Bernie Mac RIP

Cancellara delivers

This guy is having a dream season. Wins when no one expects it and wins when he is the clear favorite. Going home with a bronze and a gold? Not a bad trip for him. Now if he could just get a better nickname. Nice podium for CSC. Leiphemer gets a little love.....
Here a dejected Stefan Schumacher contemplates his life next year riding for rock racing.....

Kristin Armstrong represents for the US grabbing Gold in the woman'S TT.

I guess when you go all out in a TT, you should look like this at the end.

Other racing?
How bummed is Kloden to be racing in the rain in the Tour de L'Ain? 2.1 UCI rating. Ouch. Gerdemann's success can't feel too good either.
Tour of Utah starts today which will feature a nice Rock Racing vs Garmin-Chipotle show down. Too bad GC is counting on Tommy D. There is some kind of sad Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker thing with a Tyler vs Tommy D battle.
As the season winds down, there should still be some intense racing as too many guys will be srcambling for contracts so Eneco Tour, Tour of Ireland, and Deutschland Tour should be good for those not invited to the Vuelta.

Finally in other racing news Gilbert snagged a win in the dernycriterium Wilrijk. That's right a crit where you motorpace behing a derny??? That is gnarly. Some random pictures here.

Random cycling rumour, another Tom D at Garmin? This Belgian site says its int he works. Wait and see, but that could be an interesting move.

Mt Agementicus

Always wanted to try a time trial, but never had the chance. Mt.Agamenticus looked interesting when it popped up on bikereg many months ago.
First time trial, so why not try something uphill with a long dirt section? Course description is "7.4 miles, featuring 3.5 miles of smooth, mostly flat pavement, 1.4 miles on a FAST hard-packed dirt road, to a paved finish on the top of Mount ‘A’. Mount ‘A’ features a 0.7-mile climb with an average gradient of 10%, with sections at 12%-14%." Perfect.


My legs have been shit for a couple weeks, so I was not expecting a fun time, but the legs felt good when I woke up for a change and we go there super early(sorry). Driving up through some serious Stephen King fog made the morning a little ominous and kept the high points obscured. Got in a good warm up and I was actually getting pretty stoked. It was nice to realize you didn't have to worry about anyone else's Cat 5 antics fucking up the program. The flipside was how strange it was to be alone with no group around you. It was like doing a long terrible interval with only the fear of getting caught by the guy who started 30 seconds back to keep you company.

The dirt section was a lot like Deerfield only wider. You hit it going pretty fast and then it went up hill. There were a lot more little lumps and rollers than I expected before the main event.
Turning left onto the final climb, it was pretty clear you were cannonballing into the pain cave. Some steep switchbacks, some drooling, and it was done.
Unoffical time was 27:32, slower than I wanted, but I felt good with how I rode so no complaints. I clocked a max HR of 204 and an average of 190 so I was definitely going full gas. Well one complaint, Smuttynose sponsored the ride, so how about one measly keg at the finish? Dropping down fromt the top and back over the dirt road with a belly full of beer would have been a trip worth taking. Billy and Nick killed it. Ride back to the car was more Deerfield flashbacks. In the blink of an eye we were at a cookout eating way more than we burned off. Beers and steak tips. Repeat and roll out back to Boston. It was a 12 hour day door to door for 27 minutes of racing, but somehow well worth it.
Definitely will come back and do this again next year.

Summer of my Mechanical Discontent

This year has sent me to the bike shop more than I could have imagined and well past the point where it was fun. It all started months ago with a crash at Wells Ave that spelled the end of my Fondriest. The emotional scars of this still sting, but such is life.
I rushed out and got a new frame. Not Italian, but not bad either(kids are going to college, I will be on a tight budget for the next few years). Smooth sailing from here? Nope, doored on Memorial Day weekend causing even more drama and exploding bike parts.

Well, got all that fixed. Should be cruising from here since I just dumped all the money I had saved for a cross bike into repairs. Now I can sit back and enjoy this new stiffer fork right? Nope.

Decided to swap out the bars and stem for something newer that was more in keeping with my bikefit. So this is the final "before" picture of Frankenbike. Notice 10 degree rise stem giving it the super-century look. This will be taken care of shortly, but I had to document this less than perfect stage in Frankenbike's development.


Got the new stem and bars on in glacial fashion and am ready to ride out the summer like this.....



But you know it couldn't be that easy. The final mechanical meltdown with Frankenbike will be documented shortly in a chapter called "Frankencrank". Stay tuned.


Last minute addition... Hold the presses. Just to make sure I stay busy, my computer has developed an audible geiger counter like noise and seems to be draining batteries in days. Great.................

Hugh X Lewis-can't judge a 45 by the singer's

Disappointment comes in all sort of flavors. For me when it happened when Hugh X Lewis turned out to be a country singer and not a fire breathing Muslim. The song "blues sells a lot of booze" had my hopes high. The label should have been a give away that this was no soul record, but hope springs eternal. Picked it up in a church sale 45 treasure trove while on vacation. Had all week to dream up stories about this record with no computer or turntable to set me straight. Why couldn't this have been a Muslim inspired conspiracy theory that Jews invented the blues to keep black people drunk???? Why god Why? I found this record with a bunch of other soul 45s, so that is what got my hopes up.
Hugh X Lewis is not even some great uncle of the more well known Huey Lewis. He is just a country balladeer
In the pantheon of acceptable country topics, lamenting alcohol is a common subject and Hugh does an admirable if not original turn on the mic, but he will never be able to live up to my fantasy..

Cycling round up

Zabel gets a win in Holland-at the most intensely named Profronde van Surhuisterveen. Probably a big fuck you to Germany for not bringing him to the Olymoics. Thomas Dekker was racing for Rabobank-even though they are releasing him from his contract. He also has some funny blood values hanging over his head


BobkeStrut hits it out of the park with these Get Your War On homage. #3 had me spraying coffee on the keyboard.

Paul Kimmages Slipstream tour articles were good. This one really deals with the wanting to be a fan in a skeptical world angle. Calling Hamilton the "the angel-faced maestro of deceit" is a real turn of phrase....

Finally the mad, mad world of David Clinger. If you are not getting results, you can always get attention.


I was scrolling through results from the US Elite and Juniors National TT, when I saw that Dave Clinger was racing and got DQ'd??? I thought he was riding for Rock, but a quick check of their site doesn't have him listed on the team roster anymore.
He was listed as riding for "Van Dessel/Bike Warrior" and a quick google of that shows he has been racing a lot under this affiliation and apparently Road Bike Warrior is going to be a documentary dvd about him?????
Is this another case of a former Postal guys going off the rails?

2 days til Bettini's day of reckoning!

5 Golden Rings

Italy and Spain are obviously the strongest teams with 2 favorites (Bettini and Valverde), but when was the last time you commented on how strong a squad Luxemborg was sending? Featuring the Schlecks and Kirchen, they stand a chance if they let the stronger teams do all the work and wait it out. Germany can't be counted out with Schumacher,Voigt, and Wegmann. Belgium is fielding a weak squad-no Hoste or Devolder. Psuedo Belgian and great name possessor, Borut Bozic will be there representing Slovenia. Russia has a strong squad Menchov,Karpets,Efimkin,and Ivanov. Would have been stronger with Gusev, but he got snagged with funky blood values. But like the US team, they have strong individuals-but who is motivated and who will ride as a team
B World Champ Ivan Stevic will be there so maybe he can have a show down with Bettini.
Lots of my favorite young guns will be their Gesnik and Terpesta for Holland, Augustyn for S.Africa, Kreuziger for the Czech Republic, and Siutsou for Belarus (4 riders representing Belarus???)


Did a super-nerd breakdown of the 45 countries competing. First off where is Khazakstan? 4 riders from Belarus and none from Khazakstan?
7 countries have only one rider. That is a tough hand to play. At least with 2 or 3 riders you can anonymously drop out after a few laps when your lungs explode. No such luck if it is just you. Another 12 countries get only 2 riders. A lucky 13 countires get 3 riders each and 3 countries get 4 riders.
9 countries have the max five riders and it will probably be up to them to burn matches making the race. Although of those 5 France,Australia, and the USA look a little unlikely to ride a united race. Australia might be a dark horse but Evans and Rogers will be saving themselves for the TT and O'Grady goes well in the heat, but not so much uphill.
Slovakia, Slovenia, and Serbia are each fielding a team-don't get them mixed up.
Much like Luxemborg, Canada has a strong 3 man squad. I would love to seen Tuft or Hesjedal make a move.

Heat,Smog, and a long hard route will probably have huge impact. I would imagine less than 50% of those that start will finish. 245K is a long race and 7 laps with a big climb will melt the peleton.
Spain is the strongest on paper and a Spain vs Italy battle seems likely, but what other dark horses could get in the mix? Schumacher? Siutsou? Kirchen? Schelck(s)?,Sanchez?,Kroon?,Gesnik? Who can spoil the Bettini vs Valverde showdown.
Russia and Luxemborg could be big suprises....
At the end of the day, I have my fingers crossed for a Bettin Victory. Let the cricket retire at the top! If I can't get that give me some action from Canada, Luxemborg, or the Netherlands. Finally, my US pick would have to be Vandevelde, but he must be cooked from the tour.