Very cool report from Christian Vande Velde on VeloNews. He talks about that popular training climb in Girona called Amer, and how all the guys have this competition for time. Says that it is about 8k long, and my buddy Michael Barry now holds the record for 22:20. But Floyd Landis just might have moved him out of the top spot. Check it out, very funny.

Also funny is a news item I read a few days ago, and I totally forget the source, but it was by a writer who didn’t know crap about pro cycling. It always amazes me that somebody would write an article in a newspaper and not know a damn thing about the subject. Anyway, (among other things) the guy said that Lance and the Discovery Team guys stayed in 5-star hotels during the Tour de France.

Dude, do some research! The Amaury Sport Organization makes the lodging reservations for all the teams and support staff... and the teams stay where they are booked. No favoritism and no elite lodging for Lance. Sometimes the guys are in tiny, crummy rooms and sometimes they are in a really nice place. But mostly they are in the chain hotels like Accor and Novotel, etc. A lot depends on the size of the town or village.

Actually, I just saw in a recent interview of Lance in cyclingnews.com that Lance and the guys were staying in a 2-star Kyriad motel near Cleremont-Ferrand for the Paris-Nice. The Discovery Channel Team guys do not travel in luxury, as Mr. Big Shot Press reporter hopes to make us think.

OK, gotta go and see if Lance is really on Sirius at 11 am my time.