Yesterday I proclaimed that the US national team jerseys were ugly and that I would create my own.

For a good national jersey, all that is needed is to borrow styling cues from the flag and your done. No geometric shapes. No swirly curlys. Nothing fancy. Only simple, clean lines.

What are the possible pitfalls of a US jersey? Basically, the whole flag.
One, stars... get crazy with the placement of stars or make them too big and they become gaudy.
Two, stripes... too many stripes and it looks like Ronald McDonald or a court jester.

So, I present three variations. From the most basic to the most advanced. In each design, the stripes are 1" high.

#1 Three basic stripes on the chest and smaller strips on the collar and sleeves

#2 Five stripes, instead of three. I think any more than five would be too much


#3 A row of small white stars replacing one of the white stripes.



Any one of them is better than the current jersey. If you don't think so, that's too bad. You have bad taste.

A good night's rest is awesome. Last night I got a good, longer than normal, sleep. This morning I woke up with some energy, wasn't drowzy at work and didn't weave all over 270 on the drive home. I actually feel like getting on the bike tonight. I'm setting my alarm to go off a little later tomorrow morning.

The photos from the first day of the World Cycling Championships have begun to be published. The US team apparently didn't have any money in the budget to replace last year's hideous Tron-like jersey.

Who dreamed up that design? I can somewhat understand the design of a trade team jersey getting a little crazy because you are trying to satisfy sponsors logos and branding. National team jersey's are easy though. Keep it simple and somewhat close to the national flag and you are set. Bing, bang, boom. A nice, classy design can be thrown together in a matter of minutes. In fact, I will unveil a national jersey tomorrow.

Kudos to Eddy Merckx for uttering what could possibly be the quote of the year.
 
The organizers of the Worlds in Stuttgart are shrinking the list of people they officially welcome by the minute. Already the previous ambassadors for the Worlds, Erik Zabel and Rudi Altig, were asked to step down. Later it was Gregor Braun who stepped down. The winner of the last Worlds in Stuttgart, in 1991, was also not invited. And now the organizers announced that Belgian legend Eddy Merckx is not welcome, either.

The organisers said that "we have to be a role model," while Merckx found the organizers to be crazy, as Sporza reported on its web site. He bluntly added that "dumb people are everywhere, even in Germany."

I've been rather preoccupied lately and completely ignoring the blog. How has the world survived?

The bike had been ignored lately too. A little downtime was needed after the road season and before cyclocross. Cross starts this Saturday down in Carbondale and I have serious doubts about racing. My heart says race and the typically low turnout generally means I can poach a few series points. My mind is just not into racing right now. Racing 'cross in 80+ degree weather doesn't seem right either.

What else is going on? Hmmm.

I registered for KC Cross Nats weekend. Not really the weekend I guess. My race is on Thursday.

Kong Constance made an appearance at Stage 6 of the Tour of Missouri. He desires to race again and actually made to the Columbia ride this past Sunday. He seemed to be dragging toward the end but I give him credit for riding all the way to Maeystown. That had to be a big shock to his system after such a long layoff.

Landis was found guilty by the USADA. Surprise, surprise. This topic has been beaten to death by all the expert amateur urine analyzers on the internet. In the end, they conclude that Floyd is innocent due to a conspiracy. Either the French didn't want an American to win the Tour again or the lab conspired to cover up a initial bad urinalysis as if they are incapable of admitting a mistake. Whatever. Was protocol followed exactly by LNDD? No. Are trained monkeys doing the testing? No. Give the lab some credit. Five of Floyd's samples showed exogenous testosterone. I simply cannot believe that an accredited testing lab could be so incompetent that it could screw up that many tests. How many of the people that insist LNDD screwed up Floyd's sample are arguing that Vinokourov is innocent?

Enough of that crap.

I suppose a few words about the Tour of Missouri are in order. I left early Thursday morning for Branson to watch the Time Trial and follow the race the rest of the way back home.

Today I will give my general impressions of the race and then maybe give some more specifics in the following days.

My first thought is the apparent efficiency of the organizers, Medallist Sports in conjunction with the state. Every day the race started right on schedule. It appeared to be a very smooth operation

Number 2: When I was on portions of the actual race route, everything was well marshaled and well marked... as it should be.

Number 3: The crowds exceeded was I was expecting. Even in small little towns, the people showed up to cheer. In addition, some folks out in the middle nowhere could be seen sitting on their property alongside the road or parked on gravel side roads waiting for the race to pass by. This was heartening to see and reminded of Europe in a way when people would drop what they may have been to doing that day, take a break, and catch a 30-second glimpse as the race passed by.

Number 4: What fantastic weather we had for the whole race. The mornings were sometimes a little chilly, but nothing was terribly cold, wet or hot.

Good sensations.

No, not me. Although, I did feel pretty good on Saturday's ride. We never pushed it all that hard so I suppose I should feel good. Dang, it was humid but it was cloudy and the temps were under control.

My plan was to do Millstadt Biathlon this morning but my ankles just won't allow it. They still have muscle soreness from my treadmill escapade Thursday evening. It hurts to push off as I roll through the ball of my feet. If I went to the race, I would be hobbling for 5 miles. Not my idea of fun.

Who had the good sensations on Saturday? Sammy Sanchez. In the wake of all the doping problems the last few months, ProTour riders have been very tranquil. They just couldn't afford to have good sensations. That is a dangerous thing, indeed.

Sammy needed a good result though, and he took the chance. From cyclingnews --

Euskaltel-Euskadi's leader Samuel Sanchez had help from a former Spanish time trial great, but still was at his limit to finish 19th, and is now in 11th overall, 4'09 back. "I had very good sensations especially because I had the luck to have Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano [following me] in the car team," Sanchez said. "He was the one who was pushing me all the time in psychological terms; he didn't let me lose concentration for one minute. He asked me all the time to remain concentrated, not to look to the front, to look at my shadow, to think of the way I was riding. It was a time trial to be strong psychologically because the Zaragoza straight lines can make you suffer easily."

Maybe, if Igor had not constantly been breaking your concentration by talking in your ear "all the time" asking you to remain concentrated, you could have concentrated more and thus finished better than 19th place.

This non-running, old man just got off the treadmill after running two miles. Why? Good question.

I have half a mind to enter the Millstadt Biathlon this Sunday. Tomorrow I will know how my legs responded to the two miles and decide whether I really want to run five miles, something I have never done before.

One of the main reasons I have an urge to enter the race is because we often ride the same roads every weekend. Even if I totally suck on the running, I feel reasonably confident about the somewhat challenging bike leg of the race.

I have vacation time to burn and think I might watch a couple more stages of the Tour of MO than I originally planned.  Maybe I will head down to Branson for the TT and then watch the Lebanon-Columbia stage at some still undecided point(s).

I didn't have a real urge to race Monday after Sunday's crash.  All things considered, I actually okay though.  A little elbow soreness was the only discomfort.
 
The race started and I figured "What the hell", why not do the same as yesterday and attack on the first lap.  The pack was strung out a bit more so it was more difficult to take the lead but halfway up the backstretch I was out front.  My jump wasn't as good and as I started down Delmar and Hub rider came around me.  There goes my first lap glory. 
 
I suppose I could have tried more to wind the first lap but thought it was wiser to just slot into second.  Up the backstretch, I pushed the pace again but began to get gassed toward the end of the uphill and made a quick slide through the field.  A few laps later and my breath had come back to me but I still spent the rest of the race just about at the rear of the race.  The one good thing is that the adrenaline made me completely forget about any crash pain I did have. 
 
The same couldn't be said for the guy that got taken away in an ambulance.  Three times in four races someone was carted away in an ambulance.  It was a brutal weekend. 
 
Sitting on the back of the race, eventually became too much and I was out of the race at 35 minutes.  I wouldn't say it was a satisfying result but getting back on the bike and racing was good.

Fame is fleeting.

Day three of the Gateway Cup means the Giro della Montagna, the most misspelled race on the local racing calendar. While warming up on the trainer I felt average at best and had no plan except trying to finish.

Without even trying I managed to snag a decent third row starting spot. There have been years I tried to get a good spot and was much further back. I wasn't going to complain. We received our race instructions and we were off.

Our races almost always start out quickly and strings out. The leaders will be going through turn 2 and I'm normally heading out of turn 1. Today, the race seemed to start slowly. I moved a few places between turns 1 and 2, and could plainly see the front. At that point something possessed me. The right side of the road opened up and I accelerated. Soon enough I was even with the leaders. Instead of slotting in, I kept on pedalling. What the hell.

Through turn 3 and feeling good. No point to ease up now. Through 4 and pick up speed down the hill. I didn't dare look back but I don't think the pack was on my wheel. In my mind I had a gap and figured I might as well try to lead the first lap. The line approached and still no one seemed to be there. Fletcher calls out my name and have my moment of fame.

Leading through turn 1 I take the apex and don't worry about anyone else around, then through turn 2 and the sense was the pack was up to me but until I saw some wheels I was going to keep pedalling. Halfway up the backstretch, I began to be swarmed and thought about not dropping to far back. A guy in green and black shorts pulls around me and comes over a little. I ease over to the left a little. He comes over some how. My front begins rubbing his rear and, sensing the worst, I begin hoping for a miracle.

A split second later the wheels are no longer rubbing and I am headed for the pavement. Impact, oooof, bounce, ooof, slide a bit, cover up and pray no one hits me. A second or two later I hear a tire blow but didn't concern myself with what happened. I hear raised voices, from a short distance away, asking if I was okay. My left side is stinging as I prop myself up. A drop of blood is on the pavement as I take the dreaded look at my elbow. It's bloodied but does not appear too bad. I stand up and feel like everything is in one piece. My front wheel is not turning, however. The tire is off the rim. The voices approach me and ask if I want water so I asked them to rinse the blood away. They ask if I am okay and I say yes.

I begin to walk toward a cut through street, contemplating whether to get back into the race. That wasn't a tough decision. Screw the rce, it was time to get some first aid.

This evening my bandaged elbow and hip are still stinging. That's to be expected I suppose. With any luck I will stay off my right side while sleeping.

My Giro was short but it had a little glory.

Washington Ave crit went okay. On the plus side, I did better than last year. My legs gave up with four laps to go, however. I kept going but lost ground quickly. I wouldn't have gotten lapped but the officials pulled me as I crossed the line with one to go. It's not like I could have gotten caught or passed by the pack at that point. Whatever.

On the downside, I did nothing in the race. Started in middle of the pack and stayed there before drifting back and eventually just sitting on the back. A pretty worthless race.

I survived Lafayette in two ways. One, I finished a race for the first time since I don't know when. The last one I remember was Carondelet at the Tour of St. Louis. There was a lot of time away because of the trip in May and then getting sick after returning. Regardless, there was Washington, Webster, State Crit, KC, etc. All were miserable races.

Last night I got an average start worked my way to top 10 by the end of lap one and stayed fairly aggressive for the first few laps. Gradually I eased a little deeper into the field but always stayed around mid-pack and never drifted all the way back. I was satisfied.

The second way I survived was by not crashing. The race started squirrelly for about five laps. Maybe guys were pumped up for the weekend but there was some odd braking and swerving going on. The race eventually settled down into some normal riding behavior. There are always crashes in this race, though, and this year was no exception. Like Pavlov's dog, five laps to go was announced and the craziness began.

Lets' count down the carnage
5 laps to go - Inside the barricades just before 4 to go and a couple guys touch. I didn't see much but it looked like a couple guys went down. One guy may have hit the barricades.
4 laps to go - Clean lap
3 laps to go - Crash exiting turn 2. Several riders down. One stayed down in the middle road for the rest of the race and had to be avoided the remainder of the race. He was carted away in an ambulance afterward
2 laps to go - Several more riders down on the 3rd straight. The story I hear was a rider trying to squeeze between a gap that wasn't there and knocking people down. Supposedly, Parker went down and dinged his hip. Didn't see him around after the race so the story may be true.
final lap - Two guys down on the 3rd straight again. One guy (and bike) goes tumbling in a side somersault and lands on his feet.

Crazy race.