Utah proud !!

today was the 3rd road stage of the tour of california and for the third day in a row these guys had to race over 100 miles in the rain, the stage started out in san jose and went over the mountain to modesto. it was only a few moments out of the neutral area that a 4 man break started and in this break was our very own jeff louder, winner of the tour of utah last year. we are well represented in this race of international super stars, dave zabriski, and burke swindlehurst are also there, dave is currently in the 4th position and with the solvang time trial coming up who knows maybe the kid will surprize some people.

today was louders though, no he didnt win the stage, thor hushovd of Norway took the win in a sprint finish, but jeff was on the break all the way to the circuit around town when the peloton finally swept them up, im taking a lowder sign to palomar for sure. the picture above is the break with lowder in the lead.

thor is one of the fastest bike racers in the world with multiple stage wins in all three grand tours and a number of wins in the classics, hes one of the guys i pull for when it comes down to a sprint finish. above is a picture of thor after getting cut, by of all things a sign some one was holding out at a stage during the tour of france a couple of years ago, as you can see he was wearing the yellow jersey when it happened. ever notice that a non french man wearing yellow at their superbowl seems to always be in jeopardy some way or another. the french, oohh lala..

above is the race coming across the golde gate bridge, pretty cool picture, ive been on the bridge a couple of times and its funny as shit, there are these phones every so often that connect directly to suicide prevention operators, i guess that would be one way to go eh ?
so it looks like i will be making it to oceanside friday to hang with my friends and watch the aliens climb palomar on sunday, seems kj has me in a place right on the beach, at the end of the strand in oceanside, however.... for some reason my fork and shock will not be back from push until next week some time, talked to ote and found this out, im not sure what the hell is going on but quentin is stepping up again and letting me take the pivot mach five with me from the shop, i dont know what i would do if they hadnt let me ride some bikes lately, not being able to mountain bike is starting to drive me mad !!!

thats pua sawicki, the national 24 hr champion, i met her and ron (husband) at the stage race in brianhead that i won last summer. i showed them my story and they invited me in their trailer and after talking for a while we became quick friends, theyre great people, we hung out again the next week at the national finals and again at interbike. well i received an email last night and i have been invited to her birthday ride and bash in fullerton california and its this saturday. i love it when things come together like this. i cant wait to see them and this will be a great trip to cal, i need to get away, hang with good people drink good beer and play with my dog on the beach. i should have lots to blog about so stay tuned, oh yeah i rode the ibis today, intervals, fuck , they are painful !!!