Almost the end of the line

So 3 days left
Cunego gets some HTFU recognition for finishing yesterday. He looks like he fell on a cheese grater Maybe he was sttacked by wolverines.
Quickstep have got to be bummed. No wins. Devolder flames out. Not even any real camera time and Barredo finally gets in a break and gets owned. Ouch. Although losing Steegmans and gaining Chavenel might be an upgrade based on how Chavenel raced this Spring. They need some more aggressive dudes if Bettini and Boonen aren't going to deliver the goods.
I hope Valjavec can stay in the top ten, I have always had a soft spot for this dude.
Kohl and Efimkin have been revelations.

This will be good tour for the trainer.

Rundfahrt

Never really been a fan of Germany, but occasionaly the have a vocab gem. A multi day stage race in France is a "tour". In Italy it is a "giro". In Germany it is a "Rundfahrt". Now realize I am from Massachusetts with the maturity level of an eight year old. "rooonfahhht"? roomfart? roundfart? runfart? This is too good to be true.
Q"What are you doing this weekend?"
A"Going out to Amesbury to do the Working Man's RoondFart"
If we adopt this word, it could do more for cycling's popularity than Lance or Levi put together.
Another recent find. Women's races usually have some adjective in the race title to remind you it's a women's race. The French use "feminin". The Italians use "Femminile" and occaisonally "della donna". So nice. But the Germans, they drop "der Frauen". Which makes it sound A.like a bad industrial band and B.Like big Valkryie beer maids are riding.

Apologies to Germany, but come up with something better than Ullrich and Rammstein and maybe I will change my mind..............

The Best Rides

The best rides are always the ones that are right at the edge of your ability. The ones were you worry about them the day before and clean and fidget with your bike all day. The ones were you go to bed early and have trouble sleeping.
They also usually have you up early and nervous.
The Climb to the Clouds century was one for me this year. Last year I did the 80 mile version and didn't climb Wachusett. The heat was unreal and I was wasted and the end.This year, there was no way I wasn't going over the top. Get dropped in most races around here and it is a shameful peddle back to the car and your day is over. Blow up when you are out in Stowe or Sterling and you know you have a long day of pain and no back up. Riding past the 495 ring always feels like going into the land of the lost. I always want to have extra tubes, extra food, seat bag etc,


Billy, Nick, and I rolled out(no mass start this year which reduced accidents in the first hour, but eliminated the chance to sit in with big group) and it was getting hot.
Watchusett was a tough climb and the mile long slog up to where the climb starts wasn't much fun either. Turning to the right and seeing the ski slopes was a real "oh shit" moment. Drank 12 bottles on the ride and at least a gallon after. Water was pouring out of our helmets. No sports drink was the right move-no stomach issues.

Got cramps in my quads for the first time around mile 90. That was a first and not a good one. Gotta remember to stretch.........
But a wise man once told me "race reports are boring". True. I just love that butterflies in the stomach/what the fuck is gonna happen feeling that you only get when you bite off more than you might be able to handle.
Thanks to Charlesriverwheelman for another fun ride. I'll be back next year since I manged to ride the wrong way up to the summit. Third times the charm.

No Mercy OG LP

This is a nice lost treasure. Unreleased No Mercy. The Widespread Bloodshed LP is a classic slice of Venice Suicidal Metal-core. A little darker than STs and so good. So anymore music in that vein is welcome in my book. So I was stoked to see this become available and mailordered a copy asap. Clear vinyl with a big fold out poster and another color insert. It's a good package for the record collectors
No Mercy can get away with stamping OG on anything he is involved in. Besides the artwork, who else was making dangling earrings and three quarter length trench coats cool? These guys always had a vibe that was super violent and sketchy.
But what about the music? 18 tracks 1st demo, rehearsal, comp. and live tracks. Vocals are by their first singer Keven-not Mike Muir. opens up with "Brain Damage" which I remember from the Empty Skulls comp tape(one of the best old hardcore comp tapes). Actually the first three tracks were featured on that tape. Music is definitely more hardcore than anything else-Venice influence is pretty clear even with the demo quality production. Next up are some instrumental versions-nice if you want to do some mashups or karaoke but not crucial. 85 studio session is up next. Sounds like bad metal on the intro, but then "No Mercy" kicks in with a real straight up LA thrash Slayer type sound. "Die or be Killed" made its way to WSBS. "War Machine"(from Welcome to Venice) finishes it off-more standard thrash than No Mercy classic.
Side B is live in Reseda 1986. Decent sound quality. Includes some straight up metal jammers like "Death to the Anti-Christ". It was written about all the "satanic faggots" and sounds very much like it was reworked by No Mercy or ST at a later date.
I think this may highlight how the went from killer hardcore band into a sick crossover powerhouse. Too good to be just for hardcore historians only, but I would most likely still grab Widespread Bloodshed if the house was on fire. Either way it's probably cheaper than trying to get a copy of Widespread Bloodshed on Ebay.
This Venice Beach Suicidal metal punk scene was pretty wild sounding back then and it stands the test of time.


You can get in on CD or LP at Punkrecords.com

1:34

A minute and thirty four seconds is all that separates Carlos Sastre from Cadel Evans. Looks like it all comes down to tomorrows TT, unless there is a major crash or mechanical or unless CSC try and hammer through tomorrows stage and maybe get more time on the small climbs near the end. The profile shows a category 4,2, and 3 climb-could that be enough for CSC to isolate Evans and gain more time for Sastre?
Will it be enough. Carlos was about a 1:16 in the shorter stage four time trial which doesn't bode well. Last year in the first ITT(54K) Carlos lost 1:47 to Evans and in the 2nd(55.5K), Carlos lost about 2:40. Saturday's TT is 53K.... Evans was 2nd in each TT last year. These are not good omens, but I gotta pull for Sastre.
Sastre has been a favorite of mine for ages and especially after seeing Overcoming.
So I hope he gets his moment in the sun. CSC have been just dominating this race.

Nailbiter right down to the end.

7 Seconds

I don't know why it is, but bands mid to later era records are the ones I am missing lately. Despite the hardwork to get a hold of the early records, its those cutout bin third and forth albums that I want to hear. Soulforce Revolution not The Crew. Don't ask me why. 7 Seconds had a couple good ones with New Wind and SR. First off the hair and metal tees on New Wind let you know they were a serious touring rock band. They even had songs about being on the road-just like Bob Seger, only punk....
Soulforce Revolution pushed their whole Amnesty Internatinal/U2 thing to the next level. If I remember this show, Walter from Quicksand was running around in cutoff sweats (youth crew style) that wouldn't stay up......
I would rather listen to Wonderful than Group Sex for another example. Maybe cause those are the records these bands were touring on when I first saw them? Maybe cause these records haven't been endlessly aped by legions of recreaters and keeping it true reenactors? It will be a long time before people are trying to rock teh
It may be Heresy but I will take How we ROck over Kids Will have Their Say and I will take DYS over Brotherhood. Trial is better than Learn. The list goes on and on.
I guess that is the legacy of being a late 80s core kid and not an early 80s core-man.
No matter how goofy they may look everyone was stoked and waiting for 99 Red Ballons.
Even Al Quint was rocking some long hair! Ahh the memories.

Augustyn Holy Shit!!!!!

My only question is who hiked down for the bike? Barlaworld has only one car in the caravan-cause they are down to 4 riders.
He is a lucky man

Love is Love

Long bike rides and watching some epic tour stages don't leave much time for posting, but for those of you missing the Krsna rock series-there are some big things being worked on!
Get stoked for Alpe de Huez tomorrow!

Ignition I got a Right cover

"I Got a Right"??? Seriously? A little crazier than Murphy's Law's version, but don't know if it hits the DC reinterpretation zenith of "ex-lion tamer" by Soulside.

These guys are so DC it hurts.