One month later...

It has been a while since I posted on this blog and I am sorry for that. Not that I have been too busy, I couldn't lie, but the last month was a little "odd" for me. After months of struggle with some thoughts on personal issues (not marital), I decided to face that I am not a teenager anymore and shouldn't be one for my entire life.

I am not saying that I am going to change overnight but I will work efficiently to grow and reach adulthood by 2015. I will then, reverse the process and work towards becoming a teenager again by 2020 when I will be retired and will be spending more time riding bikes with Sandra, hopefully up some mountain passes in Southern Europe. Looking forward to that!!

Now, for an interesting issue that we are witnessing, quoting the incredible collapse of the US financial institution, I am only surprised that it didn't happen sooner. I am also surprised that we are not having the same problems here, but that could be a matter of time. I am not qualified to talk or write about that so I am going to leave it to the experts but, as I see a nation (and other nations as everyone wants to have an opinion) divided with the agree and the don't agree on the US$700 billion bailout of Wall Street, I need to throw in my 2 cents.

My solution is simple, get the US Government to ask every American tax payer (and some very concerned experts around here) to vote and decide it in a democratic way. Those who vote Yes! would then have their income tax increased by 10 or 15%, for the number of years necessary to repay the cash .

Would the Agree folks change their mind? I think so... fast, very fast!!

Pro cycling

In cycling, I can recall the Vuelta, the Worlds, the new teams for 2009, all the shuffling of riders and now the news of Lance Armstrong's return to Pro cycling.

Vuelta a Espana - Viva Alberto

The last grand tour of the year was an amazing event. Not as popular as the previous two but equally, or more exciting in my view. Exciting for the inclusion of the Alto de l'Angliru and the 17 km ITT to Alto de Nevacerrada . Perhaps an opinion not shared by David Millar...

Looking at the results, one must imagine what the TdF would have been if the Astana Team had been allowed to enter - Astana x CSC/Saxon Bank.

The Worlds

Erik's last, I read somewhere. And Voigt wasn't there, a friend of mine complained... Agree, but to me, it was sad not seeing Cancellara. Nevertheless, an amazingly hard course, an impossible to beat Squadra Azurre, a wrongful inclusion of McEwen in the Aussie squad and a disorganised Spanish team made it possible for the Azurre double, with Cunego. Possibly, made a little easier by racing on their homeland, too.

Sandra and I watched last year's Championship in Germany. It was huge, I mean huge. We loved it, but it couldn't be as big as in Italy, land of Colnago, Fausto, Campagnolo, Il Pirata and now, home of Ballan, the 2008 Campionissimo.

Ballan's victorious attack

And we can't forget Nicole Cook's win in the women's road race, backing up her Olympic Gold medal...

Riders re-shuffle for 2009

It is normal for Pro riders to start looking for new contracts at this time of the year. Usually, they sign two year contracts with the teams and most renew them once or twice before moving on. This year, partially because of the association of the sport with drugs, a few major sponsors decided to pull the pin, resulting on the termination of a couple of major teams also.

In the other hand, new teams get formed. In 2009, another major team, formed by the Cervelo guys, will be entering the competition. The Test Team, they call it, will have aussie Sunderland as DS and will be headed by Sastre. But lets wait a couple of weeks for the full lists to come out and find out who is riding for which team in 2009.

Lance will be back

Well, that's also interesting. I am not sure why he's coming back. I heard, cancer awareness was the reason, which would be a good thing. As long as he doesn't spend US$15 million to set up a team and raise US$8 million for the Livestrong Foundation.

My training and racing

As I said, it was an odd month, or couple of months. Due to a series of events, including the incident with the van, my focus on training and racing disappeared. I missed or was going to miss some great events so I could not see any point on getting on the bike... Well, not like that. I did keep riding and racing but just for a bit of fun. Without any pressure. And that was a good thing. If it was cold or I was tired, I just stayed in bed.

My shoulder injury is still there. I might need more time away from hard training and some races for now.

The last few rides have been with the Mt Nebo friends, Wednesdays for fast efforts on the series of inclines and Thursdays for strenght work (slow cadence on the 53) on the same hills, all fun. That is all a pre-training program as I am about to start the preparation for the 2008 Tour of Bright.

In fact, I haven't decided if I am going to Bright or not and still haven't decided if I am going to keep racing the bike, or not. For now, I will keep riding (hard sometimes) and having fun.

A Grade at Lakeside: Finishing top 6, officials don't give a s..t!

B-day gifts, Yeah!!

My B-day Dinner (1), Yeah!!