I think that Cipollini could be my new hero!

from cyclingnews.com.

Rock Racing's Mario Cipollini is already proving that he was worth whatever money Michael Ball has agreed to pay him. Even at 40 years old, the Lion King landed a hotly contested third place finish at today's Tour of California Stage 2 finish in Sacramento but not while riding an official team DeRosa.

In fact, 'Cipo' is using virtually none of the team's officially sponsored gear. His bike is fitted with Shimano Dura-Ace instead of Campagnolo Record, Lightweight Standard wheels rather than the official Cole Products hoops, and he even uses Specialized tubular tires instead of the officially supplied Challenge rubber. In place of a Stella Azzurra stem is a carbon fiber Bontrager Race XXX Lite model (painted black on one bike) and Cipollini head is protected by a Specialized helmet, not a LAS.

But what of the frame itself? Cipo's frame bears no resemblance to anything in the DeRosa stable and is decorated only with large 'Cipollini' badging on the main triangle. Even JFK conspiracy theorists would be impressed with the amount of speculation that has circulated around exactly what the make and model is. We confirmed today that it's not a DeRosa of any sort, but contrary to popular belief, it isn't a Specialized or Max Lelli model, either.

Cipollini's aluminum frame does apparently use a handful of tubing and dropouts similar to what he used on his old Specialized E5 bike but it isn't welded in a Specialized factory. According to our sources, his frame was built by Simone Carlesso of Bassano del Grappa, Italy, the same person who built his bikes when Cipollini rode for the big 'S'.

In fact, it seems that Cipollini's choice of machine has little, if anything, to do with a dislike of Rock Racing's official equipment but rather a desire to stick with something familiar. The flamboyant Italian sprinter may still be fast but at this stage in his career he's not terribly interested in getting accustomed to something totally new. Seeing as how he is Mario Cipollini after all, apparently even Michael Ball can't tell him what to do.
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He just does not give a fuck. I can appreciate that. And he rides Aluminum in an age of carbon fiber. Which is great, because that's what I want to bring back to the roadie market with High Five Bicycles. Hell yes aluminum! Hell yes "I do what I want." Basically just hell yes. Hooray!

slipstream holds steady. and big ole WTF?!

Three riders in the top ten. Tyler Farrar on the Podium in 2nd behind MR. Time Trial. Zabriskie's Mustache in 7th, and Vandevelde rounding out the top 10. Wow. I didn't expect much of Slipstream in this race. I should have rethought that strategy. So far so good for the new American superteam.


and more important/bigger news...Fidel Castro steps down as President of Cuba. I personally did not see that coming, but I think that is forgivable, as I don't much follow current events. Power now goes to his brother. I wonder how that will go. How long until some other President comes in and bends over for the American President and then all is "peaceful" in Latin America? I have to hand it to Fidel. He didn't like us. He didn't care about it. He did what he did and didn't bend to pressure from us. I can respect that. He may not have been a good guy, and he may have singlehandedly given all of Cuba cancer from second hand smoke, but he sucessfully told the US to fuck off since 1959. That's a long time!

Dave Z and Slipstream.

Tour Prologue.

Best Rider. 3rd Place. Tyler Farrar at 5 second off Cancellara.

Forget that. Most notable rider from Slipstream was none other than American Dave Zabriskie. (Not surprisingly). 7th place at 8 seconds back is very respectable.
This dude knows a thing or two about America. Pedal perfect circles. Great aero position. Disregard any negative aero effects of facial hair. All of the best Americans do it. (VERY tongue in cheek. See: Floyd and his kid rock goatee. Or, actually, you'd be better off if you didn't...)

recovering from a sickness...got some tume.

Ok, I know it's been a while. I have a few things finally worth mentioning.

First off, getting sick sucks. I'd rather do it this time of the year than later, though.

I will be placing order #1 from Taiwan in a few days. Look for some High Five bikes on a rider near you in a bit.

OK, to business. The Tour. California. Let me start by saying that on Friday I saw the rosters. I have to say that CSC, High Road, and Astana all mean business. Some big names from those camps. I'm interested to see how it works out. I would LOVE for Voigt to take the overall. Or Danny Pate. I have to assume that Levi is on a mission. I mean, it's one of the only tours he's allowed to race this year. (ouch) But yeah. Maybe Jens can take a stage again this year.

Point two. Astana. Everyone has an opinion. Most of them are boo hooing the ASO's decision. I'm not. Think about it. Liberty Seguros=bad. They turn into Astana. Astana=bad. (and by bad, I mean doping procedures, and subsequent "human rights violations") Sure, they have new management and a (mostly) new squad. What happens when Vino has served his suspension and is allowed to race again (in August, is it?) Is Bruyneel going to bend over backwards to make this happen. He's pretty much a pushover lately. (see; Basso. See: Retirement)Oh well. And for everyone that is boo hooing for Levi and Alberto (and Horner, love him as we all do), Think about it. Would you have signed up to race for Festina in 99? I wouldn't have. It'd have been super sketchy. It's just a lack of common sense. I'm sure they'll all show up at the Vuelta ready to go. I'd really like to see Kloden take that. I'm sure they'll baby up


#3. Rock Racing. Two thoughts. One. FUCKING UGLY jerseys. I mean terrible. Just...like...alien vomit in my mouth. bad. do. not. want. BUT, As much as I may not like him, I am on board with Micheal Ball being good for American cycling. He's got the passion and the money to invest in this. Barring any huge doping scandals from them (which is a HUGE if) I think that they can be (mostly) nothing but good for this sport. The only downside I see is reinforcing the European image of Americans being cocky assholes. I never said that wasn't true.

That is all for now. Time to don my internet spectator outfit and see whats going on in California. Maybe I'll spot a Tuffy.

word of the day...and another thing.

Fatigue.

I'm tired.

It could be the not so restless sleep last night. Plenty of hours, but the radiator in our room is pretty loud. Really annoying. Somehow not too loud to keep us from falling asleep, but loud enough to wake us (me?) up all night. And then it's really hot when I try to turn it off. It pretty much is dumb.

It could be the miles I put in this week. I did feel a bit gone by the time I got home, and I decided not to take a nap after the ride (although I did pass out on the couch for a few minutes...)

I'm not sure. I think I'm going to try to pull back on the mileage this coming weekend. See what happens. I feel like the walking (working) dead today. Although I do have a fairly strong desire to go to the gym and lift some weights. Crazy, I know...but the lack of strength in my upper body is starting to annoy me.

The other thing.

Regarding drug use and the lack of motor skills/brain function/etc. A co-worker of mine today put it quite eloquently, "You shit on your body long enough, and eventually it's going to get dirty." I thought that was pretty well put. Enough so to put in on here, at least.

Two things, I guess. Keeping on topic with the above point. Have I ever mentioned that I really can't stand (and would even go so far to say that I hate)
Tom Petty. Mostly just his music, but I imagine I wouldn't care much for him personally either. One thing is for sure, I'm sure he knows what he's talking about when he says "coming down is the hardest thing." That is one thing that he's probably done more than most people, aside from maybe Keith Richards..although I don't think that Keith ever actually comes down. This super bowl performance has blown him up on the radio. It sucks.

Over the hump?

First off, if i were a believer in superstition, I'd be mighty upset at that stupid timid gopher over in Pennsylvania who's afraid of his own shadow. Six more weeks of winter, according to that little fella. We're in Minnesota. We've got another few months. But, I think we're over the hump, as far as the brutality of old man winter goes. I think he's in retreat mode. He's done his damage and is now off to somewhere else to wreak havoc on their bicycling plans.

Broke 100 for the second weekend in a row. Met up with fil and T.C. early on saturday and clipped out about 25 miles through St. Paul and Mendota and back. Little chilly. Temps around 20-25. Noticeably colder at the end of the ride than the beginning. The downhills got a bit much with the cold wind. But hell, we're alive, no one is frostbitten, and we'll all live to ride again. Nothing too exciting to report, except that the trails over by Fort Snelling are basically an ice skating rink. VERY slippery with tons of ice on the ground. Even the stairs were icy. Made it very tough to get back to the road. I almost ate shit on some ice, but managed to keep it upright. Hooray for skinny tires...

Rode out to Bloomington after about a half hour back at home. That added another 10 each way. Those were a little faster miles, as I was running late for an appointment. (I made it. And on time). Twenty minutes off the bike and then back on it to complete the round trip. Got home and cleaned up. Showered and whatnot. Ate some food. Tried to watch some T.V. with Margaret but got a phone call from a CurlyBro demanding that we go out to the Stupor Bowl afterparty. Convinced. Rode down there and hung out for a bit. Congradulated Suzy (and Landon) for her first place OVERALL. I am VERY psyched about that. That was an amazing thing to do. The LGR train rolled into 3rd-5th with the S(t)uper Rookie out in front. Matt Allen rolled in as the first place working messenger, and earned a ticket to Worlds in Toronto. Pretty rad. It was fun. Jeff Frane was wearing a ton of his own Bike Jerks stuff. It's all rad, and he prints it himself, so, basically, you should buy some of it. He also had is new Capricorn Cycles track bike out and about. Very minty. Very nice. Saw Cale and Katy and some other former Teammates (Pegasus) out as well. Very nice to see them. Lyle (madison) as well. Austin from NYC was in town, as well as tall Andrew from Chicago. Lots of kids I've met before. It was fun.

Sunday was a bit different. Met up at the Moose at 10. (ok, 10:15, we were running late). Went through the city out to Cedar Lake Road, as Wirth was closed for a ski race. Again, a bit under 25 degrees on the weather front. Road out to Wayzata. Nothing super interesting happened. It was pretty cold. My man parts tried to freeze. (remedied with a couple clif bar wrappers pretending to be wind stop boxers. Very effective, but not the most comfortable fix). Spencer, Tim, and Margaret were all out for 40, and to be honest, so was I. I had no plans of going 60. That said, as soon as it was suggested, I didn't take much convincing. So we split up and T.C, Jake, and I kept going. Went Around Lake Independence, which is semi-impressive, as only Jake and I had done that route before, and only once. We managed the loop, with ZERO stops to look at the map. Back to the coffee shop. Got warm. Saw another group of cyclists. Real ones, I think...Although I suppose there must be something motivating people at this stage of the year. We went back to town, with a couple wrong turns, but we made it, and it didn't take any longer than the "official" team route. It worked out very well. Pretty tough ride. Got a case of jelly legs on the way back in. It was nice to work on the bike. Don't really feel great quite yet. Still plenty of time. I'm willing to assume that no one else feels to great out there yet, anyhow.

Yeah. Got home. Cleaned up some bikes. Took a shower. Watched a few episodes of the first season of Big Love. (HBO) Very strange. About Polygamist family. Fairly interesting. Margaret made the best chili ever. I am actually excited about taking some for lunch at work today.

That was my weekend. Bike rides, afterpartys, tv and chili. A good one. I like being around the people I hang out with. It works out.

OH, I almost forgot. On the way home on sunday...Some dude was jogging down Portland. Not entirely unusual, I've been seeing A TON of joggers lately. But, this guy was in shorts. No tights on underneath. Nothing. Just shorts. Bare legs! It was fairly nice out yesterday, but definitely not above freezing at all.

Either spring has sprung, or dudes is crazy.