Huh.
That is my single thought after watching the Olympic Mens Road Race. Then, well, I had to get to thiking, didn't I? Huh, as succent a thought as it was, is hardly much of an opinion.
I, like most of the world, figured today was going to be Mark Cavendish's day. I was wrong. My dark horse was for Tyler Farrer, the home boy from my side of the state. I was wrong on that front too. Popular opinion then put Peter Sagan as an option. Wrong. Andre Greipel. Wrong. Fabian Cancellara. Wrong. So, where does that leave us? Alexander Vinokourov. Vino, the little Kazakh famously known for a controversial career including, in no particular order, illegal blood transfusion, winning, crashing, and a prooly timed sprint on none other than the Champs Elysees. (Excuse my spelling today, I am without my fact checking back up, aka my phone.)
With three riders at one point in the breakaway, I was really hoping one of the Americans would make a run for it. Well, so one of them did. Congrats to Taylor Phinney for fourth. No matter what else you think, only three riders in the world were better today, and so few people could make that claim.
Well, today did not go as planned. I'll say congratulations to Vino, that was a brillant ride. Lets be honest, no one wanted to wait for a sprint at the end, so credit where credit is due. A perfect end to a not so perfect career.
BlythLea L.E.
P.S. Best of wishes to recovery for Fabian Cancellara, hope nothing is broken.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming! Oh, wait, the Olympics are here...
Tonight marks the opening ceremony, and, hate to say it, but since the Stig will not be lighting the torch, my enthusiasm is guarded until the games actually begin. Don't ask me why, but I've always been a fan of Michael Phelps, and I'll be hoping he pulls a bit of an upset ala Ian Thorpe in the 50m free back in Athens. I think I have that right, but as Brenden Hansen, Dara Torres, etc show, sometimes our best is not at our peak but when we have absolutely nothing to lose. Here's hoping our American Olympians have a great showing.
In other news, Cavendish is the favorite for the road race, with Wiggins a morning line favorite for the time trial. I suppose, realistically, my so dark he's still hiding in the stable choice for the road race will be Tyler Farrer. After a truely miserable Tour, here's hoping he has the ride of his life, even with the "formidable" Box Hill. Also, let me be unoriginal and hope for Fabian Cancellara in the Time Trial. My mom still refers to him as Fabio, in reference to years ago, his long bleached blond hair. Fan favorite, family favorite, same thing here at BlytheLea.
As to hockey, I won't dignify what's been going on. I'll miss Jordan Staal, but Semin a Cane? Huh, that's a head scratcher. As for the other, well, I'll simply relax and wait for pre season. It all means nothing until they play.
So, I'll sit back, enjoy the show, and hope for a truly remarkable Olympic show. Here's hoping!
BlythLea L.E.
Have a different view? Let me know! Also, for any foreign audience, here at BlytheLea, we can roughly understand German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Maybe, on a good day, a little Greek and Portugese as well. If not, there's always BabelFish, which, sadly, is no longer named after a Douglas Adams creation. I refuse to acknowledge the change.
Tonight marks the opening ceremony, and, hate to say it, but since the Stig will not be lighting the torch, my enthusiasm is guarded until the games actually begin. Don't ask me why, but I've always been a fan of Michael Phelps, and I'll be hoping he pulls a bit of an upset ala Ian Thorpe in the 50m free back in Athens. I think I have that right, but as Brenden Hansen, Dara Torres, etc show, sometimes our best is not at our peak but when we have absolutely nothing to lose. Here's hoping our American Olympians have a great showing.
In other news, Cavendish is the favorite for the road race, with Wiggins a morning line favorite for the time trial. I suppose, realistically, my so dark he's still hiding in the stable choice for the road race will be Tyler Farrer. After a truely miserable Tour, here's hoping he has the ride of his life, even with the "formidable" Box Hill. Also, let me be unoriginal and hope for Fabian Cancellara in the Time Trial. My mom still refers to him as Fabio, in reference to years ago, his long bleached blond hair. Fan favorite, family favorite, same thing here at BlytheLea.
As to hockey, I won't dignify what's been going on. I'll miss Jordan Staal, but Semin a Cane? Huh, that's a head scratcher. As for the other, well, I'll simply relax and wait for pre season. It all means nothing until they play.
So, I'll sit back, enjoy the show, and hope for a truly remarkable Olympic show. Here's hoping!
BlythLea L.E.
Have a different view? Let me know! Also, for any foreign audience, here at BlytheLea, we can roughly understand German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Maybe, on a good day, a little Greek and Portugese as well. If not, there's always BabelFish, which, sadly, is no longer named after a Douglas Adams creation. I refuse to acknowledge the change.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Four Sports in Four Minutes
Okay, so I've mentioned that here at BlytheLea we like random things. Today's topic, to cover all the sports I love in under four minutes. That means a posting time of 9:05 PST. Go!
Cycling: Well, it's been the topic I've been on the most lately. Looking forward to the Olympics. Much as I didn't hate that Team Sky swept the Tour, really pushing for someone else to win in London. I know Cavendish put in a ton of work for this, but, really, I'd love to see a dark horse win. Also, sorry to be missing Thor Hushovd. Hope the rest of the year's races make up for maybe a bit of a bland beginning. US Pro Cycling, I mean you.
Hockey: The hockey world is still buzzing over the whole Rick Nash trade. Honestly, don't really care. Will he make the Rangers better? Maybe, probably, but if all of Pittsburgh's cylinders can fire in unison, even as a self proclaimed totally biased fan, I think the Pens win the East. Here's hoping at least.
Football: This whole Bountygate thing leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. As the lawsuits continue, I am daily reminded of how Congress fails to get anything done as well. Really, they feel somewhat similar. The conclusion to be drawn? Even in sports, it's all just politics.
Horses: Had to broaden this one out a bit considering its the Olympics, but I'm about out of my allowed time. Since the tragic loss of Amy Tryon, I'm not as keen to watch the Three Day Eventing. I love the sport, compete in the sport, and I love Stadium, and Dressage, but I feel like without the flag bearer for reasonable economy succeeding in an otherwise really freaking expensive sport, I'm left watching rich people ride in the sport I love and I just can't connect with that.
So, there it was, a minute late. If you have anything to add, feel free to let me know.
BlytheLea L.E.
Cycling: Well, it's been the topic I've been on the most lately. Looking forward to the Olympics. Much as I didn't hate that Team Sky swept the Tour, really pushing for someone else to win in London. I know Cavendish put in a ton of work for this, but, really, I'd love to see a dark horse win. Also, sorry to be missing Thor Hushovd. Hope the rest of the year's races make up for maybe a bit of a bland beginning. US Pro Cycling, I mean you.
Hockey: The hockey world is still buzzing over the whole Rick Nash trade. Honestly, don't really care. Will he make the Rangers better? Maybe, probably, but if all of Pittsburgh's cylinders can fire in unison, even as a self proclaimed totally biased fan, I think the Pens win the East. Here's hoping at least.
Football: This whole Bountygate thing leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. As the lawsuits continue, I am daily reminded of how Congress fails to get anything done as well. Really, they feel somewhat similar. The conclusion to be drawn? Even in sports, it's all just politics.
Horses: Had to broaden this one out a bit considering its the Olympics, but I'm about out of my allowed time. Since the tragic loss of Amy Tryon, I'm not as keen to watch the Three Day Eventing. I love the sport, compete in the sport, and I love Stadium, and Dressage, but I feel like without the flag bearer for reasonable economy succeeding in an otherwise really freaking expensive sport, I'm left watching rich people ride in the sport I love and I just can't connect with that.
So, there it was, a minute late. If you have anything to add, feel free to let me know.
BlytheLea L.E.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
L'esprit vs reality
Bear with me as I get through the following rant. Sometimes, I just can't quite get back to the topic fast enough.
The topic of this blog is L'esprIit vs reality. This is sort of a dual action topic. On the one hand, there is my opinion about cycling, on the other my own battles with the sport.
L'esprit: Around this time every year, cyclists start to line the roads. Some, like me, on bikes that are hardly showpieces, others fully eqipped to look the part of professional (with the slight drawback of having more than 2% body fat) I love to watch this spirit of the sport. During the World Cup, kids are out in droves playing soccer. During Wimbleton, as my mother the tennis expert notes, the courts are packed. During the Tour, the roads are. Every year, I think about joining them. Couch cyclist, that's what I am, but this year I decided to try it. I have two bikes, one is a mountain bike by Cannondale that I inherited from my mother. The other is a road bike of dubious origin that I'll be experimenting with putting back together. Still, the road is calling. On the topic of l'esprit, let me just say that fans and couch cyclists and bandwagon followers of cycling create a Catch 22 for our athletes. On the one hand, we want them to be better, faster, and more agile than us. We build them up as demi-gods, but in the same moment insinutate ourselves so deeply into their lives they can barely breathe, desperate to prove that they are yet falliable. On the one hand wishing them to be better than the rest of us, on the other, resenting rtheir talents and seeking to destroy their images. That happy thought leads me to part 2:
Reality: Now I have decided this is the year to actually ride my bike and hope on down to a wifi spot to do these posts. I am saving the enviornment and getting in shape at the same time! Unfortunately, reality sets in at this point. First, I had a flat back tire first thing out of the garage. Finally fixed that, only, on my very next ride, lose my front tube. Not only did it go flat, the valve came out. That tube is toast. Also, with my penchant for injury, I really need a new helmet. The cost of this endeavor continue to pile up, and that, my friends, is reality. As for our athletes, I'll wrap this up quickly for anyone brave enough to get this far. I do not remember Jan Ulrich for his doping. I remember the man and the athlete who went to battle every year against Lance Armstrong, and who joined in a chivalrous code of respect. When Lance went down on the montains and Jan Ulrich waited, I could not have cared less about PEDs. That was the spirit of the sport, not the reality. While we go on about our lives, and sports fans find more main stream sports to follow, I hope a few stop to think about that. If we lose the spirit by demanding reality, we are left with nothing.
BlytheLea L.E.
P.S. I welcome any feedback. I might not agree with you, you might not agree with me, but that is what drives a good debate. Keep cycling!
The topic of this blog is L'esprIit vs reality. This is sort of a dual action topic. On the one hand, there is my opinion about cycling, on the other my own battles with the sport.
L'esprit: Around this time every year, cyclists start to line the roads. Some, like me, on bikes that are hardly showpieces, others fully eqipped to look the part of professional (with the slight drawback of having more than 2% body fat) I love to watch this spirit of the sport. During the World Cup, kids are out in droves playing soccer. During Wimbleton, as my mother the tennis expert notes, the courts are packed. During the Tour, the roads are. Every year, I think about joining them. Couch cyclist, that's what I am, but this year I decided to try it. I have two bikes, one is a mountain bike by Cannondale that I inherited from my mother. The other is a road bike of dubious origin that I'll be experimenting with putting back together. Still, the road is calling. On the topic of l'esprit, let me just say that fans and couch cyclists and bandwagon followers of cycling create a Catch 22 for our athletes. On the one hand, we want them to be better, faster, and more agile than us. We build them up as demi-gods, but in the same moment insinutate ourselves so deeply into their lives they can barely breathe, desperate to prove that they are yet falliable. On the one hand wishing them to be better than the rest of us, on the other, resenting rtheir talents and seeking to destroy their images. That happy thought leads me to part 2:
Reality: Now I have decided this is the year to actually ride my bike and hope on down to a wifi spot to do these posts. I am saving the enviornment and getting in shape at the same time! Unfortunately, reality sets in at this point. First, I had a flat back tire first thing out of the garage. Finally fixed that, only, on my very next ride, lose my front tube. Not only did it go flat, the valve came out. That tube is toast. Also, with my penchant for injury, I really need a new helmet. The cost of this endeavor continue to pile up, and that, my friends, is reality. As for our athletes, I'll wrap this up quickly for anyone brave enough to get this far. I do not remember Jan Ulrich for his doping. I remember the man and the athlete who went to battle every year against Lance Armstrong, and who joined in a chivalrous code of respect. When Lance went down on the montains and Jan Ulrich waited, I could not have cared less about PEDs. That was the spirit of the sport, not the reality. While we go on about our lives, and sports fans find more main stream sports to follow, I hope a few stop to think about that. If we lose the spirit by demanding reality, we are left with nothing.
BlytheLea L.E.
P.S. I welcome any feedback. I might not agree with you, you might not agree with me, but that is what drives a good debate. Keep cycling!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Vive Le Tour
I really don't know of a sport that is more team oriented than cycling. Hockey probably comes in a close second in most cases, but rarely in professional sports do you witness the sheer dedication to a larger goal than in the Tour de France. Take today for example. A huge congratulations, and a tip of the chapeau to Team Sky and Mark Cavendish. All Tour, Brits across the world have been tuned in to watch Cav and Wiggo (Bradley Wiggins) much like Australians tuned in last year in mass to watch Cadel Evans defeat Andy Schleck for the first Australian title holder.
I have to admit to rolling my eyes at a great many of the "fans" of the sport who have been moaning about how Sky treats Cav. Let's be honest, when HTC folded last year and Cav made a point to go to the British team, he knew what he was getting in for. No longer was the team built around him, it was built for the GC. Cav knew this, and he suffered through the mountains like any teammate for the sake of the team. Really, what better result can you ask for than what will probably be the final podium in Paris of Wiggins-Froome? That tops Leopard Trek's effort last year of 2-3 with Andy and Frank. That tops Astana's 1-3 with Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong. Really, for a team, it can't get much better, and for all the complaints, every single member of Team Sky knew that going in. So I say congratulations to them. They rode as a team, in as dominating a performance as I have seen since the great blue train that was US Postal. They will win as a team come Sunday, and that is just how cycling should be.
Also, while the world of cycling has been sort of struggling to embrace the enigmatic Wiggins, this tour has raised not only him, but also Cavendish in my estimation. I've always preferred the quiet riders, so I guess Wiggo fit that mold, but Cav certainly did not. However, with his selfless effort at the front of his lead out day in and day out, I have to admit to a new appreciation of the Manx Missile. Okay, so my favorite for the Tour didn't even make the starting line, but I can watch the end of this race with a smile of satisfaction and not a pit of anger eating away the lining of my stomach. One last round of applause for Team Sky, and an eye for the Time Trial tomorrow with one final day on the Champs Elysees before waiting another year to witness the beauty that is the Tour de France. Literally, there is nothing like it in the world.
BlytheLea L.E.
I have to admit to rolling my eyes at a great many of the "fans" of the sport who have been moaning about how Sky treats Cav. Let's be honest, when HTC folded last year and Cav made a point to go to the British team, he knew what he was getting in for. No longer was the team built around him, it was built for the GC. Cav knew this, and he suffered through the mountains like any teammate for the sake of the team. Really, what better result can you ask for than what will probably be the final podium in Paris of Wiggins-Froome? That tops Leopard Trek's effort last year of 2-3 with Andy and Frank. That tops Astana's 1-3 with Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong. Really, for a team, it can't get much better, and for all the complaints, every single member of Team Sky knew that going in. So I say congratulations to them. They rode as a team, in as dominating a performance as I have seen since the great blue train that was US Postal. They will win as a team come Sunday, and that is just how cycling should be.
Also, while the world of cycling has been sort of struggling to embrace the enigmatic Wiggins, this tour has raised not only him, but also Cavendish in my estimation. I've always preferred the quiet riders, so I guess Wiggo fit that mold, but Cav certainly did not. However, with his selfless effort at the front of his lead out day in and day out, I have to admit to a new appreciation of the Manx Missile. Okay, so my favorite for the Tour didn't even make the starting line, but I can watch the end of this race with a smile of satisfaction and not a pit of anger eating away the lining of my stomach. One last round of applause for Team Sky, and an eye for the Time Trial tomorrow with one final day on the Champs Elysees before waiting another year to witness the beauty that is the Tour de France. Literally, there is nothing like it in the world.
BlytheLea L.E.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Here at BlytheLea, we like random things. Nowhere is this more apparant than in the world of sports. Specifically, this is my area of randomness. I love non mainstream sports, horse racing, cycling, and hockey. The only mainstream sport I follow is football, but only the NFL and until Drew Brees was signed, even that sport was dead to me.
However, as the Tour de France comes to a close and there is this lull between professional sports that will be filled by the Olympics, I've decided why not, why not share my random wanderings with the world? Don't worry, I'm not so delusional as to imagine a hundred views, but you have to get your foot in the door somewhere and for me, it is here.
This has to be short, but let me just end with a few congratulations and a few views to end my ramblings with. Congrats to team Garmin Sharp for hanging in there, and best of luck to Tyler for the flat stages ahead, all two of them. Congrats to Radioshak Nissan Trek for holding your head up high and doing a phenomenal job keeping the team lead. I look forward to all, what, five? of you on the podium in Paris. On a side not, I still support Frank Schleck. I still support Lance Armstrong. Deep down, we all are prone to take the advice of others, and perhaps from time to time we shouldn't. I don't know the particulars, and, please, for the love of life, may everyone reporting this pay attention. None of us know the exact particulars. we were not there, we will never know. In a country where we are presumed innocent until proven guilty, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, and unless you know, you were there, let it play itself out. In the mean time, I will miss the tour, look forward to the US Pro Cycling Challange, and hope for the best all around.
BlythLea L.E.
P.S. Andy, please come to Colorado. Please, the Vuelta will be there next year, so will Contador, but maybe Colorado won't.
However, as the Tour de France comes to a close and there is this lull between professional sports that will be filled by the Olympics, I've decided why not, why not share my random wanderings with the world? Don't worry, I'm not so delusional as to imagine a hundred views, but you have to get your foot in the door somewhere and for me, it is here.
This has to be short, but let me just end with a few congratulations and a few views to end my ramblings with. Congrats to team Garmin Sharp for hanging in there, and best of luck to Tyler for the flat stages ahead, all two of them. Congrats to Radioshak Nissan Trek for holding your head up high and doing a phenomenal job keeping the team lead. I look forward to all, what, five? of you on the podium in Paris. On a side not, I still support Frank Schleck. I still support Lance Armstrong. Deep down, we all are prone to take the advice of others, and perhaps from time to time we shouldn't. I don't know the particulars, and, please, for the love of life, may everyone reporting this pay attention. None of us know the exact particulars. we were not there, we will never know. In a country where we are presumed innocent until proven guilty, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, and unless you know, you were there, let it play itself out. In the mean time, I will miss the tour, look forward to the US Pro Cycling Challange, and hope for the best all around.
BlythLea L.E.
P.S. Andy, please come to Colorado. Please, the Vuelta will be there next year, so will Contador, but maybe Colorado won't.
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