NorCal Cycling News - Cycling and Racing in Northern California

thanks for letting time pass in between posts.

but, back at that hack machine ~ so, let’s splice the life:

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She’s down, she’s up, she’s down again

The lovely was involved in one of those freak track crashes that should have been innocuous, but ended up a real pain in the ass. She’s got a plate-date with the sawdoc on Friday to connect her floaters. It’s a pretty clean, middle break of the clavicle … so, not as gawdawful for surgery. But still ~ any time you have to go under anesthesia it’s a situation worth avoiding.

Reckin’ bicycles. It’s what we do.

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The more years that pass underneath these tires, the more i see that … it takes a good bit of luck.

in all things.

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the Tour reminds …

There is beauty in this year’s Tour de France. Without a rah-rah superstar to be all e-invested in, without any uber-team menchenhausen pedal hero or anti-s storming unstoppable …

this year’s Tour reminds us that bicycle racing kicks ass.

The ‘08 Tour will be remembered as a staging point, not yet a starting point. The culture of clean is being sniffed at, toyed with … tested. If Jens Voigt can ride clean at the front of the Tourmalet … anything is possible. and glorious.

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Cadel Evans as a winner in Paris seems unthinkable. I won’t be disappointed if it’s him. I like what Evans shows us on the televisions. But, equally so … i won’t mind it if we see some new shake-ups or crack-downs over the next half of a glorious event. This bicycle race has been all the two-wheeled soap operatic show that it should be and the prospects of a few more plot turns, twists, or dive bombs excite … streetlike.

all hail sport.

it’s better than war on the chamois and a hell of a lot less costly.

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AlpenRoses for some, girodayWatsonVile for others

my homies are heading north for the Alpenrose fiesta of velodrome’ness. i have to be honest, it’s causing me some suck that i can’t head up there with and show those fine northwest’ers some of our Hellyer wares. i’ve been looking forward to this trip for awhile, but with Sabine going under the knife on Friday … it’s homebound without doubt. I might scoot out for a couple hours to race the crit in Watsonville … but, we’ll have to see how she’s doing.

Watsonville is a crabgrass little crit through a neighborhood that splits the sides of the tracks something straight out of mason-dixon. You park in vato-centrAL, and race through aunt Mae’s lemonade stand.

c’est america.

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And then there’s Albany

This is a crit i’ve loved the hard way. It’s an attacker’s race requiring a decent bit of bike handling and isn’t one for the pure sprinters. But this year the BBC are scheduled against the re-newed San Luis Obispo Criterium … so, attendance might be split some between the two Sunday events.

San Luis Obispo ~ man, that sounds like a good time. may just have to consider …

we’ll see how the woman is doing.

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VanderKitten’s JenWilson bubbling away at the head of USA CRITS

I’m super-psyched for Jen to be leading this prestigious series. Cheerwine’s Kelly Benjamin will be a monster to keep away from the front of the USA CRITS for the rest of the year ~ but Wheels will fight for it.

Jen is one of these fabulous women getting involved with our sport nowadays. I’m proud to be associated with women like Wilson … strong, intelligent, loving the bike and willing to give everything to the life. These women kick ass.

And ~ they are great spokespeople for businesses, products, organizations.

You watch for it … women’s cycling is going to be generating strong advertising dollars in the coming years. And it will be internet driven.

very cool.

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dreams day hernando

For some reason, night visions of vampires have feasted on me the past few weeks. I’ve been reinserting myself into this running world where vampires do exist, but constrained by our popular myths of what a haunting spirit should be.

The vampires are these invisible, undetectable, uninfluencible undead filled with unrest that only gain manifestation by some psycho-psychic bite into us ~ marking us as there own … bonding, seducing, overpowering or whatever vampy types do ~ causing some sort of hybrid linkage of live and haunted, breathing and wanting, parasite and now-influenced host. The vampy spirit can only be seen by the bitten and the relationship is utterly symbiotic and ruthlessly volitile. The bitten, smitten humans are at the whim of the infestation, the manipulations of mad or mean spirits ~ making us talk out loud, unedited and unhindered as to public menace or perceived arrival in crazy-town USA.

But some vampy spirits are cultured, fighting beasts … aware of each other and their undead rankings of great and small, power hungry all. And the dreams gather more interest to me when seen that human existence is but a pretty-painted chess board for haunted hands to move, bid for, break. Politics, sport, business … all but filled with individuals bonded, beholdant, benefiting or not from these feasting beasts.

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dreams distract …

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supa-training

i’ve decided that my now-favorite training day is filled with fat tread and never-ending ups.

so, i’m out to try and steal some at lunch.

lates~m