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| Photo by Ken Conley |
Today, at the first stage of the Tour of California, Hollywood's Rock Racing squad finally delivered on the hype. Great ride and deserved from Francisco Mancebo in the rain in front on a charging group of heavyweight chasers, led by Astana riders Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong.
Just wanted to answer some hard questions that have been blowing up the Bull City Rocky Mountain switchboard lately.
1) The Rock Racing Road deal seems to totally be off the table now.......but an invite from the Rock Racing/Quiksilver Snowboard team is hopefully in the works.
2) Winter training here at the Denver Camp has recently centered on Wedding Planning. Sadly negotiations with Dr. 77's wedding planning service firm seem to have fallen through.......leaving little on the bike training time.
3) Hollywood and the future Mrs. Hollywood are set to get married April 11, 2009 (in Denver).
4) Plans for Bull City's Colorado Summer MTB Escapade (not in an Escalade) are ready to begin. Come one....come all.
Details to follow
We've had a lot of inquiries since this image from last weekend's US Cyclocross Nationals in Kansas City appeared on the internet. Lots of folks wrote in to ask if Hollywood was previewing the now budget-challenged Rock Racing's 2009 team kit. If so, it was a marketing coup.
LOS ANGELES- The cycling world greeted news of next year's bifurcated Rock Racing program with a surprise earlier this week. After contracting a bevy of new talent, including former UCI Protour rider Baden Cooke, and swelling its roster to 27 riders, a number in excess of the maximum permited for UCI Continental teams, the squad announced it would be splitting into two teams. Riders downgraded to the Rock Racing amateur club team include reigning US national criterium champion Rahsaan Bahati. Bahati, however, indicated he is not worried in an interview with Cyclingnews. Local observers were also surprised by the announcement. Many had expected the name of BCC-alumnus Hollywood to appear on the Rock Racing riders manifest. Reached for comment at his Rocky Mountain hide-away, the denim clad Hollywood reacted to the news: "I am sure there has been a glitch somewhere and I am not the only rider to be effected. Like Rahsaan, I expect to be riding the big races next year in Rock Racing colors. Michael Ball and I have spoken and we agree that I'm here to stay. Starting on the club team is not a problem. I expect to move up to the A-squad to ride alongside Tyler and do the Giro di Lombardia and perhaps the World Championships. Those are good races for me."
We're still waiting for confirmation here at BCC HQ, but word on the "street" is that Hollywood is moving over to Rock Racing next season. Here to stay? Doesn't sound like it.
Ouch! Ouch again! Oh and ouch one more time. With a bunch more ouch mixed in the middle. Oh and it was 90 something degrees too. Somebody call the "Whambulance".
Well well, yesterday was Three Mountain Madness and for some reason, Chris, Ben and myself turned down a trip to the beach to basically see if we could kill ourselves on road bikes instead. We chose the 75 mile route and got off to a rocky start. The ride began "officially" and very punctually at 8:00am. Well at 7:59am, Chris' rear tube went "pop". With magic, Chris changed his tube in 1.376 minutes and we were off. Now we just had to pass 600 or so cyclists ranging from some dude in sweatpants and a t-shirt on a brand new full Dura Ace Trek Madone to every single Euro-wannabe in the Mid-Atlantic. Basically we rolled. Three man TT passing dozens of cyclists at a time. By the time we hit the first climb we were settled in and had made up about as much as we were going to. About this time, I regretted not swapping my cassette the night before. Lesson learned, an 11-23 cassette paired with a 53-39 crankset isn't too pretty on this ride, unless you are of the former East German cycling type (a.k.a Jan Ulrich) and like to grind it out. 
Personally, I like to try and spin.
Consequently, I found myself looking around for one of these most of the day:
Hot discussion topics of the day included the following;
1) Pro cyclists all have to be on drugs.
2) Most cyclists passing us up the climbs were surely on drugs or were just plain cheating (negative gravity propulsion devices?).
3) Bull City Cycling is contemplating restructuring into Bull City Surfing next season (or maybe tomorrow). Who knows, I did hear the waves at Jordan Lake were "going off" today.
4) Oishi is thinking of cheating.....errr I mean he is participating in a scientific study at Duke's K Lab.
5) We should buy lotto tickets, because Michael Ball won't loan Brian the Rock Racing Chopper anymore after his recent unauthorized fly by of Duke Chapel. See below:
Also, Pilot Mountain is getting steeper and the Park Rangers are in cohoots with Smoky the Bear on a government cover up. I smell conspiracy. Also I think the acceleration of gravity has been significantly increased in the area. This is confirmed by my lack of speed up the climbs and Oishi's lack of brake pads at the finish.
All in all it was fun. I mean I now have some killer jersey tan lines and was lucky enough to pound a Mountain Dew after the ride. Now that is extreme!!!
Onward in June to the TORC Triangle Mountain Bike Race in Chapel Hill and Blood, Sweat and Gears in Boone.
