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He gave it everything.

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I was very impressed this morning. Cadel Evans is a worthy winner of the 2011 Tour de France. He earned this. Andy Schleck left nothing on the road. He attacked with panache, he rode for the win, and he did all that he could.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm.

This pic says it all.

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Image source: http://fuckyeahcycling.tumblr.com/post/7972262801/tour-de-france-2011-stage-20-time-trialling.

Now go eat a sandwich before you blow away in the wind.

There is too much more to write, I’m afraid, and too little time. Voeckler, Rolland, Contador, Danielson, Sanchez. It’s a long list. Great race. Incredible. Thanks, boys. You have helped keep me sane these last few weeks.

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About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

20 Replies to “He gave it everything.”

  2. I wonder if the team will be dq’d for testing positive for alcohol?

    Great Tour this year, and the best man did win.

  3. I just sent the missus out for a case of Fosters. I’ll be bellowing a Yell for Cadel later tonight.

    It’s so tough to see someone who just can’t time trial comfortably. Remember the hell ride The Chicken had back when he dropped off the podium a number of years ago? Watching Schleck today was like that, minus the crashes.

    On the other hand, damn it, Voeckler didn’t give up one ounce today. That guy wants it and wants it bad. Good on him. Nice to see a countryman finishing so high

    Last, how about Danielson in the top 10 in his first tour. So happy Garmin finally gave him a chance to ride the Big Race

  4. In retrospect the day everybody clawed back time on the Galibier to Andy . Physically took its toll on the race of truth effort . It was a grand exploit but it cost him the tour no doubt . So tip one for Andy and throw down the Fosters oil can for the Aussie !

  6. Five beers in an hour after riding like 2000 miles in 2 weeks.

    Can you do that joe ??

    …Lightweight…

  8. I like the Shlecks but they creep me out a little bit. Anyone else notice the name on the back of Franks skinsuit…?

  9. whoa whoa whoa! Nice eye Thom. Why is Frankie rubbing grundles with brother Andy?

  10. Amen that was one entertaining tour enjoyed it. Felt a little sad for Andy to have so little time in Yellow but Cadel certainly earned every bit of this victory. Chapeau to all those guys who made to Paris, may you stay upright on the Champs tomorrow, get drunk get laid and sleep till August.

  11. the dope is down (except for T.V.) and the racing was far better

    Read: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2011-tour-de-france-the-cleanest-in-recent-years

    I wonder what Lance “The Thug” Armstrong thinks regarding the fans get way, way better racing when the riders aren’t doped to the moon? Being the narcissistic piece of shit he is, probably not much.

    Let’s look at some of the ‘evidence’ put in the article; “This Tour has been one of the slowest on the climbs since 2004,” commented Grappe” and; “Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Samuel Sanchez recorded the best time with 41:45 minutes. But this is only the 24th best time in history. The day’s winner Pierre Rolland (Europcar) climbed the mountain in 42:22 – yet in 2006, it took Fränk Schleck 40:46 minutes to get to the top en route to victory, while Floyd Landis and Andreas Klöden were clocked at 38:34 the same day.” and; “”The ascent to l’Alpe d’Huez was very revealing: the worn-out face of Pierre Rolland, Alberto Contador who blows up, Thomas Voeckler paying for his efforts…,” Mégret said.”

  12. @06-I aint no buy-sickle racer, Cupcake. I’m an electrician, duh. And after two days of doing real work in 120 degree heat I rehydrated Friday with about a pint of 80 proof in like twenty minutes*. Sufferin’ is sufferin’ and boozin’ is boozin, genius.

    *although on sober** reflection, when I got home Friday I stepped on the scales and noticed I was down about 10-11 pounds from when I weighed myself two days ago. I’m thinkin’ I was suffering from severe dehydration and heat stress; possibly flirting with heat exhaustion or worse. But that’s a story for another time***.

    **for now, anyway.

    ***and I would feel remiss if I didn’t point out that I’m not an elite athlete; just a 60 year old working man. But I can claim truthfully that I used no performance enhancing drugs.

  13. Will Leopard-Trek bring the Schlecks to Colorado for the tour formerly known as the Quizno’s Challenge but is today the USA Pro Cycling Challenge? Also, Cadel could be there as well. It will be interesting to see who shows up to.

  14. Good on Evans and the rest of the big names that put on a show, for sure… but being from Costa Rica, I have to nominate a new member for the baller club: Andrey Amador, from Movistar. Yeah, I know, he came 2nd to last, and like 4 hours behind, but did you know he rode the whole fucking thing with a sprained ankle, grade II (http://www.hughston.com/hha/a.ankle.htm), that he got on the very first stage? I know he may not had have the best results, but man, in my book, that is some spirit right there.

  15. @carlos gonzalez, Yes, Andrey is a baller.

    Truth is, I doubt any of us could hold the wheel of any of them on a mountain stage, and speaking for my 60 YO ass, I doubt I could hold a wheel on the flats.

    All of them are amazingly talented.

    Andrey has had a tough year(mugged, left for dead in Jan, broken collar bone in April), just finishing is an amazing accomplishment.

    Baller and tough hombre, to boot. Chapeau!

  17. And I have one last request. Let my ashes be scattered on the Champs Elysee on a certain Sunday in July. Do this for me and I know my spirit will be at peace.

    Oh, and while your at it, if you could pour out some Wild Turkey that would really be nice. Heck, you can even strain it through your kidneys first. “One last drink with joe” sort of thing.

    I’ll really miss you guys.

  18. joe

    I would love nothing more than to let loose a stream of heavily inebriated piss in your cupcake direction. Dead or living.

    But….alas….I ain’t drinking at the moment.

    Anyone else wanna take up the challenge ??

    Anyone ???

  19. I dont think Evans gives a rats ass if anyone thinks he’s “Worthy” enough to win the tdf. Straight up he won it! Its got nothing to do with worth, he rode his guts out. He’s all class that cadel, but that doesnt win you shit in the saddle.