The Office at Le Tour

Did you guys know that Steve Carell actually won stage 9, not Sandy Casar, (FDJ).... He apparently isn't leaving the office to pursue movies...

pic: velonation.com/sirotti

Making Q & A Statements: Lantern Rouge (sp?)

Fun Tour so far, no?

Q: How do you spell Lantern Rouge?
A: Lanterne Rouge

Q: What does Wikipedia know about the Lanterne Rouge?
A: The Lanterne Rouge is the competitor in last place in a cycling race such as the Tour de France. The phrase comes from the French "Red Lantern" and refers to the red lantern hung on the caboose of a railway train, which conductors would look for in order to make sure none of the couplings had become disconnected. (Couldn't have said it better myself.)

Q: Who is currently in last place in the Tour?
A: 181. Adriano Malori (Lampre) at 2:02:29, respectable.

Q: Does Adriano have a large enough gap this early in the Tour to hold off 180. Anthony Roux, FDJ, at 2:00:46?
A: I have no idea...

Q: Does it make you proud that an American has never come in last?
A: Hell yea!!

Q: Are you going to get a loan @rouleurderby to bet on it?










A: Hell yea!!

Special not appropriate @work question...
Q: Did @NeilRoad tweet something special tonight?
A: No comment

Keep the rubber side down,

Making Statements Stage 8: Say it ain't so...

Today was a tough stage to watch... Our American hopeful for this year’s tour seemed to have all of the good luck from 7 previous tours reverse in a treacherous Karmic pattern. As the stage went up, the Lance of old was no where to be found. It begs the question: When should heroes call it quits….????

Lance pic: pez

Jordan pic: a popular search engine

Stage 4: Taking me Home

As the peleton rolls away from famous cobbles of the classics, Stage 4 starts the journey away from North France in a flat sprinters stage from Cambria to Reims. It just so happens that a certain suburb near the finishing stretch is where my ancestors call home. Witry-les-Reims is a commune in the Champagne region of France (insert typical joke about ancestors being booze hounds which makes me a booze hound....blah blah blah). However, I feel I'm allowed to play my horn here: toot toot.

Oh yea, the mayor's name is Detrainge Yves...what a stud!!

Making Statements Stage 2: Quick Step

Quick Step pulled on some non-blue and white jerseys today as Sylvain Chavanel took the wet and wild Stage 2 out of an original 8 man break including teammate Jerome Pineau. Pineau fired rockets with Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) towards the polka-dot banners and claimed the KOM jersey. Something tells me they will have some champagne flowing tonight at team dinner. Chapeau!!

Safe to say Quick Step showed up to make some week 1 statements.

ToInfinityandBeyond will have further 'Making Statements' throughout Le Tour.

Waterloo Cat 4/5: Tour of America's Dairyland

With a crash forcing me to abandon ToAD a little earlier than planned, I had some free time on my hands during the races...The video is a psuedo-one-lap recap of the Mens Cat4/5 ToAD stage in Waterloo today 6/23/10.




bryanW.

Grafton Gone Wild

Friday's bike race wasn't very much fun in retrospect. I had a rough encounter involving a turn, a pedal, and some guys yard on turn 2. I only managed 2 points for the overall so hopefully today was going to be different.

Before the race I remembered why I had taken vacation time to race my bike: it’s a shit ton of fun. We listened to loud music on the way to the race, warmed up like we didn’t have a care in the world, and lined up determined to have fun. Turns out, the front is more fun than the back. Not because it’s easier, but because I get a more relaxed vibe when I can see the front of the field. So immediately, I went to the front.

With fifty minutes the going rate in ToAD, the first 20 minutes are about staying hydrated and relaxed. All the juniors can take the $20 coffee house primes and I’ll keep my matches for the sprint. After all, the overall is something I would enjoy…

The race went on and we all scurried around the course. I saw a few Chicago-mates in the group and was sure to hold their wheels. I never really let myself get below 20^th during the race and settled in nicely with 8 laps to go.

4 lone wolves created a classic wolfpack and the group let them dangle until about 2 to go. The pace got hot and I stayed top 10 and let everyone else bring the break back, I stay tucked in knowing the wolves would be caught. I realized we had sucked up the last wolf with about a half lap remaining and I was sitting right behind yesterday’s 3^rd place rider.

I took the final turn in about 7^th wheel and kept my head high through the turn to mark the riders ahead. 2 guys jumped way too early and a few of us let them lead us down the road. I saw my lane on the far left and went. I had a lot of ground to catch up and eventually threw my bike for 3^rd…

Thanks to the cheering section, always awesome hearing your name from the side.

















bryanW

10 days

You can do alot in ten days. You can watch the entire series’ of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm at least twice each, although you could end up finding yourself in constant three pronged hilarious situations. You could drive across the country two and half times. OR you could save all of your vacation time and race your bike in Wisconsin.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of an attempt. An attempt to conquer an inner deamon, almost inner burden of truth, the evil question of...could my body survive a stage race?

ToAD isn’t a stage race with the Big Boys like the Tour. But ToAD is still 10 races at my caliber for 10 straight days. I don’t have a full support squad, I don’t have a massage every day, but I like a good challenge.

Did those training blocks work? Did I get enough miles in? Did I forget my shoes? Who knows, who cares, and please God no…. Boogity Boogity Boogity, Lets Go Racin’!!

bryanW