Il faut arrêter le Tour · I’m quoting Renaud Dély and I don’t know who he is, but (if you have some French) check out A l’agonie. Road cycling, at one level it’s among the purest sports, or should be anyhow: one human against mountains and clocks and other humans and his or her own oxygen metabolism; strength and courage writ large. Post-Landis, I’d resolved not to care any more, but I woke up early one morning and accidentally caught a stage while looking for something else, and started to care about Vinokurov and Rasmussen and Contador and so on. Like Renaud said, shut it down now; either they turn it off or they’ve proved they just don’t care. Yes, Contador too; as of today, every professional cyclist is guilty until proved innocent. In case you hadn’t noticed, the teams had to be carrying the transfusion and steroid-augmentation equipment along with ’em; you can’t just drop by a village on the Franco-Spanish border and pick up your next day’s red cells. They’ve betrayed millions; to hell with ’em.
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[12 comments]
One Wheel · We went for early Sunday dinner at the terrace at the Jericho Sailing Club and then of course for a walk on the pier. On the pier was free entertainment; Kris Holm was having a performance filmed. He claims to be the world’s best known Mountain Unicyclist, a category that’s new to me. I got a few pictures ...
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Morning Entertainment · For those of you on the West Coast who have a few spare early moments, check out the Tour de France, which I think is pretty good TV entertainment. These days, with the kid on summer vacation, the house is quiet early, so those mornings where I don’t have a phone call or something I’ve been watching the last half-hour of the Tour stages, which finish sometime between 7 and and 8, Pacific time. While I use a bike for lots of errands around Vancouver, I’m hardly a buff; but the strength and courage of these men is compelling, even if you’re missing the finer points. Web coverage here and here. [Update: Rafe Colburn wrote to point me at the Daily Peloton, and he’s right, it’s good.]
