Delays For Days
Ladies and gentlemen I sincerely apologize for the problems with the website the last four days. The host company's server was evidently experiencing some malfunctions that knocked out my website, but it also meant being unable to access email or my site's control panel. It's a very frustrating experience, especially when I'm unable to get feedback from the host as to what's going on or status on resolving the problem. I know I have mentioned this in the past without following through, but I am now forced to seek out another company to host the site. While the problem of a down server isn't my fault it is my fault for sticking with an unreliable host. I already have one recommendation to follow up on, so I will keep you all posted on my progress. Again, sorry for the blank pages and thank you for sticking with me.
Even though the website wasn't working it didn't stop us from having another successful Wednesday night criterium this week. For those who attended you know we had to alter the usual course due to other events taking place, but from what I understand we should be back to our normal setup on July 11. I wasn't made aware of all the parked cars and car show setup until about lunch time on Wednesday, so I was literally scrambling to come up with a course that made any sense. I had to work with several different entities on site at the same time, and that's hard to do when each of them go on and on about their "contract." My reply each time was sweetened with an "aw shucks" approach and a request for help, and fortunately they bent just enough.
As for the coaching clinic and racing it was another big success. Coach Todd Nordmeyer's clinic on cornering had 16 people participating and a total of 74 different people racing throughout the evening. The "C" race again was the most populated with an amazing 37 riders! The "A" and "B" fields were a little smaller this week, but I expect the fields to swell after having a couple of weeks off. The racing calendar in July is fairly sparse, so the Wednesday night crits are some of the only real opportunities to stay race fit.
Ok, moving on to other events around the globe.
Doping Scandal Puts Dark Cloud Over Coverage of Tour de France
Versus, the station formerly known as OLN, is taking a big hit in viewership since Lance's retirement. We can expect to see Frankie Andreu reporting from the Tour for Versus as usual. The doping admission has not tarnished him too badly, and as the president of Versus says, "It wouldn't be cycling if it weren’t awkward."
I think Armen Keteyian of CBS has comments that are revealing about how the media approach is and likely will be, which is he would focus on the doping more and racing action less. Thanks Armen for providing coverage we were really looking for, you know, as if we were desiring more information about the doping problem? Armen wouldn't uncover one new thing about doping, but rather go on ad nauseam about the same thing we've already heard or read countless times. Armen, you are so late to the party that all the punch and finger food was devoured long ago.
Let's not fool ourselves. No matter what you believe about doping, who is doing it, who isn't doing it, how dirty or clean the races are, etc. we STILL want to see the racing action and get commentary dissecting the outcome. The doping "scandal" is a never ending saga these days, unlike the Festina affair back in the 1998 Tour de France. So to all the media out there; give us cycling fans what we want, and that is a LOT of racing action! Desire to do some investigative reporting? How about digging into riders that are clean and reporting about their success or failures. Now that would be a investigation worth watching and listening to.
Pelo-Pics from PezCycling
Every red blooded male cyclist is aware of Pez's Daily Distractions, but Pelopics offer up another cool picture gallery worth checking out. My favorite for June is this shot of Milram at the starting gate for a TTT. Why women are holding the riders I'll never understand, but the look on her face says it all.
Weather takes a toll on $8M wine industry
Hopefully our recent rains will help overcome the drought's impact on all farmers, but local wineries are getting pinched badly as well. Fortunately it looks like I'll be taking another trip out to Napa Valley for another wine bottling weekend at Century Oak Winery in the Lodi region. This time I hope to stay a little longer and do some training in the heart of Napa around my friend's home.
Book excerpt: From Lance to Landis
This short excerpt describes Frankie Andreu's decision to take EPO. Like I mentioned the other day the book is filled with stories about doping, and each one goes into a finer detail than you may expect. However, it's the details you can relate to and begin to understand the struggle each rider faces. To dope or not to dope. To get dropped or compete. To have a job or not have a job. Such a simple yes or no answer will put your life down two separate pathways that bear not one single resemblance of the other.
Q&A with 'Lance to Landis' author David Walsh
Bonnie DeSimone of ESPN.com scores an interview with Lance's favorite author. Walsh comes across in print as a man who is deeply curious about everything that surrounds doping. I think he realizes one reporter isn't going to take down the biggest name in cycling (Armstrong), but one reporter can begin to slowly put the big doping puzzle together. I see this as no different than the two reporters who tied all the pieces together to write Game of Shadows. I agree with Walsh in his response about Greg Lemond and Andy Hampsten. Race results prove those guys got passed by lesser talent. When EPO arrived they had to join the grupetto.
Moreau hopes for spotty Tour
Yeah, I did a double take on the interview headline too! At the age of 36 Christophe Moreau is gunning for the Polka Dot jersey. I'd look for him to be super active on Bastille Day as well. He's always been the guy who is on the cusp of a big Tour result, but ends up getting dropped in the last five kilometers of a mountain stage. After winning the overall in the Dauphiné Libéré and taking two stage wins let's hope he's found a rebirth in his climbing legs and fulfills his dreams. A Frenchman battling it out for mountainous stage victories in the Tour would definitely excite the fans and make for good television.
National Road Championships
All across the globe this weekend there are national championships being decided. Expect to see new champions wearing their national championship jerseys with pride at the start of the Tour de France next weekend.
2007 Tour de France
In case you've not looked at a calendar lately it starts on Saturday, July 7.
Versus TV - Tour de France coverage
Despite the lower numbers Versus isn't changing their amount of coverage this year. There shouldn't be any reason why you can't see a stage with the amount of live coverge and numerous replays each day. The only day where live coverage is all we get is on Sundays when there are no replays, with exception to July 8. The same commentators are there this year; Liggett, Sherwin, Roll, Hummer, Trautwig and Andreu, but a new addition is former US Postal rider Robbie Ventura.
If you paid close attention during the Edgar Soto Memorial Stage Race you would have seen Ventura in Nashville racing in the Masters category. Ventura won the Masters downtown crit in Nashville, and finished third overall on GC just 17 seconds back.
Even though the website wasn't working it didn't stop us from having another successful Wednesday night criterium this week. For those who attended you know we had to alter the usual course due to other events taking place, but from what I understand we should be back to our normal setup on July 11. I wasn't made aware of all the parked cars and car show setup until about lunch time on Wednesday, so I was literally scrambling to come up with a course that made any sense. I had to work with several different entities on site at the same time, and that's hard to do when each of them go on and on about their "contract." My reply each time was sweetened with an "aw shucks" approach and a request for help, and fortunately they bent just enough.
As for the coaching clinic and racing it was another big success. Coach Todd Nordmeyer's clinic on cornering had 16 people participating and a total of 74 different people racing throughout the evening. The "C" race again was the most populated with an amazing 37 riders! The "A" and "B" fields were a little smaller this week, but I expect the fields to swell after having a couple of weeks off. The racing calendar in July is fairly sparse, so the Wednesday night crits are some of the only real opportunities to stay race fit.
Ok, moving on to other events around the globe.
Doping Scandal Puts Dark Cloud Over Coverage of Tour de France
Versus, the station formerly known as OLN, is taking a big hit in viewership since Lance's retirement. We can expect to see Frankie Andreu reporting from the Tour for Versus as usual. The doping admission has not tarnished him too badly, and as the president of Versus says, "It wouldn't be cycling if it weren’t awkward."
I think Armen Keteyian of CBS has comments that are revealing about how the media approach is and likely will be, which is he would focus on the doping more and racing action less. Thanks Armen for providing coverage we were really looking for, you know, as if we were desiring more information about the doping problem? Armen wouldn't uncover one new thing about doping, but rather go on ad nauseam about the same thing we've already heard or read countless times. Armen, you are so late to the party that all the punch and finger food was devoured long ago.
Let's not fool ourselves. No matter what you believe about doping, who is doing it, who isn't doing it, how dirty or clean the races are, etc. we STILL want to see the racing action and get commentary dissecting the outcome. The doping "scandal" is a never ending saga these days, unlike the Festina affair back in the 1998 Tour de France. So to all the media out there; give us cycling fans what we want, and that is a LOT of racing action! Desire to do some investigative reporting? How about digging into riders that are clean and reporting about their success or failures. Now that would be a investigation worth watching and listening to.
Pelo-Pics from PezCycling
Every red blooded male cyclist is aware of Pez's Daily Distractions, but Pelopics offer up another cool picture gallery worth checking out. My favorite for June is this shot of Milram at the starting gate for a TTT. Why women are holding the riders I'll never understand, but the look on her face says it all.
Weather takes a toll on $8M wine industry
Hopefully our recent rains will help overcome the drought's impact on all farmers, but local wineries are getting pinched badly as well. Fortunately it looks like I'll be taking another trip out to Napa Valley for another wine bottling weekend at Century Oak Winery in the Lodi region. This time I hope to stay a little longer and do some training in the heart of Napa around my friend's home.
Book excerpt: From Lance to Landis
This short excerpt describes Frankie Andreu's decision to take EPO. Like I mentioned the other day the book is filled with stories about doping, and each one goes into a finer detail than you may expect. However, it's the details you can relate to and begin to understand the struggle each rider faces. To dope or not to dope. To get dropped or compete. To have a job or not have a job. Such a simple yes or no answer will put your life down two separate pathways that bear not one single resemblance of the other.
Q&A with 'Lance to Landis' author David Walsh
Bonnie DeSimone of ESPN.com scores an interview with Lance's favorite author. Walsh comes across in print as a man who is deeply curious about everything that surrounds doping. I think he realizes one reporter isn't going to take down the biggest name in cycling (Armstrong), but one reporter can begin to slowly put the big doping puzzle together. I see this as no different than the two reporters who tied all the pieces together to write Game of Shadows. I agree with Walsh in his response about Greg Lemond and Andy Hampsten. Race results prove those guys got passed by lesser talent. When EPO arrived they had to join the grupetto.
Moreau hopes for spotty Tour
Yeah, I did a double take on the interview headline too! At the age of 36 Christophe Moreau is gunning for the Polka Dot jersey. I'd look for him to be super active on Bastille Day as well. He's always been the guy who is on the cusp of a big Tour result, but ends up getting dropped in the last five kilometers of a mountain stage. After winning the overall in the Dauphiné Libéré and taking two stage wins let's hope he's found a rebirth in his climbing legs and fulfills his dreams. A Frenchman battling it out for mountainous stage victories in the Tour would definitely excite the fans and make for good television.
National Road Championships
All across the globe this weekend there are national championships being decided. Expect to see new champions wearing their national championship jerseys with pride at the start of the Tour de France next weekend.
2007 Tour de France
In case you've not looked at a calendar lately it starts on Saturday, July 7.
Versus TV - Tour de France coverage
Despite the lower numbers Versus isn't changing their amount of coverage this year. There shouldn't be any reason why you can't see a stage with the amount of live coverge and numerous replays each day. The only day where live coverage is all we get is on Sundays when there are no replays, with exception to July 8. The same commentators are there this year; Liggett, Sherwin, Roll, Hummer, Trautwig and Andreu, but a new addition is former US Postal rider Robbie Ventura.
If you paid close attention during the Edgar Soto Memorial Stage Race you would have seen Ventura in Nashville racing in the Masters category. Ventura won the Masters downtown crit in Nashville, and finished third overall on GC just 17 seconds back.
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 6/29/2007 09:38:00 AM
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