A Dutch newspaper has reported that the 4 guys that didn’t “want to” ride the Olympics, are now going to be suspended for 6 months after the Vuelta. The four guys are George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Christian Vande Velde, Dave Zabriskie, plus Jonathan Vaughters. Here’s the article at Cyclingnews.com.

Nearly all the riders aren’t talking to the media about the report. Jonathan Vaughters called the reported ban “completely untrue.” I wonder if that is going to come back and bite him later on down the road? I guess since 3 of the 5 guys are now on the Garmin Team, and he’s the big boss, he needs to try to get through the Tour before it all goes down. He did reissue his current team’s stance on doping. Thanks Jonathan, that is what we want to know.

Here’s Levi’s quote from Cyclingnews – Quizzed whether he had made any kind of deal with USADA in return for a six-month suspension, as has been alleged in De Telegraaf, Leipheimer said: “Again, I can’t say anything. I’m not going to comment. Beyond that I’m here in the Tour with Quick Step and that’s all I can say.” This response pretty much confirms something is up. At least Levi, although sounding pretty stupid, isn’t willing to lie at this point.

I can’t believe, watching the Tour coverage right now, how Paul Sherwin is suggesting liable and that these fabricated stories always come up during the Tour. Both Paul and Phil have been towing the party line for way too many years. They probably should just let the facts sort themselves out.

Anyway, it’s going to get way more convoluted in the days and weeks ahead. Maybe Lance and Johan could just clear this up themselves. I very much doubt they will.

The most tested athlete in sports, Lance. Guess that might not be enough?

I’ve only been up in Cable Wisconsin for a couple days and it seems like a week. It is very easy to get into a routine up here, which is really a non routine, with no agenda. That is pretty great.

July 4th we nearly slept through the 4th of July parade in Cable, since we were swimming at 1 am, we barely made it to Cable by 11 am. After the parade, they have a BBQ, which is completely home cooked food. I had to have a brat, but what I was really into was pie. An incredible amount of homemade pie that was nearly 1/4 pie a piece. For $2.

We went out for a couple hour road ride afterward. 40 miles and I think maybe 2 cars, total, passed us the whole time. That was when the county was swarmed with people from all over for the festivities. It is an amazing place to ride road bikes

Then yesterday, after swimming again, we went out and rode MTB bikes on the new singletrack from Boedecker Rd. down to OO. It is great, as usual. The guys that build new trails up here are experts and the single track flows like a stream. We turned around and rode it back up North, hooked up to the Chequamegon course and rode over the high point, then the Birkie Trail and back to Cable.

I hadn’t ridden my MTB bike for a while and was mildly amazed how much different it is that pedaling a road bike. You end up pulling up a ton more on the backstroke than you do riding road. I was mainly trying to check out my shoulder to see if it could function off-road. I’d have to give it a 6 or 7 out of 10 for usage. It is kind of sore, but not nearly as sore as my crotch. 3 hours of MTB riding and I feel like I’ve never sat on a bike seat before in my life. I actually woke up way too early this morning because of it. Pretty usual.

But, that isn’t enough reason not to go back out and ride all day again today. I think we’re going to ride the single track all the way down to Hayward, get a coffee and ride it back. That should be around 70 miles of riding, with 50 something of that single track. My butt is going to hate me big time.

Here are some picture from the last couple days –

A racy shot of Catherine following Bill into the warm water. Trudi is in the background. The water is so warm the top 12 inches. It then gets progressively colder. 6 feet under it is icy.

This is some of the parade in Cable. These are the girls from the Rivers Eatery, my favorite pizza place in the world.

The Brick House Coffeshop always has a good group of dancers. Pretty fun.

Yuri, czar of CXC ski team, never resting. He’s trying to talk Trudi into coming back next weekend for a MTB race he’s promoting. Trudi hasn’t had the Tour off in years. I don’t think she’s missin’ it much at all.

The pie table at the Cable picnic.

It is Wisconsin, so they make sure you can coat the complete ear of corn with butter.

It looks like Gary Crandell, Mr. Chequamegon, is going to go for Catherine’s lunch.

This guy had it all going on. 4 ears of corn, a brat, plus a pitcher. What more could you ask for on the 4th?

Riding here behind Bill and Jeff Bradley. Nearly the whole ride was under tree cover.

Hawkeye, Dennis’ dog, had no interest in watching Greipel win the stage yesterday at the Tour.

The single track here is groomed beyond imagination. Here is Catherine riding by one of the artsy rock placements on the trail.