And now for the Giro d'Italia...

Yeah, it's that time of the year again. The Giro is upon us folks. That means Italians lining mountain roads, drinking too much wine, eating tons o' cheese, and waiting for their heroes to fly by on bicycles on their way to possibly ultimate victory. Unlike the Tour de France, which the French haven't won since the days of Bernard Hinnault, the Italians have won the Giro a lot. Something like 60+ times in its over 80 runnings over the years, that's a pretty good track record. It, like the Vuelta in the fall, seems to bring out the nationalistic pride in the guys riding it. Most Italians would prefer winning the Giro to just about any other race out there over the remainder of the season. Just like the Spanish guys would love to win la Vuelta. It was knock down drag out last year, and I think this year's route will prove to be treacherous and of course hard as all get out. They are sending them up into the mountain roads that turn into goat paths near the top, dirt, gravel, and steep grades. I think we'll see some guys walking at some points in time on these high roads. When you have pro cyclists talking about running a 27 or a 29 toothed cog in their rear cassette, that means the shit is going to hit the fan. Couple that with a compact crankset up front, yeah, it all equals pain for those boys. And those are the good climbers. Then you have everyone else that has to pedal through that crap as well. I think we'll see a high rate of attrition on that day, namely, most of the sprinters are going to bail out, and let the rest of the GC guys have at it. Even as I write this now, they are running the prologue for the Giro.

I've got to go with the Giro being my favorite race, just more for the scenery than anything else, well, and the racing has been very animated the last few years as well. Skinny Italian guys trying to kick each other in the teeth while riding up these roads is an amazing thing to watch. Attack after attack, last year, it was unpredictable at best, and we had a semi surprise winner in Paolo Salvodelli, who essentially went there with Discovery without hardly any support, and yet, he dug in, and ended up winning. It was an amazing ride, and he's looking in good form. There are too many high mountain passes though for him this year I think, and this could prove to be difficult for him I think. The climbing specialists, will have a field day in the mountains this year, and once they drop the others, I don't think they'll be looking back. As I said before, it's going to be knock down and drag out. I can't wait. I'm pulling for Mr. Bassoto take the win, more because I would love to see someone take the double this year, the Giro and le Tour. It hasn't been done since Marco did it back in 1998, so here is hoping that something like that could come about. It's getting harder in these days of specializing, but if anyone could do it, it could be Basso. He's got the tools for the most part, and his time trialing has come along very nicely, but le Tour's route this year is less climbing, more time trialing, so he might be at a loss there. Which then plays into Jan's hands, and also, be on the lookout for Mr. Floyd Landis of the US this year in the Tour. With more time trialing, I still think he's an outside shot at taking the win, mostly because his time trialing, thus far this year, has been pretty damn good. Regardless, it's going to be a good grand tour season this year.

In other news, for those of you who have been following my lack of riding, and the reasons behind it this year (namely the cyst growing in the old sensitive region of my undercarriage) I had another doctor's appointment this past week, and indeed, it's still there. Like I didn't know this. It has gotten smaller, best I can tell, but it's going to have to come out, which means, someone is going to have to cut it out. Me, not having serious skills as a surgeon have decided that it's a better bet for someone else with the proper training to do that. I'll go get a consult next week for having it removed. Which could get me back on the bike just in time for cross season. But wait. I don't have a cross bike, so never mind. It'll get me back on the bike just in time for the off season, and just in time to maybe get strong again, and make another run at racing these things we call bikes. I am missing it this year. What can you do though? I have a feeling even if I were completely healthy, work would be a big block in getting to train properly, and to ride, as things there have gotten crazy again. People getting yelled at, managers stressed way the hell out, the plant manager looking hard to fire someone on the leadership team to make a name for himself, and just a general feeling of crappiness pervades the workspace on a daily basis. Now look. I know we don't go to work to have fun, well, most of us anyway, but there are times when you at least want to go to work, and like your work. The general feeling throughout our plant right now is one of ever increasing negativity. The machine operators, the staff, the managers, the HR department, just about everyone is feeling a little under the gun, and feeling like the rug could get pulled out from underneath anyone, at just about any point in time. It's no longer a good place to work really, it has become somewhere we have to go because we need to pay the bills. The comment I most often here is that if someone were to get fired, they wouldn't even care at this point in time. Which says a lot actually. It says to me that people are ever more not caring about what happens at their workplace, and that indeed, they are doing enough to not get fired, but trying to do not too much extra. In an environment like that, it's going to fail miserably, very soon. Our leadership and our managers are scared of their boss, and don't want to ever actually tell him the truth of situations. And to maybe tell him negative things. I've been in meetings where I've been asked a direct question from the plant manager, given him the answer that I know to be true, and then have been reprimanded for it later on in the day by my boss, because it makes her "look bad", which the answers I gave really didn't, but in her mind, it did. It's starting to border on the insane, and everyone is playing the good old game of CYA (cover your ass), which means that they're not doing what might be best for the business, or for the company, but they're trying to do what would be best for themselves, and covering their ass so that they don't get fired. Which, means that a lot of innocent people have been getting tossed into oncoming traffic for no other reason than their bosses don't want to look bad. It's happened to me, and I'm sure it will continue to happen. When you walk into the place in the morning, you can feel the bad vibes in the office environment. It hangs over everything like a thick haze. It's just no good. Got to get out of the place. Sure, I've said this before mostly because I was just being worked to death, but now, it's just getting unhealthy. Everyone is tired. Everyone is stressed. It's just no good.