Final Fantasy

You must excuse me for touting Romney’s Spain blog as the last of our trip. I’d forgotten there was another chapter; one that included castles, manors, and amazing food. How boy-ish of me! Enjoy the final installment of our holiday. Lisa is a great writer and this last report is my personal favorite.

Assault on Western Europe: Part VII. Final Fantasy

As this is a fitness blog, I’ll add that it’s been fun watching Romney turn into a climber. Until this trip, she just went climbing to tag along with me. Since returning, she’s flashed a bunch of 5.11s. She still doesn’t think she can climb because most of my friends are quite good (and have been climbing forever), but she’s stronger than most of the people who call themselves climbers ever will be. She seemed surprised when, yesterday, a woman saw her back and said “you must be a climber.” Her reply that she just gets dragged around by her husband is looking more like a rouse all the time. A couple more trips to Europe and she’s going to turn into my rope gun.

Climbing in four countries on one trip can do a lot for the psyche:

England

on the sea cliffs of swanage

Belgium
like all the climbing areas in belgium, next to a castle and over a river.

France
climbing at Amiel in southern France...
with majestic views of penne's amazing castle.

Spain
approach via an old roman road, climb perfect rock, finish the day with excellent local food and wine. so easy to be inspired!
there's even climbing ON the castles

Should We Tax Soda?

My health news posts are generally reserved for The Fitness Nerd but this one's too important not to use all viral means possible as it's the tip of what promises to be a high fructose corn syrup filled iceberg:

Food Companies Fight Soda Tax Proposal Despite Staggering Obesity Epidemic

On the heels of the Nerd's last post, where Denis stated "someone needs to seriously smack-down the American junk food industry", the smack-down has been proposed if form of a tax on soda.

To me is makes perfect sense. We tax alcohol. We tax cigarettes. Soda does more damage and costs society more than both of those things combined, so why not?



"Americans Against Food Taxes" present of few reasons in the above ad. It should be noted that these particular Americans work in the soda, sugar, and genetically modified food industries. Personally, I think we should de-classify soda and other junk foods as food. Beer has more food value than soda.

Here's my take on the subject in more depth:

The World's Worst Food

What we have brewing is a 50's era tobacco-esque showdown between Big Junk Food and the American public. Almost makes me want to sit in a board room clogged with smoke and contemplate the solution over cocktails... almost.

Next Year

My back is decidedly hit or miss. Some days it’s great; others not so much. Since a year was the projected recovery time (two for 100% without any missteps) I have to be happy with that and not too impatient about my athletic endeavors, so most of this year’s goals have been rolled over to next. On that note, how about that Tour?

So the Texan got smoked by the young guns. To those in the know it was no surprise. He did, however, look pretty good. He also seems 100% committed to trying again next year. This ensures us of another year of great coverage of bike racing. This short interview sets things up pretty well:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/25072009/58/mixed-feelings-lance.html

When I say great coverage, I mean that as in a lot of coverage. I don’t think the quality of coverage in this year’s Tour can be called great. I like Phil, Paul, and Bob Roll but, Christ, what a load of hyperbole they dish out. All this “Contador is a selfish rider” BS is ridiculous. He’s paid by his team to win the race. When was the last time a Tour leader sacrificed his chances of winning to help a cracked teammate try and hang on to a podium place?

Imagine asking any past Tour champion to do this. LeMond would laugh. Armstrong would sue. Hinault would punch you in the face. Yet Contador, Versus would like us to know, is selfish because he attacked his teammates (never mind that he was trying to put time into his rivals and actually attacking them.) Um, aren’t his teammates there to support him and isn’t their first and foremost goal to win the entire Tour? If someone finds me a sponsor who says they’d rather have the second and third spots on the podium than the first, I’ll give you my R3. Speaking of Cervelo, these guys don’t look particularly happy with second and third (those are not tears of joy, methinks).

http://www.bartape.net/hdvp.aspx?id=12&q=SD720

If you were Contador would you want to roll the dice on your Tour chances in a time trial against Bradley Wiggins? Okay, so he bested Wiggins on that day but not many would have bet on that one, including Alberto himself.

Anyway, it all makes for great drama. Never mind that in the points of the race that showed strength Armstrong finished 6th. Versus says that if he hadn’t played the role of unselfish teammate he might have won. Never mind that Armstrong himself questioned Schleck’s superiority even though Andy pulled, in a headwind, up the entire Ventoux and still dropped Lance at the line. Versus says that if AC hadn’t attacked Astana would have swept the podium. Never mind that Contador is 26, Schleck 24, and that Lance will be surrounding himself with a group of dudes pushing 40. Versus tells us Radio Shack is already the team to beat next year.

And I’m down with all of it. Bring on the hype machine. Lance Chronicles: The Return, “It’s Not About The Bike, well, Okay, Maybe It Is A Little Bit,” “Lance Armstrong’s Revenge”… et al. I’m psyched. Let’s not split hairs; more bike racing coverage = good. And next year is going to be great.

Espana

With a Spanish winner in today’s stage of the Tour, along with a Spaniard in yellow, coupled with the success of our spring classic that happened during the summer, it seemed a fitting time for Romney’s final installment of our spring travel log: Spain.

Assault on Western Europe: Part VI. Escalada Conquistadors

In case you missed it, here are the final kilometers of today’s beautiful stage from Italy into France.

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/MG_Tour/MG_Tourtips/1.567500

Astarloza’s attack, 2k out on a winding downhill finish, was picture perfect; the essence of why racing bikes is so cool. Enjoy.

We really loved our short time in Spain, as you’ll see from Lisa’s post. Until Spain, in fact, she’d never really cared too much for climbing. She pretty much just did it so she could travel around with me. A few days in Rodellar changed all that. Now she’s moving through the grades and training for our next trip.

pic: climbing in five countries in a month can improve your focus.

Beyond The Peloton

In honor of this weekend's Ronde van Salt Lake, check out this video series from the Cervelo Test Team, especially episode 5 on Flanders. Filled with juicy tidbits on what goes on behind the scenes in pro cycling, its required viewing for serious fans of the sport.

It also makes me happy to own a couple of Cervelos. The history of that company is inspiring. Part 1 examines the company history, which was basically two guys with no money, living a spartan lifestyle and trying to build bikes. Asked about the sacrifices they had to make during that period, Gérard Vroomen answers "none". Follow your passion and things like food and lodging matter little. Great stuff.

Beyond the Peloton

Bike Racing

For your rest day entertainment, here's a good article on the doping and the difference between how cycling as sport is viewed in Europe compared to America. It's from SI, whose coverage of cycling is generally banal at best. This explains why, in part. Having read all the books referenced, I can recommend it as a short amalgamation of the lot.

Tour de France, cycling a clash of cultures for Americans, Europeans

Here's a taste:

"Any 7-year-old Flemish schoolchild," Bob Roll has written, "knows 100 times more about cycling than all Americans combined." They know the sacrifice -- that, simply to train, a pro will log enough mileage each year to circumnavigate the earth. They know the suffering -- that Rene Vietto's toe, lost to sepsis during the 1947 season, sits in embalming fluid in a jar over a bar in Marseille. They know the fate that four Tour winners have wound up suicides, and that 1998 champion Marco Pantani shot himself up vocationally and avocationally and, finally, tragically. Moreover, they know the positives, raids and confessions that have implicated at some point during their careers half of the 18 men to win the Tour since 1974. They've read the corpus of European journalism devoted to doping in cycling, some of which implicates Armstrong, and find it more human and persuasive than any clinical positive test. They've heard the testimony of repentant dopers like France's Philippe Gaumont, who rubbed salt on his testicles until they bled so he could get a prescription for otherwise-banned cortisone; Ireland's Paul Kimmage, who after describing a drug-riddled sport in his book Rough Ride returned to the Tour with a press credential and was advised to leave because organizers couldn't guarantee his safety; and Spain's Jesus Manzano, who after an against-the-rules transfusion mid-Tour, which turned out to be of someone else's blood, suffered a seizure that nearly killed him.

The Duty Free Sandbag of Andorra

Today's stage of le Tour finishes in Andorra. Looks beautiful, no? That's what we thought, too, but our experience was different.

Romney examines Andorra on her blog.

In part, "Andorra is a sandbag. If you took Las Vegas, NYC, and Vail and put all three areas into Little Cottonwood Canyon you would end up with Andorra la Vella - and that's the best part. Okay, the setting is lovely (you keep trying to think), but what the French politely describe as a "hard edge of tax evaders" was really just a beautiful geography made grotesque by money and greed. Driving through was disappointing, but the appalling nature of what is being constructed and the high end retail of fashion and cars allowed room for amazement, if not actual enjoyment. Instead of stopping in this place for even a souvenir magnet we stayed in bumper-to-bumper traffic to roll through as quickly as possible to the freedom, beauty, and sunshine of the Cataluya Region of Spain."

It is, however, quite steep. Today's finale should be painful for the riders and fun to watch. But for once, I'm actually glad I'm not there.