Weekend of Rest & Tour
If you're going to have a rest weekend thrown your way it might as well be timed to the start of the Tour de France prologue. I was able to wake up, make some coffee, eat a little breakfast, turn on the tele and enjoy some TT action. My bike will get some much needed rest too.
The first rider just crossed the line at a little over 10 minutes, but we've got another 188 to go. Here's the official TT start list for today. As I'm watching and blogging I'll throw in some random commentary. Maybe I can pick up a few TT tips as the action happens. I'm in the process of getting a new TT bike myself in the hopes of maxing my TT ability, which of course means it may hurt my chances of retaining the Lanterne Rouge at Edgar Soto next year.
Each year watching the Tour on OLN/Versus there are usually a few good commercials, but after three weeks they tend to wear on your nerves. The first one out of the gate is of a woman riding a Cervelo bike, and as she's rolling the roads level out completely as if the hills disappear. Cervelo has a cool video section on their website that I recommend checking out. There's another Cervelo commercial in a wind tunnel. Dang, now there's been about four other Cervelo spots. Looks like they're stepping up their marketing exposure, but save some for stage one!
Speaking of Cervelo there goes Stuart O'Grady of CSC down to pavement! Ouch, that was a hard fall coming out of a left-hand turn. He doesn't look too happy as he just rolls in for the last kilometer.
Whoa, here's a Miller Beer commercial of a delivery driver taking the beer out of some fancy French restaurant. Oh this is hilarious. The driver walks in and looks over the menu and makes his way to the beer cooler. Miller Beer is for people to enjoy the High Life he says. As he's walking out he says, "11.50 for a hamburger, ya'll must be crazy!" Nice, definitely a Southerner! Miller Beer during the Tour, who'd have thunk it?
So there goes a Visa commercial with people stopping by coffee and donut shops. The first shop name was Bianchi coffee and tea. Coincidence? There wasn't a bicycle theme during the commercial.
Everything's Coming Up 7-7-07
Do you feel lucky today?
National Festival Kicks-off With Masters Time Trial Competition
There are quite a few Tennesseans in Seven Springs competing in the national championships over the next few weeks. Friday marked the beginning of the masters competition, and Tennessee has it's first National Champion!
Knoxvillian G. Turner Howard of Knox Velo won the Men 60-64 division in their 20km individual time-trial. His winning time was 28:00.17, which was a whopping 1:24.49 ahead of his nearest competitor.
Go HERE for the official results from Day One.
Other notable finishes were:
Durward Higgins of Outdoor Chattanooga taking 4th place in Masters 65-69
Stephanie Bleecher of Gran Fondo taking 8th place in Women 45-49
John Hart of Krystal taking 10th place in Masters 30-34
Travis Werts of Krystal taking 21st in Masters 30-34
Dirk Pohlman of Krystal taking 3rd in Masters 40-44
Kent Bostick of AMD/Discovery taking 2nd in Masters 50-54
As you can see, not only one national champ but also two more podium spots for Tennessee residents. Congrats to all!
2007 Maxxis Georgia Cup
It looks like this race series is back up and running. They've had a few events get cancelled, and after the latest cancellation their website had been wiped clean of race information. I'd keep a close eye on their web content to ensure races are actually taking place. Imagine driving down to GA only to find nobody is home?
Armstrong believes Landis will likely lose arbitration case
Not only does Lance think Floyd will lose his case, but he also said he doesn't believe Floyd doped. He claims that has always been his position, but I must have missed his previous comments. I remember his lending moral support, but I don't recall Lance standing up and saying Floyd is innocent.
Landis will know verdict Friday
Scroll down the news and you'll see a Belgian report stating Landis will hear his fate. None of the usual cycling news outlets have reported an outcome yet, but that doesn't mean Landis hasn't been contacted already. Nothing has been reported on FloydLandis.com either. If you're like me you're ready to put this whole thing behind us. It's time to move on.
Tour de France awash in doping questions, controversies
As usual Bonnie DeSimone of ESPN.com offers up a good article about the Tour. I recommend following her online to get her thoughts and news within the cycling circus for the next three weeks. There are some good quotes from several different sources.
First, the riders association response to the oath they had to sign before competing in the Tour was right on. Why should only the riders have to sign the agreement and forfeit income? What about all the other stakeholders within each team? Everybody involved from team owners, managers, directors, soigneurs, doctors, staff, etc. should commit themselves to a dope free culture and put something on the line. Everybody shares the blame and responsibility, so put your John Hancock on the line too.
Patrice Clerc of the ASO, which is the parent company of the Tour de France, said cycling has the opportunity to lead all sports as the example to follow on cleaning up doping. He's right, cycling does have the opportunity to no longer be the black sheep. What reporters are failing to report about is that cycling is by far the most tested sport in all of sports. Naturally if you're the most tested sport then you're going to catch the most cheaters, and this has yet to be put into perspective for all sports fans to understand.
Another quote that I'm sure countless other professionals have uttered comes from Fred Rodriguez, "It's still heartbreaking when you hear these stories about other riders you've competed against. You think, 'What did they cost me? How many results have I lost? What level could I have played at?'"
Talk about feeling cheated.
Discovery Channel team searching for its next identity
Johan Bruyneel had this to say, "We need to come up with a way to convince people that everyone isn't cheating." Alright, here's a start Johan, don't sign suspected dopers!
Vino' draws fire for Ferrari ties
Dr. Michele Ferrari may get the most attention of any cycling doctor aside from the Operation Puerto docs. Who knows if the allegations about Ferrari are true, but where there's smoke you should watch out for fire. One would think that every professional cyclist would be distancing himself from any doctor with a questionable reputation.
However, have any of you ever read Ferrari's website? I have followed it from time to time over the years to see his latest writings. He may have one of the best cycling website names, 53x12.com. If you read his articles you know right away this guy is on another level on technicality
For example, read Pedaling Cadences and Force Peaks. What he has to say about sprint cadence is something I have found to be very true over the last two years training and racing with a power meter. He puts it into more scientific terms as it relates to force, but smaller sprint gears with a higher cadence will prove more successful in all situations. I know this goes against logic, but the force required to turn the bigger gears absolutely slows you down and taxes your body in ways you don't realize.
Now the bad part about Ferrari's website is that he rarely writes a new article, but if you've never read his site then you've got a lot of archives to read through.
Nashville Wine Press Event Listing
Saffire Restaurant and Bar has a tasting next week worth checking out.
LocalWineEvents.com
How have I not heard of this website before? Anything and everything you want know about wine tasting events all over the planet. If you check out the Nashville listings you'll see a lot of opportunities to taste. Note the annual 5th Annual Wine on the River date in September on the pedestrian bridge, and 7th Annual Wine Down Main Street in Franklin in November. Get your tickets early!
10 reasons you'll want to watch this year's Tour de France
Lastly and finally, an article from Jim Caple at ESPN.com that's actually written from a positive perspective regarding the Tour. His Number One reason is right on the money; the Tour is still a compelling event.
Caple is giving me motivation to create my own Top 10 Reasons to Watch the Tour:
1 - The only reason I have cable TV is to have Versus so I can watch the Tour de France every summer. Ok, I admit, also to watch 24 on Fox, but for one month I get my money's worth.
2 - Because I am fortunate to be able to sit at home each morning and watch it live. No office job for me.
3 - A new champion will be wearing the yellow jersey in Paris. This means uniquely different battles every day on the road making for an unpredictable race.
4 - Sprint finishes! McEwen, Zabel, Boonen, Hushovd, O'Grady and Rodriguez.
5 - Mountain attacking and suffering! This will be a wide open Tour once it reaches the mountains with no clear favorites. Anyone can have one great day, but how many of them can be consistent for each mountain stage? Plus, the fans along the mountain are crazy.
6 - To blog. Duh.
7 - Liggettisms, Sherwinisms and Rollisms. We've all heard the standards from this trio of announcers, but they're great at rolling new 'isms off their tongues when the action goes down.
8 - See #2 reason again.
9 - I enjoy the colors, the pageantry, the road side view, the bikes, the personalities, all of it. Everything about the sporting event is about getting attention in the grandest way. Cool uniforms with unique colors, the sweetest machines on earth, and quirky personalities all make this an interesting event.
10 - Because it is the biggest sporting event on earth. Every single day is the Super Bowl. Every single day is the seventh game of the World Series. Every single day the spectacle across the roads of France is bigger in scope and size than any other team or individual sporting event. Forget about television ratings, forget about sponsorship dollars, forget about doping scandals and focus on man and his machine.
My heart is captivated by it's immeasurable beauty.
The first rider just crossed the line at a little over 10 minutes, but we've got another 188 to go. Here's the official TT start list for today. As I'm watching and blogging I'll throw in some random commentary. Maybe I can pick up a few TT tips as the action happens. I'm in the process of getting a new TT bike myself in the hopes of maxing my TT ability, which of course means it may hurt my chances of retaining the Lanterne Rouge at Edgar Soto next year.
Each year watching the Tour on OLN/Versus there are usually a few good commercials, but after three weeks they tend to wear on your nerves. The first one out of the gate is of a woman riding a Cervelo bike, and as she's rolling the roads level out completely as if the hills disappear. Cervelo has a cool video section on their website that I recommend checking out. There's another Cervelo commercial in a wind tunnel. Dang, now there's been about four other Cervelo spots. Looks like they're stepping up their marketing exposure, but save some for stage one!
Speaking of Cervelo there goes Stuart O'Grady of CSC down to pavement! Ouch, that was a hard fall coming out of a left-hand turn. He doesn't look too happy as he just rolls in for the last kilometer.
Whoa, here's a Miller Beer commercial of a delivery driver taking the beer out of some fancy French restaurant. Oh this is hilarious. The driver walks in and looks over the menu and makes his way to the beer cooler. Miller Beer is for people to enjoy the High Life he says. As he's walking out he says, "11.50 for a hamburger, ya'll must be crazy!" Nice, definitely a Southerner! Miller Beer during the Tour, who'd have thunk it?
So there goes a Visa commercial with people stopping by coffee and donut shops. The first shop name was Bianchi coffee and tea. Coincidence? There wasn't a bicycle theme during the commercial.
Everything's Coming Up 7-7-07
Do you feel lucky today?
National Festival Kicks-off With Masters Time Trial Competition
There are quite a few Tennesseans in Seven Springs competing in the national championships over the next few weeks. Friday marked the beginning of the masters competition, and Tennessee has it's first National Champion!
Knoxvillian G. Turner Howard of Knox Velo won the Men 60-64 division in their 20km individual time-trial. His winning time was 28:00.17, which was a whopping 1:24.49 ahead of his nearest competitor.
Go HERE for the official results from Day One.
Other notable finishes were:
Durward Higgins of Outdoor Chattanooga taking 4th place in Masters 65-69
Stephanie Bleecher of Gran Fondo taking 8th place in Women 45-49
John Hart of Krystal taking 10th place in Masters 30-34
Travis Werts of Krystal taking 21st in Masters 30-34
Dirk Pohlman of Krystal taking 3rd in Masters 40-44
Kent Bostick of AMD/Discovery taking 2nd in Masters 50-54
As you can see, not only one national champ but also two more podium spots for Tennessee residents. Congrats to all!
2007 Maxxis Georgia Cup
It looks like this race series is back up and running. They've had a few events get cancelled, and after the latest cancellation their website had been wiped clean of race information. I'd keep a close eye on their web content to ensure races are actually taking place. Imagine driving down to GA only to find nobody is home?
Armstrong believes Landis will likely lose arbitration case
Not only does Lance think Floyd will lose his case, but he also said he doesn't believe Floyd doped. He claims that has always been his position, but I must have missed his previous comments. I remember his lending moral support, but I don't recall Lance standing up and saying Floyd is innocent.
Landis will know verdict Friday
Scroll down the news and you'll see a Belgian report stating Landis will hear his fate. None of the usual cycling news outlets have reported an outcome yet, but that doesn't mean Landis hasn't been contacted already. Nothing has been reported on FloydLandis.com either. If you're like me you're ready to put this whole thing behind us. It's time to move on.
Tour de France awash in doping questions, controversies
As usual Bonnie DeSimone of ESPN.com offers up a good article about the Tour. I recommend following her online to get her thoughts and news within the cycling circus for the next three weeks. There are some good quotes from several different sources.
First, the riders association response to the oath they had to sign before competing in the Tour was right on. Why should only the riders have to sign the agreement and forfeit income? What about all the other stakeholders within each team? Everybody involved from team owners, managers, directors, soigneurs, doctors, staff, etc. should commit themselves to a dope free culture and put something on the line. Everybody shares the blame and responsibility, so put your John Hancock on the line too.
Patrice Clerc of the ASO, which is the parent company of the Tour de France, said cycling has the opportunity to lead all sports as the example to follow on cleaning up doping. He's right, cycling does have the opportunity to no longer be the black sheep. What reporters are failing to report about is that cycling is by far the most tested sport in all of sports. Naturally if you're the most tested sport then you're going to catch the most cheaters, and this has yet to be put into perspective for all sports fans to understand.
Another quote that I'm sure countless other professionals have uttered comes from Fred Rodriguez, "It's still heartbreaking when you hear these stories about other riders you've competed against. You think, 'What did they cost me? How many results have I lost? What level could I have played at?'"
Talk about feeling cheated.
Discovery Channel team searching for its next identity
Johan Bruyneel had this to say, "We need to come up with a way to convince people that everyone isn't cheating." Alright, here's a start Johan, don't sign suspected dopers!
Vino' draws fire for Ferrari ties
Dr. Michele Ferrari may get the most attention of any cycling doctor aside from the Operation Puerto docs. Who knows if the allegations about Ferrari are true, but where there's smoke you should watch out for fire. One would think that every professional cyclist would be distancing himself from any doctor with a questionable reputation.
However, have any of you ever read Ferrari's website? I have followed it from time to time over the years to see his latest writings. He may have one of the best cycling website names, 53x12.com. If you read his articles you know right away this guy is on another level on technicality
For example, read Pedaling Cadences and Force Peaks. What he has to say about sprint cadence is something I have found to be very true over the last two years training and racing with a power meter. He puts it into more scientific terms as it relates to force, but smaller sprint gears with a higher cadence will prove more successful in all situations. I know this goes against logic, but the force required to turn the bigger gears absolutely slows you down and taxes your body in ways you don't realize.
Now the bad part about Ferrari's website is that he rarely writes a new article, but if you've never read his site then you've got a lot of archives to read through.
Nashville Wine Press Event Listing
Saffire Restaurant and Bar has a tasting next week worth checking out.
LocalWineEvents.com
How have I not heard of this website before? Anything and everything you want know about wine tasting events all over the planet. If you check out the Nashville listings you'll see a lot of opportunities to taste. Note the annual 5th Annual Wine on the River date in September on the pedestrian bridge, and 7th Annual Wine Down Main Street in Franklin in November. Get your tickets early!
10 reasons you'll want to watch this year's Tour de France
Lastly and finally, an article from Jim Caple at ESPN.com that's actually written from a positive perspective regarding the Tour. His Number One reason is right on the money; the Tour is still a compelling event.
Caple is giving me motivation to create my own Top 10 Reasons to Watch the Tour:
1 - The only reason I have cable TV is to have Versus so I can watch the Tour de France every summer. Ok, I admit, also to watch 24 on Fox, but for one month I get my money's worth.
2 - Because I am fortunate to be able to sit at home each morning and watch it live. No office job for me.
3 - A new champion will be wearing the yellow jersey in Paris. This means uniquely different battles every day on the road making for an unpredictable race.
4 - Sprint finishes! McEwen, Zabel, Boonen, Hushovd, O'Grady and Rodriguez.
5 - Mountain attacking and suffering! This will be a wide open Tour once it reaches the mountains with no clear favorites. Anyone can have one great day, but how many of them can be consistent for each mountain stage? Plus, the fans along the mountain are crazy.
6 - To blog. Duh.
7 - Liggettisms, Sherwinisms and Rollisms. We've all heard the standards from this trio of announcers, but they're great at rolling new 'isms off their tongues when the action goes down.
8 - See #2 reason again.
9 - I enjoy the colors, the pageantry, the road side view, the bikes, the personalities, all of it. Everything about the sporting event is about getting attention in the grandest way. Cool uniforms with unique colors, the sweetest machines on earth, and quirky personalities all make this an interesting event.
10 - Because it is the biggest sporting event on earth. Every single day is the Super Bowl. Every single day is the seventh game of the World Series. Every single day the spectacle across the roads of France is bigger in scope and size than any other team or individual sporting event. Forget about television ratings, forget about sponsorship dollars, forget about doping scandals and focus on man and his machine.
My heart is captivated by it's immeasurable beauty.
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 7/07/2007 09:03:00 AM
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