I managed to find a little pink on my ride yesterday, in the late Ed Burke’s old neighborhood next to Palmer Park.
It was a typical May day in Bibleburg — start the ride wearing two long-sleeve jerseys, leg warmers, wool socks, long-fingered gloves and a tuque, finish wishing you’d left all that winter crap at home. And this was a 90-minute ride, mind you. More of the same today, with temps in the mid-40s, 76 percent humidity and more rain in the forecast.
Meanwhile, big props to Aussie Matt Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto), who soloed to victory in today’s Giro stage after shelling break-mate Rubens Bertogliati (Androni). And chapeau to Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions), who scored the red jersey.
I lent a hand to the live coverage over at VeloNews.com today, but the real heavy lifting commences tomorrow. After a full shift in the VeloBarrel on Saturday it’s full-tilt boogie starting Sunday, when we have the Amgen Tour of California and the Giro running concurrently. I won’t have a day off until a week from Tuesday. Good times.
Mad Blog Media 
Wow…imagine that having to work for a few days…..wah-mbulance is coming to the Dog Haus!
All kidding aside: have a fun time covering the ToC. I might send a capture or two your way on Sunday. Seeing as the race finishes a mere half a block away, I don’t see why I would miss it. I will try and rock the OGWGFIWRT jersey in case some TV pundit seems to sense that I’m your ‘typical’ cycling fan. Oh and I won’t be cheering for ‘the cyclist who shall not be named.’ I might yell a few things at him that won’t make it in to print, but heck I can have fun, right?
Working for a living ain’t so bad once you realize that you need to swallow your pride…..
Hey, James,
By all means, if you’re out and about, shoot me a capture or two. Hell, take one of yourself rockin’ that Fat Guy kit. The punters love stuff like that. God knows I do.
And since I’m gonna be working some of the live updates during ATOC, I need all the help I can get. I’m not nearly as skilled at running the live as Charles Pelkey, who pretty much has the patent on that gig. But he’s tied up running the Giro updates and being a lawyer and stuff, so I’m calling in favors from all my people in California. Don’t make me come out there. …
Patrick: Not to sound like a broken record, but you, CFP, and The Eurohoody (his name requires a capitalized “the”) have somethin’ good going on. Please consider this as a permanent gig for all live text coverage. To whom at Competitor should I write to sing your praises and encourage a raise?
The Tour of California needs all the help it can get to become better known. The possibilities are limitless. We need another good stage race in the States. Thanks for doing your part Pat, and thanks to Versus for showing some of it. Happy belated Anniversary to you and Herself !
Hey, Jeff,
Thanks for the attaboy. I wasn’t able to contribute much to today’s live, as I was working the stage report and a bunch of other stuff. But CP and Hoody had things well in hand, as usual. That was a fun stage to watch, if a tad confusing. It looked like a cyclo-cross as designed by M.C. Escher with an assist from Timothy Leary and the Marquis de Sade.
Doug, VN has a ton of people in California for the ATOC, so if it doesn’t get better known after this year, it won’t be our fault. We got word, video and still-photo types all over this bad boy. It would be a great time to burgle the VN HQ, because there don’t be nobody there. And thanks for the anniversary shoutout.