"maximum cycling journalism for the modern sprockethead - published spontaneously"
WHEN LIFE OFFERS YOU LEMONS, MAKE SOUP
For those of you who think that the Nation of Texas has taken more than it has given, we introduce David Ansel. Add him to the list Lone Star State Luminaries like (Molly Ivins, Gibby Haynes and the Butthole Surfers, Geto Boys, and that Guy With All The Yellow Bracelets). Ansel arrived in Austin in 1998 to be with his then girlfriend who was doing graduate work at the University of Texas. The relationship soon went south and his work as a computer programmer was less than fulfilling. So he started teaching yoga. That made life better, but trying to pay the bills by leading Texans through sun salutations is a tough row to hoe. In 2002, he turned over a new leaf (a bay leaf, maybe? sorry), and decided to make some vegetarian gumbo and tell all his friends about it.
The e-mail to his pals and neighbors read, ""I'll bring you some soup next Sunday for 10 bucks. Plus, I'll bring it to you on my bike," according to Food & Wine. 17 people replied to that e-missive. By week three that number had increased to 24. Growth continued and repeat customers, which he dubbed "soupies", would trade their empty soup buckets for a full one with each delivery. It's now four years later and business is booming. Employees do most the cooking these days, salads, entrees and desserts are now offered as well, and there are multiple bikes (and talk of adding a refrigerated truck or two to the mix).
Far from Texas, but still want a taste? Check out Ansel's
The Soup Peddler's Slow & Difficult Soups: Recipes And Reveries. Order today and you could be eating some of the best stew that Texas has to offer by next Tuesday while you watch the Chowderhead-In-Chief deliver his State of the Union. --krcmar
01/14/07 22:04:52 PST
DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENT PEDALS 85 HOURS ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE
Breaking a previous record of pedaling for 82 hours, Illinois DEA g-man George Hood spun on a stationary bicycle for 85 continuous hours, a 13 mph pace interrupted only by brief power naps, during the 5-minute hourly breaks allocated by the Guinness Book of World Records, the official arbiter of such achievements.
Hood's stunt raised money for group that helps families of slain police officers, and in no way is his feat to be interpreted as a metaphor for the war on drugs.--coonce
01/05/07 10:42:55 PST
DRUNKEN DRIP PAINTERS A MENACE BEHIND THE WHEEL *AND* ON THE BIKE
Wire Donkey Art Director Andy Takakjian sent us this velo-centric collage of renowned drunken asshole and abstract expressionist extraordinaire, Jackson Pollock. (Or more accurately, actor Ed Harris *as* Jackson Pollock, in the eponymous biopic...)
After setting the art world on fire via his creation of splatter (or "drip") painting, Pollock snuffed it in a car while well into the sauce. During that spill, one passenger died, another survived. But is more than apparent this clown should never been graced with a set of car keys.--coonce
12/29/06 11:11:27 PST
RIDE O' THE WEEK AND LANCE PULLS OUT OF LEADVILLE
Okay, the ride of the week isn't really a ride, per se. But if you're in the five boroughs, you should point it towards King Kog and start pedaling. The fixed gear shop is celebrating its first anniversary tonight with an art show at Stuhltrager Gallery, which is next door. Work from NYC and SF-based artists will be on display and there will be everything from bike art to graffiti as well as found objects. We're pretty sure they won't have photos of
a man patching a tube with his feet,
so you'll have to get your inspiration elsewhere. The "Destroy Everything" show will be up until January 13th.
Angelenos have their own bike party going on at the Cicle.org HQ. Portland's Rev. Phil is gonna show films from the Cycle Messenger World Championships, the Sprockettes (bike punk ballet), Seattle's Dead Baby Downhill race, and the Cyclecide Heavy Pedal. If you're still sitting on a bunch of baked goods from the holidays, we're nominating this as a "Let Them Eat Cake" event and suggesting that you bring some of the baked goodies you came into over the past week to Liz and Shay's to feed the hungry Critical Massers who are likely to show up.
In other news, Lance announced that he was NOT going to race the Leadville 100 due to a scheduling conflict. Landis may still take part. VeloNew.com writes, But the event carries a NORBA sanction, which means Landis would not be able to compete should he be suspended for a positive testosterone test at the 2006 Tour, unless organizers decide to proceed without the sanction.
--krcmar
12/27/06 11:35:06 PST
GOOD NEWS FOR IKEA'S EMPLOYEES: AN X-MAS BONUS WITH NO ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
We're a little late on this one (we were trying to put together this brand new particle-board desk, when we realized the instructions as well as a few key screws were missing and all of a sudden a week had gotten away from us...) but wanted to put the word out anyway. Ikea, the company known for cheap Swedish meatballs, inexpensive furniture, and causing traffic chaos in every town they have a store, has given all 9000 of its British employees a foldable bike as a Christman bonus, according to
Bikebiz.com. These rigs are branded as Raleigh bicycles, a company that usually sources its foldies from Dahon, writes BikeBiz. But the Ikea rigs are an exception. They're from Poland and Dahon does not have a plant there. Brits are going to see a lot more foldables on the street -- foldable giant, Brompton sells about 12,000 bikes a year. E-bayers also reaped the benefits: the online auction site was flooded with the X-mas bonus. --krcmar
12/22/06 11:23:50 PST
HOLIDAY ORPHAN RIDE AND A DICKENS OF A XMAS EVE
This ride is intended for everyone and anyone who will be an orphan on Christmas Eve - those of us who aren't "going home for the Holidays," who are up for a good time, and love to ride bicycles on the nearly empty streets of Los Angeles the night before Christmas.
Feeling left out of the Christmas push? Has Christmas been shoved down your throat? This is for every denomination, every orientation, anyone who has a family that is their friends and neighbors, lovers of the city, and lovers of bicycles. Whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, Agnostic, Aetheist, DaDa-ist, or you follow your own making, this ride is for you.
Think of it like Kwanzchannumas. Sort of. Only better.
This ride will involve any one and all of the following: Bicycles, Snow, Eggs, Lights, Whiskey, Egg Nog, sandwiches, and sing-a-longs. The pace will be mellow and healthy, not slow like a funeral procession. Various stops for a jolly good time to be shared with the city. A great night to be spent with cool friends. The Ride will start around 9:30 pm, and be through 'round 1am on Christmas Day.
So: LA sprocketheads... if yer havin'a Dickensian holiday, drop us a line and look forward to puttin' in some miles on the apocryphal Eve of the Birthin' of the Baby Jesus... --coonce
12/21/06 12:28:09 PST
GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE SAD NEWS
Here at Wire Donkey HQ we drink lots of coffee, hear more music, and go through the news every morn. On good days, we hear great things on the radio while reading sobering, bicycle related stories. Today was one of days -- we caught the tail-end of an interview and live set with the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens on KCRW while trying to make sense of another death in the bike family.
Although everyday we hear about people who are killed racing or riding their bikes, today we got a taste of a new flavor of awful news: a man was murdered because of his involvement in cycling. Mahoud Ahmed Fulayih was Iraq's Olympic cycling coach and he was killed this weekend after being kidnapped from his home, according to the AP. The story says that "Athletes and sports officials have increasingly become targets of threats, kidnappings and assassination attempts in Iraq, either as part of retaliatory violence between Shiites and Sunnis or for ransom." We wish we had something wise, witty, or insightful to say here. We don't. All we have to offer is a link to a distraction : The George W. Bush "Stay The Course" Bike Riding Game. --krcmar
12/21/06 11:28:46 PST
MAKE BIKES ACCESSIBLE, INEXPENSIVE, AND CONVENIENT AND THEY'LL RIDE.
(One of BikeShare's steeds. Photo courtesy of torontoist.com.)
Some of the laziest, short-tempered folks in the world ride bikes. They know that for all of its fake ease, getting into the motorized steel cage makes them suceptible to the trap of traffic. Even after pulling up to their destination, urban drivers know that they haven't truly arrived until they've found parking. One of the best ways to get these drivers on a saddle? Give them an easy option to pedal by offering inexpensive access to bikes that are in good operating condition. For the past six years that's what BikeShare in Toronto did.
For $30 per season or four hours of volunteer work, low-income folks had access to a coaster-equipped single speed bike complete with a basket and lock at 16 different locations across the city. The fee was $50 for those who were not low-income and for a cool $75 Canadian you could name a bike. Members could ride the two-wheeler for a few hours or all day and return it to any of the hubs in town.
That's all about to change.
The cash that has been used to run the program will be depleted by December 31 according to the CBC. Unless a miracle happens the program that has been growing by 500 members per year and has an annual operating budget of $90k, will not continue into January. And that's bad news for lazy people in one of Canada's greatest cities. --krcmar
12/20/06 12:34:09 PST
LEADVILLE 100: BEAT A TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION AND WIN A BELT BUCKLE
Last week, seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong made news when he confirmed rumors that he was planning to race in the Leadville Trail 100. Not to be outdone, Floyd Landis is now planning on doing the ride that's limited to 750 entrants, according to the AP. Landis gave up off-road racing in 1998 to concentrate on road racing. But after his urine was found to contain illegal levels of testosterone to epitestosterone after the 2006 Tour, he's now looking at a two year ban from UCI racing and a way to maintain his fitness during that ban.
Hello mountain bike races that don't care about Dick Pound and his lynch mob. Hopefully, Landis is not planning on making big bucks from a good finish at Leadville.
Although the event is one of the toughest off-road races in the world, there's not much of a prize list. To be an official finisher, riders have to complete the hundred mile course that's at altitude in less than 12 hours. Men who knock out that 8.3 MPH for half a day earn themselves a shiny, silver belt buckle plus a sweatshirt with their name and finishing time on it. Women get the same as well as a pendant. Break nine hours and the belt buckle that you earn is gold and silver. Winners usually clock in at just over seven hours. The coolest distinction? The final racer to officially finish the race gets a small statuette of the hind end of mule and the right to call themselves the "last ass up the pass". --krcmar
12/20/06 09:48:14 PST
AND HERE, IN THE PURSUIT OF INEXPENSIVE GEAR, GO I Ö
We first discovered Steep and Cheap less than a month ago and since then have averaged two purchases a week. The reason? Screaming deals. The site is owned backcountry.com and it's m.o. is simple: one really good offer at a time. Pop on over and you're as likely to find a pair of Five Ten Anasazi Mesa climbing shoes that retail north of $100 for $20 as you are a cut-rate price on a winter CamelBak. Based in Utah, there's no tax for out-of-staters, they don't kill you on shipping charges, and the majority of the gear we ordered arrived on our California doorstep just two days after purchase. Today, they're sprinting through 100 deals in 24 hours and although most gear this time of year is for seasonal pursuits like skiing, snowboarding, and staying warm, there's a fair showing of bike products too. Unlike those purple anodized bar ends you won as a preem last summer, most gear is current and desirable. And before you ask, no, they're not one of our advertisers.
--krcmar
12/14/06 12:52:32 PST
ROLL OVER BARRY BONDS AND TELL MARION JONES THE NEWS; FEDS INDICT "TWO-WHEELIN' TIMEBOMB" IN DOPING PROBE
Thomas, a former Olympian banned from competition after Norbolethone was found in her wee-wee, has been indicted on accusations of perjury, obstruciton of justice and "hindering the government's steroid probe."
As per Norbolethone's role in the entire scandal, the AP writes:
At the time, the drug was an obscure steroid that had been used in a few human tests in the 1960s. It was rediscovered by chemist Patrick Arnold, who supplied BALCO with undetectable performance-enhancing drugs and is among five people who have pleaded guilty in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative investigation.
The indictment accuses Thomas of lying when she testified she never used performance-enhancing drugs. She also is said to have lied when she testified that she did not get illegal drugs from Arnold, who was convicted in the scandal earlier this year and is serving a three-month sentence in a Morgantown, W.Va. federal prison.
Hmmmm.... with Amgen sponsoring the Tour of California, maybe BALCO can get in the act with, say, corporate patronage of an alley cat race?--coonce
12/14/06 12:05:16 PST
IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL YOU ASK GENERAL MOTORS' CEO TO COMMIT TO BEING GREEN
General Motors' CEO Rick Wagoner delivered the keynote address at the LA Auto Show last month. During his speech Wagoner spoke about GM's plans for "greening" its fleet by focusing on flex-fuel models, electric cars, and fuel cell vehicles, according to Treehugger.com.
The speech was met with applause as well as a couple of prankster environmental activists who made their way to the podium and asked the CEO to put his promises in writing before the goons-for-hire realized that the green meanies weren't supposed to be there at all.
--krcmar
12/12/06 15:23:24 PST
READER'S 'ROID ATTACK?
All *we* did was quote The Onion! And wonder if the new CHEAT TO WIN bracelet is a viral marketing construct for Tour of California sponsor, Amgen...
But the post inspired the first real hate mail addressed to to the nascent Donkey, from Jonathan, who got all up on the tire.... To wit:
Congratulation, this post just got you deleted from my friends list. There is funny, but this is just in bad taste. Amgen makes drugs (like EPO) to fight cancer and helps millions of people. That its products are also used to cheat at sports seems rather out of its control. Taking pot shots at Amgen because it makes these products and implying corporate irresponsibility with out any facts, but rather only snide comments isn't funny or informative. It is irresponsible and it is the worst kind of yellow journalism, which makes you the leftest version of Fox News.
And he's right: Amgen's products do a lot of good for the people who need them, as long as those folks can afford the high price that keeps the drug manufacturer's profit margins in the 20% range or so.
Don't even get us going on the fact that one of its products is partially responsible for delivering the black eye to professional cycling that's yet to fade.
Moreover, if we wrote about rap music and we heard about Smith and Wesson holding a "hip hop shootout" in Compton or Flatbush we'd do the same. Sure the gun manufacturer does some good but its stuff also causes a shitload of problems in some communities. --krcmar
12/12/06 12:00:21 PST
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE (SOUTH AFRICAN EDITION): A SEVEN YEAR-OLD'S JOURNEY TO BECOME THE MAN OF THE HOUSE.
Keegan Briel begged and badgered his mother for a bicycle for just about as long as she could remember. This spring, after months and months of pining for something to pedal, the seven-year-old's wish was finally granted -- he was given a rickety old two-wheeler.
He couldn't have been happier and for a while everything was dandy. The freckle-faced boy tooled around his Johannesburg neighborhood on his bike and continued to get good grades at school. At home things were more difficult. His mother struggled to support the boy, his sister, and three other family members. She had become a single parent four years ago when her husband was shot to death.
It was only getting more difficult for her. Even the basics were becoming a stretch. Keegan probably didn't know this when he asked her for a quarter* that he needed for school.
"Where should I get a quarter," she asked. "If I don't even have money to buy bread?"
Like most days, Keegan went to school that morning without any change in his pockets. That's not the way he returned.
That afternoon he came home with some household staples -- two loaves of bread, a can of coke, and some money.
The boy had bought the goods with the proceeds from the sale of his bicycle, which he had let go for about $5. He didn't even keep the quarter he originally asked for.
The story found its way to the airwaves and Keegan is now the owner of a brand new steed. But he's not the only kid who needs a bike. Children across the country are dreaming of a two-wheeler to call their own. Boston's Bikes Not Bombs as well as Los Angeles' Bicycle Kitchen both have Earn-A-Bike programs which give youth the opportunity to learn basic mechanics while building their own rig from used bike parts. Some groups even teach urban cycling basics. Show them that they're the shit by throwing them a few ducats. Hit off BNB here . Giving to the Bike Kitchen takes an extra step. Click here and then select Bicycle Kitchen from the drop down menu.
Or do some legwork and find out how to help out young cyclists in your neighborhood.
*we converted the South African rand into dollars and cents.--krcmar
12/10/06 11:44:27 PST
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN... ACTUALLY, YOU'RE GUILTY IF WADA SAYS YOU ARE
The worldwide sports anti-doping program, created to fight performance enhancing drug use in international athletics, imposes severe punishments for accidental or technical infractions, relies at times on disputed scientific evidence and resists outside scrutiny, a Times investigation has found.
Slow down and chew on that:
1. WADA imposes severe punishments for accidental or techincal infractions. (i.e. a mistake in label-reading by the athlete that yields a positive result, but does not offer performance enhancement usually carries the same draconian punishment as a blatant violation.)
2. The testing process relies on disputed scientific evidence. (i.e. Testing for EPO involves a "siginficant level of interpretation" and "experienced technicians viewing the same results can differ in their conclusions," according to the article.)
3. The testing process resists outside scrutiny. (ie. World reknowned experts who are under contract with WADA are forbidden from testifying in defense of an athlete.)
4. Athletes should leave drug use to professional musicians and Rev. Ted Haggard.
Kidding about the last one. Go read the article. There's also a few paragraphs on Floyd Landis that call into question the results produced by the Paris lab that tested his samples from the 2006 Tour de France. --krcmar
12/08/06 07:38:44 PST
LIVE STRONG? THAT'S TOTALLY 2004.
The Onion say that its "new Cheat To Win lifestyle bracelet is perfect for
your deceitful lifestyle." We're wondering if it's a stealth, viral marketing campaign for pharmaceutical giant and race promoter Amgen.
Because nothing paves the way for acceptance of performance enhancing substances like putting a smile on someone's face.
--krcmar
12/05/06 12:37:03 PST
THE PAST IS THE NEW FUTURE--GETTING RID OF TRAFFIC SIGNS IN EUROPE
Although we started to put one pedal in front of another a long time ago, in a state that's far away, we actually learned to ride in New York City. It was the early '90s and a good time for bike messengers in Gotham. There was enough work to go around, Times Square was still R-rated, and traffic lights were for drivers, not cyclists.
We looked out for ourselves and hoped the auto pilots in their moving masses of metal followed the writing stuck in the concrete.
Seven cities in Europe think there's a better way. They're removing all traffic signs, just like the days of horse and buggy when nary a street sign existed. One small city even removed parking meters. Advocates argue that fewer laws encourage drivers to take responsiblity for themselves. So far, the number of accidents in one of these towns of few traffic signs has declined dramatically, according to Spiegel International.
Copenhagen is trying something completely different. They're employing
"Bikini Bandits" to encourage drivers to slow down. This "specially trained team of enthusiastic young women" hold up speed limit signs while wearing only bikini bottoms. --krcmar
12/01/06 10:32:21 PST
THE BICYCLE AS XMAS XYLOPHONE: JOHNNY RANDOM'S NUTCRACKER SUITE
There was that time when the Donkey was a mere 3-year old burro and come Xmas morning, wiped sleep from its eyes, sauntered into the living room and looked under the tree only to behold a shiny new bicycle as the season's bounty. Ahhh, even as a kid, the Donkey knew that the gift's potential velocity was slowed by training wheels and somehow the young rider managed to remove the cumbersome, supefluous wheels and begin an unfettered assault on the pavement...
Moments later, of course, the young burro participated in its first crash -- boom -- ramming the rider's precious and precocious private parts right into the bike's gooseneck, a collision which precipitated an emergency hernia surgery and forever distorted any appreciation of Xmas time, bicycles and, errmmm, the "Nutcracker Suite..."
(Get the Donkey drunk at a Xmas party, and he'll drop trou and show you the scar...)
Glockenspiel & Clarinet melody = spokes.
Cello & Violin pizzicatos = plucked derailleur cables.
Triangle = disc brake hit.
Percussion = shifting, coasting, finger over turning spokes, chain pulls, braking, clipping into pedals, back-spinning, air out of tires.
check it out:
--coonce
11/29/06 15:24:22 PST
VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS: BIKE LOVERS, NOT SO MUCH
An editorial in the Virginian Pilot bemoaning the bureacratic entropy that has halted progress on local bike paths ("It's time to backpedal on being bike friendly") has sparked a shit-storm of reactionary sentiment from motorists...
Among the choicest flames are those from Ed. B and M Wilson; Ed fires off this salvo:
"Give 'em an eight foot shoulder... and these spastic spandex psycholists will still ride out in the middle of the road. If they want special roads, then maybe they should foot the bill. I have yet to see one of these idiots use the bike paths that we already have..."
followed by M Wilson, who goes the Clint Eastwood/Dutch Reagan-populist route with:
"Hands off my wallet...We're taxed to death as it is - we don't need to waste even more money to make our roads bike-friendly. Pack your birkinstocks and move to Portland if you want to live in a green socialist utopia."
Wow. The lines are certainly drawn in Virginia Beach. The Donkey is beginning to think that bike paths there have become the new Gaza Strip....
Moreover, it argues that current demonstraters are "pompous occupation of the moral high ground" who are not winning the hearts and minds of those who they hope will share the road...
Which begs the question: Have the Critical Mass rides and other rolling demonstrations reached a point of diminishing returns? Have the movement's more self-righteous velocipedalists done more to alienate otherwise passive motorists who might otherwise be a friend of cyclists?
Re: "Traffic Stoppers," the recent YouTube footage shot from the p.o.v of motorists corked by a calvacade of Midnight Ridazz, footage which showcases the frustrations of trapped drivers idling at a stoplight while 1200 cyclists take over the streets.
On some level: daily drivers just want to get down the road, same as cyclists.
Remember the words of that famed pseudo-revolutionary, Mr. Mojo Rising, who once sang: "They got the guns/But we got the numbers/Gonna win, yeah/We're takin' over..."
It is important to note that in that instance of civil disobedience, despite the numbers, those with the guns ultimately won. In this iteration of social reform, *they* have both the numbers and the instruments of carnage, in this instance, cars...
11/29/06 11:04:55 PST
MAKING SURE THAT YOU CAN ALWAYS FEEL THE FUN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS
Almost a decade ago Bicycling gave a lot of ink to a physician who said that bike saddles cause erectile dysfunction. Knowing that nothing draws in viewers like the story of a cock that can no longer crow, 20/20 picked up the story and cycling got 15 minutes of post-Lemond and pre-Lance fame. Skeptics said that the claims by the doctor lacked scientific evidence and that there was zero research in peer-reviewed journals to support his argument.
Saddle manufacturers saw dollar signs and quickly created new, expensive seats for men. With an eye on their manhood, the fellas opened up their wallets wide. Get ready for another high-priced edition of bike-saddles-that-won't-adversely-affect-your-special-parts. This time the women are invited. Recently an article dubbed "Genital Sensation and Sexual Function in Women Bicyclists and Runners: Are Your Feet Safer than Your Seat?" was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Researchers concluded that "There is an association between bicycling and decreased genital sensation in competitive women bicyclists. Negative effects on sexual function and quality of life were not apparent in our young, healthy premenopausal cohort."
We haven't combed over the study from the peer-reviewed journal yet. But we're smelling a slew of new, women's saddles coming out in the near future...--krcmar
( Steve Cummings AKA Steve-O getting dirty at a recent cyclocross race.)
When most people think about unlicensed bike races they think about alleycats, those competitions dominated by messengers where traffic laws don't matter and blowing stop signs is a given. But unsanctioned events have been around long before couriers made the urban wasteland into a race course. With a history that goes back more than two decades, the Dirty Dozen is one of the Donkey's favorite events.
It took place last weekend and challenged racers to climb 13 of the steepest hills in Pittsbugh. Steve Cummings, a cat. 2 roadie, beat out 126 other competitors to win the event for the third year in a row.
Over the course of six hours, racers pedaled a total of 52 miles and completed the baker's dozen of steep ascents that included Canton Street, which may be the steepest paved road in the world, according to the Post-Gazette. It's grade is 37 percent, which translates into an average rise of 37 feet in 100 feet of run. Or, as they would say in Boston, "That shit's wicked steep."
Even San Francisco can't compare--its steepest hill is less than 32 percent. Did we say that Canton Street is all cobblestone?
For more info on the race, check out this story from the Pittsburgh Tribune--krcmar
11/27/06 11:23:07 PST
MADISON CHAMP ISAAC GALVEZ DIES AFTER GHENT SIX CRASH
As reported by Reuters:
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Spanish cyclist Isaac Galvez was killed in an indoor race at the weekend after a crash, organizers said on Sunday.
The incident took place at around 0.30 a.m. (2330 GMT) on Sunday morning during the Six Days of Ghent event. The final day's racing due on Sunday evening has been canceled.
Belgian media said Galvez hit Belgian competitor Dimitri De Fauw, struck a railing and lost consciousness. He died on the way to hospital.
Galvez was a track specialist who also competed in road race events and won a gold medal together with partner Joan Llaneras in the "Madison" event in this year's world championships in Bordeaux.
He was a member of the Kelme team between 2000 and 2003, before switching to the Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne outfit in 2004. He won a stage in the 2005 Criterium International and another in the Four days of Dunkirk race in 2006.
The Donkey reminds itself that cycling is dangerous and it is not just automobiles on PCH that can drop the curtain on a rider; The Donkey also extends condolences to the entire cycling community...
