Tinker Juarez should have won it!

At 47 years old Tinker Juarez is the ultra endurance man. The race was his but I guess it just wasn't suppose to happen this time.

http://www.velonews.com/article/81084/tinker-juarez-could-smell-victory-at-the-24-hours-of

This spinning trick rules!

This is from one of the Club Renegade stages. I'm not sure which IJA festival it came from. I love ball spinning tricks.

Trek Top Fuel 2009 models

Dude, what's with the stupid triple triangle on the aluminum version? Trek is embarrassing me here!http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/trek-2009-top-fuel-race-mountain-bike-17780

The Trek Top Fuel 8

I race an 07 Trek Top Fuel 7 and it nothing short of a great bike. Right out of the box the bike was fantastic although I upgraded the handlebars, saddle, and a few other components. Here's the report on the 08 Trek Top Fuel 8 from bikeradar.com

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/top-fuel-8-08-29056

Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) won the 95th Tour de France on Sunday

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80885/sastre-wraps-up-his-first-tour-victory-as-steegmans-wins

Here's a Graham Watson photograph of the final podium.

Cunego has dropped out of the Tour. :-(

Lampre's Damiano Cunego had to pulled out of the race. I like Cunego and he was one of my picks for the KOM jersey. He was in a bad crash during Thursday's stage and hit his chin really bad. Here's a Graham Watson photo of Damiano and his teammates. You can see the bandage on his chin and 3 of his teammates helping him finish the stage before the time cut.

Vande Velde climbing L'Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday

Nice legs!

Carlos Sastre wins Alpe D'Huez on Wednesday.

He's also taken the yellow jersey after winning this stage.

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80615/sastre-wins-the-2008-alpe-d-huez-stage

L’Alpe d’Huez stage is today!

I love this climb. Thousands of screaming nuts all the way up the slopes. Its crazy.

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80608/inside-the-tour-with-john-wilcockson---d-day-on-the-alpe

Cyril Dessel (Ag2r) won stage 16 of the Tour de France

Yep, Dessel has great cycling legs! I know believe that Frank Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank) will keep the jersey all the way to Paris. http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80555/stage-16

We've got a new leader.

Frank Schleck takes the yellow jersey from Cadel Evans in stage 15.

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80466/frank-schleck-takes-yellow-from-cadel-evans-as-the-gc-race

The Orbea Orca in the tour

Here's a shot of the bike I ride ridden by team Euskaltel. Its a 2009 Orbea Orca. The rider on the ground is Jimmy Engoulvent riding for Credit Agricole.

My favorite jersey

Here it is the polka dot jersey. I think this is the coolest one. This is Gerolsteiner's Sebastian Lang taking over the polka dot jersey after today's 12th stage.

Another one bites the dust!

Well Ricardo Ricco and his entire team, Saunier Duval are out of the tour now. Ricardo Ricco tested positive for a new form of the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO).

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80269/riccardo-ricco-tests-positive-saunier-duval-team-withdraws

CSC’s Kurt Asle Arvesen won todays stage of the Tour de France

Todays stage was a 167.5km race from Lannemesan to Foix. It was an "easy" day for Cadel Evans in the yellow jersey if you call a 104 mile ride in the heat easy but that's probably about as easy is its going to get for him until they get to Paris. Here's some photos by Graham Watson.

Why? Why? Why?

Just once I'd like a chick like this to show up at one of the group rides.

Magazines in their jerseys.

Do you know why some of the riders have newspapers and/or magazines stuffed in their jerseys at the top of some of the climbs? See the rider closest in this Graham Watson picture on the top of The Tourmalet. You can see the people on the side of the road wearing jackets. It’s that cool up there. Gets even cooler on the decent.

They don't call him the Chicken for nothing.

This is Michael Rasmusen. He was my pick for King Of The Mountains in last years tour. He had the yellow jersey up until his then team Robobank "released" him for suspicion (and pressure) of blood doping.

Race results

Hey, where is Damiano Cunego? What's he doing making me look bad like this. That's what he gets for bleaching his hair like some Nancy boy! At least he uses the right saddle.

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/results/80103

What did I tell you! What did I tell you!

Evans in yellow as Piepoli wins atop Hautacam

Can I pick them or what. I should be playing fantasy cycling!

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/80103/evans-in-yellow-as-piepoli-wins-atop-hautacam

Luis Leon Sanchez won todays stage. Check out some of the cool pictures by Graham Watson.

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/79839/sanchez-nabs-stage-7-of-the-2008-tour-de-france

Big shocker here!

Manuel Beltran has tested positive for the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) at the 2008 Tour de France. I was wondering who would be the first rider caught this year. You know cyclist are the only atheletes that cheat in sports. Football and baseball players never use drugs. They’re nothing but class A citizens and positive role models for kids to look up to. Take Pacman Jones for example; why can’t we have more cyclists as classy and moral as him?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/7502763.stm

Christophe Moreau abandons Tour de France

What's this crap. No one caught for doping yet, maybe that's why they're dropping out like this.

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/christophe-moreau-abandons-tour-de-france-17490?CPN=RSS&SOURCE=BRGENNEWS

Its a mountain top finish!

Check this one out. Also, check out Valverde's legs with all the bandages. When did he crash? Hey, what happened to Cunego? He's embarrassing me here. If I were Schumacher and Kirchen caused me to crash and loose the jersey I'd have kick him in the balls about 5 times. How do you crash out the leader that close to the line and be like, "woops"?!

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/79750/ricc%F2-wins-atop-super-besse

Now this is a race!!

Check this out. This is The Great Divide Race. http://greatdividerace.com/

Its pretty basic. No entry fee, no support, just start riding at high noon and race from Canada to Mexico. The race ends for each racer when their front wheel crosses the International Border at Antelope Wells. Needless to say, there aren't very many people the participate and even less that finish. I'd like to give it a try but don't have the better part of a month in vacation to use. Also, like one guy said before, "After reading about that I'd pay not to ride it!" Any event that recommends carrying bear mace is probably not for most people.

Pictures above.

The Tour De France is on!

The 2008 Tour De France started this past Saturday July 5th and will run until Sunday July 27th 2008. The 95th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres. Be sure to watch some of it if you can.

Here's my pics for The Tour.

The yellow jersey should go to one of the following:
Cadel Evans
Alejandro Valverde
Haimar Zubeldia
Cyril Dessel

The climber's jersey or poka dot jersey (the coolest one) should go to one of these guys:
Damiano Cunego (this guy was going to be one of my picks for the yellow jersey but I believe he's too small and can't time trial well enough)
Thomas Voeckler
Sylvain Chavanel

Here's my picks for the green jersey which is the sprinters jersey:
Robbie McEwen
Thor Hushovd (wouldn't it be cool to have the name Thor?)
Erik Zabel
Magnus Backstedt

I don't have any idea about the white jersey which is given to the best young rider.

Here's some stuff I wanted to make note of:

George Hincapie (in his 13th tour this year) should time trial well.
Thor Hushovd will also time trial well.
David Millar will do OK at best in the time trials. Also, why did team Garmin Chipotle make this guy their team captain for the tour?
Look for Juan Antonio Flecha the long solo breakaway specialist to go for a stage win. He's one of my favorite riders but won't win the overall.
Also, team Astana was not invited to the Tour this year. This is/was pretty much team Discovery Channel, the former USPS team that Lance Armstrong rode for.

I'll post some pictures from the tour from time to time when I have the time.