Tour de Dope?
From left to right, last year’s Tour de France top 3 finishers. Jan Ullrich(3rd) Lance Armstrong(1st) and Ivan Basso(2nd). Whats missing in this years Tour de France? ALL THREE!!! Obviously Lance retired, but what happened to Ullrich and Basso? Well. There has been an ongoing Spanish investigation about a certain "doctor" of sorts who has been implemented in a doping scandal. So far 50 some odd pro riders are supposedly connected to this person. Just 48 hours before the Tour de France was to start last weekend Ullrich and Basso have been hinted as to being involved with this "doctor", and it was announced that they along with 7 other Tour contenders will not be competing in this years Tour. Not because they failed tests, but because it was in their "best interest" not to compete due to speculation. It was then to be found 2 days after the Tour started that this doctor was busted with over 100 frozen blood samples and a plethera of all sorts of "drugs". Now lets not start pointing fingers. Nobody has failed tests yet, but It just seems like another nail in the inevitable coffin. Its time to come to grips people. Doping is a part of cycling and it is here to stay for a long time to come. Crazy shit. Maybe there is a good thing about Mt. biking not getting as much media coverage and big money. The stakes aren’t as high and the temptation isn’t there as much. It should be and interesting Tour this year. So many Americans now in the running for the overall title. Hincapie, Leipheimer, Landis, Julich. My pick is George Hincapie. He proved last year he can climb with the best of them. Its gonna be a good month of July for Americans at the Tour. Sadly though, we lost Fast Freddie. Bummer.
Since we’re on the topic of road bikes. My current road bike(05 Allez Elite w/ Ultegra 9-speed) will be getting a face lift over the next year. 
I am switching to Italian parts maker Campagnolo. The Centaur 10-speed group(click image for bigger view). I will also be getting the new Campy cranks when they become avaliable. As far as a frame goes. I will either be getting the new Cannondale System6(link below) or keeping what I have now. I am totally stoked. Everyone keeps bugging me to get the new Sram. But there’s something about that Italian inginuity(except for crank designs, but that finally came around) that just dosen’t compare. http://cannondale.com/bikes/06/cusa/cats/road_er_systemsix.html
I went down to Lacrosse with Kyle yesterday to get in some mt. biking. Never been so I didn’t know what to expect. We knew it was gonna be a good day when we had probablly the best breakfast ever. Its in Uptown and its called Our Kitchen. Just this little shack. We talked about that food all fucking day. As for the trails? They were totally Dece. Much more technical then anything around here in the cities, and longer climbs, and longer decents. We got in a solid 5 hours of mt. biking. The first session was about 3 hours. A couple of beers later we were off for another two. We ran into a local and he showed us the ropes. Definatley a cool trail. Some more beers, dinner(totally kick ass Onion rings eh chris?), and a couple one hitters and we’re on the road home. A long day yesterday, followed by a 12 hour work day today. No complaints though.
Got the day off tomorrow. Plan on doing some well paid lawn work and getting some rays. Paying some bills, and do a bit more packing. I think tomorrow nights bar stool calling my name is somewhere in 7-corners. Hell, maybe even a chili dog at Bullwinkles. Check all you crazy bastards on the flip side. WORD.
