Laurent Fignon

Just read this on VeloNews: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/01/news/fignon-continues-cancer-battle_102403

I had read last Spring that he was battling cancer and hadn't really heard much since. Sounds like he's still putting up a decent fight, but also resigning himself to the possibility that it just may not work out in his favor.

Fignon and LeMond were in their prime just as I was getting into cycling in high school. I can remember running to the bottom of our driveway to snag the paper and read the small box in the sports section that listed the Tour results every day, then on Sunday I would listen to the musical stylings of John Tesh and vocal stylings of Phil Ligget for the weekly recap. Gotta love the internet and TV coverage we have today. It was tough to wait until Sunday to see what really happened, and even tougher that it was condensed into a one hour TV show per week. Brutal. In any event, my formative years in cycling were spent watching LeMond battle Hinault and then Fignon. I owned a sweet pair of La Vie Claire shorts, and I rocked 'em 5-6 days a week and probably washed them once a week. I don't know how my washing frequency is relevant to the story, but I thought I'd throw it in there anyway.

Watching Fignon, pony tail flying in the breeze was pretty motivating for me. He had cool glasses and always looked more like a poet than a bike racer. I even tried the pony tail look on for size during college. It was a brief stint and on the bike was about as successful as Fignon's. Much like Fignon's non-areo hairdo was no match for Lemond's trick aero helmet in the TT, my non-helmeted ponytailed head was no match for a steep embankment on my MTB. After sailing through the air and narrowly avoiding a tree, I took the landing head first and ended up with some sweet skid marks on the side of my head. It is better to look good than feel good though. I wish I could say that was the last time I did something stupid without wearing a helmet, but sometimes you need to land on your head a few times to learn.

Hopefully Fignon's third round of treatment is more successful that his first two. Cancer sucks.

Coincidentally, I happened to open a nice bottle of French wine tonight . . . a votre sante.

There's three years of French in the late 80's put to good use. My high school teacher, Mademoiselle Hastings would be very proud. Of course she set the bar pretty low for me. I didn't really want to learn French, I just wanted to race in France.

Omme Team Mate Makes it Big Time

Damn, How do I get a beer named after me?


(Yeah, so bite me if you're buying into Ms. Drumroll's claims that Arrogant Bastard Ale was named after me. I will admit it is a tasty brew though.)

Core work and hill repeats . . .

I decided it was time to put my winter training plan into action. Sorry the picture is a little blurry, but I was just going way too fast for a normal camera to capture the action (unlike one of my CX races). Great ab work, and if you sprint up the hill, that doesn't hurt. Unlike cycling, the front of my junk got banged around for a change. I don't recall that sledding hurt so much before puberty.

No matter what your religious affliction, I hope you received plenty of gifts with Dugast, Zipp, Saris, etc. on the boxes.

Holiday Message from Humperdog

Damn I look good don't I? Some people might say I'm a poser but hey, if you got it, flaunt it... I'm ooozing style here peeps. Some might think they have style but hey, I'm a dog with true style and trust me, I know a thing or two about doggie style.

I just don't get the whole stocking thing though ... just give me the rawhide thingy already. How'd you like to pose with a glassful of Three Philosophers and not get to drink it?

All in all I think it was a pretty good year (except for that minor skunk incident). I got to chase a few pheasants, went to a couple 'cross races, sniffed some new butts, and got to do alot clean-up duty after Ms. Drummroll's grandkids come over. (The little guy leaves lots of goodies on the floor for me as he's still trying to master the fork.)

So I wanna wish y'all a Happy Humperdog Holiday Season and thank all those that rubbed my belly this past year.

The Wait for February 8

A few clicks, input some basic data, credit card # and poof ....

Order Complete!

Thank you from the Leadville Trail 100! You can login to your LT100 account at any time to update your racer profile, confirm your race sign-ups, or sign up for additional races.

Please note that if you signed up for the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race you will be charged the $15 application fee upon entry into the lottery. The lottery will be held the first week in February 2010. Those applicants who are successful in gaining entry into the LT100 MTB Race will be notified on February 8, 2010 at which time their entry fees will be processed.


If I get in, I'll be looking for some company on some loooong rides .....
Course Description:
The 100-mile course is a 50-mile out and back race within the beautiful, high altitude mountains and valleys of Leadville, Colorado. The majority is on back-country roads with some short sections of paved road. The entire course is above 9,000 ft. And climbs to almost 13,000 ft.

Holding court?

Project Off Season is in Full Effect

I guess it's that time of year again. Time files when you're obsessed with watts, training hours and racing. The last few weeks have been a breath of fresh air since the local racing season has dried up. The weather has helped to extend the riding season, so there have been some bonus road rides and I've been fortunate to get out on the Soul Cycles SS every week. I was even able to finally bust out the light I bought for night riding 5 years ago. Green Lakes is a pretty sweet place during the day, but the trails become much more interesting at night.

I've even mixed some running into the routine in an effort to build up some bone density. At 37 I've gotta make sure I don't end up breaking my hip. That kills plenty of old folks. I also don't want to end up in a foot cast like Brian B. At least he broke it in the last race of the season. I think I took the running too far this weekend when I decided to enter a 9 mile trail run at Highland Forest with about 2,500 feet of climbing. I actually ran pretty fast, but I was more than a little sore for a few days after. One of the guys behind me commented that he ran a marathon a few weeks prior and that the trail run was harder. I kind of doubt that, but I guess if you don't race CX it's possible to get a little mud in your lady parts and have it feel like it was harder than a marathon.

Me and Mrs. Skinny had a post-CX party a couple of weeks ago. If you weren't invited, you need to get on the CNY-Cross group and start racing CX. All in all I think people had a lot of fun. Tough to tell since I was pretty much incapacitated by the end of it. Loud, but incapacitated as anyone that was there could attest. I will say this, during the off season beer and cookies are way more popular than actual food. I had a lot of left over food, and not a lot of beer or cookies. That's probably best for me anyway since I don't need any more beer, and Mrs. Skinny won't let me have sugar.

This is always an interesting time of year. The diet is a little off, booze consumption is definitely up, training has tapered off and the energy levels are dangerously high. That can always lead to trouble since my extra energy is seldom constructive. I've never been one to pick up a broom when I have extra energy. I'm more like a Black Lab with a propensity for destroying furniture when I haven't gotten my daily allotment of exercise.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to the training grind. I'm just waiting for my life sized posters of Faso and Bray to arrive. I've already taken a black Sharpie and written BEAT FASO on my white handlebar tape. Who needs a DVD of the 2007 Paris Roubaix to get motivated when you have those guys in your head?

Sorry for the stream of consciousness, but it's been awhile since I posted anything and I had some time to kill in a hotel. I should probably hit the gym, but it is the off season . . .