BONES OF ANCIENT LIBERAL FOUND

Since Eric took a shot at My Party...I thought posting this most recent archaeological find was only appropiate...

Quick, Easy...And Pretty Neat!

Wow...so long without a post...

I'll have to try and do better...

Anyway, had a friend send me this and thought it was pretty cool. Give this little Political quiz a go and post your "score" in the comment section. I'll share mine later but don't want to influence anyone beforehand :).

Can you park a car????

Warning...This is as addictive as "Smack the Pengiun"... GIVE IT A TRY!

One Cool bit of Architecture!!!

Stumbled across this the other day...It's located in Sweden and is called the Turning Torso. The Turning Torso stands 54 floors high and has 90 degrees of twist...the same Architect is reportedly working on a similar design to be located in Chicago which will stand 115 floors and have 270 degrees of twist. more details here!

A Real Classic...GOODFELLAS!

As a side note this weekend, I also caught Goodfellas, compliments of TIVO! Hadn't really watched it start to finish since it had come out in 1990...16 years ago...WOW, that makes me feel old!

Anyway, watching the scroll at the end of the movie stating that Jimmy Conway would be eligable for parole in 2004 got me curious...

Thanks to SuperDave's friends over at Wikipedia, I found some interesting reading...

Lung Cancer got Jimmy before he had his shot with the parole board. Here's the complete story on Jimmy Conway!

Also found out that Henry Hill is no longer in the Witness Protection Program and to say the least his exploits make for interesting reading!

Tip of the Day...

As posted at the paceline!

"Riding for more than an hour? We recommend using some "chamois cream" between the legs - try Bag Balm, available at most feed stores!"

Anybody ever heard of this stuff?....Bag Balm! Sounds UDDERLY Ridiculous!!! :)

A Great Weekend...

Friday evening:

• Got the weekend grass cutting duties out the way and handled a quick repair at the rent house.
• Char and I went to Deangelo's in P'ville to grab a bite to eat

Saturday:

• Me, Char, and Nixon got in 36 good miles in the early A.M. before the heat got to crazy
• Me, Ward, and Paul along with our better halves did lunch at McAllister's deli and went to see Talladega Nights (just plain STUPID FUNNY!)
• The Doc and Natalie, Paul and Jaime, and me and Char went out to eat at Roberto's on River Road...excellent!

Sunday:

• Me, Char, and Doc did the River Road/Yousef route (about 45 miles) early A.M.
• Got home in time to shower, eat, and NAP before the NASCAR race
• Watched the NASCAR race...My boy, Gordon pulled out a second place, not as good as first but "points wise" in the hunt for the championship...a big day!
• Did supper at my Mom's house...
  
  

Feeding Time...

Actually took this picture a few weeks ago...all that remains of this litter of 10 is 3 black labs (1 male, 2 female), the rest have been sold. They're pure bred, checked out by the vet...gorgeous puppies! However, since I'm really not into the "dog" thing and for reasons I don't even try to understand...apparently "black labs" are not currently the "IN" thing. My sister said the yellow, brown and white ones went quickly and she got countless calls looking for those colors, I'm hoping this recent trend isn't racially motivated :).

Anyway...Long story short, she doesn't feel like messing with another ad in the paper and just wants to find them a good home. Therefore, if you are anyone you know is interested, the price is right..."FREE".

Last Night...

Went to Latil's Landing Restaurant located at the Houmas House Plantation to celebrate Char's birthday. Char's birthday was actually Tuesday but since Latil's is only open Thurs-Sun for dinner, and since she's been wanting to go there for quite sometime, and since it's only about three miles from our house, and since I've been both lazy and negligent in not taking her there before now... I decided it was best to postpone the celebration until last night! A good choice!

While the menu struck me as a bit limited, everything we had was excellent. The atmosphere and ambience was great...a small, quiet dinning room with a great view overlooking the fountain. We did encounter one curious fella that felt the need to come by our table a couple of times....

Things That Make You Go... "Huh?"

Stumbled across this one at the New Orleans airport a few weeks back when picking up my aunt. Now I realize that politicians are a unique "power hungry" breed that enjoy seeing their name in print to feed their egos, but this plaque struck me as a bit of a stretch...

I can understand a plaque for a new Airport, or even a new Concourse on an existing airport...but a plaque for new flooring?

Floyd...My two cents!

Well actually, I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts on this situation into words...So, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon of someone else's quote.

Charlene sent me a link to an article written by Keith Bontrager, I thought his brief comment on the Landis situation pretty much summed up my feelings...

"Oh yeah. I am really, really hoping that Floyd is clean, just weird physiologically. It seems to me that it would make no sense to dose up on testosterone at that stage in the race. It wouldn't have helped. Anyway, if everyone decides he's guilty without listening to the issues, we suck. Of course, if it turns out that he did dose up, he does. Enough."

If you get hot spots on your feet or you're interested in a home recipe for chamois cream, check out his entire article here.

Breaking News...Leipheimer to Discovery!

OK I'm back...just incase anybody has actually checked as of late...
I'm afraid my prolonged absence may have cost me my 2 or 3 readers (Not sure if I'm allowed to count myself) :)

Anyway...no good excuses, except Work, the Tour, and Vacation...Two outta the three being good things and the other pays the bills...So, no complaints from here.

While we're on the subject of spending money, check out the review on the new trutrainer rollers. Always thought I would be a Kreitler guy forever but these look pretty nice. If price is an indication, they should be VERY NICE!

While we're on the subject of "cool bike shit"...is anyone familiar with nokon cables? Not really a fan of the multiple color look but thought they seemed pretty cool!

Starved for more Tour info?

Grabbed this off of the paceline site. Check it out....

Here's how to sign up for this Tour de France podcast:

1. Copy the following URL: http://www.discovery.com/radio/xml/tour2006updates.xml

2. Open a podcast player, such as iTunes.

3. Select the option, "Subscribe to Podcast." In iTunes, this is under the "Advanced" menu.

4. Paste the URL into the podcast subscription field and hit "OK" or "Submit."

- By subscribing to the podcast, you'll automatically receive Tour de France updates whenever you open your podcast player

Quote of the Day!

This from the most recent issue of VeloNews...

"That's Bullshit. I could say if Lance were at this Giro, he would beat Basso. We have a saying in Flemish, "If my aunt had four wheels, she'd be a car."

Discovery Director, Johan Bruyneel responding to CSC Boss Bjarne Ris's claim that had Ivan Basso had this year's form, he could have beaten Armstrong at last year's Tour De France

Tentatively...339 days and counting...

For those with a busy life and a full calendar...

Mark this date...May 06, 2007 as our next date with the mountain we LOVE to HATE...Cheaha!

**NOTE: This date is tentative and won't be official until sometime in July after the NASCAR race schedule for the Talladega Motor Speedway is officially released.

While I realize most don't require this much advanced notice...Nixon, a.k.a. "BUCKEYE" had inquired and I wanted to make sure there were no excuses for next year.

Eric...mark your calendar...I think you can take this race.

However, if SuperDave manages to avoid serious bodily injury on his upcoming Mountain Biking Adventure and drops that 50 pounds he was talking about...smart money may be on him.
Or, his Mountain Biking Adventure could be a mere tool in order to obtain "serious bodily injury" (i.e. another wired jaw)...thus making his second goal of dropping 50 pounds easier to obtain. The possibilities are endless...what that guy won't do to win..CRAZY! :)

I'm also contacting the Piedmont Chamber of commerce, their mayor, and all city council members concerning the possibility of relocating their fire station so that we might be able to get more than 20 miles out of Cody next year! :)

Our next big Ride....

Last time it was the Colorado Rockies...this time the Canadian Rockies :)...Not to mention I think Lance and Eddie will be great additions to the group. Check out the details at Pez Cycling.

At first I thought it was a little pricey with a mandatory donation of 25,000 plus staging cost estimated at 20,000. Then I realized they were quoting Canadian Dollars, at the current exchange rate that's only around $38,000 or $40,000 US...SIGN ME UP!

On the other hand...that's still a lot of money just to be dropped...

Love a good Gadget...

Check THIS Out!

Friends with Connections....AWESOME!

SuperDave has never been one to brag but in 15+ years of friendship you would've thought that he might mention that he and "The Cannibal" were such close friends. Most guys just drop a check in the mail to settle up on a cycling trip, but not SuperDave...David took the time to have his buddy Eddie ink me an autographed photo, and judging by the caption, Eddie knows David pretty good.

Much Appreciated!
And I promise this, if I can't get any takers on EBAY I'll treasure it forever. :)

Katrina - New Orleans....Play by Play!

Nice overview! I think this is by far the best explanation of what happened when, and how it affected the different areas in and around New Orleans.

Check it out HERE!

Cheaha Recap...EPIC!

Left: SuperDave and Taylor arrive right on time...well more like fashionably late... actually, they were damn close to being left :)

Below: Ward's bike hauler loaded with all eight bikes and ready to roll. Precious cargo...the value of the bikes surpassed that of the truck.


Well, we've survived Cheaha for the third year running but BOY, DID IT HURT!

Our group included eight riders, mostly Cheaha veterans; Me, Char, SuperDave, Ward, Don, and Doc...along with two new comers; Cody and BBT.

Unfortunately, the forecast was for a long rainy day so the total turnout was around 320 riders instead of the 600+ anticipated. Actually, after an hour of light rain at the beginning it turned out to be a beautiful day, at least weather wise. Cheaha is miserable enough in my opinion, to the point where rain really isn't a factor. However, it was nice having dry roads for the 50 mph descents.
I think everyone suffered his or her own horrors and the consensus was that it was brutal but all and all I think everyone had a good ride.

5 of us did the full 102:

SuperDave smoked it as always.....05:54
Not the most punctual guy I know, but one hell of a cyclist...and my hero :)

I managed.........06:26
Five minutes better than my PR from last year but the price I had to pay seemed Huge! I was above 90% of my max HR for 4:52, 2:26 of that I was above 95%!

BBT......07:09
First view of Cheaha with a 39X25, gets my ride of the day honors! Well Done!

Doc.......07:52
While off his time of 07:15 from last year, considering his limited time for training, I thought it was awesome that he could finish...he's all about the suffering.

Don......08:28
A full 30 minutes off his time from last year...Impressive!

Char kicked @ss making it to the third SAG and back (67 miles) in 05:04 so I was super proud of her. Ward managed to make it to the second SAG and back (47 miles) in 03:40 refusing to let a little thing like major hip surgery slow him down. Last but not least, Cody managed to put in a good 20 miles before falling into the temptation of stopping at a local fire station and talking a fellow firefighter into giving him a ride back to the start. Not bad considering this was only the second time Cody had put his bike on the road. All and all...a great trip!

Check out the full results here!

D-DAY!

Cheaha is upon us!
For motivational purposes I offer General Dwight D. Eisenhower's D-Day Message.

Order of the Day: 6 June 1944...

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of
1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,
in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their
strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in
battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking.

SIGNED: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Interesting...
Imagine a few quick edits...Cyclist for Soldiers, Cheaha for Nazi's, 2006 for 1944, etc. etc.
And it seems to work quite well!

Tomorrow morning...Wheels up 0700 hrs...GOOD LUCK MEN...and Char!

Giro - Serious...REAL SERIOUS!

Comments from Sean Yates after doing Giro recon with Tom Danielson...

"Yesterday we went to look at the finish on Plan de Corones. You can see from the pictures that they are still building the road, if that's what you could call it, it is really bad, we are going to use 33-28. It will be interesting to see how they manage to get up it, not so much the leaders, it's the rest of the peloton that I am worried about."

33-28....Wow! It's got to be SERIOUS, REAL SERIOUS!!

More at Sean's website.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer...

Cheaha is still four days off and the attempts at sabotage are already starting.

My Buddy Ward...Makes a walmart run the other day and was nice enough to pick me up, NOT ONE BUT TWO OLD FASHIONED PUMPKIN PIES. Now Ward knows I'm trying to eat right...And he also knows I have an almost irresistible addiction to these damn little pies...And he thought of me...THANKS BUDDY, APPRECIATE YOU!

5 Favorite Climbs

This site, Favorite Climbs popped up in one of my Google searches, it allows people to list their five favorite climbs and comment on them. Pretty interesting...I'm not worldly enough as a traveler or cyclist to offer an informed opinion, however, a page search of "Brasstown Bald" seems to rank it amongst or even beyond some of the true epic climbs out there...

Serious Odor Issues...REAL SERIOUS!

Didn't get an exact count on the number of Blue Christmas Tree Air Fresheners hanging from this rear-view mirror...But I'm thinking this has to be a record.

Check out Char!!!

As part of the "help pass the time movement" on the drive up to Alpharetta I surfed over to SuperDave's blog via Char's blackberry and decided to take his "What kind of Car are you?" Survey.

Me, just like David, came out as a good old Chevy Corvette, NOT BAD...Or so I thought, until my wife scored out as a Lotus Elise...Personally, had never heard of it before, but it looks good to me!

What a Stage!...So, So, Close...

Just got back to the hotel from our day at Brasstown Bald and the stage didn't disappoint. Well that's not totally true, it disappointed me by four seconds...Really didn't think Floyd would be able to hang, that being said it was an awesome battle. The stage recap on cyclingnews.com paints a pretty good picture. This picture (albeit a lousy one) shows me and Char's vantage point. This is just as TD and Floyd (left) were catching Popo (right), TD put it one last big effort but as they came by us, it was obvious Floyd wasn't going to be dropped.
Pizza just arrived...Good Night!

TdG Update...

Well, Char and I made it to our hotel room around 2100 hrs last night, went grab something to eat and probably got to bed around 2230 (10:30 for you 12-hr people). We actually left g-town right before noon and made pretty good time, I had forgotten about the switch to EST, so losing the hour sucked but it'll be nice to get back on the drive home. Passed some time on the driving reading the updates of yesterdays stage on Char's blackberry, sounds like Jason M. had a hell of a ride but as the odds usually have it, got caught at the end. Walking out the door to head to Brasstown....I'll try and post a recap tonight.....

Cheaha Challenge Warm-Up...Any takers?

While scurrying about the world wide WEB (Little known fact...Named in honor of the Great Fantasy Cycling Guru, Ward Webb) I stumbled across this little puppy. It's the day before Cheaha and looks, how shall I say...INTERESTING! The Brasstown Bald Buster Century bolds over 12,000 ft of elevation gain, I think Cheaha is just under 8,000 ft of elevation gain...OUCH!

Brasstown Bald or BUST!

Last second plans...

About four hours ago I got the crazy urge to catch the penultament stage of the Tour De Georgia at Brasstown Bald. I ran the idea by Char and as always she's game, so hopefully we'll get out of town between noon and three tomorrow. We'll crash in Alpharetta Friday night and wake up early Saturday to make the hour and a half drive to Brasstown Bald. Stay Saturday night back in Alpharetta and probably hang around long enough to catch the finish of the final stage and then head back late Sunday.

Tommy D. better not disappoint me...I know Floyd is riding strong but I have to believe TD is good for FOUR seconds either Friday or Saturday, (Sunday is pretty much a formality)...I'm thinking (hoping) it's going to be settled again this year on Brasstown Bald...we'll see!

Americans...1,2,3 @ TdG ITT

Pretty Impressive...Check out the results of the Tour de Georgia Individual Time Trial here. Actually not only had I predicted this exact order of finish for the top three but I had also predicted margin of victory down to the 10th of a second...
Unfortunately, SuperDave's failure to run a fantasy TdG deprived me of a forum to showcase this ability. :)
Therefore, I'm afraid everyone is going to have to continue to believe that BBWW is "ALL THAT" when it comes to Fantasy Cycling picks...

Bonus Question...
Why was Popovych in his Discovery Kit instead of the leaders Jersey?

Sunglasses Optional...

Since the arrival of my Moots, the Felt hasn't seen the road. The initial plan was for the felt to be a rain-beater. However, since I never leave for a training ride if it's already raining...and the mere chance of getting caught in the rain isn't reason enough to park the Moots, that plan hasn't really worked out. Instead, the Felt has evolved into my full-time trainer/rollers bike. For that reason, I decided to throw some HomeTrainer Tires on the Felt. The Conti Ultra Sport Hometrainer is specifically designed to run on rollers and trainers and only comes in ContiYellow (a.k.a. ORANGE). Just in case the Green paint job on the Felt wasn't enough of a statement, the Orange tires finish it off nicely :) Let's just say it's a good thing that it won't be making it out the door into the public.

I do need to send a shout-out to my friends at the Fox News Channel and thank both Alisyn Camerota and Kiran Chetry for supporting this little update in my biking world this morning on Fox and Friends.

Lance on George...Classic Quote!

"George is a nice guy, no doubt," Armstrong says. "He's learned that he can be a gentleman and still have a killer instinct. Me, I'm the opposite. I'm a jerk who has to work at being a gentleman. I've always loved to put the hurt on people."

Entire story: Hincapie pedals toward cycling fame

From the "That's Different" Department...

One of the crew boat Captain's on the River received this as a gift and passed it on to one of our Captains over Patrol. It's labeled "Vietnam Snake Wine" and contains a Cobra with a scorpion in it's mouth...and from best I can tell it looks like people actually drink this stuff. Read all about it on Superdave's source for all information....Wikipedia!
Wow! and I thought the worm in the Tequila bottle was nasty!

2nd Annual Training Camp...PRICELESS!

Just returned last night from our second annual "pre-Cheaha" training camp in Toledo-bend. Same crew as last year (Me, Doc, Don and Ward) with the addition of SuperDave. Slight change in accommodations this year, we stayed at the Cypress Bend Golf Resort instead of Doc's camp (it's a long story...let's just say, "property settlement"!)
Anyway, the accommodations, training, and company were all OUTSTANDING! We managed two good hours of killer hill repeats Sunday and followed it up with 81 miles over challenging rollers on Monday. In between the suffering we managed to keep ourselves well entertained. Of coarse, this was at the expense of one another...as always everyone was warned on the front end to "bring their thick skin" and it was a "non-stop, no holds bared" verbal slugfest for the entire trip. While there were some classics thrown back and forth, I'm afraid they all would fall into the "You had to be there" category.

For those of you not up on your Toledo-Bend history...we had some debate as to when the lake was actually created...If interested check out the historical section at the SRA site.

From the "little known and less cared for facts" category of the trip...just in case you are wondering...Arby's does not stand for "Anytime Roast Beef, Yes Sir" but is actually derived from the initials "R.B."...Full details given at the Arby's website. Actually thought Don and Ward might exchange blows over this one... :)

A good time was had by all...

ENZO...NO-MORE-O

Had actually seen a report on this accident a couple of weeks ago on the Fox News Channel...Of coarse, considering the source, I didn't believe it at the time! :)
I was sure it was a completely fictitious report dreamed up in some back room by O'Reilly and Hannity as part of a sinister plot to keep Hillary out of the White House in 2008. Anyway...I digress :)

USA Today had a mention of it today...so I'm sure it's SOLID! :)
Apparently, some rich schmuck in LA (That's Los Angeles, not Louisiana) managed to crash his $1,000,000 ENZO and slice it in half. Check out the video recreation of the accident and what was left of the car. Or some pretty good still shots. Before you start feeling too sorry for this poor schmuck, rumor has it that this was one of his two ENZO's.
I know what you're thinking Eric...I wonder what that family of eight in the Sudan with no clean water, electricity, shelter, food, medicine, education or hope would think of him and his two Enzo's. :)

Check him out....

For those that know me...I'm really not the nature loving, tree hugging type.
However, saw this guy hanging out on the wall here at the courthouse this morning and found him to be picture worthy.

Snapped this shot right before I smashed him!

Just joking, Of course! :)

The Human Body...truly Amazing!

No matter how many times I experience it...it always amazes me. If you remember last week in my "Ouch...That Hurts" post, I described a somewhat sadistic workout...compliments of the Doc. In the days following that workout my legs were unbelievably sore. Well, I did the same workout yesterday, and while it was equally as challenging, I basically have no soreness in my legs...

I've experienced this a number of times with everything from lifting weights to jogging and the same two things always amaze me:

First, No matter how good of shape you think a particular muscle group is in...if you hit it in a slightly different manner, YOU WILL FEEL IT, BIG TIME!

Secondly, How quickly the body is able to adjust...It's ability to handle a given workout the second time around is exponentially better than the first.

Wish it was 2007...

Well at least for riding purposes!

FYI-
Starting next year we get an extra three weeks of Daylight Saving Time on the front end and one week on the back end.

That's an entire month of after work rides without being caught by darkness...I'll take it!