You don't notice that the nice person handing out the route maps at registration has handed you the map for the 45-mile ride.

No wonder the second checkpoint person asked if I was averaging 30 miles an hour!

D'oh!

Even then, the route at the Indian Head 100 was a pleasure to ride! Did any PdC'ers make it down there this morning? FYI, the Super 8 Hotel in Indian Head was a steal at $62.00 and less than a mile from the start!

Yo Sui Juris, did you make it down? If not, are you planning on the Sea Gull? Is anyone here doing the Sea Gull?

So Basso wins Trentino with a blistering attack on a well-supported Brajkovic and taking the overall away from the overnight leader.

So with this victory, my faith in naming him the leader of my VDS squad is restored. Can't say that about Benna now, can I?

From the Assassin's lips:

“The hard moments have made me stronger,” Basso said. “Of course, I wished it had never happened. I know this story will stain me forever, but I started the comeback from zero. I worked hard to come back and my team supported me fully. First, my gratitude goes out to my family.”

So the Northern Classics are done and my VDS is hovering around the bottom of the VDS peloton, I am hoping for some choice points from the Giro!

Who else here has Basso on their team?

I was surprised at how many VDS teams are listed for the competition this year. Was 198 the final count?

But only about 20-30 of us regularily post on here. And out of that group, I only really know who a handful are and where they are from.

I know that Sui Juris, MegaBeth plus two more and myself are from DC.

Jens/Sweden? Lynne/Canada? Chris, Gavia/WA State? Frinking/Netherlands? Albertina/Spain, Italy? Flatbagger/OZ?

Who are all these peeps and where are you from? Pray tell!

I'll start!

DemonCats- John- Kensington, MD (inner burbs DC)

and you?

Can anyone tell me what is the criteria for winning this jersey?

Is it a combativity jersey?

Or just a jersey that Lance will get to wear everyday?

Can some elaborate?

And do the little Anarchy symbols plastered over the RR kit represent the state of things in the Michael Ball camp?

When is the East Coast gonna get it's shit together and have a Tour? The roads and hills of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia beckon? Imagine a Baltimore to Cumberland on the backroads? THE PAIN!!!

Svein Tuft take the lead early. Sits in the hotseat until...

15:36:00 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad

15:37:00 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Rock Racing

15:38:00 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream

15:39:00 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana

15:40:00 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream

15:41:00 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank

15:42:00 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas

15:43:00 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad

15:44:00 Floyd Landis (USA) OUCH Presented By Maxxis

15:45:00 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana

HOLY SHIT!

I'm gonna give it to?

Floyd Landis!

He may be an unrepentant doper, but Stage 17 is still one of the best stages out there. Plus considering that rest of the field (or at least T-Mobile) was on Da Juice, I'm not gonna hold it against him!!!

Heckling allowed! :)

P.S. Let me say a BIG thank you to VS. for showing five hours of PBR before the ToC coverage and then showing an hour at 11 pm. How did our beloved sport end up on such a yahoo channel. And i'm originally from South Texas and my dad rodeoed.

What is this challenge?

I am signing up to do two centuries in less than a months time.

First, will be the Indian Head 100 in southern Maryland, which will be held on Sunday September 13th, 2009. This, for me will be a training ride, for my bigger fish to fry...

the 2009 Sea Gull Century!

I completed last year's year's edition in under six hours total with rest stops, just over five hours of riding time.

This year I am going to go for under five hours.

This I see as the culmination of the PdC group rides that will start on April 5th (Sunday).

The first group ride will take place the day of the Ronde and end at the DemonCats World Headquarters with a BBQ, beer and the Ronde on VS on the big screen.

Drop me a line if this is something any one of you might be interested in.

on WUSA9 in DC!!!

LoL.

Now that was a bunch of fun. My buddy Bega and I got to hangout with Sara Walsh and her camera guy for two hours, doing a story about the Inauguralleycat, that is supposed to air tonight.

We got to simulate riding through DC on 16th Street with the cameraman in the back of the SUV and hanging out of the vehicle for wheel close-ups and so on.

It was a lot of funny- highly enjoyable. Should be on their website too, so all you overseas PdC'rs can laugh too!

Man! 6:00 p.m. is fast approaching!!!

Here's the deal.

As you might know, I am holding The Inauguralleycat on Tuesday. Last Wednesday, i was told the house in Adams Morgan that was supposed to host the finish became unavailable at the last moment! Damn.

The next logical step would be to host the finish in a bar, but on Inaugural Day at the last moment, that turned out impossible.

So I was thinking my place in Kensington, which I have done before, but I don't want to force people to ride all the way up here.

And the the GoldSprint crew calls up and say they want to bring there roller racers down here and race! What is GoldSprints? Check it out!

www.goldsprintsnyc.com

Damn!

I make some calls. Last minutes desperate call looking for a place. Calls to people I normally wouldn't call to ask for favors.

I call Lola, my friend AZ's girlfriend. She says she'll get back to me. She does!

Sgt. Steve, a courier acquaintance, lives near Albemarle and Connecticut Ave and is willing to lend us his garage and backyard with big bonfire for the event!

So now Mike Dee from New York doesn't have to take over an abandoned warehouse, all guerilla style on Inaugural Day! :)

So to anyone who wants free beer and to roller race and test their mettle, come on down!!!

You don't even need a bike to GoldSprint!!!

Spanish judge might re-open the investigation into Operacion Puerto, according to Velonews.

Hmmmmmm.

Is it me or is OP like a case of the clap that is in need of more anti-biotics?

Just when you think you have it licked- drip, drip, drip.

Please will someone in Spain finally put this shit to rest? POR FAVOR!!!

Enough of Sports Minister Lizzavetsky indignantly proclaiming Spanish riders to be maligned, when it seems that they were rotten to the CORE!

It's time for all those Spanish riders to stop hiding behind their lawyers, pony up some blood samples and take their two year suspensions. Fucking putos!

And while they are at it, why not ask the most tested athlete of all time to provide a DNA sample, so he can prove that he is not the mysterious "Cowboy".

But no, most likely, it will be quashed once again and we will go on pretending that the unpunished guilty are clean and keep talking crap about TH, Sevilla, Basso and the other few who were actually punished.

Serenidad YA! Serenidad YA!

Ay Dios!

A funny thing happened today.

I've been prepping for my Inaugural Day race assiduously and I get an e-mail from a reporter with the Montgomery Co. Gazette who has seen my blog about the race and is interested in interviewing me about it and alleycat racing in general.

It was a short little piece that was remarkably balanced and fair and they even sent a photographer to take a picture. My fifteen! Thank you very much.

Tonight, I get an email from the sports anchor at WUSA9 in DC who wants to talk to me about the race, which she read about on the paper's website.

Crazy!

Oh, wait, I think I have Matt Lauer on the phone!

:)

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