I'm taking today as a rest day but there is absolutely no soreness from my run last night. That's a good sign.

News Item of the Day Patrice Clerc, president of Tour de France organisation ASO, declared in Bardolino yesterday that he is willing to negotiate with the UCI in order to come to an agreement about the Pro Tour.

"Reason has to prevail," Clerc said. "It is good to examine the reform of professional road cycling. With that in mind, and everybody truthful and willing, there is no reason why we shouldn't come to an agreement about the reform. If it is consensual, it will be durable." In Bardolino, Patrice Clerc and his Vuelta and Giro colleagues met with Vittorio Adorni, president of the professional cycling Council, and Manolo Saiz, president of the Sporting Teams Association.

Did the .75 mile run this evening. The first half lap was bad. I probably should have stretched or warmed up or something because my thighs felt like they were going to rip and then they settled down for the rest of the run. Total time was 4:46 as I continually slowed each lap. 1:23, 1:36 and 1:44. That was the fastest .5 mile yet but my stamina obviously is not there.

News Item of the Day BARDOLINO, Italy (AP) -- Australia's Michael Rogers won the elite-division time trial Wednesday at the road cycling World Championships, defending the title he was awarded earlier this month after 2003 winner David Millar of Britain was stripped of his gold medal for doping.

``It's much more satisfying to win fair and square from the start,'' Rogers said. ``I didn't want to finish second again, so I just pushed a little harder and it all came together. It's always better to win on the day.''

Before the race, a ceremony was held to present Rogers with the rainbow jersey for being the 2003 winner.

``I don't know how many people are awarded two medals in one day,'' he said.

Rogers completed the 28.99-mile course along the shores of Lake Garda in 57 minutes, 30.12 seconds. Michael Rich of Germany was second, 1 minute, 12.43 seconds behind. Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan came in third.

``I just put my head down and went as fast as I could,'' said Rogers, who dedicated the victory to a friend who died recently in an accident. ``My plan was to start relatively slow.''

Rogers finished fourth in the Olympic time trial in Athens, and still stands a small chance of being bumped up a spot in that race, too.

A doping investigation of gold medalist Tyler Hamilton of the United States was dropped, but Russia says it may appeal on behalf of silver medalist Viatcheslav Ekimov.

``I'm not really thinking about that at the moment, I'm just concentrating on Sunday now,'' Rogers said, referring to the road race in nearby Verona that will conclude the championships.

``In the case with Hamilton, I respect the decision of the Olympic Committee.''

Several top riders did not compete Wednesday.

Two-time world champion Jan Ullrich pulled out late due to a stomach illness, Lance Armstrong never planned to race, 2000 winner Sergiy Honchar of the Ukraine is injured and none of the medalists from the time trial at the Olympics -- Hamilton, Ekimov and Robert Julich -- showed up.

The school track was unusually busy this evening. Rather than running around walkers and dogs and kids on bikes I decided not to run my 3/4 mile. I did jog back home to get a little work in. Maybe I will try again tomorrow.

News Item of the Day The World Road Championships continued on Tuesday in Bardolino, Italy, with the Junior Men's and Elite Women's time trials being run over a 24 km parcours. The Germans scored well today, with Patrick Gretsch and Stefan Schäfer winning gold and bronze in the junior event, and Judith Arndt taking silver in the women's race. The Junior Men's silver was won by Czech Roman Kreuziger, who also placed second in the junior category at this year's Cyclo-cross World Championships in France. The Elite Women's race was won with a powerful ride from Swiss multisport specialist Karin Thürig, who clocked a time just 24 seconds slower than Patrick Gretsch to beat Arndt and Russian Zoulfia Zabirova.
The podium of the junior men's TT

It was Thürig's first cycling World Championship, after several podiums in the past few years. Thürig described her ride, saying, "I started very explosively as was my intention. After five or six kilometres I thought that perhaps I had gone out a bit fast as my legs were starting to get quite heavy. But at the halfway point I heard I was 16 seconds up and then saw Dede Demet-Barry ahead and could catch her. I knew the second half of the course would be better again for me and so I just went as hard as was possible from there to the finish.

"I can't really take this in yet - no time to think about it! I am sure I won't be able to sleep tonight, though, as I will be too excited when it starts to sink in. It will be like in Athens, where I took bronze - I was unable to sleep properly then. It is hard to decide which medal I value more...the gold today or the bronze in Athens. Athens will always be special as it was the Olympics, but to win here is very nice."

Not one to rest on her laurels, Thürig is now planning on doing an Ironman triathlon in October. "I have no idea if it is a good idea to go there, but I will tell you afterwards!" she said. "If I get in the top ten this time I get a slot for the Ironman next year, which is my big goal for 2005."

Second placed Judith Arndt was not too unhappy with he second silver medal in just over a month, after she placed second in the women's road race in Athens. "I am not really disappointed with second - Karin was 52 seconds faster than me so I don't know what I could have done differently," said Arndt. "Second is also good, but I would have liked to have heard the German national anthem!"

Rest day for me.

News Item of the Day Now in its 10th year, the Junior Women's Time Trial was run on a beautiful, crystal-clear Monday midday. The 15.75km course climbs east from the lakeside village of Garda, up through rolling hills of the Bardolino wine region and then descends down and back along the eastern shore of Lake Garda to the start. Already bronze medalist in the Junior Women's World MTB championships last August, Czech rider Theresa Hurikova had a superb ride to win the gold medal in a time of 22'14, 5.37 seconds ahead of US Junior Women's TT champion Rebecca Much, who scored an excellent silver. 18 year-old Much of Chicago, Ill., who two senior women's races at Superweek in July, races for XXX Racing/Athletico.

Tereza Hurikova was a happy girl at the finish of the first competition of the 2004 World Championships. "It's my dream, but I'm a mountain biker. This is my second World Championships this year. In [the MTB] World's I had a problem with my bike. I [would have been] the winner, but with my defect I was third."

When asked if she expected to win today, Hurikova laughed, "I'm very happy! This is such a nice place, and I liked the uphill start. I went out fast, and I wanted to have the same speed to finish."

The bronze medal went to Australian Amanda Spratt, already Junior World Champion in the Points Race in June. The 16 year-old rider for New South Wales showed today her obvious talent on both road and track. "I'm over the moon because I came here not knowing what to expect and it's been an amazing experience," said Spratt. "I am absolutely stoked."

"The course was pretty tough with a climb at the start but it was wonderful to have so many enthusiastic spectators cheering for us," she said. "We're not used to having so many people watch us race and it was my first experience of that sort of support for a junior road event."

Pre-race favourite and last starter today was German rider Sabine Fisher, who was third in the road race and 11th in the Jr. Women's Worlds last year, but at her 10.6km split in was fifth. Fisher finished out of the medals in managed 4th, 0'45 out of the medals.

Did a little over an hour of cyclocross up at the school today. Felt okay but was sluggish. Maybe the little run on Friday night and then the ride Saturday took more out of my legs than I expected. I got over the hurdles with only a couple slight bobbles. There are still 3 weekends until the first race so there should be some improvement before then.

News Item of the Day The Vuelta's final time trial in Madrid brought to a close the third grand tour of the season, and once again the Spanish race came down to the wire. In contrast to the previous three years, the race leader kept his jersey in the final time trial, which meant that Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) equalled Toni Rominger's record of three wins in the Vuelta (2000, 2003, 2004). Heras and his team controlled, but did not dominate the race after Heras took the gold jersey from Floyd Landis in stage 12, with the strong challenge from Phonak's Santi Perez falling 30 seconds short by the finish in Madrid today.

Heras told Cyclingnews that his third win was "the most beautiful". The first he said was an "enormous surprise" but this one "was beautiful because my team worked at the limit for me every day from the start of the race. My team has ridden a great Vuelta and we had to after the Tour. We had to come here and recover our form and our mental attitude. We came here from day one with the mission and the hope of winning."

Perez did win the final time trial but only took 13 of the 43 seconds he needed out of Heras. That gave the young Asturian his third stage win and second overall, which he was more than satisfied with. "It has been pretty hard," Perez told Cyclingnews after the stage. "Roberto for me is the better climber, a great cyclist with so much experience. And I give him my congratulations. To find myself in this situation is a dream. I hope to just continue improving like this. The Vuelta is a race I love a lot and it is very special for a rider like me. I knew from the start today that I was not going to win. As the kilometres passed and I saw the times that they were giving me I knew it was very difficult to gain 43 seconds. I went out at the limit and I gave it all. I went to do a good time trial and I did that.

Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) rode an excellent TT to finish second behind Perez and secure third overall, while Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) fended off Alejandro Valverde's challenge for the points jersey, Felix Cardenas took home the mountains jersey, Heras got the combination jersey, and Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme won the team's classification.

Yesterday I just wanted to get some easy miles and except for a couple short efforts to beat yellow lights it was a comfortable pace. Small chainring the whole way. About an hour and a half. Since I am seriously considering converting the Raleigh into a fixed gear I spend alot of time in gears like the 39x15, 16 and 17 so I could get some idea even though the fixed gear would have a 42 up front.

News Item of the Day There has been a dramatic development in the UCI's proposed superleague - the Pro Tour - which is due to come into being next season. The organisers of the three grand Tours: the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta España, apparently want no part of it, which would seriously jeopardize its status.

Cyclingnews' Martin Hardie spoke to a number of the Spanish team directors at the start of the Vuelta's 20th stage this morning in La Vega de Alcobendas, who all independently confirmed that the organisers of the three tours and several one day classics (A.S.O., RCS Sport and Unipublic) sent a letter to the UCI last week stating that they not want their races to be on the Pro Tour calendar. Unipublic has also confirmed it on its website.

Given that the three major tours net most of cycling's media coverage, this would effectively end the Pro Tour unless the organisers can come to a last minute agreement with the UCI when they meet next week in Verona.

The Pro Tour's aim is to take professional cycling to another level, with a select number of teams (18 next year) with big budgets and big rosters being made to ride all of cycling's major events. This would provide guarantees to the team sponsors, who would know in advance what kind of return they can get for their money. The idea has been criticised from the start, but it seemed that the UCI was pressing ahead regardless. However, with much of cycling's power in the hands of three major organisers, it's clear that they had to give their stamp of approval as well for the Pro Tour to fly.

I ran the half mile that was planned. I felt pretty good and knocked about 10 seconds off Tuesdays run. Today I clocked a 3:04 time. Next week I want to bump up the distance to 3/4 mile and see if I can keep the tempo going. Right now my biggest problem is trying to keep my form. I stay pretty solid but I sense body parts getting a little wobbly on the 2nd lap and feel the need to fight to stay smooth.

News Item of the Day After a pro cycling career spanning 15 years and a record seven polka-dot jersey wins at the Tour de France, Richard Virenque announced his retirement today at a press conference in Paris.

The Quick.Step rider will turn 35 in November and has decided to put an end to his career, which includes seven stage wins in cycling's most prestigious race, the Tour de France. The French rider has always been charismatic and beloved in his home country, even after admitting to doping practices in the 90's at the famous Festina trial in 2000. Virenque came back to cycling after a nine month suspension and won Paris-Tours in 2001 after an impressive solo of 242 km, as well as taking several more stage wins in the Tour in similar style.

I decided not to ride today. Instead I cleaned my 'cross bike of last years crud. Tomorrow I run another half mile.

News Item of the Day Tom Danielson has confirmed rumours that he will ride for the Discovery Channel team (currently know as US Postal) in 2005. "I've signed the letter of intent to ride for two years with Discovery, which is basically the same as signing the new contract," Danielson told Cyclingnews. "I'm out of my existing contract with Fassa - we came to an agreement and that's how it is. I don't have any hard feelings against them at all, and I thank them a lot for everything they have taught me this year."

After dominating US domestic racing in 2003 with Saturn, Danielson moved to Italy in 2004 to ride for Fassa Bortolo, but - while the affable Coloradan is too polite to criticise his current employers - it's clear the experience hasn't lived up to his expectations. Danielson had hoped to ride the Tour de France, and when that didn't materialize was told by the team he would be sent to the Vuelta. But he was not named to Fassa's Vuelta squad, with the team apparently preferring to concentrate on supporting Alessandro Petacchi to stage victories than go after a general classification or mountains placing.

Danielson therefore jumped at the chance to go the team of six-time Tour de France winner lance Armstrong.

"Johan Bruyneel and Discovery came to me in August with the dream," said Danielson. "I was more than excited by it, and the first time I got off the phone I told myself that I needed to make this happen, even though it might not be the easiest thing. But with Johan Bruyneel, Dirk Demol, Sean Yates and of course Lance Armstrong... the whole infrastructure of the team, it all became clear to me that this was where I wanted to go."

I feel pretty decent after my short run last night but think I'll just take the day off today. I'm leaning toward doing a little road ride tomorrow.

News Item of the Day
Tyler Hamilton has been suspended by his Phonak team after he twice failed blood tests at the Athens Olympics and the Vuelta a España. The tests were done on August 19, the day after he won the Olympic time trial, and September 11, the day that he won the eighth stage time trial in the Vuelta. Results of the analyses of his B samples are still awaited.

In a statement issued by the team under the heading "We believe Tyler", Phonak team boss Andy Rihs said that he was shocked by the news as well. "For the moment, we have to concentrate on the facts," said Rihs. "These seem to speak against Tyler. But so long as we're not 100 percent certain that he's guilty of manipulation, we will believe him." However, the team also stated that Hamilton "has been suspended pending further notice. He will remain so until the proceedings are completed. If Hamilton is not able to prove his innocence, then the contract will be cancelled effective immediately."

Hamilton has strongly denied that he has used any illegal performance enhancing methods, telling a press conference yesterday that, "I am 100 percent innocent. The results were like a bolt of lightning out of the blue for me. I have no idea what has happened. It must be some kind of manipulation." If found guilty, the consequences could be severe for the 33 year old American. In addition to losing his contract and personal sponsorships, he would also be stripped of his Olympic gold medal and Vuelta stage win, face a possible career-ending two year suspension for doping, as well as a considerable loss of credibility.

Hamilton is accused of receiving a homologous (N.B. blood from a compatible donor) blood transfusion after both the IOC and the UCI noticed irregularities in his blood profiles. Boosting oxygen carrying capacity and thus performance via blood transfusion is a fairly old method of doping that has come back into favour among endurance athletes because of the relative ease of detecting EPO. Homologous transfusions are detectable by the new blood test that has been researched for more than five years and was put into place at the Tour de France. As yet, autologous (N.B. a person's own blood) transfusions cannot be detected. Apart from detection, homologous transfusions carry risks such as the contraction of AIDS or other blood borne diseases. However, they have the advantage of not having side-effects for 4-6 weeks when blood is drawn.

At the moment, neither Hamilton nor his team have been able to explain the test results. Andy Rihs was quoted yesterday as saying that he doubted the validity of the test as well as the inordinately long period (nearly a month) between the Olympic test and Hamilton being informed of the result. However, the head of the IOC's medical commission, Arne Ljungqvist was quoted by Reuters as saying that Hamilton's test results were tagged "suspicious" when they came back from the IOC-accredited laboratory, so they were submitted for a review by a panel of experts. After the review "it was ruled as not just suspicious but positive indeed", Ljungqvist said.

As for the delay in reporting the results, Ljungqvist said that, "It's a regular feature of exercising the proper care before reporting a case."

Its the first day of Autumn and I figure its time to try and give this sucker another go.

After spending two weeks off the bike following Labor Day I jumped on the CX bike Saturday. There was a football game up at school and most of the fields were occupied so I just did fundamental stuff like dismounts and remounts. Nothing too hard. Then I rode over to the church grounds and got a little bit of riding in and ran around the baseball field once.

Sunday I went back up to school and had the area to myself. I did three hard laps, then 1 easy, and 2 more hard laps. It was about 35 minutes of riding and then not including the warmup and cooldown. Sunday evening and Monday I was a little stiff.

I have resolved to try and do a some running this winter just a something different. It may help a little in CX too.

Tonight, after dinner, I walked up to school and ran a half mile. It took about 3:15 to complete. Not exactly world class but I'm satisfied considering I never run. A couple years ago I ran 2 miles just for the heck of it and it took 16 minutes so 3:15 for .5 miles is not bad. I'd probably slot down over 2 miles though.

News Item of the Day
The Vuelta a España has been rocked this morning by news that Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), has returned two positive blood tests that showed evidence of a homologous blood transfusion. One test was performed at the Athens Olympics and another at the Vuelta on September 13. Both tests showed evidence of a "mixed red blood cell population, an indication of a homologous blood transfusion," Phonak's press officer Georges Lüchinger was quoted by AP as saying. The results of the counter-analyses are not yet known, but are expected today (Tuesday).

Hamilton, winner of the gold medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics in the individual time trial as well as the Vuelta's eighth stage time trial, abandoned the race prior to stage 13 claiming stomach problems. Hamilton has denied having a transfusion, saying the positive test was the result of a surgical intervention he had some time ago. If the B samples are confirmed positive, then he risks losing his Olympic gold medal, which would make Viatcheslav Ekimov the Olympic time trial champion again.

Phonak team director Alvaro Pino said, "I have spoken to Tyler and he has claimed he is innocent and apart from whatever the (Phonak) team decides, he will do whatever he has to do to defend himself from these accusations." Phonak will hold a press conference later this evening.

Enhancing endurance performance via blood transfusion is nothing new: Athletes admitted to using it at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, when it was not illegal. Typically, a quantity of blood is withdrawn from an athlete some time before an important competition, and when the time comes, the red cells are reinjected to provide an extra boost. This can also be done with another person's blood and even with EPO-enhanced blood, although the risk of detection is far greater. Former Kelme cyclist Jesus Manzano claimed that he nearly died when he was reinjected with some "bad blood" late in 2003.

Tyler Hamilton's case is the first ever positive for a blood transfusion, as up until very recently, doping via this method has been undetectable. A powerful blood test developed by Australian researchers was implemented at this year's Tour de France. The test didn't look for a particular banned substance, but instead examined whether there were any abnormalities in a person's blood as a result of artificial manipulation. At the Tour, it was announced that homologous blood transfusions could be detected, but autologous