How Bad Do You Want It? / GIRO D'ITALIA!!!

The Tour Baby!? Hell no, The Giro Baby!!! Holy shit what a race. Somebody take this French pressed swill from me and hand me an Italian espresso.

Yesterday, Paolo Savoldelli of Discovery Channel had a 2 minutes and 9 seconds lead over Mr. Simoni of the Lampre squad (fka Saeco), a 3:00 lead over Jose' Rujano Guillen, hereafter known as Rujano, of the Colombia Selle-Italia squad, and a 3:08 lead over Danilo Di Luca of the Liquigas squad.

By the time I rolled my ass out of bed and pulled up the live internet updates, they were all already on the Colle Delle Finestre, the 2nd of 3 climbs in today's stage. Simoni, Rujano and Di Luca had worked together and put a 40 some second lead. When they hit the Boulder style racing dirt road, the gap to Savoldelli began to grow, and the maglia rosa (leader's jersey) began to evaporate off his back.

At the top of the climb, the Simoni group's lead (remember 3rd and 4th place in the overall are with Simoni) was at 2:20. Paolo had essentially lost the Giro on the last day with only 20 km to go on a 190km (that's 117 miles people) stage. Was Paolo done? Were his legs shot from yesterday's time trial effort. Oh no no. You see, Mr. Savoldelli is known as a heck of a descender, and there is 5km descent to the finishing climb. He tucks in and catches up with 3 guys that had been on a break earlier and the day. Alliances are made on the descent, and by the time the 4 in the new Savoldelli group hit the flat section before the final climb, Savoldelli had made up 26 seconds.

The final climb begins. A Category 1 Climb. There are 4 categories. 3, 2, 1, and HC (hors category, "beyond classification"). The Simoni/lead group are going up. Di Luca cramps and falls of the pace. It's just Simoni and Rujano left for the stage win and possibly the overall. With about 5 km to go, Rujano attacks and almost immediately puts 50 seconds on Simoni. For a while it looked Simoni was going to take the whole shebang, and in a matter of seconds it looks as if he is going to be relegated to 3rd place overall.

Let us not forget about Savoldelli. He and his new buddies are chasing hard. Rujano takes the stage win. Simoni comes in 25 seconds behind, Di Luca in 1:33 behind, and finally Savoldelli at 1:55 behind the winner. That's 1:30 behind 2nd place overall Simoni. Savoldelli held his overall lead on Simoni by 28 measly seconds. We're talking 3 weeks of racing here folks. 20 stages and 3,465 kilometers of racing. If you don't know how to do the calculation, that's over 2100 miles. Some people don't even drive that much in a year. All of those miles and hours in the saddle, and the difference between 1st and 2nd is 28 freaking seconds. That is what I call a Grand Tour.

There is one more flat stage tomorrow, but most likely nothing will happen and Savoldelli will take it to Milan for the win. However, stranger things have happened.

I couldn't imagine watching this on live TV. I probably would have peed my pants. I got pretty revved up watching people typing what was happening on www.eurosport.com and www.velonews.com. In fact, I took the ol' puter places I probably shouldn't have. I won't explain with detail, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

How bad do you want it? Will Simoni definitely proved that he wanted the win, but many times desire creates great achievement and sometimes it doesn't. Today, Simoni's desire wasn't quite enough, but he sure did lay it all on the line. His big mouth has turned me off at times, but today he earned some respect in my eyes.

Well, it isn't even July and the Discovery Channel team (f.k.a. The Postal Service squad and still known as Lance's team) has a grand tour win.

It's time for me to hop on the trainer, pedals some squares, and hopefully make my self better when it's time for ME to finally race. I'm tired of watching all these other suckas suffer. At least I have last weeks Giro highlights to keep me entertained. Hopefully I won't piss my pants.

la risposta?

Well, it looks like my question from yesterday may have been answered. Looks like Simoni has his work cut out for him if he hopes to pull off the win.

FINAL 1. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 45:05 2. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Illes Balears, 45:14 3. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 45:25 4. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 45:28 5. Dario David Cioni (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 45:33 6. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), Domina Vacanze, 45:45 7. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Fassa Bortolo, 46:07 8. Juan Manuel Garate (Sp), Saunier Duval, 46:30 9. Paolo Bettini (I), Quickstep, 46:33 10. Gilberto Simoni (I), Lampre, 46:39

Italian Excitement

So the Giro is going to be a nail biter. It's been exciting from the get go. It looks like Simoni has found his form of a few years ago, but can he pull it out? He seemed strong today. I'm wondering if Savoldelli's lack of response to Simoni's attacks were calculated or if he just couldn't respond. Knowing Johann and the profile of Saturday's stage, I'm guessing it was calculated, but you never really know. We'll see if Simoni can sustain another attack that will give him 50 seconds.

On another note, one of the local Clear Channel radio stations (yes, I listen to it. It's the only decent thing I can get at work.) has been playing some songs off of Wilco's latest album, A Ghost is Born. I think it's purely because Wilco is headlining at Red Rocks this summer, but hey, you take what you can get. The station has been playing some indie stuff lately. The Shins (because of Garden State), The Decemberists, Wilco, and Bright Eyes. Not too shabby.

By the way, I've got tickets to that show. Depending on when the Doc let's me get back outside on the bike, I may have a tough decision between the Park City NMBS and the Wilco show. I've seen them at Red Rocks before, but they were opening for REM and I wasn't of proper mind. I'll not divulge too much or at all for that matter. Those that were there know of what I speak.

Kevin Barry's on River St. in Savannah. 

Me, Chris, and Tracy in Kevin Barry's after having lunch and the Charleston Brown 

Shawn and Stephanie posing for pictures after the wedding. 

What?

I don't know why I'm even posting this. I don't think anyone is reading this thing, and if they are, the last thing on their minds is the Giro.

I think the guy the wrote the following hasn't been paying too much attention to the race:
"Savoldelli held onto the maglia rosa after crossing jjust over three and a half minutes behind Parra, but Basso's collapse means that former two-time winner Gilberto Simoni and reigning champion Damiano Cunego, both of the Lampre-Caffita team, could relaunch their own bids for the overall."

Cunego is 8 minutes back. I think his bid for the overall is over barring something amazing. Simoni does, hoever, have a legitimate shot. Should be fun to watch (read) how it unfolds.

Dining on Crow (or horse in this case)

I've never had any interest in seeing Seabiscuit the movie because honestly, it just sounded stupid to me. I don't have much interest in horse racing. Today, while I was peddling squares on the trainer, I popped it in. Pretty good movie I must admit. Charles, you were right.

Disappointment

Picked up a few new discs today. Spoon, Beck, and Weezer's new ones. Can I just say that Weezer finally lived up to their name? I had to double check and make sure I didn't buy a White Lion/Whitesnake CD. I almost want to say it sucks, but I've only given it one listen in the car. The only track that even caught my ear was the Beverly Hills one that is on the radio. Otherwise, I kept thinking, "maybe the next one will be good." I like all the songs on their previous albums to some extent. They lost the Weezer sound.

Rolling Stone gave it 4 stars out of 5, but pitchforkmedia.com gave it a 0.4 out of 10. Guess which way I'm leaning. I'll give it another shot in a couple of days.

Left Behind

What in the hell happened to Cunego today? How do you finish 6 minutes behind? Is he the next Jan? I seriously doubt today's finish is part of some greater strategy, but we'll see. And what about old Paolo getting around Basso to take the stage? I'll have to catch footage of that to see if Savodelli won it or Ivan lost it.

http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/8063.0.html

Chasing The Sun

That title made more sense a few days ago, but I'm keeping with it anyway. My internet connection at home doesn't seem to work at night. Not really sure why, but I'm pretty much at the end of my rope with it.

I got back from Savannah (Tybee Island) Sunday night. Good training weekend for me. I mean anti-training weekend. I'm not sure I could have done many more things that would negate all the time I've spent on the bike.

Tracy and I went to Savannah for Shawn's wedding. Shawn is Tracy's brother. We didn't even wait to get there before we started cracking open the beers. Once we got to the pad on
Tybee Island, we HAD to open up a couple more even though it was already 12 AM local time.

I saw a couple of people from high school that I haven't seen in probably 10 years. It was amazing to me that they hadn't ballooned up like what I experienced at my class reunion back in October. Easy to understand considering that everything in Georgia is cheap and fried.

On Friday, we woke up in search of said cheap and friend food. I got a plate of bacon, eggs, grits and toast for $3. That is cheaper than the Waffle House! The place is called the Sugar Shack and I would suggest swinging by if you are ever on Tybee Island.

After breakfast, ol' Fred, Shawn and Tracy's dad, put together a softball game. I can't remember the last time I picked up or swung at a softball. With my gimpy arm, I'm not sure you can really call it that. I did manage to rip a couple of liners into the outfield with my patented one armed swing. When I was in the field, I had to let the balls drop and then field them. Luckily it wasn't a real game. After the game, of course you need some beer, so the drinking began again. That was about 2 PM, and unfortunately, the drinking didn't cease until 4 AM. The last 2 hours of which were in the hot tub. We managed to get about 8-9 people in a 4 person tub. That led to a nice little infection for all the people in the house. More on that later.

Saturday was wedding day. Tracy, Chris, and I went in to Savannah to River St. and got a bite to eat at a cool Irish Pub. Reubens for Tracy and me and some shepherd's pie for Chris. Good eats and a good brew called Charleston Brown. Were talking doo doo brown here folks, but it went down good nonetheless. We proceeded to cruise down River St., which for those of you that don't know is a little like Bourbon St. Not nearly as big and crazy, but you can get booze to go!! You've gots to do that whether you want any or not.

After a few hours in Savannah, we pointed the car back toward Tybee to track down some oysters. We found the oysters in a dingy little bar on the main road. Got a dozen and a pitcher of beer for $10. Not bad, and good service too. Now back to the house to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was on the beach, and I can honestly say that is the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen. Small affair at sunset with Shawn and Stephanie's (the bride) pictures being taken in the last remaining light of the day. I was able to take some fine shots myself, so I'm sure the pro will have some really nice shots.

The reception/dinner was at a hipper than Tybee place called Tango. Really good food, and I had more than one of a fru fru drink called a Pain Killer. That name was a little excessive for the amount of booze it had, but they were pretty damn good. Tasted like an Orange Julius with rum. This also led to the most uncomfortable part of the whole weekend. I guess Stephanie's family doesn't drink at all. They are sitting at their tables with their tea and water while the McGoos (name changed to protect the innocent) and Friends were pounding 'em back. Tense situation, and the non drinkers looked a little pissed. I thanked them for the dinner anyway.

Sunday was the day for good byes and the first signs of what is now known as hot tub leprosy. The first signs were acne all over the body, but we had no time for serious infections. I went with Tracy and Shawn to say goodbye to their family. It was then off to the airport were Tracy and I had to wait for 2.5 hours before our flight left. We eventually got hungry and decided a little more liquor and beer would probably be best due to our concern about quitting cold turkey and the onset of DTs. The flight for Atlanta left 20 minutes after the lunch. We got to Hotlanta with another 2.5 hours to spare, so we went in search of some new Braves hats to avoid drinking. Enough time was wasted that we only had time for one beer, and that beer was the last of our experiment to see if we could still hang with the college kids.

On Monday, my lymph nodes were really swollen. Tracy and I both decided to go the doctor and that happened today. Turns out we have some thing called hot tub philiculitis or something like that. The "hot tub" is really part of the name. After a few calls, I discovered that everyone in the house had symptoms. I haven't found out about Shawn and Stephanie due to the fact that they are somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean without cell phone service. Tracy and I's doctors hooked us up with some heavy duty antibiotics to knock this shit out. I guess this kind of thing is pretty common, so take note kiddos, you have to drink a lot more booze than we did that day to kill off the bacteria and we drank a lot.

One more thing. What happened to the Fassa train and Pettachi? This says it all. The Giro has been exciting race already, and I haven't seen any video yet. Just pictures and live reports. The real race begins tomorrow.

That's my boy!

Prognosis

Went back to the doctor today, and he is definitely not wavering from the 6 weeks of not riding outside. Road or mountain. That's 5 more weeks on the trainer. I was starting to feel like I hadn't spent enough time on the trainer this winter anyway, so it all works out. Yes, that is sarcasm

Good news is that I get my new Yeti in 2 weeks. Bad news is that I just get to look at it sit in the corner with the other 4 bikes over there. Gots to sell the old mountain bike quick. Any takers?

I don't know what I'm still doing up. I have to get my ass up early to get a lot of things done before heading out to Savannah. Old man Shawn is getting married this weekend, so I'm sure there will be some pictures here after this weekend.

I'm a little nervous taking more time off the bike again this weekend, but beer is a good substitute right? All and all, this stupid injury is going to cost me a total of 14 days of the bike. This all happening in the year I discovered that not resting as much during my "rest" weeks has really helped me feel better. So it goes. Everything happen for a reason. Right?

Anybody see Baden Cooke hit the tarmac in the Giro today? Mr. Cooke seemed to be ok with it. Read his reaction here.

Bravos II

Looks like this Blog is going to be more of picture gallery. I had to bust this up into two posts in order to get all the pics in. Anyway, Kevin, Tracy, Rachel, and I went to the Braves game at Coors Field last night. A good time (and a few beers) was had by all. The Braves lost to the lowly Rockies to end a 5 game winning streak. The Marlins lost too, so the Bravos kept their game and a half division lead.

Kev, Tracy, and me. Kevin forgot to look.

A little fuzzy, but that is Chipper and Gilly

Bravos

Bobby, Gilly, Raffy, and the bat boy

Andruw

First Ride

First ride after surgery. It felt good to get the legs spinning again!

Epiphany

Since I was out and about too much after my release yesterday, I figured the best thing for my artery is a little couch time. I'm toggling back and forth between the History Channel and MTV. I grew up on MTV, so today's version of it is a little disappointing. I guess there is some Ashlee Simpson show marathon running.

The revelation is that this girl I used to date thought she was Ashlee Simpson (or Jessica). Ashlee is always saying, "babe this," and "baby that," to her boyfriend with the bad hair. Previously mentioned fling would use the babe/baby lingo all the time. I remember thinking, "we have been going out for three weeks and you are calling me babe?" I guess that isn't really an epiphany, but the word seemed appropriate at the time.

My arm pain is minimal today, but I think I need another percocet after this post.

Pre-Op Photos

Someone forgot to take post-op photos. I'm sure that was pretty. The picture of Ana is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea.

and now to the stoned

I guess I haven't really explained the stabbed part yet. Long story short for now. I stabbed my arm and cut an artery while working on my bike (I know, I know. Cut away). Anyway, I had to have surgery to repair the artery.

I'm now ingesting the lovely pill known as percocet. Actually it's oxycodone the generic version of percocet, but nobody knows what the hell that is. While in the hospital, I though my new found friend was having a negligible effect on me, however, I got out into the real world and realized I was stoned out of my gourd.

Example: My friend Michelle e-mails me a get well soon message. It contains the text of a well known Seinfeld episode. I, not being of sound mind, think she is referring to my workplace, which at one time we used to both be employed. Our boss' name was Elaine. I'll let you connect the dots.

Needless to say, I replied to Michelle's e-mail asking for clarification.

COMING SOON!

Bet you can't wait for this. My surgery is tomorrow. Maybe I'll wait until I'm good and stoned on the pain meds before I create my first real post.