Crap!

Hincapie may win the tour after all... the two biggest favorites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, have been suspended by their teams for a connection to the Spanish "Operation Puerto" doping scandal! Read the story here.

Headphones suck

Every summer, as the number of Trinity Trail users grows, I get frustrated by the number of people who use headphones on the trail, making impossible to communicate with them.

This morning was no exception. You know how along most of the trail there is a separate crushed limestone surface for joggers? There was a lady jogging in the same direction, but well off the pavement and on the crushed surface. Then suddenly WITHOUT LOOKING TO SEE IF ANYBODY WAS BEHIND HER, she swerved to her right onto the paved trail and directly in front of me. I tried yelling and indicating my presence in the middle of my emergency braking maneuver, but she heard nothing. No amount of yelling or skidding permeated her musical shield. My bike and I literally got sideways and skidded off the trail, missing this lady by just a couple of inches. As I did a little trackstand and regained my composure dangerously close to the edge of the limestone outcropping that drops down into the river, I tried to decide what I should do. I thanked my lucky stars I didn't crash, and rode past her, giving the international arms-out-palms-up sign for "WTF?"

All I got in return was a shrug and a "Sorry; tee-hee."

That was enough for me. I was almost over the whole episode, and then I got home and realized that my two-wheel drift off the trail had ruined a $60 tire.

This is what a ruined $60 tire looks like (damage circled in yellow):



So now I think I'm going to write a letter to the appropriate authority and suggest a headphone ban on the Trinity Trail system. You can't wear headphones driving a car, and you shouldn't be able to on the trail for the same reasons. It's just not safe. Who's with me!?

As an aside, I'm also thankful for the puncture protection belt in my Vittoria Open Corsa Evo tire. I'm pretty impressed that the thing didn't blow out. There are tougher tires out there, but we're talking about a superlight racing skin here (which I admittedly normally would not have been riding, had I not been too lazy to swap the tires after my last race. Damn you, Sloth! I could be replacing a $30 tire instead of a $60 one!)

New stuff in the store, Part 1

I haven't been blogging as much lately because we've had too much to do at the shop (definitely a good thing). But in the meantime we've gotten lots of new stuff in the shop, which I'll update you about over the next few days. Here's installment number one:

Hammer Nutrition!



A lot of you may be familiar with Hammer Nutrition products, makers of the well-known Hammer Gel and lots of other great products. I've always preferred the Hammer Gel because you can buy it in bulk bottles and save quite a bit of money over the individual packets.

They've also got electrolyte supplements, sustained energy drinks, recovery drinks, and even a certified organic nutrition bar.

That's my boy!

For those of you who missed it, Jan laid down the law in yesterday's final time trial at the Tour de Suisse. Anybody who doubts his tour form now is delusional.