the guilt of not blogging overcomes me

Geez, since the last time i posted, the blogger interface has changed.
It's been too long, i blame many things, mostly it would have to be not riding.
Not riding means i don't feel like writing.
Also, i'll blame facebook. Not like i spend a lot of time over there, but when i do get online for fun, facebook offers the high-glycemic value feedback over the brown-rice flavor of blogging. If that makes any sense at all. Anyhow, i'm very proud to be writing this from my beautiful new bluetooth keyboard which is firmly not attached to our old Dell which i've converted to Gutsy Gibbon. Ubuntu is great, i'm a believer now. Well, that's it for now, i just wanted to break the curse and get something out for December. PEACE

haven't posted in a year of sundays

but i was cleaning out an old pc and found this, i think it's funny

I couldn't help myself.

Just the facts

I'm 37, there's a reason why i sometimes feel i'm in the middle of a crisis.

For the first time in a long time, i ran more than i rode this past weekend.
Friday, Ryan and i took the Bob out to Highland Road Park and ran LSU's freshly marked Cross Country course a few times. I thought it was rough, Ryan took a nap.

Sunday morning, we did about 10 around the lakes, then off to duck-feeding and finally a visit to the new Mike the Tiger. This running thing fits nicely into a busy schedule and i spend far less time fearing death at the hands of an automobile. Maybe i've got a future in it.

Did some new-dad bonding with Charlie D. on Sunday, great catching up with him. Hopefully i'll make it down to NOLA for a giro whenever they slow down (hahaha).

Might have stepped in it this morning as Norm and Paul Kerst were looking for TTT teammates. What the hell was i thinking?

My wife has gotten me thoroughly addicted to Facebook, and i'm ticked that Bobby J. has added her as a friend. My request is still out there and waiting.

back to the sufferin

Tuesday night was my first training race back in quite a long time. I tried not to let that enter my mind and just ride like i never stopped doing them, but you can only really fake that for so long. Everything was good until a little bit before the prop sprint, all was good, me, SeaBass, Darius, Tim, Keith, Luke, and Bennie Flores of all people rotating really well. Then Keith pointed to Bennie as if to say "He's gonna win this sprint old school Bennie style" and that's when i yacked. The pace picked up and ... ... wait for it... ... wait for it ... ... David didn't. I watched as everybody rolled away, just getting smaller and smaller on the horizon.

I thought, "Well old boy, that's why you need to train" then like an angel sent back from the pack, here comes SeaBass floating back to help me out. In true TGV style, he cranked it up over about 15 minutes from my measly 21 to 24,25,26,27, finally 28 and voila we were back on, with just a minimal amount of regurgitated peanut butter left on my top tube. Sebastian is a motor, while sucking his draft mercilessly i kept staring at the C50HP logo on his chainstay thinking, Sebastian is producing a lot more than 50HP right now. It was an awesome display. We got back on, the group got smaller and i tried to help with a final leadout but nobody probably even thought i was trying as i could only eek out maybe 24 or so. Je suis lame.

It was fun talking medicine with Dr. Frusha who performed Amy's surgery today. That is another post altogether. More to come on that tomorrow.

My team is kicking ass at the Vuelta, i've jumped up to 82nd out of 744 teams. Today's win by Bennati should push me even further up. Sorry DJW, i don't think you're going to sneak out a win in Spain like you did in France. Also, what happened to our league? it died.

nice riding weekend

I got more cycling time this weekend than i've had in quite a while. Sunday was awesome, i started out of Bains around noon by myself, first ride in the hills on the new ride, the Cyfac. This bike is true Darby-bane, French throughout, if i had the dough i should put a Mavic gruppo on it. Anyway, i expected to crawl up the hills, but was surprised not to. Figures i'd have a "no chain" day with nobody else around to see it.
So there i was having a great time, two hours into it, just me and the ipod, rolling back from Spillman, crossing the new bridge near Red Bug when PLADOW! massive sidewall blowout. Evidently there was mortar fire near the bridge that i wasn't aware of.
Left to my own devices, i scoured the nearby ditch to find a nice Frito-Lay wrapper, folded it 25 times, stuffed it into the tire, grabbed the CO2 and prayed. I added some Madden-tele-stration to show you what i'm talking about. The shortest way home was about 15 miles i guess, so i avoided every pot hole, thought smooth thoughts and rolled. The patch managed to hold up pretty well and no walking was necessary. Here's what it looked like by the time i got to the car.


Here's another action photo of the bike, it's a real beauty.

And here it is in front of our new house, we decided to downsize some, but you have to admit, the view is gorgeous.

v u e l t a revolver

I haven't been able to view any teams on the site yet, so in case anybody is interested, here's my fantasy squad for the Vuelta. The first two days went great with Bennati and Bettini, today, who had the Russian?

Rider 1: 16,Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ,EUS, #69
Rider 2: 12,Paolo BETTINI,QSI, #130
Rider 3: 20,Carlos SASTRE CANDIL,CSC, #166
Rider 4: 10,Juan Manuel GARATE,QSI, #129
Rider 5: 16,Daniele BENNATI,LAM, #99
Rider 6: 6,Santos GONZALEZ CAPILLA,KGZ, #93
Rider 7: 6,Joan HORRACH RIPPOLL,GCE, #34
Rider 8: 6,Pedro HORRILLO MUNOZ,RAB, #141
Rider 9: 8,Manuel BELTRAN MARTINEZ,LIQ, #108

So do you still blog?

That was Dick's question to me a few weeks ago at the Pinnacle Town Meeting. Without even thinking i replied, "I like to write when i'm riding" which explains my absence pretty well.

Not that i haven't been riding, i have, but usually at 6AM alone, damn you Rocketboy! you frickin Nostradamus in a speedo.

Too much to write about, so here goes stream of consciousness.

A tale of two shows in two months
Show 1
Amy gave me tickets to Particle / Matisyahu / 311 and it was awesome. What was really cool, was seeing Matisyahu blend in with the crowd after his performance to hand out flyers for a cause. What wasn't cool was getting patted down on the way in, what happened to wands and metal detectors? I think it was because they weren't looking for weapons, instead hunting for the apparent duraflame-sized logs of weed which were being smoked inside. Good God man.

Show 2
The Wiggles enough said.

gotta run, PLAY FANTASY VUELTA!
DJW is setting up the league.
I still promise to document his come from behind victory in the drug scandal plagued TdF.
PEACE

back online

So it's been a while since i've blogged or been online for very long for that matter, let's just say we've been VERY BUSY.

The big news in our household, Charlotte Grace is here! Some photos are available at that link, more to follow. We've been switching from the zone defense to a man-on-man and it's definitely an adjustment.

Charlotte came the night before the Vineman, so that turned out to be a wise decision on my part.

Congrats go out to the Courville's who welcomed young Champion into the world last week, that's great news and i hope they're doing well.

Too much to report on the Tour and the much more important Fantasy Tour, i'll try to recap the championship run that Taylor's squad made later this week. I wasn't able to view the final days, but somewhere in there Taylor and i leap-frogged Eric's squad to make it on the podium. If i'd only picked Contador over Fast Freddie. Ok, well i'm out.

Stage 11 - DJ Whitebread goes 2 in a row

Robbie Hunter won today and Taylor grabbed his second win. Eric, do you hear us coming?

1. Le Pain Blanc 146
2. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 117
3. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 112
4. Spunky Spinners 90
5. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 74
6. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 71
7. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 62
8. Mellow Johnny 57
9. Bacon Spinners 55
10. i want to ride my bike 53

Stage 10 - Haven't seen the footage yet ...

... but life is good, for the first time in many days, a few of us were able to put points into Mr. King's EPO squad, so his lead is down to a measly 757 points. No RocketBoy, you're not winning. Hat's off to BBT for taking the stage today. Voigt got me close, but not close enough, sticking 3rd behind Lisa's boys.

1. Le Pain Blanc 208
2. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 197
3. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 194
4. Spunky Spinners 165
5. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 149
6. Bacon Spinners 138
7. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 123
8. i want to ride my bike 80
9. RED ASS EXPRESS 59
10. Mellow Johnny 52

Stage 9 - I'm a Contador Believer

You really have to love the 1-2-3-4 punch treatment from Disco today, very impressive. If you watched the coverage early, you have to love the fact that even in France, cycling mecca extraordinaire, there are dumbasses who let their dogs run around at bike races without a leash. I couldn't believe the way that Marcus Burghart's carbon wheel taco-ed like it was made out of paper when he broadsided the yellow lab, ouch.

Eric is continuing to kick ass, and slipped just one point to 43rd overall.

1. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 388
2. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 350
3. Le Pain Blanc 262
4. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 230
5. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 203
6. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 196
7. Bacon Spinners 178
8. Spunky Spinners 130
9. i want to ride my bike 128
10. Mellow Johnny 118

Stage 8 and the Funky Chicken

Don't you wish that Robbie would have asked the question he wanted to ask?

"So Levi, tough day today, now tell me. Was it the team's strategy for you to pretend not to be a contender, then get George to pretend he's a breakaway specialist, and finally psyche Contador up enough to make him look like he has the most talent on the whole squad?"

Ok, enough of that, i've been pretty busy, i didn't even put together the idea that the Chicken might make this thing stick until i talked to Jeff today. It's true, when you climb like a chicken who can follow? At this pace, he might exit the Pyrenees with a 15 minute lead, which may be enough for him to carry it through the final timetrial, during which he'll crash 8 times. ba dum bum

I predicted that Eric would win today, what i didn't predict was that he would place 4th overall out of 2,493 teams! INCREDIBLE. His performance stomped the crap out of the rest of us, and moved him into 92nd overall. 654 points is more than Webb has turned out in 8 stages, amazing. Could the overall lead be far behind? Stay tuned

1. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 654
2. Le Pain Blanc 416
3. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 377
4. RED ASS EXPRESS 242
5. i want to ride my bike 226
6. Bacon Spinners 224
7. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 220
8. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 204
9. Spunky Spinners 174
10. Mellow Johnny 113

Squad Quick Reference

If you're anything like i am, you're probably finding the bandwidth on the Velogames site suffering these days, here's a quick reference of everyone's team. I'm going to go out on a limb here and pick Eric as today's winner AGAIN.

Sebastian - A La Testosterone UnderDogs
Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE GCE 22 25
Juan Jose COBO ACEBO SDV 10 6
Carlos SASTRE CANDIL CSC 16 57
Igor ANTON HERNANDEZ EUS 6 9
Robbie MCEWEN PRL 16 303
Jens VOIGT CSC 8 57
José Luis ARRIETA LUJAMBIO A2R 4 0
George HINCAPIE DSC 8 313
Thomas DEKKER RAB 10 131

Amy - I want to ride my bike
Alexandre VINOKOUROV AST 26 142
Oscar PEREIRO SIO GCE 14 23
Iban MAYO DIEZ SDV 12 6
Manuel BELTRAN MARTINEZ LIQ 6 8
Thor HUSHOVD CA 16 429
Juan Antonio FLECHA GIANNONI RAB 6 63
Fred RODRIGUEZ PRL 6 5
George HINCAPIE DSC 8 313
Thomas VOECKLER BTL 6 0

Eric - EPO Makes Riders Go!
Cadel EVANS PRL 14 43
Christophe MOREAU A2R 12 30
Michael RASMUSSEN RAB 16 9
Iban MAYO DIEZ SDV 12 6
Robbie MCEWEN PRL 16 303
George HINCAPIE DSC 8 313
Thomas VOECKLER BTL 6 0
David MILLAR SDV 6 218
Erik ZABEL MRM 10 485


Char - Spunky Spinners
Levi LEIPHEIMER DSC 16 15
Frank SCHLECK CSC 14 57
Carlos SASTRE CANDIL CSC 16 57
Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN DSC 6 20
Tom BOONEN QSI 16 633
George HINCAPIE DSC 8 313
Jens VOIGT CSC 8 57
David ZABRISKIE CSC 6 77
Thomas DEKKER RAB 10 131

Jeff - Mellow Johnny
Levi LEIPHEIMER DSC 16 15
Frank SCHLECK CSC 14 57
Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN DSC 6 20
Manuel BELTRAN MARTINEZ LIQ 6 8
Tom BOONEN QSI 16 633
Vladimir GOUSSEV DSC 6 205
David ZABRISKIE CSC 6 77
Leif HOSTE PRL 4 5
Alexandre VINOKOUROV AST 26 142

RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY
Denis MENCHOV RAB 16 11
Alexandre VINOKOUROV AST 26 142
Manuel BELTRAN MARTINEZ LIQ 6 8
Iban MAYO DIEZ SDV 12 6
Tom BOONEN QSI 16 633
George HINCAPIE DSC 8 313
Geraint THOMAS BAR 2 3
Ronny SCHOLZ GST 2 0
Yaroslav POPOVYCH DSC 12 12

taylor - le pain blanc
Levi LEIPHEIMER DSC 16 15
Frank SCHLECK CSC 14 57
Michael RASMUSSEN RAB 16 9
Manuel BELTRAN MARTINEZ LIQ 6 8
Tom BOONEN QSI 16 633
Fabian WEGMANN GST 6 70
Jens VOIGT CSC 8 57
Laurent LEFEVRE BTL 2 108
Carlos SASTRE CANDIL CSC 16 57

lisa - I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. Alexandre VINOKOUROV AST 26 142
Frank SCHLECK CSC 14 57
Manuel BELTRAN MARTINEZ LIQ 6 8
Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN DSC 6 20
Erik ZABEL MRM 10 485
Christian VANDEVELDE CSC 4 57
Francisco PEREZ SANCHEZ GCE 6 2
Sandy CASAR FDJ 6 0
Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE GCE 22 25

Me - Vlad's Wild World of Karpets Levi LEIPHEIMER DSC 16 15
Vladimir KARPETS GCE 14 170
Michael RASMUSSEN RAB 16 9
Félix Raphael CARDENAS RAVALO BAR 6 3
Thor HUSHOVD CA 16 429
Jens VOIGT CSC 8 57
José Vicente GARCIA ACOSTA GCE 4 2
Fred RODRIGUEZ PRL 6 5
Cadel EVANS PRL 14 43

Ward - Bacon Spinners Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE
Paolo SAVOLDELLI AST
Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN DSC
Patrik SINKEWITZ TMO
Stuart O'GRADY CSC
Jens VOIGT CSC
Michael BOOGERD RAB
Thomas VOECKLER BTL
Denis MENCHOV

Stage 7 - Hats off to Girlyman

Rather, Linus Gerdemann. If he's on your team, i think you've got the Nostradamus mojo happening. He didn't get the winner, but Taylor's White Bread squad did get Lefevre and Wegmann was good enough to get 46th out of nearly 2,500 teams... NICE!

1. Le Pain Blanc 207
2. Bacon Spinners 62
3. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 60
4. Mellow Johnny 53
5. Spunky Spinners 50
6. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 48
7. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 47
8. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 33
9. i want to ride my bike 33
10. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 30

Stage 6 - Boomin on Friday the 13th

Big Tom did it right this time and it's Char AGAIN
I think Ward has his eye on the Lanterne Rouge, eh?

1. Spunky Spinners 252
2. Mellow Johnny 221
3. Le Pain Blanc 212
4. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 203
5. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 172
6. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 152
7. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 109
8. i want to ride my bike 101
9. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 54
10. Bacon Spinners 33

Stage 5 - Pozzato at nearly 50mph

Pozzato wins the sprint
Vino and Kloden go down hard
But my favorite memory of this stage will be Popo's attack on the final descent. He was slamming just like he did back at MSR in the spring, then he went off roading and jedi mind tricked Fabian into doing it too. But the very best part was when he reentered the road at about 15 mph in front of a Lampre dude probably going 35. With a flick of his wrist he misses Popo's back wheel by what appears to be inches, too cool. Big surprise, Eric "the powerhouse" takes another stage.

1. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 211
2. Spunky Spinners 150
3. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 123
4. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 118
5. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 104
6. i want to ride my bike 98
7. Mellow Johnny 62
8. Le Pain Blanc 51
9. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 50
10. Bacon Spinners 33

Stage 4 - Beware the Hammer

Amy and me pull the 1,2 thanks to Thor's sprint. Here's hoping for many more, maybe this will help me move up a bit.

1. i want to ride my bike 263
2. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 206
3. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 140
4. Spunky Spinners 126
5. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 120
6. Mellow Johnny 111
7. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 103
8. Le Pain Blanc 90
9. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 50
10. Bacon Spinners 25

Stage 3 - Holy Cancellara

The finish of this stage was unbelievable, a man among boys, Fabian Cancellara rolled away from the sprinters and through the breakaway like they weren't even pedaling, giving way to this new term which i like a lot. The balance of power slid back to Eric's boys, this is the beginning of a trend.

1. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 240
2. Spunky Spinners 190
3. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 171
4. Mellow Johnny 169
5. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 147
6. Le Pain Blanc 146
7. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 115
8. i want to ride my bike 57
9. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 45
10. Bacon Spinners 35

Stage 2 - Steegmans? Steegmans? hello

Boonen had this to say, "There was no one coming and when there is a chance like that he should be able take it, ... He has done a lot for me in the past."

Yeah, like that time a few minutes ago when he kicked your ass? When i read the report on this stage they make it sound like Boonen graced him with a gift, watch the tape and you tell me. I don't think big Tom could have come around him if he'd had another 100 meters.

In the UCC league, it was the husband/wife duo of Char and Jeff taking the top spot from Rocket Boy, nice job Roberts!

1. Spunky Spinners 216
2. Mellow Johnny 206
3. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 194
4. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 178
5. Le Pain Blanc 177
6. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 116
7. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 87
8. i want to ride my bike 54
9. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 35
10. Bacon Spinners 25

Stage 1 Report

Stage 1 was all about Robbie McEwen's turn of speed in the last 100 meters, pretty incredible, especially after his crash and all. Good enough to give Eric's doping team the win.

1. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! 263
2. A La Testosterone UnderDogs 211
3. i want to ride my bike 188
4. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets 177
5. Spunky Spinners 172
6. Mellow Johnny 166
7. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY 149
8. Le Pain Blanc 131
9. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. 37
10. Bacon Spinners 25

Fantasy Tour de France Update

You are right to demand an update, blogging is a luxury that i can hardly afford these days, but i'll try to remedy that promptly. Amy and i have struggled a bit with the Velogames interface, more to come...

Prologue Results

We just got in, nothing like a 3.5 hour drive from Diamond Head to Baton Rouge. We were at a complete stop on the Interstate for probably 45 minutes total. Horrible traffic, road construction, asshole merging, you name it. The good news ... Riley dog has obviously overcome her motion sickness problems, that's even better news for us. Always fun bonding with other dog owners at the Louisiana Welcome Center, complaining about the traffic, etc. etc.

Anyway, the mini leagues aren't ready yet on Velogames but the scoring for the prologue is in. Please let me know if this isn't you or if i've excluded anybody, looks like Char jumped on the early lead by virtue of her Dekker and Dave Z picks. I'm particularly proud of the team names in our league. We shall see how it goes, i hope to do better today after reading of Thor's 2nd. You just can't keep the little Aussie down can you? I read the report at 20k to go and figured he was out of it. Lemme run, later gators.

897. spunky spinners (char?) 204
967. i want to ride my bike (amy) 195
967. RED ASS EXPRESS manged by the artist formerly known as ROCKETBOY (Pat) 195
1062. A La Testosterone UnderDogs (Sebastian) 184
1147. Mellow Johnny (jeff) 174
1431. EPO MAKE RIDERS GO! (eric) 143
1823. Vlad's Wild World of Karpets (me) 81
2004. I see Paris. I see France. I see Lycra underpants. (lisa) 64
2408. Le Pain Blanc (taylor) 0
2408. Bacon Spinners (ward) 0

The Fantasy Tour de France is on!

Registration is now open at Velogames
Go check it out, it's challenging to stay within the 100 credit budget.
Turns out they provide their own mini-league competition, so once it opens, i'll create the league and post the name here.

No idea yet on a league prize for the winner, i'll be curious to see how this one devleops, the point system is pretty complex to say the least.

What if...

We all joined this Fantasy Cycling League, it's not my rules. Team selection is easy, pick 9 riders with specified requirements (2 all arounders, 2 climbers, etc.). I can lift the results off their site and we can run our own sub-league here at UCC, but we let them do the heavy lifting. I like this idea a lot, b/c of the reduced workload on me. It's free to join it, maybe we'll run some prizes for our competition as well. So far i've got Me, Eric, Jeff, Sebas and Taylor, come on, i know you want to...

News and Fantasy Tour de France

So SeaBass has entered the world of blogdom, i'm happy about this, because i've never really gotten into MySpace.

In other news, Eric made an excellent suggestion to create a Fantasy Tour de France. Since i'm a bit out of the pro cycling scene this year, it will make for a great way to get more familiar with who's where, etc. I'm thinking about running it in the original format which was pick 9 for week 1, a different 9 for week 2, a different 9 for week 3. No big whoop, if you're interested reply here.

The Tour of Suisse coverage blew in my opinion. I was most interested in the climbing stages that took place during the week, not 2 hours of the final timetrial.

That's all for now...

coffee talk

you know, coffee, we talk, no big whoop
here's a topic to discuss:

The Guru warranty does not cover improper use, use in races, wear and corrosion due to salt or extreme climates, accidents, poor maintenance, commercial activities, addition of unfit parts or accessories or parts and accessories that are not intended for a particular bike, as well as any modification to the frame, fork or other components.

haven't blogged in a while due to the large amounts of bile in my mind

Blatant Garage Sale Plug

Daddy needs a new pair of shoes, so this trademark swag needs a new home, let me know if anyone's interested in it...

Cycling Garage Sale – Great Deals Priced to Sell

These items are headed to ebay soon, so if you’re interested in anything, have questions, need photos whatever, let me know at davidealex at cox.net THANKS

Specialized Trispoke Front Wheel – Motorola Team Issue, Predecessor to HED3, Tubular, track bolt-on axle, Conti Sprinter included -- $200

Renn Multisport Disc Wheel – Clincher, Vredestein tire included, shimano cassette compatible, 9 speed cassette included -- $400

Specialized Langster Track Bike – 58cm, black, perfect condition -- $400

Park Workstand, shop quality, cut-out rectangular base- $100

Mavic Helium Wheelset – Tubular, shimano cassette compatible, comes with flashy wheelbags - $150

Shimano Dura Ace Wheelset – Clincher, Dura Ace hubs, Mavic Clincher rims - $150

Louis Garneau Rocket Time Trial Helmet – comes with clear and tinted visors - $100

Phil had to go, but like that?

Shot in the head, yeah sure, his head then rolled over by an SUV?
for just a sec, it felt like Six Feet Under's finale, but much much better.
The close definitely took me by surprise, i had hoped for some clarity on Paulie who all at once seems like the ultimate soldier or turncoat. Maybe there will be a movie? who knows, i'm running out of battery

Five years will go in a heartbeat...

I forgot what today was, the 5th anniversary of the accident on River Road.
Strange that something like that can slip by you.
I still think about it often, well every time i ride my bike.
I guess the difference now is that i don't ride that often.
Five years can definitely change a lot of things.
I'm thankful that we haven't had another accident like that one.
I know a lot of people feel it is inevitable, and i'm sure it is.

We've been getting Charlotte's room ready, she'll be here in less than 2 months. I came across a card that i received right after that day. It reads:

... I think about you every night. I can't get the accident out of my head. I pray for you every night. I didn't do it on purpose (I'm sorry it happen please forgive me) I wish i could turn back time but i can't. I'm going to have to live with this the rest of my life. I pray to Jesus Christ every night to help me understand. I'll be praying for you and your family ...

I think that's a pretty profound statement on the responsibility each of us takes on every time we step behind the wheel of a vehicle. I'm thankful for many many things and one is that i have very few memories of that day.

and just like that...

a Van Halen song is made irrelevant

Hey @!@#$%, I bridged them up to you! How do you like that !@#$%^!!!

It's tough to believe that those words came from this respectable citizen!

All this when i was just going out on a nice friendly ride. :)

(Surely he'll comment on the blog for that one)

Guru RaceLite - RIP - Dec 2002 - May 2007

Haven't posted in a month of Sundays...

So if you were wondering how long a carbon/aluminum/scandium frameset will last with my sort of abuse being placed upon it, the answer is 4 years, 5 months give or take a few days.

Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, South Carolina. Training races, commuting, rides, crits, motorpacing, road races. 3 Rouge Roubaix, 4 Cheaha Challenges, Trail Ridge Road, Gate's Pass.

... then the Guru gave up the good fight, i'm thinking this happened at this year's Cheaha. It was probably in the works for a while, but the crack surfaced near the top tube/seat tube cluster and it's being warrantied as we speak. Looks like i'll be on a new one soon. Not only was it the most comfortable, best fitting bike i've ever had, it had the good sense to crack 7 months before the warranty went out. THANKS GURU!

holy crap!

That's Taylor's comment at the end of this video of the Sunny King crit. Scott K. (he's the 3rd to pass by) rode a smart race to bridge up to the winning break, then it looked like he might win at the top of the looooonnnngggg straight-away climb to the finish, but he ended up in 3rd. Awesome ride though. I say long, because they changed the course from the last time i did it, giving it longer straights and shorter stretches at the top and bottom.


Here's an even blurrier image of the Pro 1/2 field going through turn 3.

try to do right, but not right now

so, i'm way behind on posting.
here's a 360 mini-flick of us surgically striking gillian welch at the jazz fest. i need to work on my 360 technique, i clipped ryan's head off but it's still a keeper.
it was great, we got in, got our bluegrass via the west coast fix, then snuck out under cover of Bonnie Raitt.
if gillian welch comes anywhere near you ever, beg, borrow, and steal to get there.
it's the 3rd time i've seen her/them and it's always awesome. At times, it may seem that David Rawlings is choking his guitar to death, but the result is simply astounding. Gillian's self-deprecating humor is always fun, "Our songs range from slow to real slow, but this is one of the upbeat ones".

How bout the Family?

Anybody watching these final Sopranos episodes?
I thought Pauley and Tony heading to Florida to avoid the heat was a bit of a used up theme but Pauley packing 3 pairs of white shoes for the trip was worth it and he really dodged the bullet, or bait knife, however you want to put it.

Also, the renaissance of Corrado was a kick, i loved it.

Beware the Colombian TGV

Sebas...that's the story from last night's windy training race. Don't know if you've seen him lately, here's a recent photo.

It was windy, not gusty, just constant and the turnout was all you could ask for. Lots of fast folk, lots of hard riding all the way around.

When we made the left hand turn, we finally got a nice tailwind which was being wasted by idle chatter and comfortable 22 mph 2x2 riding. Norm wasn't having it and pumped the pace back up.

Adrenalin remnants and the favorable winds made for a fast moving group of about 6 of us who were rotating at 29. We didn't stay off for long, then Sebas pulled through and i thought, "you know, i should grab that wheel."

Carnage ensued, quickly we were off, he's pulling and i'm watching the speedo go 30,31,32,33,34,35. Yep that was a steady 35 through the first s-turn, ok. I looked under my arm and there's nobody, the group is quickly becoming a dot on the vanishing horizon.

In my head i'm thinking, "i sure hope somebody is filming this" then "don't flick your arm dude, i'm not going to match this" then a small gap opened. I'm doing 33, and holding it steady, i start wondering "am i about to be dropped while riding at 33?" It was impressive.

Luckily, he finally backed off, the pack came back and all was well. Sebas pulled off at Gardere, thankfully. If he had done that again, i think i would have had an aneurysm on the spot.

The rest was good fun, hard pulls into the wind in the final miles made the pack much smaller. Brian and i tried a 2 man break with about 2k to go but got pulled back by tri-power. It was fun and it hurt, good stuff.

current events and such

So today i caught up with Sega via meebo.com and instantly became a fan. It truly is a wicked gimmick app 2.0. Check it out, now i'm running my other IM through it. SLICK

The Vineman countdown continues on the page, but i'm out. I put it together this way, if that countdown = X, then X + 14 = the arrival of our new addition, so X - any quantity would probably be better spent preparing for the latter as opposed to the former, if you catch my drift. Well maybe that's too algebraic.

In other tri news, the Black Pearl, no, not Johnny Depp's ship, is bad to the bone. With this thing on, i actually understand what buoyancy is. I've swam twice now in an unheated pool and it is incredible. I've always been somewhere between bad and pathetic as a swimmer, and my first time in it, i swam for 60 minutes nonstop no problems. I'm sure i'm still slow, but i'm faster. It's incredible, i actually enjoy swimming in it. I think i'll focus strictly on wetsuit legal tri's from now on.

Did another great training race this past Tuesday. Amazing what a new chain, cassette and pulleys will do for your bike. My old pulleys were looking more like perfect circles than cogs. Add in new ones and voila, no more griding sensation. We had a great turnout, lots of suffering, then a TCF leadout train for the finish. In the end i could only get near the back wheel of Seabass, so like a scolded Leif Hoste, i had to settle for 2nd, but it was lots of fun and pain none the less.

peace out

Would you put this on your car?

This showed up in the Advocate today.

Leading to this discussion on BRTri.

Here's the new protest site, i hadn't seen it before.

Raising Cane's Individual Timetrial Race Report

I've decided to focus on the positive events of the race.

I bought a 12 pack of toilet paper for the port-a-let.

A cyclist thanked me.

I hung out with friends.

I didn't have to ride in the wind.

I had a short drive home.

Rethought

Pat is much more than a witty reference to an early-90's hip-hop duo.

He swam this far.

Pat is friggin Aquaman and probably a few other super heroes too.

breaking news

I love my wife, this piece is awesome.

Pat is both daddy mack and mack daddy, he swam 32 frickin miles!

Favorite Orlando t-shirt: Fat People are Harder to Kidnap
Why anyone would buy this shirt, i can't say, but it made me laugh a lot.

And another thing, who the hell is Hollister of California? Ok, well now i know, but after 2 or 3 days at the Disney parks, i finally decided that it was "Wear clothes with the word Hollister on it and get in free Week" Geez, not since the Coca Cola Shirt fad of the mid-80's have i seen such lemming like behavior. I'm not overstating the fact that i probably saw a thousand of these things.

That's about all from here.

toothless two-man ttt

I like to classify flatland tt's into three types, type A is the preferred, headwind out, tailwind back. Type C is characterized by the maelstrom of crosswinds that you usually find out on River Road, so it's never really bad and never really good either. Then lastly, there is type B, the dreaded tailwind out, headwind back.

Type B is the devourer of souls
Type B makes you want to step off your bike at the turn around and go home
Type B looks at you naked and calls others to watch
Type B causes your shaven leg hair to turn gray or fall out in patches
Type B sucks
Last Saturday's NOBC Two Man Time Trial was Type B

Keepin it real, or in this case real-ler. We got into Baton Rouge around midnight after driving all day long from Orlando. Somewhere in Alabama, i bit into a piece of gum and voila, my glued-in front tooth popped out... Nice Trick.

Now i'm in Alabama minus a front tooth, wait a sec, i look like one of the locals! badum bum. In my head, i rationalize, no front tooth might mean i can breath easier in the TT, yeah right. After unloading the car, getting Ryan back to sleep, yada yada yada, i probably got to bed around 1:30 am, enough time to get the mean 3.5 hours of sleep then head down to LaPlace with Norm to race. Luckily he was driving, so i could veg a bit.

When we got there, there was no wind, nothing zip zero, i wanted to be the first team off. But, racing in the huge 1,2 field (of 3) meant we'd go off last. We probably chilled for 30 minutes shooting the bull with folks, before we started riding. At that point the course rapidly began becoming type B.

The wind was gusting a bit and you could feel it on the highway. After 20 minutes of that i had enough, and rode Corey's rollers for maybe 10 minutes. I got off of those, got back on the road and the wind had gotten much stronger, i rode there for maybe 5 minutes then got back on the rollers, sick of the wind already.

We got to the line and i could see this flag just blowing straight out down the highway. Oh yeah, this will be good. My lack of a smile here was part game-face, part "I don't want to look like Michael Spinks".

Norm took the first pull, and we did the first few miles at 30-31, after that i don't think it ever dropped below 28. We hit the cone in a little over 26 minutes (28.6 avg) which was cool and then BAM turned around into the headwind. We had Tim and Realdo 2 minutes behind us, then Frank and McBain 2 minutes behind them. At this point, i thought we had a good shot at holding them off. The headwind felt otherwise.

I was afraid, we'd only do 22 all the way back, but it got better. Lots of 22-24-26-22-24-26. In the end, we averaged 24 to get back in about 31 minutes. In the last few miles, the McBain Train of Pain rolled by us, and i thought, "well at least we held off Realdo and Tim." That lasted for about 40 seconds and they came swooping by. At that point we really "coasted" in to do 57:09.

All in all i was satisfied, i couldn't have gone much harder and unlike the last time Norm and i rode this course, i wasn't a complete mess just trying to hold his wheel. Lots of fast times out there though, Bo obviously got his revenge on me, 55:36!

Do they come in threes? or three hundreds?

1) Two weeks ago, the parking area at the split was covered with nails, causing cyclists who park their cars there to get flats.

2) Last Thursday, an oncoming truck swerved into the B-race's lane on a perfectly straight part of the road, reportedly coming 4 feet over the line.

3) Last night, Tom reports that riders waiting at the base of the levee were threatened before the training race.

I'm sick of writing letters to the editor, the assumption there is that people can actually read. I'll be damned if i ride my bike to work any more. This chick had a point.

This town sucks.

Elect me mayor.

thanks to all the product sponsors

who made Thursday's all-nighter to Orlando possible...
All went well, Ryan was a champ, we left BR at 9, got into Tallahassee around 4, took a 2 hour snooze and made it into the hotel around noon.

the fun that was

My third attempt to make the training race was finally a success. In celebration of the cool weather, i went full-on Chiapucci. Joining me in true Euro-imposter stylings were Dr. Brian's SuperSized WC Cricket, Tom's tri-color French Nat Champ, and some Squirrelly Postie, more on him later.

Off we went, a pretty good sized group. It's funny, i'm using a heartrate monitor for the first time in a while, and on the trainer i have to work hard to reach a hr of 170, in a group ride, it's automatic.

I stayed near the front until Gardere, then i went back a bit. That's when the interesting stuff started. Lots of squirrellyness going on, the pack bouncing around a good bit, then all of the sudden, here's why. Some dude comes riding through the pack, against traffic, namely us, about 3 feet off the shoulder on a 20 inch bmx bike. NICE!

This inspired me to get back up front pronto. When i got there i saw SeaBass off, WAY OFF the front, flying near the split. I took a turn or two, nobody came through so out of spite (and some stupid desire to suffer) i decided to bridge solo. Right off, i'm doing 29, cadence 105, hr 180+. I hold this steady and it takes a while, but i make it to within maybe 50 yards of him. Right there i can't seem to close the last bit, so between breaths, i shout out "HEY!". It was funny, b/c i didn't know if i could talk at all, let alone that loud. Luckily, he waits up.

I get on and try to recover, but it's not easy b/c he's pulling 28, but eventually i'm back to 171. We've got a huge gap at this point, and we just start rolling 28-29. Part of me is psyched to make the bridge, the other part is thinking "Crap! what if nobody catches us? do i have to keep doing this?" That doesn't last too long, we stay off for a while, but eventually the pack gets organized and brings us back, just in time for the prop sprint.

As is often the case, a dozen guys who haven't been anywhere near the front for the whole ride go gonzo for the prop. I always wonder "Did they take a short cut?" Well in a sense they did. Anyway, we regroup and get going again, about this time the Postie Squirrel shows up on the left hand side of the road, riding against traffic, forcing cars to "thread the needle". The sides of this proverbial needle being us and him.

This is when i overheard Tom give sage advice, the sort of wisdom that takes years and years of cycling experience to develop and just might not be apparent to your average human being, let alone someone on a bicycle. "HEY DUDE! RIDE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE ROAD WILL YA!" Maybe he was imitating the homey on the bmx bike i don't know what was going on there.

From this point on, it was just more of the same, get away, get caught, rinse and repeat. The group got a good bit smaller and in the final kilo, Chris tried to give me a leadout, but i was blown.

I think SeaBass won, he is super strong right now. I think there are a lot of strong riders right now, lots of different people pulling throughout, which is usually something you find later in the season. And most importantly, it looks like my workouts are doing the trick.

Good times, good times.

the training race that wasn't

Last night was Opening Night at the Tuesday/Thursday Training Race on River Road.
I was excited to get out and see the old and new faces, catch up on old times, then cause people pain so that they could in turn cause me more pain. You know, my favorite thing to do in life.

It's as though all those hours spent on rollers, trainers, running at night, early in the morning, riding with a headlamp at the mall, swimming, all that crap comes together so that finally, after the DST rolls in, you can ride with your friends again on a crappy dangerous road, max your heartrate out, and get yelled at by the locals. I couldn't wait.

Unfortunately with all the things i had to do yesterday morning, i didn't pack my bike. No biggie i thought, i'll swing by the house and get it before the race. With BR traffic being what it is, that wasn't going to work. So i drove straight home, changed and headed out from the house, figuring i'd catch up with the pack around the first bend. Still time to socialize for a minute or two before all hell breaks loose.

Heading down Bluebonnet on my Easton's, i felt very fast. I guess b/c i've been riding most of the time on 700x28's capable of rolling over anything. I knew this would be a great day. I turned right on Nicholson, hugged the shoulder for dear life and was forced into some mud clomps. No biggie, at least for the first 20 or so, then blammo slammo. My rear tire blows out big time. The kind of blow-out that makes you wish you had brought your cell phone.

No biggie, i stop, inspect the tire and see a small slit in the sidewall.
No biggie, i'll find some discarded paper cup and patch that bad boy up.
Unfortunately, i must have found the only 100 feet of Nicholson with NO LITTER ON IT.
The best i could do was some cellophane potato chip bag, so i fold the thing 20 times, stuff it under the slit and hit the CO2.
Here's where the problem comes in, i'm thinking, if my sidewall doesn't bulge i'm gold. But it bulges so much i can nearly read the lettering on the cellophane.
So, on a wing and a prayer, i limped back home and got in 25 minutes on the day.
No biggie, i guess i needed the easy day.

There will be many other Tuesdays.

Holy Sir Squirrel-a-lot

The Tivo picked up the Tour of Qatar on OLN last night. Stage 1 was cool, a TTT with no aero equipment. Did anyone see the sprint at the end of stage 2? Not Good. Graeme Brown went all "Mike W. on Joey D. at the B&B" and got relegated.

Another observation, why does this race happen? I'm guessing some single sheik pays for the whole thing with his discretionary income, because i've seen more spectators at Cat 5 road races. There is nobody out there watching this race.

Are you not entertained?

Estimated Average Speeds from Last Windy Weekend

1. Herring Bain 28.1 mph
2. Smurf Corcorans 27.1
3. Fried Chicken R Us 26.3
4. Herring Bo 26.2
5. MidSouth Jay 25.9

I impressed me, which is hard to do.
I also threw up a lot, but that's to be expected.

Three Man

Nope, it's not a throwback to my favorite college drinking game, the kind you play to lose. No, that was the theme for this morning's LAMBRA road opener, the Raising Cane's Three Man Team Time Trial.

Yesterday's weather was perfect, today's was not exactly as good. Windy and cold, not Yankee cold, or Rocky Mountain cold but cold none the less.

How cold? Well i met Norm and the rest of the crew at 7:00 to set up registration. Sitting in the shade, registering teams for 2 hours left me a shivering mess, even with blue jeans and a sweat shirt pulled over my duds with full warmers on. The same thing happened last year, you would think i'd learn.

Once reg was done, we learned we had about 20 minutes to get ready, warm up and race. Just like last year. So off we went. A quick spin on the trainer, then a few adjustments to the bike, and we were ready to go.

On the start line we took the opportunity to catch up with old friends and taunt the Peake boys for their new threads which are seemingly Gerolsteiner-inspired. We would learn later that questioning a team's sexuality minutes before they start 60 seconds after you isn't a good plan. In other words, we saw those baby blue shirts again about 10 miles down the road.

But i digress, i rode with Norm and Brandon, the last time we rode together was the day i dinged the Orbea after touching wheels with Brandon, so i was anxious to stay perpendicular to the road as much as possible. Looking down the road from the line, you could see the weeds in the field laying down away from us, big tailwind. Norm took the first pull, i thought this might mean an easy transition into tt mode. But instead he took us right to 32 and left it there for nearly three minutes. From there we probably hit a dozen different headwind/crosswind combinations doing 24-28 before the end of the lap, right where the Peake guys passed us.

Back in the tailwind, Brandon dropped off, so the last lap was just me and Norm. I thought we'd slow down a lot, but instead we just upped the suffering/barfing and finished up.

We got 2nd in the 1/2, which means i get 0 LAMBRA points. This whole point thing made a lot more sense when we scored 1/2/3 all together. Instead i keep getting donuts in ttt events. I don't think there were enough 1/2 or 3 teams to even merit points, so maybe they should be together.

Just to put some perspective on Herring's winning ride. In the last kilometer, Norm and i gutted out a 28 mph finish. Frank told me that he, Bain and Realdo were all together until then and Bain kicked it up to 38 and Realdo dropped off. 38? after 21 miles at tt pace? Good God

My bad mojo from the last ttt passed to TCF, Stan went down and destroyed his frame and both new aero wheels. I've heard different figures on the cost of this crash, but even the most conservative one makes me cringe big time. Luckily no real injuries on that one, just skin loss and severe wallet hemorrhage. Some ladies went down too, but i didn't hear the final word on their injuries.

Speaking of TCF, i'll go out on a limb right now and say that they will win the LAMBRA Points Competition for 2007. They turned out in droves. I can't tell you the number of TCF's i signed up but it was impressive. The key to winning that competition is having point-scorers in all categories and that they have. Also a big "new jersey" phenomenon going on with new S3, MidSouth and Precision Bike teams showing up in big numbers.

I think the results will probably be up sometime in April or May.

Wind Trainer Theater

I've been enjoying some great old tapes while working out in the mornings, this past week was the 92 Tour de France. Just awesome. Big Mig wins his 2nd tour with massive tt performances. What really stuck out though was how many previous tour winners animated the race, LeMond, Roche, Delgado, and Fignon all racing hard. Then there's baby-face Zuelle and Virenque who each got the yellow jersey for a day. Chiapucci had to be drinking some fine water to race the way he did throughout it all, his escape to Sestriere was huge. Hampsten won on the Alpe d'Huez, pushing away a little kid who wanted to pour water on his head. It's great stuff.

Nobody's Pretty Baby

That's a phrase my dad has always used, and it's fitting to describe most people in a 2 mile race, myself included. In one of them my eyes appear to be rolling back in my head. What's funny is how they mistook me for Norman in a few shots on the bike, i don't know why, we were only dressed the same with the same dorky helmet.

First Race of 2007

At one time in my life, waking up at 5AM was tough. Since Ryan came along, waking or sleeping isn't really such a big deal anymore. When it comes it comes, when it goes, etc.

That being said, i wasn't sure how my body would react to today's 3:30 alarm. Luckily enough, i was able to get up, slam coffee and some oatmeal and then get the family in the car, surprisingly close to our planned 4:30 departure time, maybe we're getting better at this? So off we went, leaving our groggy house guest Jeff behind 100% convinced that we are nuts.

We met up with Caroline just over the bridge and the caravan began. Destination, the Lake Charles T-Gator Duathlon or as i refer to it 2/15/2 of pleasure.

Lots of friendly faces at the start, Charlie, Norm, Ryan, Brandon, Brian, Mitch, Ricky, old home week really. The run was out and back, up a very slight hill.

The race started and immediately i realized that i hadn't run fast in a while, pain came in quickly, not like the kind i've been getting on longer slower runs. I just started passing people and hit mile 1 in 5:45, shocked i pressed on. I slowed over the 2nd mile which allowed Kate and a couple of other guys to blow by me. I finished in 11:56, psyched to break 12.

On to the bike with a lead on Norm, i figured i better make it count. That wasn't to be, i think he caught me in less than a mile. He said he wanted to catch me so bad, he only got clipped in a little before getting to me. Come on man!

The course went straight into a headwind from the leftish that seemed to ebb and flow. Going out it was lots of 20-24. The course bent to the right twice before the turn, after that it was mostly 25-27 on the way home. Things were going well, then less than a mile to go, some officials working a fork in the park just looked at me without motioning or anything, so instinctively i went right. Turns out the race went left, no worries though.

The last run is just pain. Coming off the bike, you're blown, but you're used to moving at 20 something, now you're going 9? It's tough. I got to the turn in 6:45, then did the last in 6:50. I was psyched, not sure how i finished, i know i didn't get top 3 in my age group, but Amy said i was top 10 overall, we'll see.

It was a great race, lots of laughs, great course, lots of fun with Amy and Ryan, also only my second ride on the Cervelo which is a gem. I like it a lot. The position may not be finalized, but it's definitely good.

Ryan fell asleep leaving Lake Chuck, so we headed on to Breaux Bridge for the goods at Cafe Des Amis. Can't say enough, they really delivered. We celebrated with primo coffee, Fried Green Tomatoes and Crawfish Pie, etouffee served over puffed pastry. Really a perfect ending, and Ryan was a champ on the roadtrip, which might be his longest so far.

her bikini small, heels tall, she said she liked the ocean

No, this post isn't about her or her or even her
it's about goin back to cali, cali, cali, the tour of cali that is
Here are some random thoughts on the race so far

Love the new disco get-up, like the dark colors.

Hate the new disco get up, what's up with the upside down Disco? No wonder they stopped sponsoring these guys. I wonder if that was an error at the print shop.

Also, i agree about Levi's position. He's totally going Praying Mantis Landis style, and obviously, it works.

Everyone was surprised with Jason Donald's ride except me. You make anybody wear that outfit in San Fran and they're going to ride fast, come on!

I thought the decision on Stage 1 to neutralize the circuit laps was odd.
Tivo went south on Stage 2, the last minute went like this
"and teams are scrambling to get to the front in this last half mile, even Big George Hincapie is giving it a go..." then the dialog appeared whether or not to keep or delete this program...ARGH.
I haven't checked out Stage 3 on tape yet, but you gotta love it when Jens Voigt wins, the dude is a powerhouse who always works hard. That being said, he really could stand to drop his seatpost an inch or so.

Some other good stuff from across the pond:
Max VanHoyDoy getting the helping hand for the win on his new team.
This still makes me laugh

I've got big plans on tap for the 2007 Fantasy Cycling season, if i can ever get around to programming it, all will be impressed, or their money back, and that's a promise.

badow!

This will appeal to bicycle/tech geeks everywhere. I can't wait until it's mandatory and the entire race can be tracked in a browser, that statement alone merits me a lifetime membership in the group named above.

tales of the weird

i've heard of police impersonation cases before, but this guy took it way too far.

haza haza!

Here's the whole story but most importantly...

Agreed to chip in $12,500 to help pay for a $250,000 master plan to build a proposed bike path on the Mississippi River levee from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. The master plan is required to qualify for federal funds, which could pay for up to 80 percent of the $33 million project. The Pontchartrain Levee District is putting up $50,000 for the study, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering has agreed to provide an additional $125,000. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville and the three other parishes on the proposed bike path are being asked to kick in $12,500 apiece for the study.

I wasn't overly optimistic after seeing this on the Business Report
Poll: Readers not enthusiastic about bike path
Daily Report readers are skeptical of plans to build a bike path connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Sixty percent of the respondents to an online survey say they don't like the plan, which would cost $33 million, because they think it would cost too much money and not enough people would use it. Forty percent say they like the plan because they think it would stimulate tourism and recreation-related spending. The Metro Council is set to vote this afternoon on funding a master plan study for the project. More than 1,650 people participated in the survey.

I'll go on record as saying 100% of me thinks it's the only salvation for the training on the River Road.

Sorry Steph, Busted by the man...

We received notification today that you have posted a segment from the Around Town TV Show to www.youtube.com. I am writing to instruct you to remove it immediately.

The Around Town TV Show is copyrighted and may not be duplicated or distributed in any way without the express permission of 1stCo. To do so illegal.

Please remove the video segment today and email me at blahblahblah to confirm this has been resolved. I trust this matter can be resolved without further action.

Stuart

this is the single most important news story to affect Louisiana in my lifetime

Read it, think it, live it.

properly disgusted, late in coming, but proper nonetheless

This afternoon during Ryan's nap, i reclined on the couch and clicked on our old friend HBO to find Return of the Jedi minutes before the ending. I figured it would be nice to step back to that simpler time, back before Jar-Jar Binks when special effects were special because they were parts of a movie, not the entire movie.

Let me replay the incident here for your benefit:

Ah, the ewok village on Endor

love those ewoks.

Wedge is still around, you old dog.

Now Lando, that Billy Dee Williams is suave.

Leia should never have gone with that ewok-combed-out look, not good, go back to that Tatooine Jabba-barge metal bikini thing, that was quality.

Now there's pre-baldness Luke, gazing at the spirits of the great jedi: Ben, Yoda and middle-aged recently dead Darth


Wait one minute, WTF is Hayden Christensen doing in this film? I hit pause and rewind, you can imagine the disgust Amy and i felt. The scene was memorable because having only just met the helmetless-Darth/dying Anakin a few moments before, you were forced to imagine him healthier and less mechanical in what appears to be the standard issue uniform for citizens of Tatooine. Nope, George Lucas in an orwellian device the likes of which i've never imagined was possible, overlayed the older actor with an image of Christensen for the 2004 dvd release.
Why would you do this? This is so much worse than Ted Turner's colorizing the classics. Does everything really have to come back together this completely George? I'm still surprised that he didn't stick Han Solo's dad into episode III somehow, or maybe a little baby Lando Calrissian somewhere.

Anyway, i googled it and some hardcore fans point out that young Anakin was good, older Anakin was bad. Which is a load of crap, he was always bad, he only turned a little good at the end of Jedi. It's like a paltry ploy to say "Hey, look! kids born in the late 80's, that guy from my latest movie invented time travel too."

Why didn't he take it all the way and come up with a teenage Yoda and maybe Ewan McGregor too. Or wait a minute, Luke never knew young Yoda, young Ben or young Anakin for that matter. He should have dubbed in Luke saying, "Yoda, Ben, who's that other guy?"

Maybe it's all just a big hallucination that Luke's suffering from, after going into the Medicine Man Ewok's hut, and smoking the "wacky weed" out of that dead stormtrooper's blood-stained helmet.

Or how about this, all six frickin episodes have been a dream sequence a la Wisdom and now Luke wakes up back in the oil bath on Tatooine with an embarrassed C-3P0, who's showing Uncle Owen where he touched him on a small droid doll.

Ok, maybe i took it too far there, but it's equivalent to my disgust.

best laid plans and tunes

This weekend was going to be my first 2007 race at the Evangeline Oak Du, but my stomach had other plans, so i will be taking it light. It's weird to have time off, i've had pretty good workouts for 3 months straight without much of a break.

Angels and Airwaves are so cool that even their website kicks ass.
It's Blink-182
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up.
Thanks Gelpimp

and another thing

Since gated neighborhoods and one-street subdivisions that dead-end are all the rage, the least these planners could do is break out a thesaurus. On my ride down Bluff i noticed a number of new one's coming up with such great names as Bluff Oak, Oaks at Bluff, Bluff Lakes, Bluff Bluff Bluff, Bluff Bluff, the Mansions of Bluff, Mother Bluffer, BluffBluff, the Bluffs at Bluff, leBluff, Jeb Luff's, iBluff, Bluffer's and Yo Mama's got a Buffalo Bluff. Come on people, break out.

Of course this from the guy who lives where every street is SpringMe, SpringYou, SpringDog, SpringCat, etc.

A cyclist's prayer

Oh God, please protect me today and if it be your will, keep me from being killed on this ride, because i don't want the first words said over my freshly dead body to be "that there look like one of them bike guys, they are always in the way, where are they ridin to anyway?".

That's probably not the best mantra to keep in your head, but Sunday's afternoon ride, which unfortunately corresponded directly with the Super Bowl pre-game drinking rituals among the pick-up truck driving intellectuals of Iberville parish, had me repeating this prayer for most of my 3 hours of chamois time.

It all started innocently enough, me spinning along on an iRide, trying to figure out circles again after 4 days off due to a fever, when Sebastian blew past me like a frickin Porsche. He actually looked more like a sportscar than a cyclist because he was on the maiden voyage of his new Guru TT machine. Very slick in all-black, we rode along around the loop talking seat tube angles, position, etc. He was excited to do Pace Bend in two weekends, that race is awesome. The rolling enclosure makes all the difference, here's a pedalmasher film made the year that i did it, 3 years ago and it feels like only yesterday yesterday yesterday ... (insert dream sequence here).

Anyway, i turned off River Road onto the new River Road, which is Bayou Paul. There seem to be more cyclists on this road now at any given time than anywhere else in BR. From there i decided to ride through the gravel to Bluff, then over to 74 which is where the festivities began with trucks buzzing me, telling me to get off the road, etc. all while clinging to an 18 inch shoulder. Very nice, i think i'll go back to my trainer and pray for the day i live somewhere else.

Vista!

This is so true that it isn't even that funny.

SimAquarium 2.0 - The Guppy Strikes Back

Alert to Opera Users, SimAquarium 2.0 is back and this time it might be too complex for it's own good. With the old version, you could allow your fish to swim around mindlessly and breed while earning bucks to buy the higher priced and apparently sterile elite fish. This time it's all about reality, fish breed, but fish also die. To date, my little aquarium has seen nearly 23,000 fatalities, with a near even amount of births. I'll put it this way, guppies ain't shy. Additionally, some fish won't breed unless the tank is clean or dirty, some need additional food added, some need growth hormones and others fertility treatments or medicines. It's odd, but undoubtedly it smells better than a real tank.

my sanford and son side

I'll admit it, when my neighbors stack up large piles of trash, and by large i mean larger than what will fit in our parish-supplied 250 gallon trash can/homeless shelters, i will usually give them a quick glance to make sure they're not tossing out something reusable. There have been times when i've thought of snatching up a discarded 20 inch bmx bike, to build some sort of strange grocery-getter/coffee shop cruiser, but i've never pulled the trigger, that was until a few weeks ago.

Behold the apple of my eye...

Yep, i found this one in front of a house recently sold. I guess the previous owner wanted to move out in a hurry and threw it on the road. Remember the Shogun Kaze? a super tricked out funny bike they sold way back in the day, well this one's not that cool, it's just a set of pipes by comparison, but ... it was free.

I took it home and whipped out the tape measure, 58 c-t, with a 57 top tube. It's not like finding a C-Record Colnago covered in rust or anything, but as a beater, it will more than do.
Immediately i thought about making it a cross bike, so i threw on some old campy tubular wheels that Brian gave me (Relax Taylor, this was merely a concept, they're still yours for the taking) with my old Vittoria Tigre tubulars. All was good on the workstand, but when i aired up the tires the clearance on the front fork was a no-go. So i can either go with a skinnier front tire, or try to find an old hybrid 700c fork with canti bosses if i want to go with these wheels. I'll probably just stick my fatboy training wheels (700x28) on and use her to get to work and back, a rainy day commuter. My cross days are LONG gone (so help me GOD)
Check out that pedigree on the seat tube, Gonzales? That's the land of cycling greats like the Doc, Ward Webb and the Robert clan. I'll have to ride it hard to do them proud.

mucho chagrin

It was with that, that i learned the fate of my precious letter to the editors of Esquire regarding Scarlett Johansson. I guess the accusation regarding Tiger Beat was too much, but it still makes me grin.

Natalie Portman said to listen to the Shins and it will "change your life". I love Natalie, so of course she was right. The Shins changed my life in this way:

I WILL NEVER LISTEN TO THE SHINS AGAIN.

These guys played on SNL this past weekend. To match the charisma coming out of their show, a person usually has to travel somewhere like the waiting area at Jiffy Lube. Dull and dying, they cranked out their first tune. They tried to save face by doing New Slang second, but it hobbled in much the same way. Ouch, not good.

I finally found some better music in the form of Modern Times by Bob Dylan. This was the soundtrack of my weekend in Manresa and it's really great. Rockin at times, in a French-Settlement-roadside-honky-tonk-kind-of-way. At other times straight out depressing, but all in good fun. The good kind of down. A word of warning, this album doesn't shuffle well with others. At times it got in with other recent purchases like Snoop Dogg, Journey and Gnarls Barkley (what can i say) and the result was not favorable.

back in the blog saddle with good news

First blog entry of 2007!

Yes, it's been a while, but well worth the wait.
Here's the official announcement, we are very excited to announce that we are expecting Baby#2!
Baby to be named later will arrive some time around August 7th.

More on this story as it develops!