Tough Man Competition

The tour isn't always seen by Americans as a tough man sport. I was just told the other night that in fact cycling was not much of a boy sport even. Well, I prefer to not even engage people like that in conversation about my beloved cycling as they surely won't get the romantic flavor of seeing the brutal climbs of the grand tours or the rugged cobbles of the classics. More stories can be told of near death experiences on the bike through cold and heat or simply overcoming the will to stop when the mind of a mere mortal would have got off the bike many miles or days previous. Wrecks at speeds of 40mph are not unheard of and yet cyclists put themselves into these situations day after day.

This years tour is not short on the already expanding details of a few riders fight to keep riding. Frank Schleck broke his clavicle in three places on stage 3, Cadel rode stage 9 with the yellow jersey and a broken arm and many more are suffering without much fanfare. Garmin cyclist David Millar rode today's stage by himself battling to make the time cut while nursing injuries and some illness. Read about it here.

I remember racing in Colorado Springs-Garden of the Gods, after a night of major intestinal problems. The days near 100 mile race I completed with a bottle of Pepto in my back pocket as my only means of fuel. Needless to say, most "men's sports" contestants would have taken a time out or got an IV at half time. A luxury not afforded the sport of cycling. A real mans game.

Carnage in the Alps

After 9 stages of the 2010 Tour de France, the field has been ripped apart by crashes and the Alps. The 8th stage brought down Lance Armstrong after 3 crashes and a loss of over 10 minutes. One day of horrible luck in the Tour did what other cyclists couldn't do for seven straight years. The 9th stage started with Cadel Evans of Australia in the yellow jersey but by the end of the day Cadel lost over 8 minutes to Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador. It was also revealed that Evans had suffered a fractured arm on stage 8. Cadel battled to the finish and showed a lot of emotion with teammate Stever Morabito after they crossed the line.

Schleck and Contador did battle on the Col de la Madeleine and the fireworks started near the bottom of the climb. While Andy was attacking Contador, the rest of the field went to peices with Lance losing 2:40 and Levi 2:00 by the end of the day. All is lost for Lance, unless we see a repeat of Floyd's dramitic 17th stage performance from 2006, which is unlikely to happen. Stage 10 through 13 are transition stages from the Alpes to the Pyrenees, but nothing is ever easy in the Tour.

Tour de France on the go

So I got the new Iphone 4 and just in time for the Tour de France. Since I don't get to work until just before the stage usually ends, I need my Tour fix from waking up till I get to work. So, luckily the Tour is streaming live on my phone! Versus has a cool application where you can stream the Tour with Phil and Paul - direct from Versus TV. Also, the stages are available to replay at any point.

The great thing is that I am able to hook the sound to my car (playing over my stereo system) and then plop the phone on the dash and watch the tour while I drive into work. Dangerous? Not really. My Land Rover has a nice spot by the in-dash GPS where the phone sits nicely and I mostly just listen as I drive.

Chris Horner's Power

Chris Horner is a vital key to team Radioshack's success this year in the Tour de France. Here you can view his SRM Power data on a stage by stage basis. The upcoming mtn stages will be interesting to dissect.

Chris also provides a daily recap or diary after the stage as well. His writings call for a fascinating insight to the tactics of the greats of cycling.

Fighting for the Tour

Stage 6 of the Tour ended and this fight broke out. No idea what it was about.

Tour de France 2010

Tomorrow the 2010 Tour starts in Amsterdam with a prologue time trial. My prediction is for Fabian Cancellara to take the win and Bradley Wiggins 2nd and Tony Martin 3rd. I hope the Americans can give a good showing with Tyler, Christian VDV, Levi, Lance, Dave Z and Brookwalter.

I hope this tour gives me some joy, I could use some about now.

The Badger / Paris-Nice

The cycling season is under way. Here is a retro picture of Bernard Hinault (The Badger) taking it to some protestors. A young Phil Anderson looks on. Looks like Hinault would be a good guy to help break up a SEIU rally/protest.

3rd Year

I'm over half way through the third year of law school (out of four - night school). I can't wait until it's done and I'm simply stressed about taking the BAR.

This years classes are:
Constitutional Law
Evidence
Business Organizations

Happy Thanks Giving

Avery Skiing

Mason Skiing (on his rear)

Stage 3 - Chris Horner "tough guy"

Chris Horner crashed on stage 3 on the way into Merced. Four other riders abandoned from injuries and one was a broken femur - yikes!


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Tour of California - 2009

The Tour of CA started on Feb. 14th with a great Prologue TT by the Capital in Sacramento. The crowds were big and the race didn't disappoint. It was a good time. I have been fielding questions about cycling from "non-cycling" people and perhaps this video will help in answering the "how do they go to the bathroom?" type question.


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New President

I hear that we have a new President...but I can't find much out about him. Maybe the media are ignoring this event altogether.

But seriously, Enough already.

School - AGAIN

My 2nd year of law school is about to begin on August 18th. Mason starts back to school the same day (2nd grade) and he's excited as well. I feel fortunate to have made it through my grueling first year of law school, but I also feel that I didn't live up to my potential. I was very busy with work, the kids and a new found family crises. Although those items aren't going away, I at least think I'm in a better place to navigate around these obstacles for school and end up high in the class rankings.

My classes this year are:
Civil Procedure - Monday
Criminal Procedure - Tuesday
Real Property - Thursday

TOUR DE FRANCE time

The 2008 Tour de France is underway and as always it's been entertaining. If you want to watch or listen to it online the best site to visit is www.cyclingfans.com. I will try and put some links to what I use also.

Mike, Rob and myself will also be picking the finishing placings and we already have two days results under our belts. Today's stage is the 6th stage and here are our picks. (Rob has failed to pick anyone yet...I'll make his picks today)

Mike:
Ricco
Frank Schleck
Stein Devolder

Tyler:
Stefan Schumacher
Kim Kirchen
Valverde

Rob (via Tyler)
Cunego
Menchov
Millar

Law School - one year done

My first year of Law School is now complete with Criminal Law, Contracts, Torts and Professional Responsibility. Criminal Law final took place in February (I passed) and the other three classes concluded in mid May. Just yesterday I received my Torts grade for the final and my overall score. I PASSED! I did well on the final and just "okay" overall; But since my midterm score wasn't good at all I am very pleased. Now I just have to wait for the results on Contracts and Professional Responsibility. I felt pretty good about both of those tests and I had a good grade going into the final.

There isn't much time to rest however, as Monday (06/02/08) I start in with summer elective classes. I think I'll be taking Family Law and Bankruptcy Law. This will work me over pretty well as the classes only go for a month but are M-Thur (each class being two nights a week).

Stay tuned.

Tax Day

Taxes are due today. I can't wait to see a few broadcasts tonight showing people dropping off their forms at the post office at midnight. Why are these people not filing their taxes online?

I thought a Ronald Reagan quote was appropriate for today ~

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.

Tour of California - 2008

Stage 1 - 2008 TOC. Awaiting the field at the sprint spot in Tamales, CA. (John, Mike, Rob and Tyler). We rode from Sausalito, 55 miles.

Criminal Law Final - DONE!

Our first final was last night in Criminal Law. We had 3 questions to finish in 2hrs and 15 mins (45 min each) and the test was worth 70% of the overall grade. It felt like it went really well as I completed it with time to spare (to clean up the test and fix mistakes) and after talking to my classmates I felt that I hit all the issues and with some depth to my analysis. Hopefully I did good enough and it would be great if I did really well.

Now I have a few months until my Contracts and Torts finals.