TDF Stage 15

Australian Simon Gerrans of Credit Agricolde ahead of Egoi Martinez and Gar-Chip's Danny Pate on today's climber oriented Sate 15. The CSC boys put the proverbial hammer down and drove Frank Schleck into the yellow jersey. Ultra hardman Jens Voigt and Nikki Sorenson drove the train to the base of the climb, Fabian Cancllera took over, the Andy Schleck attacked like crazy to pull big brother Frank 8 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans, who dropped back to 3rd overall. Bernhard Kohl rode hard to put himself in second position. Christian VandeVelde of Gar-Chip got a solid top 10 on the stage to stay within sight of the podium.

TDF Stage 14

Green jersey sporting Oscar Freire won Saturday's stage 14 in a sprint finish. The "Cat" slipped through to the line in yet another free-for-all, rather disorganized ending. It was nice to see Julian Dean up contesting for I think the first time in this tour. Also, some new names are coming to the fore, as well as old reliables, like Zabel, Evans, Freire. And the dopers still suck.

TDF Stage 13

I just don't know if this guy can be beaten. A 4th stage win for Mark Cavendish. He looked blocked in with about 400 meters to go, Zabel and McEwen looked set for the dual, then Cavendish lit 'em up. Try as I might, I can figure out where he hides the nitrous oxide tank. Tom Boonen had commented that the sprints aren't well set up by the teams this year, so maybe Cavendish is just a little more heads up than the rest. That used to be McEwen's forte. It is fun to watch a superstar on the rise!!

TDF Stage 12

Mark Cavendish took his third stage of the Tour today ahead of Sebastien Chavanel and Gert Steegmans. This guy has another gear compared to the rest this year, and could win another stage or two before it's over. The GC podium remains the same. Riccardo Ricco still sucks...

This Just In - Cheating At The Tour!

That sneaky little bastard. The supreme a-wipe, Riccardo Ricco, gets the boot for EPO. Imagine that. It's also a new, extended release version that is only needed twice a month instead of daily. Super cheating, as far as I'm concerned. It's not even approved for medical use yet! From reports this morning, the peloton is pissed and not riding a much of a pace. I think a blanket party would be in order for the mouthy, self- glossed Cobra. Hope he runs into a mongoose.

Head For The Hills

Yesterday after work, I figured I'd go for a nice spin up the shore. Maybe and hour or so, play it by ear. So, I kitted up and headed down the hill to Superior St and headed east. All of a sudden, somebody hit the A/C . Wait, my bike has Ritchie, Ultegra, FSA, American Classic, Kenda, but no air conditioning. Oh, yeah, that's Lake Superior at work. When it's 90f and muggy, it's a welcome relief, but when it's 70 and the lake drops it 15 degrees, no thanks. So what do you do? I headed on up Lester River Road. I've been staying away from climbing since my return to the sport, but today the burn felt good. So good in fact, I went all the way to the end and turn around for the swoosh back down. On the way up, I hit a max mph of 18, back down I reached 37. It felt so good, I turned around at the park and did another loop. I'll be doing the Velo Duluth ride this weekend, and feel pretty good about it. See you out there.

TDF Stage 11

Another Norsky take a stage win. Kurt-Asle Arvesen of CSC-Saxo took the sprint over Martin Elminger and Alessandro Ballan. The main peloton was several minutes back, so the large break worked out for @ 12 guys. Evans stays in yellow for another day.

BTW-Why is Yoko Ono riding in the Gar-Chip car with Vaughters? Hmm....