Totally Off Topic of cycling... One of my favorite news crawlers is Topix.net, so I check it out at some point during the day. Some of the news headlines and stories are so funny. For example, this morning, a headline was “Naked Prowler Shot in Genitals with Taser by Deputies Near Fort Meyers Beach”. Seems this 26-year-old guy was breaking windows and asking women to touch him - he ran away from the long arm (or should I say hand?) of the law, so they tasered him. Seems that a moving target is hard (a-hem) to hit, and somebody aimed low....

Next favorite: “Frozen Turkey Saves Couple From Burning Car”. Seems that an elderly couple in Maywood, Ill had a car crash - the car was on fire and filling with smoke - the doors were locked and windows rolled up. A passerby couldn’t break the windows, so he used his frozen 20-pound Thanksgiving turkey to smash the window and rescue the couple from the fire. All I can say is, “Well done”...

Okay, okay.. back to cycling and the Great San Francisco Cycling Scandal or Cycle-Gate. Accusations are flying fast and furious, along with the usual “he said, she said” dynamics. Newsom versus Peskin in the political ring, with Threshold Sports caught in the middle, or some may say, with their pants down. As I said yesterday, I tend to believe the TSL version of the story. The known outcome is that American cycling will suffer a loss, and American riders will have one less opportunity to earn income here in the States. And sponsors will again step back from the sport.

However, I saw a news story in the Contra Costa Times this morning that said the City of San Jose is doing some very preliminary talking with Threshold (San Francisco LLC) about hosting the event. Dean Munro, Executive Director of the San Jose Sports Authority, says he plans to speak with Threshold to see if SJ would be a good match. Threshold has already run a race here in San Jose in 2001, I think it was. I worked that race for them, and so much hard work and planning went into the effort. There was good support from the SJ Sports Authority, but the local media pretty much ignored it. We had great course marshals for the race...

I think last summer’s NASCAR racing in downtown SJ really made the city realize how much tourist money can be dumped into the lifeless economy of the downtown area. Thousands of NASCAR fans jammed into SJ, and the place was really jumping - the restaurants and bars downtown were packed, as were the hotels. Parking structures raised their prices to $25 a day and all was green for them...

Rumor has it that two large Bay Area cities are expressing some interest. David Chauner said that he is talking with folks around the Bay Area. Hmmm... How about Berkeley? There are certainly hills there, and none in San Jose. But Berkeley also has vociferous politics.... Maybe Oakland? The street danger for the riders certainly wouldn’t be from cars - their $5k bikes would be stolen out from under them, and the team cars would have to have security guards inside...

The photo is from the 2005 BGI SFGP, showing two American cycling Tour de France stars, Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie near the top of Fillmore Street Hill. Maybe one of the last shots you’ll see of these two guys on Fillmore.... And I'll do the audio of this posting again on www.velogal.podomatic.com