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Thanks to all the flickr photographers who’ve been populating the norcalcyclingnews pool that randomly draws (the latest) photos down the right column of the website ~ really, really appreciate your time and beautiful work.
Amazing.
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And big thanks to the new norcalcyclingnews bloggers starting to publish on the site. There’s still openings on the ‘staff’ … so, if you’re interested in contributing ~ send me an email, pedalhome(at)hotmail.com.
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LANCE ARMSTRONG … why i molested him at Nevada City
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The Nevada City Classic – year after year we go to this race … dragging a few hundred of our friends and family to this old, cranky mining town that half-wakes just enough to lean out and sniff under their noses, “fpfff – these aren’t crowds … you should’a seen it when Lemond was here and the streets were lined with” – blahblahblah.
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But this year … because of a “twitt”er post a few days before the event ~ Nevada City was witness again to thousands upon thousands of spandex mad freaky-people cascading over their streets and businesses ~ running riot over parking & urination laws and (quite literally) drinking the town dry of every single drop (of beer).
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word.
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Yes … it was Lance Armstrong showing up ~ and showing us all what a superstar really can do to a gold-rush town.
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“I just don’t understand where all these people come from? Why do they come? Just for this one guy? Just to see a superstar? Can they name one other cyclist? Do they care?”

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… heard in more than a few conversations ~ such questions acidically burping out of long-time cyclists not able to overcome their chamois-crusted cynicism enough to believe it was good that one person could or should …or IS … able to bring out all these maddeningly frenzied folks to watch a bike race.
… and party.
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At the startline, it was a pretty special moment. A mass of 130 young and old die-hards for the bike getting an evil little taste of racing under the most potent of performance enhancers … a frenzied mob ~ that massive wall of emotion flooding into you, willing you, hurtling you past every barrier you’ve ever built for yourself.
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it’s addictive.
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People in every balcony, people thronging up and down both sides of the street like agitated hives … thousands. It was a moment to sit back, take it all in ~ contemplate just what our sport might …
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And that’s when i happened to turn around and see that Lance Armstrong was riding right up, and if i stepped in front of him a bit ~ no place to end at but right in front of me. And … that’s when it thunderclapped down on me … hell with it ~
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I’m a fan.
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… a fan of Lance Armstrong ~ not because of who he is, or what he wins … but simply because he DOES bring all these people out … all these crazy, smiling people … to watch bike racing. I’m a fan of what Lance Armstrong DOES – last weekend at Nevada City … he gave the world another look at riders like Ben Jacques Maynes and Shelley Olds. He brought the world’s eyes to NorCal … and we got to show them a bit of what makes us love this sport, live this sport.
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Living strong, I suppose.
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hernando-out