blue squirrel

after a self-imposed 20 year absence from cycling, the sport i love, i am back and dedicated to holding my own in the superfast 40+ catagory. this blog will tell the journey, the highs and the lows, the team [team becher+] and it's cast of characters, our sponsors, supporters, and other local riders that make it happen... [anonymous comments are lame, cowboy up and put a name or start a blog]

Saturday, July 15, 2006

go jens go





yes, finally something to cheer about at TDF, my boy, all-arounder, nice guy, none stop attacking, jens voigt finally got some CSC glory today during what i am sure is the hottest and longest stage of the TDF. his dogged detirmination reminds me of my teammate greg, he never gives up, no matter what. well i guess the others do too, but greg does it with better grit in his teeth. way to jens, finally back to some reality.

NO BB [well maybe integrated...]


[wheres the BB again timmy?]
more campy ultra torque images, very nice, i'll take [3].


[this is a BB? looks like a retaining cap to me.]

Friday, July 14, 2006

campy ultra torque drive system


[no BB]
very DTswiss looking drive for the new campy ultra torque cranks. the DTswiss hubs use a similar tooth system, very dependable and very good torque. campy's old square taper BB was getting really outdated, so now they have no BB, way to go campy, sorry shimano and sram, i think campy just leap frogged you again....

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

strange tid bits [stage 10]

i woke up this morning in the midst of a bad TDF dream and was waiting to wake up from it, but to no avail. i sat there watching the streaming feed off the internet as erik 'tha man' zabel sprinted it out with daniele bennati to win the main bunch sprint, some 7min after the first 6 riders crossed the line of the first mountain stage. yes i said mountain stage with a beyond catagory climb in it. what is going on? all the favorites were behind zabel and a frenchmen is now in the maillot jaune after succeeding in a 150K breakaway. did i forget to mention that it was a mountain stage with plenty of pain to be dished out and eric zabel leads out the favorites. i wanted to go back to sleep and wake up and see if it truely was a bad dream, but my quattro espresso had kicked in, so i just stared blankly at the screen. a frenchmen in the maillot jaune after a mountain stage, come on, if i wasn't so level headed [don't laugh], i would start to dream up all kinds of french conspiracy theories, starting with all the planted names of the pre-TDF favorites names on a spanish doctors list by the organizers of the tour, than the food of the remaining favorites being tainted, need i go on. how desperate are the french to win? don't answer that, very desperate, they caused floyds hip to degenerate into a personal sufferfest. so off we go to a harder mountain stage 11 tomorrow and another bunch sprint lead by good ol' erik zabel.... which frenchman that wasn't tested for hot sauce, will get the win, or will all my naysayers be quieted by a cadel evans win. only time will tell.

[come on, 5 frenchmen in the top 15, that was some full moon]

1 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Agritubel 4.49.10 (39.527 km/h)
2 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance
3 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.56
4 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis 2.24
5 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saunier Duval 2.25
6 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.03
7 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quick-Step-Innergetic 5.35
8 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 7.23
9 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram
10 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Liquigas
11 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux
12 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
13 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval
14 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Milram
15 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre-Fondital

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

interesting TDF tid bits [after stage 9]

1] a frenchmen is in 10th place [WHAT ?]
2] zabel beat boonen today [took 3rd, yea baby, way to go ol' guy]
3] levi leipheimer lost 26sec on a flat stage today [there has got to be something really wrong with my boy, like the french are putting something in his food]
4] michael rasmussen also lost time today, 20sec [ether these guys are so sure of themselves in the mountains tomorrow or it is a conspiracy in the making]

thats all folks for now, i have been busy with work and DS duties, talk with you soon.