Here it is, the end of summer already and I only got to the beach twice! As I speak the mountains above my house are raging with fire. Last night at the Rose Bowl we got to watch the flames leaping over the Glendale mountains as we did our laps - thinking of the firemen up there & realizing that maybe our "suffering" in the big ring wasn't so bad after all.

Okay, so, after hitting the Press Camp in Sun Valley, the Tour, the Gary Fisher intro in Montana, Trek World in Wisco and the Budds Creek MX National in Maryland, in two days I'll be off to Eurobike in Germany. It is THE biggest bike show in the world and there will undoubtedly be much to see. We get home on Labor Day, wait for ten days then head to Las Vegas for the Interbike show, followed a week later with Levi's Gran Fondo. In a nutshell, that's all you need to know about me here.

RIDE WITH LEVI

If you happen to be anywhere in the Northern California region in early October, plan on participating in the Levi Leipheimer Gran Fondo. Three different ride distances are offered, proceeds benefit a good charity and you'll be riding in the beautiful Santa Rosa mountains.

QUOTE: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder. The policeman is there to preserve disorder." Mayor Richard J. Daley

2009 TOUR DE FRANCE REVIEW...OH WHAT A TIME WE HAD!

One of the best parts about being at the Tour is the chance of random meetings with old friends. At the TT in Monaco I ran into Connie Carpenter-Phinney who was still elated from riding in a celebrity race the day before with the likes of Eddy Merckx, Dede Demet-Barry and the Prince of Monaco himself.

Always the first class entertainer that he is, Brad worked his connections from his time spent in the French Foreign Legion and put together an RBA cocktail cruise in Marseille for all our industry friends. Sure, it was a little bit cramped, but thanks to the smooth sailing, no one got seasick and a good time was had by all.

This is the guy I fell in love with at the Tour since he was serving up fresh, piping hot donuts every morning in the Village. After scraping them off the frying pan he further deepened his allure by sprinkling the fried dough balls with liberal amounts of powdered sugar.

MY REAL TdF LOVE INTEREST

For the second year running I was the guy in charge of pulling in Bob Roll's TdF quotes. Sure, maybe our approach wasn't as sophisticated as it could be, but it worked, if at times somewhat clumsily....like when I was fast asleep in my hotel in Girona and slept through his midnight call or when I was back home driving in the fast lane on the 210 freeway and trying to write while evading the attention of a fast approaching CHP officer.

MY THREE BEST "BUTT OF A JOKE" JOKES

* "A Mexican in Monaco? It sounds like some Cheech & Chong movie." RBA test rider Bari Waalk when told that I was at the TdF opener in Monaco.

* "Hey Zap, 1998 called and they want their Racing Jackets back!" Someone dissin' my sweet Oakleys that only get pulled out on special occasions.

* "I think Zap is safe the way he's dressed. Bears won't eat a clown because they know that the kids like them." An obviously envy filled fellow journo at the Gary Fisher launch as we prepared to ride through the bear infested Glacier National Park in Canada.

QUOTE: "I had to take an oath and part of the oath was that I couldn't eat Mexican food. That's when red flags went up all over for me. That seemed like prejudice." Merrel Metzger, former member of the Minutemen American Defense vigilante group on just when things started to seem out of place. NYT, June 27


IT'S IN THE NAME

Pool party, harps, howls, jugs and perhaps the best band name ever...it's all HERE.

HERE'S A TAD MORE FROM THE TOUR WITH A PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE UNLIKELY FORCES THAT SOMEHOW ELECTED AL FRANKEN AS A U.S. SENATOR...