how to make professional cycling clean

it's very easy. each professional race has a mobile testing clinic. 2 days before the start of the race, all riders are tested. the results are televised for all viewers to see. any rider failing the various tests by a greater margin than can normally be explained due to natural causes, or limitations of the testing procedure itself will be required to wear a pink afro wig attached to their cycle helmets at all times during the race.

next, instead of receiving the normal water and nutrition foods from team cars, these riders must instead receive only bottled beer (not bud light, or rolling rock, as that is the same as water) and slices of pepperoni pizza. this should make for some entertaining scenes as positively tested riders become bloated and drunk.

this is a very simple system; no bans, no fines, no scandals or courts.

now let's see who wants to cheat!

just when you thought the 2006 tour de france was over...

the 2006 tour de france will go down as the whackiest, drama-ridden tour of them all, and that was before this bombshell.

longest period without blogging

been unable to blog, check e-mail, or use a computer at home for over a week as the motherboard on the desktop decided to fry and rebecca went off to maine for a week to see her family.

it is possible to survive without computers but it's an ugly business.

and on bastille day, nutty got a new bicycle

rebecca and i went out to the very friendly people at city bikes in dc, on thursday afternoon, then to their chevy chase store later on.

returned after lunchtime on friday with a new bike.

tour de france on bastille day

you cannot get anymore french than this.

yesterday's stage was unbelievable to watch. it is incomprehensible to mere mortals how these guys raced those 5 climbs. 1 in 10 gradient! these are tough to walk up.

you think that the french will try to win this stage...?

salut!

col du tourmalet

ouch!

bbc sell-out

bbc america? more like cnn tarted up, it seems.

200 dead in india after train bombings, hundreds more injured, and yet it received second billing with half the time that bbc america covers the israel/lebenon situation on tonight's airing.

there is only one bbc, and it isn't the poor excuse of the american offering.

tour de france - how do these guys do this?

check out that one in the middle...

floyd landis

got to root for floyd landis now i know he's got a dodgy hip and he's going to have a hip replacement. he must be looking forward to the pyranees...

world cup final

italy vs france in germany. how messed up is that?

i'm nodding my cap to italy today.

stage 8

after yesterday's time trial, it's time for the tour to get serious.

how does robbie mcewen do it?

how sad that OLN's viewership of this year's tour is down 49% primarily because lance armstrong isn't in the race. although this year's race has been rocked by the doping scandal, the race itself is much more interesting just because we don't know who should win.

world cup - third place game

portugal vs germany.

germany had better win this one...

individual time trial

daisy and i went for a 19 mile bike ride yesterday and then was forced to drink grappa at andrea and redha's in the evening.

stage 6

happy birthday to bob roll. the tour coverage wouldn't be quite the same without him.

space shuttle and space station fly-by tonight

anyone in the washington d.c. area (if the clouds lift) can go outside at 10:20pm tonight and look for a very bright starlike object crossing overhead from the horizon. this will be repeated until the 7th.

there's a site called 'heavens above' which can give you all the times and dates, etc. from almost any location.

stage 5

this is the route the 'thundering herd' will take today.

the fact that 17 seconds separates the top ten riders tells you a lot about the level and intensity of competition after almost 20 hours of the tour.

world cup

got to root for france here. a classic italy vs france final should be a corker.

tour de france

stage 4. doping scandal, top riders out, broken collar bones, a different tour leader every day - fantastic stuff.
great stage win for kessler after being so narrowly beaten to the finish line the day before.

er, just how is stuart o'grady riding today with a fracture in his vertebrae? these guys are tough!

germany vs italy - i feel sorry for all those in the washingtin, d.c. area that didn't see the last 10 minutes of the game, due to power outages because of the storm.

tour de france and the world cup

big day of sports. can't listen to the terrible american commentary of wimbledon; just isn't right.

germany vs italy. rooting for italy here, but germany look to strong.

portugal vs france. i have no idea, but got to root and pick for france after pulling off the upset against brazil.

close asteroid fly-by

Asteroid to pass close to the Earth on the night of July 2-3

Those with an 8” telescope or greater should be able to see Asteroid 2004 XP14 as it passes within 430,000 KM (268,000 miles) of the Earth. At close approach the comet will brighten from 11th magnitude (it's normally much fainter) and be within reach of amateur telescopes.

As it nears the Earth the asteroid will pass with a velocity of 17 kilometers per second. From your perspective on Earth, you will see 2004 XP14 moving at about 7-8 degrees per hour against the background stars.