Another Fine Mess

The NVGP seems to have more than it's share of bad weather.

last year was close to perfect, but 2 years ago in Minneapolis manhole covers were being blown out by the water pressure from the storm.

Last night was a return to awful weather as the rodes dried out from the day's thunderstorms just in time to get soaked by the night's thunderstorms. Luckily we had just finished getting the expo tents up so I had some shelter from the rain, but it was just windy enough to get me wet and chilled before I coudl go get the raincoat from the car.

After holding the women's race to try and let a storm cell pass they ended up doing call ups just as the skies opened. I was stuck under the farmer's market which ended up being the best place to watch the race as turn three caused carnage all night long, not just crashes but gaps being created by riders unwilling to take too many chances. In the end Kristin Armstrong was incredible lapping practically everyone and 2/3 of the filed getting pulled. it was all for naught though because despite having a podium presentation the officials neutralized the race overnight.

The men's race was even more of a cluster if that's possible. Once again things got strung out from the get go, but there was some wicked racing with O'Bee/Olson off the front and Kelly Benefits organizing the chase while Rory sat on their wheel. I figure that Health Net pretty much had the stage win in the bag when a moto crashed on the course and in the confusion they neutralized the race at the start/finish and it was all brought back together. There were a few choice words said by the riders who had been in the lead as they worked their way back up to the front but by then the officials gave the peloton the choice and the vote was overwhelmingly not to race.

There's definitely some upset riders if you search the WWW.

Hopefully today goes a little better

cycling yin and yang

apparently there is just as much need in cycling to balance itself out as there sometimes seems there is in the rest of the world.


This weekend at the Fixed Gear Classic at the velodrome, despite competing hard all weekend, crashing good on Sunday, and still coming in second in the overall, Cari Higgins from team America's Dairyland was just an awesome ambassador for the sport.

She came out with free goodies from a sponsor and instead of just putting in the time to hand it out she actually sat and talked to spectators, especially those with smaller children. That coupled with her performance has definitely made a fan out of me.


on the other hand we have the news today that Tom Boonen failed an out of competition drug test, testing positive for Cocaine. This just a couple weeks after getting pulled over while speeding and under the influence of alcohol.

Has his success and stardom gone to his head? what will this mean to a sport that is desperate to fix its image?

unfortunately balance

the human sloth

at least that is how I am feeling right now.

barely any miles for the week and I feel completely drained.

Of course some of that has to do with being out at the velodrome this weekend for the Fixed Gear Classic and baking in the sun today, but still I feel kind of lazy.

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finally got liane's bike into the shop and one on one was fast as lightning getting it ready to go. now she has a sweet single speed (nicer than mine) so that we can cruise around town together.

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busy, busy week coming too with the Nature Valley Grand Prix. I don't know if I will even be able to touch a bike let alone see my wife. Yikes.

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I got so few mile that I'm not even goign to list them this week (and probably not next week either)

end of something special

Just finished watching the last 2 episodes of Six Feet Under last night and I am still drained and in awe today.

Not having cable I never saw this show when it was on tv but I borrowed the complete box set from my cousin around Christmas. I finally got around to starting to watch it sometime in February and was hooked immediately.

There is something in the relationships and actions of all the main characters that seem more real than any other show I've ever watched. Not only does the show force you to look at how we as a culture deal with grief but it also puts our relationships under a microscope. As over the top as it might have gotten at points, it is hard to argue that you couldn't see a bit of yourself in any of the actions the main characters.

It's kind of sad but I do kind of feel a hole now that I am done with this series never to meet these characters again.

another time around the sun

another birthday has come and gone...

...everyone asks if I feel older but I don't feel any different than yesterday or last week or a couple months ago. It not that I am all about the "age isn't a number but how you feel" kind of thing.

To me age is something that creeps up on you until one day there it is looking back at you in the mirror or telling you it's a better idea to stay home and watch a movie on Friday night.

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Liane gave me a flip video ultra for my birthday and the weekend was filled with lots of good food. We went to Cafe Twenty-Eight with my mom on Friday and Liane & I went to Masa on Saturday.

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I got a couple of decent rides in this past week en route to my second best week of riding. If I didn't have the NVGP coming up which is going to eat into my riding time next week, I think I might make up the mileage I'm down from the bad weather this spring.

Weekly Total - 68
Season Total - 388
Miles to Goal - 1112