Escondido is Spanish for Hot Box

The Tour of California is here again.

I feel for these guys, 100 degrees plus 11,000 or so feet of climbing 

does not make for a pleasant opening stage. 

I just hope they rehydrate well tonight because stage 2 is going

to be even nastier. Hot valley floors, more climbing, and then 

ending in Palm Springs where the temperature is expected to reach 108. 

Good Luck guys!

Here are some pics from this morning, enjoy:

Philippe Gilbert

showing why you wear white shorts

with WC stripes.

Audi.

Marco Pinotti 

the (Italian) gentleman rider

The Vacansoliel stable

Andy had a little spark on todays stage, maybe I can finally

 wear my Luxembourg socks with pride again.

Not my roof rack,

wish it was.

Sylvain Chavanel

His tattoo is getting bigger. 

 Tyler Farrar the ginger warrior.

 Omega Pharma something or other,

or as Phil Ligget would say: Omeeeeega 

Vacansoliel, the team of the day.

Must of been the bikes. 

Thor.

Bring on the Pink

Available at etsy.com/shop/freebirdvelo

Yikes!

I'm terrible at math so I won't try and count how many days since my last post. I am alive and I have absolutely no excuse for being gone so long. Wish I could say I've been riding too much to write but my Mama told me not to lie. So wish me luck and hopefully this will become more routine. 

On to more important issues. It's May and it's Giro time. Time for pink. Time for pasta. Time for wine. Time to ride. I believe this year's going to be pretty damn good. You got Wiggo, Gesink, Ryder, and Nibbles. Now, I want to go with Nibali but I'm afraid it's not going to be any of the ones I just mentioned. I just wrote all those names for nothing. Another reason I'm kind of excited this year is because the US now has Giro coverage thanks to beIn sports. (I was kind of worried there for while, no carrier was going to carry it in the US) I do enjoy watching Eurosport and Gazetta's coverage on the lil 'ol computer but it's nice to have it reordered and waiting for you when you come home to eat lunch.

How The Race Was Won - Strade Bianche 2013 from Cosmo Catalano on Vimeo.

I may be a little late to this party and I feel like an idiot but I didn't realize @cosmocatalano from Instagram was the brilliant man behind these awesome videos. Got to thank Bianchista for putting one of his videos on her blog. I now have some serious catching up to do, and I suggest you do the same too.