Thursday, October 14, 2010

Hot Chileans, the Bucknuts and L'Alpe D'Huez

It's the Thursday before the last race of the Boneyard Calendar; Peak2Peak Mountain Bike Classic. For the Sport riders, it's two laps of roughly 400 feet of climbing per loop in what is expected to be low 40 degree temperatures at the start. So today, it's all about resting while spinning and gawking for about an hour on a short ride around campus. Have to keep fresh, though a few hard efforts will be thrown in for honesty.


Congratulations to the Chilean miners who are now safe and with their families. They are a testament to the human will to persevere and to have faith in others. The time and effort put in by rescue workers was tremendous and they deserve so much credit and thanks.

This weekend matchup of Ohio State (1) and Wisconsin (18) will not only decide how worthy the Bucknuts are of their ranking but also of the depth of the Big Ten. If a team as good as Wisconsin, and as good as they have been at home, being in the thick of a 40-4 run at Camp Randall, can be ranked 18th, then the top ten must be amazing. Besides perhaps LSU or Oklahoma, no team is as unfairly ranked as the Badgers. Michigan State will continue to move up steadily if they win their league games, but it would be great to see more Big Ten pigskinners ranked high...as long as they aren't Ohio State.

Christian Prodhomme, director of the Tour de France, is set to announce the route of the 2011 Tour next Tuesday. Spanish meat is not expected to be featured at the dinner, but contested champ Alberto Contador may not be present either. As he fights doping allegations, which could possibly be ruled on by Tuesday, though likely to be appealled, the 2 or 3 time champ (get it?) was rumored to be uninvited. There is some speculation that he will not be featured in video or photos from last year's race, not an easy thing to do with a rider who, well, won. Concerning the route, expect a stage with two trips up L'Alpe D'huez, an unprecedented novelty on the most storied Alpine climb. It was also the site of a mountain time trial in 2005 in which Lance Armstrong broke the record for the climb's ascent.

For your literary advancment, please read Andrew Marvell's "A Dialougue Between Body and Soul", availble on google books or any number of online sources. It is an intrguing look at the most human of conflicts, the perpetual imbalance between spiritual and temporal pleasure.

Thanks, enojoy your Thursday, and watch Community tonight on NBC at 8. There will not be a quiz but I expect references and quotations from the episode in a summary due next week. Roll on, folks...

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