Saturday, April 29, 2006

Sad to hear about Kerry

Kerry Stamey passed away this month after a battle with cancer, i hadn't seen him in a while. Can't really think about mountain biking in Baton Rouge without Kerry. I think i met him at some BRAMBA meetings a long long time ago, but since my mountain biking skills are nearly non-existent i try to stay off the trails. But most of the times i did venture out i saw Kerry. Most recently i'd seen him at the Bicycle Shop. There's quite a tribute thread to him on the bramba forum.

Capitol N little y big old Q


That sums up my Thursday, to quote Dennis Leary,

"No, i'm not drunk, i have a cold."

I've had a pretty steady headache for a week, then an on/off fever with some congestion. I finally gave in and indulged in the N to the Q and slept over 14 hours between Thursday and Friday.

After a lot of concern from folks, i finally went to the doctor and for the second time this year, i ended up dropping trow to grab a steroid shot, then a 4-day Zpack topped off with my own prescription of Allegra. My doc thinks this is all due from allergies, but she was concerned about my blood pressure which i think was in at 140/90. I confessed that i was back off the wagon with the whole coffee thing.

I tried to just go a little back, but i'm full blown coffee-crackhead, sometimes supplementing with Diet Coke to make it through meetings, etc. So back to the teeccino plan. This morning was 25% decaf 75% caf. Two weeks from now i'll be caffeine free and less exciting again.

In case you're wondering, this whole not-training taking-medication thing is a really great way to prepare for Cheaha, which is only a week away. Oh yeah, it will be fun and i guess i should go ahead and register.

Also i wanted to make a public retraction regarding these comments regarding TCF. They do have a sprinter, his name is Joe Long and he's got serious foot speed. Last week i won the first sprint, then i was giving Patrick a leadout at the prop sprint and Joe came by us like Djimoulidine Abdujaporov on a June Bug. I asked him after and he said he was turning 130 rpms at 35mph, it seemed faster. It was like Bennie Flores in the old days, very fast. But Josh beat him and Will in the finale so we were happy. All in all a fun training race, i haven't made another one since with the headache issues.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Ward blah blah blah Mr. Webb blah blah blah blah


So not only did Valverde take LBL, he also took over the lead in the Protour. I thought that Bettini would make another big move on the Côte d'Ans and take it but it wasn't to be, and with so many big guns left at the finish i figured super drama would happen, but it really was just Valverde riding away from the rest, evidently easily.

So Fantasy Classics Week is over and the winner is prognosticator extraordinaire... WARD WEBB. It seems like only yesterday i was remarking at how great his Amstel Gold picks were, turns out that was his lowest score of the week. Check out the results from LBL.

1. Ward 140
2. Me 127
3. Eric 67
4. Amy 65
5. Taylor 52
6. Jeff 15

and the finale
1. Ward 453 (72% Accuracy)
2. Me 310 (49%)
3. Amy 158 (25%)
4. Eric 130 (21%)
5. Jeff 100 (16%)
6. Taylor 65 (10%)

Next up Fantasy Giro, more info soon.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

breaking news

by popular demand, new seabass photos can be found here

whoa! i thought the geeks were going to get eliminated, that was close

Valverde takes it, Ward puts it away...


I think BBT put it best in his e-mail to me today

He had samuel sanchez... come on. I mean, valverde, that's one thing.
But sanchez?

I know, who picks Spaniards to win Belgian classics? Ward Webb that's who.

Here's the damage from the Fleche Wallone...
1. Ward 175
2. Me 100
3. Amy 35
4. Eric 15
5. Taylor 10
6. Jeff 0

And the current standings for the week...
1. Ward 313
2. Me 183
3. Amy 93
4. Jeff 85
5. Eric 63
6. Taylor 13

How will we level the playing field against our regional fantasy cycling version of Carnac (the Johnny Carson character not the shoe)? The draft, yes the return of the draft for Fantasy Giro 2006. It will make all things right.

Also, go Popo go

i'm a vette


You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Take this Which Sports Car Are You? quiz forwarded to me by the gelpimp. What was i thinking with the RX-7? Let me know if you turn out differently.

caught an hour of tt bike iFartlek on the loop tonight which was nice.

forgot to mention that amy and i caught Fever Pitch over the weekend. This movie is sappy and funny, and Amy kept laughing at how much Jimmy Fallon's love of baseball mimicked my love of cycling. Ha ha, just wait until i locate some Paris-Roubaix sheets and pillow cases or maybe Tour de France towels.

we also finally saw Capote which was great, harrowing at times but quite a job by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who i was happy got the Oscar for it.

does anybody else tivo American Idol, then fast-forward through the performances just to hear what the judges say? It's my favorite new pasttime.

Dog, jazz-rap-yodel fusion is your thing, you stick to that, yeah keep it real cause you brought it, dig, home slice cheese singlet

what the hell are they talking about? and Simon

i think that might just be the greatest performance by a male singer on this show since the spring equinox on that portion of the stage while covering a motown single tonight, congratulations

cut to audience standing in sheer adoration

Also, saw this episode of South Park last night, good grief i laughed hard.

Flèche Wallonne - Preliminary Report

I'm not saying that Ward the Greek is cheating, i'm just saying that perhaps a cycling almanac from the year 2036 fell through a wormhole and landed in his front yard. Looks like 175 points for the Webb-meister, good grief.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

recents

Great times over the long weekend.
Rode with Jeff and Charlene on Friday up in the hills.
All i can say is look out Cheaha, Charlene is coming, and she is riding great. I really can't believe that it is so close, last year i'd done 3 or 4 centuries before it, this year only one, granted that was Rouge-Roubaix, but we'll see what i can fake in terms of big hill climbing fitness.

Saturday, i was excited to catch my second long ride in a row, but instead i broke a spoke in front of Steve's house, at about mile 10, and ended up having to wait for Amy and Ryan to come and pick me up since the wheel was hitting the frame. DRAG

SNL had Lindsey Lohan as host for the 3rd time, at this rate she'll be in the 5-timers club by age 23. I didn't think it was that good this week, the highlights for me were the Laser Cats and the Ann Margret/Liberace bit. Fred Armisen was brilliant as always and thinking about Ann Margret hubba hubba. Musical guest was Pearl Jam which was sweet. Hard to believe it's been 15 years since Eddie and the boys ripped me out of my depressing college mope music phase and onto the path of music that rocks. I thought they did a good show, Amy wasn't too impressed, but i was happy just to see them play.

Sunday, the third time was definitely the charm on these yams which i was afraid that i had burnt, but adding some dark brown sugar to the recipe was just the ticket. The universal sign of approval was given, which is when you bring home a spotless casserole dish from a family get-together.

Great time hanging at my mom's with Gaynor, Susie, Brian Dania, Steph et al + BeeBee thrown in there for good measure. Gaynor gave me this very cool blog that he reads, written by a NYC cab driver. Very funny and interesting.

That's about it, the Fleche Wallone is tomorrow, what will happen with the Fantasy Ardennes Classics? Anybody's guess. Whoa, and i just realized that the Tour of Georgia is going down, i wonder if it's on OLN. Back to lunch.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Scratch BBWW, Call him Ward the Greek!


In typical Dave-fashion, while i followed the live feed this morning, i thought i was the only one who put Schleck on his team but low and behold, Ward picked not only Schleck but 4 others in the top 10.

Check out the damage he dealt, 50% of the picks! scoring 138 points out of a potential 211, NICE. Can he continue to set the furious pace? Can BBT make the ultimate comeback? The Fleche awaits on Wednesday ...

1. Ward 138
2. Jeff 85
3. Me 83
4. Amy 58
5. Eric 48
6. Taylor 3

Saturday, April 15, 2006

spring classic lineups

Seemingly with a sense of regret, 6 teams have lined up to contest the hilly spring classics which begin tomorrow with the Amstel Gold Race. I think the three races pitted together provide the contestant with an extra challenge which will only up the suspense and ultimate payoff. The vibe i'm getting from some contestants is that err um...maybe not. We shall see, since only half the teams supplied individual winners in the case of a tie, well maybe we won't need that.

Here they are in no particular order...

Amy
Boogerd - Amstel Winner
Hoste
Van Petegem - Fleche Winner
Ballan
Cancellara
Bettini - LBL Winner
Kroon
Klier
Petito

David
Bettini - Fleche Winner
DiLuca - LBL Winner
Rebellin
Aerts
Pozzato
Valverde
Vinokkourov
Marchante
Ballan - Amstel Winner
Schleck

Eric
Michael Boogerd
Bettini
Rebellin
Oscar Freire
Jens Voigt
Erik Dekker
Di Luca
Davide Rebellin
Thomas Dekker
David Etxebarria

Jeff
Devolder
Gusev
Michael Boogerd
Erik Dekker
Peter Van Petegem
Filippo Pozzato
Jens Voigt
Steffen Wesemann
Axel Merckx
Frank Vandenbroucke

Ward
Alejandro Valverde
Karsten Kroon Amstel Gold Race winner
Frank Schleck
Jans Voight
Samuel Sanchez
Michael Boogard Fleche Wallone winner
Paolo Bettini Liège - Bastogne - Liège winner
Kim Kirchen
Davide Rebellin
Igor Astorloa

Taylor
Peter Van Petegem (Bel)
Chris Horner (USA)
Paolo Bettini (Ita)
Filippo Pozzato (Ita)
Baden Cooke (Aus)
Vladimir Gusev (Rus)
Jens Voigt (Ger)
Danilo Di Luca (Ita)
Bradley McGee (Aus)
Thomas Voeckler (Fra)

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Classics Week Challenge

Well, the Fantasy Paris-Roubaix provided enough fun and games, want to do it again?

This weekend marks the beginning of the end of the Spring Classics. What do you say we roll the dice again with fantasy teams. Same rules as Paris-Roubaix, pick your 10 riders, but the same lineup will be used for all three races. Same points schedule as always. You don't have to pick finishing order, just a winner for each race (used only to break ties).

Amstel Gold Race, April 16th 2006
La Flèche Wallonne, April 19th 2006
Liège - Bastogne - Liège, April 23rd 2006

All team entries need to be submitted by Saturday, April 15th at noon.
Prize list to be named later. Potential prizes include glory, honor, fame for all eternity, a certain feeling of euro-cockiness, bragging rights, etc. etc.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

exotic car town

For the last few weeks i've been spotting a neon sunburst colored (best i can do folks) lamborghini in town that strongly resembles this. Then last night on the way home, what do i see on Bluebonnet but a new Ford GT. Could Baton Rouge, the town that cherishes the SUV more than Belgians love Boonen, be an exotic sports car town? Naaa

mercilessly kicking and beating a dead horse

Ward sent me this quote

A spokesman for organisers ASO admitted to Cyclingnews that, "It's an unpredictable accident de la course. The race was 15 minutes ahead of schedule and usually, we plan the route by considering the train schedule. But it was unpredicted that the race would be so fast."


Have you ever wondered who sets these schedules for European bike races? All i ever hear Phil say is "The race is far ahead of the published race schedule". If i had a dollar for every time i heard that, i'd have one for every time because i don't know how many times i've heard it.

In more news from the weird, UCI Rocket Scientist Pat McQuaid laid down these gems

"The train had passed by that point so they therefore knew that the danger was gone," he argues. "It was different with the first group. If that had been a high-speed train and one of the three chasers was still crossing over the tracks, look at what could have happened."


I misunderstood, then the rule must be, use your best judgement so as to not get hit by a high speed train, which means that Hoste, PVP and Gusev will be reinstated, can't wait to see that, yeah.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

controversy controversy

this morning i read the live report of paris roubaix and calculated the fantasy standings based on the provisional results. the title of this post was going to read Jeff Robert - Cycling Savant for his inclusion of Gusev on his squad. The results looked like this...

Jeff 195
Amy 180
Ward 172
Me 135
Eric 125
Taylor 125

but then the commissaires made their decision about the train crossing that occurred in the final kilometers. by dq'inq PVP, Hoste and Gusev it turned those standings upside down so...

Me 175
Amy 155
Ward 150
Jeff 140
Eric 140
Taylor 140


the swingman became Ballan so i won with Amy in 2nd.
Ward was the only person to pick Cancellara which was awesome, i guess he's the Rainman on this race.
Gotta suck thinking you have the podium only to have it taken away, of course i'm speaking to Ward now, not Hoste :D

Makes you wonder what would have happened had Hoste, PVP and Gusev stopped there and regrouped. Would the officials have spotted them 20 seconds or whatever they had.

Oh well, thanks for playing.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

a typical day

wake up at 3
pack up wife, bikes and baby, leave at 4
caravan from coffee call to jackson, ms

today's bebe's 96th birthday, and the 11th anniversary of the big accident in Jackson, only fitting to race there right?
amy races at 8:30, i switch from zone to man-on-man on Ryan

the course is 1.4 miles long, fun, technical-ish but no corners, with a half mile climb in it, then descend descend descend to a 180, short climb then long climb, repeat ... not good for me

amy''s first post-Ryan crit is done, happy there's no rain, so we do the baby swap
my plan was to race the masters lite then the 1,2,3 after
one lap of warmup and the plan changes, maybe just survive the course

on the line, who's there but Bo, the organizer of the TLF back in 95, the guy who visited me in the hospital with Steve Hegg

suddenly i've got a Goodfella's Joe Pesci moment, and i'm thinking, you ain't making it off this course Alexander,
ain't no street signs, but maybe a stray car on the course, a rabid dog or a meteorite, foggetaboutit, race

so off we go, i feel like i'm fit, but i'm not, i try to race but i don't

i miss the break with GW the Alabama statesman who goes on to win, but three of my teammates make it into a four man chase that gets a gap
i help their gap grow and watch somebody break their collarbone and another dislocate his after the 180
i thought that didn't happen in the masters

bo and i get off with some awv and get a gap for a while, the group comes back to us and i go like a freak and make it to 18 seconds behind my teammates but can't close it, so i'm brought back. i think we dropped or lapped half the starters, who knows maybe i got 9th?

it was fun and hard, and ryan easily survived his first uscf weekend and created a legion of adoring fans

can't wait for Paris-Roubaix manana

Six teams will vie for the Title

The deadline has passed and here are the six lineups for the Fantasy Paris-Roubaix.

Ward
Fabian Cancellara
Peter Van Petegem
Tom Boonen
George Hincapie
Thor Hushovd
Eric Zabel
Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni
Filippo Pozzato
Leif Hoste
Steffen Wesemann

Jeff
George Hincapie
Tom Boonen
Leif Hoste
Juan Antonio Flecha
Fabian Cancellara
Van Petegem
Leon Van Bon
Vladimir Gusev
Thor Hushovd
Erik Zabel

Eric
Tom Boonen
Peter Van Petegem
Magnus Backstedt
Juan Antonio Felcha
George Hincapie
Thor Hushoud
Fabian Cancellara
Leon Von Bon
Jimmy Casper
Erik Zabel

Taylor
Boonen
Hincapie
van Petegem
Hushovd
Pozzato
Cancellara
Ekimov
Mattan
Flecha
Zabel

Amy
Tom Boonen
Leif Hoste
George Hincapie
Peter Van Petegem
Alessandro Ballan
Fabian Cancellara
Paolo Bettini
Karsten Kroon
Andreas Klier
Roberto Petito

Unfrozen Caveman Cyclist
Boonen
Hincapie
Flecha
Ballan
Kroon
Backstedt
Cancellara
Zabel
Pozzato
Van Petegem

I think this will be interesting, lots of similarity, but some differences. Discovery Channell favorites showing up as well as Kroon representation from the Alexander household. And there's something strange about the order of Amy's picks, what could it be? deja vu?

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Fantasy Paris-Roubaix?

Eric had a great idea, let's do an inpromptu Fantasy Paris-Roubaix.
No entry fee, no hype, no prizes, except top-billing here on UCC for one post.

Here's the dealio...

It's short notice i know, but submit your guess for the top 10, in order!
You'll score points for anyone on your team in the top 10.
The order will only be used in the event of a tie.

1st - 70
2nd - 50
3rd - 35
4th - 20
5th - 15
6th - 10
7th - 5
8th - 3
9th - 2
10th - 1

Need help naming 10 cobble-proficient euro-pros?
Look here and here and here and here.

Submit teams to me by Saturday at 5:00 PM CST.
PEACE OUT

Thursday already

i thought it would never come

Nice to see one of my favorite Marvel guys win the Ghent-Wevelgem.
Thor always makes me feel svelte, nice word eh?

This week was the first real River Road Training Race. What a high quality turnout! I rode out to meet the group and caught up with Troy and Josh, when the group came around a bend in front of us, Troy responded "GOOD LORD!". There looked to be 20-30 guys in the group at that point, all pulling, amazing. Maybe gone are the days of 5-6 guys pulling the WHOLE WAY, very welcome. What was equally amazing was the speed, i don't believe in technology on my road bike so i don't know specifics, but it didn't seem to be too pokey, if you catch my drift.

I also remember the old days when we rode on box cross-section rims to train and then had these tricked out Mavic Open-4 CD's for our aero race wheels. Yeah right, there was more fiber out there than the breakfast table at Williamsburg Retirement Home, ba dum bum. I was hanging tough with my 64 spokes of glory and 25's while almost every other wheelset i saw was maxed out. Norm gave me the "train like you race" mantra, so i'll pimp out for next time, at least as far as i can.

I heard a rumor that TCF won the sprint which can't be true, i also heard that Charles J. got in a near knock-down drag-out type episode with Troy after he (T) shoved Charles in the sprint. Maybe that explains it. Not sure what that was all about, as far as i can tell the payout is still the same at the line. I tested my legs about 3k out and they weren't having it after the 80 from Toledo Bend the day before, so i headed home to beat the dusk.

I got 170 miles in three days, i think i can go pro on that kind of training. Can't remember the last time that happened.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Cheaha Training Camp

Had an awesome weekend heading "Up North" with Jeff, Ward, Don and the Doc. Good times, great rides and lots of laughing. I got to agree with Jeff, the stuff that is still making me laugh might not be that funny if you weren't there. The joint that we stayed out was OUTSTANDING. I think it would make an awesome place to spend a week any time of year. The roads around there all have bike lanes with no cyclists, great hills and superb pavement. If i only played golf or fished, it would be heaven. I think if i spent a few more days around the Doc, he'd have me swinging some clubs.

Jeff asked, so here is the scoop on the man. Brought to you by my favorite website, which i could go on and on and on about ad nauseum without a point (Land this one Dave, land it).

Oh yeah and the other thing was my breakfast smoothie recipe, this thing has been fueling the Alexander clan for a couple of months now with great success.

For one person, get these ingredients
cup of milk (soy or moo)
spoonful of plain yogurt
spoonful of peanut butter (natural of course)
half a cup of quick oats
banana
2 cups (or more) total of the following (usually frozen)
blackberries
raspberries
blueberries
strawberries

BLEND and DRINK

other stuff known to show up:
couple spoons of wheat germ
an avocado
an apple
grapes