Wannabe Bike Girl

The Giro is over and that makes me sad, though it also reminds me that I have other things to do. Like, oh, get a job. But, seriously, if I could do something with cycling for a living? I’d be happy. So happy.

Anyway. I should talk about the stage. No live!Giro for me and I actually had to tape the stage coverage because my sister and I went out to see The Day After Tomorrow (lots of fun). But I watched it when I got back and, oh, I do love Petacchi. One of the best things was watching him stop peddling before he crossed the line. He looked back, that one look, and then he knew he had it. It was so much fun to watch. And it was replayed so many times. I think the best views were when you could actually see how fast he was going, how he just flew off the front of the pack. That man is something else.

And now it’s over. Gibo lost (I’d like to be sad about it, but…). Damiano won. Fabian won, and if I wasn’t so lazy, I could look up the other guy. But I’m feeling lazy. I’m mostly pleased about Fabian and Petacchi. It was fun to watch (most) of the Giro. It just reaffirmed my love for cycling. Fed the obsession, kept it going.

I suppose I have more, but my mind is all over the place. This damn cold has clogged my ears and my concentration is mostly nonexistent. I think I’m supposed to talk about the TdF next. Ahh, yes. My picks.

Well, this is complicated. I pretty much want Vino to win. Something like Vino, Jan, Brad or Vino, Tyler, Brad. Now, I wouldn’t be disappointed if Lance won (and, when the tour finally rolls around, I might even be cheering for him, who knows?), but I’m more of a Vino kind of fangirl than Lance. Maybe it’s the blond hair and good looks, maybe it’s the underdog style of his, or maybe it’s fact that he did so much last year with so little help from his team. Whatever it is, Vino is my tour pick for 2004.

And I guess that sums it up for me, for now at least.

The title of this post doesn’t explain anything, I know. Well, it does to me, but that’s not really the point. What the title means is what cycling means, or, rather, part of why I love it so much.

I’ve been sick recently (sick enough to manage only part of a big trance-filled weekend … My $70 VIP tickets did not, in fact, go to waste. I did get to watch Armin spin. But that’s a post for another blog, or something. I’ll just push my other obsessions out of here for now.) and so I’ve managed to miss live coverage on both Thursday (when I slept through most of it) and Friday (out of town). I woke up in time to read the live coverage (somehow I missed that the official Giro site (English version) has live video) on cyclingnews, so I knew what was going to happen before OLN’s coverage started (not that I don’t love OLN, because I adore them. I want to work for them, please. Um. Right, back to point).

So, at four (I was at the store at 3:30) I turned on OLN and settled into bed to watch. Well, even though I knew Gibo hadn’t won the stage and Fabian had (thankfully!) managed to win the Maglia verde, it was pretty exciting to watch. The crowds totally blew my mind. I had no idea how close they were to the riders (like Gibo and Damiano). It reminded me, of course, of the TdF. In more ways than one, actually. And the Vuelta, although that was because I managed to miss the live video feed on the Vuelta site as well. But the excitement was similar to the last day when I, being the loyal Baden!girl that I am, followed along at cyclingnews and listed to Bob, Phil, and Paul on OLN and then watched the final stage later in the afternoon.

It was just really fun to watch the race, even though I knew who won. It was really interesting to see all the Italian fans yelling and screaming and getting in the way of both the motor bikes and the cyclists. Scary stuff. But, oh, I’d love to be up there some day.

As for the stage itself? I spent a lot of it hoping Damiano could keep the Maglia rosa without taking away Fabian’s Maglia verde. My friend and I spent much of the last parts of the stage trying to figure out how many points Damiano needed and who was in front of him. In the end, though, it worked out perfectly. Although not for Gibo. Three seconds and he would have been second. And then there was all the stuff he said to Damiano the previous day, although Paul or Phil mentioned that he apologized.

I can’t imagine that Damiano will stay with Saeco for long, though. Too many top riders on one team and you’ll end up like T-Mobile. A team that I love, but a team that pisses me off. I suppose I should explain that, later, though.

Regardless. Tomorrow is all about Petacchi. Although I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t complain if, oh, one of the Gerol!boys managed a win. Or even that Brad McGee guy. Right. Nine wins would be amazing, though. I suppose I can’t go too wrong tomorrow.

I’ve been avoiding posting here. I have so much to talk about and not nearly enough time. Okay, really, once I got behind, I just let it build up. But here I am. Among the many changes I’ve made, posting my opinions more often is one of them.

Today’s opinion is one that really has no feet in reality. And then, at the end, an observation about my favorite team, or lack thereof.

As most of you (are there any of you? do I even care enough? I don’t know) probably saw, Brad McGee and the rest of the FDJ team were charged a 20-second race penalty for towing Brad and Matt.

Now, I haven’t been a fan of cycling for that long, but one thing that I do know is that Brad McGee isn’t one to mince words. He proved that to me the first time I visited his site. But he did it again with his article about doping: “Looks like we got another 80s Man. ”

Now, what I want to know — as both a fan of cycling and FDJ, is what is going on? Why would Brad lie? To me (it to a lot of people, I assume) it seems if he was guilty, he’d admit it. After all, Gayant admitted he towed Matt (poor boy). But why Brad? He knows he’d surely be caught (and he wasn’t the first one), plus, he’s trying to prove that he can stay in the top on his own.

Or maybe I just don’t like the idea of a cycling boy I love being treated in such a way.

And aren’t there tapes? I’m sure the Italian coverage has the incident on tape. But then again, this isn’t football, where you can go back and review calls. Although I know sometimes they do it at the finish, like when Robbie McEwen have a few points and some time removed. So maybe they could go clear it up.

But what do I know? I’m just a fan.

And speaking of being a fan. That brings me to the second part of this post. Favorite teams. I used to say that FDJ was my favorite team, but I discovered (with a little help from my friends) that I was wrong. Just like with my favorite cyclists, things changed. For a while it was USPS, then CSC, then FDJ. But, in reality, I don’t have a favorite team.

I have favorite riders. I have favorite riders on FDJ, T-Mobile, CSC, QSD, BLB, Gerolsteiner, AG2r, and others. Not to mention the GS II and III teams (Lamonta and Acqua & Sapone for example). I guess that when it comes to team sports, my true loyalties lie with the Ohio State Buckeyes (college American football), the Cleveland Indians (baseball) and the Cleveland Browns (NFL). Although, I’m usually one to root for FDJ.

It’s those Australians, really. And Thomas and Phil. And Bernhard. And I could go on, but I won’t. Because, my favorite team? All the teams.

Judging from my location (Michigan) you’d assume that I’d be happy with the results of Stage Nine. Well, you’d be wrong. I’m happy for Freddy (though sad about the other Fredy — whose crash we saw on tape. Poor guy. At least it appears that he’s not too severely injured.), but he is riding for Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo, which is Gerhard Trampusch’s team.

I’m not sure I want to have that rant quite yet (although I did learn a few things about who A&S are working for — were working for), so I’ll save it. Instead I’ll talk about my cycling priorities.

As an American, I fell victim to what I’ve decided to call ‘Lance-Syndrome.’ What is it? The ability to ignore all other American, much less non-American, riders and think that the Tour de France is the only race. So, the first time I watched the tour, I fell for Lance and USPS. It was easy, since it’s US coverage. I didn’t like Ullrich (I still don’t, but that’s yet another topic to be covered) or Vino (oh, how things have changed). I wanted Lance to win.

And then I discovered Tyler. So now it was Lance and Tyler. But as the tour progressed, there were these other riders. Mostly Baden Cooke and David Millar. I’ve moved on from David, but Baden led me to other things — other teams and riders. Just to get things straight, I do have a favorite rider (and since I love lists, I’ll make on in a second). But none of my top riders are American. And, excluding football and baseball, of my top three remaining sports (cycling, golf, and tennis) two out of three favorites? Aren’t American (tennis is the exception, where I am, predictably, a fan of Andy Roddick).

So, what makes an American girl fall in love with European and Australian cyclists?

I wish I knew. Although I suppose a lot of it is superficial. But even deeper than that, there’s something about the boys (and yes, I call them boys) that I adore. Their kits, the way they ride. The fact that they don’t all speak English. And maybe a lot of it has to do with the fact that they aren’t American.

I know this post is mostly about me, rather than the stage or the sport. But it helps me to get this stuff out. No tour predictions, well, at least not yet. Anyway.

The Favorites (and yes, the first four are in order)

Matthew Wilson (AUS)

Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)

Christian Werner (GER)

Jurgen Van Goolen (BEL)

Frank Høj (DEN)

Anthony Geslin (FRA)

Gerhard Trampush (AUT)

Baden Cooke (AUS)

Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ)

Andreas Welsch (GER)

Sure, there are others who I adore, but those are my top favorites. I suppose, eventually I have to make a list of the rest of my favorites, but this is it for now.

Stage Eight of the Giro D’Italia is over, I know who won (Petacchi, of course) and I’m pleased. But I must confess that, though I don’t actually like Cipo, I am sad that this might have been his last race. And that’s completely uncharacteristic of me. There are at least five sprinters (oh, so you want names? Just wait.) who I adore more than Cipo.

But I still find it upsetting that he might be leaving. I was trying to figure out why, earlier. And I think that, since I’ve become enamored with cycling (and I can even tell you the date, if you like), Cipo is the man everyone talks about. Which might be why I shied away from him (and, of course, for very superficial reasons). But then again, there are those five others.

So, perhaps it’s just sadness that a big name (like when Johan Museeuw retired just recently) is leaving the peloton. Or maybe I’m just sentimental. Either way, it’s sad.

Now, that list.

Sarah’s Top Five Sprinters (in no particular order):

Cooke

Petacchi

Boonen

Zabel

Foerster*

Next time? I have this rant about Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo not (visibly) working for Gerhard Trampush. And, oh, there’s so much more I could talk about. Like T-Mobile and why I don’t care if Lance wins six. But I’ll stop for now.

*Robert. As in rides for Gerol.