Look out!

Here's a road sign designed by a cycling club and a construction co. in England. The scene of more than 30 accidents and two fatalities in the past five years, the junction of Botley Road and Roger Dudman Way in Oxford, is now adorned by a four-feet image of a blood-splattered cycle logo being pierced by a left turning arrow.

The UCI double standard

As we all know, riders in Operation Puerto, haven't been able to race and in some cases were fired e.g. Ullrich- he can't even find a country to give him a license, let alone a team.

But what about the non-riders, you know the managers, doctors etc. implicated in the scandal... like, our man here to the left- Saiz. No problem, mon- the UCI allows him to keep his ProTour license and with it the ability to control the destiny of some 20 riders as he has them signed to his team, thereby throwing Astana/Vinikourov into chaos. Here's an idea- Saiz and Vino in a cage match on pro wrestling pay-per-view. Winner gets the license.

Cyclingnews.com reported :

In a strange twist, on Saturday, UCI's ProTour Licence Commission chose to
ignore the fact that Manolo Saiz is in clear violation of the ProTour Ethics
Code by being under investigation by the Spanish Cycling Federation's
Competition Committee, and refused a request to withdraw Manolo Saiz's
Active Bay's ProTour licence, claiming legal reasons and lack of
information from Spanish authorities on the doping affair.

So, riders out- even though no formal charges have been brought against them but those actually caught with the goods can stay- able to continue profiting from cycling. (Saiz was arrested with 60,000 euros and a case full of banned products)

Anyway you slice it- it stinks. They're going to kill this sport. Maybe I'll take up NASCAR or Texas Hold'em Poker. At least ESPN will give me plenty of coverage.

Tattoos of the Peleton #4

Here are the 2003 and 2004 winners of the Single Speed World Championship.

Go Kris Go!

Kris O. at Whitewater this past weekend. Go Kris go! Kris took 2nd in the Cat 3 women.



So what is Kris thinking....



java... coffee, coffee, coffee.... Cappuccino....

Is the "off season" a myth?

Pez had this interesting piece today about the "off-season." Basically, there has been some research that says there is no off-season. They use the Lance v. Ullrich situation to illustrate that you shouldn't back off too much in the off-season, but should keep up some intensity. So, you want to do long low level rides, but also want to do some high intensity work- mostly so that your body/muscles retain the "memory" for the race season. If you don't, then you spend too much time "in" season regaining your top end ala Ullrich trying to lose weight in March.

For me, I found that this is right on. Maybe not for everyone, but worth checking out.

CTS- Masters of the obvious

I received this e-mail from Carmicheal's Training Systems-

"CTS Coaching Tip-

Days are getting shorter - try to exercise midday.

The sunlight will help you stay warmer, it will be easier for you to watch the road and trail surfaces for snow, ice or other obstacles. Also, vehicles on the road will be able to see you more readily in the daylight.

Keep in mind that wearing a hat or helmet cover may also cut down on your hearing and visual acuity so be more cautious to cars approaching you from behind. "

Really- thanks for the insightful info. Here's some more equally obvious tips they left out:

1. When you ride in the winter, it gets slippery, so you should ride with thicker tires.
2. Also, a good pair of gloves, with some type of wind stopper material in them will keep your hands warm.
3. Shoe covers will keep your toes toasty.

Cycling news

1. Fort Lewis won the collegiate MTB championships again - its third win in the last 4 years. It swept all 4 men's events- cross country, short track, downhill and 4 cross.
2. ASO unveils the 2007 Tour route- Landis only to be represented by a big asterisk in last year's results and omitted from the gala video presentation. Ignore it, it'll just go away. So who are they going to show pictures of? Not Lance, Basso, Ullrich, Landis or anyone else embroiled in any of the recent incidents. Maybe they'll just run video of Voeckler hanging on to the Maillot Jaune for another day.
3. The Tour of Langkawi appears to be cancelled. What- you've never hear of the Tour of Langkawi?? Shame on you. It is the premier tour of Malaysia. They just can't pay their bills.
4. Speaking of Ullrich, he is now going to be a German living in Switzerland, moving to Austria, but still with no team.
5. Hamilton to ride for an Italian-Russian pro continental team, hoping for wild card entries into the grand tours. He could have done that here, don't you think?

Tattoos of the Peleton #3

The "Peleton", at least for me includes MTB- so here's Marla Streb sporting 1, yes 1 of her Single Speed Championship tattoos- she's won it 3 times. If you win the Single Speed Championship, you get a tattoo. One year the winners got BRANDED! Hardcore.

Tattoos of the Peleton #2

Sacchi of Milram. I'm not sure what that is? Probably a lion?

Tattoos of the Peleton #1

Here are the easy ones-
David Clinger- Webcor made him get it removed- even more painful than getting it in the first place.

This is Kayle Leogrande- won the US Elite crit championship in DG this year. Covered, head to toe, owns a tattoo shop.



More to come.

Carpentersville Cyclocross Results

Congrats to everyone who raced and specifically the following people I know:

Masters 35+
10. Pete Rolowiecz, Met Life
Masters 45+
1. Josh Mallan, Pony Shop/2CC -tear it up!!
Mens Pro 1-2
4. Chris Strout, Pony
8. Lou Kuhn, Pony Shop/2CC
Womens Cat 1-2-3
4. Kris Over, Kenda
Mens Cat 4
7. Anthony Bustamante, Unknown
13. Adam Lund, Unknown

AND- straight from Velonews- nice to see your name in print, huh?
Chicago Cyclocross Cup Racing Series No. 1Carpenter Park, Carpentersville, Illinois
Men's Pro 1-2
1. David Sachs, Vision Quest 2. Gannon Myall, Cal Giant-Specialized 3. Scott McLaughlin, SRAM 4. Chris Strout, Pony Shop 5. Brian Conant, Training Bible
Women's Cat 1-3
1. Holly Klug, Killjoy 2. Corie Berrigan, ABD 3. Christine Raymo. SRAM 4. Kris Over, Kenda 5. Emily McDonald, xXx Racing AthletiCo

N. Korea at night

This is a satellite picture of the Korean peninsula at night. As you can see, S. Korea is lit up, just like any other industrialized country, but North Korea is not.

For N. Korea's government, pursuit of the bomb comes before electricity and even before feeding its people. And why not? What better way to get attention? From a political standpoint, only nuclear powers are respected. The UN Security Council's 5 permanent veto wielding members also happen to be the first 5 nuclear powers: The US, Russia, England, France, and China. The rest of the nuclear club are: India, Pakistan, most likely Israel and now N. Korea.

How much are you willing to suffer?

Saw this at Vnews- Craig Gordan ended up in the hospital after winning the world 24 hour championship by almost an hour. Doctors had to hook him up to a dialysis machine to scrub his blood clean. He was suffering from rhabdomyolysis.

Six-time world champion Chris Eatough(who came in 2nd) said,"I just think it came down to who was willing to destroy themselves the farthest, and Craig was more willing to go further. I also think that's why he's [in the hospital] and I'm [at home]," Eatough said.

Basically, Gordan rode 240 dirt miles in 30 laps- until his blood was so full of toxins it started to completely shut down.

There you have it. So, how far are you willing to go? Until you puke? Or can't see straight? Or like Gordan, until you need dialysis? I've ridden until I've puked. I've ridden until I can't walk, but, I draw the line at complete toxic body shut down. Compared to Mr. Gordan, I'm just a wuss.

I am no longer hip- that is if I ever was

So, last night I was dragging my sorry ass home after seeing the doctor again- finally got some antibiotics to kill this bug I've had for weeks and I saw something that made me cry. I ride the train every day, from Thorndale in Edgewater to the loop and back. Minimum 40 minutes each way- door to door. Also, I ride bikes - so some years ago I got a timbuk2 messenger bag that I designed on their webpage blah blah blah. I use it everyday, even when not on the bike, because I hate backpacks ( I never use both shoulder straps, so one shoulder ends up in pain) and briefcases make me feel like my Dad. I suppose I also felt somewhat cool with a messenger bag, because even though I did not "messenger", I thought it conveyed my enthusiam for cycling none the less. I guess, I thought it made me "hip" in some way.

So, there I am, barely able to open my eyes and coughing and I see a guy with a timbuk2 bag, but his says on the front flap "JP Morgan Asset Management." So, JP Morgan got timbuk2 to make wole run of bags with their logo on it. No biggie, I guess. Certainly can't fault the folks at timbuk2 for trying to make a buck.

But, it occured to me, dude, you're no longer hip. And you probably never were and you won't ever be.

Eddie- Come On!

Eddie Merckx has come out in public and stated that he thinks Floyd Landis is innocent, stating: "I don't think that Floyd Landis used a banned product...The Landis affair is a mistake. I can't be totally sure because I wasn't there."

Of course you weren't there, so why comment? Come on- aside from the leaking of the A test and any other technicality he can raise- and believe me, as a lawyer I love technicalities - Landis has been unable to offer any credible reason as to why his T/E ratio would be so out of whack. 11/1! That's almost 4 times the acceptable limit.

The only people who know what happened are Floyd and the people with whom he associates.

Boulevard Bikes robbed Monday (POST WIDELY)

Saw this on Craig's List- bogus.

"Sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. today, someone broke into Boulevard Bikes after doing quite a bit of damage to the door. I discovered the burglary on my way to the train, and am having a hard time understanding how none of the hundreds of people that must have walked by the shop before me called the police! Based on several factors, including what was taken, it appears the thieves knew what they were doing, and knew what they were after. They certainly knew which bikes to take, and enough were taken that a truck most certainly was involved. Most, if not all, of the bikes stolen were Bianchi road bikes. If you have any information or spot brand-new Bianchis for sale under suspicious circumstance, let Kevin know. You can call the shop (773/235-9109).

Bling is as bling does

Ahh, the Italians! What would cycling be without them? We'd probably all be riding boring, heavy cruisers. I bet the first cyclist to shave his legs was Italian.

Bettini wins the Olympics and now Worlds and then not only gets gold SIDI's but a gold chain as well.

As Ed commented "Expected the custom sidis and knew that the stylie would be outside my perspective of euro cool... But that gold chain... Bling isn't really the right word now is it..."

It's beyond euro cool- more like John Travolta/Tony in Staying Alive. "Hey don't touch the hair!"

Cippolini would be proud. I don't think he ever had a gold chain- at least not on his chain rings- just outrageous skin suits- and his hair was perfect.