pure jenius.

Big thanks to Strats for getting this great shot. And yes, that is Kenny Labbe announcing.

http://www.qconline.com/multimedia/display.php?id=266 http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/05/27/sports/doc483b7f353701a267385030.txt http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=388542

After a 4th place at Snake Alley, Marcotte wins the Weed Park Crit in Muscatine Iowa. Cole was in the House finishing 4th. Definitely the warmest day I've ridden in all year.

Tone: 2.5 Strats: 2 SuperPoopie: 1

I'm a better climber than a TTer...and I'm a horrible climber.... In today's economy, I did get a better dollar per minute ratio than a lot of other people. I feel pretty good about that. TT's should be a pay-as-you-go format...$x/minute...I would have to shell out some serious cash for a 40k.

It's over. I had not gone to the previous two Opuses and was kind of glad last night was the last one. It seemed that the enthusiasm was gone in the peleton, so much so that I actually won a sprint. Bjorn showed up and could have taught us all a lesson in bike racing but he didn't even seem to wound up either. I gave Pat a glimpse of what it feels to be Marcotte. Dale and I gave the little guy a sweet lead-out for the final sprint. Pat won but failed to pump his fists in the air in celebration. Big D was noticeably absent last night. I was kind of surprised at that. He even stuck it out on the miserable rainy night a few weeks ago. So if anyone sees Donimator, let him know his presence was missed last night.

Road Race: Really big hill. Not good for a buck-90 6+ footer. I saw only small guys the last time I made it up. I had a sandwich and waited for my small teammates to finish. Crit was fastest one ever. I pedaled a little too hard in the 30+. The 1,2 was a fast sumbitch from the git-go. We missed the break of 5. E-rok lit up the field sprint for 6th. Cole watched his sprint from 8th. Snide wrote a check to Dale for $1 million. Snide is a nice guy. Pellis is getting married. 'bout a dozen or so MN'ers made it to Madtown for the bike event. Good to see.

*note that it is a corner piece.

http://skibbysez.blogspot.com/2008/05/tnw-in-trouble.html I am continually disappointed watching riders/racers tossing spent gel wrappers and water bottles in the ditch. Race day attitude sucks as well. Could you imagine if some morning you woke up and the road in front of your house was blocked off so there could be a somersault competition? There would be somersault team cars parked all over the place. Funny looking people with arched backs wearing their somersault kit, applying somersault specific creams, and doing somersault warm ups in your alley. Then when you want to leave, one of the somersaulters blasts out of nowhere going the wrong way down the street and gives you the finger along with other four letter pleasantries. When you get home in the evening after the somersault competition you are met with empty skittle wrappers and mountain dew cans (that's what I imagine Cat A (=Cat 1) "rollers" consume during competitions) all over your yard. Those sonofabitches. T...

Tone: 2.5 Strats: 1 SuperDookie: 1

Homegirl and I went out the the lake for a quite weekend. Did a nice ride on Saturday on the rolling hills south of Menomonie. We had a nice stretch of road that had a tough crosswind, but I wasn't worried since homegirl knows how to ride an echelon. I was rather bored on Sunday and ended up watching some F1 race. After watching it for an hour I felt like putting tons of product in my hair and buying $300 jeans. Criterium season starts next weekend with Wheels on Willy, QC, and Tulsa Tough. I get quite bored with road races easily. I need an hour of looming personal injury to keep me interested in what's going on. Speaking of injury, track racing starts next week too. I'm bummed that I'll miss the first week, but I'm planning on getting up there as much as I can this summer. Cole will be back in the House this week and will be bringing his 3 months of European UCI racing legs with him. He's either going to be really pooped or really fast. I hope he is pooped sin...

This damn song has been in my head all day...thanks Strats.

Hint:

I have better things to do than race in the rain at Opus. Q: Why is Pat is awesome: A: He gets the job done! (nice pronunciation of E-rox last name) Good luck down at Joe Martin Pat!

http://www.news.com/8301-10787_3-9936954-60.html?tag=nefd.top Living with Internet trolls: Get used to it Posted by Charles Cooper 1 comment Credit Jim Brady for speaking truthfully about a controversy even though he's never going to win in the court of cyber opinion. In an interview with my colleague Greg Sandoval, Brady, who is the executive editor of the Washingtonpost.com, suggested that online anonymity can foster abusive, locker room language that violates Web site standards. "People say things online they would never say when disagreeing with someone at the dinner table. I think heated debate is fine, but when there are (flame wars), many people won't take part for fear they will be attacked and bashed over the head with the (Internet-equivalent) of a steel pipe." He went on sketch a future in which people are required to identif...

Audi promises electric car within 10 years Posted by Steven Musil | 9 comments Audi is joining other German automakers in the effort to eliminate exhaust emissions, promising to bring an electric model to market in the next 10 years. Rupert Stadler, Audi's chairman and chief executive, said in an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag published Sunday that he expects battery technology to dominate in the coming five to 10 years. "By then we will offer cars without exhaust emissions," Reuters quoted Stadler as saying. "Electric cars offer great opportunities, which we have already seized on." Reducing vehicle emissions is a chief concern for automakers in Germany. BMW recently showed off a hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan at the 2008 SAE World Congress in Detroit that actually emits less carbon monoxide than are found in the air around it. At last year's Frankfurt auto show, Mercedes showed off a number of diesel-electric hybr...

At the start, two people pedaled real hard. Later, we pedaled real hard and caught those two. Then seven people pedaled real hard on the hill. Eric and Pat were in the group of hard pedalers. At the end, Eric pedaled the hardest and Pat pedaled the 5th hardest. I was real tired after pedaling hard, we had Dairy Queen and I was happy.

No need to keep an eye on Timmer this weekend: (there might be a little creative editing done in the article.) http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/may08/may02news Timmer takes a break from the breaks By Bjorn Haake in Frankfurt a.M. Timmer shared his sentiments Photo ©: Bjorn Haake Timmer is becoming a breakaway specialist. The Minnesota rider for the Team Synergy squad has been seen off the front at most of the races he has contested recently. Rund um den Henninger Turm was the latest in his 'off the front' adventures, when he took off with Gerolsteiner's Johannes Fröhlinger (who hails from Gerolstein, where Gerolsteiner has its headquarters), after the first break of the day by Björn Papstein was reeled in. During the Scheldeprijs he was part of a long escape with Koe...

Windy and 39 degrees with a 10% chance of rain... Hareland Pellis Zimmerman Doug Marcotte My accuracy increased 100% last week. Durand: 1/5 KWMRR: 2/5 Old school Donimator:

I'm hoping I made this a tough one. Tone: 2 Everyone else: 0

Man down: No worries...we have backup: