#@^&$#$%()*)(**^!!!!!

I just spent most of the evening working on a post, a very clever and funny post if I don't say so myself.

And blogger ate it.

Okay, maybe not the whole evening. I also spent some time reading my honey's team emails (ssshhhh) and reading about Flandis, Lebanon, and Castro.

And maybe it wasn't as clever or as funny as I remember.

But I'm still pretty pissed and now I am too tired and wanky to rewrite it.

Attention spans

During the tour, we have to go to some ultra-niche cable tv channel to find coverage. While the stage's result might be a 3 second mention during the sports coverage of traditional media.

But now that the american winner has a positive drug test, the nation is suddenly interested in our geek sport*.

Landis' positive was the subject of Pete Wilson's talk show on KGO, one of the nation's most widely listened to talk show channels. This morning's press conference interrupted the ABC news coverage. And the main breaking news headline on CNN's home page is Floyd Landis.

Landis bumped a couple of wars.

Why are we such a nation obsessed with sporting lows after highs?

I myself am guilty. I would have a hard time coming up with the names of more than 3 male track and field sprinters, but I know who Ben Johnson is.

Anyway, its been interesting to see and hear cycling on traditional media outlets these past two days. A caller to the Pete Wilson show yesterday knew all about the positive test result, but then proceeded to blast cycling as "a bunch of kids on bikes, a non sport, a geek sport on the same lines as midget wrestling".

Welcome to mainstream.

Love Means...

A while back Marscat posted a message about how much she liked the movie ”Love Story.” Being married to a boy who has about as much fluff in his personality as a rock, I had to “humph” at the sappiness. Of course she was not so shocked by my opinion. Yet, had she ever met the boy I married, she may understand my lack of sap. In my house, the boy doesn’t give the proverbial “A” for effort, nor does he rah-rah for finishing last in one of California’s hardest stage races. I have to pat myself on the back for that stuff. Yet, after five years, I’m still crazy about him. But her post begged the question: does love really mean never having to say you’re sorry? I thought about it long and hard and it dawned on me on a way to a ride with Pink Fishnets a few weeks ago.

That morning we were running late (surprise!). I had put on my Bella jersey and ran around the house cleaning up and gathering riding items. It was darned hot and I was working up a sweat. We jumped in the car where I could put my pony tail together, stuff some toast in my mouth and rearrange my bag while he drove. It was 9:30 a.m. and very hot already. And I was still a bit worked up. (Did I mention the heat?)

As we drove down Foothill Expressway, I finally had a few minutes to chill and stretch. So I lifted my arms above my head and gave a good ‘ole fashioned yawn. Then I heard him exclaim with a disgusted look “Oh, honey!” I was dumbstruck. What could possibly disgust him? Did I brush my teeth? Check. I was confused. I’ve always been the picture of good decorum and hygiene, even within the private company of my husband. What could possibly be the cause of his disgust?

“Um, you have B.O.,” he said reluctantly. I think about this for a bit and a smile comes to my face. After five years of being victim to his own arsenal of chemical weapons in the wee hours of the morning, I have had my retribution. And, I had found my answer. Love means being able to say, “Honey, you have B.O.”

“Awe, thank you, honey! I love you too,” I tell him.

SI Interview of Landis

is here

I'm going to wait for the dust to settle on this one.

But whatever the outcome, that stage 17 ride is now tarnished.

In fact, every spectacular ride will leave us wondering. Which is really too bad.

I feel the need

I need to head out, with my camera, to wherever the lighting takes me. And play.

Its been too long.

Ever consider taking that anvil off your head?

Wondering where the blogs have been?

There are no blogs because I have had one bastard of a headache. I can't think through this veil of heat and tension. So no cutesy bloggie logs. You will get this whining snippet instead.

I've got myself a good old fashioned tension headache. Muscles on the left side of my body wrapped themselves around me so tight that I can't open my jaw. My lat is on fire, my neck is stuck sideways, and my friggen eyebrow even hurts.

So no work, no blogs, maybe some laundry if I can muster up the oomph.

But I am going riding tonight.

Can I sleep now?

Thank heavens the tour is over.

I'm going to miss the tour.

~~~

In preparation for Livermore Hills, I did a few easy sprints on Friday afternoon. I have been working out fairly regularly in the 90+ temps of Morgan Hill. I thought I had acclimatized.

But those Friday sprints in 107 degree heat told me another story. I was overheated and ill from a mere few moments of high efforts. How in the word could I possibly race in it?

107 is too god damn hot to be exercising in. Exercising in that kind of heat is just plain irresponsible.

So when I came home I told Michael of my 107 experience and how I thought that racing in high heat was foolish. I had hoped he would caution me against racing in such silly conditions. Instead, his response was an unsympathetic, "yeah its going to be hot"

Uh...thanks for that.

In the morning I tried one last time to squirm out of it. But Michael threw out the ploy he knew would get me out of bed and to the races. "Bunny wants to race it".

Hmmph.

So as the boys sipped coffee while watching the tour and generally lounging about all lazy like under the temperate redwoods, Bunny and I loaded a cooler of water and ice into the Toaster and headed straight for the furnace of hell.

Somewhere in the drive Bunny revealed that she too admitted her concerns about the race to Jeff, and that he too was unsympathetic and encouraged her to race. But by now we were almost in Livermore in a car loaded with bikes and ice, so we resigned ourselves to our fate.

We registered, we changed, and we sat in the air conditioned car until race start. No need to warm up when you are about to jump into a furnace.

I lasted two laps before calling it quits. I didn't feel bad, or dizzy, or dehydrated. I just felt really really hot and a bit silly for thinking I would feel otherwise.

Bunny succumbed to the heat too. And within an hour of starting our race, we were where we were before the race: sitting in the car with the AC blasting wondering what the hell we were doing there.

As we were wondering this, my phone rang. The caller id said it was Michael. Why would he call when we were supposed to be out racing?

"honey", I told him. "Its too hot."
"I knowwww" he replied ever so sympathetically, "you two are crazy for racing in this kind of heat"

Excuse me?
We're what?


(Livermore reached 114 degrees on Saturday, breaking a record of 109 set way back in 1906.)

Non Sequi-"Tours"

The drama of the Tour. Gripping. The kind of gripping that leaves you glued to your television and puts your job at stake. In the last two days of the tour we are left wondering who will win.

But the real burning question remains: how many viewers will actually buy a SAAB? I’m not so sure about a car, but if SAAB made a bike, I just might be interested. The only drawback to a SAAB bike? Jets add a tad bit of weight. And I'm not exactly sure if they are UCI compliant.

Since we’re on the subject of marketing and the tour, how ‘bout that clever Rabbit ad? It took me about two or three times of seeing it before I realized the pun. You have to admit “the birds and the bees” music coupled with the black and white baby rabbit, well, somebody surely had their thinking cap on! Makes me want to go buy one. But I think I’ll save my money for a SAAB jet bike.

And finally: have Phil, Paul, Al and Bobkee been dipping into the “juice” lately? Their constant Leipheimer /Landis boo-boos and Bobkee’s off-air giggly laughter and cursing leaves me wondering. Anyone see them chatting with Dr. Fuentes lately?

I'm in love with another woman

While my sweetie and other guys profess their man love for Floyd, I gotta take a moment to profess a little woman love of my own.

I am in love with Wendy Simms.

Now, this is no cutesy Bella rah-rah stuff. You'll find that stuff over in Latest and Greatest. Babble has always been about Lilly and I spouting out whatever the hell we feel like, regardless of sponsor and team responsibilites. You will find no gratutitous rah rah here.

And even with all that, I gotta say,
I am in love with Wendy Simms.

Sure, she's cute. But aren't all mountain bikers?

Sure, she's fast. Up against the best at Sea Otter, she placed an amazing 4th in the cross country event. And don't even let me start on her mad cx skillz.



Cute and Fast is nice and all, especially when you are a women's race team.

But there is a whole lot more to being a professional bike racer than being fast. And thats the part that Wendy has dialed. I am too tired (because tour watching is cutting into my sleep time) to rail out the details. But suffice it to say, she is mature, independent, unselfish, gracious, conscientious, thankful, and always professional. And she understands very well her role as a leader on a chaotic and diverse women's development team run by volunteers with hearts of gold.

She is a breath of fresh air. And one of the reasons, that when things get ugly (as they sometimes do unfortunately) myself and others still love doing this.

Best tour ever

Yesterday I was convinced that it would be impossible for Landis to finish in yellow.

No GC potential gets away from a charging peloton to put 6 minutes on his closest chasers. That just does not happen in modern TdF racing.

But this has been no ordinary tour.

Each day gets better than the next. I don't think I can take a moment more of this drama.

~~~~~

In the end, there were no tactics today. TMobile had 5 guys at the bottom of the last climb...and nothing happened. This was just straight up brutal racing. It was just every man for himself. Landis'antics stripped this race down to its most primal elements. I think I can watch that last climb, and all of its drama, over and over again.



~~~~

Landis' face, after he finished and rolled off to his soigneur, was priceless. He was still pumped and wide eyed with whatever boiling adrenalin and fury that had kept him going. There was a bunch of "fuck yeah" in that face.

~~~~

Pereiro continues to impress. He led the scrambled charge up the mountain. Keeping his composure even after Kloden or Zubeldia wouldn't or couldn't work. And then sincerely congratulating Floyd. Good stuff.

~~~~~

Moreau stood in sharp contrast to all of this heroism. He left behind Dessel, who was in 4th place. For what? So that he could be the highest place Frenchman? I have never been a fan of his and now I remember why.

~~~~~

Rasmussen. I can't look at him.


~~~~~

Where's Discovery?

Pain Face Scale

I'm not going to say much about today... You just need to watch it!
The good news is that if Oscar Periero continues on then...Ooh la la Olaf can play him in our mock movie.

Menchov's face is not on this chart, on this scale he would be 10...but Floyd's pain face is a 3. You just can't tell how Floyd feels by his face. He has been a 3 all tour long. I am usually a 1 when I'm drinking margaritas in the summertime and a 6 come September. I love the summer, its a time I can live the life of leisure. My days go like this, watch the tour, run with my doggies, watch the tour, ride my bike, watch the tour. Then September comes and I'm a 6 because its time to live the hectic work schedule again. I'll probably be a 6 when the tour ends, like a great novel, I don't want it to end.

I also make 6 faces when I see polkadot shorties or green stretchypants. Some people just never make the pain face, no matter how many brownies they don't eat, how ugly the stretchypants are or how hard the riding gets, that is Floyd. I wonder what makes him a 1 face?

Maybe some people only have a 1 face or a 6 face, no inbetween face. And some inbetweeners don't make a 1 or a 6 face.

Well, crap ...again

When I finally pulled away from the tv this morning to go to work, TMobile was chasing down their own rider as usual.

I thought with predictability like that, Flandis would be safe.

I was a little worried though because he lost his poker face and the yellow jersey was soaking wet.

But work called.

Of course, once I got to work I went straight to CN and scanned the results. I had to keep going down the list to find Floyd. I thought it was a mistake. A terrible mistake.

CRA-ACK

Wow, when's the last time the yellow jersey cracked that hard? And Axel's the hero of the day. How emotional it must be to have to pace up your friend and teammate in that way.

Man, I don't want Kloden to win. I'm going to have to root for the Aussie with the funny eyebrows now.

crap.

A day of bad assery

Five of us were up early this morning to watch the legendary L'Alpe stage. We were all sleepy but entranced. Okay, except for Migo.

These epic stages are just epic viewing. As much as I love watching the sprint finishes, it just doesn't compare to the 11 layers of drama that occur on the queen stages.

Schleck won, so thats cool (I am stoked that he beat the little prince). But today, I was struck by all the work being done by the domestiques.

The badass domestiques all stepped up today. Each trying to outbadass the other.

First Zabriskie and Jens were just slaying it in the break for Schleck. Jens crashes, chases back on, and goes straight to the front to pull. Then later, as Sastre's group catches Jens, he picks up his tempo, latches on, takes a few breaths, and goes straight to the front to pull once more. Two words: Hard Ass. And Jens is surprised that there are so many Voight fans in the states?

And Kessler was hauling it up the last ascent for Kloden. Kessler has been all over this tour, getting in breaks, almost winning, and then winning. And here he his, the big guy, busting it up the climb. When I saw him today, it reminded me of how surprising it was when Hincapie would do that for Lance. Kessler is the new Hincapie. Except tougher. Dude went flying ass over Adidas, over a guardrail and down the ditch. He gets up, dusts himself off, and gets back to work. The giant rocks still lodged in his helmet. Thats just nails.

And just when I couldn't watch Menchov's suffering gasping silent roar of agony face a moment longer, Rasmussen, who under most circumstances I do not consider a badass, ups his Voight-o-meter and crawls back up to Menchov. He gives him a wheel, escorting him all the way to the finish and limiting his losses.

Not to be outVoighted by someone as gangly as Rasmussen, even the little Spanish climbers step up. David Arroyo digs deep to try and keep Pereiro in the jersey.

But my favorite Voightlike moment was the one with Axel and Landis. Landis looked like he was attacking Kloden. But he stopped when he got to Axel, who was up in a break. It was almost as if he was excited to see Axel and rushed up to say hello. Axel was all calm like. He gave Floyd a nod and a "he-ey, whats up man? This climb is almost as tough as Palomar aint it?" and then handed him his water bottle. After Floyd took a few swigs, Axel did his own turn and went to the front and pulled them up the hill as long as he could.

All this teamwork stuff makes you feel bad for Levi and Cadel, who were very much without teammies. Bummer for them.

And the UnVoightlike of the day award goes to Garzelli. After getting dropped from the break, he latches on to Kloden/Landis. Kloden, Landis and Mazzolini (another domestique I should have mentioned above) do all the work to drive it up the mountain. When they come to the line, the others who had latched on move back to let Kloden and Landis fight it out. But not Garzelli. After Landis pulls the entire last 200 meters, he just slips around to nip him at the line and take the last bonus seconds. What do those seconds do for someone in 43rd place? I hope Landis throws his green stretchypants at him.

I can't wait to watch all this badassery over again tonight.

Frog legged dreams

While in Pennsylvania, we were hopelessly without tour coverage.

Our internet access was spotty and OLN was nowhere to be found.

So, after finally arriving home yesterday afternoon, Michael and I parked ourselves in front of the tube to get a much needed dose of tour coverage.

And in a flash, I saw it.
I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was Landis, on the podium, from back when he had the yellow jersey.

I am all excited that Landis is doing so well. Firstly, because he was my pick, and when he does well I can be all smug and know-it-allish about it. But secondly and almost as importantly, because I like when he gets all SoCal Inland Empire up on the hallowed TdF podium.

Except this shot of him that I saw on the podium was more Robin Hood, than In the Hood.

There was Landis, with cap askew, JLo Glasses flying huge like, sparse why-bother goatee just a sparkling away....but down below...under the yellow jersey...Flandis was wearing

ewww....shudder...


green tights.

Green and tight.

And so this morning, so that I could blog about the green and tightyness of it all, I searched for a photo. I searched and searched and while I found plenty of photos of Landis on the podium, I could find none that showed him frog legged.

I am hoping that this lack of photographic evidence means it was just a bad dream induced by too much airport food and jet lag?

" The Race to Replace" starring Steve Zahn and Jake or Gary Busey

So I’m looking for pics to post of the Boogie Boy and I found this site that has all his stats and stuff but written in who knows what language, all I know is it ends in consonants and its not Latin.

But I’ll translate anyway...I mean my way.
Michael Boogerd (Den Haag, 28 mei 1972) is een professioneel wielrenner.
Lilly’s translation: My Big Boogie is a professional wheelrunner.

Boogerd is vooral sterk in heuvelklassiekers als de Amstel Gold Race
Boogie is a viral stark naked hellofa kisser. He races to drink all the Amstel.

(really he’s a good kisser? I don’t tink so...this must be a fan club site.
Look at his teeth...my grandma warned me about those...)

See this translation stuff is not so difficult.

But anyway what I really wanted to say was that if

Steve Zahn plays Floyd in a movie...


then Jake Busey should play Boogie.
Am I right? (Thanks Lil Jew, now I'm right...right?)

*cough* *cough*

I was going to post something.

But we don't have internet access at our condo.

And we have to come to a bar/lounge near our condo to get access

And there are no no smoking laws in Pennsylvania.

blech

It was fine earlier this week, because it was mostly bike racers at the hotel. Now the weekend crowd has arrived. And a lot of them smoke. At least enough of them. Actually to our tender California lungs, even one, is one too many.

So we are outside on the patio now. The connection is spotty, some boom boom music is playing at the club under the balcony, nearby kids are...um....rambunctious. And its still better than the smoke of that one cigarette that drifted our way.

Smoking is straight up nasty.
It is NOT sexy
or allurring
or dashing
or a sign of independence

its nasty
~~~

I rode a lap of the long course.
Shit, that course is tough.

Actually, I liked it.

It had a long climb that averaged about 3%. Mmmm....diesel territory. Honk honk.

It also has a gazillion short steep climbs. Ouchie. Owwwwwww.

Michael races at 7:O'dark tomorrow morning. He's doing all the right things right now (well except for the margarita - hey...now he's drinking mine!) and resting and reading and relaxing. Unfortunately that means we are missing the gals' crit this evening. We really wanted to go...instead I hold my (empty) margarita glass up to them and wish them luck. Kick ass my feisty bellas...kick ass!!

Here's Monica sporting the Patagonia on the podium for her awesome time trial result

~~~~

Poppy'sbitch must have read Lilly's post about the disco. Guess he had some eastern euro techno moves he was saving up.



Wonder exactly what Brunhilda said to them boys.....?

~~~~

I'm hearing that the bellas at Cascade are racing all feisty like. Now thats sexy.

Go sexy bellas...and another tip of my margarita to Ryan the girl for jumping in all brave like. I can't wait to race with you again. You are going to come home a whole other rider.

feisty = sexy

Discovery's Recovery

Papi-itchme like that! Jes!

On Today's Stage 12, 26 yr old Popi (Yaroslav Popovych) got into a break and won the stage. It is inspiring to see that this team is human. Instead of sulking for the rest of the tour, they remembered who they were and rose to champion this stage. Something we can all do when the going gets tough.

Discovery chased the first break, got Georgie in the 2nd, and Popi in the winning third. Popi gained 4+ minutes on his nine minute deficit to Floyd today.

During the OLN coverage Phil Ligget kept commenting on how Johan Bruyneel had stated they were now going to go for stage wins vs the tour. I say this to Phildo, listen to Johan closely...what he said was stage wins are what the team can go for at the minimum. Which means at the very least! At their best Popi could close his gap further get a podium placing or tour win. According to Popi, Burniee didn't say much yesterday, but this morning let them know it was a new day, and new tour for them. Burniee and Popi gave Discovery their well needed morale boost. Many things can still unfold. These boys are going to bake (its HOT out there)...and some will rise as tough cookies while others will be burnt toast.

Speaking of tough cookies...Monica and Hiroko! The Bellas have a plate full of them.

Meanwhile Phonak's challenge will be to defend Pimp Floyd and make sure none of his rivals keep gaining those precious tick tock ticks.

Boogie Fever at Studio 11

He's got the Boogie Fever... He likes to boogie down... Boogie Fever... I think it's going around...

Today’s question was who can do dis disco dance?

Studio 11 started with Rasmatassen setting the dance pace for the beginning disco set, then Boogerd closed da house with a blistering tempo for his Robabank dance partner Menchov. Robabank showed everyone they have enough men to do da hustle at this year’s tour. As soon as Boogie (Michael Boogerd, I know its pronounced with a long o but I like Boogie better) finished his pull Menchov marched on to take the day’s win.

Who can do da Boogie? Well Pimp Floyd can, Sassy (Sastre) can, Marchon (Menchov) can, Levi can, and even Evans can. T-Mobile danced the first disco set but never made it to last call.

Look at Levi! He made it to last call.

And what about Discovery? The bouncer either kept them out of the club or they were a no show. Assyvedo made an appearance until Boogie Fever started to play, then he sat down.

The disappointing news is today we discovered that Discovery is not very good at da Disco.

Possible new names for Discovery?
Disco-not-very
Recovery

I Miss Georgie...Where was he? He is leaving the girls on the dance floor.
Jose Assyvedo was the best placed Disco rider, 4:10 back, while Papi-itchme was at 6:25, Hincapie at 21:23, and Savoldelli at 23:04. Uhhhh...We are rooting for you guys really we are, but you got to show up to the prom sometime...meanwhile a girl has got to dance...

We can't just look at you, or maybe we can.

And why didn’t they make Dessel wear a yellow polka dot jersey? Having Juanito wear the polka dot jersey and shorties was a definite VeloBella DON’T. Don’t ever ever wear shorts that are two panels shy of a twister game!!! Say no Juanito, just wear the jersey.

Maybe he puts his helmie on before his shorts, yeah that explains it.

I wonder if Dessel will wear them tomorrow. Yeah, I would put them on Levi's yipyap doggie.

On a sad side note I just read Salvodelli crashed on his way back to the hotel. Several riders decided to take the 22k down the mountain instead of waiting in traffic. Il Falcon (Salvodelli's nickname due to his downhill skills) was struck in the eye by a spectator and went down. He is expected to start tomorrow. Lets hope that while Discovery may not be able to disco...they can rock and roll another day.

Tour photo of the day

Since I don't have time to post with my limited internet access, maybe I can just post a picture and hope Lilly writes about it.

Here's Simoni displaying his...saddle.




~~~~~~

Floyd, on the podium, with his cap backwards. Hell yeah.

~~~~~~

It rains too much here. Waaaaay too much.
I had to go ride in it yesterday. As I set off for my ride, it started to pour down in buckets. Just as I was laughing at myself and wondering what kind of kook goes out and plays in rain like this, I glanced over at some tennis courts near our condo. On the courts, in a full downpour, were three teenaged girls, in bathing suits, playing roller hockey. The ground was so wet that their skates and stickers were kicking up streams of water.

So I guess there are lots of kooks. Thats comforting somehow.

What are those holes in your helmet for?

So as everyone knows by now, Juan Miguel Mercado outsprinted Dessel for todays stage win. Juan Miguel, thinking that Dessel would be happy with polka dots and yellow, at one point turned and tried to negotiate the stage win. Dessel would have none of it and forced Juan to sprint for it. So Juanito did, he sprinted while his helmet covered his eyes through the finish line. Ah...so that is what those holes are for! Asi..Asi Juanito!

Pink Floyd on Tour

Anyone that dons on the pink pimp hat and brings in his friends is on the Bella A list. Floyd has been pimpin his ride long before the tour. (Check out Chechu centro and Zman on zeeright!)

Not that there's anything wrong with that so have we.

A smart Bella knows the money is in the pimpin. And that purple pimp hat is VB's original. Thats a picture I found of a pimp and ho party we went to, it was expected that all the women dress like hoes and the fellas as pimps. Not for Lillybella! there is no money in hoeing. So I did what any bella would do...I pimped my ride.
(I am gonna get in soo soo much trouble for dis... "Lilly!!!! you have sum esplainin to do" but check out my ride's tan lines...sweeeet, Jes?)

Yes, Pimp Floyd has more in common with the Bellas than a hat.

Too much baggage

In preparing for our trip to Nationals, I looked up the baggage charges on American Airlines.

Seems as if we should switch sports.

There were a whole bunch of other sportsgear that do not get charged any additional amount, even though they are equally cumbersome.

I always knew that golf clubs were free. And it sort of pisses me off because they are just about as cumbersome and far heavier. But I figured that the airline execs who made these kinds of decisions all play golf. Hell, they probably made that decision on the golf course.

But there were a lot of other sports that got a free ride, such as:
Archery
Boogie boards
Fishing rods
Hockey gear and sticks
Oars
Skis
and snowboards

What was even funnier was the list of items that were charged extra. Seems as if bicycles have been lumped into a very strange little group of niche sports and hobbies:

Hanggliders
Javelin
Antlers

and yes, I wrote antlers.

I'm not quite sure what its doing in the sporting goods sections. But, if you want to bring on antlers, it will cost you the same as a bike, $80, and they add this:

Must be as free of residue as possible. The skull must be wrapped and tips protected.

ewwwww...

My dad can beat up your dad

During one of the commentaries on the tour, someone remarked that Ekimov is 40 years old.

Four-ty

Thats like, older than me. And I'm feeling pretty durn old these days. I hobble out of bed the day after a 2 hour mountain bike ride. I groan and my knees crackle when I get up out of my chair. I'm cranky and kids these days annoy me.

But Eki is timeless. At 40, he is racing the tour for like the 37th time, on the (arguably) best team in the business. He's smart, has earned respect in the peloton, and can still place in the top of a time trial. Thats some awesome shit. Eki is nails.

I think he retired once. But that didn't last long. I can't remember the details. I'm sure Lance offered a nice come back bonus. But I bet the spirit of competition is what really called him. Some guys just can't get enough.

So of course, I had to figure out who the other old dogs in the tour are. Here's a sampling of what I found.

While Eki can almost make the Euro-mullet cool, Laurent Brochard reminds us that its really pretty silly looking after all. I could talk about how Laurent is 38 years old and is still a rider to watch, especially in breakaways, or his Festina suspension...blah blah blah....but all I really want to do is share these lovely pictures of him I found. I had a hard time choosing which ones to post so I hope you enjoy them.

Giovanni Lombardi is 37 years old. But frankly, he looks a little older than that to me. He should take that Real Age quiz thingie. Maybe those years pulling the Saeco train caught up to him. Lombardi has spent his career pulling sprinting legends Cippolini and Zabel to numerous victories. He was brought over to CSC as a "bodyguard" for Basso. He must be feeling a little lost right now.

Speaking of Zabel, the durable Erik Zabel made my old guy list. He's only 36, but in sprinter years, thats like being 50 or something. Plus he races everything, all year round. Erik has raced for Telecom since the beginning of his career in 1993. This year he traded in pink for blue and switched over to the Milram team where his duties are selling German buttermilk and leading out Petacchi. There's always something a little sad when a vet player switches teams at the end of their career. I'd love to see Zabel win a stage, but looking at the sprint results so far, it doesn't look so likely. Still, I'm rooting for him on each gallop. Go Erik! Go Buttermilk!

Why is Levi here? Well, because I downloaded pics of him, certain that he too was an old guy. Turns out he's not. He's only 33. He just looks really old.