Part Tall boy Bear Can and Part Moreau style, the RM squadra will be some rocking some new sock ware. SOS Socks are making a custom run for us. Sweet. I'm 'testing' the first ones and they are comfy.

I don't get the whole high sock in but I'm bought in for some time now. I've already given my thoughts on low ankle panty socks. They should stay in the domain of womans tennis.

Anywhoo, we'll be rocking these soon. Swing by the world wide Rocky Mounts HQ for your set soon.

The Rock Lobsters are ready. The Dugasts are still stretching and I'll get them all glued up in a few weeks time but the bikes are all purdy and ready to go. Now, is the body ready? Getting there. That is for damn sure. Flag/Mag/Sunshine today. The goal was to feel as good as possible on teh last one. Maintain watts, all that jazz. Flag: Awesome. Mag: Awesome. Sunshine...Awesome and then like a cliff dive at about 30 minutes, I could barley turn them over. 3 hours and change and 4.5K of vertical today. 7 pounds (yup) 7 pounds in body weight gone. All water. I feel sick but smiling.

Rock lobsters below. Mmm.

What a retard. I'm proving guilty before innocent. Sue me. This is two-thousand-friggen-seven. You signed up to be a pro cyclist you vain f_ _k. Tell the UCI and your frickin country's anti doping division where you will be training. You signed up for the vampires and that blood of yours should be squeaky clean. Bring 'em on is what you shoudl be saying. Not playing international man of mystery in your all black kits. "I hate fans asking for signatures as it interrupts my training." Then train in Moosjaw Saskatchewan Mikey. Play games with WADA and make them find you there...but tell 'em!

Taro is Za Plan. I trust him as a friend, as a mentor and therefore it gives me that slightly unique visibility into this to believe it through and through. I'm close to this one and I'm boiling. No one's got designs here to bring anyone down. Except when the hubris is so thick it basically is paramount to Rasmussen pulling down his bibs past his bony-ass legs and taking a giant crap on our sport. All because he can rape it, grab cash, retire and fade into the ether. No harm no foul right? "I don't need to be a DS or announcer. I just take my cash now. Ciao."

Normally I'd glance over the dope scandal stories (they come fast and furious these days) of these poor Euro kids who get wrapped up in this. The peloton is filled with Euro youth...our version of the kid in the ghetto who has hoops to get him out of the gangs and somewhere. They have natural skill to shoot, run, dunk. What God gave 'em. These fools just want to get out of their mom's house. I guess the pampering and cooking is too much. I guess to stay in the peloton you have to juice. Self fulfilling prophecies in motion.

I am going to climb my bike tomorrow and stew over this. Probably end up laughing lots. Rasmussen is so bush league. I can't stand him in yellow.

You may have hit this already on VeloNews but Thomas Prehn, former US National road race champion, fellow Rocky Mounts team mate and team adviser is on an interesting pod cast talking through strategy on the Galibier. We are so fortunate to have Thom provide us us insight on strategy as a team mate. He is the author of Racing Tactics for Cyclists which is a fairly well known guide to understanding basic racing strategy.

You can listen to this HERE.

The 29'er project is moving along. Miguel, as all great engineers and designers are, is obsessing over the fine points. Very PRO. I think I will be going with the Reba Air for this. I have both Fox and Rock Shox on my other bikes and do not have an issue with either company (making reference to the religious debate over Fox having shite bushings and Rock Shox being like a noodle). The Fox 29'er is still too tough to get as it is in an OEM deal only with Trek through 08 some time. Bunk.

I'm really looking forward to getting this dialed. Got to sell some stuff (any one want a L Moots YBB frame?? Let me know before I throw up on eBay.) Love that bike but its time for me to get on big wheels.

Another huge amount of climbing in the bank. Satisfied, yes, but empty today. More empty in the head, than empty in the legs. Belgium 2008.

Remember the three part teeter totter I have been talking about? Side 1: Family, Side 2: Training, Side 3: Work. Well, two of the three sides are bending and scraping the dirt at the moment. Family and work are needing me. Family more than anything and most importantly. My beautiful wife needs to feel me again instead of the sort of monk I've become in the last 3 months. So this tells me that the training is too much and bending the most important side of the teeter totter.

Do you ever get in that spot when you know you feel it? You want to go deeper and see what you can do? If you go just that bit deeper, you can maybe see just how the body will respond. You need more time to do this. I can't take or materialize more time. Not without bad consequences and I refuse to do that. I've seen it happen and it's not good. I think sometimes that the impulse to be selfish and go an extra hour than I should instead of going home is like what a meth addict must do to go get a fix. I never give in but I feel that tingle in my mouth. Or maybe this is what I hear those golf widows experience. I despise that too. I'm not that guy.

So, instead of some ballistic training thing today, my lady and I rolled. She and I, pavement, sun and our words. We rolled beautifully like we haven't done in a dog's year. We talked and gabbed, solved the problems of the universe....or at least how to get our youngest potty trained. It was so needed. We connected again like we used to on long rides years ago before our children came. So much fun. Meanwhile, as my wife is talking to me, gabbin away, she's dropping every Tom, Dick and Harry riding their $9,000 Parlees on the ramp up from 7K to 9K feet in Ward CO. HA! Hilarious. I lover her. I could feel that side of the teeter lift.

Man, since I started writing this post, I feel a helluva lot better. Thanks.

...to celebrate winning clean. At least I have GOT to believe in this kid. Linus is not the kid sucking his thumb and blanket....he was the kid today who brought pain to the peloton and let the mitochondira do the talking. I love the picture because it's non pretentious and innocent. I hope that it means its real. A huge visual sigh from his whole body that says: F you, i did this clean.

Two words: holy crap. This is why we are not PROs. Christan Vandevelde is proving yet again why he's a freak:
Honestly, this is massively impressive. You should hit Dirk's blog for this article about Chritian yesterday at the TdF and link over to the TrainingPeaks site to check out the WKO files (if you have CyclingPeaks) to see his data. For a 155 pound guy (which Christian is), doing 415w for 5 minutes is off the charts. Tremendously difficult. I can 'also' do that (e.g. 400 + for 4-5 minutes). How? Doses of truckers speed and red bull chasers. No, seriously because I am 35 pounds heavier and just the application of that my 180lbs of Irish Fury to my pedals will raise the wattage....but it is the gravity/grade of hill that comes into play. Yup, power to weight. Sure I can do it, BUT I AM GOING 1/2 THE SPEED! For me to hang, beyond being doped, I'd have to be in the 550 to 600w range for that same duration of time which is crazy talk. This above is power to weight in action. Unbelievable.

I guess I am pretty much done with my equipment for this upcoming season (knock on wood). Mike at BCS dialed me in on my hand built Mavic Reflex/DT Hugi 240 wheel set. Threw the Dugasts on there to stretch a bit before they have to get glued on.

Interesting tidbit that many of you will yawn at because you already know but I never realized: The latex tubes in sew-ups like Dugasts leak air so much more quickly than butyl tubes. Don't worry when they seem like they may be slow leaking (after a day or two). They're fine. It's just that the latex rubber is way more permeable than butyl. The latex advantage is its suppleness. You do not quite get the same level of suppleness with butyl apparently but we'll see. Thanks Evan for telling me that!

100's and 100's oof solid photos. If you raced and see you shiny mug, buy one and support my boy Joe! See them here.