Yep....spring classics are in the rear-view-mirror, and the Giro is ALREADY underway! And the Tour of California starts SUNDAY!
I am taking Tuesday off, as the stage ends in Santa Barbara (about 75 miles away) on the top of the Gibraltar climb. I will be THERE at the top for the finish...woo-HOO! Put out the word that I'm going, and only 1 taker to ride with me...so it will be Eddie and I taking the day off of work to watch BIKE RACING!
I'm having a hard time getting jazzed about the Giro, as once again I have NO TV coverage. I was hoping to up our satellite package for NBC sports (cuz they are showing daily stages) but it just costs too much. Sad that I can't get just the ONE FREAKING CHANNEL I WANT without paying for an entire sports package upgrade! I HATE THAT PART of the TV biz. I've got 300 channels I think, and we only watch about 15 channels out of all of those...the rest are crap flung into the package to fill it so it SEEMS like we are getting something for our money.
ANYWAY...enough bitching...I'll get NBC Sports in July like always. So I'll just have to READ about the stages every day like I do every year.
Cool that Jensie will be here...assume he'll be hanging around at the finish....maybe I'll see him and if I'm REALLY lucky get a pic w/ him...we'll see.
I've been meaning to drop a new post for about 2 weeks now, but it just seems like it's always something...(that's just a lousy excuse...I look over at Bike Snob NYC and he posts really some really good stuff pretty much 5 days a week...he's my HERO for sure! I just don't know how he does it). Fatty has really been slowing down lately (a lot going on in his life...and he JUST got a new job), and Jill (and Beat) have moved to Boulder Colorado (LUCKY DUCKS!!!) ...the view from their house is to DIE for! They are truly in outdoor-sports HEAVEN! I'd never get Jeannie up there even to visit...I've never even been able to coax her to visit when I'm working in Colorado Springs....(and I have MONTHS of work coming up there later this year...likely starting in the August time frame). I'll be shipping out my old mountain bike and leaving it there, and it sounds like we'll be doing 3 weeks there, 3 weeks home...etc etc, until all the work is done.
My work has been quite busy, and as of Monday I'm being moved to a different building/job (my boss calls it "cross training"). Not real happy about it but I have no choice, and it is what it is. He thinks that he can shift us all around to different areas (I work electronics btw) for a few months and then anybody is qualified to do everything. In a perfect world where everybody has photographic recall that would be great. However my 2 remaining brain cells are working overtime just trying to stay behind...so I don't have a lot of hope of retaining too much of whatever I learn over the next few months.
But enough on that. Tomorrow. Tomorrow begins the Tour of California! That means SUMMER is right around the corner! Gosh...whatever happened to SPRING? I missed it again!
I'll post more after Tuesday's stage, and hope to have pictures of the finish. Until then...keep the wheels spinning and the rubber side down!
Cheers!
Here we go! Tuesday morning, and instead of slaving away at the ol' salt-mine, I'm sitting at home sipping coffee! The car/bike are loaded for the drive down to Santa Barbara...where I'll park near the Expo (down by the Pier)...meeting Eddie there and we'll head on up the climb a bit after 1pm...should be at the top no later than 3pm (our basic plan)...but for whatever reason we don't make the top, we're still on the climb so everybody will go right by us no matter what (tho I do hope to see the finish at the top). I'll have some pics as I'm packing my camera. Have a great day everybody...it's RACE DAY for Matt!! Woo-HOO!
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great time! Is the climb near the end of the course? If so, I may be able to see you on the TV coverage when I get home!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read your write-up & see your pics.
BTW, the Giro is not on NNC-Sports. I'm not sure what, if any, US channel is carrying the race this year. NBC-SN is broadcasting the TOC & is to carry either the Tour de Suisse or the Dauphine & Universal-HD (also owned by NBC-Universal) is carrying the other one. Are you sure you don't get Univ-HD? It's a weird channel - half of the content is live &/or taped sports events & the other half is reruns of old drama shows. I LOVE the sports stuff (mostly Olympics sports - got to see ALL the World Cup ski races this year, figure skating, speed skating, swimming, rugby, triathlon, horse jumping, dressage & more).
Gotta run.