Race of the Falling Italians

Saturday brought us the final major race of the season, the Giro de Lombardia, known affectionately to most Americans as the Tour of Lombardy. Also known to those 'in the know' as the Race of the Falling Leaves due to the amount of leaves on the roads. To stick it to the peloton one last time, the weather was less than perfect:

Of course that didn't seem to stop Grandpa Horner from exhibiting his usual 'smile'. Having recently hit the big 3-O myself and already feeling 'old', I can only assume Horner's smile is hiding the aching of his joints.

After his amazing run last fall and his recent victory at the Tour of Piedmont on Thursday, Philippe Gilbert was clearly this year's favorite. He was marked by Vuelta winner Vincenzo Nibali until Nibali attempted a new, untested descending method:

From the results I gather that Nibali will not be trying that technique again. Notice the leaves? See what I'm talking about now?

In the end it was Gilbert and diminutive Italian Michele Scarponi, that is until Gilbert got tired of the company and simply rode away from Scarponi:

It didn't hurt Gilbert's break that Scarponi missed a shift, but that's racing. At least he didn't throw a chain. At the finish line Gilbert celebrated his back-to-back Lombardy wins alone:

Gilbert's win wasn't the only storyline from the race; world champion Thor Hushovd raced in his rainbow jersey. Despite not planning to race after the world championships, his win there changed his mind so he could 'honor the rainbow jersey':

I enjoy watching Thor race, but he seems to have fallen into the same trap that has been ensnaring many riders recently, namely color coordinating their gear with their specialty jersey. I hate to tell the big Norwegian this, but wearing rainbow striped Jawbones is doing nothing but honoring the almighty (insert local currency here).

I hope you enjoyed the racing season as much as I did. We saw a lot of things: Landis admitted doping, Lance denied doping, Alberto was caught with and illegal substance in his blood and denied doping, and as expected Fabian won the world TT again. Of course there were other things that happened, but I don't care enough to type them.

Back to the Beer

It's been a while since I've posted about beer. I am here today to remedy that situation. A friend brought over a sixer of Annie's Amber Ale from The High Noon Saloon here in town.

Yes, I am drinking out of a Mason Ball jar. Yes, I am drinking before noon.

As you can see, the ale is a very nice Amber color. It has a clean taste that allows the flavor of the malt to come through. Though not overpowering, each sip ends with a bit of hops. I truly believe that the can has taken away some of the flavor as I've had Annie's Ale from the tap, but for a camping trip or some tailgating, I would much rather have a sixer of this than one from the large breweries.

Not only has it been a while since I've posted about beer, it's been a while since I've posted period. I had to jet out East last minute at the beginning of the month, resulting in a few missed posts. I will be on the road this weekend as well as the first two weekends in October. So for the next three weeks posting will be non-existent at worst and spotty at best. Don’t worry though, anything I do post will contain the same poor quality you have come to expect.

Now on to the bikes. With all the travel, I've watched much less of the Vuelta than I've wanted. Add to that the fact that I don't have NBC Universal Sports and the internet was being dumb Saturday, I've seen four stages over the last week and a half. Never fear though, if you are in the same boat as me I'm here to get you filled in and up to speed.

Mark Cavendish won stage 13, solidifying his hold on the green jersey. To show his excitement at once again riding away from the field, Cav bunny-hopped the finishing line:

Watching the last few kilometers on YouTube makes it easier to see. After the stage, Cav accused Tyler Farrar and Wouter Weylandt of working together to prevent him from earning points during an intermediate sprint. If that was a driving force behind his celebratory hop, I think an endo would have been a bigger slap in the face (as well as having historical significance).

In stage 14, race leader Igor Antón crashed and had to abandon, leaving Liquigas rider Vincenzo Nibali in the lead. I unfortunately did not see any of the race changing carnage as the website I usually watch races on decided to show snooker.

Stage 15 provided the riders with a perfect day for racing:


Beautiful.

What made it even more beautiful was that I was watching the broadcast of the Spanish channel tdp, so every time the commentators got excited all I could think of was this:



Is that wrong of me? Maybe, but it's true.

In addition to the colorful and melodic commentators, the stage provided excitement as Carlos Barredo escaped from the break to claim the stage victory:

To celebrate his win he smashed a front wheel into the face of second place finisher Nico Sijmens. Barredo ‘brushed himself off’ four times while crossing the finish line. He may be feeling like a pimp, but I’m not sure he’s doing it correctly. Must be something lost in translation.

This morning (or afternoon if you want to get technical and talk about the time zone the race occurred in), Rodriguez recaptured the leader's jersey as Nibali struggled up the final climb. Fränk Schleck was probably the biggest winner on the day though, riding himself into fourth on the GC, a mere 2:16 back. Mikel Nieve from Euskatel-Euskadi gave the orange a big boost after the loss of Antón by winning stage 16:

I hope you enjoy the inset of Mikel's smiling face. I figured to offset the beer at the beginning of the post I'd do something a little artsy at the end. Enjoy!

Holy Crap!

Holy crap!

Some stuff happened this weekend (during the Tour), but it is inconsequential compared with what occurred in today's stage - something that changed this year's race and something no one would have ever expected. On the climb up the Port de Balès, Thomas Voeckler timed a break perfectly and held on to win stage 15. He built up a sizable lead on the climb and continued to extend it on the decent, resulting in an easy win in the French National Champion Tricolour jersey:

Maybe Thomas had been planning it for the last couple stages that he dogged it on, or maybe it was the short-shorts he was wearing. Either way he did the champ's jersey proud.

Oh yeah, there was also the little bit with Andy Schleck (an oversized one at that) pulling a sweet endo on the Balès:

Look at how he dwarfs Vino. What is he on? Not sure if pulling an endo in front of a competitor on a climb is akin to mooning someone in Luxembourg, but I think Andy got a little too confident. And wouldn't you know, as he was taunting the boys from Astana, his chain derails. How's that for karma? If he had pulled it off, "The Endo" would have gone down in TdF lore like "The Look" and "The Shortcut."

I know that when asked Andy said that he wouldn't have done what Alberto did today (counter Schleck's attack and then keep going up the mountain without looking back - looking back means you're weak). I believe that when asked Andy gave an honest answer, but I am not sure that if the roles were reversed if he would have stopped and waited. Maybe, only because he is so strong this year. Do I think what AC did was right? Sure, it's racing. Do I understand both sides of the argument? Yeah, I do.

I would hate to be the bike manufacturer for Team Saxo Bank right now. I mean, a mechanical takes the maillot jaune away during what is an amazing attack? Nope, wait, Astana and Saxo Bank both ride Specialized SL3s. Damn chain.

On other fronts, I am enjoying my TV and cable, but I'm getting real sick of the stupid marketing companies use. In Europe I didn't watch TV that often and when I did it was really only sporting events so I didn't need to understand the language. That made commercials much more tolerable. What I'm getting at is this new automatic soap dispenser from Lysol:

Seriously Lysol, the top of the soap dispenser pump may very well be full of germs, but I touch that dispenser to dispense soap I plan to wash my hands with. Once I complete my hand washing I rinse them and dry them off. The next time I will touch that potentially germ-infested dispenser is the next time I need soap to wash my hands. I hope that the marketing executives at Lysol don't actually think that I rub my hands on the soap dispenser after I wash my hands. Douche bags.

Ok, time to go, I have to study for the LSAT (there's a first time for everything).

Enjoy the sun, ride the bikes, and support successful break aways.