Mount Washington Observatory

Very Nice

Talk Like a Pirate Day

The point is, there is no point.

Lance is Back

Can he win eight TDF?

Lance Armstrong coming back

We shall see if this Internet rumor is true or false?


Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement next year to compete in five road races with the Astana team, according to sources familiar with the developing situation.

Armstrong, who turns 37 this month, will compete in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de France — and will race for neither salary nor bonuses, the sources, who asked to remain anonymous, told VeloNews.

Armstrong's manager, Mark Higgins, did not respond to questions. And an Astana spokesman denied the report to The Associated Press.

"He is no part of our team," Astana team press officer Philippe Maertens told the AP in an e-mail. "Team Astana has no plans with him."

However, sources close to the story have told VeloNews that an exclusive article on the matter will be published in an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, expected later this month. Vanity Fair editors did not respond to requests for comment.

Rumors of Armstrong's return swirled at last week’s Eurobike trade show in Germany and this week’s Tour of Missouri.

The rumor speculates that Armstrong will reunite with former team manager Johan Bruyneel at Team Astana — a viable option given Armstrong’s long-lasting relationships not only with the Belgian director but also Trek, Astana’s bike sponsor.

According to sources, the Texan will post all of his internally tested blood work online, in an attempt to establish complete transparency and prove that he is a clean athlete.

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The rumor, which has been rampant for nearly a month, gained legs when former Discovery Channel team director Dirk Demol signed with Astana for 2009.

“I am excited to be reunited with Johan Bruyneel," Demol said. "What Johan has been able to do this year with Team Astana is quite special and admirable and I look forward to being a part of his program once again. It will be a new team with some familiar faces, but I know the winning philosophy and structure have remained the same.”

Other rumors are that Armstrong will continue to pursue mountain bike racing, and may try his hand at cyclocross as well.

Should Armstrong return with Astana, it would bolster a squad that arguably boasts the sport’s best stage-racing team.

In Missouri, Columbia rider George Hincapie, a close friend of Armstrong’s and the only man to ride on all seven of the Texan’s Tour winning teams, simply smiled when asked what he knew about the rumor, saying, “I don’t know anything.”

Armstrong re-enrolled himself into the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s out-of-competition testing pool prior to August’s Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race, where he finished second to Dave Wiens, said USA Cycling chief operating officer Sean Petty.

USADA rules state that any athlete who wishes to come out of retirement must enroll in the USADA out-of-competition testing program for at least six months in advance of regaining eligible status.

A return to racing would no doubt bring large crowds to American races, and could perhaps save the Tour de Georgia, which is struggling to land a title sponsor.

Petty said that should Armstrong wish to return to racing, “it would be one of the most exciting things to happen to American racing since he won his seventh Tour. Depending on his plan, if that is what he wanted to do, it would be tremendously exciting and would generate a tremendous amount of attention on the sport, and on what he’s doing. People would be very interested to see how he would do in a comeback.”

Arctic Ice Shelves Crumbling Rapidly

This is very disturbing!






September 3, 2008—Canada's polar scientists have had little time for summer vacation this year.

That's because they've been closely monitoring the country's Arctic ice shelves, which have crumbled at an alarming pace over the past few months.

Nearly 23 percent of the total area—more than three times the size of Manhattan—has disappeared since 2007, satellite images show (above).

In July the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf broke apart, followed by the surprise collapse in August of the Markham Ice Shelf, which is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

And the recently named Serson Ice Shelf has shrunk by 60 percent—an "incredible" loss, said Derek Mueller, the Roberta Bondar Fellow in Northern and Polar Studies at Trent University in Ontario.

Large swaths of open water surrounding the shelves near the northern coast of Ellesmere Island have allowed breathing room for the ice to disintegrate, Mueller told National Geographic News. (See map.)

"Highly unusual" temperatures, up to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) in some places, certainly aren't helping the situation, he added.

"These ice shelves are changing as the Arctic is changing," Mueller said. For instance, the rate of Arctic sea-ice loss this year is poised to break 2007's all-time low. And Mueller expects more disintegration to occur in coming months, especially in the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, which has ribbons of cracks crisscrossing its surface.

"The overall scene is one of rapid change, and one that I'm sure has me and other polar scientists scrambling to understand as [it] occurs."

—Christine Dell'Amore





Images courtesy Derek Mueller/Trent University

Happy Ass

Are you still in second grade get off the monkey bars.




My new wheels


Defacing of state property HAHA

I hope your ass feels better HAHA

Trek Bikes "Believe" TV Commercial

Sundays Ride

26 miles nice and dry 20 miles soaking wet.


Just before the rain hit





I need a bumper so I can run her off the road.HAHA







Steak it's what's for supper.




Get on the lion and ride it freak.




Colleen come on catch up.

Mountain To Lake Ride

Sammy and I.







Sammy thanks for toughing it out for 47 miles of down pouring rain.

Bike More Drive Less

The MPG marketing gimmick

I found this over at bikecommuters.com I really like this story.


Is it just me or is everyone else tired of watching or listening to car commercials touting MPG figures? Some commercials even use some annoying jingles like Toyota’s “I want my MPG”. Here’s what really annoys me, the MPG numbers that auto makers use are for highway driving and using a stick-shift. I can’t recall the last time I rode a highway in L.A. and about 99% of people drive automatics.

Now, EPA City MPG numbers vary from car to car but they are 6 to 10 mpg lower than the EPA hwy MPG. So I’m wondering if consumers are actually falling for this MPG marketing gimmick?

So I have a new marketing idea. Car dealers are you listening???? Need to sell that Suburban that has been in your dealership for over 6 months?? It is simple: All you have to say is that the Suburban’s BMPG is 24bmpg CITY and 34BMPG highway. You may notice a new term, BMPG… Here’s where your fast talking, small letters that no one can read department earns their money: BMPG is a new term where you use a bicycle for half of your usual driving miles! Yeah, it is that simple! Ride a bike to work for half of the miles that you would usually drive and Voila! Double your MPG!!!

If you are clever enough, you can tout that the green benefits of BMPG are actually comparable to a Prius AND you can also sell the fact that for some strange reason, BMPG will make you lose weight. So forget expensive cashback deals, just throw in a couple of bikes, helmets and a bike rack with the Suburban and make sure that you tell the new owners to visit www.bikecommuters.com for tips on how to maximize their BMPG.

Take Back The Tour!

Screw the Dopers they suck. Take back The Tour!!

Lance Armstrong Nike Commercial

Inspiring commercial to make you ride more.

Sunday Ride

Memorial Day Sunrise

To all you veterans, Thank You

Catamount Mountain

Taylor Pond on the Right.







The Chimney






Very small cairn are these for the squirrels?





Lunch Time on top











Me



Colleen






Whiteface Mountain

No Handle Bars

An anti-racist, anti-war, anti-hate video.

Beijing Olympics

How in the hell will the athletes breath? The smog is so thick it looks like a sand storm.



Look you can see it from space.



I'm shaken my head

We Will Not Yield

Just couple of vids I found over at Pearl Izumi.

"SUPERIORITY of the HUMAN MACHINE"



WE WILL NOT YIELD

Nice Weekend Rides

Just some pics from saturday and sunday ride

Cycling High

I took the road bike out for the fifth time this season. I set out to do around 1800’ feet of climbing at the distance of 22.3 miles. The last 1.2 miles of the climb is in that dreaded Hors category which means beyond classification in the racing community. I started out slow bring the pace up at the three mile mark. That’s when the grade of the climb starts to increase then turns back in to long roller types of hills. This is when that Cycling High kicked in. That blood pumping, vein bursting, I can do anything came to bear. The feeling of being unstoppable while climbing is the best drug MONEY CAN’ BUY!

So go out and find that one climb that you love. Then totally destroy it. It does the body good. Even as I write this I’m still feeling the effect of this high that money can’t buy 16 hours later.

Titus Mountain Ski Trip

Saturday March 26

It was a perfect late season skiing day bright sunshine, temps 25-30F and light winds from the north.

So Colleen wants to learn how to downhill ski and she asks me to teach her. This ought to be interesting I have never taught anyone to ski before lets see if I’m up to the task at hand oh boy!

Turns out that she seems to be a natural at skiing 3 quick runs and only 2 wipeouts on the bunny slope. She’s ready for some bigger trials like “The long way Home” a couple more runs on the easy stuff without a wipeout not bad at all. I’m thinking to myself let me see what she got. Follow me trust me (evil grin--she should know better then to follow me)
I knew perfectly well we we’re heading towards a black diamond run. I was impressed she skied the whole run slowly but she made it.

I’m still laughing about the 2 lift incidents we had. I’m going leave that story for another day I have no idea what she was thinking OMG.

Peace



Long Way Home




Bunny Slope