dump dump dump, another one bites the dust

Beleaguered Italian rider Ivan Basso has removed himself from his two-year contract with the Discovery Channel team at his own request just days ahead of a hearing before the Italian Olympic committee for alleged links to the Operación Puerto doping investigation.


Hmmmmmm, Does this mean Levi's the man for Le Tour?

Sea Slaughter

Laguna Seca.
Man does that name bring back memories. This is the first time I had been to Sea Otter. I have heard about it from day one, if not before. Seems to me I was reading
about it long before they say it's been around but at my age...well, the memory apparently isn't what it used to be.
So anyway, this was the first Otter. It was pretty much what I expected it to be,
although I was impressed with the amount of cars in the parking lots on Sunday. Of
course, when I've been there previously the parking is where the expo was and on the
hill where the short track was as well, so there may not have been any more folks than usual.
OK, OK, back to the story...When I was a wee little one my dad raced a Lotus 7 and one of the tracks he raced on was Laguna Seca. It was different then as the hairpin
wasn't there; it was a left hand sweeper that swung around to where the hill starts
after the start-finish, so for autos, you would be screaming fast approaching the hill. I saw many "firsts" there as a kid...Sterling Moss making his only appearance
in a Lotus Elite (or was it an Elan? I was really young), Carol Shelby debuting the
King Cobra, Jim Hall debuting the Chapperal ( that was the one that introduced the wing on the back )and a few others as well.

When I was a young adult, my brother raced, among other things, Porches at Laguna.
There I saw Mario Andretti race in a Can Am car for the first time, Gene Hackman
(the actor) roll a Datsun(?) just past where the hairpin is now, (that sweeping left
hander), and a much younger Paul Newman in the Bob Sharp Datsun 240Z. My older bro'
would kill him every time!

Then, about six years or so ago, Micah and I would go down there and watch the American Le Mans boys in their factory sponsored Porches, Vetts', Ferarri's, Audi's
Beemers and so on. Always camped in the same spot overlooking the course, which is the same spot we camped in at Otter.

So then Micah starts bike racing and his coach Mel says that the juniors are going to
Sea Otter to race. And he does. And each year he gets better. But I have to work every time and can't make it. Except this year I'm able to get the time off.
So this is it: My dad raced that course, my brother raced that course and my son has
raced that course. This leaves me no option, I MUST race that course. So I did. And I
finished. Right behind the only other 55 plus guy in the 40 plus race. AND we finished ahead of a fair amount of younger 40 plus dudes, even though we were dropped
on the first climb and lapped by the field. But I raced it and that was all that mattered, and I can now boast that there are no more males in the Herman family that
haven't raced Laguna Seca, and that's a good thing.

One last note. There's no need to go into the weather as everyone knows about it. BUT, I must
say that the Pro women were right after my race so I was at the start when the rains came. So
as I turn to leave who should be behind me straddling a Schwinn Stingray with plastic flowers
in the basket on the handlebars but none other that Mike Hernandez! I look up an him and just
about fell over...that just really made my day! The only thing missing was the bumble bee outfit!

Reports, Reports, Reports

OK, so I woke up Sat. morning sick but denied it until the inevitable. Copperopolis
was NOT going to kick my but even thought I knew it would. I'm not sick, I'm not, I'm
not, I'm not. Hangin' out in the feed zone was difficult but I was able to sit in the
lounge chair for awhile until I would hand off either to Micah, Heath or Danny, all of which were many minutes apart so it was up and down alot. Watching Levi come up behind the Junior 15-16 race and basically shove a bottle into his wife's face was
humorous. She was sitting right next to me with a friend and were looking at catalogs
and hadn't realized he was a comin' up the road. So all of a sudden here's this guy
in black leaning down on the right side of his bike shoving a water bottle into this
girl's face just about knocking her over. "Well, that seemed rather rude." I thought
as she is picking herself up. "Hey, Levi Leipheimer just handed you a bottle." I said
trying to keep from laughing out loud. She said, "Yeah, he's my husband." So I had to
comment about last year when Levi threw his vest and it landed on my feet. A girl
standing across the road came over and asked for the vest. Well, I was a little
hesitant, not knowing her and all when another girl asked the first girl for the vest
as I,m handing it over. Turns out these are the same two looking at catalogs.
So I ask if it's like this in Europe...Hmmmm...feels like the temperature just dipped
down a few degrees. So now I'm forced to share the story of how their little foo-foo
dog snuck out of their SUV at Wente last year and charged me, meaning all the commands of Levi shouting at the thing had no effect and that little pooch knew who
was going to pet him and make him feel like a real dog! So after Mr. Leipheimer walks
over to grab Fido I managed to coax him into a picture of him and Micah and Danny.
Mrs. Leipheimer still didn't feel like bonding so I set up the trainer and started
warming up for my afternoon bout of pain and suffering.

Pain...what a simple little word, yet so complex in deffinition. We've all experienced it. All felt its merciless hold on us, dictating our actions, like it or
not. Well, I have.
But pain was not going to have the better of me today. No way! I had been training on
roads similar to the ones that would challenge me today. Even velcroed the water bottles to the cages. Put an extra roll of bar tape over the current one. I was ready
baby. Ready, that is, until the fever started in. "Deny it." I kept telling myself.
"It has no effect. Got to keep rollin' on." So I did. After the smooth section of the
first climb I rolled on by myself, not seeing the group again untill I reached the lake and was able to see them on the other side. So now it's just a matter of getting
to the finish, finding everyone who rode to the race with me and going home.

I did manage to catch on to a girl off the back of the Lady 3's and chatted for awhile. As crappy as I felt, I droppedd her unintentionally on the final climb so she
must have been having a worse day than myself.

I had to stop at the top of the hill and put the arm warmers back on. I was told at
the start line that I would certainly overheat with that stuff on so I removed it and
put it in a back pocket, thinking I would toss it in the feed zone as the van was still parked there. I forgot to do it and was thankfull I did cause I was FREEZING on
that final descent.

Made it across the line for one lap and a DNF but didn't care. Went home Sunday, got
in bed at dinner time and got our of bed Wednsday morning!

Up next, Sea Slaughter and Wente!