04 July, 2009

Lance Armstrong: The perfect person*

*according to his coach.

Chris Carmichael tells us the truth. Lance is "one of the best on-the-road tacticians the sport has ever seen."

Maybe Carmichael forgets Lance's early days, when he'd go out to obliterate the competition and get beaten by fellow juniors. or how he rode too aggressively early on in races like the 1991 worlds or 1992 Olympics. Maybe Lance learned in his early pro days from Motorola Directeur Sportif Hennie Kuiper, widely considered a great tactician. No doubt he learned something from Johan Bruyneel. Or maybe it's just experience; he's got ten years on his teammate Contador and much of the peloton.

Myth-making aside, we'll get to see how Lance does without a radio in his ear on stage 10 and 13. Stage 10 could well be a tough one, occurring on the heels of a rest day and countless little ups and downs that could create chaos. And stage 13 has two category two climbs separated by a category one climb. Doesn't look to be a decisive day, but without radios and a tired peloton splintering, we could learn how good Armstrong's on-the-road captaining really is.

No "Opening Prologue" this year

One small bit of relief for me this Tour. No prologue. As a result, Tour experts couldn't make the mistake of calling the short time trial which typically begins the tour an "opening prologue." To me, it's like people using "who" instead of "whom." I can accept it among laypeople, but not experts. Or should I refer to them as "experts."

scraping for relevance in TdF Stories

The Idaho Statesman might not have a homegrown rider to boast about. But they do have a homegrown journo who just got his ticket punched to the big show.

"Vestal has filed recent stories on Contador's new Trek time trial bike, and the nuances of the new Specialized bib shorts. While Vestal writes about cycling gear from around the world, his Boise roots often help him."

A journalist getting the star treatment. It's a beautiful thing. We're ready for our close-up. We think.

Learn How Allen Lim Makes Rice Cakes and share your recipe

I have to admit Allen Lim's rice cake recipe looks pretty good. I love rice and I should get around to trying his concoction.

Team Garmin/Slipstream wants you to be inspired by his recipe and to submit your favorite ride food concoction. Not sure about sharing my favorites, but Allen's is pretty good. Watch the video.