Operacion Puerto Blows Up Tour de France

Anyone who knows me expects to read a great deal about the Tour in the month of July, but what was shaping up to be an intriguing launch into the post-Lance era turned into chaos as several top contenders were ousted because of their ties to an alleged doping program being investigated in Spain. The story has been developing for a few weeks, but really blew up in the last 48 hours as more than 50 riders' names were released in relation to the investigation including the two big favorites, 1997 winner Jan Ullrich and last year's runner-up and current Giro d'Italia champ Ivan Basso. While nothing official has been brought against the riders, their teams have suspended them from the Tour along with several other riders including Francisco Mancebo (4th place last year) and Joseba Beloki (a former runner up to Lance) among others.

These suspensions follow hard on the heels of the race organization's decision to uninvite the Comunidad Valenciana team and attempts to boot the Astana-Wurth team because of team officials' ties to the investigation. Astana-Wurth was given a reprieve by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which decided the team could not be left out because of it's status as a Pro-Tour team which gave it automatic inclusion in the Tour field. The importance of that decision is that Alexandre Vinokourov, one of the Tour's great catalysts will be allowed to ride. Vino was not implicated in the investigation.

The Tour starts tomorrow and I'm sure we'll see more riders sent home before the day is out as teams decide how best to deal with any riders on their rosters with links to Operacion Puerto.

So, where does this leave this year's Tour. Nowhere good. The winner will still claim the prize and be able to add their name to the history books as a champion of the Tour de France, but will always be remembered as the guy who won it during one of cycling's biggest scandals. It is reminiscent of the 1998 "Festina Affair" when the French Festina team was booted and many teams were investigated after a team car loaded with doping products was stopped at the French border during the first week of the 1998 Tour, but this situation, I believe, is more far reaching and will have a larger impact on the future of the sport.

On the positive side for American fans, the only U.S. rider implicated, thus far, has been Tyler Hamilton who is already serving a suspension for doping at the 2004 Tour of Spain. Another positive is that guys like Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis and George Hincapie are now vaulted to the ranks of those most likely to win instead of simply being hopes for a podium spot. It's small consolation for those of us that have followed the sport for 20+ years, but will probably help keep the Tour in the news in the U.S. more for the race than for the scandal.

Other riders whose stock rises with the ouster of Ullrich, Basso and Mancebo are guys like Vinokourov (if Tour organizers don't boot the team), Alejandro Valverde and Denis Menchov (if he isn't booted by his team). It opens an already wide open Tour even further to guys that probably only had aspirations for a top 10 finish in Paris and makes them strong podium contenders.

I love this sport and I'm absolutely sick to see the Tour start this way. I'll still watch, still love the racing, still engrave the important moments in my memory alongside those that have happened since I started watching as a kid, but I'll always wonder what it would have been like with all of the best riders in the sport in attendance. I'll also watch with a great deal of concern for the future of a historically beautiful sport.

A Day Off, More Job Stuff and a Renter

What had looked like what would shape up to be a typical Wednesday routine (long ride, lunch with Elusive Moose Radio, long afternoon nap and general zombie-like state) wound up being a little more noteworthy and family oriented.

I've had a creaking sound in the crank on my bike the last few rides, so I took it into the shop yesterday to take the crank off and clean it up. I wound up spending over five hours in the warehouse building exercise bikes (good ones, not like the one your grandma used to own) and the day wound up being a little busier than I had anticipated, so my bike went untouched. I decided to leave it in the shop to look at tomorrow so that I could sleep in and spend some time with my family this morning.

I still had lunch with the EMR guys and snuck in my nap while Xander watched a movie this afternoon, but have made it a point to be a little more less zombie-like. One goal that I had for today was to start teaching Xander how to ride without his training wheels. I know, I know... It's about time. He's six, but Mr. Caution hasn't shown any interest in the freedom that his bike offers without the constraints of the extra round appendages on the bike. I told him last night that today would be the day we'd start. We didn't make a ton of progress, but progress was made.

Xander is a perfectionist and a by the book kind of kid, so he wanted me to tell him the three steps that he needed to be able to do this thing. I told him that it is something that he's going to have to learn more by feel and he responded, "I was afraid you'd say something like that." We worked at it for 15 minutes or so and were down one training wheel by the time the heat and our unwise choice of black clothing caused us to seek relief and abandon our efforts for the day. I'm going to stay on him about it and hope to have him off the crutches in the next few weeks. We also got some game time in after my nap where I cleaned up in checkers and then got my hat handed to me in the Sponge Bob Book of Games.

We finally reached the point with Maia where the whining and crying at the drop of a hat needs to stop. We have been giving her time outs in her crib when she gets out of control, which has worked to a point, but she doesn't really see it as punishment and, therefore, it has not been effective behavior modification. Today we started taking our foot stool from the kitchen and having her sit in the corner by the bathroom where the diaper genie sits. If that's not punishment, I don't know what is. She had to sit there a few times today and generally did pretty well with it. We'll see how it goes.

I'm still waiting to hear from the church in Nebraska that we're interviewing with about when they want to see us. I'm trying to be patient in giving them time to get in touch with me, but my work schedule is such now that we don't have nearly the flexibility that we did last week before my July schedule was set. In the meantime, we got word back from an Omaha church requesting more info and I applied for another job in Minnesota. I'm still not sure where all of the job stuff is headed, but trust that God will lead.

Probably the biggest news of the day was that we have finally rented our Indiana house after having it vacant for 13 months. It's a brother of a friend, but we've been very reluctant to proceed based on past history and in the hope that the new carpet that we put in the house might expedite its sale. We finally decided we needed to take our chances and see how renting turns out. Amy has been slaving over a lease agreement that "covers our butts with both hands" and gives us the flexibility to keep the house on the market in case we find a buyer. I have been very quiet in this whole process because I have a tendency to try to give a chance to the underdog only to have it come back to bite me. I want to believe that this guy is going to work out well, but recognize that we are taking a bit of a risk. On the plus side, now the utilities will be out of our name and may free up a little cash.

Now if the house would just sell...

The Waiting Game

We were expecting to be gearing up for a trip to Nebraska to interview this weekend at a church, but the trip has been put on hold and we're waiting to hear about rescheduling for as early as July 8-9 weekend. The church realized after setting a date with us that they were going to be short a few staff members and wanted to reschedule for a time when everybody was going to be around (no small feat in the summer).

In the meantime, we're still looking at other possibilities both here in Sioux Falls and elsewhere. I've evened out a bit from hitting a low point about 10 days ago. It was one of those times where I just needed to hit bottom and purge emotionally. This year has definitely taken a toll physically and mentally and my self confidence has certainly been torn apart and reassembled a time or two.

I think that it's been a necessary process. No gifts or abilities (be what they may) that I have are an adequate substitute for the anointing of God. Perhaps my confidence at the end of our tenure at Hanfield needed to be stripped away so that I could learn to rely on God more and the gifts He gives less. I think there are more reasons for the last year than I could recognize in a lifetime, but my hope is that I will come out of the other side of this experience with a better understanding of who God is and who I am in Him as well.

In the meantime, we wait.

Possible Opportunities and a few Days Away

If there's anything good to be said about being in the midst of a job search it is that things can get pretty interesting. I've been actively seeking a ministry role since arriving in South Dakota about a year ago and that search has expanded to a regional, rather than local one. I've had phone interviews as far away as the twin cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul for those unfamiliar with the shorthand of the upper Midwest) and Hastings, NE. I'm also preparing for an in person interview in Hastings at the end of next week. So, I was a bit surprised when a couple of possible opportunities opened up right here in Sioux Falls.

The first opportunity that I became aware of was with a new church plant (about 9 months old) looking for a worship leader. I sent my resume about 10 days ago and followed up with a bit more information yesterday. I got an email back from the Lead Pastor with a bit more info about where they are at as a church and in their search. They are collecting resumes now and will be looking a bit more seriously at next steps in August. It would be a part time thing, but with my current job, it would probably work out pretty well.

They also let me know about another opportunity in town. It seems one of the larger churches is looking at starting a new service and has been seeking a worship leader for it. I dropped an email last night asking for more info and to see where I might send a resume and references. They had one of those online email forms, so I couldn't just send my info and had to keep my message short. I couldn't find anything about their needs on their site, so I don't know if they are really looking or if it would be a paid position of some sort.

The plot thickens.

In other news, we got to spend Father's Day with my folks and my Grandpa Harold and his wife, Pauline. It was a relaxed visit and a good chance to escape Sioux Falls, if only for the day. This afternoon we're headed to Yankton to stay with Jim and Marilyn. Amy is helping Marilyn with face painting for an ice cream social this evening, so we're headed out after Amy's morning lessons and will come back tomorrow morning.

I was planning on riding this morning, but there's a chance of storms this morning, so I decided to wait until we hit Yankton in the hopes that the weather will have passed by this afternoon. I love riding around Yankton and had mentioned the other day that I would like to test myself on some of the hills around there with my new bike. I am thinking about doing a century ride in the Black Hills in August and am eager to see how the bike handles hills in the river valley around Yankton since we don't really have many hills of note around Sioux Falls.

As I expected, I am spending a lot of time fixing bikes and not enough time riding them. It hasn't been too bad, but I do miss having less traffic, better roads and a more consistent schedule as all of that, plus the amount of time I spend on my feet) has made riding a little more difficult this year. It still isn't bad, but I'd love to be out more. I think 2000 miles this year is still doable, but I'm going to have to get serious about it soon.

Latest Job Update

We got a call from the church that we did a phone interview with a few weeks ago and we're headed there for an in person interview in two weeks. As I've talked with them, one of the things that keeps coming out is their desire to develop ministry to the post modern culture that's growing in their community. That certainly is something that grabbed my attention when we first began to discuss this position and the ability of a candidate to develop such a ministry seems to be a huge factor in their search.

It's going to be interesting to see how that part of the conversation goes. Is there an understanding that there is more to post modernism than a simple generational association? Most churches tend to define "post modern" by Gen X or Millenial generation ministry, but it isn't nearly that simple. I know some folks in their 50's and 60's that I would say are more post modern than some of the people I know in their 20's.

It's more of a cultural shift than a generational one. It is essentially a cultural reaction to the "modern" worldview that has been the dominant worldview in western culture since the Industrial Revolution and holds implications for the church that need to move beyond age specific ministries. I've learned a lot from guys like Brian McLaren, Erwin McManus, Dan Kimball and the folks at Emergent Village and would encourage you to check out their sites since they have spent much more time and energy on this subject than I have.

I know there are those that consider "emerging church" discussion as just a fad in church circles and they may be right, time will tell. But, I would encourage followers and detractors alike to look seriously at some of what is being discussed because I believe that even if the emergent movement winds up being just a blip on the radar of Christendom that there are valuable things to be discussed and considered for the future of the church.

I guess in about two weeks we'll begin to see how it might relate to one specific church in Nebraska.

Another Day on the TdK

After Sunday's wet ride, the Tour de Kota experienced two days of glorious weather with plenty of sunshine while I worked. Today, I got to make my return to the ride from Garretson to Volga of about 67 miles. The forecast called for warm temps, slight wind from the east (we were headed mostly north) and a "chance of storms." The forecast held up for about the first 30 miles which went by very quickly, but then "chance of storms" became "certainty of torrential rain and gusting headwinds with a chance of getting struck by lightning." This doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easy, so "chance of storms" had to suffice.

We were a few miles from Colman when the wind shifted from about 10 mph out of the east (a crosswind) to gusting at 30 mph from the north (right in our faces). It slowed everybody's pace and a lot of riders began seeking a place to try to wait it out. Most people found a good place to wait in Colman at the park as there was plentiful shelter there.

I wheeled up to a few state troopers at our next turn there and said, "Looks like today finally got interesting."

One of the troopers replied, "You may not want to head north yet. It's raining up there and most seem to waiting it out at the park."

I looked north, looked back at the park and said, "We'll have to see what I run into." as I turned the corner and pushed onward.

I turned the next corner about a mile from there and was headed north again. The wind was still strong, but began to shift back to the east a bit as the first drops of rain fell. About that time, I saw a cyclist waiting it out under a tree in the front yard of a farmhouse who would be the last rider I'd see for about 15 miles.

Now, I am not someone who is the least bit afraid to ride in the rain or the wind. As far as I'm concerned, it's the elements that sometimes separate the casual touring cyclist from the die-hards. It was definitely a day for the old adage, "You don't have to be insane, but it helps" to be proven true where I was concerned. The wind continued to shift until it was firmly out of the east again and I was able to pick up a bit more speed. As the rain began to fall with a bit more malice, I saw something that did give me cause for concern. Lightning. A fair amount of lightning actually, most of which was either directly in front of me or in the system of clouds that I would be riding directly through when I got a little farther north.

About a mile after thinking, "If I had a cell phone, I would be calling Amy now to have her come meet me so I could wait it out in the van," Amy met me with the van and I was able to take shelter for about 10-15 minutes while the lightning blew past. She's great as a support driver!

While the lightning had blown over, the rain had not and I set off again in the biggest downpour I've ridden in for quite some time. It was a sharp, pelting rain that just made me more determined to turn the pedals a bit harder and faster in the hopes of riding out of it. Finally, at about 52 miles, I rode out of the rain and saw my second cyclist in 15 miles.

I met Amy again in Brookings where I sat, soaking, in the back seat of the van while I ate the last of the food we'd packed and drank the last of Amy's capuccino. I took the opportunity to call Hal and the Elusive Moose Radio crew who were recording at Bob's (a Sioux Falls diner style restaurant) and recorded a call-in segment of the podcast before heading back out.

Down to just the last 8 miles, I rode through downtown Brookings passing a few bikes parked outside a food stop and headed west out of town. With the wind fully at my back, I made short work of the road between Brookings and Volga. In the distance, I could see another storm system coming, so I wanted to make sure to get in before it hit. Not a problem. I rode sections at 27 mph without much effort and was in Volga before I knew it.

I found Amy, grabbed my stuff and hit the showers at the pool to clean off the road grime and warm up a bit. Amy and I then grabbed lunch from the Volga Fire Dept consisting of burgers and brats and headed back to the van.

Amy had run into (not literally of course) one of the guys from last year's Tour that we had hung out with named Tim while in Brookings. He said that he had been looking for me during the week to which Amy replied that this year was different because of the inconvenience of a job. I knew that he was holed up in doors in Brookings when I went through, so we watched for him to come in while we ate in the van. He showed up about half way through my burger and I called him over to say "Hey." It was good to see him, but we could tell that he was on a mission to get his stuff set up before the next storm blew through.

With that, we hit the road back to Sioux Falls for a nap before meeting Jim and Marilyn to pick up the kids. We had dinner together in Beresford and got the kids home a little before 8pm.

Unfortunately, that's all the Tour de Kota for me this year as I have to work the next two days while the riders make their way to Milbank. I was glad to get to do a bit of it though and hope to continue to make it an annual event. Hope they have good weather with lots of wind at their backs.

Tour de Kota Sunday Ride

Today was the first day of the Tour de Kota and it kicked off for us with a 5:00 am wake up in order to get to registration early enough to get a decent start. I was an idiot and stayed up until about 11:30 last night, so I was only working on about five hours of sleep. Not exactly the way you want to prepare for a big ride, but there you have it.

The day dawned with a temp of about 57 degrees, a light drizzle and very little wind. Not the idyllic start that we had last year, but it's been blowing like crazy the last few days, so we decided trading the wind for a little cool and wet was not altogether unreasonable.

Amy and I were out the door at about 5:30 and on to the registration area. There were three ride lengths to choose from of 30, 75 and 100 miles and I was crazy enough to sign up for the 100 miles. I was a bit surprised they gave us our century patches (a token to commemorate our feat) at registration. I told Amy, "Once we get the t-shirt with the rest of the registration packet, we should head home and get some more sleep."

Obviously, we didn't follow through, but hit the road at about 6:15. It was nice for me to ride on roads that were pretty familiar. I knew most of the roads fairly well and rode with a good deal of confidence. I tried to keep a reasonably controlled pace at the beginning of 15-17 mph. There weren't a whole lot of other riders out quite so early and there were stretches that felt a bit lonely. The other riders that I was finding weren't riding anything resembling my tempo, so I kept my own rhythm and kept rolling until my first break with Amy.

Amy had parked the van about 30 miles in and had only been there a short time before I arrived. I had a bit of food and a nature break and then was back on the road. It wasn't too long after that a group of four riders with a pretty decent paceline passed me. After about ten seconds I decided that they were riding a reasonable enough pace for me to join them, so I found myself in a nice draft line going just short of 19 mph.

For those that have never participated in a paceline, the idea is that several riders ride in a straight line formation in order to draft off of the first person in the line. When the first person finishes their turn, they peel off to the side, drift to the back and reassume a spot in the line. This way, everybody takes their turn doing work in the front where they receive the full brunt of the wind and everybody gets a good chance to benefit from this work by not having to work so hard farther back in the line.

Obviously, when I joined this line, I grabbed on to the back of the paceline and was in fifth position. The riding was pretty good as we kept a consistent pace and it was obvious that everybody was sharing in the work. The riders in front of me were taking pulls of 1-3 miles on the front which meant that I got to draft for the better part of seven miles. It was nearing my turn to take the lead when my phone rang. I knew the only person that it could be was Amy, so I pulled over to the side of the road to answer the phone before I ever got a chance to help out with the pace. It's pretty poor etiquette to just sit on in a draft line and I felt pretty bad for reaping all of the benefit for none of the work, but that's the way it went.

Amy told me about a pancake deal that the Lions Club in Vermillion was doing and asked if we wanted to meet there next. I said sure and got back on the road. Too far behind my previous group, I just started back into my own tempo. A few miles before Vermillion I caught up with a guy named Ross from Watertown who was headed for pancakes as well, so Ross and I rode in to Vermillion together. The food was very welcome, the people very friendly and Amy and I got a chance to talk to Ross a bit over pancakes and sausage.

Ross and I headed out of town together, crossed into Nebraska (just barely) and then headed back toward the west edge of Vermillion where we would turn west to head back toward Yankton. It was at this point that the wind began to pick up a bit more out of the east-northeast and we began to find it a little harder going. We kept a fair pace up until we were able to catch up with Amy again in Gayville. A Snickers bar some Fig Newtons and about ten minutes later and we were back on our way.

We headed back north to Volin (which we had passed through earlier) and it was just shy of Volin that Ross started to slow down a bit. The longest ride the guy had ever done was about 65 miles and we were past that point already, so I thought he was doing really well. He needed a bit slower pace and I felt the need to pick it up again, so we said goodbye and I was off to tackle the northern loop of the century ride.

Once we hit Volin, we finally started to hit some hills as well. Most people would think this a cruel joke to put the only real hills of the day in the last 30 miles of the ride, but I rather enjoyed it. The first stretch took us about five miles north with hills and a slight head/crosswind of about 15 mph that made itself a nuisance, but didn't really slow me down too much. As I prepared to turn west, I was met by the northern loop welcoming committee comprised of three vultures finishing the scraps of some indeterminate road kill and awaiting tired cyclists. The western stretch was fast with one pretty significant climb and was where I began to hit my stride for the home stretch. I was able to carry a speed of 20 mph or better from that point on and found that my easier pace through the day had left me with plenty of reserves.

I turned south and almost immediately passed the home of Dr. Frank and Judy Aiello. Dr. Aiello was Amy's advisor in college and I also took voice lessons from him. We've been fortunate to be able to keep in touch with them over the years and they are just really wonderful people. A few miles later, there was Amy and the van again.


After the last Snickers and a shortened stay at the van, I hit the road for the final stretch. Several miles later, the century route met up with the other routes and I had people to ride with again. I was still keeping a quick pace and was back on roads that I know well, so I didn't let up and powered on in to the finish. It was easily the strongest I've ever finished a century and also the best I've ever felt after one as well.

We headed back to Jim and Marilyn's where we grabbed a bite, a nap, some hot tub time with the kiddos and a trip to Murdo's for supper before driving back.

I can honestly say that I feel good about how I rode today, but I am exhausted. Unfortunately, I have to miss the next two days of the Tour because of work, but I'm looking forward to Wednesday's ride from Garretson to Volga.