The Hell of the North

It wasn't cold and muddy, but hot and dusty. So finishers looked exceptionally dashing. Especially the winner, Johan Van Summeren, who rode the last 5 km with a flat back tire and said he was used to that since he always forgets to go on practice rides with spare tires. Now who won't want to marry that face? Jonathan Vaughters has been completely vindicated for everything he's been saying. And could they get a more inappropriate trophy for a bike race? For a more complete summary of the race.

Okay...I'm not ready to be over it

Here's a picture that (almost) perfectly illustrates one of my dream scenarios - with this slight tweaking - Wiggo on a podium and Dave Z standing by with torch to light Jonathan's sideburns.

Bradley way to double fist them beers - I imagine that after finishing the TdF that is a group of skinny cheap drunks.

Lilly, !Jens! has found a way to beat Astana!! And he's recovering. - Star

Maybe Tour of Missouri!! WWJD?!?! Get back on his bike and say "Shut up body and just pedal!!" - boo

Tour de France - Stage 12

Since Star has been on me for starting the blog first... here we go. Ok - flat stage, breakaway stayed away, some dude from Denmark with an umlaut in his last name won. Cool. I will watch tonight to see if there are any neat crashes, and or interviews.

Poor Vladimir Efikim. I will try to find a picture of his facial road rash. Ouchie. -boo

Way to get the ball rolling Boo.
You're right, this was perhaps one of the most boring stages so far. On VS live coverage, Jonathan Vaughters was in the booth with Phil & Paul. It was with about 30 K to go and they are showing an interview with Lance. Lance is talking about Tyler and is fairly complementary. After the interview Phil says "Jonathan, even Lance is on your side". All you hear from JV is "hum" and then silence. My guess is JV does not have one of those yellow 'Lance Fans'.
My favorite Swiss rider in the peloton (Fabian Cancellara) is not only super fast in the time trial, cute, but he's also a really nice guy. -Star

I don't know about you guys, but I would give Spartacus a big hug, too. Just for looking like he does. He wouldn't have to do a thing...

big vote yes on hugging Fab or whatever tiptoes right up to the line of stalker.

stage sooooo boring... could barely make it. In more interesting news, pro tennis player Richard Gasquet's ban for testing positive for cocaine was lifted. Turns out he inadvertently ingested cocaine by kissing a girl he met at a club. "Inadvertently ingested cocaine" - I love that statement. - Lil

Tour de France Preview (Garmin-Slipsteam)

Team Garmin-Slipstream is based out of Boulder, CO, and are the only Pro Team that origin is American. They are also sponsored by Chipotle, how awesome is that. And their team president is Jonathan Vaughters, he's got some nice sideburns, but does not get along with bees.
-It will be curious to see how Christian Vande Velde races after breaking 4 vertebrae in the Giro d'Italia? I hope he comes back with super powers! Like riding a bike really fast!
-David Millar and Bradley Wiggins are rumored that they will be starting up British team, Team Sky, at the end of the year. Wiggo is in the middle of a 2 year contract, so he's not going anywhere. Who knows what David's going to do.
-Danny Pate, the pride and joy of Colorado Springs, is back on the team. Come on, Danny, you can win a stage this year!!
-Dave Zabriskie, a whole blog could be devoted to this guy. But to describe him could be summed up in one word: crazy. I really, really, really hope he does well and finishes the race, he is so quotable, if you can figure out what his talking about.

( I would publicly like to apologize to Star for posting her uncompleted post. Sadly, I didn't realize it wasn't unfinished. I just thought that she didn't have much to say about certain G-S riders... - boo)