Breakfast @ The Championships

I'm bummed. After getting back in from Lex last night at 1.30, I made the plan to get up, get coffee and a danish and sit down at watch Federer win his 6th straight Wimbledon. Instead, the bull Rafa Nadal has taken the first 2 sets and looks to be too powerful, too rock solid for Roger to achieve that. I like Rafa a lot. He's respectful, humble. He plays a great game and he's a real pleasure to watch. That said, I've never seen a more graceful, beautiful tennis player than Federer and I want to see him break Sampras' mark of 14 grand slams. If Roger loses today, I can see him not achieving that. There are SO many examples of tennis "lights" where, when they burn out, they burn out quickly: Borg, McEnroe, Edberg, Courier, Sampras less so b/c he seemed to always win Wimbledon. Rafa is a true beast and perhaps Roger won't be able to eclipse him anymore. Perhaps he will, nonetheless, it bums me out a bit.

Oh, and the Tour started yesterday. 'Balaverde' won. Yippee! Right?

Active Day

Date: May 18 Sun
Mileage: 13 (Bleriot) + 4.5 walking
May mileage: ??
Year to date: 488

What a great 2 days we have had this weekend. You can't do better than 75F, breezy and azure skies greeting you all day long. Today began by walking the boys to Sunday school. Church is a little more than 1 mile away, so I try- sometimes in vain- to use the feet instead of the car. They were game this morning, so that was the first leg of the day. I stayed at Breadworks and graded papers for about 2 hours and then walked home. Shortly thereafter my work friend- we'll call him Marco on account that he's almost completely nuts and Pantani is one cyclist I can think of who fit that bill- came by for a bike ride. He recently bought a Marin hybrid-like bike for errands and possible commuting. Knowing him, he'll never stick with commuting, but I hope he does. He only lives 1 mile away, so maybe next year we'll see him on the route like I had with 'BB'. We took a meandering neighborhood ride, mostly on super-flat streets. We ended up through the park and on the Beargrass Trail. I figured 'Marco' could handle its flatness. During our ride we saw signs for an Israel 60th anniversary ride that wound through the park, police guarding the turns. We returned via the park and up through Seneca Garden, giving us 13m total. 'Marco', relatively thin fellow, proved you could be pitifully out of shape while being think at the same time. I'm glad he gave it a try, though.

A little later in the afternoon, the good wife and I took a walk as we did yesterday, both days totaling 2.5m. My goal, aside from my own mileage ambitions, (sic). Yesterday included an errand ride, a walk and some great grill out food in the evening, and today was just as good. It's not hard to enjoy the near perfect. And even better, only 1 week of school- and tennis- to go.

"Score one..."

This is a must-read. I only wish I were so competent while on the road.

"Most Improved"

The 'Ville got some props from that venerable rag of mediocrity Bicycling in a recent issue. To be fair, it's a nice article. It highlights efforts to make Louisville more bike-able. Linked are some local on and off-road rides, a few I've taken and others I might have to try this summer.

Tennis is getting closer to its dreaded end. Joy and anticipation mount.

On a health note, I did a sleep study last night, which meant sleeping in what looked like a hotel room, but at the same time connected to 150 (seemingly) different wires. Results...No sleep apena last night. That's a good thing b/c that's one less trigger for the Afib. 'Course, with no apnea what becomes of the wine possibility? Yikes.

Big George

No, I'm not in love with pro cycling as I was back in the days of a young Lance and an in-prime Greg. A clean Phloyd would've helped, but alas. Sin embargo, I found this quickie interview with George after a 2nd-place finish on a long, rainy stage at the Vuelta a California. I sorta believe Big George is clean b/c he seems like a guy who should have won much more than he has. Instead, you come to realize that the Museeuws of the world around him were (are?) completely jacked up and winning everything in sight. In the interview he seemed refreshened to new mode of racing on his new team High Road ( the old T-Mobile). Here's hoping he pulls off a big win this year.

Team "Clean" Slipstream

There's a pretty amazing front page cover story on Espn.com about Vaughter's new bumped up Team Slipstream. As much as I've seen plenty of Lance coverage on the majors, I've never seen something like this. It's in-depth, includes an extensive article and interviews, and has lots o' pics from the first camp. Really I'm sort of shocked. As a cycling fan since Greg's '86 win- truth be told, I actually picked up Renault team hat from when Greg was on that team circa '84- I'm pretty delighted at positive cycling coverage that's not dopaje, dopage, nor doping. Granted, the undercurrent of the whole damn article is to be successful without doping, but it's not the latest about Vino or DiLuca. We'll see if there's success in the future for Slipstream, but more power to them.

Riding a Bike

Part of my ipod lesson this morning was on the function of mediation. In Buddhism, there are 2 types of meditation- Insight (Vipassana) and Tranquility (Samatha). Many early practitioners begin with Samatha and move to Vipassana. When I was meditating somewhat regularly in the Spring, I worked on Tranquility meditation. It really works, and I think it's indicative of a monkey mind, a frazzled mind, that I don't make time for it in the daily habit. The point of this morning's lesson is that there really isn't one without the other. His analogy was as such: In order to ride a bike, you need to know how to both pedal and balance. Pedaling without balance with let you fall over. Balance without pedaling will..let you fall over. So Vipassana and Samatha must be approached in the same capacity- they interrelate to create the complete picture of 3 of the 8 Path factors: Right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. I'm very mentally pure. Actually, I'm pretty impure, but I sure do like this analogy, much less the concept of the dhamma wheel. The wheel keeps turning.

And we all should as well. Peace.

Andy

There's a reason, a genetic reason, pros are pros. Check out how much slighter Andy Hampsten is then these two other guys bedecked in 7-11 kit. I guarantee you the guy on our left is very thin in real life, but not Giro-winning thin like much-retired Andy. Now that's a CLEAN cyclist there, I'll guarantee you that too.

Chip Cronen Memorial Ride

I've been busy with school opening, but I would be remiss not to mention the 'Chip Cronen Memorial Ride' that took place this last Sunday here in the 'Ville. I was attending an event, taking the progeny to another event, and the good wife was attending a wedding, so needless-to-say I did not attend, but it seemed like a more than successful affair. The CJ has a nice article about the event. Too bad this shorter article couldn't grow into something larger and more energized. I'm not complaining though. This town rarely gets print that's positive. Most has been yellow journalistic sensationalized BS from the TV news about the scourge that is the cyclist-running-stop-sign. It's an encouraging sight to see this many cyclists in such a context. Hopefully, it can be a positive step from such a tragedy.

Can this sign, and painted ones on the road, save lives? Let's hope so.

Vino, Brother Floyd, and Tugboat

I don't have much to say other than to review, or not, the contents of this article. Seems Vino is using Phloyd's and Tyler's lawyers. Yuck!

More Whiney Cadel

Yes, many of the pundits are 'rah rah-ing' for a Cadel, and an Aussie, tour win. I guess they figure a Disco win would be more of the 'Lance's Team' domination yadda yadda. Well, I pointed out the other day that Cadel has a strong tendency to whine, previously about his team and about his collusion claims. Now it's he's grousing about his fellow riders, the ones who want a clean race.

"To be honest, I am happy to have [the mountains] behind us," he wrote on his website, cadel.com.au. "[The stage was] a bit of a mess at the start, with some riders trying to protest. I thought we were here to race our bikes, not to make political statements."

I and most others would say it's the perfect time for a political statement, a statement that his sport, his industry and way of earning a handsome living, isn't a complete pile of shit. As sponsors run away, as TV coverage goes black and as his livelihood gets bashed every day in every form of press, he just wants to "race our bikes". Sorry Cadel, it's too late for that. Have some stones, man! I'll be pulling for poor down-trodden Cadel to have 4 flats in the TT and for long-timer Sastre to pass. Then he can spend the rest of his career stewing about useless teammates and unnecessary political statements.

The Chicken is cooked

cyclingnews.com

velonews.com

bbc.com

**apparently Rabobank pulled him b/c he lied to the team. He missed the June out-of-competition test supposedly b/c he was in Mexico, but instead he was actually in Italy. oops. guess Disco is suddenly in good shape. yellow jersey w/ Contador. stage wins with Contador and today with Levi. team lead. OR, one of them will go down in the next few days. maybe Bruyneel's genius is not in mileage and preparation but rather w/ how to best managed and mask the pharmacopia that is modern cycling. I watched much of today's stage hoping for a Disco romp. instead naughty Chicken won. now that he's out, my hopes have been realized; Disco is king. but what a hollow victory.

and I haven't ridden for days. the weekend was busy and since then i've just Not.

Mas Pollo

I see Velonews has lot's of "Chicken is bad for you" coverage:

Rabobank

Pressure

Millar

Hearts and Minds

What you have are tainted winners of le Tour de France going all the way back to '95 with Riis. I don't think the EPO epidemic ever touched Indurain, although it's quite assured that a 2nd-rate Chiapucci must've done the deed. I think he and Bugno both tested postive for stuff later in their careers. Ack!

Cadel

I certainly would prefer Cadel to Chicken, but quotes like this make me question his character as a patron.

"Unfortunately yes, but you have to play the cards your dealt. Twelve km from home and I am on my own, what am I supposed to do," the Australian complained. "Today I rode to conserve a little. Unfortunately the team hasn't got the budget to hire a rider who can close those gaps for me."

I also heard him complaining about Contador and Rasmussen "ganging up" on him on the previous stage. Dude, if you want to win then you ride people off your wheels. That's how it works.

Concerning the final TT, as follows are the present leaders and time gaps. Some of the pundits have been talking of Chicken needing 3-4min going in, but I disagree entirely:

3. Evans 1.14
5. Klodie + 25"
8. Kasheckin +30"
2. Contador +1.04
4. Leipheimer +1.25
10. Astarloza +1.28
1. Chicken +1.41
9. Kirchen +2.04
6. Sastre +3.47
7. Zubeldia +3.17

Yes, the last one is flat, but Chicken has proven his "methods" for improvement to be sound in this year's Tour. He only lost a minute and change to Evans. Contador proved a better tester, but he seems to be the only one capable to taking the necessary time out, unless Chicken has a monumental meltdown like a couple tours ago (last year's?). Looks like a done deal to me unless something big happens tomorrow. Disco should send George and somebody up the road. Levi should attack. If Chicken follows and catches him, Contador should then attack immediately. Levi doesn't have that spurt, but does have a long-term motor; his only chance is long-range. That's the one thing I've been disappointed in. Popo's support has been great, but Contador and Levi don't provide a 2-pronged attack. Contador sprints and leaves Levi, taking Chicken with him every time.

We'll see.

Chicken

Pretty hard to root for a guy who ducked national dope controls 3 different times in the last year, who was accused in pretty specific detail by a former cyclist, and is mentioned as one of this 'men in black' group also maybe trying to avoid controls. Really pretty hard. Oh, and managed to cut his average TT deficit in half, losing 6 and 8min last year and only 2.55 this year. No, the magic of the yellow ain't that strong. really, it's about as unbelievable as Phloyd's miraculous comeback from the depths last year. the "epic" stage. Ick.

Dave Z

Someone I've been disappointed in during this Tour is Dave Zabriskie. He's been going on about wanting to be a member of the Tour team, deserving spot, blah blah blah. Today he got bounced on time, this after consistently finished at the back of the pack every day. I'm sorry for his injuries, but he's one of those enigmatic guys who can be sensational ('05 1st stage), but often doesn't come up with the goods ('05 TTT). Good luck to him, but a little longevity would be nice. Not unlike poor George. Who falls in a ditch 2nd on the road with a teammate to Museeuw in PR?

Goings on at le Tour

As much as I complain about el dopaje and Phloyd Phraud and the like, I watched every bit on the last 1.5hr of today's last Alpine stage, and a thrilling stage it was. Disco, in the form of Popo and Gusev, put men in the early break. Levi stayed tough with the big boys and Contador climbed even better than on Sunday. It's too bad the 2 Discos- Pop and Contador- couldn't catch stagewinner Soler on the descent of the Galibier. Instead, we had a battle royal on the 1k minislope in Braincon including all the now favorites: Contador, Levi, Valverde 'Bala verde', Mayo, Sastre, Chicken, Cadel, el viejo Moreau and lastly Kloden. Of these leading riders several are terrible cronistas, including Chicken, Mayo, Sastre and Contador- all lightweight climber types. Of the remainders, all are solid cronistas, although Levi, Valverde and Cadel are very up-n-down. Kloden, to me, is the danger man. With Vino more than 8min down, he's free to ride as he needs, is the best remaining time-trialist, and has finished on the podium. I would hate for him to win with all the old T-Mobile stuff hanging overhead, but he's the most consistent, most complete rider left.

That said, I agree with Phil, Paul and Levi. There are several potential winners still in the field. Chicken has 2.35 on 'Bala Verde' and some 3-4min to the remaining riders. I don't know if Moreau, Levi, and Kloden can consistently put in enough time to beat Rasmussen in the TTs, and certainly they won't drop him on the climbs. It's really a free-for-all, but Chicken certainly looks tough.

ed.- I just checked last year's TT results and Chicken lost a total of 15.5min! I know he may have the yellow to work for, but 15min is MUCHO TIEMPO. Maybe it's not all said and done. Los Pirineos will certainly give us some answers.

# 12- la Bici

Date: July 14 Sat
Mileage: 18 (LHT)
July mileage: 234
Year to date: 1181

Got my mileage in 3 chunks today, starting off with a trip to the grocery @ 2m. The next leg was a trip to Joe Creason w/ the family to meet a friend from Philly who's visiting her dad @ 2.5m. The remainder was my post-picnic toodle through Audubon Park, Schnitzelberg, Germantown, Phoenix Hill, and back through Cherokee Pk. I found out after leg #2 that my back brake- now tightly tweaked- may be rubbing some, so it's certainly giving me a workout. I'll have to work on that a bit.

• Pretty mundane result for the Tour today. I didn't realize it wasn't a mountaintop finish, so a mbig pack coming in together, with German youngster taking all the prizes and no real change to speak of with the heaviest hitters. It was good to see 4 Disco's in the lead pack. too bad Big George couldn't hold the pace throughout. What is to become of him? Isn't Hincapie a rider who deserves 1 big result from his career?
  
• The interesting thing, to me, is that of the main favorites, Kloden is first listed among the favorites, with around 30sec to the first batch of main rivals. Firstly, that should worry everyone else b/c Kloden can certainly win, especially with Vino injured. And secondly, it sticks me the wrong way that Kloden of all should still be a leading figure. Here's a guy that for many years was part of that whole dirty Telekom/T-Mobile operation. And when T-Mobile tries to clean up, he runs off to Astana run by former dirty boy Godefroot.
  

Concerning bikes:

• Seemingly properly adjusted Bleriot rear brake yesterday. It wasn't releasing well off the rim, even though I could hand move the brake arm. I first lubed things a little and then lightened the tension of the screw on the right brake arm. It seemed to work. Now, I'm sure the right brake will fall off mid-ride sometime.
• Glued on cork grips on 9.2.5. I've yet to try them b/c I want them to be good and set. It's a nice look with the chrome flat bar, and I hope a better feel than the budget 'Stache bars that it came with.
• tried mounting a new spoke on an old 'Dale wheel. I realized that, for the moment, I'm out of my element. Better to practice on a beater, though, right?
• on my night ride last night (redundant?) I became aware that my Serfas taillight was completely out of juice. it's one thing to ride at night and tempt fate, which I do every morning on my work commute, but another to leisure ride at night with not taillight. not smart and something to remedy. The B/C light on the LHT is also pointed way too much upward, so it does a great job letting the cars know I'm there but doesn't illuminate the road one bit.
• now i have LHT brake work to attend to every slightly.
• Blueridge needs a rear wheel trued, but I can't find my good spoke wrench of that size. and the Brooks B-17N on that bike is really trashed right now. it got wet and has this droopy side. i rode briefly on it the other day and it's pretty uncomfortable. might have to do leather saddle triage like I saw in the RivReader.

Lastly, I'm planning a big ride for Monday and I'm feeling quite indecisive about it. I'm taking Z to camp in Casey Co. in southern KY and I've made arrangements to have the afternoon to ride down that way. Here are some different options:

Option 1- Casey Co. safe- There are lots of nice country roads in Casey Co., and I've ridden a few before. This would be fine.

Option 2- Casey Co. "Mixed-terrain" ride- northern CC (map) seems to have some unpaved roads, which are very uncommon in my neck of the woods. I could put together a ride of varying length and explore what is probably hard-core territory. These unpaved roads also happen to be in the knobs area, so it could be ridiculously steep. I don't know if I'm fit or brave enough for this, but it's what the Bleriot is built for, right? "Go beyond mundane, paved roads!" I have this gut feeling that this kind of ride would be better in someone's company for sake of mechanicals or whatnot. I'd be SOL way out in the boonies.

Option 3- Shakertown ride(s)- based on some rides found in Joe Ward's "Wheeling around the Bluegrass", this would comprise some classic mid-KY rides in and around well-known Shakertown. I could do around 30 or 50 depending on how I feel. This is listed as my 3rd option, but I'm leaning towards it now b/c I feel my fitness and abilities best match a 50 combining these.

Any thoughts dear readers?

"Cycle of Abuse"

I found an interesting and informative article/interview with Lemond and Paul Kimmage (author of the first "from-the-peloton" tell-all about the drug problem) from the Sunday Times. As much as I want to believe and support our American victors- Lance and Floyd- these types of articles sure to cast a long shadow. Lemond seems sincere and his experiences plausible. Does anyone really have any interest in the sport these days? Petacchi out. Vino under Ferrari's spell, like so many others. Practically the whole leaderboard from the Giro under investigation for hormone issues. A new "treatment" anyone? And who is tired of riders whining about "degrading" treatment? If so many of Kloden's compadres hadn't been proven to be on the soup, then there wouldn't be anything to sign, now would there. And hey, last time I checked Mr. Kloden was part of that Telekom/T-Mobile mess that has now been aired throughout the world press.

There are too many posts and articles to cite. You and I know that Cyclingnews.com has the best coverage. Or perhaps others more in the know spell an imminent doom for CN for such excellent knowledge of the filthiest sport in the world. Oh, I forgot WWE.

Facilities and Realities

Following are numerous different articles, entries and links to happenings nationwide with respects to bicycles and their place on the streets. It's interesting that they've all cropped up recently. Higher gas? Greater ridership? Summer heat?

Jim G's take on SanFran cyclists and how they use the road.

Somebody else's take on the SanFran issue.

3-Speed Blog's bike lane pondering in MN and Bicycle Fixation's Safety Discussion.

ReflectorCollector's bike trail take in Roseville, MN.

The Blasphemous Bicycler's observation of the perils of muli-use paths.

Safety issues in the East Coast nirvana of Connecticut.

Velocipete's find of "Guerrilla Bike Lanes"in Toronto. This showed up on the local listserve as well.

Two Cities Two wheels has a good discussion of the stop sign thing.

A batch of reviews of the Chicago Lakefront path.

I found several posts via BikePortland about both Multi-use path issues (here via a link to a BostonGlobe article) and stop sign issues as well. Take a look and follow the links on both.

The Globe mention originally was posted on Streetsblog, a NY green living blog.

And finally an interesting article via TreeHugger about the cycling renacimiento found in Berlin, where city gov't has made major efforts to increase the bikeability of the city.

Several of these issues have been brought up recently on the Kycyclist listserve. Most around here are in favor of nothing- that is to say take your lane and ditch the dangerous painted bike lanes. I've spent some time on the Riverwalk recently and can attest to some tense moments like those mentioned in Boston. Locally, a local cyclist was hit by a car and killed while en route on our only bikeable bridge, the 2nd-street bridge downtown. It sounds like one of those "no winners" situations, with the cyclist hitting something and falling in the path of the auto. Some local cyclists are full of vitriol for the car, others a bit more moderate. If you were driving in the inside lane (of a 4-lane bridge) and a cyclist fell in front of your path, what would/could you do? The victim lived just a few blocks over from us. I've been on that bridge a few times. It has large, heavy metal joint plates that could easily, very easily, know a cyclist out of whack. Very unfortunate and not easily solved.

Much food for thought.