A great Tour de France

How can the Tour not be? Started 104 years ago, this race has seen too much to not evoke wild excitement in the bike racing fan. For fans around the world who watched the Tour stages daily, it was very exciting to have the first 3 places separated by just over half a minute over 91 hours of racing. For the American fan, the race was a success because Levi Leipheimer took 3rd place overall--with a stage win. The American-based team sponsored by Discovery Channel and Johan Bruyneel took yet another overall victory with 24-year-old Alberto Contador of Spain, who also won a stage. 1st place, 3rd place, 8th place (thanks to Yaroslav Popovych), victory of the team race (for the first time)--what a great Tour, the 'Disco' boys must be thinking.

Here's how it looks internationally:
London appreciated having the Tour, as it amassed huge profits from (T)ourism. They're already planning on the next Tour visit to Britain.
Australians must be happy about Cadel Evans being in 2nd place--he's the 1st Aussie to be on the podium.
Colombian Soler took a stage and the King of the Mountains jersey (maillot à pois)--"Lucho" Herrera was the 1st Colombian to do both of those things in the '80s.
Of course, Spain took the overall victory, their 9th.

And locally:
My aunt and uncle hosted their 5th annual TdF watching, and Sam learned to behave like the dog he saw in the hat, not crossing the road when the riders fly by.

Chicken Skin on the Champs Elysees

I love the Tour de France. Even with all the controversy, you gotta love the nuances -- for instance, the interviews with people from other countries. Tonight I learned that Tom Boonen describes riding along on the Champs Elysees in Paris using the phrase "Chicken skin." I love that! We'd call it goose bumps, and he gets them riding on the Champs Elysees. Big Tom Boonen, the 6' 4" cyclist who is Belch...Belsh...Belgish...from Belgium (living in Monaco) helped me learn another way to say goose bumps. Cool! Well, anyway, the Tour can be educational

I know I'm not doping

Tuesday I went up to Angeles Crest Hwy (CA State Route 2) from La Cañada Flintridge (at about 1500') to Cloudburst Summit, just over 7000'. The air was quite nice when I stopped to rest at that particular peak, with pine trees galore, holding the rocks together, but coming down, I was shaking from the cool air coming at me (or vice versa?) at 35 mph. After descending to 6000' however, I was much warmer. In all, I rode 133.5 miles yesterday--but not to worry, half of it was downhill! Maybe I can go all the way to Wrightwood sometime.

Doris sometimes grows some of the food we eat here in our backyard. This week she discovered this big ol' honkin' zucchini in the garden!

It has since been chopped up, and added to one of my grandmother's quirky-yet-tasty, nameless confections that included ground beef, corn, and tomatos which were also taken from the garden out back, and eaten by myself. Dude, it was BOMB!

Rassmussen

unbelievable.

Strangely this is not a positive doping test, but a failure to comply with rules for out-of-competition testing.

Tour of California 2008 announced

Beginning with the Prologue in Palo Alto through the grand finale in Pasadena, the 2008 race will visit 12 host cities for official stage starts and finishes, while cities along the route will also have the opportunity to witness the excitement of elite professional cycling. Stages for the 2008 Amgen Tour of California include:

-- Prologue: Sunday, Feb. 17 - Palo Alto
-- Stage 1: Monday, Feb. 18 - Sausalito to Santa Rosa
-- Stage 2: Tuesday, Feb. 19 - Santa Rosa to Sacramento
-- Stage 3: Wednesday, Feb. 20 - Modesto to San Jose
-- Stage 4: Thursday, Feb. 21 - Seaside to San Luis Obispo
-- Stage 5: Friday, Feb. 22 - Solvang time trial
-- Stage 6: Saturday, Feb. 23 - Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita
-- Stage 7: Sunday, Feb. 24 - Santa Clarita to Pasadena road race
concluding with a circuit race in Pasadena
*For further information on the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, please visit www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

Sad tour

It was sad to come home and read about the lab tests for Vinodourov.

Do you think this is really a Mark Twain quote?

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live."

-- Mark Twain

If it is or not I like it.

Brianna Graduates

Brianna graduated from Pre-School today. Here are some pictures of her graduating. Here is the proud mom. MamaBeth brought her flowers with a ribbon to match her dress.

Called in to the Radio Station Today [Floyd Landis posting again]

Ted Chen, substituting for Patt Morrison, on KPCC 89.3, had David Walsh who had written a book about doping in professional cycling—his own fantasy version apparently from what he said on the radio today. I couldn’t imagine that he meant all the tests that showed no doping were wrong. So I called the station; they took my call on the air; and yup. He confirmed it.

I asked something like this:

It seems that Floyd Landis is asking us to believe that one test was in error when it showed that he may be positive. But, Mr. Walsh, who has just impugned the top 10 riders in this year’s Tour as dopers even though they have had negative performance enhancing drug (PED) tests. Therefore, does Mr. Walsh believe all the science and all the tests are wrong?

I believe that he confirmed that ALL negative tests are wrong. Otherwise some other people would be winning the race, not the current top ten. [It’s clear isn’t it?] It seems the thesis of his book is that Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis clearly doped because he says so and science is wrong. After all he knows some who says so too.

He went on to say that many kinds of PED cannot be tested for. Which clearly indicates that riders are using those too. Otherwise how could they win.

I understand now Landis’ annoyance when responding to some of his detractors if they are using this kind of logic.

I think Mr. Chen did a nice job handling Mr. Walsh. Chen seemed unbiased against Walsh [as I clearly am] and had some knowledge of the issues at hand. Mr. Chen was substituting and is a report from NBC4 in Los Angeles. KPCC is a Los Angeles NPR affiliate.

What's Round on Both Ends?

And hi in the middle? More of an auditory riddle, really. Ohio. And that is where I am right now visiting the folks. We are having a good time. Went to see Peter Pan last night at Porthouse Theater...a covered amphitheater. Who knew Peter Pan was so dark? Not the Disney version, yet cleverly told. http://dept.kent.edu/theatre/porthouse/shows/PeterPan.htm

We've had RAIN! I couldn't be happier to enjoy some real weather. And cool temperatures.

Tomorrow we are riding the Hobo Train courtesy of Metro Parks and the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad (CVSR), celebrating the life of the hobo. We will ride the train to Deep Lock Quarry and learn about hobo culture. After we are escorted off the train by the railroad police, we walk up the hill to the hobo camp for soup, stories and kinship. The train will head back to Northside Train Depot after that. We are to bring a can of soup or canned vegetables for the pot.

Trust But Verify

My post about Floyd below was featured on Trust But Verify today on Thursday's Roundup. Check me out!

Landis in Pasadena Borders--UPDATED

So, I trekked up to Pasadena to meet Mr. Landis last night. I arrived about half an hour early as the manager was trying to figure out where to put more chairs. There were maybe forty chairs already filled in a corner of the store. He must have set up another 20 chairs a few minutes later as I counted about 60 chairs. By 7 PM at least 4 times that many people standing among the book stacks waiting for Floyd who showed up about 7:30.

Floyd made some opening remarks and then answered questions.



A couple of interesting things I heard at the event:

Giro helmets, the Smith & Nephew the hip resurfacing system manufacturer and one other have remained sponsors since the accusations came out last fall.

Today in Riverside is the last stop on the one-month tour de book. After which, according to Brook, the publicist, Floyd will disappear to prepare for the Leadville 100 in Colorado.

Floyd says he loves California and hopes to live here in the sunshine as long as possible. Where does he like to ride? From his home in Murrieta to Mt. Baldy or to Mt. Palomar.

I thanked Floyd for his comment about having only "smart" fans now--everyone else has left. It is hard to understand all the details of the defense.

You can read some of the questions and another perspective at a blog called Glendora Mountain Road.

UPDATE: The other remaining sponsor is CycleOps Power Tap.

Bike down a Volcano in the rain......???

Beth and I signed up to ride bicycles from the summit of Haleakala (10023 feet) to Pa'ia Town at sea level. In the van at 2 am, pick up bikes and arrive at the summit at 5 am for the sunrise. Here we are huddled from the rain. It is 5 am and no sunrise insight.
















The faithful stand on the rim and wait and wait and wait. Then it is light enough to see the clouds. A bit of color, but mostly gray and wet.
















We have made it half way down. It is dry, for the moment. More rain to come. Shoes, gloves, faces, socks all wet, very wet. Dripping wet. We are having a great time. Glad we did it.

Have you been worried about troubles in the subprime mortgage market? Me too. Apparently that is why the Dow Jones didn't keep going up from it's record high of 14,000, which it hit yesterday. Less than a year ago the market hit 10,000 points, which was somehow significant. (It was back in '03 too)

It's funny how little I truly know about stocks, and how finance really works. Well, funny, or scary, depending upon my mood. But it does seem strange that people who make more than a comfortable living by playing the stock market are able to celebrate hitting a new milestone in the stock market, while the economy of the middle and working class is stretched to the point of increasing foreclosures on homes, and transportation costs remaining unaffordable.

Fascinating...

Yellow Lab Hit By Tour Cyclist

As the live coverage of the Tour de France stage began today, a yellow lab decided to cross the road. One cyclist missed it. Then one crashed into the dog broadside. Both went down and my heart jumped to my throat. The cyclist evidently slowed down, tossed, and rolled gently. The dog got up and walked on across. A spectator approached the dog and the dog lowered his head and ears as if he knew he'd been a bad dog. Everyone seems to be OK. As a course marshal during the Tour of California, we are on alert when dogs are in the race area. Now I really know dogs can cause problems. The yellow lab was very cute and Sam-like. If we ever go to the Tour de France, Sam will need to stay home.

You can see video of this here.

Greenway and Bike Trail

I just said to Cindi the other day as we were driving under this that I would be interested in knowing when this intersection would change. The railroad right-of-way had been abandoned some years ago. Now they are making a bicycle trail and greenway. The steal seen here had just been rusting and collecting graffiti.

A Whittier landmark is disappearing as they tear down the railroad overpass above Pickering Avenue at Whitier Boulevard. I took these photos on Saturday.



I imagine that the viaduct above Whittier Boulevard will be dismantled too.

Another Floyd Post

This is mostly for Rob. Even though I had decided to not post about Floyd any more. I read this from the Seattle Times after the writer saw Floyd at a book signing.

I am going to Borders on Tuesday or Wednesday this week to get my book autographed. I am pretty sure that Daniel is going with me. Rob, you can join us if you want to.

In 1984, ice cream industry lobbyists succeeded in getting President Ronald Reagan to declare the third Sunday of July National Ice Cream Day. Now do your civic duty, Judy.

Our 1000th Post!

This is the thousandth post to the Peterson-Weaver-Wilson-Curtin-Remington (et al) Family Blog. No longer a 'yule' blog, this site has experienced major changes in the web, since we (Glen--Uncle, brother, etc) started it toward the end of 2003.

(Yes! I got the 1000th post!)

How'd y'all like to be here?

Mapquest says there's a Lost Springs in both Kansas and Wyoming.

Tacos are not allowed in New Orleans.

If you want to track le Tour

Not exactly sure what this is, but when I have time I will check it out some more. It is only for the most passionate of TdeF fans among us.

A Word From Bob Roll

Bob Roll closed his report on Stage 5 of the Tour DAY France with this challenge: "If you don't watch the stages to come, you must have a screw loose somewhere." So, I'll be watching!

Bob Roll
www.versus.com
Daily Reports 7/12/07

It's Dog Whisperer week on National Geographic Channel, and now me and Doris are hooked.



My Grandmother has never been an animal person, but is somehow inexplicably fascinated with this show! I like it too though, I get all emotional when Cesar does.

Mt. Baldy Village

Cindi and I had lunch with this cyclist at Mt. Baldy Village today. So, if anyone asks you if anybody eats lunch in Mt. Baldy Village, the answer is "yes!" Glen, Cindi, and Daniel did it today.

More photos here.

Yellow Jersey Cancellara wins stage 3

Fabian Cancellara, winner of the prologue, attacked from the peloton and passed the breakaway with less than one kilometer remaining, and won the stage.

Don't worry. He isn't his team's most important overall classification guy, and I don't think that he can go over mountains very fast.

First Mass Pile-up

Stage two of the 2007 TdF saw the first mass pile-up at 2 km to go. Former world champion Boonen came second behind his compatriot and teammate Bert Steegmans.

Breakfast at Grandma Pete's

Brianna and Fred have breakfast at Grandma Pete's before church and going to Uncle Glen's and Aunt Cindi's for lunch.

Road Trip 2

After the sprinklers, she and Rob played the Brianna version of baseball, which looks more like "beat someone with the bat if you can catch them"" to the uninitiated observer...

Road Trip

Brianna and Beth went on a road trip Saturday.  When they arrived in L.A., Brianna ran through the sprinklers at Grandma Pete's.

Central European Summer Time

Paris

tour time

When you think, "Why am I watching cycling?", a group crashes, a team organizes to get a member points, and a fallen rises to win. What a great stage and it is just the beginning. I am addicted.

First Crash

Stuart O'Grady hits a barrier during the prologue. Just now. Back up and riding. Slow. Ouch!

Big two days for cycling fans in London

Phil Liggett says it is a part of a campaign to encourage bicycling for commuters in this big city.

I wrote two articles for the Daily Titan, CSUF's campus newspaper this summer. You can view them here and here, complete with editorial mistakes! The editors of the newspaper have had a wonderful time misspelling student's names in the paper, and arbitrarily inserting, changing and omitting words that change the entire article. Way to go Titans! I'm just glad they spelled MY name right.

My two articles are pretty boring fare, but news is pretty slow during summer school.