Thursday, February 28, 2008

When Beavers Attack!!!


photo by Ed Falsken

I'm a running fool.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

AToC 2008



Since I was 14, just about every cycling daydream I've had has been commentated on by "Sir" Phil Liggett (I've gone ahead and Knighted him because he's pretty damn near cycling royalty in my mind...)

"And it's an attack by the young man from California!!"
"Meiers has CRACKED!"

From the times when he was partnered with John Tesh at CBS for Paris Roubaix and the Tour de France to his current partnering with Paul Sherwen, Phil's voice has remained THE voice of cycling for me.

So when I had a chance to meet him a couple of weeks ago, I was effing giddy! It's not usually the riders that I get star struck by. It's the people around the race or behind the scenes that cause me to freeze in my tracks and lose all sense of cool.

"Holee crap that's Emma O'Reilly!!"
"Did you see Len Pettyjohn?!?!?"
"Dude, take a picture of me and Freddy Viaene!"

Thanks to La for taking this picture of me and one of stars of the sport!

Oh, and yes RB, I flipped out when I saw Graham Watson on the back of the motocycle going up Sierra!!

Fav Phil Liggett quote (1987 Tour de France, Mt. Ventoux TT):

"Its only a mountain, one of many you can see on this French Country morning, but for 171 young men it would be a place where they would dare to ask themselves the questions of greatness"

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Meet the Beaver

photo by Ed Falsken


After watching Big Fro guy and Antler Guy run along the field in th AToC, I figured I had to bust out my own outfit and rep Team Fremont on Versus.

That's me in my bear hat with handfuls of money for the guys climbing up Sierra Rd. My team mates think it's a beaver head so I figure we'll go with that. Noone took the special "prime" I was offering (guess my stripper ones weren't good enough for the protour guys...)

I'll post more AToC pics soon.

I've got to give props to AEG for the very cool AToC this year. I got to attend the Team Presentation in Sausalito before the race start, hung out at the prologue in Palo Alto and then acted a fool on Sierra. Every part of it was top-shelf. I'm looking forward to next year.

~b

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Pop Alchemy

Since the AToC is chilling in my backyard, I've been away from my little blog. So to keep things warm until I get back, I'd like to leave you with this little piece of Pop Music Alchemy.

Mary Digby, turning crap into gold!



~b

Thursday, February 14, 2008

DOPe AGE


Doping sucks. It sucks on a thousand levels. A prime example of the suckiness of doping is going on right now with ASO & Astana. Because of the Ghosts of Dopers Past, it doesn't look like our boy Levi will get his chance to shine in the Tour this year. Not only Levi, but Alberto and Andreas as well. That just plain sucks.

You have riders like Levi who have NEVER been on the radar for ANY kind of doping offense being "penalized" for something he had no part of.

Granted, I understand that the Tour is an ASO property and they have the right to invite who they want, but the latest victims are clean riders. Hell, if someone gets caught cheating, ban them for life. Why take away the opportunities of clean riders to race in the sports biggest event simply because of the name on the jersey?

Where is the riders union in all this?!? Shouldn't all the clean riders stand up and make a united front? Their jobs are on the line. If there ever was a reason to unite, this would be it. And it has to be done soon. A month from now is too long.

Honestly, I would like to see the riders at the ToC hold a demonstration of some sort to show solidarity.

It probably wouldn't do much to change the mind of ASO, but it would make a point. Maybe if the clean riders demonstrate at the start line of ASO and RCS premiere events, the promoters will get the point. Kick out the cheats. Don't punish the clean riders.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Flu Vaccine my A$$...



So, Flu shots are suppose to help people NOT get the flu. I must have gotten the cheap ass generic flu shot, cuz I've been sick more in the past month then the last 4years combined.

Once I recover from this bout, I'm moving into my bubble.

Monday, February 4, 2008

GAZ in the Spotty



Britain's contribution to the world throughout history has been pretty impressive;

Pizza, Karate, Budweiser and Green Day just to name a few.

Our team has the good fortune of counting a few Brits in our number and I'll take a moment to shine the spotlight on one of them today... introducing our very own Duke of Dublin (Ca), Garry Birch.

Garry is the DS of our team and can usually be found riding point on our team rides. He has a Ph.D in Snot Rocketry and Ride Food Storage. His dissertation "Energy Gel Storage Capacity of Modern Cycling Short Leg Grippers" was groundbreaking in the field of Sports Nutrition transport.

His nickname Gazza (or Gaz for short) is an Ancient Germanic expression for "spear" and pretty damn manly when you think about (like "Lance", "Rod" or "Shaft".)

According to IMDb Gaz has nearly 47 credited movie appearances under the stage name "Gaz Thrustman".

So lift up your Lagunitas Maximus and salute our boy from the Isles.

(photo by Lala)