Congrats Levi, Boohiss NY Times

Levi Leipheimer(hausen) won the Tour of California. Crushing it. Time trialing it. Living it. (Shameless brand plug) By using his TREK TTX Time trial bike with BONTRAGER Aero Bars and BONTRAGER "AEOLUS" Wheels, Levi took the top of the podium in time trials and the overall.

Down to Business.

So I heard there was some controversey over the large wreck after the prologue that halted 70% of the riders and there was some ruling that people were a little jazzed about but was totally legit (From my mailorder sources). Velonews was very informative but i wanted to dig deeper. "BY HEAVENS MEANS SOUPIE, WHAT DID YOU DO?". So i googled it and found a New York Times article by Edward Wyatt (yeah, I'm calling it out) and was rather dissapointed. The Mainstream coverage of one of the big American races by one of the big american media sources truly did not do bicycle racing much justice. Though, there are probably plenty of TDF stories that totally blow, I feel kinda put off to this. Before I really tear into this article, I would inform that I did look at some of the author previous articles that were non-cycling related to try and establish some background/cycling cred. His article informing me on Paula Abduls vow to stay healthy and sober was intriguing but his cycling news seemed strictly based off of the TOC.

So where did I get upset?

"Leipheimer rode the course aggressively, sprinting up its short climbs in a standing position on his pedals. Many of his opponents climbed the same hills tucked in an aerodynamic position. Leipheimer said he also rode hard on the descents, at one point cutting a corner so close that he raked his shoulder against a bush."

WHAT THE HELL! WHY MUST HE TAKE ALL OF THE STRUGGLE AND PAIN OUT OF OUR SPORT!?!?!

Cutting a corner he raked his shoulder off of a bush?? I spent 2 hours raking my shoulders off of bushes this morning in South Park, WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR PROS TO DO THIS?!

Why not talk about the wreck that stopped 70% of the field? Why not talk about the climbers and sprinters who were strong in this terrain?

I am only going to attack this particular part. Feel it out yourselves, all six of you TRM Blog readers. I could say something about how this article catered to the preconcieved notion that Professional cycling is for nerds (which it ...well might be) by describing the tedious technology of wind tunnel testing and "aero positioning". "Raking his shoulder off of a bush" is probably the weakest thing to describe about riding a time trial. If Wyatt took the time to describe an aero position he could have maybe written about the comfort level of aero positioning and its correlation to power outputs.

I wouldn't be bold enough to say that this was a poor article, but I was most certainly upset about it. There was an article in BIKE magezine about the image of mountain biking and how ads and various stories "weakened" the sport, or atleast created a weakend image (Olympia camera ad with Muddy biker). Michael Brown said similar things in a recent Dirt Rag.

Either way, Long story Short.

Biking Good, American Bike Races Good, Not-So Enthusiastic Looks at Cycling BAD

I will leave you with the opening paragraph from the article. This is how this thing started.

"So intent was Levi Leipheimer on winning the Tour of California this year that, oddly enough, he had to force himself to stay off his bicycle on some days last fall so he would not burn himself out too early."

What does that even mean, in relationship to introducing the results of the stage 5 time trial.