Its all over...

But the CRYING...Contador wins the Tour, calls Lance a JAGBAG and a crappy teammate. I say, bring on 2010 and Team Radioshack, no matter what you feel about Lance Armstrong you gotta admit he looked "pretty good for an old fart". And since cycling seems to eat their own, say what you will about Lance but I'm sure VS. tv likes a 50% larger viewing audience, yeah I know, they should've called it "all LANCE, ALL the time" but cripes its AMERICAN cycling on the tube. Don't tell me Ventoux didn't stir you're climbing legs a little?? Maybe??? Speaking of JAGBAGS, its seems my best buddy Greg Lemond has figured out mathematically how Contador MUST be cheating because of his reluctance to talk about his VO2 max as it pertains to climbing the Verbier...Gee Greg, you're right again! Nobody will ever be as good as you were, or as CLEAN as you were. All Greg needs to do is come up with his own rubber wrist band and I'll buy two of them cause he is SO "then". RAGBRAI finished up in Burlington this weekend, pretty cool to see it happen. The weather they had this year was awesome. When I get older I might try it, if nothing more than to answer the first and always question someone will inevitably ask when I reveal my true cycling identity. WOO HOO for IOWA! Summer's almost gone and I'm already dreaming about fresh powder, obviously wishing my life away....

Colorado is cool

How much stuff can you cram into a Jeep? Everything but the climbing gear, it had to be sacrificed for the bike stuff. Everyone was flashing thier brights at me, must've been settin a little low in the rear, and with 5 people inside the poor little truck climbed the 6 mile 7.5% grade of Monarch pass like Cadel Evans...SLOWLY :) North fork of the South Arkansas river outside of Salida, water temp? c-o-l-d! about 20 yards from the tents. we used it instead of the cooler, and, some previous campers left me a couple bottles of suds! SWEET! Its nice going to sleep listening to the white water flowing by, unless you have to pee during the night. We were in Bear country, apparently WE taste like chicken, but all we saw were sheep. I would have liked to see a bear (from a distance) but echoing my son, "my Daddy didn't bring no gun" so maybe its better we didn't. Angel of Shavano campground (9100 feet up), I could get used to it. we had the best weather window, 70 degrees during the day and 40 at night with nary a drop of rain. Mrs. Brakeville says Bear Grylls is full of shit!! We DID have a fire courtesy of BIC, cause raw SMORES are just wrong. There is nothing like a pine fueled camp fire to cleanse the soul. The Colorado trail, leading to the Angel of Shavano trailhead. This is open to bikes as well, and descending the trail is FAST and sketchy, the open wounds on my shin have healed nicely. Obviously there are a few hike-a-bike sections that can't be cleared no matter how fast you hit them! The view from 13,010 feet up 14,299 foot Mt. Shavano. I noticed my heartbeat in my eardrums, wierdy. 50mph winds and a desire for O2 kept us from knocking this off our list but we'll bag it soon enuff. Above is Hartman Rocks near Gunnison, granny gear up, big ring down. Can't wait for the next time. Oh, I actually raced the Scott County short track race, gee, who knew that these were so intensely paced? Duh! I finished on the lead lap so its all good.