I'm A Wheel

Just got back from Indianapolis. Indiana that is. Went out at the last minute to surprise my boy Tracy for his 30th birthday. He didn't have a clue I was coming, and his wife picked me up at the airport. I rang the doorbell and his exact words were, "what the f8ck?" I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he definitely was surprised.

One of the bonuses of going out there was to catch yet another Wilco show. If they are still playing 30 years from now, I'm we'll be going 30 years from now, and hopefully we'll be draggin' D and B with us.

Of course, it was a great show. Every Wilco show is a great show. It wasn't the best I've seen (and definitely not the cheapest), but it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Now, I'm back in Denver. Sitting outside in the ol' courtyard and drinking a beer while the sun goes down. It was fun to see the McGills. They are definitely on the right track I'm happy to report. The two little ones are cute as hell too.

Well, I've committed to getting a little more organized with my training early this year. At least, that is what I've talked about with Coach Phil. After we got of the phone, however, it seemed like I'm not doing things too much different than in previous years. It's just going to be a little more structured. I guess that means I'll be laying off the booze a little earlier this year. I guess I should say a little more a little earlier. I can't see myself not being liquored/beered/wined up on Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday after all. Food and booze. What more could you ask for?

I did manage to get my ass off the couch last weekend for a 'cross race. I was pretty happy with it considering I never have big aspirations for that discipline. It's just something I do to get me motivated to get out and exercise some this time of year and to keep from putting on too many L-Bs. Anyway, it seemed like I carried over a small amount of bike fitness, but there was a lot of running. I definitely don't have that snap in my legs yet. Considering how much crap I've been eating and how much beer I've been imbibing, I did pretty decent.

I guess that is about it for now. I'm going to try to update this thing a little more frequently.

I want a nano

Please help me get a nano
http://ipodnanos.freepay.com/?r=22478468

On the Ball

I was driving to Keystone yesterday morning when I was struck by the marketing genius of the people at the Silver Plume Bureau of Tourism. Right at the exit for the town, there was a 4 ft x 6 ft sign. It was white lettering with a green background that read, "Visit Silver Plume."

I was so taken by the command, that if I wasn't blazing down the interstate at the extreme speed of 60 mph, I would have stopped. Alas! The speed was just too great to make the exit in time.

The Podium

Well, Lance won again. I guess that has been known for a week now. What a way to end an era. I've always had a love/hate relationship with LA. I admire what he has overcome and accomplished, but at times he does and says some things that I don't agree with. That being said, I wouldn't turn him down if he called me up to go for a ride, and he definitely is an inspiration. At some point or another, we've all tried to emulate him out on our rides. You don't want to copy second best.

Way to go Lance!

I feel sorry for Rasmussen and his melt down in the final time trial. He was definitely one of the big stories of The Tour, and he used to be a mountain biker. I'm partial to those guys. Cadel Evans is another one. It was good, however, to see Jan fight back and be able to hop up on the podium. He definitely had a tough start after crashing into the back of his team car the day before the start.

Basso looked as strong as ever. He has become an excellent time trialer, although he did start out a little too fast in the final one. I think he will be a force to reckon with in the future. Next year's race should be spectacular. Basso, Ullrich, Vinokurov with Liberty Seguros, Valverde, and more. I'm sure there will be some other revelation that no one counted on.

Now time for my races. The standard mountain bike cross country race was on Saturday. I pre-rode the course on Friday. My legs felt pretty good, so I was excited about the race. My plan was just to get up with the top 5 at the start and see if it sticks. The sticking was the big question. You see, after a hair pin start, the course takes a turn straight up hill. Were talking about 1300 feet of climbing in about 3 or 4 miles. If you can't do the math, that is steep.

Well, I did manage to get it to stick. For the first time in a race this year, I felt like I was climbing strongly. I think I fell back to about 8th at one point, but was able to attack at the crest of the first climb and make up a couple of places. I had a solid descent, and was able to get with a couple of guys for the 2nd round of the big climb. I still felt strong and was able to make some accelerations to try to drop some guys. One guy overtook me, but I got the other one. By the top of the course I was pretty spent. I made a visit it to la la land at one point. I couldn't figure out why the singletrack was so rough, but then I looked down and noticed my fork was locked out. There's an explanation for you. I just had the descent left, and I was in pretty good shape. I did lose one place right before the last section of singletrack. There was one little uphill section left, but I didn't have enough to catch the passer. I got to the finish and the announcer said I was the 5th place finisher. My best finish at a National, and since they go 5 deep for the podium at those races, my first National podium! Of course, that is always thanks to a little good luck.

I decided to celebrate a little. Rachel, my dad, and I decided to go get some dinner. Just in time too because a hell of a storm rolled in to the village. A gullywasher I tell you. A waterfall appeared on the steps from the upper level of the village to the middle level. I decided this was a perfect time to polish off some drinks. A beer and three margs later I was feeling pretty good, however, an hour earlier, I had decided I was going to do the short track cross country race on Sunday.

Luckily, said race wasn't until 10:30 on Sunday. I woke up in the morning feeling pretty good. That is until I got on the bike and had to ride it up that damned hill to the short track course. The legs were definitely feeling yesterday's effort, but after a little warm up, they started coming around a little.

The short track course was actually a decent mountain bike course. At some places, the short track races are nothing more than a glorified road criterium race, but this one actually had a couple of sections where you had to make an effort to keep the bike rolling and upright.

10:30 rolled around and we had a whistle sending us off. For some reason, the crafty racer next to me decided to take a diagonal line straight into my path. He nearly knocked me off my bike, and I had to sprint around the group and back up to the front. Not a good thing considering this is only a 25 minute race anyway, and it's balls to the walls from the gun (or whistle). I could never make contact with the front two guys, but did manage to get in a group with two other guys. I eventually dropped them. One of the tried to run some cyclocross wheels and tires and wasn't able to get through the rough stuff too well, and the other simply faded a bit. Well, Mr. Other didn't fade for too long, and despite my best efforts, he kept getting closer. Eventually, I decided to cut my losses because I wasn't gaining any ground on those front burners. I slowed to let Mr. Other catch up. I sat in the front a while and eventually decided to let him and do some work. With a lap to go, I had decided I would attack him at the top of the short bumpy climb he had trouble with on the previous laps. I managed to dig down and find a little something for the attack and put a gap on him by the downhill section. It stuck to the end, and in case you lost track of where I was, that was a 3rd place finish. Another best and podium at a national. The training seems to be working. Thanks Phil!

My dad managed to get 3rd in his race on Saturday. An all time best for him! Way to go Dad! Well, I guess that's enough rambling on about stuff that only I really care about.

Maybe sometime in the future I'll get all philosophical and type something someone else can relate to. Yeah right!

Chillin In Snowmass

Typing here in the hotel room. Not really a hotel I guess. It's a "lodge." Nice place with friendly employees.

Right now I'm watching the VH1 countdown of the 40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirty Songs ever. There commentary on all these VH1 shows crack me up. So far, we've seen, Whomp There It Is by Tag Team, I Want Action Tonight by Poison, and Bump, Bump, Bump by B2K. Quality songs I tell you. Were at 30 to go, so we have quality and quantity. What more could you ask for? I can't believe I don't have cable for all this educational programming.

So the reason I'm in Snowmass is for my first National Mountain Bike Series race. NMBS or National for short. This course is usually a 13 mile loop. Steep, long climbs, tough rolling single track, and some nice singletrack descents. Oh sorry, I just noticed that Dirty is actually Dirrty. Oh boy, I Touch Myself by The DiVinyls.

Anyway, back to tomorrows race. They essentially cut the course in half, but we still only have to do two laps. That will make the race about an hour shorter than in previous years, and it will be fast fast fast.

I felt pretty good pre-riding the course today, so I hope to feel at least that good tomorrow. I was feeling pretty questionable earlier this week due to a couple of stressful weeks at work and some intense training. Not a good combo, but I think I'm on the rebound. Hopefully the race at Winter Park a couple of weekends ago is an indication of things to come. Let's just hope my stomach cooperates.

I WANT ACTION TONIGHT, SATISFACTION ALL NIGHT!

Atta Babe!

WAY TO GO GEORGE!

Racing, racing, racing

Well, that is what has consumed my life lately. Either getting ready for it, doing it, or watching it on TV.

How about the Tour? A few surprises and a lot of wrecks. Those guys were dropping like flies on yesterday's stage. Looked like mostly stupid crashes most likely caused by fatigued.

Lance found himself alone on the final climb of stage 7. It was a nice gradual climb, which, produced some really high speeds. T-Mobile definitely took advantage of Lance's solitude. Vinokourov, the Krazy Kazakh, accelerated several times, but LA was able to counter. Eventually, Kloden went out, and they let him go. In a short amount of time, he caught the race leader Weening, and they duked it out to the very end. Supposedly Weening crossed the line first. I think his slobber, as seen to the left, gave him the 1cm edge at the finish.

As far as yesterday's stage goes, you gotta give your props to the former MOUNTAIN BIKE racer Rasmussen. What a solo break for the win. I recorded that stage, and unfortunately, learned of the results, via my coaching website. I went to log in Sunday's ride, and right there in the top right corner it said, "Rasumssen takes stage." Damnitalltohell, I waited all day to watch the reply, and it wasn't nearly as exciting to watch knowing that his attack stuck all the way through. Good stuff nonetheless.

I did a short mountain bike race in Winter Park on Saturday. I had a fairly heavy week of training in the week preceding. Moderate volume and high intensity with the hardest effort on Thursday.

When I started to warm up for the race, I was definitely feeling that effort in my legs. With it being such a short race, I knew I was in for a little extra suffering. I actually had a pretty good start. I didn't feel like I had gone out that hard, but I looked back and no one was with me. The fast guys of the group eventually caught up, and my legs were feeling pretty tired from the get go. Good thing it was just a fun/training race.

With a little bit of luck and a lot of "sucking it up," I was able to get back on the podium for the first time in a while. With a 3rd place (out of only 8 guys), it was the bottom of the podium, but it's still the podium. I was only a minute and a half of the winner, a guy that wins some of the other local races, and I improved my time by a minute and a half over last year on the same course. Not bad for a tough training week. All and all I was happy with it.

Time to get ready for the National in Snowmass in a couple of weeks.

My Head Itches

Will you scratch it? At 65 km an hour? Thanks.
So, can you tell I'm back in the race scene? I haven't been updating the blog too much.

Hmm, what's been going on? Lots of training/riding. Raced at Eldora this past weekend. Last year, that was a pretty good race for me. It started off that way for me this year, but with about a lap and half to go, I imploded and seriously faded off pace. I guess all and all it wasn't too bad considering. There were some folks complaining on the series website about the amount of mud in one particular section. My question to those folks is: do you race mountain bikes. I did a national out in Wisconsin a few years ago, and the entire course was that muddy. I think the racers out here get a little too used to our dry conditions. In my opinion, it was a great course. It has a little bit of everything, including a nice gnarly fast rocky descent. Well, fast for some. Not so fast for me. I'm still working on getting the new bike dialed.

After the race, Rachel and I headed over to Grand Lake to stay at a friends cabin. I don't know if cabin is an appropriate description since it's bigger than most peoples houses. The main room has huge picture windows with a view of the Neversummer range. Sweet.

We rushed out as soon as we got there to watch Le Tour. Good opening stage. How about Big Dave taking the maillot jaune on the first day? I guess that is the biggest excitement except for Big Tex making Jan look like he was pure climber domestique during his TT. It's definitely not matching the excitement of the Giro. We'll see.

Sunday, a bunch of us headed out to Winter Park to get some riding in. Didn't turn out to be much of a ride because it started raining and the temps dropped in to the 40s after about an hour and a half. Rachel cooked us a great dinner that night, and the beer from the Grand Lake Brewery tasted way too good.

Monday was supposed to be a rest day according to the schedule, but Mattius, Woodrow, and myself headed out for a semi-epic ride. We headed out from the "cabin" and straight up to the Divide. TONS of climbing. From what I had heard of this ride, I thought it was going to be boring, but once we hit the single track, it was daaaamn fun. We got up above tree line and to the border of the Neversummer Wilderness Area, where of course, we had to turn around. The 3 hours of climbing was about to turn into about 45 minutes of some pretty rockin descending. Rocky, rooty, muddy, you name it we had it. Tight switch backs, stream crossing, baby heads, and lots of berms to catch some air. Great 4 hour ride. Especially for a day that I wasn't supposed to be on the bike at all.

It was good hanging out with everyone. I hadn't seen Moon in a while and Wood in a long while. Wood's an old racing buddy that feel out of the scene for a variety of reasons a while back. Thanks Matt and Holly for putting us up!

Time for bed.

Crested Butte

Well, it's been a few days since the race, but I thought I would type something up anyway. This was a beast of a race for the first one back. 30 miles with 1800 ft of climbing per lap. That's what the website is, but those guys always exaggerate. My dad did a lap, and his computer said 9 miles with 1500 ft of elevation gain. Either way, that's a lot of climbing in a short distance, which means all the climbs were steep. Not my forte. Steep climb, short descent, steep climb, short descent. Not much rest.

All things considered, I guess I did ok. I wasn't terribly happy with my time, but I did it a little faster than I did a few years ago. I didn't fade on the last lap like I have had a tendency to do in the past. In fact, I think I made up a few places on the last lap. I ended up 9th with a time of just under 2:55. I definitely expected a lot more, but I guess I shouldn't since all the other guys had race fitness and I didn't.

The new Yeti did ok. I wasn't horribly happy with the way it was riding, but that isn't the bike's fault. I rode it more in the race than I had at all before. I need to get the fork and shock dialed in and it should be like butter. I think I have the air pressures right and just need to mess with the rebound. Either that or they just need some breaking in. All in all, it's a great bike. Can't wait to get it smoothed out.

This coming weekend is the Eldora race, which, matches my strengths a little better. Short climbs, steady climbs, some flats, and fast descents. I had a pretty good race there last year, so with a race under my belt and a taper week, hopefully I'll see this coaching and training come together.

Pretty dull post. Sorry, I'm tired.

Long time no post

Well, I haven't updated this thing in a while, so I'll bring you up to date. I haven't been doing much really. Just working and riding a lot. Last Sunday, I got my first "race" under my belt. I don't know if you would call a Cat. 4 crit a race since it's more like the chariot race scene from Ben-Hur. Imagine if you will, 70 guys lining up for a race. One quarter of those guys know how to actually ride a bike and ride it fast. 50% just know how to make it go fast and can't make a straight line through a turn to save their lives. The last quarter of guys have the misguided belief that because this is the lowest class in Colorado road racing that it is for beginners. Sorry guys. No such thing as a beginners road race here. These are some pretty fit fuckers. I just kept praying I wouldn't be eating asphalt. One guy went down, but luckily he managed to land his face plant in someones front yard. I've read that if you do crits, it's not a matter of if you will wreck, but when you will wreck. Here is a good definition of a criterium. The Cat. 4 crits around here are 45 minutes.

Long story boring, I gut cut off by one freaking guy 4 times and a couple of other times by some other guys. How did these guys get so fast on a bike without learning to ride it. Bottom line, I got cut off by the one guy with a lap and a half to go. It was only a .7 mile circuit with 6 turns. With a lap and a half to go everyone is balls to the wall. If you have to tap your breaks, which I did, consider yourself relegated to the back of the pack. I managed to pass a handful of guys on the final sprint, so I wasn't quite DFL.

I need to get to bed, so I'll have to update you later on my first post-surgery mountain bike race that took place Saturday in Crusty Butt.

Later Aight.

The Sioux City Journal

can kiss my ass.

I'd Like To Thank You All For Nothing, Nothing, Nothing At All

Wilco, Red Rocks. Need I say more? Red Rocks does something to the bands that play there. They always step it up a notch. I don't know if I can say it's the best Wilco show I've seen (mainly because most of them are a blur), but it was damn good. They definitely surprised me by busting out some oldies, and they even closed the show with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' Something In The Air. Hell of a show, and I got a nice buzz off of two beers. All the pot being smoked around me could have had something to do with that.

Looks like I'm going to do a race this weekend. Just a crit on Sunday. I've been feeling a little off these days. Seems like the day I got off the trainer, I started feeling borderline overtrained, so I haven't spent much time on the bike lately. I had a pretty tough workout yesterday, and I was hurtin a little bit today. Looking at my average speeds for those high end intervals definitely makes me appreciate what those guys in the pro peloton are able to accomplish.

I finally got my new mountain bike on Wednesday. Thanks Yeti! Thanks Joe @ Yeti for tolerating all my phone calls, and thanks to everyone at Yeti for the helping hand. I sure am ready to hit the dirt and do some racing on the dirt. My first mountain bike race of the season will be in Crusty Butt (Crested Butte) next weekend. That's a hell of a race for the first one, but it's a fun course. I hope to stick around to get some riding in on the day after the race. If you haven't ridden there, the trails are absolutely epic.

I'll try to get some pictures of the new ride up as soon as I get it together. I guess I need to link up Yeti under the "sponsor" column.

Just one quickie. How about Chris Horner pulling of the stage win at the Tour de Suisse. I'm not a huge fan of his due to his big, whinny mouth, but he backed it up that day. I'm glad to see he is going to make Saunier Duval's Tour team.

Happy Birthday Cannibal! He's 60 today, and if anyone tries to tell you Lance Armstrong is the best cyclist ever, you tell them not to forget Eddy.

Cranial Numbness

Damnitalltohell. It started raining last night, and it hasn't freaking quit. I live in Colorado for chrissake. You wouldn't know it from the last few weeks. Reminds me of a winter back in Georgia. I didn't mind it so much when I was stuck on that godforsaken indoor trainer, but now I'm good to go. Good to go and it's wetter than a, well it's freaking wet outside.

I guess that's ok since it's kind of a rest week for me this week, and I've felt like ass this past week. Up until yesterday that is. Now, I'm really wanting to ride.

Maybe I'll watch this basketball championship game. It's the funniest thing you've ever seen. Looks like they are playing on artificial turf and have shoulder pads on. There aren't any hoops either. Strange.

If you are looking for some good reading, check this blog post out. I'm not the biggest fan of Mr. Dean and unlike this guy, I think his yelp was a legitimate campaign killer. However, there is some truth to this post. Most everyone I know thinks politicians are worthless snakes in the grass, but the same people aren't willing to admit that it is them as part of our current society that has created today's politician. If people don't want to really hear the truth, they aren't going to get it, and then you get these mannequins that spew out line after line of sanitized blather.

Wait a minute. I thought Colorado's basketball team was the Denver Nuggets. Who are the Colorado Crush?

Coach Phil

Can I just say that I have a great coach? I sent him an e-mail a few days ago because I was concerned that I may be getting close to being "overtrained." He called me back last night, and it wasn't even during his "office" hours. Cool guy. Thanks Phil! If anyone out there is looking for a good cycling coach drop me an e-mail.

Bike For Sale

Check out the sweet ride here.

I'm baaack in the saddle again!

Just like Steven Tyler once sang. Well, I'm not back in that saddle quite yet. Rachel is in Africa, but the Doc did give me the go ahead today. It was nice to put some pressure on the pedals and actually have the bike go forward. I kept seeing images of a TV in front of me, but none were there.

Man it felt gooooooooood. Kind of funny how a couple of hours of intervals will make you want to get off the bike even after riding indoors for 7 weeks. Especially those overunder intervals. Those damn things worked me over. Basically you spend 8 minutes just under your lactate threshold power (or heartrate) and then 2 minutes just at or over. However, the kicker to these intervals is you don't get a break before the next one. It's back down to just under LT for 8 minutes and then back at and over LT. Let's do one more and then you get to take a 5 minute break! After the break, it's back to another. I only got 2 in on the second set. I'm going to say I ran out of time for the 3rd one. I swear it had nothing to do with me wussing out.

Later Skater

Uh . . . um

So that is what all those uh and ums mean.
http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2005/060105.asp

Oh So True

Click the title.

Need to post

I need to post something, but I don't have anything on my mind at the moment. I'm tired as hell because it's been a busy last couple of weeks.

I go to the doctor on the 8th. That's a week before the six weeks I was told that I wouldn't be able to ride outside. We'll see if he lets me back on at that point. I think that I've been pretty damn motivated and have done a hell of a job getting my riding in on the trainer. It's been about 6 weeks since I've ridden outside. I haven't been on the bike that whole time. Some days were missed for various reasons. My motivation hit a brick wall this past week. I had a good ride on Tuesday, but entered exhaustion on Wednesday. Too much working, riding, drinking booze, and not enough resting. Took Wednesday off and got back on yesterday. That took some major self-convincing. There were a lot of things telling me not to get on that godforsaken trainer. I did and got some good intervals in at good power outputs. Now I'm back to tired again.

I keep getting teased by the manufacturer of my new bike. I ordered the damn thing back in February and I still don't fucking have it. A month ago I was told it would be ready two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I was told that I would get it last week. Yesterday, I was told it would be next week. I'll not mention the name of said manufacturer because I still want this bike. I know I'm not at the top of their list for getting a bike, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. They don't have to do this at all,.

I feel like I'm fighting off a cold, so hopefully a good night of rest will fight this off. Every person that I come in to contact with has had the freaking sniffles.

That's all for now all my many faithful readers.

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.