Word is that Aussie Allan Davis (former Liberty-Seguros Wurth rider) is set to go to Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, but.... He has to first get released from his two-year contract with Astana. Allen has been cleared from the Operation Open Mouth charges, and was cleared to race by the Australian Cycling Federation. In fact, he zipped away from Robbie McEwen to win the Noosa International Criterium in Queensland this past weekend. And of course, the UCI and WADA may try to get him on any kind of allegations that they can make out of the Spanish Farce.

Speaking of that, the Manolo Saiz camp is now saying there are falsifications and screw-ups on the Operacion Puerto documents. Well, I guess there must be something fishy in Denmark that is causing all the charges to be dropped, without any official explanation of why. A clear case of CYA?

However, before I paint Manolo with a halo, I sure would like to know what the 60,000 euro in cash and bags of blood were about. Was he doing some early Halloween party shopping for all the UCI/WADA vampires? Oh, another slight detail, Manolo’s Active Bay Company has to pass an audit before their Pro Tour license is actually approved - wonder in what Active Bay financial records column the 60,000 euro will appear? Gifts? Nope, Petty Cash, I think....

Is Jan going to join Tyler at Tinkoff Credit Systems team? Hey, the sponsor is a Russian billionaire - he should be able to afford Jan Ulrich... Both Jan and Ivan can clear the record sheet with a DNA sample, or so International Association of Professional Cycling Teams organization says.... Can you say Controversial? You bet...

And Ivan Basso is verging on an announcement of his new team.... I’m betting on Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team for 2007. And DC team rider Levi Leipheimer took an ender on his mountain bike this past weekend - scraped his shin pretty good, and has to have the doc take a look today....

So Operation Open Mouth has folded it’s tent and slunk away. All charges against all riders have been dropped by the Spanish Federation. Much Ado About Nothing, I guess. With all the charges we saw in the media frenzy, they couldn’t prove one case? Nada? However, I hear, they are still going after the former Liberty Würth director, Manolo Sáiz, Vicente Belda, Comunidad Valenciana's Ignacio Labarta and Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. But, you know that Manolo didn’t even lose his Pro Tour license....

Ivan Basso and Jan Ulrich ought to sue the asses of all agencies and officials involved in Operacion Puerto, but I suppose they have some kind of government immunity. Being throw out of riding the Tour without any charges against them was bad enough, but this is an appalling injustice and a career-destroying Spanish farce.

While I’m on my soapbox, what a disgusting, disgraceful, arrogant, asinine, mean, malevolent, tacky, trashy and unprofessional incident at the Tour de France 2007 presentation. Of course, you’ve heard that the usual Tour retrospective, the eight-minute film presentation, ended with the image of Floyd Landis on the podium cracking like a mirror, with the sound of shattered glass. It seems to me that what really was shattered there was justice, due process and fair play.

The ASO has made it very clear that they, along with their cronies at Le Creep, the Chatenay-Malabry cesspool and WADA have no intention of ever allowing Floyd to be found innocent of their inept, erroneous charges. It is hard to believe that the ASO went to that length to try to humiliate Floyd, however, they certainly showed their true colors to the world. And those colors look like cesspool brown to me....

Gonna be around Boulder, Colorado this weekend? Hope you’re planning on catching the great cyclocross action there. And be sure to ride on over to this fundraising event and meet one of my favorite guys, Freddie Rodriguez. Here's the press release from my friends at G4events.com

Crank Brothers USGP Series - The Boulder Cup

Come out and Party with the Pros!
Meet (Fast) Freddie Rodriguez, 3x USPRO Champion, as we kick off the 4th stop on the Crank Brothers USGP Series - The Boulder Cup.
Hang out, have fun and support a good cause.
All proceeds benefit
The Fast Freddie Foundation and The Family Learning Center.

Saturday November 4, 2006
Boulder Beer
6pm-10pm
2880 Wilderness Place
Boulder. CO

$20 entrance fee at the door - includes one free beer and a raffle ticket. Come on - buy more tickets and enter lots to win great prizes brought to you by our series sponsors, including a Ridley Crosswind with SRAM Rival components, Mavic wheels and Crank Brothers Pedals!

This shot is one of Freddie's favorites, that I took at the 2006 Amgen Tour of California....

The photo is one that I took last Friday night at the Courtside Club in Los Gatos. There were 74 or more folks, including cancer survvors, spinning to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. The event, The Tour for a Cure, was organized by my friend and spinning instructor from a few years ago, Pete Keady. The Courtside Club wholeheartedly supported the event, which included a silent auction and dinner, as well as an evening of spinning and sweating for the cause.

I donated two of my cycling photos in 16 x 20 frames, which netted almost $500 in a dinner auction after the event. I also took shots during the spinning that are in my Smugmug gallery. I am always so impressed with all the good people in this world who are so generous and willing to help with the fight against cancer.

I see that Lance is participating in the President’s Cancer Panel in Kentucky today. From my observations, some of the southern states have such huge amount of smokers (and so young) that something sure needs to happen down there. I can’t imagine what the death rate from cancer and heart disease is in some of those states. Growing their own poison....

Vladimir Gusev placed third and Stijn Devolder was fourth in the 15th Annual Japan Cup. Fumy Beppu was designated team leader, but came in 57 seconds back, in twelfth place. This race is a super-big event in Japan ‘cause it is the only time that the average cycling fan there gets a chance to see the Pro riders in person.

And Paolo Savoldelli is going to race in the Red Bull Road Rage Downhill in Tuna Canyon on November 11th. It’s a crazy, dangerous event. I didn’t go last year, and have conflicting plans this year. I guess they don’t allow photographers along the short, twisty course ( or they didn’t last year), so it’s not as interesting to shoot as it might have been...

Check out the Link for Red Bull Road Rage info....

Following up on yesterday’s posting here, now it is official that Ivan and CSC are ending his contract - leaving Ivan to choose his team for 2007. Was sounding like his choice would be between Discovery Channel and Milram. In terms of having the best staff support, team support and equipment, as well as directeurs sportif and best people to handle the media frenzies, I think DC is the obvious choice.

However, Milram would have put Ivan on a home team, and might have provided a lot more opportunities for Ivan to be with his family. But the latest is that now Milram says their roster for 2007 is full, and they are no longer talking contract with Ivan. It’s looking like Ivan’s wise choice will be Discovery, and he may be meeting with Johan very soon.... Go Ivan!

And, I hear that the Spanish Cycling Federation is going to close all disciplinary proceedings against riders involved in Operation Open Mouth for lack of evidence, exonerating Ivan and the others. Recall the investigating judge’s statement last week saying that no evidence collected by the Guardia Civil can be used by sporting federations to impose sanctions. The investigation of Eufemiano Fuentes continues, though, and we’ll see if any real evidence surfaces... However, Patrick McQuaid, UCI prez, seems to still want to go after all the named riders...

I’m hoping to see Ivan at Discovery training camp. Wonder if he will talk tattoo (Go Ivan) with me again.... Would be cool to be cheering for Ivan in a Discovery kit at the 2007 Tour....

Could we see Ivan in a Discovery Channel kit next year? He says he wants to stay with CSC, but has a hefty offer from Johan and Company. I think that Ivan is a great guy, and know that he and Lance are good friends, so it could potentially work out.... if the rift between Ivan and Bjarne is not healed.

This whole Open Door Spanish inquisition thing has, so far, been nothing but gossip, rumor and innuendo. The Spanish officials haven’t come up with one charge against anybody yet, have they? Rapido with gossip, slow as a slug with facts. Where is the concrete evidence? Do they have any other evidence against Ivan other than the name “Brillo” (supposedly the name of Ivan’s dog)? Is that really such an uncommon name? Yeah, I know that Jan seems to be the main target right now, but where is the concrete evidence against him? How long does it take to build a case? Incidentally - I think that “build a case” can have many meanings.... Comprendo?

So what does Discovery Channel look like right now with new additions to the team? New riders are Fuyu Li, Uros Murn, Gianni Meersman, Sergio Paulinho, Thomas Vaitkus, Brian Vandborg and returning teammates Tony Cruz and Levi Leipheimer. Tony says that he really missed European racing and is so happy to be coming back to work with Johan and the guys. Johan says to look for a few more additions....

Congrats to George Hincapie for winning the Greenville Cycling Classic this past weekend. Wearing the stars and stripes is gonna mean a good 2007 for George....

Just received the November issue of Outside Mag - they always put a little sticky tag on any cycling-related articles for me. Nice... This month, there is a thought-provoking article called “Who Killed Bob Breedlove? The Haunting Death of a Cycling Legend”. The writer, Alan Prendergast, does an excellent job of presenting the sad and appalling details of Breedlove’s death during the 2005 RAAM.

I really haven’t followed this story, but Breedlove’s family and friends have hired experienced accident-scene investigators, who have reconstructed the scene as best they can from the bungled police investigation reports. These investigators believe that Breedlove’s death from being hit by a 15-year old driver in a pickup truck did not happen the way police reports indicate. Their allegations are met with a cold shoulder by law-enforcement officials in Trinidad, Colorado, who are not open to any thought that they made any errors or omissions in their reports. One of the Breedlove investigators says that the Breedlove case has been “hometowned”. And it sure sounds like it...

I encourage you to have a look at this article in Outside. From what I read, it sounds like another classic case of group-think, CYA, and absolute resistance to consider that errors were made. Which brings me to another example of this with Floyd Landis and the Chatenay-Malabry Cesspool/WADA group-think mess.

Floyd has his defense up on his site www.floydlandis.com - I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. (Hmm - having to prove that you are innocent-Hope you and I are never in that situation.) However, faster than it would take to type in his URL, both LeClerc and Pound have bellowed out the party-line of complete confidence in the Chatenay-Malabry findings.

Does Floyd have any more chance than an ice cube in Hell of getting these idiots to even acknowledge that significant errors were made? If Floyd’s defense team found (as I’ve heard) that somebody used white-out over the code number on a test result and then wrote Floyd’s code number on top of it - is that not a significant, suspicious error? Or is Floyd also getting “hometowned” by the doping authority organizations....

I took the above image of Floyd Landis on the second rest day of the 2004 Tour de France. Floyd's mother and sister are in the background.

Back from the outstanding York Tour de Pink presented by Hershey’s. The finish at Hershey’s Chocolate World was sweet in many ways. As you can tell by my image of the elated and proud women cancer survivors, to ride and finish the 200-plus miles in four days was yet another victory in the fight against cancer. Both men and women joined in a group of over 40 riders, supported in first-class style by the team from G4 Events. www.g4events.com.

The York Tour de Pink event is a fundraiser for the Young Survival Coalition www.youngsurvival.org. The YSC is the only international network of breast cancer survivors, medical professionals and supporters dedicated to young women affected by breast cancer. In 1998, the YSC began with a group of 11 women. Today, the YSC has more than 10,000 members in 30-plus countries. Through action, advocacy and awareness, the YSC seeks to educate and influence the medical, research, breast cancer and legislative communities to address breast cancer in women 40 and under, and to serve as a point of contact for young women living with breast cancer.

It was a great experience for us hard-working G4 crew, and so rewarding to be able to support these dedicated riders. It was a unique and special experience for all, and I encourage you to join us for the 2007 ride.

The countryside was absolutely gorgeous. You can follow the Link below to see a ton of images of the ride in my Smugmug gallery. In particular, take a look in the first two or three pages, at the beautiful path they rode on during one segment of the four-day ride.

Heading out at 4;30 am on Wednesday for Philly and then NYC to work with the G4 Events team on the Hershey's Tour de Pink. The fundraising ride starts at the Hershey Factory in Times Square, then to Trenton for the first day, then to King of Prussia for the second day, then to Lancaster on the third day, and finishing in Hershey, PA at the Chocolate World on the fourth day. Dede Dement and Mari Holden will be riding with the group. I'll be driving one of the fifteen-passenger support vehicles. Give us a honk and a cheer if you see the Tour de Pink jerseys. The ride benefits young breast cancer survivors research....

Yesss... The Sheryl Crow concert last night in Mountain View was so totally awesome. Sheryl was rockin' and smokin' hot - she did a high energy rock encore that had the entire place on their feet and rockin' out. She looked faboulously healthy, happy and high energy.

As her guest, I had super great seats up close and personal to the stage, a backstage pass and a highly-prized photo pass. The photo pass meant that I got to be right at the front of the stage for her first three songs. There were only about six other photogs with passes... It was just great.

Backstage, I got to chat with Sheryl for a bit, complete with hugs and her obvious joy at seeing me (Needless to say, it was quite mutual). There was a faily small group of folks who got to go backstage - maybe a dozen. I chatted with Odessa Gunn, Dylan and Jessica Casey, and Jim Ochowicz.

Before the concert, I spotted Peter Stroud, Shery's guitarist, walking very quietly out thru the gate. I went over to say Hi and give him a thank-you hug for a big favor he did for me... He's a real nice guy.... So I took lots of shots of him, too, last night.

John Mayer was super awesome and the crowd went wild for him, too. Marjorie Fair (nope not a gal, but a group of guys) opened the show. They have a great sound. Sheryl came out a did a song with them, which was a really cool statement about how much she likes their sound...

My Sheryl concert pics are up on Smugmug. Click the Link to have a look...

The news is now official that one of my favorite Discovery Channel team wrenches, Geoff Brown, is moving on. Geoff is one of the nicest guys that you will ever meet, and if you are in North America, you just might. Geoff will be wrenching for the Canadian Symetrics team next year, on the North American circuit. I am looking forward to seeing him more often, and Symetrics is lucky to have Geoff, as a top-notch mechanic. This shot is actually from the 2005 DC team truck.

I had a great time at Interbike, and seeing all my cycling buddies is just the best. This year, the very cool thing was to hang out in the cycling.tv shooting studio in the Media Center. Interbike had the Media Center up on the main floor of the Expo, as well as down in the lower floor. It was just great for the hard-working media folks to have a spot right in the middle of the action. What’s nice about Interbike is that the media who show up are almost all folks who are supportive of, and knowledgeable about cycling. So you don’t see all the yellow journalism, trash-talking press people there.

So I got to hang in the cycling.tv studio for as much as I wanted to, and had a great time with Simon, who manages all aspects of the filming and keeps everyone and everything on track. The two guys who are actually doing the technical work are pretty incredible, turning out the shows with just the equipment that you can see in my Friday shots at www.velogal.smugmug.com.

Anthony did his usual, first-class job in front of the camera - he has such a great way of making people feel comfortable and interesting. The cycling.tv guys did eight hours of filming on Friday, and I have to say that Anthony was just as relaxed and friendly at the end of the marathon as he was in the first hour.

Simon was quite taken with Podium Girl Gone Bad (those cycling.tv guys know about everything that’s going on in the cycling world). He thought that zee wicked, leetle PGGB Thong (see Link) was a riot, so I gave him one to take home to his wife. I got interviewed by some extreme sport, totally rad website about PGGB, but I can’t remember the site name....

So I chatted with Phil Liggett, Bob Roll, George Hincapie (with hug), Dylan Casey, Freddie Rodriguez, Dave Zabriskie, Mario Cipollini (not much, since I don’t speak Italian), and missed Eddie Merckx on Wednesday, since I arrived on Thursday. I'm omitting a bunch of folks that I connected with, but it's kinda like a family reunion every year. Talked a lot with my photog friend, Mark Shimahara www.bikezen.com. He's the guy who sent all those great Tour de France shots for this blog last July.

Tonight, (I am so totally stoked) from Sheryl Crow, I have two tix to her concert with John Mayal, backstage passes and TA DA.... a photo pass for the pit. It’s at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View and it will be packed. I am so happy to get to see Sheryl - I haven’t seen her since October in Austin. She is absolutely one of my most favorite people. Hopefully, my pix will turn out and I have some show and tell for you tomorrow...