Garmin, Garmin, where were you?

In this year's Tour de France, of all the teams present, one seemed to be obviously missing, especially when you recall at last year's tour they were "the" team.  Of course, maybe that's it, I was expecting too much, maybe not a repeat, which would have been nice, but at least a competitive showing.  In case you're wondering this me expressing sore disappoint "my" team's almost invisible presence at the Tour. This isn't to say they weren't there, they were.  Zabriskie had some good moments....  I don't know where Tyler Farrar was, he didn't seem to be in any of the sprints... well that's not completely true, he just doesn't get position well enough to do anything more then put in an appearance.  Maybe he has some sort of psychosis which only makes itself apparent around people named Cavendish, or Sagan, or Goss or Greipel... or maybe he's just too pretty to sprint.

Too pretty to sprint?

Ryder Hesjedal did win the Giro d'Italia and Garmin won the Stage 4 team time trial.  I've read that the team's "ability to work as a unit" paid off in Italy.  So, where was this unit during this years TDF?  Could it be that after winning the Giro they said to themselves, "well, we've won one Grand Tour, now we're set for the year."  People in this country don't watch the Giro, so what ever they had going for them there was lost somewhere over the Mediterranean.

Wiggins, Tejay, and Evans parasite...

Tomorrow is the final stage of the the 2012 Tour de France and Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky will be the first Brit to win in 99 years.  I like things like this.  Multiple winners are nice but I like to see the fame get spread around.  Winning too many times makes people suspect and too often their suspicion is like that old adage "where there's smoke there's fire."  I have to also say I like Team Sky, except for Canvendish, but then I have this distaste for sprinters; they can't climb, just tag along through out the stage and rush in for the win.

Wiggins' Time Trial

Today was the last Time Trial and Wiggins kicked ass, but then it is his specialty.  He wanted to crush the competition and he did.

There was an interesting interview with Tejay Van Garderen in which he was asked what it felt like to pass Cadel Evans on the road (when that happens during a TT the passer is riding superbly and the passee is usually choking on his bad legs).  Very astutely his said he did not feel as though Evans was passing the torch to him, rather, Evans had been dealing with some health issues.  I then recalled someone saying he'd dropped so far behind because he had a parasite.  Maybe he has a tapeworm or, and this is more likely, he's full of horse shit.  Instead of saying he had a bad leg day he's going to blame it on what ever he can, even a parasite.  Still, Tejay comes home wearing the White Jersey for best young ride, and he's only 23.

Tejay in white

That's right, he's a red, white and blue American!

Tacky stage 14 of the Tour de France

As anybody who's been watching the tour today knows, they had a bit of a problem with tacks with at least 30 riders receiving punctures over a 1 kilometer stretch of the route.  Basically what  happened was some asshole drop a lot of tacks on the road, apparently after the Sky Team had passed by.

Tack in the tire

Crowd control is difficult on these stretches narrow road, thousands of fans mull all over sometimes opening what looks like only the barest of gaps for the cyclists to pass through.  Cadel Evans suffered three punctures and had to wait for his team to arrive to get a new tire, maybe he should consider not abandoning them as he often does in the mountains.  Hincapie is on his team for a reason, not to be left behind.  Wiggins proved how truly civil the Brits are by slowing down the race until Evans could catch up.  One can only wonder if Evans would have done the same thing if their positions had been reversed.  I am not a big fan of Cadel Evans, in case anybody was wondering.

Congratulations to Luis Leon Sanchez for winning the stage!  Rabbobank deserved the win.

Luis Leon

NBC Sports and the Tour de France

This is a bad year for the Tour de France on NBC Sports, not because NBC is doing anything wrong, well maybe a couple little things, but because is up against the Olympics.  Other years I could come home from work and watch a couple of hours of racing.  Now, when I come home, I turn on NBC Sports and see they Olympic trials.  The NBC prime time Tour de France broadcast doesn't begin until very, very close to my bed time.  This I can understand.  Now for the bad things.  On Sunday I got to watch the race live, good shit.  All of sudden they began a stupid fluff piece on Cavendish.  I sat stupefied watching his companion (who evidently had complained on Twitter after Mark had been criticized) explain herself.  To be honest, I don't quite remember what she said, I was too stunned to see they had inserted this bull shit into their commentary.  There were complaints that after Mark had crashed he didn't get back onto his bike and ride like the Stage winning sprinter people like to brag about.

After the crash

"He's a human being," she had complained in her Twitter and because of that she'd been brought on National Television.  No, I thought, he's a professional cyclist who's getting paid a lot of money to race his bicycle.  She needs to understand this, instead of acting like a prepubescent girl in junior high.  And, for those of you who think Cavendish is going to really go out and win stages like he did last year?  Forget it.  He was an Olympic medal.  He's going to save himself.  Olympic gold would really make him an expensive package.

Stage 9 Time Trial - Zabriskie

Today is Stage 9 in the TDF and it's a Time Trial.  There are two types of stages I like, mountain and time trial.  I'm not wild about flat stages because they're geared for sprinters and I think, unfortunately, most sprinters tend to be assholes.  Anyway, I don't make predictions since I usually end up being wrong, what I will do is tell you who I'd like to see win.  That would be Dave Zabriskie.

Zabriskie in last years kit

He's good at what he specializes in and that is Time Trials.  Because of crashes Garmin hasn't done much this tour.  This is his day to do something for the team.  For me, the TDF is all about the stage winners, not the cyclist who happens to win because he has the best time.  A bad crash can send rider to the hospital and end his Tour or knock 13 minutes off of his time, then he's out of it.  Wiggins might win this stage, that would be fine, or Nibali, that would also be fine.  I would not like to see Cadel Evans win.  I used to think he was a good, until I heard him whining and complaining like a 12 year old girl because he lost a stage.  He blamed everybody except himself for his own flawed riding.  Ever since then I consider him worse then a sprinter, and how can you be worse then an asshole.

Back from Vacation - Thibaut Pinot AC from Rite Aid

Just in case anyone was wondering, I was on vacation, went on early morning walks with Gert to avoid the incredible afternoon heat, and relaxed, oh, and played Skyrim.

Does this guy look happy, he should!  This is Thibaut Pinot.

Who is Thibaut Pinot?  A 21 year old French cyclist.  This is his first Tour de France and today he won the Stage 8.  Was it a fluke, only time will tell.  I will tell you, I felt really good for him.

Five years ago I made a momentous decision, I had Central Air Conditioning installed in my 110 year old home.  I can not tell you how many times I've said to myself, "this is a very good thing," especially during the recent heat wave.  Yesterday it hit 101.  That's hot.  My neighbors do not have air conditioning, not even a window unit.  Well, they didn't until yesterday.  She works from home and felt she needed to condition the air in her "office."  So, did they go to a Home Depot to purchase their unit?  Or to a Sears?  No, they went to Rite Aid.  Rite Aid is a pharmacy.  They used to fill Max (the cat's) insulin prescription.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why you would even think of going to a pharmacy to pick of an A/C Unit.  I do not understand their logic.

Cancellara wins prologue + 2nd in stage 1 (and I was wrong, kind of)

For those of you who aren't into cycling, Fabian Cancellara has won both the prologue and come in 2nd in Stage 1 of the Tour de France, holding on to the Yellow Jersey.

While watching the race today I was reminded of the rumors which had been spread a few years ago that he had some how managed to have a motor built into his bicycle.  Talk about desperation on the part of rumor mongers.  The truth is this guy has dynamite thighs.  Sadly, I have to return to work tomorrow so I'll have to do catch ups on my tablet when ever I can.  I'll have to see if there's an android app I can download.

Secondly, I'm admitting I was wrong about one thing.  I'd said there was no Cycling Fantasy Challenge this year, well, there is, but damn if I can locate it.  Discover Card is sponsoring it, of course, I do not have a very good history with that credit company.  Sure, their 'Peggy' commercials are funny as hell, but after I had closed out my account they raised my interest rate.  When I called to complain I was told they raised the interest rate because they could.  When I noted that my account was closed and raised interest rates usually effect new charges they said "no way, we're raising them because we can.  As I said, the account was closed and now paid off.  Will I ever get another Discover Card?  Shit no!