Livingstrong

Cadel Evans leaves Team Silence-Lotto to join BMC Cycling Team and will be racing with George Hincapie against Lance Armstrong (RadioShack Cycling Team) in Adelaide, Australia next year in the Tour Down Under, which will run from the 17 to 24 of January.

This is great news and proves that the 2010 professional cycling season is going to be exhilarating. Just for starters, we will have Cadel Evans VS Lance Armstrong, then, several cycling races, then the Giro and so on. Can't wait for 2010!

About Lance Armstrong:

Lance's participation in the 2009 Tour Down Under brought thousands of visitors from all over the world to this important cycling event injecting about 32 million USD in this part of Australia, helping its economy in great way.
"I'm delighted to announce that Lance Armstrong will be back in Adelaide to race in next year's Tour Down Under," Rann said in a statement. "This will be the first time Lance's new team will compete anywhere in the world. "I've been in regular contact with Lance and his management since he made his world cycling comeback in Adelaide at the 2009 Tour Down Under. He really enjoyed his time here and has told me how much he appreciated the massive support he received from the thousands of cycling fans during the race and from the communities supporting the launch of his global cancer campaign."
About Cadel Evans
"Cadel brings a wealth of experience in the Grand Tours to the team." BMC Racing Team co-owner Jim Ochowicz commented. Ochowicz added "As I have said earlier, our team will have multiple chances to measure ourselves against the greatest teams in the world.  We are pleased that we will have the opportunities to send out our most successful riders, now including Cadel Evans, to tackle these challenges."
Who will win this fantastic 2010 Tour Down Under, Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans...or someone else?

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Halloween makes us talk about horror movies, scary masks, trick or treats and whatnot. I, personally, like horror movies very very much, from The Exorcist to Jigsaw, Halloween to The Massacre of Texas, Silence of the Lambs to Jeepers Creepers. Have seen them all, enjoy them all.

One horror movie that has never been filmed in its entirety is CLEAVER, a fictional "movie to be" created by the known mobster Christopher Moltisanti, nephew of Tony Soprano and part of the crime Italian mafia THE SOPRANOS, a successful HBO TV series that lasted 6 seasons.
In CLEAVER, Jonathan LaPaglia stars as the "Cleaver" and Daniel Baldwin as the Mob Boss "Sally Boy,"  His vision was realized with the help of Screenwriter JT Dolan, Producer Carmine Lupertazzi, and up-and-coming Director Morgan Yam.

Well, The Sopranos itself has tons of horrorific killings, assesinations, deception, suspense and drama. I own all the 6 seasons and just watched the episode where Christopher finally presented the premiere for his Hollywood movie CLEAVER.

Happy Halloween everyone, don't get too spooked, last Friday's was too scary enough with the FDIC closing 9 banks in the US, three banks in CA, three in Texas, two in Illinois and one in Arizona!

I collect all kind of cycling videos, grand tours, cycling classic races, cycling Olympics, local cycling rides or races, funny ones, cycling crashes, anything related to cycling.

I happened to come across with this video that I have in one of my archives and which compiles several funny cycling moments, making the 4:17 minutes that it lasts, very enjoyable. I just feel sorry for the doggy when the cyclist and the dog collide -at 3:56-, but thank goodness nothing happened to the doggy...nor the rider.

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This post is for all the crazy-obsessive-passionate cycling fanatics (like me) out there who missed the final Cycling Classic race of 2009!
Sad to see this season end but excited about how promising the pro cycling world is going to be next year, with new cycling teams in the 'oven', new faces, powerful Armstrong legs pedaling the Pyrenees...man, I WANT 2010 cycling season TO START NOW!

In the meantime, I'll enjoy this video of the last 4 kilometres of the Giro di Lombardia 2009.



2009 Results
Name Nat. Team Age Result
1 Philippe GILBERT BEL SIL 27 5:43:46
2 Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ ESP EUS 31 +0
3 Alexandr KOLOBNEV RUS SAX 28 +4
4 Luca PAOLINI ITA ASA 32 +4
5 Johnny HOOGERLAND NED VAC 26 +4
6 Robert GESINK NED RAB 23 +4
7 Alexandre VINOKOUROV KAZ AST 36 +4
8 Daniel MARTIN IRL GRM 23 +4
9 Juan Jose COBO ACEBO ESP FUJ 28 +4
10 Cadel EVANS AUS SIL 32 +4

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The route of the 2010 Tour de France was unveiled 2 days ago and it promises to be really interesting and tough.
The Tour de France will be celebrating 100 years of life in 2010, that is why the organizers want to make it very exciting and special...and I am ready for it!!!

For example, the third stage for the Paris-Roubaix -the Queen of Classics- will have several sections full with cobblestones that will make that day race quite difficult for some riders, with the exception of Tom Boonen, who absolutely loves cobbled roads -but not sure he will ride the 2010 TdF.
"We don't put cobblestones for riders to fall, but to make a selection," Prudhomme said. "There will be 11km of cobblestones in the last 30km. There will be some damage."

"I think you have to plan your season according to what you see here, too," Armstrong said. "I think even a race like the Tour of Flanders is interesting now because you don't want your only cobblestone experience to be the day you show up here. You need to practice that so we'll build the season around this, too."
There will also be hard and long mountain roads to climb on the Pyrinees and not all the riders will survive them. The 2010 new course will include a total of 23 mountain passes in the Alps, Pyrenees, Jura and Massif Central, three more than this year!
The 2010 Tour will start with a 5-mile prologue in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on July 3 with a final stage on the Champs-Elysees  on Sunday July 25th after 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,600 kilometres.
1 prologue,
9 flat stages,
6 mountain stages and 3 summit finishes,
4 medium mountain stage,
1 individual time-trial stage (51 km).
Distinctive aspects of the racele Tourmalet climbed twice,
a hint of the Classics and cobblestones,
2 rest days,
23 level 1, level 2 and highest level mountain passes.


"I think it will be much more open than last year because the TTT [team time trial] really eliminated some people last year and you won't have that again,

This beautiful video was sent to me via YouTube. I decided to upload it here because the work made on the musical remix by the DJ artist is really fantastic. I gave it well deserved 5 stars.


What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain.. .
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah

What have we done to the world
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son...
What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaah

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah

Hey, what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can't even breathe
(What about us)
What about the bleeding Earth
(What about us)
Can't we feel its wounds
(What about us)
What about nature's worth
(ooo,ooo)
It's our planet's womb
(What about us)
What about animals
(What about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us)
What about crying whales
(What about us)
We're ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man
(What about us)
Can't we set him free
(What about us)
What about children dying
(What about us)

This is BEAUTIFUL CANCUN, MEXICO
Alberto Contador raced in Cancun, Mexico, this last weekend on October 17 winning this important Mexican event, the Cycling Criterium, Gran Premio Cancun 2009.

Looking at the photos taken by Gran Premio Cancun, I have the impression that all the riders were having a blast competing in Cancun, I look at their faces and they are all happy, smiling big time,  bronzed, their legs are so well tanned. Ah, what a wonderful race that must have been.

The pictures are breathtaking!

Contador with Mexican girlsThe final results include 3 Spaniards, one Czechoslovakian and one Mexican cyclist.

FINAL RESULTS

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
3 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
4 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas
5 Florencio Ramos (Mex) Tecos

Francisco Mancebo's wonderful smile

Valverde y Contador (that gun thingie of his that I hate)
NOTE: All PHOTO CREDITS given to Gran Premio Cancun

Lisa Snyder of Middleville, Michigan is a good neighbor, so kind that she had been watching about 5 children waiting at the bus stop. See, the parents of these children work and have to leave for work before the bus can pick them up. Lisa Snyder doesn't charge one penny for doing this, she is just a very nice neighbor who likes to help if it's in her hands to do so.
Somebody in the neighborhood didn't like her and reported her to the DHS -Department of Human Services- and now she faces a fine of up to $1000 USD or jail time (up to 60 days). The reason the DHS officials gave her was that she had been operating an “illegal child care home.” Now she had been advised by the Government officials that if she doesn’t get licensed, she will face severe monetary fines and even imprisonment.


HA! And I always thought that United States of America was a free country, where freedom and democracy reigned. But it seems that those days of REAL American freedom are disappearing little by little.
It's common these days to read stories like this one, and the worst thing of all is that the mainstream media does not care about reporting about all these cases where the Government infringes our freedom and peace.

Our personal freedom is at risk as the socialistic trending ideas grow more and more along all the states of America.

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom."-- Albert Einstein

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"Bicycle Race", composed by Freddie Mercury and played by Queen so masterfully is one of my favorite songs -have hundreds- I like to listen to on my mp3 when I'm road biking at 48 km/hr, top speed, max heart rate -183 beats/min-, sweating and panting, sprinting out of the saddle and feeling my thigh muscles burn burn burn!



BICYCLE RACE

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

You say black I say white
You say bark I say bite
You say shark I say hey man
Jaws was never my scene
And I don't like Star Wars
You say Rolls I say Royce
You say God give me a choice
You say Lord I say Christ
I don't believe in Peter Pan
Frankenstein or Superman
All I wanna do is

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my

Bicycle races are coming your way
So forget all your duties oh yeah
Fat bottomed girls they'll be riding today
So look out for those beauties oh yeah
On your marks get set go
Bicycle race bicycle race bicycle race

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle
Bicycle bicycle bicycle
Bicycle race

You say coke I say caine
You say John I say Wayne
Hot dog I say cool it man
I don't wanna be the President of America
You say smile I say cheese
Cartier I say please
Income tax I say Jesus
I don't wanna be a candidate for
Vietnam or Watergate
Cause all I wanna do is

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

Few months ago I blogged about The Great Dictator movie where Charles Chaplin gives the most beautiful speech I have ever heard.
Today, I watched the movie and enjoyed his speech again, and I couldn't help to compare those times (40's) with these times we are living right now.
Nothing has changed, everything still the same. Have we evolved as human beings or just the machines that humans make have evolved?

Let's see. Countries still at war, people are separatists, there are riots and general discontent practically all over the globe, rising poverty and unemployment, freedom is being taking away little by little, governments want to control their people through fear and annihilation of the minds, and the worst thing of all is that people are complacent and apathetic.

The Patriot Act that President George W. Bush started has been extended by the current US President, Barack Obama. So much for a change, uh?

"You, the people, have the power - The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful - to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security.
By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people."

I just finished watching the movie "Copying Beethoven". I did not have the opportunity to watch it when it first came out in 2006, but now I'm watching it on a satellite TV channel and I am enjoying the astonishing music that this genius created, as well as the first-class acting of Ed Harris and Dianne Kruger.

One critic on the Rotten Tomatoes Website said: "It's not just that the movie plays fast and loose with his biography, inserting a nonexistent soul mate into his last, lonely days ... [but also that] it reduces Beethoven to a moldy cliché."

I respectfully disagree. To me, adding Anna Holtz to the fantastic life of Sir Ludwig Van Beethoven is like exploring what the feminine artistic side of this amazing musical genius could have been.

And why not to explore those possibilities, after all, music has its special universe that exists in each one's mind and soul, and this musical universe my friends is so vast and complex that has not yet being completely explored nor conquered, and that is the reason why I am enjoying this movie so much.

All this data is current and up to date. Lots of media and economists say that the recession is over and that we now have a jobless recovery.
Judge for yourself:

1. Media official unemployment rate 9.7%  -------------------------  Real Official unemployment rate 16.9%

Total number of American currently not working, 15 to 25 million people, depending on the percentage you use to calculate, the media or the real unemployment.
Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time workers, economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.

2. Real median household income fell 3.6% from 2007-2008

Real median household income fell 3.6 percent, the biggest annual drop since 1991, to $50,303 in 2008.
"This breaks a string of three years of annual income increases and coincides with the recession that started in December 2007," said David Johnson, head of Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division.

3. Poverty rate rose to 13.2 % in 2008.

The highest level since 1997, from 12.5 percent in 2007. About 39.8 million Americans were living in poverty, up from 37.3 million in 2007.
The government defines poverty as an annual income of $22,025 for a family of four, $17,163 for a family of three and $14,051 for a family of two.
"We project that with the continuing deterioration in the labor market, by 2009 a quarter of all children in this country will be living in poverty," said Heidi Shierholz, a labor market economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.

4. Foreclosures are on the rise with foreclosures filings in August topping 300,0000 for a sixth straight month,
"The foreclosure numbers are largely unemployment related," said Morris A. Davis, a former Federal Reserve Board economist, in an interview with Bloomberg News.. "As long as 15 million Americans are unemployed,

Let's play a game. It's fun and you can burn tons of calories! It's called: The Pop-Up Pelosi Chicken Dance. You just need to listen to President Barack Obama tonight and follow Pelosi. Let us start learning how this game works. Watch carefully:


Now, let's bet on how many times PELOSI will jump up off of her chair to applaud Obama as soon as he finishes every little sentence during his Health Care speech tonight. Twenty? Or maybe she just won't be sitting today.


White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One this morning that President Obama has not yet put the finishing touches on his planned address this evening to a joint session of Congress.

"He's still working on it," Gibbs said. "…he came back from Camp David Monday with many handwritten pages of notes that he gave to the speechwriters. He got another draft incorporating more edits last night, and worked on it with the speechwriters before he left this morning. So my sense is he'll be tinkering with this some this afternoon, but my sense is this thing will be locked sometime this afternoon." Source