Pretty news-free week in the cycling world, though as usual we've had little trouble coming up with things to talk about.
- The big story, of course, are the USA Cycling Cross National Championships in sunny KC this weekend. As our own Clydesdale notes, there's an official KC Cross Nats BlogUpdate [2007-12-15 13:53:27 by chris]: link fixed:-) posting things in almost real time, such as today's Juniors victory by Luke Keough of (mmmm) Sandwich, Mass. Other podium places to a couple Washington State boys, Zach McDonald of Bainbridge Island (short ferry from downtown Seattle and a cycling hotspot), and Eric Emsky of Fall City, another nice place to ride, if you like wet hills.
- Sunday is the big day, and not just because Clydesdale will be there. That's when the elite men and women run, with Ryan Trebon the headliner expected to face stiff challenges from a strong field and some seriously crap weather. Drew passes on some advice from the earlier Cross diary (which I didn't move because it's full of cool photos) on how to watch Cross.
- The other big sporting event is the baseball PEDs pinata event, where millions of Americans gang up on the names named in the Mitchell report, while generally ignoring the report's purpose: to identify the problem and suggest a pathway to solutions. It's startling how familiar this all feels to Cycling fans:
- apologizing for the accused by questioning the accusers
- ignoring the fact that any witness will necessarily be a shady character, since retired federal judges don't run PED distribution rings
- claiming the accused wouldn't deny anything if it was true
- questioning the motives of the messenger(s)
- questioning whether PEDs really affected the game itself
- Back to cycling... Kim Kirchen is Luxembourg's sportsman of the year. Pretty impressive feat, considering that he's ranked lower than Frank Schleck and has one less grand tour podium than Andy. Also, presumably Luxembourg has athletes from other sports too. But I ain't complaining.
- Last call for Podium Cafe woolies. I'm hoping to place the order Monday. For all who responded by email or in the post, please email me the quantity and sizes. Same goes for the VDS winners, if you want to claim your prize. If you're still thinking about ordering one, you'd probably save a little $ by doing it now, but not much (am guessing) and you'll have the option of ordering single jerseys on your own, while supplies last. Podiumcafe@yahoo.com