Because it's been too long...cycling links!
First of all, for those of you who follow the Gilmore Girls and the apres Gilmore Girls discussions over at Shaken & Stirred, you should know that the bicycle "race" that was a feature of the season finale Tuesday night was a nod to the real deal Tour of Connecticut, one of the bigger stage races on the domestic cycling scene. The real race starts today with a 70 kilometer crit in New Haven. In cycling, as opposed to writing, crit is short for "criterium," the fast, twisty, spectator-friendly circuit races that are the backbone of US competitive cycling.
One of the many domestic pro squads competing in Connecticut over the next few days is Team Subway. I mention that only because one of their riders, Nate Cornelius, actually works at our LBS. More vocab! The LBS is your Local Bike Shop, and the excellent one that Gwenda and I use is Scheller's. (So, New Havenites--and I'm looking at you, Taaffe--head out to the race and whenever you see a guy in a Subway kit zoom by yell "Go Nate! Lexington represent!" Hopefully that won't cause a wreck).
Bringing it down from the heady heights of Division III pro cycling to what you can do in your town, check this out. Our fair city is hosting their annual Bike Lexington event, at which ten miles of city streets are closed down and hundreds of people like Miss G and I get to mosey 'round the town velocipedical like. Helmets are required, but a local sponsor is giving away 500 for free before the start. How cool is that?
And finally, it would be an absolute shame if those of you who have the technology didn't take a few minutes to check out the coverage of the Giro d'Italia on OLN this weekend. Yesterday's initial mountain stage was absolutely breathtaking--the Dolomites are beautiful, and with the new Pro Tour structure in place, this race is the most competitive it's been in years. (OLN's also taping in Connecticut and will broadcast a highlights show of that race on June 5th.)
Stay tuned here for a few more "What's it about" featurettes and maybe even some stuff about all the new sci fi that's getting composed up in this joint.
