Wannabe Bike Girl

I try pretty hard not to take the sports I love personally and about half of the time it works out. But there are some things (a embarrassing loss by a team or a player) that just get to me. Most recently (aside from the fact that Andy Roddick lost last night and the Indians lost today) the thing that’s been bothering me the most is the whole transfer situation surrounding Christian Werner — aka my favorite cyclist.

Now, I am grateful that he hasn’t been suspended for doping, etc. But I’m really unhappy that he hasn’t found a team yet. In all of the articles I translate (as best I can using altavista, as I don’t speak German), he has not had an offer. The longer he goes without an offer, the more I worry. Now, I know he could go to Akud or Lamonta and I’ve stated previously where I’d like him to go. But it seems he only wants to go to a protour team. And if he doesn’t go, he says that he’ll go work for his dad.

I know I said earlier that I wasn’t sure if Christian didn’t want his contract renewed or not, well, it seems pretty clear to me that he wanted it renewed. He’s looking hard for a contract and, well, coming up empty (at least according to the articles I read). I would have hoped that cyclingnews would cover this, as they were so ready and willing to tell us what stomach problems Tom Boonen had last year. But it seems that since Christian doesn’t win, they can’t be bothered. Why yes, I am a little bitter. But I suppose that happens when a girl finds a favorite athlete (some of you may remember my anger, last year, at Sylvain Chavanel for moving to Cofidis) or two.

I hope that if Christian doesn’t get a protour offer (and there are teams looking for riders, there always are), he won’t quit. But I don’t know. And I have to confess that it makes me really sad. Though he wouldn’t be the first favorite player of mine to stop playing, then again the other three retired (Bernie Kosar, Charlie Nagy and Joe Montana). I just hope that he figures things out. I mean both Gerhard Trampusch and David Kopp have done pretty well after leaving the ranks of the protour (though it wasn’t the protour when they left). But, still. Ugh.

And now my boy, Nadal, is having some issues. Argh.

Music: Nadal v. Jenkins on USA

I’ve been a bit awol as I’ve moved down near Detroit to attend grad school (which starts on the sixth of September). But I’m online (such as it is) and have been following all the transfer trials and tribulations.

I am very happy that Vino has decided to go to Liberty. I’ve spent a lot of time becoming acquainted with their team and their U23 team. And, man, these boys are pretty good. The U23 ones especially. Oscar Garcia has been winning several races, and Jose Joaquin Rojas (neo-pro with Liberty in the fall) is doing pretty well. And, of course, the week I started following these guys, Jose Antonio Redondo went pro and has been doing a fair job racing on the pro-team. I’m proud of these boys. And, of course, the pro team offers up good riders (Allan Davis and Alberto Contador, for example) as well. It’s nice to have another team to follow as my current favorite has fallen apart.

Of all the riders that I love on T-Mobile (Jan Ullrich is excluded because he’s Jan) only three remain, and one of them (Andreas Klier) will probably retire in the next few years. That leaves Andreas Kloeden and Bas Giling. Vino’s gone to Liberty and it looks like Erik Zabel will be going to some incarnation of Domina. I’m really happy about that because I like Petacchi and Zabel on the same team. I know it’s weird, but I like the idea (though it’ll probably never happen) that if Petacchi isn’t racing, his train’ll be used for Zabel. Maybe Erik can win a few more races this way. Also, with Erik taking a German sponsor (or so it seems) with him, perhaps my Christian Werner will go as well.

Yeah. Another favorite rider of mine is changing teams. Unlike last year with Sylvain, I don’t know if this was Christian’s choice. I doubt it, but that’s just a feeling I have. I don’t know where he’s going, and from what I’ve been able to (poorly) translate from German articles, he doesn’t know either. All I’ve figured out is that he wants to go stay on a protour team or not race at all (and god, I hope I’m translating the article wrong). I really want him to go wherever Erik goes. I do not, though, want him to go to Davitamon or Quickstep.

Speaking of Quickstep. I spent much of yesterday trying to find an article about Lefevere’s views on one of my favorite boys. I couldn’t find the article, but I did find out that I don’t think I made it up. There is this lovely Belgian cyclist named Jurgen van Goolen. He and Boonen were promoted as the next big thing in Belgian cycling and Tom was the only one who seems to have lived up to that. I won’t speculate as to why Jurgen hasn’t, but he hasn’t. For various reasons, I don’t think that QS was the best place for him and it seemed (if I could ever find that article) that Lefevere agreed with me. At first Jurgen was linked with Davitamon and it seemed almost certain that’s where he was going, much to my chagrin. But just when I thought I’d gotten used to it, it turns out that he’s not going there. In fact, he is going to Discovery. I cannot even begin to explain how happy that makes me. He’ll get to ride, to work hard and have a team that respects him. All things about Armstrong aside, Discovery is a good team that cares about it’s riders. And, well, I am almost certain that’s what Jurgen needs. And I’m pleased that Discovery has taken him under their wing.

There are other things, but that’s pretty much all I wanted to talk about. So far nothing has really upset me too much (well, not yet … The jury is still out on what is going to happen to Christian) and I hope it stays that way.

Music: law and order