Oooh Dannnngggg!

Team Astana may be barred from this years Tour de France. This is going to SUCK for Levi and Horner.

I'm not commenting on anybody's guilt or Innocence with regards to doping, past or present, but even with all the management, rider, and staff changes in the world....Astana still has riders on their roster who have been implicated in Operacion Puerto.

I'm just wondering if the ASO (and the Giro de Italia for that matter) would've made different decisions had Johan not brought Contador over with him???

Bring it On - week#2 results

week #2 - January 26th, 2008
Juniors 10-12

1 Justin Pfaff - Cycle Logic
2 Augustus Harrison - Unattached

Women

1 Angela Connaughton - Atomic Race Team
2 Amanda Hall - Atomic Race Team
3 Heather Davis - Naple Cyclery
4 Kristin Donahue - Team Florida
5 Jacqueline Dougherty - Unattached
6 Alicia Provenzano - Unattached
7 Ying Xing - Unattached

Men's A - field of 43

1 Daniel Chavez - Preferred Alliance Cycling Team
2 Phillip Gaimon - Fiordifrutta
3 Gary Yates - Naple Cyclery Gulf Coast Racing
4 John Salsbury - Jacksonville Racing Club
5 Karel Sumbal - Beaches Velo Sport
6 Charles Jerabek - Jacksonville Racing Club
7 Shane Braley - Team Wheel & Sprocket
8 Joel Chavez - Outspokin Inc.
9 John Cody Vance - Colavita Racing Inc.
10 Anthony Alexander - Helens Racing
11 Gerald Bouchard - Cycle Logic
12 John Faulk - Colavita Racing Inc.
13 Roger Montes - Cycle Logic
14 Rob Robins - Cycle Logic
15 Jayson O'Mahoney - Cycle Logic
16 Diego Henao - Team American Classic
17 Unknown
18 Anthony Musalo - Cycle Logic
19 Beck Frydenborg - Team Florida
20 Kenneth Sallot - Cycle Logic

Men's B - field of 33

1 Jimmy Page - Unattached
2 Eric Shields - Team Florida
3 Derek Schanze - Gainesville Cycling Club
4 David Reich - Team Florida
5 Colby Smith - Unattached
6 James Penrod - Cycle Logic
7 Romero Gill - Unattached
8 Eric Stubbs - Unattached
9 Ryan Fisher - Aarons/l5flyers
10 Unknown
11 Ron Palsgrove - Cycle Logic
12 Trung Tran - Unattached
13 German Barco - Unattached
14 Michael Arena - Florida Road Cycling Association
15 Justin Sapp - Unattached
16 Steven Severance - Unattached
17 David Schofield - Team Florida
18 Benjamin Talbot - Unattached
19 David Low - Unattached
20 Michael Boyco - Unattached

Floyd seems angry...for good reason?

In a recent interview with VeloNews senior writer, Neal Rogers, Floyd Landis tells how he REALLY feels.

To this reader, he comes off as frustrated, betrayed and above all...angry. We all have our own take on the doping situations that have plagued the sport of pro cycling and I pretty much hate them all. But read this interview and tell me Floyd doesn't have a reason to be angry. Does he get hot-headed and possibly makes comments that he doesn't have enough information to make...Yes. Does this reader agree with all of his comments and accusations...No. Does this reader think Floyd is madder than hell and with good reason...Yep!

Bring it On - week#1 results

week #1 - January 19th, 2008
Juniors 10-12

1 Justin Pfaff - Cycle Logic
2 Augustus Harrison - Unattached

Women

1 Jacquelyn Crowell - Team Kenda Tire
2 Kristin Donahue - Team Florida
3 Melissa Weddell - Unattached
4 Julie Pitts - Unattached
5 Kimblery O'Brien - Unattached
6 Alicia Provenzano - Unattached
7 Jacqueline Kurth - Team Kenda Tire
8 Alexis Dabroski - Team Florida
9 Heather Davis - Naple Cyclery
10 Jacqueline Dougherty - Unattached
11 Ying Xing - Unattached
12 Erin Epstein - Team Florida

Men's A 34 man field

1 Winston David - Toshiba - AEG
2 Phillip Gaimon - Fiordifrutta
3 Charles Jerabek - Jacksonville Racing Club
4 David Guttenplan - Time Pro Cycling
5 Robert Sweeting - Toshiba - AEG
6 Brett Miller - Naple Cyclery
7 John Faulk - Colavita Racing Inc.
8 Ryan Saylor - Lindner Capital racing team
9 David Comiskey - Team Florida
10 Anthony Alexander - Helens Racing
11 Unknown
12 Gerald Bouchard - Cycle Logic
13 Unknown
14 Patrick Weddell - Foothills Cyclists
15 Rob Robins - Cycle Logic
16 Unknown
17 Unknown
18 Scott Pfaff - Cycle Logic
19 Tim Molyneaux - Atlantic Shores Velo
20 Beck Frydenborg - Team Florida
21 Jayson O'Mahoney - Cycle Logic
22 James Wright - Jacksonville Racing Club
23 John Salsbury - Jacksonville Racing Club
24 Shane Braley - Team Wheel & Sprocket

Men's B
***Race cancelled due to area wide tornado warning

Rain or Shine

Tomorrow is the first edition of a 3-week practice Crit Series presented by Cycle Logic. The weather forcast is calling for a high of 62 degrees, 14+mph winds, 30% chance of rain early with a 60-90% chance of rain during the bulk of the races and toss in some scattered thunder storms just for good measure...now that sounds like some good bike-racing weather!

Regardless of the weather, the show will go on. Tune back into the 5count blog next week for race results and a recap of the days racing.

• View the FloridaCycling.com event page for the Bring It On race.
• Click here to view the event flyer in printable PDF format

Slipstream press

ESPN did a great story on Team Slipstream, their anti-doping efforts and their recent team launch in Boulder, Colorado. If you missed it, check it out.

Best line of the story...

"If we really want to keep doping out of this team, we have to keep how we win in the context of the human body. Some days are great, some days are not ... To agree to not dope, to never let that enter the context of a team, is to agree to fail sometimes. It is to agree to let your fans down sometimes. It is to agree to the fallibility of the human body. It is to sign that contract and live by it, no matter how high the pressure.
-- Jonathan Vaughters

Bring it On

Team Cycle Logic will be putting on the "Bring It On" race series this year. Previously run by Dan Larson, former Team Florida cycling coach, the "Bring It On" race series has a long tradition of kicking off the road racing season in North Florida.

The dates of this year's series will be JANUARY 19th • JANUARY 26th • FEBRUARY 2nd

Please see the Race Flyer for more information. We look forward to kicking off the 2008 season with you.

After further review...

I've been pretty critical of Team Slipstreams final team kit for 2008 and how they came off as 'misleading' with regard to the jersey design competition.

At first glance of the new jersey on Frischkorn's blog, I thought the resulting design was worse than the winning design, but after seeing some better photography of the jersey, it would appear that the orange isn't really that ugly "coral" color and there is actually some recognizable argyle (especially on the long sleeve jersey).

The team kits will look pretty sick when placed atop the newly designed Felt's (both road and TT bikes).

Regardless of the kit, I've always supported the Slipstream team, what they stand for and what they are attempting to do and will continue to support their efforts in the future.

What's the point...

...in having an extensive contest to design the next team jersey if they aren't going to use the design of the winner???

Slipstream had hundreds of entries and narrowed it down to 5. Those 5 were then voted on by the public...the result was this design:



But I just saw today on Will Frischkorn's blog that the new jerseys look like this:


What's the friggin' point???

Zabriskie to Slipstream???

I didn't think much of it the first time I heard of it, but I read this today and now wonder if there is something more to it?

Personally, Slipstream is my favorite pro team. I would love nothing more than to see them earn a wild card bid into the Tour de France next year. I love the fact that they are largely (18 of 23 riders) an American team. They are young and aggressive and without a doubt (in my mind) the cleanest team in the sport.

It'd be awesome to see someone like Zabriskie sportin' the Argyle. Slipstream is obviously bolstering their roster in order to meet their goal of becoming a Pro-Tour team by 2009...other current pros linked to contract talks with Slipstream are:

Backstedt - I guess it'd be nice to have the Sweedish National Champs jersey on the team, but he's kinda in his twilight isn't he?
David Cañada Gracia - really? how 'bout Horner instead
David Millar - I guess he's a big name, which is what they need, and he's a good ambassador for racing clean, but he's a bit old too, no?
Thomas Voeckler - Another big name, especially one that would carry some weight with the French organizers of the TdF.
Christophe Laurent - Another Frenchy to carry some weight with the ASO (TdF organizers). I'm pretty sure he's already signed too...his personal blog comes right out and says that he's riding for Slipstream next year. (the blog has been translated from french, so it doesn't read well, but you'll get the idea).

Depending on how he shows in the U.S. National TT championships this year, maybe bring Saul Raisin on as well. While we're at it, let's sign some other American studs...Tyler Farrar, George Hincapie (for leadership), Jason McCartney, maybe even young John Devine.

No matter who Slipstream signs, I'm very much looking forward to watching as my favorite team grows into one of the most competitive teams on the Pro-Tour.

I Need More Cowbell baby!

Russian Vladimir Gusev shows the Swiss cow bell he received after he won the 71st Tour de Suisse UCI protour cycling race 7th stage, 125.7km between Ulrichen and Grimselpass, 22 June 2007 in Crans-Montana. Russian rider Vladimir Efimkin remains the overall leader. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI

For those of you not finding the obvious humor in the title of this post...educate yourself.

Love on the rocks?

I remember a time, not that long ago, when the American Pro Tour powerhouse, Discovery Channel Cycling Team, signed a young American climbing sensation named Tom Danielson. Tom's first Pro Tour experience with then, Fassa Bortollo left his climbing and stage racing skills underutilized. Signing with Discovery was sure to be Tom's "big break" and the realization of his destiny for greatness.

For this, Tom seemed overly greatful and so happy to be riding with his dream team along side of his cycling idol, Lance Armstrong. Initally touted as a possible replacement for Lance, Tom enjoyed success with the Disco boys, but fast forward a couple years after a quick exit from the Dauphiné with stomach problems and yet another missed opportunity to start the famed Tour de France...do we now find this love fest on the rocks?

I read the latest entry by Kristin Danielson (Tom's wife) on Tommy D's website today. I'm not sure if Mrs. D is voiceing her husband's sentiment or if she is just annoyed with how she perceives her hubby is being treated, but it makes one wonder if riding for Discovery has lost its shine. You can link to the post yourself, but here's a snippet of what I'm talking about:

"Tom was finally able to persuade (why should he have to try and persuade) his team that he will get faster solutions in his hometown of Durango. I can see why a European team can’t understand why he needs to come back to the U.S. but why fight the fact that it has been two weeks and he has no answers? He has a return ticket for Tuesday and has been informed that he is required to race in the Qinghai Lake race in China only a couple of weeks away. What?? Don’t they understand that he is sick and needs to get healthy again? I hope that it IS that simple and he will be racing in a couple of weeks."

Yep, I'm pretty sure I'm picking up a little frustration with Team Discovery. It'd be interesting to hear Johan's take on the whole situation, or even Tom's for that matter.

I might be frustrated too if I was supposed to be the next great American-Grand Tour-rider and I was getting ready to NOT ride ANOTHER Tour de France at 29 years old. I guess we'll just have to see how the whole thing pans out...should be interesting though.

From the editor:

The 5count blog is a site dedicated to the passing on of information, thoughts and miscellaneous musings obtained by its editorial staff.

These comment sections are open forums for you, the reader, to express your thoughts, pass on information or give feedback on a post specific to 5count.

5count has never been, and never will be a place for advertisers to pawn their wears or services. If readers decide to use this open forum for such purposes, prepare to have your "encyclopedia sellin'" comments deleted (unless your comment is accompanied by a large check to pay for advertising space...and there still aren't any guarantees that we won't throw your comment in the pooper).

Sincerely,
5count editorial staff

Out For A Ride

Over a year in the making, and three code frameworks later, Out For A Ride is finally ready for public consumption. Tell all your friends!

***Keep in mind that this is ALPHA, the designers/programmers haven't even made it to BETA yet, so there will be tons more features coming in the future.

This is a site that I've been helping to test over the past few months. Created by Stephen Hallgren aka "Teevio", a designer/cyclist from the Boston area. Out For A Ride is a great place to log your rides, your routes, what gear you ride with, what bikes you ride on as well as plenty of ability to chat, leave comments and basically socialize online with like-minded cyclists.

Still in it's infancy, Out For A Ride will only continue to grow. This is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor and be one of its early members. Out For A Ride was only made public today and already is attracting cyclists from all over the country.

Out For A Ride would be the perfect place for all of the 5count readers out there to see what, where and how much we all are riding. For those of you who decide to check it out and see what Out For A Ride is, leave a comment here and let the rest of us know what your "Out For A Ride screen name" is. If you're curious, you can check out what I've ridden the past couple of weeks by looking up "PMESS".

Hope to see you there!