Yea, Philly week. This is my favorite week of racing and I have raced here for 13 straight years. That also means I am old, but that is what that is. This year is a little surreal for me because it will be my last. The official word was released this week that I will be retiring from pro cycling at the end of the season. The time has come for me to move on and I am realizing that cycling is a young man’s sport. It is hard when I no longer even recognize have the pro peloton and about 10% of the European peloton. There is an official press release at our BMC website about me hanging up the wheels at the end of the year so if you want, or care, go check it out. So this year the Triple Crown has a new race up in Allentown which replaces the very difficult Lancaster race. The thing about Lancaster was the fact that if you had a good day there you most likely would have a good day in Philly at the end of the week. It was a bitch, but a real good measuring stick.  So a little shake up this year. I did my normal month long build up for this week, and I am hoping for a great last go on the Ben Franklin Parkway. I have run the same training prep for the last 10 years or so, and up to this point, it has worked pretty well.  So far the weather is perfect, and after a long day of travel yesterday, we had a nice ride out in the rolling hills of Reading, Pa where we are staying for most of the week.  I don’t know if the weather has ever been nicer, and the flight into Philly yesterday was incredibly beautiful.

So I am pumped for the week and I will try and keep everyone up to date on how the week has progressed. Again thanks for the shout outs I have had on my last couple of posts.

The post this week is brought to you by a new sponsor: “Rock bands where the drummer is also the lead on vocals”.

Late

So, guess I created a sh** storm.  I would like to say thanks to everyone who has commented on my last post.  I am a big believer that everyone’s opinion counts so, good or bad, thanks for commenting.  I wanted to do a follow up post to clarify a few issues.

First, I don’t spell well so if spell check screws me then I am screwed.  I was a great student but the whole spelling thing defies me so I am sorry if I butcher a few words.

Second, I know a lot of you out there are not big fans of mine.  That is cool, and I know that no matter what I say or do that will never change.  Plus, I have never been real tied to the whole “I need to me liked” thing.  I am what I am, and everyone else is what they are, so as long as I am consistent then that is all I can ask of myself.  If you want to get personal and throw insults and accusations then go for it, but I won’t waste my time fighting back in these blogs.

Finally, and most important, I want to clarify my position on my last post about Joe Papp.  The post was more about a guy begging for forgiveness and understanding after he got caught doing wrong than it was about a guy who used performance enhancing drugs.  What I have trouble stomaching is the fact that the guy is an adult, made an adult decision to use drugs, got caught and only then gave a crap about what the effects were and what everyone thought about him.  And lets face it, he was not pressured, he was not young and dumb, but he did make a well thought out decision to try and get an advantage.  He boasted about it.  He rode on the high of being high, and only after he was backed into a corner did he change his approach and throw himself on the mercy of everyone else.  Plus, according to his own statements, he refused to do the fake urine thing and then got caught which means he took all these steps to enhance himself over the years and then got to a point when he knew he might get popped and then backed away?  What?  If you are going “all in” then go “all in” for gosh sake.  What’s bush is that  I might….might understand if he had come clean, admitted he was wrong, and then vanished.  The key fact still remains that the general public reads about him and continues to equate cycling and drugs.  Papp’s claims about his importance are equivalent to a community college graduate, I fall into this category, claiming they have a Masters from Harvard.  How disrespectful is it to the Harvard grad who grinded their way through that mine field.  Plus, if you read the amount of stuff that Papp was taking, I think he needs to go ask for a refund becasue he should have been winning the Tour on that amount of stuff.

One other point I would like to make, I have a hard time accussing someone of taking drugs if I have not seen it with my own eyes.  That is like accusing someone of a serious crime by heresay and rumor; see Duke Lacrosse team.  I just can’t bring myself to really believe a guy is doing something if I have not seen the drugs going in.  So I can’t really buy into accusations about this guy or that guy doing drugs if they have not been caught by a governing body doing so.  I came to grips with the fact that there are a lot better bike riders than myself a long time ago.  I know a lot of people will not agree with me on this, but I am strong in my resolve on this issue.  But in this case, we are clean becasue Joe admitted he did it all.  Funny thing is I could see this guy trying to backtrack in a few months.

I have some sponsors for my blog coming on board, so this entry is brought to you by the guy who designs and makes Don Cherry’s suits.

So I have thought a lot about the following post. I lay in bed contemplating whether I should go forward, but I think the subject means enough to me and sums up a lot of what I believe in when it comes to my career as a professional athlete.

Let me start by saying that every time I hear a person on tv say, “I don’t mean to offend anyone….”, they end up offending someone. It just goes like that. I just returned home from my Mt Hood trip and my trusty Outside Magazine was waiting for me. This is the one mag that I subscribe to and I have read the mag for years. As I flipped through, I came across the article featuring Joe Papp. If you don’t know who Joe Papp is maybe you should just read that article at this point.

With this all being laid out, I will make this clear; Joe Papp, I am going to offend you. I am going to deeply offend you. I am going to offend you so bad that the state of Pennsylvania and most of the Eastern Seaboard are going to feel it.

As I read Papp’s Interview, I was reminded that he is a LIAR. He conned Outside into believing his lies about his importance in American, and even World, cycling. Even the article has some parts where the author seems to feel this way.  It hurts because I would believe that such a respected mag would do some background checking on the subject of a major article. What I love is how Papp crys about how his “fellow Pros” won’t acknowledge his existence, how he is broke living with his mom and how he almost killed himself by using banned substances. The reason no Pros acknowledge the guy is because he was never a real pro.  Professionals generally don’t acknowledge a guy who lied about being a pro. My definition of a professional is a person who gets a monthly paycheck from a company to race and train. As far as I know, no major Pro team ever paid Joe Papp a dime. No Pro team paid Papp a dime because he was never good enough to justify it. The reason Papp is broke is because he never got paid by a team to race and train which by definition does not make him a pro. Secondly, he cheated.  A lot.  When I really sat down and thought about it, in 13 years of team meetings, I never remember one of my teammates or directors saying “we needed to watch Joe Papp in a race”. Usually, what followed the words Joe Papp was “is a loser” or “is a cheater”. It makes me sick that he claims he was some kind of major player on the world cycling scene or even the domestic cycling scene. What Papp needs to realize is that he was a joke in cycling, that he is a LIAR and that he needs to just go away. I am sick of hearing your name. I am sick of your lies. You lied your way onto NPR, into Outside and got over by convincing USADA that you were actually somebody they needed to pay attention to. You sucked then and you still suck now and the only reason you were a blip is because you cheated and lied. You are continuing to insult every Pro in America with your lies about you being an equal. Enjoy your crappy life. I hope it only goes downhill from here.  You seemed to spend a lot of time in Cuba so maybe you should go there.  Sorry Cuba, but you let him marry one of your citizens.

Now that I have had my say let me clarify that I don’t think I am that special of a person or bike racer. I consider myself a rider with average talent and blue collar work ethic. I try really hard and I take my profession very seriously. I have been blessed with a long career with great teams. I get down on my knees and thank cycling everyday that it has allowed me make a good living for myself and my family. Even though I don’t get along with every guy I race against, in my mind I thank every guy everyday for playing a part in making my life as good as it has been. I absolutly don’t take cycling for granted and I try to respect it as much as I can. I am really greatfull that so many sponsors have made my caeer possible. Joe Papp does none of this. He disrespected and continues to disrespect every rider, sponsor and race. Without cycling, I am not the person I am. Papp is, and always will be, a liar. He continues to lie which means he would lie regardless of his position in life. The only thing he has brought to cycling is helping the general public equate cycling with dopers and cheaters. Thanks Papp. Just take, take, take. That is what guys like you do becasue you don’t respect any part of the sport. You never brought anything to this sport but trouble, so please for the love of God, just go away. Stop talking. I know that 5 minuets after I retire the cycling world will forget about me. That is part of it, and unlike Papp, I accept that fact. Cycling is so bloody hard and unforgiving. It is a fickle b****, but it is cool, and I really love it and I love what it has done for me. Outside, please do some background on guys like this. You are a respected peridoicle and you need to have a higher standard than what this article showed.  Please stop using ink and paper on this guy.

My goal for a while is to not hear the name Joe Papp.

What is up with people in Oregon standing in the middle of the freeway? We have counted no less 7 guys just trying to cross and then getting caught in the middle of the lanes…not the median, the lanes. 2 guys were DOT workers just standing there as traffic races by inches from them on both sides. One guy, ran out to get his ladder and then tried to hide behind it! After the first guy, which we saw on Hwy 84 between Portland and Hood River, I thought it was just some crazy DOT worker looking for a quick retirement, but we kept seeing these nut jobs. Some carrying ladders some carring guitars, but all out of there minds. On top of that Oregon drivers seemed to act like that kind of shit happens everyday. “Oh look honey, there is another hwy, crossing nut job. I am going to tic the cruise control down to 85…..errrrrr…65″.

So, I may be from California, and we may have to many people in our states and we may be the home to breast implants and upside down mortgages, but Oregon is the World Human Frogger headquarters.

Havoc

So 6 of us traveled up to the Mt Hood Cycling Classic for a week of hard “racing”. It is really more of a training week for us because we just came up here on our own. No truck. No staff. Just us and our own cars working on our own bikes and such. It is a real throw back to the amateur days and a really good thing for a pro to do once in a while to help him remember what most guys go through every week. Our group is split in two; some getting ready for Philly week and some for Tour of Suisse. The racing up here is perfect; really hilly, real hard with beautiful scenery, and Hood River is a great town.

We are split between two really nice host houses and so far the racing has gone well. We have 3 guys in the top 10 of GC so we are gong to just keep on keeping on. The weather man says we have some real heat headed our way which is also great for fine tuning the form.

I got to meet Neil Shirley’s beautiful little 6 month old daughter today. Neil rides for Jittery’s. He is a great guy a great rider and his daughter is very cute with big blue eyes and a super personalty for only being 6 months old. I am sure she will be a man killer some day. Anyway, it was great to meet her and Neil looks the proud papa.

The first big road stage is tomorrow so I am sure there might be a bit of a shake up on GC. Today’s crit was the farthest thing from a crit. More a mini Nevada City and it was tough. Bissell did a damn good job controlling so hats off to those boys. I am sure it was a great race to watch because the line out was at least a kilometer long. Toyota took that one so hats off the the men in red, white and blue. The did a tremendous leadout that was splitting the filed into bits on the last lap. Of course we had our share of trouble makers, 164 in yellow on the Orbea, who forgot or were to screwed to realize that there are 150 other guys in the race and you can’t just turn left or right in the middle of the field and almost crash like 5 times. WAKE THE F’ING UP and GET OUT OF MY WAY and STOP ALMOST CRASHING ME! I have a wife and she gets pissed if I come home covered in road rash and I won’t let her come 3 feet from me. I am happy to hand out here number and she will “explain” things to you, big

So that is it.

Havoc

The family and I took a mini vacation this week back to Tucson.  My wife has lots of friends down here and we came down for a little family r and r.  That does not mean the bike did not come along.  I have started my Philly prep and Tucson has some great loops for that prep.  I spent a fair amount of time working the hill repeats.  It was nice to see some old friends down here and log some good rides.  We head back to Cali today and Monday I am headed for Hood River, OR for the Mt Hood cycling classic.  Mt. Hood will be more of a training race for me.  There are a few of us from BMC going, but we are on our own for the week.  I plan on using the the hilly races of MT Hood as my final prep for my favorite week of racing:  Philly week.  I am bringing the foam roller as my massage therapist, and I hope it is a good week.  Sometimes it is really good to go to a race on my own so I can remember how lucky guys like me are to have all the support we have from our BMC staff.  I hope it is a tough week and I hope I can get some good racing and good relax time.  Thanks to Express Jet there is now a direct flight from Sac to Tucson, the two towns I consider my home.  So thanks Xjet for making it easy on Sayers Family.

After reading the play by play for Tour of Gila, I saw that the corner of death struck again.  The corner that took down several riders and may end the ability to walk for one other is the same corner that ended Bart Bowen’s career and has taken no less than a dozen other riders out, including myself, over the years.  It is such a deceptive corner, in the shade of a tree, rough chip seal asphalt, just over the top of a very tough climb that is at altitude and an apex that progressively gets tighter.  I know this is the corner and I was not even there.  Of all the races we do, this may be the one that has claimed the most riders.  So for all of you who do Gila down th road, you better be on your toes as you descend the cat 1 climb into the cliff dwellings.

I hope Zirbel gets back soon along with the rest of the riders and may a higher power be with the Tecos rider who is still in the hospital.  Sometimes I am scared to ride my bike.

Havoc

I have no idea what is going on here, but I had nothing to do with this! I can not believe this happened to me.

By the way, Ozzie Guillen is one of my favorite athletes and by far my favorite baseball player/manager. This guy is a man/athlete after my own heart. Find his latest rant on Sportscenter…..psssssss…please!

Miss Teen South Carolina

Ok, I watch this video everyday and it is to this day the funniest thing Ihave ever seen.  I am sure I have watched over 100 times and I still can’t help but laugh.  If you have not seen this, enjoy!  If I was married to this chick I would  ask her to answer questions all day.  I would be the happiest guy alive.

Well it is over.  The Tour of Ga was a very tough week of racing.  The American peloton has really brought it up a few notches.  All the stages were very fast and all the teams made big impacts on the week.

I will say that I won’t miss racing up Brasstown bald…a more acurate description for me is riding up or even surviving up the climb.  It is a pain in the ass at the end of a tough week.

We got a little rain in the final stage yesterday which made the downtaown Atlanta circuit a little slick.  There was also some glass on the roads which causued 45 flats among all the teams.  I alone spent 3 laps, some 30 miles, in the cars trying to get my guys back into the field.  After Jackson flatted for the 3rd time I got him back and blew to bits.  As I sit in the airport waiting for my flight home this morning I have a nice head cold working which explains my lack of energy over the last two days of the Tour.

I would give BMC a B+ for the week.  We could never get a guy in the significant breaks and we did not win any stages.  We did have two guys, Nydam and Lill, up on GC, but I know we can do better.  Yesterday, we had Lill in the break that went to the final lap, but he flatted out.  He said he felt good so who knows what would have happend, but the team gets a B+ and I give myself a c+ for the week.  I just could not find my way into the breaks this week and I need to do and lead better.

I will say that I picked the winner of Brastown.  I know it is hard to believe, but I picked the Belirussian the night before in our team meeting so I have witnesses.  I guess I know my stuff when it comes to that.

I would like to say thanks to the State of Georgia, the volunteers of the race, Medalist Sports, the other teams and their riders, the host cities (both new and old), the Gov of Ga, my team staff and management and my friends and teammates in the peloton for making it a good week for me.

One other situation I want to address that pertains to this Blog.  What I write here is how I see things.  I have never and will never claim that it is the unaquivical truth.  The thoughts here are my opinons or my observations and should be taken as such.  I enjoy telling stories and most people seem to enjoy hearing them so I do my best.  I am a person who says directly what I think and I will never pull punches.  I expect others to do the same, but  at the end of the day, I will 100% stand by what I write and accept any consequences that come from my entries.  I think the American peloton is full of overly sesative and defensive individuals.  Those guys that are my friends, and those who know me, know what I stand for so I never need to explain anything to them.  Those guys that think I am a jerk or an A-hole most likely don’t know me and never will.  I am sure my wife would tell people I don’t care what people think about me.  I got to where I am by hard work and sacrifice.   My friend’s and teammates, both past and present, know what kind of individual I am and what I stand for in life.  I hold myself to the highest standard and expect everyone else to do the same.  There are a lot of times where cycling is a job and I treat it that way.  Sometimes, cycling is fun and I really try in enjoy those times most of all, but I get paid to ride my bike and I feel a heavy burden to fullfill my contractual responsibilities. There are some many days that this sport is far from fun, but I choose to be here and I must always remember that fact.  I really feel all pros must look at it this way. 

At then then end of the day, I love to get a reaction so expect to keep reading some fun things here.

Finally, good luck to my teammates racing in Switzerland this week.  They have a major undertaking at hand, and I am sure they will show how good they really are.

So thanks for reading.

Havoc