Wannabe Bike Girl

Germany's Heinrich Haussler celebrates with his trophy following the final stage of the Tour of Qatar.

Just taking stuff off of Velonews, because lazy blogger is lazy (and tired, and depressed and a million other things that come with work two jobs, both of which occasionally end up being completely soul-sucking).

First off, a small breakthrough in the Zabriskie robbery case. Apparently police arrested someone they think is connected. I really, really hope that they find whoever is responsible. I think it’s pretty shitty that someone so obviously targeted and stole all of Zabriskie’s stuff.

Second, and happier: Velonews ran a cute little interview with a rider I like, Heinrich Haussler. I don’t know why, but I especially enjoyed this little bit where he said “I just want to keep winning.” Of course he does — and I hope he does, though not at the expense of, say, Gerald Ciolek or Sylvain Chavanel. A girl has to have her priorities.

After not having watched a single stage since the second stage (because they are all conveniently on when I am working, isn’t that awesome?), I am watching the final stage. I actually actively didn’t make any effort to watch (as in recording the stages), not because I didn’t care, because I like it when Mark Cavendish wins things. But because I do not like Levi Leipheimer. And now I’m sitting here (taking a break from what I should be doing (aka cleaning) and thinking “wouldn’t it be great if Levi lost this race?” The answer is, of course, yes. I know that I don’t have a good reason not to like Leipheimer, aside from him being on Astana and Armstrong’s teammate (which is more than enough reason, now that I think about it). My reasons are several, superfically, I don’t like him because I don’t like the way he looks. Everyone has these reactions to people, it says nothing about how they behave or whatever, so there’s that. It’s not a huge reason, but I’m not going to pretend that Leipheimer is, oh, Gerald Ciolek or Sylvain Chavanel. But the other reason is less rational and more, well, lame.  He’s never done anything that I liked. He always gets in the way of people I actually like (Chris Horner does this all the time, too and I still am bitter about it).

But at the same time, there was a period in my life when I did like Armstrong. Hell, everyone I know has gone through it — some of them have never left it, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is that even when I did like Armstrong, Hamilton and later Landis, I never ever liked Leipheimer. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. And the fact that he’s about to win this race for the third time? UGH. I had this problem with Armstrong (and it’s partly why I resent his coming back) and dominating a race. Not just within the race, but year after year. It’s boring, it’s lame and it shouldn’t happen (I say that, but I guess if it was someone I liked, I might feel differently, but then again, it isn’t).

So, Mr. Leipheimer. I hope something happens and somehow you don’t win. I guess I’ll get back to cleaning, since technically I’m not actually watching the tv, just listening to it.

Thanks for the great birthday gift, Mark Cavendish. I totally appreciate it.

I have to admit, I’ve forgotten just how many cyclists I don’t like. And god, there are so many. Please go away, guys. And that means you: Ivan Basso, Armstrong, Hamilton, Landis, et al. I don’t like you and you ruin my fun.

I have a giant crush on Gerald Ciolek. And today he won the 5th stage of the Challenge Volta a Mallorca because he is awesome. That is all.

Oh, wait. There’s also this picture.

This is not quite the video embedded on the page, but close enough. A friend shared this with me and it’s absolutely hilarious and adorable.

Behind the scenes at Team Columbia-Highroad with Adam Hansen