4.28.2007

Just for Becca

Not really just for Becca, but she called me out on the string of recent weak posts, so I thought I should create a legitamate blog post. Lots of crazy stuff going on here at Casa de Leedahl. Spring is in full swing in Madison, and the cycling has taken a back seat to home improvement and yard clean-up.

On the home improvement front, we're slowly remodeling our kitchen. There is a fresh coat of turquoise paint on the walls, replacing the dingy off-white stuff, and new modern cabinet hardware replacing the 1960's era brass stuff. You read that right. I wrote turquoise. We are also upgrading all the electrical outlets to GFCI units. There is a magical journey planned next weekend to the land of cheap Scandinavian furnature for a real dining table and chairs. That means our sweet outdoor table and chairs, which now occupies that space, can fulfil its destiny and get pooped on by birds outside (which, incidently, we have some cardinals nesting in a tree in our yard--how cool is that.) No pics of the kitchen yet. It will get its own blog post when it's complete.

Outside there are some exciting goings on. In honor of earth month, I installed a composter, which will diminish our already paltry amount of trash. It's conveniently right next to Sampson's dooley hole--his mucky guck/mung producing turd pit.

I also constucted an organic vegetable garden. Hells yeah! 80 square feet of carrots, onions, peas, spinach and lettuce are already in the ground. Tomorrow there will be green beans and various squashes with tomato plants in a few weeks, when the weather is warmer.

Our neighbors got seriously a giant dump truck load of wood chips from the city. By the looks of the chips, they're old Christmas trees, but anyway, he got about 200 times the amount he needed, and offered whatever we wanted to us. So we took advantage and redid all the tree beds, and all along the house by the bushes. It looks pretty sweet.

Tonight was "An Evening of Good Taste." An event put on by the local culunary school where you eat all sorts of gormet goodness with an open bar. I'm tired, and I've got the meat sweats, so I'll end this post shortly. Heather and/or Brian will have a more detailed post of the evening.

Tomorrow is the big one. The 115th year of Liege-Bastogne-Liege. My money is on Cunego, but my heart is with Chris Horner. We'll see. Watch it sometime tomorrow on Versus. Bill Dance will be sitting out tomorrow's race on an imposed "health break" because of a too high hematocrit level.

4.10.2007

Gent Wevelgem 2005

Alright boys. Gent Wevelgem is tomorrow. Who's going to win?

I don't think the commissaires will let this happen again.

My money is on Baden Cooke.

4.07.2007

Bitchin'!

Holy crap! How awesome is this!?

4.05.2007

Ronde van Vlaanderen

The greatest week in racing is almost upon us. Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem, and Paris-Roubaix. The week where cycling's hard men come out and carbon wheels are replaced with tied and soldered wheels from the 1980's. The first race, the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders,) is this Sunday. With 18 hellingen (short, steep, cobbled climb) 259 kilometers, and cold, windy, and rainy conditions, it doesn't take long to sort out the favorties.

Boonen will be going for his 3rd straight Flanders victory, and he looks to be the favorite again this year after a strong showing in Milan-San Remo, and his crushing performances in last weeks Belgian semi-classics Dwars door Vlaanderen, and E3 Prijs. Should Boonen faulter, his Quick-Step team has 3 other contenders in Boonen clone Gert Steegmans, 2 time winner Peter Van Petegem, and World Champion Paolo Bettini. Predictor-Lotto has last year's runner up Leif Hoste, while CSC has perennial powerhouses Stuart O'Grady and Fabian Cancellara. Riders like Flecha and Freire from Rabobank, Ballan and Bennati from Lampre, Pozzato from Liquigas, Nuyens from Cofidis, and Devolder from Discovery could all be in the mix for victory.

So everyone, who will it be? Will Boonen do it again, or will some unknown Belgian all hopped up on pot Belge pull the upset?