ON THE TRAIL WITH BLABSTACK LIGHTNING
QUOTE: "Zappy, we're gonna be chillin' like a young Bobby Dylan in Monaco! You gotta promise to be my bodyguard - only you have to protect me from myself...bicycles, fast cars, casinos and big boats...it's all there!" Bob Roll hands out job duties for our hopeful time spent together in Southern France.
DON'T FORGET TO RUN TO YOUR WINDOW AND YELL LOUDLY...
"You're both idiots - I could care less!"
THE GAERNE ELEVEN
Eleven Gaerne-sponsored atletes were given full artistic freedom to see their unique style realized in a pair of special edition G-Myst shoes. Each pair exemplifies the original style, tastes, and personalities of its featured rider. Matteo Tosatto's shoes show day and night, as Matteo lives both to the fullest. Gaerne designed two different shoes for him, the right one showing the night, with the Castelfranco castle, bats, and the night life…the left showing daytime, with the sun and the Dolomite mountains (with the climb of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo). Matteo’s nickname "Toso" is prominently featured to provide a unique look.
For more info: wwww.veloeuropa.com
DON'T FORGET
JUST ANOTHER REMINDER....
To start each day with a dose of greatness - The Clash - with perhaps the most meaningful lyrics of any song ever written.
ACTUALLY, BEFORE THE TOUR STARTS...
I'll be heading up to Sun Valley, Idaho to attend the first ever running of Press Camp - a special shindig for a gaggle of us schwag sucking journos to see the latest from a variety of companies including Scott, Mavic, CamelBak, Gore, Lazer, Smith and Cannondale/GT. It will be four days of riding and schmoozing and complaining about how hard our jobs are while we try to show one another up with the latest, most expensive & exotic riding gear possible. Since Brad has the gall to expect me to work after each day of riding and lounging, I'll most likely be posting whatever it was I saw saw/rode earlier in the day...although I'd much prefer to be tubing down a scenic, tree lined stream sipping a nice glass of Chardonay that's about the same temp as the mountain fed stream. I hate my job!
FOUR QUESTIONS I HAPPILY ANSWER IN THE AFFIRMATIVE
1. Would you prefer to have hot needles stuck under your fingernails than to be forced to hang with a Fixie crew for a group ride?
2. Have you ever been soundly dropped by a guy on fixie during a three hour ride with lots of climbs and descents that had you using every gear possible just to survive?
3. Are you going over to France for the Tour?
4. (While dining at El Chavo) Would you like a green corn tamale appetizer with your margarita?
THE ONE QUESTION I HATE ANSWERING IN THE AFFIRMATIVE
1. Daddy, you're not going to choose Lance over me on the Fourth of July are you?
Unfortunately, this American beauty will once again be without her dad on the Fourth of July - thanks a lot Lance!
STILL IN OUR HEARTS: STEVE LARSEN R.I.P
The race ended far too soon for former Motorola road man, national champion mountain biker, world class triathlete and devoted husband & father of five - that's why we'll always Remember Steve Larsen.
THE REMINDER OF WHY "BLOGS" ARE STUPID MOMENT: There we were in Italy for the Cannondale Super-Six roll out when some worm-like editor crawls up to C-Dale's grand fromage and asks what he thought about some apparently humorous quote that the scribe had put on his blog. The presumption of course being that despite his busy schedule & six million web sites to consider, that the grand pooh-bah must've seen this one particular blog...after all, it existed! The air grew quiet as the obvious silliness of the question (and the equally obvious truth that the guy didn't even know the blog existed) hung in the air. Blogs - another word for white noise.
WHAT WAS I THINKING?
Moments after the U.S. Postal team rode back from the podium, I shot this photo of Floyd Landis following their 2004 TTT stage win in Arras, France. Floyd handed me the stuffed podium lion he held. "Here Zap," he said unceremoniously before climbing inside the U.S. Postal team bus. A month or so later I gave the ultimate TdF souvenir to Trek Prez John Burke after I learned that despite winning four Tours by then, he was still without a podium pet. Later that night a I joined group of American TdF supporting actors (Bobke, Toshi, Frankie, the Texas Crew) and we had a belated Fourth of July celebration while also celebrating a big American win at the most awesome (for Arras, France) Mexican restaurant. Good times indeed.
THE DUMB JUST GOT DUMBER
I know Brad hates my smarmy attitude about all things tech, but I can't help but feel just a tad determined to at least pause before jumping on the tech culture bandwagon..so it is with no small amount of regret that I can inform you that I now have a Twitter account and you can follow along with all the ramblings of this inane Mexican while he roams the French countryside starting next week. Head to @rbazap or whattever it is you do to get tweeted.
WHO WANTS IN?
So I found this sweet Texas piece of pie when I was trolling through Craig's List looking for a new crash pad the other day and figured that when I got back from the Tour I might make an offer – who's in?
STILL SEARCHING FOR ZELLMAN
Nope, this isn't a photo Sram's BMOC either....but I'll keep looking!
JUST A QUICK GLIMPSE
No, this is not a crash shot, but one that displays the incredible artistry and talents found in the other "Sport of Kings" - motocross. MXA shooter John Ker caught Geico Honda rider Trey Canard pulling off this mean scrub at the Hi-Point MX National.
THE LATEST FROM ZIPP
Zipp Speed Weaponry and Wheeltags announced a partnership today that allows Zipp’s ZEDTECH customers the ability to create fully custom decals for their custom wheels.
The new custom decal feature within the ZEDTECH website provides each customer their own “Co-Design Tool Kit” to select different colors within the Zipp ZEDTECH decal, view them on their chosen wheel sizes and even “spin” the wheels. Information about the decals, along with the other specifics of a customer’s ZEDTECH custom wheel order, will be stored in a unique user ID.
To get the most of Zipp’s custom decal options, ZEDTECH customers using the website can select from two different pricing levels. The first pricing level, $160 (US) for one wheel, includes complete color customization within the CMYK spectrum. The second pricing level, $220 (US) for one wheel, allows ZEDTECH customers to choose between complete color customization as well as a lighter/thinner OR reflective material. Here's more info on the Zipp Zedtech wheel.
FIZIK GETS SHORT
Fizik has introduced a new 165 gram time trial saddle that is designed to meet the absolute UCI-regulated minimum length which allows riders to position the saddle at its most forward point to achieve the optimal time trial position while also adhering to stringent UCI regulations dictating the saddles’ position 5cm behind the bottom bracket. $199. www.fizik.it.
ACTUALLY, BEFORE THE TOUR HITS PARIS....
I'll be heading home from the Tour early and playing tag with Brad as he heads over for the final push into Paris. After catching my breath and slamming a few chorizo con huevo burros, I'll next be headed up to Montana for the Gary Fisher 2010 road bike launch. It's been a year since the Trek/LeMond split so the folks in Wisco are ready to party with Gary and no doubt try to convince us that the grand ol' man from Marin actually invented the road bike as well as the mountain bike. Bottom line? Keep czeching in at RBA.com for all the latest race & new product news.
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THE BACK IN THE DAY LANCE PHOTO GALLERY - A COLLECTION OF RANDOM IMAGES TO CELEBRATE # 8...