Oh yeah. Word comes from New Mexico that this year’s chile crop should be killer. Hatch Valley farmer Jimmy Lytle told The Associated Press that his crop is about two weeks ahead of schedule and he hasn’t had “any problems whatsoever.” I can’t wait. I went through last year’s chile more rapidly than expected and have been making do with whatever I can find fresh at the grocery plus (ick) canned. It just ain’t the same.
The parade into Paris is on as we speak. Ho hum. Out comes the champagne. A quick sip for the cameras and the plastic cups get tossed. What a waste of good wine. The only suspense remaining is who wins the finale on the Champs-Élysées. I’d love to see Thor Hushovd pip Mark Cavendish, but I think one of his teammates would have to grab a fistful of the little bastard’s jersey for it to happen.*
Meanwhile, a real race is going on right here in Colorado — the World Championship Pack-Burro Race in Fairplay, a 29-mile out-and-back footrace for men and jackasses alike to the top of 13,185-foot Mosquito Pass and back. My man Hal Walter is in the thick of it with his burro, Laredo, and you’ll be able to read all about it sometime in the next day or so at Hardscrabble Times.
* Jeebus. Mark Renshaw gassed it so hard out of that final corner he sucked all the oxygen out of Garmin-Slipstream’s lungs. That Manx git can flat make a bike hop.
Mad Blog Media 
I’d like to see Mighty Thor slay the ManxMissile on the Champs too but I won’t hold my breath. In fact I think I’ll go out and ride my own damn bike and watch the replay of the 30 seconds of interesting race action later, rather than endure hours of Shiggett and Lerwen’s blathering. Are these two employed by Chance Legstrong? And does this year’s French TV director (the guy who chooses which camera shot to show and when on the international video feed) have ADHD? He flits from one camera to another so quickly ol’ Shill gets confused –and I have to admit I sometimes do as well.
Thank god for Bob Roll !
I have a friend coming out to Bibleburg from Iowa tomorrow…. He’s never had green chile before. I’m thinking of introducing him to Western Omelet and green chile for breakfast.
This could be entertaining.
I hope the waitress at Western Omelet offer’s him a sample first. Otherwise, you may loose a friend.
I’ll keep that in mind…. I’ll also take him somewhere that has a bit milder of a green chile.
“…Otherwise, you may loose a friend.”
If he’s not used to our state food, he sure might be loosened.
Speaking of someone who needs to be less full of shit, did you guys catch this? No wonder the podium seemed rather frigid.
http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/96014/armstrong-skips-party-honoring-contador
Never trust anyone who starts a sentence with “To be honest …”
Just read Hal’s last blog entry. Love that pack burro racing is Colorado’s only indigenous sport. Sort of like Maryland’s state sport of jousting. Always good to remind folks that puny humans knew how to have fun before the invention of football and ESPN.
Not sure what happened to Garmin on the last turn. Maybe Cav is unbeatable, but we’ll never know if Tyler never gets a straight up crack at it. Bad lines and the like took him out of it the last three times, maybe the last four.
I saw the overhead of that leadout … Renshaw just flat hit the afterburners on that final corner, the Garmin boys touched the brakes, and it was hasta la vista muchachos. Haven’t seen an ass-whuppin’ like that since Nixon-McGovern.
Another year of Le Tour and I didn’t see one nano-second of it live. Followed the whole thing online through VN. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Now it’s time for me to go back to work between 8am and lunch.
Way to go, AC. However, the Tour’s not really over until all the testing is done, oui?
Good to know the chiles will be good this year. We’ll gather all the New Mexican ex-pats here in the PetroMetro to grill, peel, stuff, dip in batter and fry ’til crunchy on the outside, spicy on the inside. What doesn’t become a relleno goes into salsa, soup, enchiladas, on burgers, on eggs, and in my father-in-law’s oatmeal (he has it that way at least once a week). It burns soooooooo goooooood.
What’s this Ol’ What’s His Name not being a team player? Oh pushah!! “He’s a consumate pro” all his chamois fans will tweet. Yep…up until someone younger, faster and better looking comes along.
Then he’s the JA* of the peloton!
I wonder how much they’ll be paying people to ride on ‘his’ team next year??
*Jennifer Aniston, or more likely, Brad Pitt’s biotch.
Patrick,
Chile season is a 365 affair! It just matters how much you want to pay for it. Enjoy the hot days with some hot peppers!
I watched the helicopter shot in slow mo, and it sure looked like Renshav/Cav got a dozen pedal turns in while Dean/Farrar were coasting through that last turn. Even if they hit the brakes, can’t figure out why it took Dean so long to start pedaling again … unless, like the rest of us, he was just in awe of watching Cav’s butt getting smaller and smaller so quickly.
The biggest joy I get out of the end of the Tour is that I don’t have to endure any more Ex-tendz and other male-dysfunction commercials while trying to watch snippets of the race. Makes you wonder who they think watches Versus–a bunch of middle aged men with flaccid tool kits and plugged up bladders who would rather be watching TV than riding their bikes.
Speaking of…I had an amazingly frustrating ride yesterday morning. Got down through White Rock and was climbing out of Ancho Canyon headed to Bandelier and one of my chain links started binding up. Loosened it up on the road and then headed down to the Bandelier snack bar to pick up some Gatorade and wash the grease out of my hands and gloves. Then the damn thing started binding again on the climb up to Los Alamos, so had to free up a frozen bushing again. Finally made it home bypassing the climb up to Valles Caldera and soft-pedaling with the thing hopping and me cussing every time it went through the rear derailleur. Tossed it and put in a spare.
Guess I better travel with a couple spare master links and a short length of spare chain.
Geez, the post about Versus and their target demographic is kinda scary, but I’m sure they know who watches their programs. My guess is the same ads run during moat, if not all of their programming which (from what I’ve read) is mostly bull-riding, and who-in-the-hell watches that? Probably the guys described above! Perhaps that’s why the Versus commentary team was so ridiculously gung-ho for ol’ BigTex instead of any of those young whippersnappers trying to beat him?
Nope…truth be told the Vs. coverage of anything sucks. They could take any exciting sport and turn it in to the most boring fiasco known to man-kind. But Khal’s description of their demographic is about right since the only dude/etts who can afford that stuff they are advertising are boomers. They have the $$$ so that’s what the rest of us get to watch…male tool enhancements and bladder exan reminders.
Makes me yearn for the good ol’ days….
James, if that’s what boomers have degenerated into, then all I can say is bring on the next 15 km diameter asteroid.