Winter training set up...

Yo, when it looks like this (see to the left) outside, it's time to ride the trainer damn it all. I hate the trainer. I loathe the trainer. I'd rather do nothing than ride the trainer, but since I have been doing nothing for like a month (or more), and the snow is piled up outside, and I don't have anything else to do, I might as well ride the accursed trainer. I already did my laundry for the travel I have coming up this week (Lansing, MI, and then Burlington, VT), I've already cleaned my bathroom. I suppose, I could always watch a million hours of Super Bowl pre-game, but that will only interest me for so long. So, again, trainer ride.

Here is the trainer set up right now, as it stands, in my tiny bedroom. Not optimal, but I've got the TV in front of me, iPod close by, and if I get really tired, I can hop off the bike, and jump into bed. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather ride outside, but currently, I've got no knobby tired bikes in DC with me, and to ride the road bike out in the crap out there right now, that would be, well, bad isn't the word for it. I'm sure there would be pain and suffering, and NOT the good kind. Continuing on the cycling path of things, I was sorry to see that Franco Ballerini died in a car crash in a rally where he was navigating for the driver. Gone too soon I think. He won some races himself, and then coached the Italian team, and sometimes even got them to stop fighting amongst themselves, in order to pull in a few world championships and not to mention, a gold medal from Bettini in Athens. He had a good career on the bike, and off. I'm sure he'll be missed. I'll leave you all with this little snippet of the 1994 Roubaix with Ballerini throwing it down...

Ballerini throwing down in PR.

Another one bites it...

Zirbel's B sample also positive from Velonews. com. Oops, looks like someone tested positive 2 times now, and will be banned for a couple of years. Say goodbye to the career you never really had doper. Don't let the proverbial door hit you in the arse on the way out. Seems as though, he has read the excuse list though, because just like everyone else who has ever gotten busted (well, almost everyone), he's got several excuses, all of which are 99.9% lies. Sure there is a small, very small, almost miniscule chance he's telling the truth, but those chances are not very good. I think it goes back to the old slim and none, and instead of slim just leaving town, slim and none both RAN outta town. Anyone have the over and under on how many doping positives we'll get this year during the race season once it gets cranked up? How many more times will Boonen get busted for recreational drugs? He does seem to like to snort the powder. My wife has officially jumped off of the Boonen fan wagon, after she found out he was dating a 16 year old girl (well, she's probably 18 or so now I guess, or getting close to that age). Now, she finds him creepy. She's moved over to liking Cavendish, or Millar. She has a thing for pale lanky Englishmen. How she ended up with me (swarthy, dark, hairy, Frenchman) I'll never really know, but I'm not going to question it. She pretty much rocks my world.

Anyway, regardless of doping going on, I'm still pretty psyched for the real season to start. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, spring classics are where it's at. This is where the hard men (or the best dopers) come into their own. I think I read somewhere the Lancey-poo is going to be riding the Classics this year, which makes me like him, just a little bit. I know, another Lance hater. Don't get me wrong. I completely respect what he's done on the bike, and I respect what he's done off the bike (Livestrong and cancer stuff and things like that), it still doesn't make me a fan of him though. That's all I will say about that for now. But, get out there like you did in the old days Lance, and get in the mud, it'll be good for you. Ride some cobbles. Taste some cow shit from the roads in Belgium. It's going to be another great Spring season.

Cross Worlds happened this weekend. And I'm disappointed and sad for one Katie Compton, who had cramp issues this weekend, and didn't finish the race. I feel sad, because she's is one fucking super fast woman out there, and she's not yet gotten her World Championship, and this year, she was on FIRE. Vos won, again, which doesn't surprise me, because after Compton, she's got the goods as well. Here is hoping that Katie can figure out her leg cramping issues, and come back again next year, and put the smack down on the women 'crossers of the world. Maybe she needs to pull a "Page" and just pack up camp, and just stay in Europe from late August until World Championships, because it does appear that her cramping issues come up with lots of travel. She doesn't need to come back to the US to ride National Championships, she's already proven, time and again, that she can kick the shit out of the women's fields here (most of the time) without really trying. Stay in Europe Katie, and bring home the rainbow jersey. What I hope she doesn't do though, is give up, because she seems to be getting stronger every single year (when she's not cramping). Good luck Katie, here's hoping you come back stronger next year, and kick the ass that most of us know that you can.

Team Sky cracking the whip early...

Bike racing season has just started, and already, Team Sky are cracking the whip. Seems as though Greg Henderson took a win in the warm up the Tour Down Under at the Cancer Council Helpline Classic in Australia. Not too shabby, actually, they went 1-2 in the finale with Henderson's last lead out man taking second, over the guy Henderson was hired to help out last year, Andre Greipel. Talk about sweet revenge/irony, or whatever it is you want to call it. True enough, Henderson did not win over Cavendish, who is still the best sprinter out there in my opinion, but, this bodes well for the young Team Sky, and will keep their "made a deal with the Devil" owner Rupert Murdoch happy at least for a little while. Now, I'm not going to hold Sky accountable, just because they're owned by a raging maniacal egomaniac, just pointing out that they're owned by such a man. Or is it his son? Anyway, what it boils down to, is Murdoch is in the driver's seat. Also what it boils down to, they had a good opening race of the 2010 season.

Now the other thing I found amazing about this race, was the size of the crowds. I mean, seriously, check this picture out. We're seeing 3, 4, 5, and sometimes 6 deep out there to basically watch a parking lot crit. Fucking awesome really. Then again, the Australians seem to have a better sense of these things anyway, and or, are more into it. Oh, and Lance was there too, always a big crowd draw, no matter how you feel about him. He brings it. Same for his silly "little" tweet ride the other day. 6000 people showed up? Again, amazing the drawing ability that guy has. Would I have gone and done a ride like that? Hells yeah! When would be the next time you could ride along with 6000 people (clusterfuck no doubt) with a full police escort an closed roads? For many of us, that time would be never. I'm sure, like with all other large scale rides of this nature, there was shredded skin, and carnage on the roadways, but this is the price we pay.

Anyway, all of this early season shit only gets me more excited for the main event. Yeah, you guys know what I'm talking about. Flanders - GW - and then PR in April. For me, there is no finer time of the year. The smell of mud and dog shit is in the air from everything thawing out from its winter freeze. Cobbles are hammered over. Belgians are drunk off of their asses at 0800 on a Sunday morning. Frites are being consumed in mass quantities. There isn't any better time of the year for bike racing, and for those of you who think that there is, you're fucking absolutely wrong. Just accept it. Those 3 Spring Classics (and 1 semi classic) are what it's all about folks. OK, I'll throw in LBL as well, but that week of racing can't be beat. I'm definitely going over there for vacation some year, just to take it all in.

Anyway, it's mid January, let the racing begin. Seems as if it were just a couple of days again when he harkened the end of the race season with Lombardy. Time to crank it up again on the roads.

Mulsim Obama hates Charlie Brown...

Turns out, the mayor of Arlington, TN thinks that he really and truly knows the reason for Obama's speech the other night on Afghanistan. It was to pre-empt the Charlie Brown special, because, you know, Obama is a dirty Muslim, and doesn't believe in the Lord our Savior, Jesus H. Christ (does anyone know what the H stands for anyway??). Check out the link here on the story itself. Oh, of course, it was all much to do with nothing. Have people lost their ever loving minds though? Seriously? Obama is an evil Muslim who doesn't want people to see the Christmas Charlie Brown special? And this guy, is a mayor of a town, sure, it's probably a small town, but still. He's supposed to be a leader, and he's a fucking moron. Turning towards Afghanistan though. Obama pledged more troops. I don't know how I feel about this really. On the one hand, it's probably overdue, and on the other hand, I'd rather have all of our men and women back instead of in harm's way. So what do we do here? In speaking with some of the guys I work with, they're behind this troop escalation (it's not a surge, since the word surge indicates that there is some sort of plan for "winning" whatever that means). They have thought for a long time that we needed more guys on the ground in Afghanistan, and they are also proponents of letting them get out there, do their jobs. The Big A Army is good at blowing shit up, and killing bad guys. This much is true. Maybe, they're one of the most proficient groups we have at doing this, although, the Marines are right there with them. Our Army and Marines were never meant to be out and about within the people, building societies back, and doing counterinsurgency efforts. Our Green Berets, and SF soldiers though, are very good at this. It is a key component of their training. I believe what we need to do though is to kill as many of the bad guys as we can, and make it a price that they're not willing to pay any longer, again, remember, we're good at destroying things, and killing bad guys. We need to bring in specialists, being SF soldiers, or civilians that can show folks in Afghanistan how to create a society, and we also have to learn that, what functions as a government, or what functions as a society in Afghanistan is not even remotely going to be like what we have here in the United States. They're not going to have a Starbucks, and a Target on every corner in their country, and there is going to be a certain level of chaos almost always, but they are also a tribal nation. Run by local leaders, more so than a central government. We have a hard time wrapping our heads around that paradigm. Anyway, like I said, I just wish we could get all of our troops home. Garrisoned, and safe stateside. That might put me out of a job, but then again, that's a hit I think I'd be willing to take, if it meant, no more fighting for us. I also have come to believe that eventually, some guy in Pakistan is going to rat out Bin Laden, yeah, more than likely, he is somewhere in Pakistan. They're going to get sick of Predators dropping bombs on houses and people around them, and they're going to finally give him up, sick of his shit, and the trouble that he brings along with him. We'll probably snatch him up then, or kill him, but what will that really solve? Nothing really. At this point in time al Qaeda has been basically wiped out, and or spread out around the globe. We're looking at an organization that doesn't have a "central command" any longer so to speak, but what we have to be vigilant about is smaller cells, of 1-10 guys plotting smaller scale attacks against soft targets. Which means, that yes, battling terrorism is probably going to become more of a police action, than a military action. Why am I writing about this? Not sure really. It's that time of the year when cycling is in its down cycle, except for 'cross, and well, there are only 2 words I've got say about cyclocross. Katie. Compton. That woman is fucking hardcore no doubt. If she doesn't win the world championship this year, she's cursed, or something like that. Because really, she's on a tear, and she would be only the 2nd American to be a world champ in 'cross, the first being Matt Kelly. Whatever happened to that guy anyway? Didn't he just burn out, and disappear? I seem to remember him making a "comeback" so to speak at some point in time, but haven't heard from him since then. He was a world champ, and then, gone. Why do our young racers all seem to end up in that situation anyway? Going back to Compton, she'll be on the top step of the podium this year at the world championships, I can only hope. She's been killing it so far this year, and I'm pretty sure she'll keep on that path. If she doesn't, I'd be surprised, since she is head and shoulders above the rest of the women in the US at least. None seem able to keep up with her at all. She's a few gears higher than the rest. We'll see, we shall see. Good luck to her.

Sometimes, someone hits it on the head...

So, every once in awhile, I read something that makes good sense, and I just read something of that nature, and wanted to share it with you.

Alter column on health care

Read it, it's good, I promise, and makes too much sense, so it will probably be ignored.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot about health care, but what I do know, is that republicans are trying to scare Americans into not reforming the system, and they're doing a pretty good job of it. Talking about senior citizens getting euthanized, and of course, bringing up the dreaded "S" word, that being SOCIALISM!! I've got a list right here folks, and on it, are the names of KNOWN socialists that reside in the Congress of the United States, and of course, they're all democrats! God forbid that we have health care for all of our citizens, that would be downright un-American by God! Hey, like the article link says, I've got mine, to hell with the rest of you!

Seriously though, if my taxes go up, by just a little bit, to help provide health insurance to my fellow citizens who don't have it, I'm all for it. Really. I think it could be one small thing that I could do for my country, and my fellow citizens that could make a better country for ALL of us.

These last few weeks have been silly. I thought republicans, and their talking mouthpieces on the radio and TV were bad during the Clinton years, but folks, they have gone off of the rails. Just this week, as mentioned above, we had conservatives (including lawmakers) talking about how the health plan reform would euthanize senior citizens, and then we have the "birthers", the growing number of conservatives who honestly believe that Obama is NOT a citizen of the United States (not a natural born citizen) even though he was born in Hawaii, and the government of Hawaii has said, repeatedly that he was born there. Then we have Glenn Beck calling Obama a racist, and that he doesn't like white people (forgetting of course that he is half white, so he must slap himself every morning when he wakes up). And so on, and so forth. Damn, we're only 6 months into his first of second terms, and we're already getting the crazy shit. I know that this is a strawman argument, but think, just THINK if a liberal commentator had called Bush a racist. Think about what happened when Kanye West said something to that effect, the conservatives went fucking NUTS! Think about what happened when the Dixie Chicks said that they didn't like George Bush, the conservatives went FUCKING NUTS! And, most country stations wouldn't play their music, being good patriotic Americans that they are.

All of a sudden, even in the absence of evidence, a mainstream conservative commentator calls Obama a racist, and everyone is OK with this? We have Lou Dobbs calling for Obama to show his birth certificate, because there are "questions" about where he was born (bear in mind, this was actually put to rest almost a year ago when this first came up by Hawaii, and Obama himself), and that's somehow OK? That's a legit question? It smells folks, it freakin' smells of racism to me, especially coming from Lou Dobbs, king of TV racists (see his past tirades about illegal immigrants for good examples of how he hates people of color). Throw in, again, people like Glenn Beck advocating for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of the United States, and that's OK?

We need to call these assholes out for the misinformation, and outright lies that they sow on a daily basis. They'll cry about censorship (it's not), they'll cry about freedom of speech (it's not a freedom of speech issue), but it needs to be done. Honestly, I'd be just as angry if folks were doing this to a republican President, but since the media is in the pocket of the conservatives, this would never happen.

Days of le Tour...

Of course, le Tour is going on. Everyone on here no doubt knows this, and if you don't, pull your head out of your ass, and start watching. It's been, eh, not too bad so far. I'm watching it as I write this now. I was in California last weekend for a wedding, and there is something to be said for waking up around 7, watching the last little bit of the race, and starting the day. West coast knows where it's at.

Anyway, I've got some comments on the Tour. Mostly about yesterday. As folks undoubtedly know, Hincapie got douched by Garmin and his old "friend" Armstrong and Astana. Look, George is a class act. Even today, he's not talking shit about what happened yesterday. Is he disappointed? Yeah, no doubt. Is he talking about it with those in the media? Nope. Why? He's all class. He's had many a disappointment over the years in bicycle racing, and yesterday, would have been a great way for him to take yellow (no doubt for probably just a day, maybe 2), and have the peloton show some love for the man from South Carolina. Did they let it happen? No, no indeed. And really, I can't see why. As mentioned above, George, class guy. I don't know too many people in the sport of cycling, and or who follow cycling who don't like the guy. I've met him many different times over the years of riding and racing in the Southeast, and he's genuinely a decent fellow. His brother is also a decent fellow. And their parents are decent people. Also, there are some people in the peloton (cough-Garmin-cough) who shouldn't have just made enemies big time with the strongest pro team in the sport right now, that being Columbia. I can see it now. Stapleton will do all he can to fuck up Vaughters' program and I can say, I'm all for that. Fuck that guy. He sucks.

Moving on to Vaughters, or JV. We get it. You're supposed to be "the smart guy" in the world of team directors. I like what you're doing with Garmin, and I like a lot of the riders on the team, but you sir, are a grade one douchebag. Stop being such a dick and acting all superior. The argyle was nice for a little while, time to find something new. Those sideburns, fucking shave that shit. You're not in college anymore after all, and they make you look like, well, I don't know what they make you look like, but you look freakin' ridiculous. I know you don't like Hincapie because he wouldn't give your team free clothing back a few years ago, but Jesus H. Christ, get over it. Seriously, stop concentrating on just the team time trial. Sure it's nice to show yourself out there, and show you can be the best team in a time trial, but that's only one stage. I'm very impressed with Farrar as well. The kid has got the goods, and needs a little extra something, and he'll be winning stages shortly. But Vaughters, stop being a dick. Your guys should have been nowhere near the front yesterday. No reason really. The only reason I can think of is to screw Columbia, and in turn, Hincapie.

Then we have Astana. Lance throwing up his hands basically saying we didn't do anything to take away from George. Bullshit you guys didn't. You had a bunch of your boys riding tempo on the front when the gap got up to 8 or 9 minutes. AG2R should have been the team doing it, and instead, it was you guys. Amazing really. All of those years Hincapie toiled in the mountains and the flats for Armstrong and Johan, and what does he get in return? Fucking hosed. Nice play boys, nice... I can't wait until Vino comes back shortly, and gets the 2 of you fired, and you'll be racing in the US under the Mellow Johnny's banner.

As you might be able to tell, I think the group should have let Hincapie wear the jersey. They didn't. They'll pay for it I believe in the near future. It's sad really, again, because Hincapie is all class really, and has had some bad luck over the years (broken bikes, ditches, stronger teammates, no sprinting ability, bad tactical know how, and so on). I think yesterday really just made me a bigger Columbia fan. Cavendish is brash, and I like that. He's kind of a dick as well, which also makes me smile. As someone once said, it ain't bragging if you can do it. Cavendish makes it look easy taking wins. Now, since he's making no doubt a ton of money, let me put 2 words out there for you: Dental Hygiene. Use some of that money and get those baked bean teeth fixed up a little bit.

Rant, over...

He's making a list, and checking it twice...

I stumbled across this story this morning, and thought that I would share it with you guys. It appears as though we are heading right back to the 1950's where a lot of republicans would like to take us. Yes, Spencer Bachus representative of Alabama has a "list" of his colleagues, who are, "GASP!" SOCIALISTS!! He puts the number at 17 exactly. How he came about this list, and or the people on it, I think that he is the one and only person who might know. As in, much like McCarthy (who a lot of conservatives these days are defending, and saying that he was correct 95% of the time - not kidding about that), he has probably made this list up out of thin air with little to no proof, aside from his craziness creeping in on him at night while he creates such crazy things in his Mom's basement.

Mr. Bachus, since you have this list now, where do you want to go from here? Should we have hearings led by yourself and Representative Bachman from Minnesota as to who is, and who isn't pro-American (in your view) working in the House of Representatives? Bear in mind, back during the election cycle, Ms. Bachman also made a statement to the media, on FoxNews of course where she wasn't challenged, that she knew for a FACT that there were communists, and socialists in the House, and that the media should do a complete and thorough investigative report on who was, and who wasn't pro-American in the House. I am thinking, just when you think that some conservatives can't get any crazier, along comes items like this. Seriously, GOPers, do you condone this?

On the one hand, if this were coming from say, talk radio, or even from Mr. Crazy Kook himself, Glenn Beck, that might be one thing. But, we have this coming from elected officials. This wasn't OK in the 50's when Joe McCarthy did it, and it's far from OK at this point in time. I mean, these people that they're talking about ran for, and got elected to Congress. How un-American can you be to want to serve your district and your country? Not very I would think. Even though there are some good perks being in Congress, it's not as if it's not hard work. And I sincerely believe that the vast majority of people IN Congress do it because they believe that they can make a difference, and help the country along. I even believe that about Bachus and Bachman, in their own twisted little way. Call it naive if you will, but that's just where I come down on this one.

The other thing recently that has been driving my crazy are these so called Tea Parties that are supposed to be held on April 15th in protest of the Obama administration's spending plans for the future. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty hard core liberal (I'm sure you would not have guessed that at all), and I really don't have an issue with anyone criticizing the President, not at all. If you have some valid issues that you feel need to be brought up, please, do it. And using a protest as a vehicle to get noticed does work, so please, again, do it. The heartburn that I have with this crap though, is that FoxNews is not only covering the news of these events, they are overtly promoting them, and taking charge of them. This is not the job of a so called news organization. They're not there to promote these events. The response that I've gotten from some folks is something like this, "Well, the mainstream media (for some reason FoxNews, even though they are the highest rated 24 hour news channel never makes it into the so called mainstream media) covered the war protests and anything against George W. Bush, so why can't Fox cover these events?" Again, they are more than welcome to cover said events, but please, show me a case of where a media source promoted war protests, or any protests at all? They didn't, and shouldn't. That's not what news sources are for, but then again, we do know that FoxNews is just the televised propaganda arm of the GOP and the republicans anyway. I mean, just look at their venom spewing forth about anything Obama. Being critical is one thing, but berating every single little thing the man has done, or will do is quite another. And it is far from being, "Fair and Balanced" as they proclaim to be. Or their other slogan, "We report, you decide.." they're not really reporting, they're promoting.

So what about this stupid socialist list? What the fuck is that all about anyway? Get a grip republicans, you're circling the drain, and doing things like this, is only going to make the flush go faster. I mean, I really should be supporting these crazies in their efforts, mostly because it's going to make it a lot easier for the guys on my side (democrats) to win more seats in the mid-terms in 2010, but I do hate to see a once proud political party who had real ideas, and real criticisms (even though I disagreed with a lot of them) go the way of the Dodo bird. It's kind of sad, and doesn't help us along the path of recovery.