31 August 2012

Is that...the sun?

It's burning my flesh....!

Seriously though...good to see El Sol again.  The past week has been like living in Portland, only hotter and more humid.  Upside?  Less hipsters...

Nice group ride last night...if not a little weird.  It was a good group...a bit smaller than usual.  I blame the weather, and the Carolina game, but I digress...

A big group went through one of the lights, and didn't bother to look back over their collective shoulder for the dozen or so of us who got caught at BOTH lights on 12th.  Nothing says "proper warmup" like chasing down 12th @ 40kmh+...5 minutes into the ride.  Sorry, my engine is diesel.  Can't just spin that shit up immediately!  The gap was closed down before Amazon, but I just never recovered.

Here's where the weirdness started happening...

I know everyone wants to get across, but how about working a bit?  5 of us closed the gap for the rest.  I just never recovered after that.  I rode somewhere between 85-99.97% for the rest of the night.  The fact the humidity was 143% didn't exactly help.
Speaking of the rest of the night, the same 5 of us drove the ride.  We'd pull through, and the group would look around like the Perseid meteor shower was going on in the evening sky.
Oh well, at least I know I got some work in...

I don't like to wish bad shit on people, but this hipster is going to take a well-deserved wing-shaped core sample of him/herself at some point.  Notice the bars?  Yeah...Cinelli Rams.  SMH...

Cipollini.  Mario...Cipollini...

FILM BOND from Mcipollini on Vimeo.

Rides:

Saturday : CX ride  0900 at the Colonial Center fountain
Sunday : Road   0900 at the corner of Greene and Laurens in 5 Points  50-60 out into Lex/Cal
Monday : Road  0830 @ Caughman Rd. Park.  Flat 50 miles...

I've been up since 0300...fading fast.  Pro-tip : As enticing as it can be after a hard, hot ride, DO NOT drink two pint glasses full of sweet tea with dinner. 

Namaste...

30 August 2012

Hmmm...

Got an email from a "professional member" of a certain Euro Pro cycling team yesterday.  This person absolutely lost her shit that I would dare make fun of Levi as much as I do.  She claimed that the angry bald midget is all smiles...all the time.  Really?  How about the picture above, from the 2010 US TT Champs podium.  Looks happier than a puppy with two peters, eh?
Maybe he's just upset that his step on the podium is right at ass height on Taylor...
I shall defer though, as she has followed cycling since 2009, and can be considered an expert...

My buddy Hoover has a point...


I'm riding tonight...rain or shine.  Gotta get out of this house....

A three day weekend is looming on the horizon...


29 August 2012

Humpy

The final podium from The USA Pro Challenge (Tour of Colorado).  They made VdV stand in front of the box so they could properly frame the shot.  We he stood on the top step, only he and Tejay were visible in the frame!
Nice to see that the angry bald midget didn't deviate from his normal happy-go-lucky personality...

No ride last night, as it was dark and rainy.  Normally, these aren't deterrents, but facing Columbia drivers @ rush hour in those conditions didn't exactly excite me.  I lifted, and went to EarthFare instead.  On the trip back, my decision NOT to ride was proven wise, as some ding-dong, iPhone wielding Junior Leaguer looped the BMW that daddy bought her dead in the middle of the Devine/Woodrow intersection.  Scary shit...

I got a note from my buddy Rob, who lives out in the Bay area, about Chinese carbon.  He wanted to know where I stood...
I told him we were all already riding Chinese carbon anyway!  Seriously!  My "Made in Belgium" Ridley hit the door last Spring, and the box had Mandarin characters on it, and upon studying the pack slip, I suddenly became hungry for General Tso chicken with steamed rice and an eggroll. 
As with most things, there is Chinese carbon to avoid, and Chinese carbon that's fine.  If one chooses to get a set of Chinese carbon wheels, stick to the names you know...like Williams, or Boyd.  If a no-name Chinese frame tickles your (insert body part here), Choosing something from DengFu, or HongFu is probably a safe bet.  Check this website if you have questions. 
Understand on thing though...
A $400-500 carbon frameset is disposable.  If you get a year...18 months...two years out of it, then you've done well.  If it breaks in that time, just buy another.  Even if you buy one every 18 months, it's still cheaper than a Dogma.  And to be honest, the Dogma was likely made in the same factory...

Ride on...

27 August 2012

Some stuff

Let's get to the really important stuff first...

Cipo was in Colorado for the USA ProChallenge.  Dude is just cool...full stop!  And congrats to VdV and Tejay for finishing 1-2...and for knocking the angry, bald midget down to the 3rd step.

Anyone else see the irony that the name of his team is "MRI Racing"?  Liquid painkiller in that cup perhaps?

I may need a moment or two to drink in all of the awesome that this bike is putting out...

A good weekend of riding around here. 

Saturday was a solid CX ride.  2.5 hours and 40 miles under the Kenda Happy Mediums.  Scouted some new dirt sections, and had a nice cruise thru campus after stomping up Gervais to end the ride.  Nothing says Fall like sorority rush.  Whoever invented the sundress should have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

After I refreshed a bit, and threw some lunch down my neck, I loaded up the Beast, and we went to a secret spot for a family ride. 

Two on the roof (it'll take more) and two on the back, plus the Burley Solo in the boot.  Euro team cars got nothing on us!  The second ride of the day ended up being 9 miles.  I was impressed and proud of the boys.  9 miles is a long way on a BMX bike...at 5 and 7 years old!  Hell, the H.O. didn't even complain!  Shocking!
And I think Duke has decided that being pulled around in the Burley fits his station in life.  

Sunday, Il Prof, TVH, Treze and I headed out into Lex and Calhoun.  Such a nice ride and a borderline perfect day.  Nearly 60 miles fell under the wheels, and we did little more than ride steady and chat.  Always stuff to see out in the country...

 Mmmmmm...BBQ...in Swansea, SC

 The road goes on forever.  Smooth, no traffic, and rolling.  Nothing to dislike here...


This sign indicates two things.  1) Selling fireworks at a gas station is dangerous business, and 2) Someone has set fireworks off within 300 ft. of the building in the past, and the outcome wasn't that great.

Hope everyone's weekend was a good as mine!  Namaste!  Enjoy the week!



24 August 2012

A Few Things:

A few things:

-They ALL were on the AvGas in that era.
Lance just did it better.  He was a better athlete.  Can't make a racehorse out of a donkey.  If you could, all of those Masters douchebags who have gotten popped would have had better results.

-Lance doped...so what? If one is to follow the very letter of the Law, he shouldn't be stripped.
He played within the confines of the rules in place AT THE TIME.  Can't replay  history when it suits you.  Can't apply the rules of today to what occurred in the past.  If that were the case, a lot of us would be fucked.

-For good, and/or bad, Lance brought people into the sport.
Some stayed and brought something to the table.  Some were/are jacket wearers and either left, or have stayed on the periphery.  It was good for the cycling business too.

-Lance raised millions for cancer awareness.
Sure, articles have been written about just WHERE the money went, and that's been beaten to death, but it's hard to deny that the impact that Livestrong has had in the World of Cancer.

-The USADA broke it's own rules chasing this investigation.
Three words : Statute of limitations!  Thanks USADA for pursuing a retired athlete at all costs.  Oh, and has anyone actually seen the alleged positive tests?

-Heroes and winners in EVERY sport have doped. Merckx, Pantani, Clemens, Bonds, all of the NFL...
This point is irrefutable. 

-Sit around and say "I told you so...", but if you were a fan when LA was winning, you went crazy when he won. If you say you didn't, you're a liar.

-DO I care?
Not a bit. Lance will always be the winner of those Tours to me...and most other fans.  The field was level in his era.

-Do I love cycling less this morning?
 Nope.

-Do I think less of Lance?
Nope.

-Do I think less of the USADA and USA Cycling?
 Yep. USADA is a joke.  How about making ball and stick athletes adhere to the same protocols as cyclists.  Oh, that's right, there would be far too many positive tests, and the ball and stick sports make too much money...

Now on to the inevitable shit show that is going to follow.  Who won those Tours?  

You can figure out the new winners thru this little infographic...
Kind of proves the point that they were all on the AvGas. 

No ride last night.  It rained, HARD.  Normally, I'll go ride in rain, but as I've said before, I have a little issue with bolts of lightning arcing from sky to ground, and possibly thru my body.

Instead, I installed the new PINK seat collar, and straightened the stem on the Salsa.  I know, I could barely contain my enthusiasm either...

Riding in the a.m.  Don't know when, nor where...I'll update later...

Happy Friday!

22 August 2012

Humpday

 Nothing quite like female cyclists in cocktail dresses...

 While in theory, this may look very cool, in practice, it's a recipe for disaster, AND it shoots the warranty with SRAM (which everyone eventually uses) in the ass.  SRAM levers have a bad habit of breaking without the help of a cordless drill.  I hear carbon is a bitch to pick out of a wound as well...

Synchronized track riding?  Who knew?

Weird ride last night.  I felt pretty good, but the ride was disjointed, at best. 

There was yet another dumbassed/panic crash last night.  The line accordianed a bit, and people freaked out and nailed their brakes.  Fortunately, only one person went down...and it was the guy who decided to see if his new brakepads were effective.  Unfortunately, this guy, and his matching kit ride partner, have been right on the edge of causing a crash for the last two weeks...and not just on the WeCola ride.  They evidently made efforts to take down the Beer Ride on Friday too...
Stop riding over your heads people.  If you have to put your head down, stay in the back...please!
As Phil and Paul say, "it's safer in the front..."  About 8 of us were ahead of the chute, and to be honest, I never heard the telltale metal on ground grinding that comes with a road crash. 
We sat up for quite a while, but only a couple came across to us.  At the top of Glenn, the decision was made to keep going, so the pace picked back up.
Of course, on Glenn, a lesson on how to ride the correct pace was given by TVH.  It's all good, as the student of the lesson, who really likes to surge when he finds the front, got unceremoniously shelled out on 302. 
Good rolling paceline the rest of the way in.  We stopped to wait/chat in the parking lot, and a few trickled in.  Seeing as it was getting really dark, I rolled out to head for Service Course.  As soon as I hit Olympia, big, cold, stinging raindrops began to fall.  The pace of the rain picked up, the wind started, and it got DARK.  Nothing like doing a good, dry, 2 hour ride by winding it up with 15 minutes of driving rain. 
As seeing (or not in this case) that I was forced to take my glasses off, the journey through the 'hood was 40% sight, and 60% memory.  Big fun...

The Ridley is sitting in the backroom, filthy.  My shoes are still soaked.  Guess it's time to do work...

It's all downhill from here people.  The weekend is around the corner...


21 August 2012

Pics for a dreary Tueday

 See, guys were bunnyhopping decades ago.  It wasn't invented in 2008...


 Victoria Pendleton = proper construction!  She's also a winner, gracious, and seemingly pleasant to be around.  Take a note Lolo Jones...

How to win at the next draft legal triathlon! 

Nothing new since Sunday.  The Salsa and Ridley both got cleaned yesterday, and the Jericho got torn down to the bare frame.  Trying to decide if I should paint it, or retire it.  Thinking about getting another CX frameset to hang the Ultegra SL kit on.  After riding the Salsa again, I was reminded what a complete swingset the Jericho truly is by comparison. 
That, and the fact that a crash early in the year completely jacked the alignment of the rear triangle.  I guess that happens when the outcome of the shunt includes a 185 pound ME landing on top of the bike...

Like the title says, it's dreary today.  No matter, I'm riding tonight.  Don't know which arrow will be pulled from the quiver, but a ride is gonna happen...

Namaste...

19 August 2012

Yippee...

Summer is over...for Junior Management at least.  School starts tomorrow.  #1 is excited to get back.  #2, well, let's just say that the first day of kindergarten is weighing heavily on his little mind.
Of course, as with most things he does, it'll take about 3 days, and he'll forget any trepidation he may have experienced. 
Mornings will be a bit quieter around here, as it will just be #3 and myself.  I may actually be able to get some shit done, instead of breaking up arguing matches, and separating the older two from their new found affinity for combat sports. 
#1 has good range in the stand-up game, but #2 is solid on the ground.  Pretty even...

But I digress...

Saturday, my plan was not to have a plan.  I rode like I may have had polio as a child on Thursday night, so getting up @ 0500, and heading to Clinton, to PAY for an ass-whipping didn't sound altogether appealing.  I did actually have a bunch of stuff to do around here too, so I stayed home.  From the reports that have trickled in, it may have been a sound decision.
Solo ride out into LexCo came after a nice little bout of sleeping in.  The Tues/Thurs loop, plus a little "where does this road go?" exploring went down.  When all was said and done, 70km had passed under the Vittorias.  No pictures, as I completely forgot to pull the camera out of my pocket.  Just imagine empty, well-paved road with little traffic...

This morning, I slept in again.  Hey, school starts tomorrow, and the rooster will be crowing @ 0600...bite me! 
Anyway, I lounged with the plan of getting on the bike @ 0930.  Well, @ 0930, it looked a lot like the rainy season on the Serengeti outside.  At 10, the rain let up, I downed a large cup of HTFU, and headed out on the newly rebuilt Salsa for a shakedown ride.





It was quite a nice morning, just a bit drizzly and damp...until I crossed the river and got out to the dirt.  The rain fell fast, hard, and cold...




Yeah...I forgot my fender too.  Too say that I was wet and covered in LexCo's finest detritus would be an understatement.  No matter.  It was 2 hours out on the bike, and I enjoyed it.  So there...
The Salsa rode perfectly.  The only issues were the seat being about 2.5mm too high, and the stem was off to the left by about 3 degrees.  One was remedied...one was not...

Oh, the Vuelta started too.  Contador is back.  That's about all I know of it...

And now the time has come to start getting shit together for the morning, so I don't have to run around like a loon to get things going in the a.m.!

Hope everyone had a good weekend! 





15 August 2012

Middle o' the week

Now that the Olympics are over, I sort of miss beach volleyball...

 All sorts of win here.  Firefly custom Ti CX with all sorts of goodies.  Enve wheels, discs, looks like old school White Industries cranks, and it'll go monster cross...as shown.  Me rikey...!  Only problem?  no picture of the drive side... #amateurs

 All sorts of win here too.  Victoria Pendleton is on my short list.

The amount of fail in this picture is quite evident.  To be honest, I don't know where to begin.  Looks like Johnny 5, a Marin MTB, and a contractor's truck were in a bad accident, and melded together to form whatever the hell this is...

Good ride last night, once the group thinned out a bit.  Two close calls before we crossed onto Glenn.  Same person created both.  Fool me once...you know the rest...
I got tailed off on the climb, as I am a dumbass, and rode off the side of the road while re-depositing my bottle in the cage.   Derp...
The chase up the climb, and down the descent that follows hurt, and stayed with me for the remainder of the ride.  I felt bad at the beginning of the ride.  That little 10-12 minutes of suck did nothing to alleviate the feeling.
Nonetheless, it was good to get out, get on the bike, and get some fresh air.

Today's adventure, thus far, has been taking The Beast in for it's 75k mile service.  That should be inexpensive.  Upside?  The GMC dealer is installing a new instrument cluster...free of charge.  Gotta love the recalls...
I'm sure my enthusiasm will be beaten down, Rodney King style, by the looming charges for the service itself.  Sweet...

Two links:

 Olympic bike racing, b/c they showed little of it on the coverage.

And my buddy Dan has started his own coffee company.  Check it out.  It's gooooooood...

It's Wednesday.  The week is half over, and the kids go back to school in just 4.5 short days!  Rejoice!

Seacrest, OUT!

13 August 2012

Continuing yesterday's theme...

 The VERY bad....



That's just some scary, scary stuff...


Never been a huge fan of folding bikes, but properly accessorized, they can be very nice to look at...

Hope this cushions the blow that is Monday...



12 August 2012

Why does good always come with bad?

My weekend has been a 60/40 trade-off.

Saturday was a good ride.  We actually had a little group for the 9am Brennen ride.  It was nice.  Everyone was jovial, took their turns on the front, and rode well.  The weather was pretty damn good...for a while.  Mid 70s...the sun hid behind the clouds, and little wind.

UNTIL....

This was headed our direction...quickly...and became a pretty good, albeit short storm.  High wind, heavy rain, and lightning lead us to this...


Hiding under the 18" overhang of the Hopkins Magistrate's office.  Well, half of us did.  The other half made the 100m run for the breezeway @ Hopkins Elementary.  The decision to hide out under a steel breezeway in an electrical storm versus under a semi-out-in-the-open roof overhang was a push, so I stayed put.  After about 30 minutes of storm, we gathered up and rolled on.  The last hour of the ride was in a steady rain.  We were all a bit water-logged and over it once we hit the 'hood.
Good ride!
The bad?  My in-laws were supposed to stop by to bring #1 son his birthday present...a week late, so we hung around the house all day, only to receive a phone call @ 5:30 telling us they had gotten busy, and weren't coming.  Thanks for jacking up my whole afternoon...

This morning, I slept in a bit, and did a solo CX ride out into LexCo.

Even with all of yesterday's rain, the dirt was pretty good.  Plenty packed, smooth, and relatively fast.  2 hours.  Saw 2 does with 2 fawns, and enjoyed every moment.
Another good ride!
The bad?  Again, the in-laws said they would be stopping by, and would call first.  Instead of, I don't know, getting up and getting after it, they called @ 2:30, and said they'd be here @ 5.  Again, thanks for hand-cuffing me to the house for the second day in a row...

Good?
I pulled the tape off the Salsa...
It turned out pretty good.  Not quite finished though.  I'm going to change the paint around the BB so it's all black.  The black itself was a bit of a fortuitous screw-up on my part.  I grabbed metallic black, only to miss the fact that the can also said "Textured".  No matter.  It actually went on well, is quite thick, and looks a bit like Rhino lining.  Maybe it will protect the under side of the frame a bit.  I thought about adding some additional black, but the new fork is all black, so it'll be fine...
Now to order an orange Salsa seat collar, and some new black cages.  The 7800 really needs to be cleaned up as well, before going on the frame. 

So that was my weekend...

Until next week...which thankfully starts in 9 hours...

Peace and Phil Wood grease...

Edit:  I painted the BB shell area...





10 August 2012

Coming along...

The title of this post seems to be the theme around here lately.

As one can see, the Salsa is coming along.  I wish I had more time to devote to the project, so it would be finished more quickly, but seeing that I'm involved in about 47 other projects right now, this gets 30 minutes here, and 30 minutes there.  About 30 more minutes of line taping is required, then I can tape the entire frame for finishing paint.  Hopefully that will happen this weekend.

The knee seems to be coming along as well.  Very little stiffness/soreness this morning after last night's WeCola ride.  I rode in the front until we got to the first tip up of the road, as I was concerned about pushing on climbs.  As the second group rolled into the Glenn climb, I started to apply a bit more pressure, and it didn't seem to bother the knee.  I still didn't go as hard as I could have, simply because of the fear of tweaking something and spending more time off the bike.  4 weeks was enough. Fun ride last night.  JC and MDro graced us last night.  It was good to see them both.  It had been too long.  Buncha hybrid driving hippies...
Fitness losses were evident as well.  I'd eaten and drank enough, but was pretty tired as I raced both darkness and rain to get home.  My arrival at Service Course occurred at the cusp of darkness, while the first of the cold rain was beginning to fall.  I'm okay with that...

I don't participate in bike lust...never have.  I do, however, participate in bike appreciation.  This Look, built by our friends up at Glory Cycles, makes my trousers a bit tighter.  A Mondrian 695 w/Di2 and Carbones.  Nice!  I question the saddle choice, as it's akin to a supermodel with a jacked up foot, but what is comfortable to the rider's ass always takes precedence, especially where tender under-flesh is involved.  Either way, the bike is dope!

I'm no trained CSI, forensic analyst, but it's plain to see why this Zipp disc failed.  It was full of BEES!  That dude is either hurt bad, or he ran over it with a large automobile.  My money is on the latter.

Gotta jet...

Time to get going and run errands.  Earthfare (who was I calling a hippie earlier?) and a stop at the shop for some DZNuts (speaking of tender under-flesh) are on the agenda for this morning.  And it seems there are work calls.emails to be made...
I thought Fridays were days that wound DOWN the week...

Saturday ride : 0900 from Brennan School  Probably be a 3-ish hour roll around thru LR.  Come on out.  Let's actually have a group ride...

Namaste...






08 August 2012

London ain't Kortrijk my brother...


                                                     (Credit to TMZ for use of the images.)

Looks like Gijs Van Hoecke got his drink on in London after his events on the track had ended.  Dude was WRECKED.  Evidently carried out of the bar and poured into a taxi. 

Nothing going on here.  The Boss is in Texas for a meeting, so I've been temporarily promoted to management for a couple of days.  Junior Management is doing fine, but I'd better clean up HQ before the Boss gets home.   Thinking that coming home to a sink full of dishes will not lead to a positive job performance review for yours truly.  It may mean a demotion...

As for the Salsa, the base coat is done.  The tape has been removed, and it's sitting in Service Course, waiting for some additional paint.  The final design is swimming around in the baby pool that is my brain.  The concept will remain the same, but the execution will remain fluid.  Small changes are likely as I go along. 

I put together an idea of what I want it to look like in MS Paint, but it looks just as one would think...like my five year old did the mock-up.  Between the low quality of the mobile phone picture, and the meatball MS Paint edits, It will not see the light of day.  Look for photo updates in the coming days...

Back on the bike tomorrow...

Namaste...


06 August 2012

The Big S(hite)!!

Once again, Sinyard and the boys in Morgan Hill show that they hate their dealers....

Only in America!

I'd tell my Specialized Rep to get his ass to the store to get a correct inventory of his OWN shit.  Then he could load it into a U-Haul, and take it.  Dictating what an independent small business can sell and not sell...buncha dicks.

With the refund check from Specialized, I'd bring in Scott, Cannondale, Felt or Jamis...or all of them...

I have 4 Specialized bikes in the ManHole(tm)...the Boss' Sirrus, and a bike for each member of Junior Management.  Seriously considering putting them all on Craigslist or Ebay.  I have no dog in this fight, but it's just dirty pool.

I have, however, ordered 6 new h2o bottle cages for my 3 bikes.  All have Spec cages...not for long...

Gonna send a note to my buddy at the beach who's a Spec dealer...see what he has to say...



05 August 2012

It's like wearing tighty-whiteys...


Well, the Salsa (pronounced Sal-za in Southern) is in primer.  Yes, white primer.  It seems self-etching aluminum primer is white...and thick.  It's sitting in 3 coats.  High gloss white base coat will likely go on tomorrow.  Still trying to decide what to do for accents.  The orange panel will receive some wide metallic black border.  Thinking there may be some metallic black on some other sections as well.  A trip to Hobby Lobby is on the horizon for some creamsicle orange for striping...

 How am I funny?  Funny like a clown?  Do I amuse you? 

I eat my cake like man...by the FISTFUL! 

As one can see, #3 had his birthday party today.  He didn't go crazy with the cake like the other two had in the past.  Just handfuls in his face...

I rode both days this weekend.  Saturday on the CX bike felt exceedingly odd.  Just the action of rolling the pedals over required way too much gray matter.  My little brain has gotten even softer over the last four weeks. 
Good ride no matter.  I did 2 hours out through WeCola on the dirt.  THE road out there got a fresh dose of gravel from Lexington County.  Sort of fucked up the first mile or so of the road.  Nothing like taking a smooth dirt road and making it worse by adding "improvements".
Woke up late this morning, and didn't have a whole lot of time to ride, as the Boss' kinfolk were coming into town for #1 and #3's combined birthday shindig. 
Did the Hour of Power(tm), and felt pretty damn good.  Just spun the legs over with very little effort.  It was thick this morning....about 147% humidity.
I felt waaay better than yesterday, and the action of riding a bike didn't feel so wonky.

The Boss and I saw "The Dark Knight Rises" yesterday.  Pretty damn good.  Pretty damn long too.  Nearly three hours!  I was patently shocked that my thimble sized bladder only forced me to the restroom once! 
I'd like to see it again in IMAX, but as I told a friend who lives at the beach, I don't know if my concussion-addled little brain could handle the size and scope.  Seriously!  Ever since my run in with the tarmac in '09, I have serious bouts of vertigo in certain situations.  I'd had to hike to the beach, spend $15+ for an IMAX ticket, and have to leave.  That would suck...

Blah...blah...blah...

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  Those of you with children, take solace in the fact that school starts in two weeks!  I know I'm counting the hours...

Namaste....

02 August 2012

Almost there...

The chemical stripper has done all it's gonna do.  Some of that Taiwanese paint just doesn't want to come off.  The rest will be forcibly removed with a wire wheel and sander.  Then to clean it well, and get it primed. 
Paint theme has changed a bit.  Some BBQ black will be introduced to the design...

Hail to the King Baby!  How long is it going to be until the Queen anoints him SIR Bradley Wiggins, Earl of Mod? 
I know a lot of people don't like Wiggo, but he's about as real as it gets.  He showed real class in waiting for Cancellara to finish before celebrating, and openly said he was going to get pissed (drunk in English) b/c he won the TT.  That's cool with me...
I also like him because he rubs so many the wrong way...especially Canadians.  God, they hate the fact that all of the attention is on Wiggo, and British Cycling, and none on them. 

And speaking of class.  Big ups to Kristin Armstrong for destroying the field in the women's TT.  She came out of retirement, at 40, and kicked everyone's ass...handily! 

And don't forget, BMX kicks off soon...be sure to watch!

Back on the bike this weekend.  Should be interesting after what has amounted to a solid month of the bike.  I am (not) looking forward to the ass-whipping that I'm going to receive.  I really want to get my new shoes sorted, but wearing new shoes on the first ride after a month off, due to a KNEE injury, is probably not wise.  Who says I haven't learned anything...?

Have a good day!