One haaaaard mother trucker...

Just to let everyone know, cold down here is very different to cold in Ohio. See, in Ohio they utilize this space age high tech chemically composed stuff called salt. Although it saves your life and makes it possible to go to the mall, starbucks, school, and wherever your little heart desires, it creates a mess of everything it touches. For months after the winter Ohio tundra that once has disappeared, I would still find myself scrapping the lining of my ear canal, still finding the remnants of....you guessed it. Salt. Now looking here to the lovely Upstate North Carolina area, salt is but of no concern to them. Just as it seems irrelivant to spend the millions in state tax dollars for the fleet of deisle spilling, salt slinging infantry of plow trucks. Although it's nice not being crustified to the point of being considered antiqued, as well as finding that in fact your bike works much better when not completely filled to the bearing camps with liquide salt sludge, it makes descending paris mountain, ceasars head, and the many other mountaintop escapades I I have been routinely making. Moreso, considering the elevation one gains when traveling further into the stratosphere, or maybe just up the side of the mountain, it is safe to say that regardless of how much you wear, you will be sweating your life away by the time you reach the summit, at which time you get to barrel directly back down the mountain, freezing and finding yourself contemplating whether or not you in fact lost a finger breaking for the upper switchback, or if that was the brake pad freezing andf snapping from under you. Something similar, just in lesser craziness to this!


One more thing, when bridge crossings say "Bridge Freezes Before Road" trust that it does so.... it's not a fun feeling to realize honesty is key in road sign creation. I wonder what that means for duck crossings.......

The Pro People
First I thought I would give a shout out to some friends of mine. Velonews announced some continental teams for 08. Congrats guys.
TOSHIBA-AEG
D.S. Gustavo Carrillo

(COL) ALZATE, CARLOS
(ARG) ARONE, Claudio
(CUB) FALCON, Yosvany
(USA) HAGMAN, Alex
(USA) HEKMAN, Mark
(USA) KEIM, Eric
(AUS) NANKERVIS, Tommy
(USA) NORRIS, Keith
(COL) PARRA, John Freddy
(SCG) PROKIC, Predrag
(USA) SWEETING, Robert
(USA) TALANSKY, Andrew
(CUB) TRAVIESO, Frank
(USA) VAILLANCOURT, Daniel
(USA) WEISS, Scott
(USA) DAVID, Winston

DLP Racing
Director: Jon Kane
(USA) BEAMER, Spencer
(USA) CODDINGTON, Joey
(USA) DULIN, Thaddeus
(USA) JACKSON, Scott
(USA) JOHNSON, Boyd
(USA) JUDY, Christopher
(USA) NIELSEN, Owen
(USA) PENDRY, Charles
(USA) ROSEBROCK, Geoffrey

It's finally starting to feel like the season is here and rearing it's lovely head for another killer season. With that being said, I thought I would make some predictions...

--Frank Schleck will win something big. The tour...maybe, an impressive climbers classic such as Amstel...very well could be. Competition for the second scrawniest schleck in the peleton, FOR SURE...

--We will see one of the most exciting finishes to a Belgian classic we have ever seen....Boonen, Cancellara, and Pipo Pizzato going toe to toe in the final kilometer. remember last yar big Cancellara almost pipped him!

--Team Slipstream will make a good showing in the early season, get a bid to the tour, and maybe even win a stage! They will at least be in every break every day regardless of terrain. Look for Mr. Pate

--SOMEONE WILL DOPE, and everyone will say it's the end of cycling, and it wont be!--

Team High road with Big George, Geral Ciolek, Mark Cavendish, and Roger Hammond will be one of the most impressive teams of 2008. Look for a big classics win from George, and look for Cavendish and Ciolek in the bunch kicks. One has a big win in their legs this year.

On the US side of the pond, Phinney will win gold in something...probobly on the track, and probobly since he is setting PR's and shattering persuit records left and right. Oh wait. He won gold yesterday! Also, we will see Mark Heckman on the top step of the podium for USA crit champ. He's got the team, and now the confidence, and he's a helluva fun guy. You deserve it Mark!