Man Utd sign Hargreaves

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6707995.stm
The midfield is beginning to look pretty formidable. Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Ronaldo -- that's pretty much All-World right there, and one of those 5 wouldn't even get a start in the traditional 4-4-2. Now, how about some help at the back and a strike partner for Wayne Rooney? Get rid of Saha for starters, and I wouldn't lose much sleep if John O'Shea went bye -bye as well. Should be an interesting transfer season. Only 3 months to go until the Premiership resumes (please Lord, let it be in Hi-Def this year...).

It's (going to be) a Boy!

Had our Level 2 ultrasound this morning. After the genetic counselors terrified us with everything that could possibly be wrong, the scan showed a normal, healthy baby boy. We're not out of the woods 100% yet, but we feel much better. We were both certain it was going to be a girl -- just the first of many things we will be wrong on when it comes to the kid, I'm sure. Pictures tomorrow.

Erik's Spring Cup

First race of the 2007 mtb campaign. Cold, cloudy day, with temps struggling to get into the 50's. Not my kind of weather. I got a good warm up only to learn that the start had been moved back 30 minutes. So, I warmed up some more. When I got the starting area there were already about 10 rows of riders in front of me. I was able to move up to about 3rd row back at the gun, and made my way through the field in the prologue to about 15th. This course is pretty flat, so there aren't many places to drop someone and even fewer places to pass as it's all singletrack. I was able to make my way around a group of 3 riders in one of the prairie sections, and worked hard to keep reeling in riders. Once we hit the prologue section I was able to pass a few more riders and settled in for Lap 2. I was able to hold my position and by now was with 2 other riders, pushing the pace. I started to fade about halfway through the lap, but only got passed once. I did my best to keep on the wheel of the guy in front of me (who I had been on for the last half of the lap). Once we cleared the singletrack I was able to drop the guys behind me and tried to get around the guy in front of me. We had a full-on sprint for the line, where he got me by 3/4 of a bike. I got 9th in my age group (54 in our field), which I'm happy with on this course in cold weather. I got 13th overall out of 155 racers in Sport. Not too bad. Looking forward to a warmer race with some climbs.
Photos by SkinnySki.com

More cheaters

"It's unfair that cyclists have to prove our innocence. I am ready to do anything, but if I have to use DNA to demonstrate my innocence, I will leave cycling, because it's obvious that cycling like that isn't worth it." - Oscar Pereiro

It may be unfair that pro cyclists have to prove their innocence, but when the entire peloton allows this crap to go on unchecked for years, it's nobody's fault but their own. So, yes, innocent until proven guilty is dead, thanks to Landis, Basso, Ulrich, et al. The only way to restore any shred of credibility to this sport again is by moving forward with the assumption that everyone is guilty until they can prove otherwise.

So, back to Pereiro. You were the runner up in last year's Tour, robbed of the biggest victory of your career by a doper (oh, sorry, alleged doper). If you rode a clean race and were cheated out of the biggest victory of your career, wouldn't you really want to do anything you possibly could to make sure your honesty and integrity remained intact? Especially considering you will be declared the winner of the Tour when (oh, sorry again, if) Landis is stripped of the title? Wouldn't you be the first in line to give DNA samples?

Of course you would, if it wasn't for the fact that you're just as bad as Landis yourself. If you weren't a doper, you would be the loudest proponent on planet Earth for stricter testing. Either that, or you really don't care about winning the toughest sporting event in the world, and your profession's highest honor. Which is more believable?

Floyd

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/12271.0.html

Could it be more obvious that Floyd is guilty? After spewing out a new excuse every day after the Tour for why he failed a doping control, he now pulls this crap. If by some miracle he was actually innocent, I could care less. What a prick. Please, just shut up and go away. Better yet, be a man, admit you're a cheater and let the rest of us enjoy this year's Tour without having to endure your dog and pony show.

Trout

Met Brad and his brother and father-in-law Saturday for some evening fly fishing on the Rush. Brad and I jumped in the Trimbelle by the Gas Lite bar while we were waiting for Grant and Jerry to show up. Despite a never ending stream of people walking right down to the water where I was fishing, I managed to get two small browns out of a riffle. Once everyone was there, we headed over to the Rush. Cars everywhere, so we decided to hike in through a small coulee. Some local comes up the road, super pissed. In a Dick Cheney voice he keeps yelling, "Dutch Coulee, Dutch Coulee!" or something like that. He looked about a case-and a-half of Miller Lite's into the evening, so we headed up the road and fished Lost Creek, 3rd bridge up. I hiked up past the curve and worked the tailout of a small riffle. Caught two nice-sized brookies on a Yellow Humpy. I forgot how much fun it is watching a trout smack a dry fly off the surface. We headed back down to find Grant and Jerry, and hiked into the Rush. I found a nice riffle that tailed-out into an elbow shaped pool. I pulled in 5 nice browns on a Bead Head Prince (#18) in the course of about 45 minutes. Then it died down. I hiked upstream and worked a couple of sections with no luck. We met Grant and walked back down towards the pool I started at and waited for Jerry. I made a few casts into the pool and hit my best fish of the day, a nice fat brown trout, about 12-13 inches. With the sun dipping behind the bluffs, we called it a day and headed back to the Gas Lite.

At the Gas Lite, there was some hillbilly band playing AC/DC, Joe Cocker and countless other "classic rock" hits at the bar. The best part was this one yokel doing some crazy Elaine Bennis/Seinfeld dance around the bar (with shoes removed for better sliding action). Earlier in the day there was a car-smashing event, and according to the sign out front, "Thrsdays all can beer $1". Yes folks, this is the land of my ancestors.

Afton ride

Rolled with the fast group last night from Mahtomedi to Afton, about 40 miles. "Warm up" consisted of immediate tempo and pacelining, which gradually ramped up as we neared Afton. When we got to Valley Creek the entire group missed the turn except for Brian and me. So, instead of killing each other up Trading Post, we kept it somewhat sane. When the wrong-way riders went by us on Old 95, Brian turned around and joined them. I didn't know he did this until I looked over my shoulder and saw the whole group way up the hill behind me. Hooray!

So, now I was in solo mode (much like last year's ride where I flatted at the top of Trading Post). I made my way into Afton and saw 4 riders from one of the ride's other groups. They were just putting along, so I decided to fly by and hopefully catch somebody else along the way, and work to latch back onto the group. I passed a few stragglers up Indian, but no one had the legs to work together. Same story on Hudson, I passed about 5 guys but nobody grabbed my wheel. One guy latched-on on Neal, and by that time I could see another group just up the road. I said, "let's go get 'em!" but he didn't pull through and eventually fell off. I could still catch glimpses of the group about half of a mile ahead, so I went into time trial mode. After much suffering, I latched on at Lake Elmo. Feeling surprisingly good, I went to the front and proceeded to pull 99% of the way back to Mahtomedi. I was actually able to put in attacks on the last two climbs and stay off the front. Why the hell can't I ride like that in a race?

Cravings

And so it begins...
Last night we drove to Target at 8:30 to buy a marble cake with frosting. I'm sure this will be the first of many such impromptu trips.

Glory, Glory Man United!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6630511.stm

Anyone who knows me knows how freaking happy I am today!! It was pretty painful having to root for Arsenal, but well worth it. Wednesday's match with Chelsea is gonna be so, so sweet. If we can beat them at Stamford Bridge and beat them again in the FA Cup, I may have to make a temporary exemption to my nine-month moratorium on adult beverages.