Mud Slingin'

They've made a bloody mess of the sport, that's for sure. I am more inclined to simply not care, want nothing to do with it, than anything else. The Tour de France is going to be won or lost in a damn court room. Will someone please tell me what that has to do with sport? From this perspective, nothing. I'm sure that it will only get messier from here on out, although, somtimes you have to make a mess to clean one up.

NPR put up a decent article to help explain what the hell is going on, here.

Tarik weighed in here.

More importantly, here is something fun and worthwhile to do with your bike, here. A "ballywho of bikes and beer." This looks like the kinda place where performance enhancing drugs (aka beer) is encourged. Apparently, cross-dressing is too. Who knows what other shenanigans will ensue, I saw the parade last year, you should all be afraid, very afraid.

Do What You Love, Love What You Do

As I continue searching for what is going to occupy my time and energy in pursuit of fulfillment, monetary needs and my contribution to society, I find myself looking to those that I consider successful for tips. Here are two interesting speaches to consider should you find yourself at a crossroads any time soon. Steve Jobs has had an interesting career, full of ups and downs. He was booted from Apple, the company that he started, only to come back into the company after a merger. This is the commencement speach he gave at Stanford back in 2005. Very interesting considering that he never graduated from college. Only at Stanford. And, Tony Hawk pretty much made skateboarding a profession. This is an essay he wrote for This I Believe for NPR. Check 'em out ya'll.

Practice Makes Perfect

Greg Lemond, three time winner of the Tour de France, is slowly perfecting the art of talking with his foot in his mouth. I can only imagine the task being challenged by thought, annunciation balanced with control over the sense of smell and taste. All the while, he is becoming a bit more aloof when accusing Armstrong of doping. (sorry, you have to scroll down a bit to see the article)

River of Spoons

Last week I took a small vacation and went to ride the high mountains and see some old friends. The Conways were visiting their cabin in Cuchara, so I went down for a night, some great company, more than enough to eat and some spectacular rides.

From the cabin, it was either up or down. One day was up and over to Monument lake. Once clear of the pass, I was treated to alarmingly beautiful coutryside. Cars were outnumbered by fishermen along the banks of the alpine lakes. The other ride was back down the valley to the town of La Veta for the low point of the ride at 7013ft.

From here, the views of West Spanish Peak are intimidating. There is nothing comforting about the barren slopes of that peak. I've never climbed it, but don't need to to know that it would be an exercise in scree.

All the Kings Horses, and All the Kings Men......

called papa Merckx and put Floyd Landis back together again.

Yesterday was the "crack heard 'round the world." Floyd Landis lost over eight minutes in the second of three mountain stages in the high alps during stage 16 of the Tour de France. Up until that fateful climb, Landis showed the strength, power and control of years gone by. Content to ride conservatively and let the competition come to him, his ride was reminiscent of Miguel Indurain. And then he cracked.

I'm impressed by the composure Floyd showed after such a devastating stage. No excuses, no whining, just a single beer to cry in and then back to work. "Back to work" included a phone call from Eddie Merckx with the challenge that it wasn't over yet and he must attack.

Well, attack he did and right back into contention he is. Landis' performance has been called the greatest single-day race performance in the modern era of cycling. His attack was so early and so fast, "like a motorbike going up the road" that the GC contenders just sat up and looked at each other. In the end, Floyd was only 30 seconds down on Oscar Peirero and should be able to mop that time up quite easily in the TT on Sat.

This has proven to be one of the best, mos unpredictable Tours ever and is quite worth watching. Enjoy ya'll.

Thievery

France Snatches Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Apparently it does actually rain here in the high desert. The skies wept over the weekend which helped keep me inside to watch the finals of the world cup, France v. Italy. France had already captured the stage win in Le Tour earlier that day and looked likely to take home the world cup later that day.

The first half was fairly well balanced. By the 45th minute, both teams were tied and it seemed as though it could go either way. But, between 50 and 60 minutes at the start of the second half, France was dominating play in front of Italy's goal. They palyed as though they could afford not to take a shot and wait for a better opportunity. Confident and strond, indeed they could. Opportunity after opportunity presented itself, only to be just out of reach. Later, Italy would score off a beautiful header from a penalty kick. This was pulled out for an offsides penalty. Ans so it was that we went into overtime tied at one.

Two fifteen minute overtimes and the score was still tied. On to penalty kicks. Crap! I don't think that a world cup final should be brought down to penalty kicks. France missed one, deflected off the crosspiece, and so they lost. It did not feel like Italy really won to me, more like they just didn't loose. France lost. They had the opportunity to end it during regulation and just couldn't get it done.

Zidane was the big news. He had a header in the second overtime that was just barely deflected, one handed, by Italy's keeper. Earlier he had fought through the pain of a dislocated shoulder to play on. And then he was ejected from the game after headbutting an opponent. That penalty could very well have been the deciding factor. A player of his skill and presence ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct effects the whole team. It made for some great drama, though. Had the game gone on to sudden-death, I would be much happier, no matter the outcome.