thor speaks out.

Norwegian pro Thor Hushovd is the first cyclist to openly address the repression of the Tibetan people by the Chinese government. Speaking to Norwegian media, the Crédit Agricole rider wasn't afraid to take a political stance and declared himself ready to boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer, should the conflict still be unsolved by August.

"As athletes, we don't have any particular responsibility to react to what is happening in China, but we can have a certain influence in skipping the opening ceremony in Beijing," Hushovd said. "That would be a form of protest, and I would be ready to do it."

The Tibetan people have claimed independence of China for more than half a century. Recently, violence escalated again between demonstrating Tibetan monks and Chinese police forces. It is not known how many people exactly died, since foreign media are not allowed in the region. Human rights issues, as well as the freedom of press during the Beijing Olympics have raised a number of concerns in Europe and North America since the attribution of the Olympic Games to Beijing.
from cyclingnews.

what's not to love?
confident, aggressive, and tough as nails on the bike...



...and smart, caring, and handsome off the bike.



that combination will take you places.

i'm looking to thor for a flanders win this year.
that is a (dis)guarantee.

vote for me.

avoid making this an obama-nation.

and let's keep the clinton dynasty a memory of the arsenio hall appearances.

and, let's not worry about mccain. (maybe cheney will shoot him?)

here's my platform;

1. a national health care.
sure we'll take it in the pooper on this for a few years, but then everyone who is unhealthy will start to become more healthy and it won't be a burden. there are alot of nations doing this, pick a version.
canada's is nice, who would like a year and a half maternity leave?

2. a useful national rail system.
i am over this airline industry crap. no more bailouts. i think people only fly anymore because it's the only real option, not because they particularly want to.
i want to restructure all the amtrak lines so they only run to and from major cities, (not stopping at every nowhereville, usa), and make them all high-speed.
cutting the excess lines, and speeding up service and travel time will get ridership up. small town usa would have to get on a bus to the nearest big city, but the reduction of costs in maintaining those rail lines and stations would pay for the new high speed trains.

3. bigger states, smaller laws.
break the nation into 5 or 6 regions, (northwest, midwest, south, etc.), and have local government for each. i am convinced that washington cannot make good laws for a farmer in iowa, or that nyc and rural utah need the same federal laws. states are too small and numerous, making laws and rules too compilcated and nuanced from state to state.
so basically, 5 or so "countries" in the usa, and combine them much like the eu. same monetary system, etc.
this way farmers get to make the laws that govern farms, not lobbies in washington, and so on.

4. abolish the presidency.
the prez is just a figurehead anyway, and it gives "enemies" a focal point. a congress of elected officails from each mini-nation should be able to suffice. there is less potential for abuse by one person with the most power.

5. gun control a la norway.
sure, norway's murder rate jumped 50% recently.
...from 2 to 3.
they took away all handguns, and gave everyone rifles.
hard to conceal a rifle, and hard to rob people when you know they've all got rifles.

there's more, but i don't have the time to type it.

anyway, once everything is up and running, then the timeline will call for abolishing the government entirely, we won't need it.
everyone will be pretty happy, and it'll be smoooove sailing.
so go ahead, write me in, and let's see what happens. (best episode ever).

dear abby.

dear abby,

i'm a long-time reader, but first time writer. i guess i have just been waiting to have a big enough problem!

well, have i got a doozy for you. any advice is appreciated, (i just live and die by your column).

here in minnesota, we have this annual bike race to kick off the cycle-racing season, (albeit a tad early, but that's neither here nor there), let's call this race "oxbow".

the issue is; this year, "oxbow" has been cancelled. what's the problem, you ask? well, as the first race of the year "oxbow" serves to get some of the racing cobwebs out before we really get into gear with the more tight and compact races, called criteriums. with the cancellation of "oxbow" the first race of the year is now the "tuesday night world championship opus criterium".

while "opus" is a pretty mild course by crit standards, given the nature of the minnesota racer (aka wobbles mcskectherton), people always seem to manage to find a way onto the pavement. and given that, the high-speeds, and the first-race jitters, i want to know;

do you think skibby, delaney, and lsc are going to need 1 body bag or 2?

looking forward to your reply!


eagerly yours,
campy rider in the twincities.

...

dear critt,

two.

milan-san remo.

always perfect weather, unbelievable backdrops, and a simply perfect finish all combine to make milan-san remo easily the worlds most beautiful race.


the climbs of the cripressa and the poggio test the sprinters legs, and their teams cohesiveness to shut down the moves that always go on those climbs.


although moves on the cripressa tend to be in vein, and are usually more about airtime for the sponsors, they still must be attentively watched by the teams concerned with the race coming to it's near predictable sprint finish.





the attacks that come on the poggio are maybe ill-fated just the same, but with only 7k to go, they are extremely dangerous as well.


most of the time it is brought back, every once in a while the mouse escapes the cat.
yesterday was one of those days.


i love watching milan-san remo.


i don't care how it ends.


i love the scenery. i love the attacks to spoil the sprinters. i love the chase. i love the absolutly insane decents off the poggio. i love that everyone thinks they can win.


in a world where race radio, and payoff's for statge wins are accepted and normal, this race is one where the rules don't apply.


everyone wants to win milan-san remo.
there are no favors.





there is no faking it in milan-san remo; you have to be able to climb, decend, attack, sprint, and navigate crazy narrow italian roads with the best in the world.

it's too damn early to get this epic...

cyclocross is still churning out the epic, even in the dawn of the roadie season.

you may not have noticed the blurb in cyclingnews, but jon page, america's silver medal in the world championships of 2007, is signed on to madison wisconsin based, planet bike team.

wow.

planet bike already has big tristan schouten to back up page, and to make it even better, they also signed midwestern singlespeed phenom marko lalonde.

and marko is gonna ride gears. (that is the epic part).

holy crap.

all of those who have ever watched him destroy fields on his single, and wondered to yourself, "imagine if that dude could shift!", well, it's about to be a reality.

cx season is already epic for 2008!

Cleansing.

“america is all about speed.
hot, nasty, bad-ass speed.”

-eleanor roosevelt, 1936

a few soild days off the bike, a few solid days off the internet, a few
soild days out of town, and a few solid days of dehabilitating sickness.

with all that behind me, i feel like a totally new human.

sweet.

i guess i am lucky all that stuff happened over the same few days, so i was able to knock it all out at once.

maybe i will even write something interesting on this blog again...

we shall see.

it won't be today though.

a whole new ballgame.

[off the back at opus. photo; t.c. worley]


so, for me 2007 was an ok year on the bike.
and by "ok", i mean generally pretty crappy, with a few bright spots.

i had some good goals, including qualifying for elite nationals on the track, and maganging to be in the front third of some cat 3 races.

but, my training didn't really go to plan in the off-season.

i raced in the early season with mostly disappointing results.
- dropped and dnf at ken woods.
- dropped, but finished way back at durand.
- dropped in every opus, save one.

and so on.

i wasn't terribly sad though, i knew my first races as a cat 3 would be tough, but i was expecting to be a little stronger.

then i took all of june off, on my european vacation.
that didn't do much for the form...

by august a had raced myself into some mediocre form and was in the front of the square lake race, until the final climb. i rolled in off the peloton for 14th, i think.
i was honestly happy that i even finished the race, let alone was in the field until the last part of the last lap.

i needed top 3's to get into track nats, but with only half-ass form, (and a "motivated" field), i could only muster 5th.
there went that goal.

with the racing miles the form improved a touch, and held through the first part of the cx season and i was pretty happy with some of my results.

so, the big question is; how can i improve for this season.

first off, if you are not keeping track of your riding, you should start.
it is extremely helpful to be able to look back and know exactly what you were doing last year.
then you can pin-point what was missing.

my case is simple. and glaringly obvious.
i just didn't ride enough. and when i did, it wasn't hard enough.

my 2007 pre-season miles are a joke.
i was really busy with getting the lgr team off the ground, and training suffered.
also, when i did get the few miles in that i did, they were lacking intensity. they were just base miles.

now it's 2008, lgr is a fairly well-oiled machine, and things are looking better!

check it out, on the bike time '07 vs. '08:

• year______ 2007._____ 2008.
• _______________________
  
• jan. _____ 7 hours. ____ 33 hours
• feb. _____ 5 hours. ____ 26.5 hours
• mar. ____ 20 hours. ___ 7 hours as of 3/5/08

holy crap.
2007 is embarrassing.

granted i was in the gym alot more last year, but still...

i am predicting a bit of an improvement this year.

we shall see.

babe ruth.

i guess i should start gambling.

perhaps a precursor for my season as well?

...probably not.

i think i'm going out of town this week, so likely no riding for me. it's okay, i need a rest week i'm sure.

although i might not be able to pass on the chance to ride some slick rock in moab...

i'll let you know.