2009 Tour de France

As previously stated, I'm one of the few experience cyclists who is not a fan of Lance Armstrong. I don't think he's won his seven TDF trophies "clean". I do not believe it is possible to race at that level after cancer has taken one testicle. Lesser talented riders have tried to win that race and failed. I've stated all of this before, so let's move on to this current edition of the grand tour.

In the summer of 2008 Lance decided that he could still "compete" with the current crop of top racers and challenge them to win the TDF for yet another unprecedented eighth time. Considering how he's won seven (I believe with chemical assistance), I'm sure he feels he can accomplish this feat. Lance has never been a humble guy (except for a period after suffering facing death with his bought with cancer). Most of his fans weren't around when he displayed is arrogance while riding to victory in the world championship road race in 1993.

Many of us US cyclists knew that his fist pumping at the finish would be not well received by cycling fans. I called it the display of the ugly American.

I personally won't forget his berating of racers in the chase group during the 1996 Olympic road race in Atlanta. Blasting them for not helping to tow him to the break where they knew he was likely the Superior sprinter. It's just not done like that. Who could blame them. Was he frustrated? Certainly. Should he have been surprised? Definitely not. Races develop in ways that aren't always conducive to the best or strongest rider winning. Especially single day events where riders aren't racing in their normal teams with friendly teammates. That's just a fact. Especially in the Olympics. I was embarrassed as an American to witness his total lack of respect for the other riders and disrespect for the fans who witnessed the show. The real insult was that Lance's teammate, Frankie Andreau, was in the break and Lance wanted his chase group partners to chase him down. This goes against all protocol and ethics in bicycle racing.

Now we have a situation which has been allowed to brew for a year where Lance returns to his former team which already contains Alberto Contador, who's considered the top favorite to win the Tour. This is Lance's pure ego at work. A complete lack of respect for not only Alberto but he has put his teammates in a position of having to chose sides within the team. How Johan Bruyneel is expected to manage this situation is beyond me. Armstrong gives the appearance of taking the high road in front of the media (Frankie Andreau no less) but even in his constructed statements it's obvious that there's a problem brewing. I cheered when he attacked on the final climb at Andorre Arcalis. I don't care how Johan and Armstrong dress this up with their comments. Alberto made a statement. That statement is "I have the number one on my race number. I'm the team leader". He broke ranks and everyone knows it. Armstrong created this situation. Winning the TDF seven times wasn't enough for his ego.

I just don't see the positive in Armstrong's decision to do race the tour in this fashion. He has a record seven wins. But will he really go down in history as a great rider? A TDF great, no doubt. But the true greats in cycling do a lot more than win the TDF. The greats win Spring Classic races. They win the other Grand Tours (Giro and Vuelta). Personally, the doping issue aside, Armstrong would have been better off not retiring. He could have handed the TDF torch over to Contador and gone on to stamp his place in cycling history by focusing on winning the other Grand Tours and Classics. This total all or nothing focus on the TDF ignores the stoic history of bicycle racing the great fans revere. But then again, Armstrong never was a pure cyclist with the reverence for the history of the sport. Any romance he had for the sport came after his success. He came to cycling as a triathlete. Some may not know that but those of us who were around back then remember. Call us snobs (I always was one in this respect). But we never had much respect for the tri-geeks (as cyclists).

Ammo

It's been a while since I've posted. Feeling a little more prolific these days so I'll try to post some thoughts this weekend.

Ammo shortages seem to continue. I had to let my range membership lapse this year. Unfortunately I could justify the dues knowing that I just won't have the time to get there to train or shoot much. With the boys' playing basketball year round now I prefer to be at the gym to watch them play. Anyway, I tried to order more .45 ACP bullets from my favorite supplier and found out that that there's about an eight week delay. Ugh! Even if I want to shoot my supply is dreadfully low. I really need to get back into a dry fire routine. I was rockin' it in 2008 while working from the house. That hasn't been the case in 2009. I'm way behind in keeping my skills honed. Time to buck up and make the time.

Iran and Cuba! What's the big difference?

A couple of random thoughts regarding the Iranian Shamelection. I'm glad to see that this fraud hasn't been lost on the people of Iran. Unfortunately they will continue to suffer under the iron fist of the radicals that control their gov't. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who willingly put themselves to harms way to protest this fraud.

What people here in the US (especially our current administration) need to recognize is that what is happening in Iran is exactly what would happen in Cuba if there were ever even a pretense of a fair election there. Why are we rewarding Fidel and Raul with relaxed travel and trade when the repression of the Cuban people is even far greater than those living under Ahmadinejad?

Guantanamo Terrorist Part 2

I know my thinking isn't original. As much as I would love to believe that I come up with a good idea or thought now and then. I did post my Gitmo Terrorists thoughts off the top of my head. It was good to see that former FBI boss Robert Mueller did in fact touch on the idea that seems to escape the brilliant minds of Diane Feinstein and other liberals who continue to flout Gitmo as a political whip against all people associated with the Bush administration.

Yeah, we get it. The "detainees" (Islamic terrorist scumbags) if held in U.S. maximum security facilities will not likely every become physical threats to society. Have you ever seen these people? We have high school football players that can take down these malnourished and poster boys for Charles Atlas ads in a nano second. It's not what they can do with their hands that represents a threat. The vile bouncing around in their skulls that's the threat. You don't have to search very far to find plenty of evidence where right here in our own prisons we have radical Islamic groups that are organized and spreading the same crap that is being used to pollute the minds of young Muslims world wide.

The Gitmo gang are rock stars to other radical nuts of their ilk worldwide. So it makes a lot of sense to drop these turds into our own prison populations? Guantanamo Bay is nothing but a political football. The fact that Democrats are kicking it around for political gain should alarm every American. If I had a close friend or family member killed in the 9/11 attacks or in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, or anywhere else at the hands of these people I'd be pounding on some doors and raising cane over this issue. It seems just now that some people are starting to figure out that Guantanamo is a valuable asset and always has been. At least if you can strip away the rhetoric and the Washington BS associated with the issue.

Gitmo Terrorists

For starters I don't consider these people "detainees". That's a term some politician or media weasel came up for these people. These are terrorists, so let's not forget that first of all. Of those who have been released roughly 1 in 7 have returned to the battle field. I look at that as a failure on our part. Were they trained well enough to be able to convince our CIA experts that they were non-combatants? Or are we using them as pawns to track back to their camps for further intel. Who knows?

Lastly, and something that our media is either too ignorant to figure out and ask questions about but is that dropping these terrorists into prison populations is, in my opinion, just as dangerous as dropping them on some street corner. While in prison they may not be a direct threat to our lives they possibly become an even greater threat. It's no secret (unless you work for the NY Times or Washington Post perhaps), that a great number of Islamic terrorists are recruited in prisons worldwide including our own. So injecting known terrorists into general or even restricted prison populations is a threat as they become prison mullahs, free to spread their warped view of Islam to captive audiences. Possibly gaining celebrity status among already militant Islamic prison gangs or organizations where they teach and educate others how to network inside and more importantly outside upon release. If we keep these terrorists here in the US. We have to make sure we continue to keep them isolated from other prisoners permanently.