...and because of this alleged broken wrist, he will miss his beloved, (yet consistently disappointing), spring classics in march.
please, for his egos sake, no one tell him about tyler riding the entire tour on a freshly broken collarbone...
you have to be one of cyclings "hardmen" to win the big spring classics. you can't expect to survive if you are prone to falling down, or if you really enjoy disappointment and making excuses.
one of these two did not crash moments after this photo. one of these two has won several major spring classics.
hint: it the one that looks like he is really enjoying the pain.
lots of differing opinions on the toc. check it out:
smithers:
In regards to GC, all the credit to Leipheimer for working hard to maintain his lead. But if he goes door to door in the lead then they are going to need to make the race harder for 2008.
sickyboy:
The race is as hard as it's made.... other teams have to mount a decent challenge... I'd suspect that if you make the race ridiculously hard... you'd have a difficult time drawing the big PT teams from Europe to race. Bettini, Basso, et al, have made it a point to say that they're here for the "training kilometers", and I suspect you'd have fewer guys wanting the training kilometers if they were all at the redline the entire time. (dis):
levi should not have held the lead "door-to-door", but the rules were severely bent for him. i am not sure why. i would think that to have a domestic based pro in the lead for a day at the toc would be huge for cycling in the usa. plus, the tt was 2 days later, (bjm was bested by over a minute by levi), and levi would have had the lead back, and the race would have been so much more interesting.
also, i think the race is plenty hard for this point in the season, but i do have to disagree with [sic]boy as well... and not just on principal, but because he is wrong.
just because some pro tour riders are using this race for training absolutely does not mean that it is a training race, and should be (relatively) easy.
the pro tour riders have been racing in austrailia and asia already this year, and will be racing in europe very soon. riders who hope to do well in paris-nice or terrino-adriatico will need to be in shape already and should be racing, not training at this point.
also, to say bettini is here solely for training miles is retarded. he won a stage. as well as podium finishes.
doesn't sound like training to me. sounds like someone wants to be spot on for milan-san remo. getting some hard racing in the legs at or above threshold. not just some easy training miles.
but that's just my opinion.
all in all, the tour has sucked. but not because it was too easy, or too hard.
spring time is coming, and the bike races are starting.
and you know what that means!time to check out all the new pro kits for the 2007 season! oh boy!
let me tell you, black is so in right now.
csc started it with the "we're too lame to have enough sponsors, so we have black shorts", which was a funny joke until they started winning races and soon had plenty of sponsors.
for 2007, other teams are jumping on the trend.
teams like discovery, navigators, and health net have darkened the kits this year.
i thought black was "too hot" for cycling?
whatever.
in more colorful news, some teams have taken some rather bold clothing steps.
cofidis, for example, has spent several years as the pro pelotons worst dressed team, but they came out the year in fancy red costumes and started taking names.
good for them!
and lotto went pink! i bet pvp wishes he had stayed now! sweet. not since the days of o.n.c.e. in the tour...
and check out the major shift in colovita colors!
oh, and i won't speak on the slipstream-chipolte kits... but good luck to them.
what a joke the tour of california has become in it's short existence.
first, it is sponsored by epo manufacturer, amgen. odd, but we let it slide.
second, fraud landis wins. okey dokey. american race, american winner. gets his name in the news a bit before we try our hand at finding a "new lance" in the pro tours tdf. everybodys happy. especially the uscf!
third, we find out they did zero drug testing for epo (title sponsors product, remember?) during the tour. um, that's quite strange. the race may be lacking creditability...
fourth, with another american in the leader jersey this year, the rules change exponentially to accommodate him retaining that leaders jersey, no matter what may happen over the course of the race.
[a large chuck of the peloton manages not to hit the ground.]
i fail to see the difference between doping cyclists that have "stolen" prize money, fame, etc., and arbitrary rule changes to benefit certain cyclists, which essentially steals prize money, fame, etc., from the racers that raced the race and crossed the line in a decent position.
i thought changing the "crash rule" from 1 km from the line to 3 km was weak, but i accept it. it's the rule.
how many cyclists racing this year that crashed at 4km, or 6km... or even 9 fucking km from the finish line are pissed right now?
to change an established rule, on a whim, is total bullshit.
"but dude, the crash affected half of the peloton... whine, whine". -uci/uscf yeah? changing the rule affected the other half, dickheads.
it's day 2 of an 8 day race. those assholes will have a chance to make up the time. thats what they get paid to do. 10km it plently of time to chase back a big chunk of that time.
well, thanks for ruining the race. i could care less who wins. what a joke.
[the decimated scraps of the peloton line up for the sprint. funny, it still looks like a bike race...]
voices from the pro tour:
t mobile: "to me, it doesn't matter who gains or who loses - the rules are clear," said t-Mobile general manager bob stapleton about the 3km-to-go uci rule and the crash that occurred well outside that cutoff point. "i don't know what their process was, but it looks a little like hometown favoritism."
csc: "will this rule be applied every time there is a crash?" said team csc press manager brian nygaard. "people might crash tomorrow. will the results be neutralized? there is a reason why the rules exist as they are. no one should benefit from a crash, that's not what we are saying, but the rules should make sense to everyone."
levi:
"obviously the decision is good for me, but i think most of the riders would be happy with it," he said. "we come on to these circuits, there are metal blocks on the course, there's not much space, the sprinters are fighting, the gc guys have to stay at the front. they don't want me there and i don't want to be there. it's dangerous. you don't see these circuits at the tour de france, the tour of italy, and there is a reason for that."
for the record, there has never been a sketchy run in to the line at the tdf or giro, and gc riders have always been given a "free pass" to not even have to be there for the end of the stage. because there is "not much space", and it can be "dangerous".
you may not be aware of it, but one of the biggest hit generators for thedispencer blog is a photo i posted of super rookie!
yes friends, if you google "poop" images, thedispencer's portrait of super rookie is number 28!
we here at the dispencer are pleased with the recent accent up the ladder of fame at google, inc., and would like to welcome all of those feverishly searching the internet for images of poop!
if you were there and didn't buy any of my crap, er... stuff, you still can.
i have the fastest track frame on the planet for sale. email me.
i also have a custom russ denny cx bike for sale. it is so cool because it has dedicated single speed dropouts and the ability to run gears! very versitile. i actually don't really want to part with this bike... but... i think i have to.
if you buy it, and i start to cry, just keep walking and don't look back.
in the aftermath we have the little guy standing tall as the winner, with me following in a close second place.
it was a good day for lgr.
there were over 275 people registered for this years event. insane.
the start was down by the lock and dam, i got a pretty good start, not quite the holeshot, but more than good enough.
and after the chump in front of me turned towards the downtown stops, i was at the front. (because anyone foolish enough to route through downtown first was definately not gonna win).
anyway, i blazed a trail across the hennipen ave bridge into ne mpls, and went up to university ave to head out to my first stop at suzi's. i had one kid on my wheel, and i had him pull through. after a block or two he turned back in towards marshall, which i was trying to avoid because it meanders a bit and uni is a straighter shot. but, i would also rather have a wheel to sit on so i followed. this move got us to suzi's just after the little guy and geno(!), and we tagged along with them throught the rest of the ne stops.
i got held up a touch at broadway and stinson, and was already dangling about 20 secends off the little guys furious pace, and lost contact with the group of 3.
i cruised through the u of m and across to the west bank and knocked out palmers and the nomad, cut thru the dirt lot past hardtimes and down riverside to 25th, and from there backtracked a bit to th scallywags shop.
from there i rode right up to the lrt train station just as a train pulled up, and hopped on. i had planned ahead and bought a ticket just prior to the race. sweet.
that gave me plenty of time to catch my breath and warm up, while i rocketed out to the sunrise inn on 46th st at 40mph. when i got inside the sunrise there was gene, the little guy, and the kid i was originally with, (who's name i would later discover, was noah). they had ridden.
chumps.
so i was back in contact with the group, and headed over to take the train back in to lake st. from the station we rode to twilight tattoo, and then to a house on 32nd and elliot, followed by my friends heather and carissa's house at 40th and blaisdale.
then on to crc, the independent, joe's garage, mackenzie's, and a house at glenwood and cedar lake road. these we all a blur, i was in race mode, and don't remember too much about them. although i do know that this seemed to be the part of the route that the other didn't have planned out very well, and i kept nagvigating us to the right places.
anyway, next was the long haul out to theo wirth.... ...and a long haul back in.
boy, is that tough after 2 hours of hard effort.
in -10 degree weather.
but i digress, so we had 2 stops left and we were all pretty gassed, and the group was yo-yoing. on the way in to one on one, the little guy had about ten meters on me and gene. it wasjust enough to make a light. we had to slow a bit and navigate around a few cars.
i knew first place was gone. the little guy didn't even have to attack. as i ran in to 1 on 1, he was running out. 'nice job, champ', i said. patting him on the shoulder as we passed.
so, 2nd place was mine to lose, gene was just ahed of me, and noah just behind. although i didn't know it, noah was cramping up and would struggle the last few blocks of the race.
i had a route over to dan kelly's on 7th st in mind, but gene was making some random turns in front of me. i decide to stick to my plan, and let him take his route. this was a good call.
i beat gene to dan kelly's, appearently he thought it was on 6th, or something, and got himself turned around. when i left dan kelly's noah had yet to arrive...
and that was it.
it was sewed up, and i rolled easy in to the finish at the foundation, at 5th and hennipen.
