holy crap!

by now, we've all heard THE NEWS. the tour will not be the same. and will the sport?

on Big Jan: "He has an altitude chamber in his basement, that cost €120,000, so that he could train in a clean way, and he still manages to fall in with these rogues and betrayers..."

on my emotional favorite, David Millar: "Cycling is the most beautiful sport in the world...I want to prove that it is definitely possible to win without doping..."

but is it? will we ever believe the sport is clean? when tyler was nabbed almost 2 years ago, my heart sank, it felt like a kick in the junk... and this? ... but in a way, this will make the tour that more exiting. now, when a break appears, it could be THE BREAK. it's all up in the air, all up for grabs. 25 years from now, we'll remember this year, but more importantly, we'll remember who won! grab it david, show 'em it can be done w/o drugs...

in more personal news, thom p laid it out last night at the end of a ride. i foolishly brought my work-bag on what i thought was a 90min meander. it was a meander at first, with some efforts thrown-in, most especially at sun-down when we hit Concord. a light muggy fog had settled onto the ground, making things dark, yet soft. the tempo increased. a glance at the speed revealed 23, then 24, thom doing all the work. i took a tun for a pull and instantly went anearobic, but keep pushing best i could, thom staring at the 15lbs of bailey works bag on my back, probably wondering why in the f i'd carry such a thing, as that was the question i'd been asking myself... just didn't expect to get 240' in yesterday, but damn glad i did - and stoked to finally get-out with the singlespeed monster for a road rip.

meeting-up w/andy today for an mtb epic, wondering how much legs i got left. who cares, it'll be a great ride, suffer-fest or not. as david said so well, "cycling is the most beautiful sport in the world" and i feel damn lucky to experience it, even if at such a lowly level.

viva la tour! may we all have good rides this wknd.