2006 Predictions: A Look Back

In my last post in 2005 I made 27 bold predictions for 2006. Some came true, some did not. Here's the rundown:

• Gasoline will be $4.00 per gallon. Nope. Gas got as high as $3.04/gallon (National Average 7/21/06)
• I will buy a car that runs on diesel/vegetable oil. Nope. The Sentra is still kickin'
• There will be no exit strategy for the war in Iraq. Unfortunately this is still the case.
• Andy Bakke will have sexual intercourse. Yep.
• News programs will have more coverage of Brad and Angelina than genocide, poverty, and AIDS in Africa, combined. Too hard to research. I'm going to say probably.
• I will break a bicycle rim. I did not.
• A famous cyclist will fail a drug test and deny he ever doped. Flandis!
• Ivan Basso will win the Giro. He did.
• Chris Horner will win a stage in the Tour. He won Stage 2 of the Tour of Romandie. Does that count?
• I will win a cyclocross race. I won 2 thank you very much.
• Lance will do all he can to stay in the media spotlight. NCY Marathon.
• George W. Bush will still be an asshole. "Hey Webb, how's your boy?"
• I will not shop at Wal-Mart. 13 months and counting.
• I will have a Colorado Paramedic License. Nope.
• Mary and I will buy a home. We did.
• The Mets will win the World Series. Close. NLCS with 2 bum pitchers.
• Federer will not win a grand slam. I was way off. Ausie Open champ. French finalist. Wimbledon champ. US Open champ.
• A record number of athletes will fail drug tests during the Turino Olympics. I don't think so. I only know of some Russian biathlete chick that tested positive for carphedon.
• Paris Hilton will die. Close. She got a DUI in September.
• Sampson will meet Vontoux. They did. Now they are BFF.
• A telemarketer from Calcutta will call and try to get me to consolidate my student loans. Hard to say if he was from Calcutta. This actually came true January 2nd.
• I will drop an F-bomb on said telemarketer. I did.
• A Canadian will contract bird flu. Surprisingly no.
• Right-winged yahoos will dismiss global warming. David Bellamy.
• Scott Johnson will spend a month on our futon, and train with me. He didn't. We did ride together once though.
• I will vomit from exertion. I didn't. I threw up in my mouth once during a 2 minute zone 5c interval though.
• Apple will come out with a ghetto blaster/boom box iPod. They did. It's called the iPod Hi-Fi.

16 out of 27 isn't too shabby. Coming soon is the 2007 predictions post.

Merry Christmas Everyone

I'm Dreaming of a Wet and Muddy Christmas?

Holy crap. I thought this was the Midwest. It's been (relatively) warm lately, and today it's raining. Not scary-to-drive-in freezing rain, just rain. There is no snow anywhere, and the grass is actually green. It feels like April.

Thankfully it's not April. I still have plenty of time to prepare myself for bike racing. There are several bike related off season projects to work on that don't involve countless hours on the trainer. The current project is removing the tufo tape from the Reynolds wheels. I'm going to glue them up right with patience and glue. The tape worked surprisingly well, but my gluing technique proved itself during cyclocross. Using actual glue will allow for easier tire changes and wheel truings since I can just peel the tire off, do my buisness, apply a fresh coat of glue, and slap the tire back on. After the holidays and Lane's wedding Brian and I are each building new wheelsets. Brian has extensive experience in wheel building, and knows what he's doing. I, on the other hand, do not. I will chronicle the adventure here on this blog.

In other cycling related news, Team Brown Bear is now accepting applications for its racing team! If you think you're worthy, and would like to be considered for one of the coveted roster spots, post a 500 word or less supplication here. Good luck everyone.

What does everyone want for Christmas? All I want for Christmas is Andy Bakke wearing bib shorts in a hotel room.

Practice

We talkin' about practice.

The Nuggets should be pretty formidible. I just really wanted to post this. I don't even really like basketball, this video though is just awesome.

Nationals

Alright everyone. Here is my requisite Cyclocross Nationals prediction post. The weather looks way too nice to race a national championship. 50's and sunny all weekend should make for a very fast course.

Trebon will distroy everyone in the Elite Men's race. 2nd-5th will be contested by defending champion Wells, Wicks, Johnson, and Powers. I don't what to guess what order.

In the Elite Women's race Katie Compton will pull a Trebon and slaughter everyone except one time Leedahl's Life commentator Christine Vardaros. Georga Gould will be thrid and I could care less about the other places.

Here's the web's first 2007 Cyclocross Nationals prediction. Brooks Leedahl, racing his first national championship race, will be lapped by Trebon et al. within the first 18 minutes.

Renault F1 Engine

Here's a video of Renault engineers doing a bench test of an old V10. They're running the engine through a simulated lap at Monza.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Hello all. I'm well in the swing of the offseason. The legs are hairy and getting creamy, as Andy would say. I'll start up training again after the holidays, which will give me about 3 months until road racing starts again in April. Mary is staying fit and will start training in earnest shortly. I think she'll be doing the 5 Star Tri Series next summer. A tri series with cash payouts. How sweet is that?

It's been pretty cold here in Madison lately. It's a nice change from the monotonous weather of Crescent City, but I'll let you know when the novelty wears off. Mary and I are taking a break from the cold though. Tomorrow we're leaving for Florida for a few days. The weather in Tampa is gorgeous right now. Mid 70's and sunny. I'm going to eat me some Cuban food. Heather, Brian, and Vontoux will be babysitting our house and Sampson while we're gone. Sampson doesn't care if it's bitterly cold or not. He just likes the sunshine.


I've added some goodies to the right. The "Blogs of Shame" section is for crappy blogs, blogs with weak posts, and blogs with infrequent posts. That means you Lane. Fear not if your blog shows up there. You can redeem your shameful blog by blogging better (pictures help.) Under the "Cycling Links" section I've added a link to The Broadband Racer. There's lots of sweet videos, and video blogs. Check it out.

Thats all for now. I'll try to keep my blog out of the Blogs of Shame.