Tuberol

So Boulder had to have surgery yesterday. I take him in for what we all thought was a problem with his right TMJ. He had been having problems opening his mouth and seemed even less interested in food lately. Turns out the boy had a mouth full of impacted teeth, dead teeth and stuff the doctor couldn't even explain. All most likely from his joy of chewing and tug-o-war.

When we picked him up he was still half out of it from the anaesthesia and walking sideways. He pased out in the car with his head in the air, where's camera when you need it?

When we got him home he had to get up the first flight of stairs, before I could even attempt to help him he tried to barrel up them as usual. By the third step his heavy legs got behind him and he took a header. After that he appreciated the help.

For the rest of the night he prety much looked like this.

They sent us home with the pain killer tuberol which he had a good dose of post surgery, hopefully it works just as well. He did pass righ out after taking one with dinner. We need some peace and quiet for a couple of days.

Who needs kids? The upside is you can insure them.

Lou

Lou, boxer of Tony C., eater of expensive wood blinds.

Our friend's boxer succumb to cancer today and had to be put down.

Boulder will miss you. R.I.P buddy.

Pound Sand - Part 2

Now that I've had several hours to digest the days events, I need to continue on. Rather than berate the UCI and WADA even more, well just a little more won't hurt, how 'bout a solution.

Based on the comments from most of the cycling heads of state about their assault on doping,

"The fight against doping is a never ending combat, a true trench war. But we're ready to fight it, because if we didn't, the culture of doping would win, and not the culture of sport." - Christian Prudhomme TdF race director

We're not going to see an end to the unfair treatment of cyclists, even if they are doping any time soon. It's fair to say that the mere presence of ones name in the media associated with doping is a death sentence, regardless of guilt or innocence.

I propose the following, as a way to respect the athlete and preserve anti-doping controls:

Any suspected doping allegation must be kept confidential between the UCI, WADA (or whatever laboratory performed the testing) the cyclist being "Alleged" and the team director and brought before the CAS (Court of Arbitration of Sport) before any action is taken. Should any party not associated with the cyclist or under direct consent of the cyclist leak the allegations to the media, the case will be immediately dismissed and the case dropped. Regardless of 'B' samples and even 'C' samples, dropped. This is the only way to balance the lopsided hand that is being played. If the evidence is there, justice will be served, if not the rider's name and reputation is not defamed as well as that of the team and sponsors.

As for Landis, I think someone overheard a conversation between Pat McQuaid and Dick Pound and something about throwing him in the water to see if he floats.

You didn't hear it here.

Pound Sand

Time for a rant.

Dick Pound, WADA and the UCI Anti-Doping Gestapo need to go. I definitely feel there is a place for anti-doping measures in all of sports, but when you get it wrong, you're ruining lives, not just careers. And these guys just can't keep from stepping on their own D's.

It's bad enough the 5 riders from Liberty Seguros were recently vindicated of the charges, and I reference them as such since they would still be Liberty Seguros had the UCI and WADA not handed down a guilty verdicts based on inconclusive, circumstantial evidence (at the time) forcing Liberty to pull their sponsorship, but would have ridden the Tour in support of a potential podium finisher in Vino.

But now they want to defame a Mennoite farm boy from rural Lancaster, PA who has been kicking ass on two wheels longer than Pound has been able to spell WADA. I whole heartedly believe in doping controls in all sport, yes that means our beloved baseball and football, but I also believe the testing in cycling is so tightly scrutinized (thanks Festina) that it is extremely biased towards first proving the guilt of a rider and not the innocence.

I don't know where I'm going with all of this other than I have to believe in Landis, if no one else that has been accused of doping in the last few years, yes even Lance included, I have to believe in Landis. I'm not an overly religeous person either, but I have to believe that even as a former Mennonite, he would could not risk bringing that shame to his family and the Mennonite community.

That's all for now.

Tapeworm?

I can't stop eating.

Since Sunday's ride, I've had this insatiable appetite. I almost bonked last night on a recovery ride, good thing I had a Cliff bar with me.

Pasta, rice, chicken, protein shakes, chocolate covered anything...nothing seems to satisfy. I haven't been putting in alot of miles but something has me starving. This morning I ate a huge pile of wheat pancakes, it was like they were air or something. It's not like I get hungry, I go from not wanting to food to full on hypoglycemia.

To add to it all, everyone in the house but me has some sort of alergy condition going on. It's like I'm living with the plague and just waiting for something to happen to me.

On the upside, the weather has finally started to come back to reality a bit, atleast with regards to the humidity. Arch, Rob and I rode around EC last night and it was so nice out, of course we dind't get out until after 6. I didn't get home until 8:30, that's the latest I've been out on a ride in a long time, definitely since getting married. We ran into Chip on the Hanover loop and rode for a while.

I just bought new road shoes, these pimp silver Nike Lance carbon soled bling with the Texas and World Champ colors on the straps. I would have never bought them but in Nike's attempt to rule the world, they only made the Lance model with the one piece heel cup-buckle system that skinny ankled cyclists like me need to keep our shoes from slipping off while riding. I picked them up at Bike Doctor in Crofton on Saturday, they are a great sponsor shop. They have a 30 day ride policy on most stuff like shoes and saddles. That rocks because you can't magine how frustrating it is to buy a saddle or pair of shoes praying it actually fits you when you're on the bike.

Ok, I was gonna post pics but the upload keeps failing.


A little something for your viewing pleasure....

Apparently I can't edit the HTML either or I would have embedded this for you.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2757082

More Water Please

So I don't know if it's the weather or my poor hydration, but recovering from rides lately is getting longer and longer it seems. I try to lay off the coffee but it just doesn't work, I need my cup-a-joe. I can go for about a day or 2 before the headaches start, even tried half decaf.

Ok, this is pretty funny, I think it explains alot...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3934788900154749704

It's also getting to be that time, preparation for 'cross season. I can't wait, instead of busty our butts to get up the beltway for practice, us EC locals are starting our own at Rockburn on Wednesdays. Aside from the 45 minutes of straight LT work, I need to start running. Time to get ready for the "Ampitheater of Pain". This is handsdown the hardest run-up on the MAC course circuit in my opinion. After 2 laps you're just like, ok, where's the elevator? Second is the wall at Granouge where you're grabbing at grass and whatever else is firmly rooted in the 6 inches of mud to help pull yourself up.













I kind of have high hopes for the season, I should be carrying some good fitness going in, much better than last season.

Gina and I have been kicking around the idea of getting an RV. It would just make traveling to races so much nicer, especially during 'cross season when you just want a nice warm place to recover. It would also allow us to take the dogs, Boulder would love 'cross, he's already an avvid beer drinker and he loves chasing bike. Unfortunately we just haven't committed to it yet. I kinda feel like we would have to drive around blasting 'Winnebago Warrior' by the Dead Kennedy's though.

"Hey, is that Guiness?"

I'm Back

Always said I was never good at this blogging thing. First post since February...

Since then the road season has pretty much come and gone and working on transitioning to 'cross season. To help work on that fitness I rolled up to Fair Hill this past Sunday for my forst mountain bike race in 4 years, ma how time flies.

I decided to sandbag and race sport class. After getting stung with 6 miles to go and feeling horrible I managed to take 3rd. Not bad for the first race back.

The summer has kind of flown by, guess that's why I don't notice the gaps in blogging, even Gina gets on me to blog. Anyway, here are some photos to kind of cover March through July.

Holly"wood" taking in the view while at a spring training game in Florida. This was pretty much her seat for the entire time we were at Disney, pretty good cross-training. Then there was the glutony of the Ghirardelli chocolate shop, yeah I ate the whole sundae.

A blistery, cold day racing in Strasburg, PA. Sitting on James "Gortex" Prickett's wheel, he makes a nice wind stop.













Baker Park crit in Frederick. Fun race, nice course.













This is my friend Rhys crushing it on the front of the Bike Jam race. Rhys came to us from jolly old England by way of the Queen's army on a learning expedition at Shock Trauma. Unfortunately he left us at the end of June to head back across the pond.














Other than that, nothing much else is happening, we just spent some time at Gina's parent's place in Rehoboth last week. Finally found a place Gina can ride her bike without complaining.

Everyone keeps asking about when we're going to have kids, I just keep saying that we're still practicing and that the dogs wouldn't approve anyway.