Ten Reasons to watch the Vuelta

1. No LA
2. No mention of LA (so far)
3. No reference to how it was when Lance won this race (although he did finish 4th in 1998... see, he is not just a one-trick pony)
4. No commercials for Lance (although after September 1st Radioshack, I mean The Shack, I mean... well what ever they call themselves, may have bought commercial spots since they are UCI compliant and the secret is out of the bag, oh btw, did you hear Levi also signed with RS.)
5. You get to see Belgium in some other season but the cold and rain of the Spring Classics (it does look greener in the warm and rain of August)
6. No soap opera stars to distract from bike racing* - Conti, LA and Levi are all missing
7. Somebody will win a sprint besides Cavendish - even if they do ride for Columbia HTC
8. You get an Aussie commentator (who does know a fair thing or two about pro cycling) which enables you to learn colourful bits like:
   
   • "looking fairly handy"
   • "all gone pear-shaped"
   • "tell mum he buggered that one up"
     
9. We and the UCI finally get to see the "Teflon man", Alejandro Valverde, since they can't seem to stick him for any of the million and one doping connections they reportedly have tried to ban him for
10. And finally, we hope, we get to see American Chris Horner, in the best shape of his life, at least finish, if not contest, a Grand Tour without a ... Ah crap! NO! results just in from Stage 4... and... Horner is out, a crash! Dang it!

* sorry, Vino is back

Seriously, Universal Sports (the guys who gratefully brought us the Giro d'Italia at the last minute) just penned a four-year deal for the Vuelta as well as Milan San Remo, the Worlds, and a handful of races we would never otherwise get to see, so it's worth tuning in - online or on the old technology, television.

Summer Sick Sucks!

Ya know, few things suck more than being sick on a gorgeous sunny, 82 degree, last Sunday in August in the Pacific Northwest. I mean we ride all stink'n winter long in rain and low 40's just for these days - days you roll off the porch for every ride; days when your kit is as near nothing as possible: shorts, jersey, socks, shoes and helmet; days when motorists are low stressed enough to actually concede you part of the road; days when morning rides finish at the cafe or afternoon rides at the pub.

Woke up in the middle of the night to a throat that felt like it had a five-alarm blaze going off in it, fever and the fear that this was going to mess up a week of training for the Everest Challenge. Was really looking forward to a couple wonderful lazy hours on the bike Sunday - nada.

After spending the morning catching up on sleep robbed night, turning down an afternoon ride with Hammer and trying to sooth a throat en fuego, I decided to rob a few issues from my winter reading stash - issues of and articles from Rouleur and Cycle Sport horded away for those crap winter days when a 90 min. ride on the fixie is all your extremities can bear, dark falls at 4:30 and you're rationing your pub nights to save your pocketbook and liver.

So I find myself reading articles about the Spring Classic in the cold and wet of Belgium - the Hell of the North, the pain of 25% on the final climb of the Mur de Huy - somehow it mitigates the insult of all this sunshine pouring down from a perfect azure sky.

But then all that blue sky reminds me of those chopper shots of the coast travelling along the Ligurian Sea en route to San Remo in la classica di Primavera, Milan-San Remo, and a realize on a sunny Sunday in August - Sick Sucks!