why Haussler changed his citizenship to Australia.

--Vino is doing one more!! Woot! Go Vino.

--Speaking of old guys, Inigo Cuesta is 41 and doing his 17th Vuelta! Insane!

--Okay I think this is one of the lamest of the whole hipster bike videos. It's about SF messengers and, well see for yourself.

--No funnies for today, instead Wick Nasty has sent me something far better. (Check out the adjustable stem on the site.)

Return of the Cobra

--I've been sick for the last week so I haven't done much riding. On Sunday I had to get out so I rode through the park to the beach.

I had no clue how great the park really is. On the way back I was feeling saucy so I raced one of those three-wheeled cars for tourists. I totally dusted them but I think they let me...

--My buddy Jason told me about these Wednesday night self-timed TTs in the park. Apparently they're 10 mile TTs and you time yourself. I think I'm going to do the one next week.

--Looks like Quick Step is in talks with Ricco. Let me clarify, LeFevere wants to talk with Ricco about a contract but he has to talk to his sponsors first. Whatever happened to the ol' "if you have to ask..." litmus test?

I stated earlier I think his prospects are pretty bleak, but he was wearing yellow though after that crash a month ago. I think it'd be kind of cool to see him on Quick Step, if for nothing else to hear the response from the rest of the peloton.

There is an interesting piece of the article in that it says he bought himself out of his Flamina contract for 75,000 Euros. Salaries for cyclists are rarely talked about, unlike other sports, so I always like to see what they're making. I believe the minimum for a continental PRO rider is 24,000 Euros a year. Not bad, except for I've heard, on behalf of a neo-Euro PRO, that they have to give all this back to the team. Only if they do well are they able to keep any pay. Sounds like bike racing to me.

--In other good transfer news it looks like Renshaw has re-upped with HTC. Eisel announced his renewal earlier so looks like a 2011 full of Cavination is set in stone.

--Speaking of HTC, Greipel finally got his complaints cleared with HR and he's headed to Omega Pharma. There he'll continue to prove he's not as good as Cav, only with less support.

To his credit, he had an amazing 2010, no, an AMAZING 2010 and hopefully he'll do well at Omega. He won't, however, beat Cav head to head.

--Here's a short interview with Valverde. I was bummed to see him go out like he did.

--Ever wished there was a calendar you could add to your existing Google Calendar or iCal with all the races? Well, I found a really great one the other date. Just add this link to whatever calendar you use and you won't miss a race!

--This tweet its way across the U.S. in honor of, you guessed it, cancer. You can follow it on Twitter (@yesiamprecious).

My bike would tweet things like "change my bottom bracket!" or "new chainrings please."

--I know I've said it before but this could in fact be the funniest Toto to date.

--I'll leave you with this pic I janked off La Gazzetta. But first, a haiku I wrote in honor of Vino.

I ride bike
hill steep
I write blog

Frankly, That's Un-American...

--J Bone (@jwbender) ran into a guy who took some of the most amazing Tour pics I've seen this year.

--Apparently Lance Armstrong's attorney has called the investigation "un-American." Really? Un-American? Looks like the Texan's attorney is also from Texas. The made-up term "un-American" was previously reserved for pro-war jingoist rhetorics but the fact that it's being used by Lance's defense speaks volumes. As Samuel Johnson one said: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

--The Tour of Colorado (Quizno's Pro Challenge) has been officially announced. I'm psyched and ready to book tickets for next year but Boulder Report suggests caution. Looks like the details of the race are quite nebulous including, most importantly, where the funding will come from.

--Astana says it's interested in the Schleck brothers. Last time I checked they had a Luxembourgian team starting. Maybe that's not the case?

Speaking of the Schlecks, this reminds me of something I was talking to a friend about yesterday. This year Andy Schleck lost what was the best chance he may ever have at winning the Tour, at least while Contador is around. He had the best team, as far as GC workhorses (Jens & Co), and Contador was as weak as he's been in any of his Grand Tour victories (he was on antibiotics going into the Tour). Now, the Schlecks are going to a brand new team that has yet to be materialized leaving Contador with even better chances of continued Tour success.

That being said, we have no clue what happened behind the scenes. With transfer season I always feel like we only get half the picture. All that was known was that up until the Tour, around the time riders are signing for the following year, Saxo Bank had no sponsors for the next year.

Who knows how much the Schlecks did or didn't fudge the whole thing. It could end up like a Team Sky; despite a weak Tour performance it's been a fantastic success for the riders financially as well as in terms of Team Sky's incredible support for the team.

--Contador clarifies the comments about a Grand Tour Grand Slam. I think he could do it. Give him a year on Saxo Bank to get settled and I think he'll go for it in 2012.

--Svein Tuft is back! This is killer! So glad to see him winning. This guy has a great story if you've never heard of him.

--Velonews has a decent interview up with Johan Brunyeel. Unless I'm trying to get to sleep, I don't usually read their interviews, but Johan makes some good points. When asked about Phinney he says something I've been thinking about for a while. "Supposedly I had the future of American cycling on my team a number of years ago and to this day that rider is still waiting for a Tour de France selection."

Phinney is an amazing cyclist with incredible potential. But the road to PRO-dom is paved with kids who had incredible potential but never made it.

He also makes another great point which I think is oft unrecognized by up and coming riders, "it’s really important that they are a good teammate and get along well with the riders and staff." Cycling, like anything else, is a job and it's not always the best that gets ahead. You gotta be likeable, Biff.

--Here's an old school article about Museeuw's training. Last summer I rode out to the Museeuw factory in Lokeren with current New Zealand road champ Jack Bauer. They had been working on bikes and wheels made out of flax. Yes, flax. (More info in link above.)

--Boonen is out of la Vuelta unfortunately. Looks like that crash from the Tour de Suisse really hurt his knee. I'm bullish on Boonen's prospects for the future but I still like the guy a lot.

--Here's how not to do a bibs review. The content, well I didn't read it, but do you have to have the awkward pics?

--My Google AdWords are running!

What do you guys think?

King Albert

--So, shortly after saying it would be cool to see Contador on Saxo Bank, it happened! Contador will be rocking a Saxo-Sungard kit next year. I assume Novarro and Noval will go with him.

Also interesting is the fact that Riis is predicting a Grand Slam for Contador. Yeah, all three Grand Tours. That would be unreal, but I think if Contador trained only for those races he might be able to pull it off. We know he can get two in one season, but three would be so insane. Btw, to all the Schleck-loving, Contador-hating fans, what gives? This guy is the biggest talent the sport has seen since Lance.

Here's a great pic I found of King Albert.

--Ricco says "dueces" to Flaminia. Apparently in a down economy prospects are better than I thought for a convicted doper who is universally reviled amongst the peloton. (It probably helps that his wife and baby mama was convicted of doping as well.)

My prediction, next year Ricco pulls a Rassmussen and at best begs Flaminia to take him back. At worst, he's riding for Tecos. It's not the doping, it's the fact no one liked him in the first place. (Just to note, I loved seeing him in the 2008 Giro and Tour so when I say "no one" I mean people in the sport that actually matter: riders and managers. If you haven't seen some of the stages he won they're absolutely worth a watch.)

--Looks like Vacansoleil is going after Sanchez. I'd be pysched to see this happen. I like this Dutch team a lot and it'd be killer to see them with a GC man. They had a fantastic Vuelta last year and a nice Classics season with the win by Traksel.

They did, however, lose Traksel and I believe the Fellieu brothers. I think after years of doing nothing Traksel might have wanted more pay than he was worth. My guess is you'll never hear that name again. As for the Fellieu brothers, I think Brice could definitely win some more Tour stages. Not sure that he'll ever be a GC man, though...French GC man???

Like I was saying, Vacansoleil rocks and I hope they make it to the ProTour soon.

--Looks like the Tour of Colorado is on its way to really happening. This is exciting, especially in a state where morons like these are running for office.

--Wanted to give a plug for my puncture resistant tubes. I first started using these the week I got two flats from stickers. The other day a friend flatted and it reminded me how nice it is to...okay I'm going to jinx myself if I say it. But you get the drift, it just, doesn't happen.

--Here's a cool article about bike share networks.

--Here's a group of cyclists who dress up in interesting costumes and ride around.

--I'll leave you with this. On Monday I was house sitting for my parents in Half Moon Bay. In the evening I headed out on the loop that ends up near the fire station. I did a mild interval up the hill then headed down. At the bottom I decided to go again.

While heading back up I noticed a van coming behind me. I kept climbing, noticing the van didn't seem to be gaining on me. I figured it was an old person.

Whenever I got to the top I pulled off in a driveway and slouched over my bike. The gold Ford Aerostar pulled up in front of me and stopped. Inside was a heavyset, white guy in his late thirties. He had a sloppy goatee and a bag of Ruffles in his hand.

"You are awesome" said the guy as he reached in the bag for more chips.

"Ha!" I replied, gasping for air. "Thanks!"

"Really, dude. I was goin' ten miles 'n hour up that hill 'n I never caught you."

"Thanks, dude" I said as I tried to make sense of the situation.

Before I knew it he had driven away and I was headed down the mountain.

Hopefully I'll run into him again someday. If I do, his next Ruffles are on me.

Please, Just One More Stage

--I know I'm not alone when I say the post-Tour withdrawals are getting the best of me. Like a kid at Christmas, last month was characterized by bright-eyed 6 AM wake ups to find the breakaway du jour fighting for . And now, nothing. Well, aside from La Clasica San Sebastien which doesn't quite suffice. I thought I could just watch 23 days straight of the finest French production since the revolution and then put it down cold turkey. I was wrong.

In my post-Tour haze I've attempted to find other non-cycling activities. I've tried everything from NASCAR to walking. Nothing suffices. At least not like that euphoric hour after the stage 11 mêlée. Or the ensuing despair after Renshaw was booted for, in short, being so good. Such highs, such lows.

In times like these, it's usually the blogosphere that keeps me going. Despite some interesting transfer news--Scarponi to Lampre, Petacchi to Quick Step, Devolder to Vacansoleil, Schlecks to a new Luxembourg team, and Contador off to God knows where--there's been little to nothing. I'll do my best to fill the void.

--Speaking of Contador, I think he should stay with Astana. I feel like they had a great thing going this year and he could do well there, at least for another year. I also would be psyched to see Vino race one more Tour in support after his fantastic ride this year.

However, it'd also be exciting to see him on another team. Since we know he's leaving, I'm pulling for Saxo Bank, or I should say Sungard. Seeing the two of the best in cycling on the same team would be incredible.

I'd hate to see him go to Caisse or some of the other suitors because if they have a TTT in next year's Tour he could really lose a lot of time.

Either way, I'll go ahead and say it. Barring injury, he'll win at least the next two Tours.

--I'm getting excited about this year's Vuelta. Last year's was killer; I saw some of it live and the rest on Sporza--on a TV not some justin.tv feed!

Not sure what the latest is on Farrar but hopefully he can get a few stages after his bad Tour luck.

I'd love to see Hesjedal ride it, even after his amazing performance in the Tour. That might be a big much for him but I think considering it's the least difficult of the grand tours he could do even better.

Sastre is going try to redeem redeem himself just like he's tried in almost every grand tour since 2008.

And Radioshack, well they're probably pretty happy to not be riding it. After all the negative press they've received lately they're probably best just staying under the radar. Aside from my man Horner in 10th at the Tour, this year has been dismal.

--On that topic, looks like Fuyu, the first Chinese rider I've seen in the Euro peloton, just failed his B test. With Lance under federal investigation for doping, I'm surprised this hasn't gotten any coverage. I only saw it on cycling sites when they first caught him (Sample A), and now that it's been confirmed I haven't seen anything. You would think, a rider getting caught doping on the same team as Mr. Clean would be newsworthy.

--Aside all the news about Phinney joining Radioshack there's another up and comer that I'm excited about. His name: Daniel Teklehaymanot. He's the Eritrean who just signed with Cervelo. I'm mainly excited about him because he's the first African I've seen signed to a major team.

--Maybe when the Lance investigation heats up he could try the Petacchi defense. You know, where you just say you aren't going to answer any questions. Apparently that works in Italy...

--I'll leave you with a couple pics from recent rides. All were taken with my HTC Incredible.

This one is from Alpine Dam.

This one is looking out over SF from Mt. Tam off Ridgecrest.

This one is looking out at the marine layer from Pan Toll Road.