Back on the Up and Up

Been a few days since a post due to a combination of things like spotty internet connections, plenty of college basketball, and general laziness. Oh well, not much to do about it, just get to spewing some stuff out when I can (meaning now). I guess the big cycling to do this weekend was all about Milan-Sanremo (no offense to you Montana road racers). I royally screwed the pooch thinking Sunday was race day. Fast forward to getting on line late Saturday to see that the race was already in the books. Oh well, worse things in the world have happened. For all the talk about Cavendish being unbeatable in a sprint for the next five years, Friere showed us why he can never be counted out...of anything. That guy is like an old pair of well worn jeans. Yeah you might forget about them for a while, but once you toss em back on again, you remember why they are great. It seems like Friere will be mixing it up in sprints for a couple more years, and I got no qualms with that.

On the MTB side of things, the Cape Epic kicked off down in South Africa. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really dig the whole stage race MTB setup, and even though this might be my own stupidity, any race where you are riding through parts populated with lions, cheetahs, and other scary animals, that race (and the racers competing for that matter) are bad ass. Stateside, big time MTB (or at least the MTB I care about), will be kicking off down in Arkansas with the Quachita Challenge. Something like 60 miles of tech singletrack (in Arkansas!) is right up my alley. This race is gonna go under my "one of these days when I have a whole bunch of green to go along with my free time, I'll head on over to this race" category of races. Good luck to Kerkove, and Sonya from the mean green team, and Ohio Rob (if he is still planning on hitting this up).

On the Montana side of things, road racing started on Saturday, and when the race started I was right where I belonged, watching the NCAA tournament. There are few things in life that I am certain of, one of them is that I have no place in road racing, and I'm quite comfortable with that. So while Brian, Curry, and Frank were working it in a breakaway, I was watching William and Mary treat Villanova as kindly as the Gimp treat Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction. I did make it out to the venue in time for everyone to be getting ready to head back to town. Made the trip with Curry (2x), Eric, Julie, and other Bozeman folks. We caught up on what was going on in our respective lives, and enjoyed the warm weather. Once back in town it was time for pizza and beer. We talked about next weekends possible plans involving the Speedwagon up on Polson.

On the NCAA tournament side, here is my take on things. First I could care less about Kansas losing in the second round and dicking over my brackett, they beat Lehigh in the first round and that is all I care about. Villanova crapped the bed, and reminded me why I should never trust athletic team who is from the Philly region. Georgetown, had burned me yet again, I hate them. Big thanks to Syracuse, and West Virginia for still remembering that they are good teams from a great conference and playing like that. I hope Duke loses in their next game. I really wish people would get off the Cornell bandwagon, and if I see an "Ithica is Gorges" t-shirt during one of their games, I might lose it. Gus Johnson is a great basketball announcer, even if he refers to Gonzaga as a whole as "The Zags". So that is all I got, hope this provides a welcome distraction on your Monday.