Yesterday I finally got the garage cleared enough to put my van in it. It was no small task. Man, do I have a lot of stuff from last season spread all over everywhere. This van is not fun to work on. It was from New York state and the whole underside is rusty. I will never owe a car from the Northeast again. Or the upper Midwest or anywhere they use salt the whole winter. It destroys automobiles.

I got a lot of good advice and after looking at the situation, I decided to run the new brake lines under the carpet inside the van. It will be so much easier. But, I need to remove the front drivers seat first. And the nuts on the bottom of the car are not cooperating. It is ugly. They are way hard to get to and they are so rusted that you can barely see the threads on the bolts. I’d just cut them off if I could get to them.

So, I gave up for the evening and watched the last half of KU vs. Missouri. Kind of a smear towards the end. The first half was good, but Missouri kind of melted during the 2nd half and KU won 103-86.

I hate it when shit falls in my eyes working on cars. Even when I’m wearing glasses, it still happens. I woke up this morning and can barely blink because of all the crud. And it amazes me how much warmer concrete is if you put down a piece of cardboard. I noticed that in Japan a long time ago. In the metro stations, all the homeless Japanese were sleeping on cardboard. Then I noticed it back here in the states. Cardboard is a great insulator. I have one of those low roller carts things, but it seems like cardboard works just as good, if not better. Okay, better go get ready to lay on my back on cold concrete for the rest of the day. Makes racing, in the wind, in the desert, in Qatar seem glamorous.

About as empty as this has been in quite a while.

Cardboard insulator.

Bunches of brake lines.

The one that was leaking. It seems like these should be made out of stainless or something that lasts longer than 8 years in the weather.

Man, that guy isn’t a brain surgeon. It is amazing to what extent these guys will go to try to ride their bikes fast. Here is the first article about Riccardo’s kidney problem a couple days ago. I was thinking the worse. Now here a piece that says that he was having some “issues” with a blood transfusion that caused the hospital visit.

This whole thing isn’t confirmed, though. Here’s the statement by his team director – Luijckx hasn’t been able to reach Riccó and his manager and while he’s not overly optimistic, he’s trying to maintain the appropriate level of impartiality. “We have to make do with the news from Italy. The fact that he is not reachable, I find it strange,” Luijckx told news agency ANP.”We assume it’s true. But as a good employer should, we apply both sides to the present situation. We are working hard on it, but it is not easy. “At the moment I’m assuming the worst.”

Isn’t it so nice that they decided to let him race again this last season and win all those races. And he’s still on the start list for the Tour Méditerranéen Cycliste Professionnel in two weeks. Maybe he’ll feel better by then.

How many chances to do these guys get? Is it all going to have to go so underground that they start killing themselves again like they did in the ’90s? Kind of seems like it.

This is all seems like some kind of interlaced conspiracy. The cycling community is so small. Here’s a link to another group of guys that seem can’t seem to get it through their heads that doping is now “frowned upon” from the police, sporting media and some of us riders.

I guess there is too much money involved. I don’t know. It is pretty depressing in general. That is all I have to say.

What a perfect couple.