It has been a long time since I did an entry here. Real job complete with business trip, as well as working at some early season bike races have seemed to consumed my time. Not to mention the ongoing drug issues have been taking up too much news. Just when we thought things were turning the corner after some really good spring classics the news is back to the dreaded Operación Puerto and first Basso is off Discovery and now his “I saw the doctor, but did not dope” claim. Someone pointed out he used the “Frigo Defense” after Frigo was caught with some drugs, but said they were “just in case”. The amusing point is after the lab analyzed Fridgo’s drugs they were not even real. I wont even get into the circus that is the Landis case.
It is easy at this point to be sick of pro racing, but then you watch a race like Liege- Bastogne-Liege and see a great ride by Di Luca. The first week of the Giro has been it’s usual entertaining self with a nice mixture of sprint finishes, hilly stages, and even a climbing finish to create some variety. A wonderful combination of young starts of Ricco and Schleck along with veteran pros Piepli and Noe sure made todays stage entertaining. This sort of racing can make you forget the negative things.
Plus reading the fun book Cycling Greatest Misadventures and that is reminding me that there is so much more to this silly contraption called a bike then a bunch of skinny guys racing around Europe. So will try to be back and talk about some good books and good racing.
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