Delayed at JFK (again)

ARRRRRG!

At least I can people watch. A woman (I think) just slithered past that reminded me of Ronnie James Dio! For those of you who haven't experienced RJD (or you just want to reminisce), you can "live it up" on youtube-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_FgL5l1og

Picture him sporting a pair of trendy fur lined suede boots and you'll have an idea of what just strutted past me. Good luck getting a solid nights sleep!

Now I was never a Dio fan mind you; I just remember all the stoners wearing his concert t-shirts when I was in high school. I've always liked a lot of what is now termed "classic rock", but drew the line when it came to the more creepy stuff like Dio, Ozzy, Kiss, etc. I had AC/DC's "Back in Black" 8 track when I was in the 7th grade, I listened to it quite a bit until someone explained what some of the lyrics meant and I chucked it. Even now, I'll listen to a song and all of the sudden I'll understand what their singing about. Usually I'm disappointed and embarrassed at how naive I can be.

Tour of California Rolls Through the Valley

I had an "office week" last week and was able to watch most of the ToC on Versus. It was great to see a couple of stages roll through the San Juaquin Valley on some of the same roads I used to train on! While we had some very good racing in the Fresno area back in the 80's, who would've ever guessed that a pro peleton as strong as that would roll through the Valley? I was amazed at the size of the crowds along the route of every stage!

Mark Cavendish stormed to victory in Clovis, just nipping Tom Boonen at the line!

He actually sat up a hair to early and was lucky that Boonen didn't snag that win! I Like Cavendish quite a bit. He's young and although some would say he's cocky, I think he exudes the confidence of someone who's racked up a pile of impressive wins. This kid is only going to get better!

The next day the ToC started in my wife's hometown of Visalia. I consider Visalia my adopted hometown and spent a lot of time riding in the foothills around Visalia and nearby Exeter. Visalia has hosted a teriffic road race and criterium every year since the mid 80's.

It was cool to watch the peleton line up at the corner of Church St. and Acequia!













Visalia has always turned out great crowds for the crit every year but they really outdid themselves at the ToC!

Overall the coverage and racing was pretty good. I'll admit my patience was tested with the Lance lovefest that was inflicted on me every day by Phil, Paul, and their sidekick who seems to ramble on. I love Phil Liggett. He's been the voice of pro cycling forever. However, when he starts yammering on about Armstrong I feel the bile start to churn in my stomach. On top of that you had the likes of Landis, Basso, Hamilton, and the rest of Rock Racing soiling the ranks of the peleton. It was a dopers reunion of sorts.

Another thing that needs to be addressed is the idiots running next to the riders on the climbs. Good grief! This is a safety issue and if people don't have the sense to stay out of the way it's going to cost someone their season. There were dozens of fat, wheezing losers sprinting along in asinine outfits within inches of putting a rider on the deck. I wouldn't be surprised if a rider dismounted and beat someone senseless!

I did manage to get in about 120 miles last week. The weather has been pretty chilly, but I picked up a Pearl Izumi Insulator jacket and some new Pearl booties a couple of months ago when I was working in New Hampshire (at a Pearl Izumi store no less). They work great! I've been trying some new embrocation by "Sports Balm" that I bought here at 3 Sports as well. It's very warm, but not overwhelming, with a great scent. Perfect on a cold windy day!

Load O' Feces

I have a fantasy that is surely destined to remain a fantasy. I'd love to see an athlete clearly admit to knowingly taking "performance enhancing drugs" and admit it was cheating. He should express sincere remorse for damaging the credibilty of his chosen profession and make every effort to cooperate in the effort to clean up his sport. He should then retire and find something else to do with his life.

Watching Alex Rodriguez's lame attempt to "apologize" and field questions about his involvement with PED's was utterly predictable. He has now joined the ranks of other tainted atheletes who've made complete fools of themselves in an effort to salvage something they don't possess. A good reputation. This is no surprise to me, I've been saying this about him for years. Look at him! He's huge! In fact, I don't buy his PED time frame at all. He looks bigger now than when he was on the Rangers. Let's not forget this is the same guy who left the Mariners for the Rangers, and not for the money (Haaaa! Haaaa!). And what's with the current trend to "plead young and stupid" in an effort to excuse cheating, drug use, sexual promiscuity, fathering illegitimate children, etc? Is 24 or 25 years old the new 16 0r 17? I don't think so! It's merely an effort to downplay serious moral flaws!

My motto for a number of years has been "If you have low expectations, you're never dissapointed".

Bud Selig and the owners are another story. I don't believe for a minute they didn't know what was going on. They didn't notice that the players looked more WWF than MLB? An eyebrow didn't raise as longstanding MLB records were shattered? They allowed it to continue because the turnstiles were spinning like propellers. Ultimately they don't give a crap about the players or the integrity of sport, it's all about profits.

Mowtown is Rundown!

I've been here working for several days and I've got to say, Detroit is a dump! I've been here four times over the last year and it's always the same. Filthy hotels and restaurants, depressing scenery, and roads that remind me of carpet bombed runways! On top of that the wind has been blowing about 30-40 mph all week. That's great in one sense; it cleans the streets by blowing all the trash who knows where.

Good job Detroit!

On a happier note, the weather in Richmond has been pretty decent for putting in some miles on the bike. Last weekend I was able to get in several 40 mile rides! Over the Winter I've been working pretty hard on my upper body conditioning and I can already tell a huge difference from where I was at this point last year.

I became interested in Catholicism last Fall and started attending the Latin Mass at "Our Lady of Fatima" in November. I've had some good Catholic friends for a number of years, but never really discussed religion with them. I always assumed (big mistake) that most of the bad things I've heard about Catholicism over the years were true and hence, had zero interest. However, early last Fall I read an excellent book by Tom Woods; "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization" and it perked my curiosity. I had many questions for my friends and they were answered well enough that I decided to investigate Catholicism seriously. Several months and countless hours of study later, I've got to say I've fallen in love with the theology and the Mass. I'll certainly post more about this exciting change in my life in a future post!

California Vacation

In August we took a couple of weeks off for a much needed vacation to California. It's always nice to go "home" and spend time with loved ones! We've not lived in California for about 14 or 15 years. We're used to not being close to family now, but it can be hard at times. We really miss them.

We flew into San Francisco and were picked up by my wonderful sister in law, Gloria. We checked into our hotel by Fisherman's Wharf and decided to take the kids down to the Wharf for some local "touristy" culture. My wife and I have been to the Wharf many times and always enjoy the atmosphere. The kids has a blast watching the street entertainers and checking out the shops. My oldest son even bought a piece of "Spray Paint Art". We really enjoyed getting some clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, a San Francisco specialty!

The following day we went to Japan Town. My daughters are really into anime and found some cute anime characters to add to their collection of stuff. They got to eat some Japanese pastries and had a grand time! We also spent some time at the Golden Gate Bridge. What a beautiful day it was!

We drove down to Visalia that afternoon (pit stop at In-N-Out Burger) and stayed with Gloria and her husband Richard. They treat us so well and we enjoy ourselves tremendously when we're with them. It's great to really relax and enjoy our time off from the stresses of everyday life. My youngest, Jill, really loves their cat Cosmo. The funny thing about Cosmo is that he's deaf as a post and will let Jill pester him for hours on end.

My oldest son, Jaren, has taken up golf recently and plays on his High School golf team. Uncle Richard is an avid golfer and took him and my son Brad out golfing a couple of times and the boys had a blast! Richard has a great sense of humor and a great head on his shoulders. As a result, my boys love being around him. One of the best parts about visiting is that my kids get to spend time with their cousin Taylor. Taylor is a very nice young man. He's super Smart and can basically pick up a musical instrument and start playing. It's amazing to see how much he's grown! Most day's were spent visiting, swimming, and just plain relaxing. I've been blessed with terrific in-laws and it's always a pleasure to spend time with them. John is the friendliest person I've ever met and has always set the perfect example of Christian manhood. Irene is a wonderful person with many talents, she's amazingly well read as well!

It was really nice to spend a couple of days with my family in Fresno. I'm the oldest of 10 (5 boys, 5 girls) and it's really hard to stay in contact with everyone, let alone maintain any "closeness". I mostly stay in touch with my dad and several of my brothers. They all have a great sense of humor and love sports and politics! I miss them and it's great to "yuk it up". There are now around 25 grandchildren (and counting).

We've been able to visit California the last couple of summers and I hope we can make the trip again next year!

Cancer Sucks, And So Do Dopers!

Just when pro cycling is starting to put a dozen or so years of asterisk worthy results behind it, the worst example of "getting away with it" in sports has decided to poison the peleton. Lance Armstrong announced his intention to seek an 8th Tour crown via a carefully crafted propagandaesque 'interview" with Douglas Brinkley in Vanity Fair http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/09/armstrong200809?currentPage=1.

It's a very revealing look into the mindset of a foul mouthed celebrity athlete who's hoping to ride his popularity into political office someday.

Like many, I was thrilled (and shocked) when he won his first tour. He'd been a very good classics rider with the potential to be excellent, he even picked up a couple of stage wins, but win the Tour? After Cancer? Wow, what a miracle! His second win was equally impressive. After his third win in a row I really started to have my doubts. Not just about him, but much of the peleton. The speed at which these guys were plowing up the cols was unbelievable (literally)!

My discomfort with what was obviously going on with pro baseball absolutely fueled my suspicion of what was going on in cycling. When I was growing up, most baseball players were long and lean and if a guy cracked 20-25 home runs he had an awesome year. If you hit 30 or more you were a freak. Not many guys could do that. Starting in the early 90's, long and lean

became WWF. Guys started looking like "Hans and Franz" from the old SNL skits, and it seemed like anybody (even Brady Anderson) could go yard at will.

Unfortunately, baseball leadership, ownership, and management knowingly ignored the obvious. Attendance and profits were way up, "it'll be our little secret". I believe the same situation existed in cycling with regards to Armstrong and those he left in his wake. The story was great, sponsorships were up, and America was lapping up the Armstrong story. Sadly, the story is garbage...

• His open association with infamous doping doctor Michele Ferrari is telling.

• Almost every one of Armstrong's main rivals during his run have been identified as dopers (and he destroyed them all riding clean as a whistle?).

• A large number of his former teammates have been caught doping, or have admitted to doping.

• I believe the Andreau's story regarding Armstrong's admission to using PED's.

• I find the Oakley rep Stephanie McIlvain's recorded admission that she lied "on the stand" about what she heard in the Armstrong hospital room nauseating.

• He led the charge in bullying clean riders if they spoke out about doping in the peleton.

Before they let this guy take the line, I really hope the ASO thinks long and hard about the irreparable damage this walking drip bag has inflicted on pro cycling.

Fenway Park!

I've been unbelievably busy the last several weeks and it's time for an update. A couple of weeks ago my oldest son and I had a fantastic evening at Fenway Park! Several months ago A wonderful member of the organization I work for gave me and a collegue 4 of his season tickets to see the Red Sox square off against the Texas Rangers. The seats were unreal! We were behind home plate about 20 rows back! The atmosphere inside and outside the park was terrific, in fact it reminded me of my trip to Wrigley Field earlier this year. Both venues are unique in that they're located in long established neighborhoods, not in the middle of 1000 acre concrete parking lots, hence people can walk around, visit pubs and restaurants, etc. "Dice-K" dominated the Rangers and the Red Sox pounded the ball. Dustin Pedroia and "Yook" were killing it and "Big Papi" crushed a home run.

The most exciting part of the night was when "Big Papi" fouled a ball straight back up the net, it hit a steel girder and popped through an opening, falling straight down toward us. My son out jumped a mob of fans and grabbed the ball! What a rush! This kid is a ball magnet! Last year we were at Dodger Stadium and the left fielder, Luis Gonzales, caught a fly ball to end the inning and tossed it into our row along the left field line and my son came up with it. He probably has a dozen balls he's snagged at various minor league games over the years as well. But catching a game and getting a ball at Fenway has to be the best one yet! (I'll post some pictures when I get a chance...)