day fourforty - Armageddon

OMG!!!! Just 24 hours away from my second Tour de France, the first Lanceless tour in eight years, and my world comes tumbling down. Here I had been saving my nickels and dimes (literally - I crawl into the laundry room and the dirty clothes hamper and take the coins out of mom and dad's pockets) and had been betting dilligently on MrBookmaker.com, placing all of my hopes and aspirations on Basso. I was really counting on this to pay off, maybe even to cover tuition for my first year at Williams College. Or Amherst, Chris.

And then, BAM: http://velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10176.0.html

This is like one of those moments you always remember. My dad was at home sick that day the space shuttle exploded (the first one). My grandparents were at school when JFK got shot. And I was walking around the living room wildly swinging a yardstick when I found out about this. (NB - the yardstick swinging was not in response to the story, swinging the yardstick is rather indicia of my own happiness and contentedness.)

Regardless, all that talk about the rising surge of American talent may come to fruition now. George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer are definitely contenders. But if I can find anymore money between now and tomorrow's prologue, it's going on the world's fastest Mennonite, Floyd Landis.

Any other takers? Free money. Pete Rose Style.