Captains America

Pretty cool that too of the most well-known American cyclists will be wearing the stars and stripes next year as U.S. champions. A day after Dave Zabriskie won his 4th straight U.S. time trial title yesterday George Hincapie was able to win the road race today. This is the 3rd time Hincapie has won the U.S. road championships. It seemed like good ol' George was due for some good news. 

Earlier this year he continued his tradition of not winning Paris-Roubaix with his usual mechanical problems. Hincapie promised he'd return to the race next year, saying it could not end that way for him. And then there was the controversy at the Tour de France where he rode just a little too slow to take the yellow jersey. The controversy was that other teams worked to limit their loses after Hincapie had finishes earlier with a breakaway group. The Hincapie group felt Garmin helped push the pace just to prevent Big George from getting into the yellow jersey. I'll always contend that Hincapie prevented himself from getting into yellow by not riding just a little faster. Regardless, it was a devastating day for Hincapie who seems to be racking up more than his share of just missed moments.

So hopefully the win today will take some of the sting out of this year's disappointments. I haven't checked, but I'm almost certain he'll be riding the Tour of Missouri just as Dave Zabriskie will (with Garmin's headquarters in Kansas City). So if you happen to be in Missouri during the race, cheer on our new American champions for me. Wish I could be there. 

What the Vuelta?

As I mentioned yesterday, Slate has gotten in the business of doing bike reviews that make you less informed. I was only talking about the video they had posted. Boy was I glad that the bike reviewer from the video had also written up his thoughts as well. By far the most hilarious part is the end of the article when you learn that this tool was supposed to review four bicycles instead of three but left one of the bikes outside overnight with an inept locking job resulting in it's theft. I think what really bothered me was that the reviewer is so obviously clueless about bikes. I do believe that sometimes it can be useful to throw novice into things and see what their "fresh eyes" see. But if that's the case, I expect them to admit they're a novice and hold back from making broad generalizations about the topic they clearly know nothing about. And it doesn't help when the Web site trumpets the review with headlines like "The best city bicycle ever" and "You need to buy one." Yes, in my hilly city where I live in an apartment without an elevator I need to by a 47 pound beast that is as slow as it is overpriced. I'd go on more about it but the bike snob tackles things quite nicely. 


Enough of that. I know that a lot of people are gearing up for football season, I'm in the process of finalizing the teams for my fantasy league right now. But I'm also coming up on the close of my fantasy cycling season (this is much easier than actual cycling, but sadly consumes far more time). I compete at this random site one of my former co-workers found a few years ago. I'm about to go into some really boring fantasy stuff before taking about actual cyclists who might win the Vuelta, so feel free to skip down to the next section starting in bold.


After a strong debut last year, I have not done as well this year, finishing 35th in the Giro and 223rd in the Tour out of roughly 1000 people. So I'd really like to get into the top three spots for the Vuelta a Espana. In the league, everyone gets a budget and tries to build the best team possible from the same pool of riders and then guess which days each rider on your team will perform the best.


Now the key to a good cycling fantasy team is to find the handful of guys who will finish high up, the couple sprinters who will win the most stages or have high finishes, and find one or two guys who carry the leader's jersey unexpectedly or perform above their expected capabilities. An added wrinkle to the Vuelta is that historically Italy announces which riders it has selected to their national team for the world championships during the 3 week tour. As a result, Italian riders picked to the team often drop out of the race before it is done.


So here are some guys I'm thinking of taking on my team and my thoughts on how well they might do in the Vuelta.


Andy Schleck - He has come in 2nd at the Giro and Tour. He could be tired, he could be off form after the Tour. But here's my thinking, if Alberto Contador were in this race, he'd probably win. He's so much better than anyone else, even operating at 85-90 percent he's still better than everyone. And I feel like Schleck is probably somewhere between Contador and every other rider on the planet. So he's going on my team. I'm less sure about taking his brother Frank, but I feel like both brothers could end up in the top five and I could rework my line up to get him in.


Sammy Sanchez - This is a no brainer. Sanchez is gifted, set for a breakthrough and he gave up most of his year to focus on the Vuelta. Just the fact that this race is his top priority puts him well ahead of most everyone else in the race.


Alejandro Valverde - Since this guy is probably going to get banned everywhere at some point (he's already been banned by Italy for DNA linking him to the doping scandal operation puerto) the Vuelta is going to be huge for him. I don't believe Valverde is capable physically, mentally or strategically of winning a grand tour, but he sure knows how to string together a great week to 10 days.


Zeke Mosquera - He's the highest finisher (4th) returning from last year and historically has done well at the Spanish tour, so he gets the nod.


Now comes the hard part, I've got room for one more rider going for the overall win, but I really don't know who to choose. Here is who I'm leaning toward.


Cadel Evans - The man who finished No. 2 twice at the Tour de France only to be nonexistent this year. After battling injuries and the pressure of being the favorite last year, he really fell off this year. I wonder, does this help him or hurt him? He's been one of the most consistent and talented riders the past three years. From a talent level I'd put him ahead of pretty much everyone in the race, but does he have anything left? I may end up picking Frank Schleck instead and getting a more high powered sprinter. At which point I'm sure Evans would win the Vuelta.


For sprinters I'm locked into Tyler Farrar, he's on form and proven to be in the mix at the Giro and Tour. And Andre Greipel should benefit from Cavendish's train and has won 15 races himself this year.  After that I'm a bit more hazy. It will probably be some combination of Gerald Ciolek, Daniele Bennati, and Oscar Freire. I'd say I have questions about Bennati, he's shown he can be dominant in the past, but he's been bothered by injuries all season and I don't really have any clue as to his form. Add in that he could leave the race to prepare for the world championships (being Italian and all) and he's a bit of an unknown. If he were out than I suppose Tom Boonen could be in. But for me, Boonen has almost turned into a Terrell Owens type guy. He's talented but often makes his teammates lose out on opportunities and in the end not really very fun to cheer for.


So that's my thinking right now. I'm sure that once the race starts and my roster is set I'll regret not taking a whole host of guys. Usually it's wise to find that guy from the race's host nation who is on the cusp of breaking out, but I can't bring myself to dig that deep. Or maybe returning cheaters Alexander Vinokourov or Ivan Basso will be the ones to shine. My hunch is they'll need at least this year under their belt to get back to their old level. And of course we know their old level was augmented by doping, so it's unclear what we should truly expect from them. Anyway, I'm hoping for a wide-open, interesting race and I have a feeling Spain will deliver. 

We are all dumber having watched this

What can I say, I suffered through it and I thought my readers should too. Slate reviews three bikes in this video. The depth of knowledge displayed in the video is slightly deeper than that middle bit of frosting in a layer cake. We learn nothing about the bikes beyond what is plainly visible by looking at it. It reminds me of a time when a journalism professor told me after reading my essay that he was starting to wonder whether I'd read the correct chapters before writing. The reviewer uses the phrase "form over function" about the last bike, when that phrase pretty much applies to every dutch commuter bike. Chain guards and fenders are great, but so is a bike frame that isn't the equivalent of gaining 20 extra unneccessary pounds every time you get on it. On top of the total lack of anything interesting to say about the bikes, the reviewer finishes off by calling one of the bikes a fixed gear, even though it's clear from the video that it is a single speed with coaster brakes. Now, that might splitting hairs to some, but people who know bikes know the difference and you'd think you'd get someone with at least basic knowledge of cycling or commuting to do the review.

Putting locks to good use

Check out this Slate story about what some major cities are doing to improve bike parking. It's good to see efforts being made on this front. Nothing is more annoying than struggling to find a place to lock up your bike properly. Well, actually more annoying is coming back to that spot you found and discovering that someone has revealed it wasn't such a good location at all and they've made off with your bike.

While I lived in Charlotte bike parking was pretty lacking, luckily so were cyclists, meaning you pretty much always had the pick of the best spots. (Thomas St. Tavern blew my mind, a bar with a bike rack? Awesome!) Things are changing though, more and more people are getting on their bikes and that's a good problem in my mind. Now that I live in Seattle it seems like bike parking is fairly abundant, but honestly I would not say I've done enough cycling to say so for sure. But the few places I have gone where I needed to lock up I've always found an opening on a bike rack (or "staple" as the Slate article calls them).

The story's mention of the stimulus package reminded about the tax break for employers who give money to help defer bike commuting costs to their bike commuting employees. I'm curious about how this program is working. And maybe at some point I'll even investigate or (google) to see if any companies are actually using this. Of course these days, few companies still have any employees left, so maybe the program will be better measured if we one day again have an economy that employs workers.

A cycling video I can get behind

I know the performance video is all the rage right now. But I found this crazy thing via bike snob much more entertaining.

Ameeeeeeeerica!

When I first got into following cycling it was right around the time that Lance Armstrong was finishing up his string of Tour de France victories. At the time there was not much hope for any other American to be such a dominant force in pro cycling. George Hincapie, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer seemed like the best hopes. Hincapie did get into yellow, Landis got caught cheating, and Levi was eventually overshadowed by his teammate Alberto Contador.

Last year Christian Vande Velde emerged as a possible podium contender, and Levi seems to have improved as well. Both have raced very well but neither really seems up to being a favorite to win in France. Of course Armstrong has returned and added another high powered American to the mix, but it seems unlikely that he'll once again take home the yellow jersey.

So even though Lance is back, the question remains, who will be the future power of American cycling to replace Armstrong?

There is of course track star Taylor Phinney and pro sprinter Tyler Farrar. But cyclingnews.com has the scoop on some more young guns who are in the development pipeline.

In keeping with the American racer theme, the United States national team got some good news for the World Championships. Pretty much because Lance Armstrong came back (and Tyler Farrar had a stronger year) the U.S. will be allowed to take 9 riders to the national championships instead of 5, like it had to take last year. This should bolster the possibility of the U.S. getting the rainbow stripes for the first time since Armstrong did it in 1993. Still, I'm not sure if any top American rider really has the world championship as a goal. But hopefully we can do better than 23rd like last year.

In the bad news for American cycling department, Lance says he's not going to ride in the Tour of Missouri. That's too bad. He brings the crowds, and I'm sure the ToM could use as much positive feedback as it can get after the race was nearly canceled this year. It should prove an interesting race once again though, as I'm sure team Columbia will be even more motivated to take the overall win away from Christian Vande Velde and Garmin Slipstream after the apparent bad blood at the Tour de France this year.

Boston Bike Party

My girlfriend just sent me this story from the New York Times about efforts to improve Boston as a cycling city. A pretty standard tale about a city trying to jump on the cycling bandwagon. Mostly you hear about how efforts are slow but going in the right direction. And that's probably as much as you can hope for in these budget strapped times.

What first came to mind as I read it though was the summer I lived in Boston. This was back in aught four (isn't it fun that we can say stuff like that now?), before I did very much bike commuting and I did absolutely none while I lived there. But I did take a bicycle tour of the city. And I have only fond memories of the experience. I imagine I didn't really cover the ground that your average bike commuter would face. However the reason I tried the bike tour in the first place was because I had repeatedly heard the best way to see Boston was by bike. So things couldn't have been that bad, right?

It was interesting that the story didn't have any quotes from angry drivers, tired of cyclists slowing them down and breaking the law. The closest thing was this graph:

City and state officials are also backing up their efforts to turn Boston into a bike-friendly city with a crackdown on bad behavior against cyclists. The legislature recently passed a law holding drivers liable if they open a car door in the path of an approaching cyclist and injure a cyclist. And the City Council is considering a fine for motorists who park in bike lanes. There are few legal penalties — at least so far — for cyclists who ride recklessly and do not obey traffic signals. But Ms. Freedman said city officials hoped more bike lanes would lead to more riders’ and drivers’ following the rules.

I'll be watching to see how these efforts turn out. I think all too often drivers get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to incidents with cyclists. But my attitudes about bike and car interaction have been changing lately (maybe because I've moved to a new city and do a whole lot less bike commuting). I once believed (while I bike commuted in Charlotte, N.C.) that riding my bike was a bit like putting a target on my back for some drivers. But that's really not true, drivers would have to notice you exist before they see any kind of target on your back. What I think is probably more accurate is that cyclists are simply more vulnerable when they fall victim of road rage and as a result such incidents are more fatal and headline grabbing. Drivers and cyclists who rage around the road don't care whether it's a bike, person or SUV in their way, they hate all things that they perceive as an obstacle to their destination. And yes, cyclists show a lot of road rage as well.

I wonder, though, whether it helps or hurts cyclists to believe they're being targeted or abused because they're cyclists. Certainly any efforts to raise cycling awareness should help reduce wrecks in which someone just failed to see a cyclist because they weren't looking for them or expecting to find them. But does an us versus them mentality lead to overly aggressive behavior from extreme members of both communities? I don't really know. It could be that these people would be slamming into each other regardless. Think about it.

What did we learn from Tour of California

The Tour of California is in the books and Levi Leipheimer, as expected, came away the winner. I have to give him his due, he really dominated that race. And his team was too strong for anyone else to really challenge. I feel like there was a time when Levi was seen as another great American cyclist and one who maybe could fill the void when Lance Armstrong left. But then he never really matched Armstrong's dominance. Still, he's had a very successful couple of years and I think in my mind I've never really appreciated what he's done. Here's some highlights from his career.

• Vuelta a Espana on the podium - twice (3rd and 2nd)
• Tour de France top 10's - three times
• Tour de France podium - once (3rd)
• Dauphine Libere - winner once and podium once (3rd)
• Bronze medal at Olympics
• Tour of California - winner three times

Not a bad body of work. I'll be curious to see what Levi has left in the tank for the rest of the season. I believe he's riding in the Giro d'talia and Tour de France, but that will be in a support role for Armstrong and Alberto Contador. However, I always wonder how much "support" Levi is willing to give. Last year in Spain it looked like he was downright gunning for Contador at some points. And perhaps rightly so, I remember reading that without time bonuses Levi would have only been a few seconds down from Contador when all was said and done. So congrats to Levi.

Lance is just scary
So Armstrong really did work his tail off all week. He was front and center leading the chase on that miserable rainy day when Mancebo rode away from the field (as well as many other days when Astana needed to chase). And yet he still finished seventh place. I'm pretty impressed. You can say maybe not many of the other top talents were trying that hard, but he probably wasn't either. So will he be able to turn back time and win the Giro d'Talia? I'd say there's a good chance. He'll probably have the best team working for him and he's got that killer gene that most guys need to be the best. Still, all his time working on cancer awareness and his advancing age might be too much to overcome.

Also, if you've seen the photos of Armstrong's run in with a costumed fan you'll probably want to watch the video.


Sprinting for second place
Now, Mark Cavendish doesn't win every sprint. Just the ones where he's allowed to sprint at max speed without anyone in his way. Yes, finding an opening is a big part of sprinting but Killer Cav (or Cutie Cav as my girlfriend has been calling him) takes a lot of the uncertainty out of those crazy bunch sprints. Just ask him.

"With a flat run in like that there was only one possible outcome, especially when you've got a team like mine," said Cavendish. "When they dropped me off with 100 metres to go there could only be one outcome."

That was his view after winning stage four, which he himself said he thought he'd have no shot at due to the climbs before the finish. I think if he stays healthy he will be winning his first green jersey at the Tour de France this year. His team has become one of the best at setting him up for the finish and he just seems to have a gear that no one else can match right now. And I'm not sure whether HighRoad has a realistic shot at winning the yellow. Kim Kirchen is now out with an injury. Mick Rogers performed well in the Tour of California but I wonder if the allure of racking up a bunch of stage wings with Cav will be too strong for the team to really work for the overall jersey. The Tour of California cemented my view that this could be one of the best years in a while for cycling (unless we end up losing a bunch more guys to Puerto).

Jerseys!

My buddy Elfrink hit me with a link to the uniwatch blog the other day that was on the topic of classic cycling jerseys. It had lots of great links so check them out. I sent him links to some of my favorite jerseys and thought I'd share them here as well.

Elfrink liked the Salvarani jersey and I informed him you can get an updated wool version for only $138.

My favorite classic jersey is probably the team Cinzano jersey

My current favorite pro team jersey is of course Garmin Slipstream
But only if you also get the Garmin arm warmers to match. I really wish Iverson would come out with one of those suckers on for a Pistons game. Just once!

My favorite freaky jersey is this bad boy

My favorite beer jersey

The one jersey if I were every going to treat myself and get a cool one
Unfortunately I don't think they make it any more.

And maybe just my all time favorite jersey right now
It says I'm classy, but I also like to party.

Breaking radio silence

I've missed posting the past few days but I've been trying to watch the Tour of California. I have to say the Versus coverage has been disappointing. First of all, they still don't have coverage in HD. Then you've got the weather messing up the video feed for some of the best parts of the race. And finally you had Versus cutting off before the finish yesterday to go to a hockey game. Now, I love hockey, but that was pretty bad. This is all unfortunate since despite the terrible weather there has been some great racing so far.

Levi's not who we thought he was

Leipheimer's attack on stage 2 was pretty shocking for me. I've always thought of Levi as a vanilla kind of guy, similar to Cadel Evans. He can climb well enough to make it hard to drop him and he can time trial with the best of them. Those skills can lead to great results and victories, but they don't make for the most exciting racing. I can't help it, I love mountain top finishes. So I was happy to see Levi really go for it on stage 2. It's clear that he wants this victory and that he also realizes if he falters his team is so deep they have plenty of options to go to. With teammates Lance Armstrong in fourth place and Chris Horner in fifth place it's clear Levi knows he has to deliver. He even said there's no choice but to come through when you've got someone like Lance working for you and riding up front in the rain. Lots of big guns are still in the mix (Mic Rogers, Dave Za), which should make the time trial on stage six all the more interesting.

Hey, remember me!

It was good to see Thor Hushovd win yesterday. Over the past year I don't want to say I forgot about him, but Boonen was grabbing headlines for the wrong reasons, Cavendish was exploding on the scene and you had Oscar Freire and Daniele Bennati winning a ton of big stages in between. But Hushovd has won his share of stages and sprint jerseys. If he's back in the mix of things we really good see some amazing sprint finishes this year.

Spartacus

Fabian Cancellara sure is good in the time trial and he proved it once again yesterday. When he's on no one can top him in the time trial. And he looked pretty on. The short prologue didn't really reveal too much since it was so short, but there were a few things I noticed.

1) Levi wants this one bad. Did you see him practically foaming at the mouth right before starting? The guy was so psyched up and huffing and puffing I thought he might pass out and fall off the edge of that little starting ramp. All in all, he still seems like the favorite to win to me (not something I'm used to thinking when it comes to Leipheimer).

2) Lance Armstrong got 10th in a race he keeps saying he's not trying to win. Yep, 10th. Now I know there's a difference between getting 10th to start the year in California and getting 10th at the Tour or Giro (where guys have focused their whole year around that one day). But still, 10th. Wow. Maybe it was that fancy ride of his (that got stolen!).

3) While you can't win the ToC on the first day, you might be able to lose it. Floyd Landis came in tied for 89th out of 132 riders and put himself in an almost 20 second hole. Less than impressive. Tyler Hamilton only did a few seconds better but had already said he's pretty much not trying to win the general classification. Kim Kirchen of Columbia Highroad finished in the 50s, but teammates George Hincapie and Michael Rogers are right there in the mix. I have a feeling Rogers is going to be strong this week.

4) What's with all the life stories and attempts at comedy in the race coverage when the riders have already started? I get that Versus wants to set up all the story lines, but when you've only got two hours on TV can't you cut that stuff down to half an hour instead of an hour? And why were the announcers talking about Landis winning the Tour de France and his dramatic comeback without mentioning that he failed a dope test on the very day of that dramatic comeback and had been stripped of that Tour de France victory? It's just weird. I mean they said Christian Vande Velde finished fourth at the Tour de France last year (because Bernie Kohl who finished fourth later got busted for doping at the tour).

And when they did mention Landis' doping history they said he was banned for "suspected doping." Suspected? I thought once the B sample confirmed a positive test from the A sample you were no longer suspected of doping but were instead busted for doping. Now, I get that Landis is really likable and has spent millions trying to discredit the results of the dope test and anti-doping process. And after reading his book and Lance Armstrong's War I can't help but root for him a little myself. But lets not just whitewash his past. I'm not saying Landis has to come clean and talk to reporters every day and have HBO sports profile him like David Millar, but the commentators shouldn't gloss over things if they're going to talk about his performance at the 2006 Tour de France.

Now I don't favor a lifetime ban on dopers. I feel like two years is probably just about the right amount of time. If you get caught when you're old and should have known better, it ends your career. If you get caught when you were young and stupid, it probably takes away two of your best years but does allow for a second chance. I've done really stupid things in my life and I like second chances. I think we'll never know the real story about Landis. I do think he cheated, but I think things are not so black and white and that there was more to it than that.

The last of the big dogs

I've mentioned Astana, I've discussed a trio riders looking for a return to glory this year. Now it's time to go over the last main threats of the Tour of California. I believe the race will be won by someone who can dominate in the time trial and protect that lead through the climbs. No stages at the ToC end with a climb and the top sprinters in the world are coming (Mark Cavendish, Tom Boonen, Oscar Freire, Thor Hushovd and J.J. Haedo are the headliners). Those sprinters will have motivated teams hoping to keep everything together for a bunch sprint finish to give their big guns the chance to win. So it could be hard to make up any time on rivals outside of the time trial. And as always motivation and timing are huge factors.

Saxo Bank
This team won cycling's grandest prize last year with Carlos Sastre at the Tour de France. But Sastre took off for start up team Cervelo. Still, I have a feeling Saxo Bank isn't too worried about it's season. Sastre's win was very much a team win at the Tour de France. They used their depth to ride at the front of the pack and set a blistering pace that blew apart the field. By the end of the big climbs there were only a handful of guys who could keep up and the team launched attack after attack with different riders until Sastre was able to break free, making up enough time to win the yellow jersey. Sastre is gone, but that depth remains.

My belief that the time trial will be key discounts Frank and Andy Schleck. Both showed they are among the best in the mountains but until they make gains in the race of truth I don't see them winning the tour of California. Fabian Cancellara on the other hand is a killer in the time trial (Yep, that was him winning the gold medal in China). And the man they call Spartacus just might be able to do enough in the mountains to hold on to the jersey if he takes it in the time trial. A dark horse on Saxo Bank is American Jason McCartney. He finished third in the 2007 ToC and is not afraid of a good climb.

Garmin Slipstream
The American team in the trademark argyle would love to win this race. They'll go all out and like Astana, Saxo Bank and Columbia Highroad they're bringing the big guns. This team is chock full of guys great in the time trial. Christian Vande Velde shocked everyone (even himself) with his fifth place finish at the Tour de France last year. His strong time trials and ability to limit his losses in the climbs were the main reasons for his success. When you read or hear Vande Velde's interviews you realize how huge last year was for him. After years of being the bottle fetcher he was the team captain. He clearly was not sure if he belonged in that role, but after seeing that he was just as strong as the other team captains on the Hautacam stage last year he turned into a believer. In 2008, Vande Velde came in third at the Tour of California and also won the Tour of Missouri (where he says he had intended to just ride in a support role before he accidentally won it). I think Vande Velde would enjoy winning the ToC, but he's clearly focused on the Tour de France so I'm not sure what his form will be for this race.

And if Vande Velde is not ready to go I bet Tom Danielson will be. As I mentioned before, this guy has been off my radar but has had some very solid results. He claims to have cut down on drag by working on his time trial position in the wind tunnel. If he does really well in the time trial, he could end up being the team leader.

And you can't talk about the time trial without mentioning U.S. time trial champion Dave Zabriskie. Like Tyler Hamilton, he'll get to wear a fancy red, white and blue jersey (only his is more like a time trial skin suit). Zabriskie had a terrible crash last year in the Giro d'talia, throwing off his season. This was a big blow to the Garmins. Hopefully he stays healthy this year. Before crashing out Zabriskie talked about how he'd been a good climber in his early days and somehow gotten away from that and how he hoped he could get back to being respectable on the mountains. I'll be looking forward to seeing him back on the bike.

Columbia Highroad
The former T-Mobile team now under American ownership will be going all out to win as much as possible at the ToC. Some teams like to wait for the right chance to take the leader's jersey but I have a feeling the Highroads might actually want to win every single stage of this race (and with the squad they're bringing, they just might be able to do it!). For the sprint finishes they have Mark Cavendish. This guy seems to be able to do no wrong when it comes down to a sprint. And for the rest of the race their options are deep. They've got American George Hincapie who is a strong time-trialist and can dig deep in the climbs. Big George (or Good ol' George as my girlfriend likes to call him) says he wants at least a stage win in California, if not more.

Michael Rogers is back after injuries limited him last year and he showed strong form in the Tour Down Under. I have a good feeling he's going to be in the mix for the leader's jersey. And if all else fails the Highroads can turn to Kim Kirchen. At one point Kirchen held on to both the sprint jersey and the leader's jersey at the Tour de France last year. He had great performances in the time trial, proved he could finish stages strong and might have enough to hang on when the road turns upward in California.

Closing thoughts
I'm sure there are great cyclists I have not mentioned who will have a great week in California. There's just too much talent to keep track of. I'm hoping the race lives up to the star power in attendance. I really do think several teams will be gunning hard for glory and not just showing up for "training in race conditions." The one wildcard with California every year is the weather, which can throw off the best laid plans in a hurry. Whatever happens, I'm really happy I get to watch it live on TV.

Hamilton counting himself out?

Update from the press conference at the Tour of California, apparently U.C. champ Tyler Hamilton's mom has breast cancer and that has been his focus for the last few months.

“I’ve been back in Boston for most of the last five weeks,” he said. And the weather out there hasn’t been so good for training, so I have spent three of the last five weeks on the indoor trainer. So I will take myself off of the list of favorites. But we have got some strong riders in guys like Oscar Sevilla, (Enrique) Gutierrez, Francisco Mancebo or Chris Baldwin who can fill that void. I will take it day by day and hope I can do something on a stage. Also we have Freddie Rodriguez, who is going well this year. I think he is a step or two above where he was last year. I will be a domestique this year and I will be happy to do it.”

Very sad news, I hope she gets well. Also, it's being reported that Floyd Landis crashed in training but is still expected to start Saturday.

Tour of California on Versus - oh yeah!

Cable guy came and I'm now all set for the Tour of California viewing spectacular. I have already set the DVR so I can watch the coverage over and over. Hopefully it's all in HD too.

So I broke down what I thought about Astana. Still think Levi is the favorite. But lets look at some of the other guys riding in the ToC.

Back from suspension
There are three guys who got banned for doping who I'll be watching in this race. Ivan Bass0, Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton.

Basso
I think Basso has the most potential but probably not in this race. At 31, he's the youngest of the three riders. The former winner of the Giro d'talia was banned for two years after admitting he had "attempted to dope" but says he did not ever actually dope (he apparently did not inhale). The Italian was a star on the rise when he got banned so I'll be interested in seeing how the two years off have or have not changed him. But Basso has other goals on his plate this year and as a member of Liquigas he'll be able to race in Europe and enter more high stakes races. So I think he may be missing that motivation to be a true factor in this race.

Landis
Now Floyd Landis on the other hand, he's very motivated to do well in the ToC. I have to assume even the most casual cycling fan knows the sad story of Floyd Landis. The former Lance Armstrong teammate had his victory at the Tour de France in 2006 stripped after he failed a doping test. Landis is back from his two-year ban and is riding for the domestic squad OUCH. This means Landis will not be racing in Europe and the ToC is probably the biggest race of the year for OUCH. In interviews Landis has acted like he might not be the GC contender for his team, but I have to believe that's him trying to act like he's no better than anyone else on his squad. Also, Landis was the winner of the very first ToC.

One benefit of Landis' suspension was that it gave him time to have his hip resurfaced (Yes, you read that right. He had that surgery that's a step below hip replacement, and he's 33). A bad crash in training left Landis with a bum hip, which he raced on for four years. Landis says it feels great to ride without pain. I bet! Landis may be in the mix of things because he's a good climber and won his share of time trials, but I think if he's going to have success on a big U.S. stage this year it will more likely come in the Tour of Missouri or U.S. championships toward the end of the year.

Hamilton
And finally we come to Mr. Nice Guy Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton has had a long road back to the big times. He was banned for blood doping in 2004 for two years. Wait, it's 2009 now? It's true, his ban ended in the middle of 2006 and he signed with a team and did ride in 2007. But news reports were linking Hamilton to the doping scandal Operation Puerto and saying he had tried to dope in 2002-2004 (based on the failed test in 2004, seems like he did inhale). The bad publicity proved too much for his team Tinkoff Credit Systems and they parted ways in a messy legal battle (which I think may still be on-going).

Last year Hamilton signed with Rock Racing but the Tour of California would not let him ride. He would end his year on a high note by winning the U.S. road championship (now he gets to wear a cool red, white and blue jersey all year. Captain America costume all set for Halloween!). So here we are in 2009, five years after Hamiltion's fall and the ToC is apparently going to let him ride this year. I'm not sure if they feel he's served his time or just realized it'd be weird to ban the current U.S. road cycling champion from their race. Hamilton is very competitive, he paid his dues as a domestique to Armstrong and spent the years in which he would have had his best chances at glory banned from the sport. Hamilton's almost 38. The clock is ticking. Add in all the concerns about his team Rock Racing and whether they're going to be around for very much longer (they can't find a sponsor to put up the big bucks) and the time is very much now for Hamilton. But does he have enough left in the tank to make anything happen? I guess we'll find out.

And on the topic of doping ...

Lance Armstrong has apparently given up on having his very own doctor assigned to testing him. He had hoped to show beyond a doubt that he was a clean rider but all that testing is very expensive. And just to be clear, this was going to be in addition to the testing he undergoes by the various cycling organizations, at the races he enters and his own team's dope testers. So Lance is still being tested a lot (I think 16 times so far since he announced comeback)

A proper response to doping

I think there was a time when I was sad every time I learned that someone had cheated, but that probably ended with Floyd Landis. I've come to accept that doping is a part of sport, it has been in the past and it always will be in the future. The stakes are just too high for people to resist. But this is true in all professions. You will always have people who take shortcuts to climb to the top.

So I've decided my only response to doping revelations must be glee. Not joy for someone's failure but joy at the fact that the system is at least partly working. I'm a pretty new fan of cycling. The first Tour de France I followed was Lance Armstrong's last (well, before he unretired). I've come in as a fan of cycling at the precise moment when many others started leaving. Friends ask me how I can invest time in cycling when so many of the highlight performances in the past few years have turned out to be lies. And I always tell them the same thing. I'm a sports fan. It's that simple. Sports entertain me and I always remember they are just games.

The only time I get remotely bothered by doping any more is when people act like cycling somehow has a worse doping problem than other sports. Cycling is just ahead of the curve. When A-rod admitted taking performance enhancing drugs he spoke of a lawless culture in baseball at the time. This was true cycling for a long time, but it's my hope that that time is passing. Cycling decided to get serious about ending doping. You could argue this has really only hurt the sport in the mainstream. In cycling, guys are tested all the time. They supply drug testers with their location year-round so they can be found for random tests at any moment. When they get caught they're banned for 2 years. Now teams don't even wait to find banned substances in cyclists' blood, instead they're looking for results that show guys recovering too quickly, which might suggest they were doping. And what has all this gotten them? Little more than scorn.

Two years ago I was in the airport during the prologue of the Tour de France. I stopped by a TV showing ESPN to check the results of the race. Was the story about how more than a million people showed up in London to watch the tour? No, the story was asking the question of whether anyone even cared that the Tour de France was going on because of it's history of doping (yes, despite the million plus people at the event that day). Last year when guys got busted at the tour I read commentators calling for the entire tour to be canceled. And Olympic officials were saying maybe cycling should be kicked out of the games. Funny, I've never once heard anyone suggest that track and field be removed from the games.

On the flip side, the MLB and the NFL have a joke of a drug testing program when compared with cycling's and weak penalties for failing drug tests. For years there were no penalties at all for doping and no tests to even check whether athletes were doping. When baseball finally did add testing (only during the season and not the off season) it was a 10 game suspension for a first offense. They've bumped that up to 50 games now. To match cycling they'd have to tack on another 274 games. How about in the NFL? While they have off season testing, their penalties are 4 games, then 8 games and then a year. So a player could in theory test positive twice in a single season and still play in the playoffs. These policies treat doping like it's not that big of a deal and they want their fans to think it isn't a problem. Baseballs biggest stars have gotten caught cheating and I've yet to hear anyone suggest that they cancel the World Series. Last time I checked Shawne Merriman is still doing commercials and going to the Pro Bowl (well, not this year).

So I'm happy when cycling catches a doper, because I know the sport isn't any dirtier than other sports, it's just that they're trying a lot harder to bust these guys.

Holy crap!

Valverde, long suspected of being tied to the doping ring known as Operation Puerto, has apparently been linked to the scandal by his DNA. Wow.

Team Type 1 raising awareness

I've been raving a lot about the big names and big teams coming to the Tour of California. But a small team with a cool mission has also been invited. That team is Team Type 1. VeloNews has a nice little feature on the team and their goals going into the TOC. The team began as a way to show that people with Type 1 diabetes can still live active lives and don't have to let the disease stop them from taking on big challenges. The team also showcases some of the latest devices used to help Type 1 diabetics, as some members of the squad have Type 1 diabetes and use those devices when they race. I'll be pulling for them to get into some breaks and maybe come away with a win in California.

Cable guy is coming Wednesday

And the cable guy coming means I will be getting me some Versus. I know they won't be covering the Tour of California in its entirety, but I'm glad they'll at least have some coverage every day. I've been going back and forth on what exactly I want to write about this race. There are so many interesting story lines. I talked with one of my fellow Midnight Ramblers the other day about who I thought would win this bad boy. I think I'll spend the next few days going over the candidates. Here's my initial thoughts.

First, check out the press release from the TOC and take a minute to look at the field for this race. Wow, that's a lot of really good cyclist. I can't say it enough, this race has truly arrived. Now when trying to predict who will win any stage race you have to consider who is actually trying to win. With cycling, you can't just win every race you enter all the time all year round. Well, except for this guy. Yes, his nickname was the cannibal.

Modern cyclists have taken to targeting only a few races throughout the year at which they will actually try their hardest. One reason Lance Armstrong was so successful was because he did not care about anything but the Tour de France. He might enter other races and even win in some of them, but everything was part of a big year-long plan to arrive at the Tour de France in the exact perfect shape (or "form") needed to win the race. So while current Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre may officially be in this race, I'm skeptical that he'll be doing anything more than try to log some training miles in race conditions.

Now who wants to win this race? And who will actually be trying? Since a lot of who wins depends on who has the right "form," many teams won't come out and say who their team captain is. And more and more, these top teams are stocking up on 2, 3 and even 4 guys who can win a stage race. Teams say they'll wait until the race to see who is in the right condition to win, and then everyone shifts to work for that guy. I think that's mostly a load of crap. They know who their man is, they just don't want us to know. And the truth is, I don't know, but here are some of my best guesses.

Levi Leipheimer
The American rider for Astana has won the past two TOCs and despite finishing second at the Vuelta a Espana (like the tour de france, but for Spain!) last year and third at the Tour de France the year before, he seems to continue to move down the ranks of his own team. Just as it seemed Levi was going to be the top dog at Discovery, they brought in Ivan Basso. When Basso got suspended Levi again looked to be the team captain only to see teammate Alberto Contador out-perform him at the Tour de France. The pair moved to Astana with their team manager after Discovery folded and it looked like at least the TOC was going to be Levi's race.

But this year he's now got Lance Armstrong on his team to deal with. And the team is being all vague about who they'll pull for. Not a good sign. But! Levi is not going to have to work for anyone else. That is for sure. He's great in the time trial, he's not a pure climber but he can stay with the top 10 guys in the world in the mountains and he's probably more motivated to win this race than about any other rider on a major team. And with Armstrong and Contador set to be the focus of the tour de France and Giro d'talia (like the tour de France, but for Italy!), that leaves little else for Levi. So I think Levi knows this is his chance to shine and he'll have put in the work to give himself the best shot at winning. In my mind, I think Levi is the favorite.

Lance Armstrong
But Levi may get a challenge from his own teammate Lance. Normally I'd say Levi wouldn't really have to worry. But this is the new Lance. Since coming back he's been wishy-washy about whether he's riding in the Tour de France and has said stuff like the Gir0 d'talia is his main goal. This is very unLance. The guy with the laser focus who wanted to destroy all challengers, and even guys on his own team who looked like they were ridding a little too well in the final year of their contracts (I'm looking in your direction Floyd Landis) is now talking about how great it is just to be out riding again. I know he's also now all about his Livestrong movement and raising cancer awareness.

But still, can Lance turn the competitive juices off? The TOC didn't exist when he was riding before and I have to think part of him would love to show up, win the time trial and the whole race, grab some headlines in the United States and make a statement that he's back for real. And by part of him I mean like 90 percent of him. He's got that 10 percent that's telling him he has to be nice to Levi so the average Joe Plummer thinks he's a good teammate (it's the same 10 percent inside Kobe Bryant that tells him he needs to make awkward jokes so as not to come off as a total basketball assassin), but with guys like Lance and Kobe, that 10 percent usually loses more often than not.

Lance finished 29th at the Tour Down Under, his first stage race back from retirement. He was only 49 seconds behind the winner. The guy finishing second was 25 seconds back, so even without trying very hard Lance was very much in the mix. Lance is one of those rare guys who can kill you in the time trial and kill you in the mountains. Whether he ends up going for the win or not, this race should at least give us more of an idea of what he's got left in the tank after a three-year break. Also, Astana will have Yaroslav Popovych pulling at the front for either Lance or Levi. The Ukrainian returns to their side after a disappointing stint with Cadel Evans' team Silence Lotto. I have a feeling he's going to return to his previous form as a super domestique.

Still to come: I'll be tackling Columbia-Highroad, Garmin-Slipstream, Liquigas, OUCH, Rock Racing and Saxo Bank.

Do you bike commute or want to bike commute?

If you said yes than you should read this. My former roommate Fiscus sent me a link to Rep. Earl Blumenauer taking Republicans to task for their attempts to get money intended for bike lanes and bike paths taken out of the economic stimulus bill. We can give away $15,000 tax credits to rich people to flip houses, but we can't pay for something that would leave us with something substantive that we could use for years and years to come? Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of tax cuts and a whole lot of just about anything to get the economy going. But we're going to spend hundreds of billions and we can't find room for some bike projects that would help cut down on oil consumption, get people riding and into a healthier lifestyle and also put construction workers to work?

I live in Charlotte where a Republican mayor has worked hard to add bike lanes, create a long term bike plan and add light-rail and bus service (I don't care that he once said of Wikipedia "you can edit the computer?!"). So if he can do it, then these national Republicans should be able to see the light, right? Right? Sigh, my belief that we should use facts, common sense and generally care about each other pretty much excludes me from ever being involved in politics. Still, I can't help but be filled with rage from time to time. But Blumenauer helped with that rage a little bit by listing these cool facts and making me feel good about my choice to bike commute.

Recent transportation surveys indicate that 52% of Americans want to bike more than they do now - but don't, because of the lack of safe and connected bicycle facilities.

Think about it: More than 50% of working Americans live less than 5 miles from home, an easy bicycle commute. Already more than 490,000 Americans bike to work; in Portland, 8% of downtown workers are bicycle commuters. Individually, they are saving $1,825 in auto-related costs, reducing their carbon emissions by 128 pounds per year, saving 145 gallons of gasoline, avoiding 50 hours of being stuck in traffic, burning 9,000 calories, reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke by 50%, and enjoying 14% fewer claims on their health insurance.

Nationally, if we doubled the current 1% of all trips by bike to 2%, we would collectively save more 693 million gallons of gasoline - that's more than $5 billion dollars - each year. From 2007 - 2008, bicyclists reduced the amount Americans drive by 100 million miles.

So if you care about this issue you should take five minutes to contact your senator or representative and let them know what you think.