From Figuroa mountaintops to the Beach. Yesterday, the guys did Figuroa, which was chilly cold, windy and foggy at the top. Today, we headed over to Jambala Beach (did I mess up on that name?) in what looked like iffy weather, but it turned out to be sunny.

Fuyu Li was riding rather gingerly because he has strained an Achilles tendon while running. There were some media people who were totally interested in him – interviews and photos. I assume that they were from China, which makes this a really big deal for him and for the team. Today there were satellite trucks from two TV stations that filmed in the parking lot and tagged along behind the caravan for only a few miles. Most of the media frenzy is over and done with for now.

I was over at the Bulldog Café earlier today, and I heard Eki asking about where to get a haircut… I’m thinking that maybe the mullet is gonna go. We’ll see what he looks like tomorrow morning. So far here at camp, Eki is doing more riding than he is directing – it’s obvious that he prefers two wheels rather than four.

This morning, the AMD-Discovery Junior Cycling Team sat in with (or should I say followed) the Classics group. Two of the kits were from my Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club - Daniel Tisdell and Ben Barsi-Rhyne. It’s a great honor that two of our Juniors have been selected for the AMD-Discovery Junior Team. They were really thrilled to be here. Glen Hinshaw and Dylan Casey are the mentors here with them… It was a long hard ride for them today…

A video interview of Fumy Beppu at Discovery Pro Cycling Team Training Camp, again by Mark Shimahara. The report is in Japanese, with English subtitles. I was chatting withFumy at the Bulldog Cafe yesterday, and told him how much his English has improved. He's working as hard on speaking English as he is on his cycling. He's a great guy, and his goal is to make cycling a number one sport in Japan, especially with the kids.




Click on the Link below to see it on YouTube.

Bonus Exclusive! Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team Interviews by Mark Shimahara. Check out the videos of Levi Leipheimer and Tom Danielson.

Levi Video:



Tom Video:



Or head over to YouTube:
Levi
Tom

A long ride today, but sunshine was with us. However, it’s pouring rain tonight – who knows what tomorrow will bring, We didn’t do Figuroa today, instead we took a beautiful route to the East hills, and up through Santa Maria. No traffic and a beautiful rain-kissed countryside that gleamed in the afternoon sun.

Ivan Basso tried out his Time Trial helmet and bike on the out-of-town streets of Santa Maria. You can imagine the heads turning and the looks from folks in farm trucks as they passed by. “What the Hell are they up to now? Those crazies on them fancy bikes… They just stop right in the damn middle of the road, or they just pull over to the side of the road and take a piss right in public view,” Quote from guys at a gas station where I stopped.

It’s about 9:30 pm and I just rode up in the elevator with Ivan. Made me sorry that there are only three floors in this hotel! Ivan is so nice and so handsome…He told me that he was tired because after dinner, there was a long photo shoot that had just finished. All the other guys got to head for bed right after dinner, but not Ivan. The guys have put in two days straight of six-hour rides…

Can't put up pics in the smugmug gallery today 'cause it's too late to go to the Bulldog, and the wifi here at the hotel is as slow as dial-up for uploading images.

We all sang Happy Birthday to Chechu Rubiera when he came out to ride this morning. The birthday song was started by none other than Johan Bruyneel. It was great to see the wrenches, soigneurs and team doctors all singing at the top of their lungs in the morning rain, with big grins and much goofing around.

The team rode Gibralter from the south side – it was a traffic mess getting there and back, and a mess on Gibralter with the rain. The guys climbed well, moving swiftly along on the climbs and descending on the rain-slick, rutty road at a speed that made me cringe. A couple of Levi’s friends rode along, and I had their bags and wheels in my car. I mostly drove support for them, and they abandoned near the top - didn't have cold weather gear. So I got two bikes, six wheels, bags and two riders in the Subaru, and took off at demon speed to catch up with the rest of the group. Gave them a ride to remember on four wheels, I think…

My photog buddy, Mark Shimahara, of www.bikezen.com, rode with the team and surprised the devil out of me. I know he’s a good rider, but I didn’t know that he is so good - he never got dropped – not once! He said riding alongside of Chechu, Fumy and the other guys gave him an adrenalin boost. So the guy takes excellent cycling shots and rides like a Pro. You may recall that Mark sent shots for this blog from the Tour de France last summer. Good on you, Mark…

No pics today – I do not get my cameras wet for anything or anybody… Maybe manana if it is dry.

A lazy day for me today… I stood around and shot the scoop with some photographer buddies. I took very few photos, but put a few kinda good close-ups on the smugmug site. You just can’t take a bad shot of Fumy Beppu with his big grin – he is just great…

I followed the Tour guys again today on a short two-hour ride that was for sponsor shots. Several of the guys were wearing different kits than the new Discovery kit. Nike has a new kit that the big guns were wearing – thousands of still images and video images were shot during that short ride. The kit is white with yellow swishes – it certainly stands out! Ivan was wearing a cool, new black kit – I think maybe it is a 10/2 Lance Armstrong kit.

The photo is one I took thru my dirty windshield, with one eye on the guys ahead and the other eye thru the lens, trying to focus. I can’t believe it even turned out at all. The car driving beside them was full of Nike people, who were holding all kinds of point-and-shoot cameras out the window and thru the sunroof. Altho the Pros were shooting the advertisement images for them, I guess they were so excited that they wanted their own personal pics of George, Ivan, Levi, Tom, Popo and others in their new kits… I’m sure they’ll be for sale soon, if they aren’t already.. Ha – I mean the kits, not the riders…

I was walking over to the hotel from the Bulldog a few minutes ago, and I saw a huge meteor or something flashing down, very low in the sky. Looked like it was falling on Santa Barbara – it was bright and, no kidding, huge… Yes, of course I made a wish just in case it was a magical falling star.

This morning, it seemed a bit chaotic as it was team photo time. All the guys come down to the parking lot to get their bikes, ride down to the photo area in their tennies, get the individual shots and then the team shots, then ride back to the parking lot to change into their cleats. Lots of milling around and getting organized and re-organized.

The guys split into two groups, as usual. I followed Johan and the Tour group, while Dirk took the Classics group. The Tour group sailed right up the climbs like a piece of cake. I told Chechu at the end that he hadn’t even broken a sweat – he looked cool and elegant as he always does. Sean Yates rode with the guys today, and boy, does that guy have legs! Nobody is going to leave Sean behind on any of these mountains. He kicked butt on Figuroa last year.

I chatted with Higgs and Lance briefly this morning – they were heading down to the photo shoot. Lance was in the team pics, along with the Directeur Sportifs. The funny thing was that their shoot location is on the golf course, and people kept playing through in the background. Every time they got the guys all lined up and looking spiffy, a group of leisurely golfers would putt around forever behind them. The photog would have to call a halt to the shot, and then the guys would start clowning around and wiggling out of position. Then they’d have to start all over again when the background was clear. It happened several times and I’m sure it was frustrating to everyone, but kinda funny to watch.

New pics are up, including Ivan Basso in his new Time Trial helmet.. Click on the Link below..

Great day – great ride! We all went in one group today, so we had quite an entourage for the four-hour ride. It was a leisurely, mellow ride, but with more flat tires than I remember having. Oh yeah – there was this guy riding along with the team - seems like I’ve seen him somewhere else – like on the Tour de France podium about seven times… Yep, Lance Armstrong was there and leading his team just like good old days. Eki rode, too – My Iron Man is just amazing – he could still be competing if he wanted to. Never even came close to being dropped in Cat Canyon.

There was quite a local crowd waiting – one teacher brought his class. They looked like maybe fourth grade, and they were asking everyone for autographs. One small group of girls was standing right where Lance walked in – they asked and he stopped and signed a bunch. When he walked on, we asked them if they knew who had just signed. Nope – they didn’t have a clue. When I told them it was Lance, they just started jumping up and down and screaming. Were they ever the envy of their classmates, and their teacher, too…

And then, there was a sweet, elderly lady with a cane who stood around for a long time in the cold, with a piece of paper in her hand. She looked a little frail, with tremors. Not like anyone who would remotely be interested in cycling. I thought maybe she wanted an autograph from Lance for her grandkids or something. So I went over to her, and much to my great surprise, she told me she was handing out cycling jokes. Huh? Yup, cycling jokes. She had the joke printed up on 8x10 pieces of paper, but hardly anyone would take one. I think everyone thought she was handing out religious or political tracts, and I guess she sorta was. I dunno… So I politely took one from her.

The joke was about two cyclists asking God for a bridge to Hawaii so they could ride all the way. He says it is impossible and to ask for something else. So they ask God to make their wives understand them, give them everything they want, and take care of them, etc, etc. After a long pause, God says, “Did you want that bridge a two-lane or a four-lane?”

No kidding, that Little Old Lady was handing out cycling jokes, while her Little Old Husband waited in the car, parked right in the middle of the driveway where we were going to leave from. More power to them, whatever the reason.

Turns out that all the guys who flew in yesterday on that 27-hour flight – yes, not 20, but 27, arrived without their luggage. I guess they missed their connection in London with the resulting flight marathon. Also, the three folding massage tables never arrived. I offered to loan them a pair of my jeans… Or take them shopping…

Pics I will be up later - I have to go over to use the Bulldog Cafe wifi. The wifi speed here at the hotel is not much better than dial-up. Took me an hour just to upload the few pics last night. I still like how the French call it weefee...

A beautiful winter day in Solvang – crispy cold in the morning and balmy warm in the afternoon. The wrenches were busy assembling the new Trek bikes – a low stress day before the chaos of the first ride tomorrow. Two new wrenches, both from Belgium, Nick and Jeanick (I may be incorrect with the spelling of his name). Both great guys who seem to fit in real well. The camaraderie of the Discovery Team staff is always amazing…

Most of the riders arrived this afternoon, after a twenty-hour plane ride. Much to Geert’s dismay, many of their rooms were not ready. The guys looked pretty pooped out, so I didn’t get in their faces with my camera. I’m on the third floor - when I got in the elevator, I saw a rather forlorn suitcase sitting there, with the name White on it. I just rode up and down with it until the elevator doors opened on the second floor, and Matt popped in with a big grin and a kiss on my cheek and said, “I’ve been chasing this damn elevator for five minutes”. Trent Lowe was standing there laughing away.

Saw Tom Danielson bouncing across the parking lot, looking pretty lively, but then his flight was many hours shorter than most of the guys. I’m told that Johan and Popo will arrive tomorrow. We’ll all go out for a fairly mellow ride tomorrow morning.

You can check out just a few of my photos from today by following the Link below to my smugmug gallery.

Is there anyone out there who does not think that Floyd Landis is symbolically being led to the guillotine by the summons to France on February 8th? Judge, jury and executioner: AFLD - LNDD and ASO. They are going to make damn sure that Floyd will not ride in the Tour de France, following the orchestration of the ASO.

After Landaluze showed their dirty laundry, the risk is too high that Floyd may get cleared by USADA, so the French have to take the unusual step of the AFLD proceedings to nail Floyd. Pound, Prudhomme, Bordry and Company. A Rose by any name is still a Dick... Calling it legal in France is still Floyd Getting Screwed out of the Tour..

Here (below this paragraph) is a letter about cancer funding, from Lance Armstrong, that was just posted on the CNN.com website. Really made me stop and think. If you live in the US, have any of your elected senators and/or representatives indicated that they are going to make funding for cancer research a priority in 2007? I didn’t see anything about cancer in the big 100 Hours push by our new Democratic Majority... I live in California - I didn’t see anything about working for cancer funding from my elected officials, nor from our Guv, either... How about we all get real impatient and speak up to send the message to those people that we voted for? Just Do It!!

By Lance Armstrong
Special to CNN - January 10, 2007

Lance Armstrong, one of cycling's all-time greats and possibly the world's best known cancer survivor, founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation with the goal of inspiring and empowering people with cancer. He now campaigns for more government funds for cancer research and treatment.

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- I'm not known for my patience. Patience is a polite quality and often appropriate, but it rarely gets things done. Impatience, however, is the hunger for results and intolerance for excuses and delays. Impatience got me over countless mountain passes, across the finish line in New York City and through four rounds of ruthless chemotherapy 10 years ago.

Yet this election season I patiently waited to hear a candidate for office explain to constituents what he or she planned to do about one of the leading threats to the health and well-being of all Americans -- cancer. My patience was greeted with silence.

Cancer will impact one in two men and one in three women in their lifetime. It is devastating and it is pervasive. In fact, every year 1.3 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer.

Thankfully, our country has made tremendous progress in this fight and produced remarkable advances in the way we prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. Today, in many cases, we can humbly say that cancer is no longer a death sentence. The medical advances achieved by our nation's best doctors and researchers have given us reasons to hope.

But in spite of this vast body of knowledge, 1,500 people will die from cancer today and tomorrow and the day after that, often because the care they needed to prevent cancer or survive it was not available to them.

However, our nation's second-leading killer did not make the list of issues that our candidates used to get people to the polls last November. Anyone with a television or access to a newspaper can list the ballot box issues that occupied our candidates' attention -- they range from bickering to very real concerns and challenges.

The political ads didn't tell voters that earlier in the year funding for cancer research was cut for the first time in 30 years. Nor did they explain that a lack of funding slows the pace of scientific discovery and the development of treatments. Our candidates did not mention the decrease in funding for programs that provide information and screening to people who need these services. I think this is unwise, but it is what our government has done this past year. I waited patiently for an explanation, some clarification or justification. Ten million cancer survivors deserve an answer. We didn't get one.

It is true that state and federal budgets are constrained by many important responsibilities. But cancer doesn't care about that.

It is time to hold our leaders accountable. It remains to be seen if the change in power on Capitol Hill will affect the fight against cancer. In two years we will elect a new president. We cannot predict the actions of any of our elected officials, but we can say for sure that when it comes to cancer their silence is unacceptable.

Patient people may accept the status quo, but the status quo isn't working for us. Instead, we need to stubbornly hold our leaders accountable and we need the courage to ask tough questions of our elected officials. Few issues facing our government are more personal or more critical than the health of our citizens. What are we going to do to effectively fight cancer? Millions of Americans with cancer are asking.

I'm not known for my patience. When it comes to cancer, I hope you aren't either.

Hey! One-third of fish in this pond were using illegal performance enhancers.... I pronounce them Bad Kois. Ban these Kois...
Okay, Okay ... So it was Pick a Number.... So it’s 20 percent. Twenty-five percent. Call me a liar.

Where have I been? I just got bored with all the media's distorted Floyd Landis doping crap and Operacion Open Mouth, and actually, bored with me. But the latest “Poundisms” in the January 7th Sunday New York Times have pissed me off again. Follow the Link to read the interview by Michael Sokolove, which happened in July during the time that the doping crap first came out about Floyd Landis.

I am telling you that Dick Pound is a classic study in Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and if I were still a Teaching Assistant, I would use him as a test case. His sense of entitlement, his arrogance, his ruthless power-grabbing, and his retaliation, vengeance and anger are classic. And how impressed he is with his own brilliance and rigid rightness. Dick Pound is never wrong... he wouldn’t even consider that possibility.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the Sokolove interview:

Thinking about Landis seemed to enliven him (Dick Pound). He spoke of the cyclist as if he were some sleazy perp just collared by the vice squad. “He was 11 minutes behind or something, and all of the sudden there’s this Herculean effort, where he’s going up mountains like he’s on a goddamn Harley,” he said. In the 2006 tour, Landis raced in pain while awaiting a hip replacement, went out to an early lead, lost it, then seemed to miraculously regain it. “It’s a great story,” Pound said. “Wonderful. But if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

and:

Pound took something like a schoolboy’s delight in talking about Landis’s lab result, which supposedly showed his testosterone level to be grotesquely above what is typical for most men. Landis has denied taking a prohibited substance and is fighting what could be a two-year ban from cycling. “I mean, it was 11 to 1!” Pound said, referring to Landis’s reported testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio, a measure used to identify doping. “You’d think he’d be violating every virgin within 100 miles. How does he even get on his bicycle?”

Sokolove says this about Dick Pound: Battling the known and the unknown, and probably outspent and outgunned, Pound has seized the prerogative of the underdog: fight with whatever you’ve got. Fight fair. Or unfair. His best weapon is his brilliance as a formulator of quotes, his ability to make headlines and call attention to his cause. (He takes great pride in this; one of his books is titled “High Impact Quotations.”) Pound is not a stereotypical Canadian, if you think of Canadians as reticent, nor is he very lawyerly: he assembles whatever facts he can gather, but when they’re not attainable, sometimes just makes them up.

Boy, do we all know the truth of that statement... Pound is one of those narcissistic people who have gained immense power in the organization, and is so ruthless (and disingenuous) that the IOC will never be able to remove him from power. Like most dictators, he is entrenched in the organization. Read Sokolove’s article and you’ll see what I mean...