Later today starts another amazing 23 days of cycling. I have the Stevo locked on OLN and Newsgator pointed at Frank Steele’s always awesome Tour de France blog!

• Can Lance make it to seven?
• Will we see Jan Ullrich wear yellow in Paris?
• Can Ivan Basso stay with Lance again in the mountains?
• Is Bob Roll going to shave those gnarly muttonchops?

I have no idea, but I cannot wait to find out!

We’ll miss you this year Tyler Hamilton — Good luck!

The start of Le Tour is just hours away and I am already on the edge with anticipation. No matter the outcome, I guarantee that it is going to be an epic battle. Far more dramatic and compelling than any over-hyped “reality show” could force feed viewers.

Kudos to the Outdoor Live Network (OLN-TV) for their live unabridged coverage. I or my STeVo will be there from Liege to the Champs-Elysées in Paris!

New York Times article on the technological advances going into Lance Armstrong’s equipment for this year’s Tour de France

“This is a mathematical model,” he said, noting that other factors affect performance. “A rider could have a bad breakfast.” (Link via Lockergnome’s Tech News Watch)

From a spectators point of view, it’s a little early to be thinking of the 2004 Tour de France, but Eurosport has an excellent analysis of Armstrong’s chances for six

“In the group of five-timers, however, Armstrong excels in one crucial domain: More than any of the others, Armstrong can endure the forces of an apocalyptic Tour de France — and still emerge with his yellow jersey intact.” Here’s why…

Well, as I’m sure most know, Lance made it to number five.

Congratulations on joining the Five-Timers-Club

Congratulations also to the awesome Postal Team!

Speaking of Lance, here’s a great quote from the recent Washington Post article by Sally Jenkins who co-author of the Lance Armstrong book, “It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life”

Stage 16: Armstrong still retains the Yellow Jersey, but …

“With a fractured collarbone, Tyler Hamilton has battled on to become the sixth American rider to win a stage of the Tour de France.”(via Le tour en direct

I know I keep saying it, but what an awesome race!

Go Tyler!

Kudos to all the riders in “Le Tour” this year!!

I was on the edge of my seat, even while reading the live updates online of today’s stage 15.

All I can say is WOW! I can’t wait to watch the replay tonight!

“At the end of the 15th stage, Armstrong has increased his lead over Ullrich. The American is now 1’07” ahead of the German in the generall classification. Vinokourov began the day within 18″ of the overall lead, he finished it with a deficit of 2’45”.

At least Armstrong still retains the overall lead with 34 seconds over Ullrich, but …

“Ullrich … powered across the 29 miles of rolling vineyards in 58 minutes, 32 seconds to take the Tour’s 12th stage. He was the only rider of 167 to finish in less than an hour.”(via ESPN)

And…

“Immediately after crossing the finish line in fifth place, American Tyler Hamilton — competing with a broken collarbone — stumbled off his bike, lurched forward and vomited.”

Catherine sent me the following quote from Tyler Hamilton’s latest journal entry about his current status at the Tour:

“The pain in my collarbone is now being matched by pain in my spine. I started feeling a jabbing pain in my back and rib cage a couple of days ago. We just figured it was a bruise making its way to the surface and that it would get better each day. But the problem is it’s been getting worse.”

Anil Dash points to a great Tour de France weblog.

I’d like to add however, that VeloNews has been reporting live coverage of the tour in blog-like fashion for the last few years, which has been great as well!

Postal Wins the Team Time Trial and “Victor Hugo Pena has become the first Colombian ever to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France.”

That’s so awesome!

Also, Tyler Hamilton, still riding with a broken collarbone, finishes the Team Time Trial with his CSC Tiscali team mates for a 10th place finish.

Amazing! Go Tyler!

Amazing! — Tyler Hamilton has started stage two of the Tour De France with a broken collarbone, which he suffered during yesterday’s massive crash at the end of stage one!

“The second stage of the Tour de France is now underway and it appears that Tyler Hamilton, after Sunday’s devastating crash, is going to tough it out and try to ride today’s 204.5km route between La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and Sedan. “(via VeloNews)

This year being the 100 Anniversary of the Tour and (potentially) Armstrong’s 5th consecutive win, next only to Miguel Indurain, I’m eagerly awaiting the start of today’s prologue and live coverage on OLN TV.

It also looks like VeloNews will again be blogging Live Tour Updates, which in past years has been extremely valuable given the time difference.

Go Postal!

I was looking forward to an epic Memorial Day ride today, but the current downpour seems to have put a damper on the plans. Perhaps I need one of these for the trails. (Thanks for the link Ed!)

Ahh, looks like a great day for a spring mountain bike ride! I went yesterday, but
today it seems like the trails are just screaming for me to come back!

This is very sad indeed … I just leared via Jeff Veen’s blog that cycling great Andrei Kivilev died yesterday after a fall during the third stage of the Paris-Nice bicycle race.

Andrei “burst onto the international scene when he finished fourth behind Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and Joseba Biloki at the 2001 Tour de France.”

Registration for Bike NY 2003 is now open. Last year was a blast — The best out of the 5 times I’ve ridden in “The Great Five Boro Bike tour”.

Hopefully we’ll be able to assemble another good group of people to ride with.

Register early to get the discount! More info here

If you’re interested in riding with us … feel free to comment on this post.

With the current North East cold spell, here’s something to put in perspective …

“Adventurer Doug Stoup is preparing to be the first person to cycle to the South Pole.”

“Stoup, a 37-year-old from sunny Florida, is currently in Antarctica testing a custom-built ice bicycle he hopes to use for a run at the pole next year.”

However, that’s a sweet ride!

About two weeks ago Ted and I demo’d a Cannondale Scalpel 2000 and Cannondale Jekyll 2000. Personally, I didn’t care for the plush-ness of the Jekyll. I suppose this is mainly due to the fact that I still ride and love my Gary Fisher Mt. Tam with the Genesis Geometry. Nothing climbs like it.

I rode the Jekyll with the rear locked-out in many of the flat sections and climbs. I didn’t get a chance to ride the Scalpel, but Ted was a different rider on that bike. Scary in fact. So he’s sold on the Scalpel; without riding it, I think I am too. That’s why I didn’t push to ride it [yet].

Next year I’d like to see Lance roll into Paris with these :-) …
Hokey Spokes are transparent “blades” that attach to your bicycle spokes. As these blades spin during riding, a computer inside the blades modulates the internal LED lights so that design images and text appear.” (via SlashDot)

On the second day in the mountains, Armstrong takes another win at Stage 12, with his amazing Postal teammate Roberto Heras taking second after setting the pace on the climb to the finish for Lance. Kudos to Joseba Beloki for keeping up with the “Blue Bullet”.

24 hours of Allamuchy (August 23-24-25 at the Mt. Allamuchy Boy Scout Camp in Stanhope, NJ) seems a bit expensive @ $100 per rider (with a 4-5 person team). However, it does sound like a blast!

An interesting look back at Armstrong’s Tour De France maneuvers

i got some hamburgers w/bacon after i hit a patch of baby heads because i had a foot fault that made me honk. Huh? What’d he say?

“Clinton Rubin at the State University of New York has been shaking sheep to
make them stronger and he reckons it could work for those without wool too.”
http://www.bikemagic.com/news/article.asp?SP=&v=&UAN=2095

Congratulations to Lance Armstrong for his 3rd Tour de France win!

tips on dealing with those tough climbs on your mountain bike …

Scissoring “…works because of the bodys far greater mass (five or six times that of the bike) and the momentum gained by standing up to lurch the bike forward with the arms. Once youve mastered it youll find yourself cleaning those steepest final parts of climbs that stopped you cold before.”

I think this has to be the best picture from the Tour yet …

From: BBC Sport

it’s not over yet, but … “Lance Armstrong launched an explosive attack on the famed and feared Alpe d’Huez on Tuesday to take a spectacular victory on the 10th stage of the Tour de France, firing his bid for a third successive title.”

From: Armstrong Surges to Devastating Tour Stage Win

interesting … VeloNews is publishing live updates from the Tour de France in the format of a weblog

ha! as if we didn’t know … so, who’s up for a ride?

from Men’s Health: “Mountain biking uses tons of energy and tons of muscles and takes a ton of balls, and you aren’t even aware of what it’s doing for your body. A 180-pound guy mountain-biking for an hour will burn almost 700 calories. Bring the mountain to you: Mountain biking has a fitness payoff even when you have no mountain handy. Hit the flat road. Riding a mountain bike takes about a third more effort than riding a road bike, largely because of the increased rolling resistance from the fatter tires and the increased weight of the bike. So if your time is limited and you have a choice of bikes, it’s always better to choose the mountain bike, even if you’ll be riding it on the road. Riding 12 miles on fat tires is the equivalent of doing 15 on skinny.”

ahh … my favorite bike shop is now online millburnbikeshop.com … nice site pat!

well, this year i finally rigged my camera bag so that i could easily get to the cam while i was riding, because everyone who has ever ridden with me knows how much i like to stop :-) however, the downside is that none of the pictures are of me … (well, that was a bit by design!) anyway, here are the pictures i took during Bike New York 2001

Bike New York is this Sunday (May 6th 2001)! (note: you still can register at the event) However, based on our past experience I put together the following list of things to remember.
before the ride:

• tune your bike at least three days before the ride
• put on slicks (if you’re riding a mt. bike)
• check and adjust your break pads (get new ones if they seem flat)
• check your spokes and rims for any loose spokes or rubbing
• check all bolts and cables
• oil your drive train
• hydrate: drink plenty of water a few days before the ride
• if you rent a bike, test it out at least a day before the ride

bring the following items with you:

I wish I knew about this when I broke my collarbone! Duke Orthopedic Surgeon Develops Surgical Approach For Broken Collarbones

“Within two weeks of surgery, he was out surfing, and eight weeks later, he placed second in an international judo competition.”

I was off my bike for months! [thanks brian]

Tonight I’m going for my first night ride of the spring! I can’t wait! Lights are charging, bike is tuned … I just have to fight traffic to get home.

I created an Onclave for this year’s Bike New York

“On May 6, … enjoy the awesome experience of riding 42 miles on traffic free streets through the five boroughs of New York City.”

It’s the best way to see NYC! Register online

awesome! open the trails … “Bureau of Land Management chose not to group mountain bikes with motorized vehicles in a controversial management plan known as the National Off-Highway Vehicle Strategy” [more here]

101 Reasons why Mountain Biking is better than Snowboarding … my favorite, “Helmet hair is a status symbol.”

we setup a weblog for Bike New York 2000 to keep up with what’s happening before and after the event … this year we will definitely take some pictures!

we setup a weblog for Bike New York 2000 to keep up with what’s happening before and after the event … this year we will definitely take some pictures!

Eco-Challenge on The Discovery Channel:
+ Sunday, April 9, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT
+ Monday, April 10, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT.
It will re-air on April 16 at 2 p.m. ET/PT and on April 22 at 4 p.m. ET/PT.

If you are looking for the best way see NYC this May … sign-up for the The Great Five Boro Bike Tour [Bike New York] and don’t let the ugly web site and 42 miles of NYC streets scare you. It’s an amazing experience.

no more excuses … screw the rain, snow and ice! i need to mountain bike …