Looks like I missed an Epic Day at the Beav

I did win the final sprint on my morning ride on Feb 18th, but I think my brothers Bill and Tom had the better day.

Tom said the secret stash offered up "some of the best turns of my life." That's saying a lot!

JohnEboy's comment: "Holy Cow."

I concur.

Domestiques - Why I love cycling

One of the things that I love about cycling is the hard work of the teammates on behalf of their leader - whether a sprinter, climber or GC (General Classification) cyclist.

Yesterday on Stage 2 Levi Leipheimer absolutely decimated the field on the final climb up Boony Doon Road. His team drove the front of the peloton all day in the rain and then delivered Levi to the base of the last climb. With Yaroslov Popovych his only remaining teammate, Levi asked him to "Light it Up". Popo stepped on the gas for about a kilometer and then Levi was off. No one could follow. Soon he caught and passed all 10 riders in the break and only Thomas Peterson was able to hold on to Levi's wheel as he powered into Santa Cruz. Very impressive!

On the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California, Levi found himself 12 minutes behind Francisco Mancebo. Levi's team went to the front and while Levi sat in 3rd or 4th wheel the likes of Chris Horner, Chechu Ruberia and Lance Armstrong buried themselves to reel in Johnson and Kemp and then take back back 11 of the 12 minute advantage Mancebo had established. Had the race officials not decided to stop the clock before the 3 lap circuit of Santa Rosa, the Astana boys would have been able to bring back the entire advantage.

The KOM results tell the story:

Howell Mt Rd

1 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Rock Racing                                           8 pts
2 Timothy Johnson (USA) OUCH Presented By Maxxis                                7
3 David Kemp (Aus) Fly V Australia                                              6
4 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana                                               5
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana                                                  3

Petrified Forest Rd

1 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Rock Racing                                           4 pts
2 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana                                                3
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana                                                  2
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana                                                  1

RNR Woodbury Ride

Rock 'N Road has a great Saturday ride that started up just before Christmas. The first half of the ride is a fast paced ride through Santiago Canyon followed by some food, drink and socializing at the Woodbury RNR shop before heading out on second 34 mile loop through Shady Canyon, over Newport Coast to PCH and back to Irvine via Laguna Canyon.

This week they posted a reminder about the ride that included a photo of Patrick and me sitting outside the shop during the mid-ride break a couple of weeks ago. This is the photo that is going to get me back to the gym and into the pool in an attempt to loose a few of these off season pounds.

http://rocknroadcyclery.blogspot.com/2009/02/woodbury-ride.html

For those who enjoy listening to Jim Rome, Patrick has a fun story he related a few weeks ago about his experience with Rome early one morning in Shady Canyon. While on a ride before the sun came up, Patrick was cut off by an unknown driver who may have rolled through a stop sign. An obscene jester exchange might have been the end of the story, but later that day, Patrick was listening in to AM sports talk radio and Rome was ranting about how cyclist think they own the road and related the experience he had earlier that morning - which was all about Patrick. He tried in vain to call in and tell his side of the story. So the next time you hear Rome ranting about how much he hates cyclists, you can blame at least part of it on Patrick.