3,000 Water Bottles for Team Milram...and they'll probably run out

Michael Zellmann of SRAM somehow is penning a column for Chicago Now. It's not like he'll be giving press to SRAM-sponsored teams or anything.

OK, this story has to do with team Milram, a SRAM-sponsored team. And what goes into having a team at the tour. He lists the gear needs of the team in this article. Milram is the milk product name of Nordmilch, which specialized in "curds" among other things.

The Tour can be on your iPhone or Pod Touch

This is what our weary, over-busy world needs. The Tour Live on their iPhone!

I received this headline, but so far, the link isn't working. The tech is via NOS, the Dutch public broadcaster.

Power Junkies, your site is ready

If you live and die by your data download and your powermeter, then you'll get a kick out of seeing power files from Tour riders. Training Peaks, a power data intrepretive program, sponsors a number of teams and will be giving the world some peeks at Training Peaks files of sponsored riders. TP sponsors the Saxo Bank team as well as Team Columbia. Every day, they'll be putting up a few power files, so you can see what the big boys are actually doing during each stage. After reading the files, you'll know exactly watt's up when the racers throw down.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/races/2009-tour-de-france-files.aspx

Trainspotting at the Tour

To me, the Tour is, among other things, the biggest product launch for the bike world. And with countless company flacks and thousands of journalists, they should be uncovering every last bit of gear. If a team is riding re-labeled stuff, we should be hearing of it. If Lance has special handlebar tape, it is big news to bike sites.

So, it is a surprise to me that no one has thusfar commented on Astana's wheels. Bontrager, a Trek label, supplies the wheels. However, the team has been rolling on conventionally-spoked deep-dish wheels this Tour. It appears that Bontrager/Trek has abandoned the paired spoke technology that Trek has utilized since it was selling Rolf wheels in the 90s. So far, there's no explanation anywhere.

The second oddity is Fabian Cancellara's Specialized S-Works Shoes. Specialized has been making hay about how their pro riders don't get custom shoes, they get what the public can get. But a close look at Fabian's slippers reveals that he's running two Boa knobs and no Velcro strap at the bottom, unlike the rest of the team or public. Does Spartacus pull out unless he's got a second line of fishing wire holding his feet in place?

TdF Live and on the web and no copyright violation

Versus is doing it here: http://www.versus.com/tourdefrancelive. There are both free and paid versions. The paid is "enhanced."

Tour Fever: sort of in stores

I've gotten some questions lately as to where to score a copy of Tour Fever. It could be at your local bookstore, but the way most bookstores deal with books, it's hard to say for sure. I regained the rights to the book and have been planning an updated edition, just haven't found the time to finish the updating. Poor timing, I know.

I have tried to track down the remaindered copies, which were sold to a company that specializes in remaindered books. Figured I could offer them online. For some reason, they have them randomly sorted on pallets of books. Those pallets haven't been opened and thus the company doesn't know where they are and thus can't sell them.

In the meantime, I recommend going through AbeBooks. Independent booksellers and used booksellers use the site to sell their wares. You can definitely find copies there. I think Amazon owns Abe these days.

Lancaster "spitting chips" after Stage 2

Aussie Slang dominates reportage of their home boys at the Tour in Cadel Stays Cool On Tour de France. Even the "on" as opposed to "in" of the title threw me. What are they, New Yorkers?

Here are my fave's:

"Cadel Evans was content but fellow Australian Brett Lancaster was spitting chips after the first bunch sprint finish on the Tour de France."

"'The guy needs to pull his head in.'"

"Roulston came a cropper on Sunday when he crashed with 70km to go, according to his team, then he missed a split second decision which meant he didn't pull as planned in the lead-out."

Stage 9 @ BXL to Benefit the CRCA Junior Development Program

From two guys who care.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Jed Kornbluh

Christophe Jammet

NYCX

Stage 9 @ BXL to Benefit the CRCA Junior Development Program, presented by CJ & Jed

NEW YORK, NY July 6, 2009– Mussels! Schleck! Frites! Berto! Beer! Bottle! Lance! Who? On Sunday, July 12th at 7PM, come out to support the CRCA Junior Development Program and enjoy the company of fellow members of the NYC cycling community as we watch Stage 9 of the tour de France, featuring the classic climb up to Col de Tourmalet, at BXL Café on west 43rd (b/t 6th and Broadway). Belgian beer will flow, prizes will be raffled, and great TdF racing will be on the TV as CJ and Jed bring you another great party for a worthy cause.

The event begins at 7PM, with coverage on Versus beginning at 8PM, and will run until the end of the broadcast at 11PM. Offers for the night will include drink specials, courtesy of BXL and other event sponsors, a steady steam of prize raffles, as well as pre-recorded extended coverage of Stage 9. Raffle tickets will be sold for $5 throughout the event and all money raised will go directly to the CRCA Junior Development Program.

Raffle prize sponsors for this event include:

CRCA

Sportique Body Care

Univest Grand Prix Cyclosportif 100k

NYC Velo

Finkraft Coaching

New Jersey State Fair SpectaCross

David Jordan Coaching

Uvex Helmets

D'artagnan

OrthoChick

Velo Classic Tours

Gage Desoto Tees

Wafels & Dinges

BXL Cafe

AND MORE!

For additional information, contact: newyorkcross at gmail dot com

Flyer is HERE.

Ville Etape puts your town on the map

Ever heard of Tonnere? You will now. The 2009 Tour's 12th stage begins there. It's a distinction that Tonnere's mayor hopes will make the town known the world over. Not just for their amazing 300 meter deep well. While it feeds the town, townspeople are hoping the Tour feeds the town as well.

Want to know who's the fave'? Check the odds

Oddschecker.com does the checking for you.

Here's their Tour de France page.

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.

Doping Controls Are Lax...In Tennis

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the Operacion Puerto scandal or anyone who heard about the heroism of certain tennis players after taking cortisone shots. Still, somehow the subject doesn't come up much when cycling or baseball is the dirty sport.

Slate's feature on doping in tennis entitled, "Steroids Anyone," doesn't have any bombshells because there has been so little testing. They do cite Jim Courier, who, in 1999 thought EPO was a problem at the top level.

Here's the final paragraph, "Why does tennis remain so lax when it comes to drug testing? Perhaps it's taking a lesson from the other major sporting event taking place this weekend: the Tour de France. Cycling, baseball, and track and field are the sports that have been the most stained by drug cheats. They're also the sports that have the most-rigorous testing programs. Based on recent evidence, it's not realistic to expect top-flight athletes to be clean. It is possible, though, to simply sweep the syringes under the rug—or better yet, not look for them in the first place."

Free CTS Tour de France Newsletter

While Carmichael Training Systems (CTS) is a corporate entity, while Chris Carmichael seems like more of a celebrity chef than coach, and it's really hard to believe that the advice spouted by Carmichael or his ghost writer is actually imparted to their start client/partner, occasionally they do have something interesting to share. A recipe, a trademarked training routine, a photo, a podcast you can download and use to lead you through a workout. If nothing else, it can help you live a Lance-centric world. Hagiography as training advice is a different sort of wisdom.

sign up here

Lance's Twitter Love now a marketing tactic

The guy has been tweeting for some time. He used it during the Giro d'Italia to bypass the reporters assembled at that race. Now he's using it to both bypass reporters and help market his sponsors. Brandweek details the effort in Lance Armstrong Peddles 'Tour de France' via Social Media. Oakley, Nissan, and Clear20 are in on it. The last one is the best--it is a portable filtration system.

Magnum Photo Essay on the Tour

Not all cycling, but the images from Magnum Photos are amazing. Love the B&W. Commentary by Jorgen Leth, the director of A Sunday in Hell. Check it out.

The Tour de France Band

"Tour de France" is also the name of a music group. This quartet plays "music of the French provinces." "Many of the tunes played are drawn from 19th and early 20th century sources and were used to accompany then-popular ballroom dances: waltzes, schottishes, polkas, and mazurkas. Also featured are older regional dance forms: distinctive branles, rondeaux, and bourrées."

A Culinary Tour de France...In New York City

Since a Tour de France means any number of things, some New York restauranteurs teamed up to offer a tour of French restaurants in the big, bad city. If we go by their map, the first stage is at Nice Matin and the finish at French Roast. The finish is already looking like a disappointment, but perhaps appropriate.