My daughter - heat miser

We took this picture a few weeks ago on a particularly hot and humid day. Elora the heat miser. She is 15 mos. old. Today she almost said "dinosaur" and yet she will not say "pa pa." She said "ma ma" months ago. Maybe I am destined to be "not the mama" like the dad in that wierd TV show "Dinosaurs." Go figure.


In 15 years, she'll probably have alot of other things to call me far worse than "not the mama." Until then, though, I get to post pictures like this of her.

Riis "I know nothing"

Riis and Sgt. Schultz. See the resemblence?







So I read this quote by BR today:
Regarding Basso:
"Ivan must prove his innocence to us," Riis told the newspaper. "If it's shown that Basso had a liaison with Fuentes, if he lied to me and betrayed the team and the values which we defend on this team, he is finished at CSC."

This was from yesterday's cyclingnews.com :

Regarding Hamilton: According to the newspaper, the doping activities listed in the diary were so extensive, that a whole team of helpers had to be involved. Bjarne Riis, director of the CSC team, denies knowing anything about it, despite his close and frequent contact with Hamilton. "I would like to remind you that we live in hotels and not in a prison," he is quoted as saying. "When a stage is finished, the riders have their free time. Then they do want they want."

What a load of crap. Then they do what they want? Aren't these stages like 6 hours long? So, let's see, they get up @ 8 a.m. or so, eat, pack up their crap, get ready to race, get to the bus, drive to the start- the races start @ noonish I think- race- go back to the bus, get to the hotel, clean up, get a massage, eat and then go to bed. If their winning the race, then there's the media stuff as well. Where is the "free time?"

Riis and Sgt. Schultz: "I KNOW NOTHING, I SEE NOTHING, NOTHING!"

iPod- Heavy rotation 8/18/06

A neat (weird) thing about itunes is you can see how many times you play a given song-

My top 5 played bands this week on the ipod:

Foo Fighters
Nine Inch Nails
Naked RayGun ( an 80s punk band from Chicago)
Rush
Aesop Rock

Turin Ride- 8/16/06

Or... "What happens when US pro riders come out for the MWC(mid-week classic). E-mails went out claiming that some of the Navigator guys and the Victory Brewery womens team would be riding the Wed. night Turin ride. Both teams were in town for races at Elk Grove Village and then Downers. We rolled up to the Pony Shop and met the Navigator riders, then went to Turin. The Victory team was a little late, but they eventually got rolling too. So, 4 Navigators and 7 Victory women and the most local riders I've ever seen on a Turin ride brought the total ride to at least 40. For the most part the ride was the same, except that the speed was consistent throughout. IF only it could always be like that. The pros did not take any pulls, but remained present in the main group. I don't think any of them contested the twin oaks or the temple sprint either, which is probably just as well because if there had been a crash for one of those sprints, we wouldn't want to take one of them out on the eve of the US championship. I didn't talk to any of the Navigators guys (they seemed to be speaking Italian anyway), but did talk to some of the Victory riders. One from Oregon and Lara from NC( i think). Lara and I bonded on the quality of the Pisgah Nat. Forest trails. All of the Victory women were fast- lickety split fast. yeah, yeah I know- of course they are they're pros. So not only are they fast, but in the immortal words of Garth- "Schwing!" Is that sexist- yes probably. But I have to admit- I am attracted to women who are hot and fast on bikes. Ask my wife Tammi. Fast on a mountain bike- won my heart in seconds flat.

Floyd Landis

Me and Floyd










I met Floyd Landis on Sunday 8/13/06 at a private gathering for Vision Quest Coaching here in Chicago. He seemed shorter than I thought, but then again, everyone looks taller when their riding. He didn't field any questions re: his positive test. Most everyone there, @ 50 people or so, appeared to believe him. I really, really want to. I want to believe that his win was derived from heart, not dope. Some have suggested that there could be a plot against Postal and ex-posties- Tyler, Heras, Landis... but why? What would be the motivation? Or are they all doping and those that get caught are just the ones that push the edge of the envelope? Are we watching bike riders or drug experiments?




Also met D. Zabriskie and C. Vandevelde. Both nice guys. As you can see from the photo, DZ seemed pretty aloof to the whole experience. I guess going to these events and having a bunch of leg shaving guys trying to get your autograph etc. could get pretty boring.

DZ's Q/A was pretty funny. I think I remember this right:

Q: Why do you think you're so good at time trials?

A: Because I don't like being near other people. (Crowd laughs)