Road rage is something that most of, as cyclists, have had to deal with at one time or another. Clearly, there are some drivers out there who intentionally pass cyclists way too closely in an attempt to either scare the cyclist(s) or to generate some sort of reaction. While this is pretty sad behavior on the part of the motorist, how we cyclists react is also very important.

Bob Mionske, former professional cyclist and now a lawyer specializing in bicycle law, has a very informative website(www.bicyclelaw.com) where he talks about the best ways for a cyclist to deal with road rage. I would strongly recommend that everyone read what he has to say as it is very sound advice.

In a nutshell, Bob gives some real world examples on how a road rage incident where a motorist has put a cyclist's life in danger ends up with the cyclist going to jail and the motorist getting off scott free. In a common scenario, a car driver intentionally "buzzes" (passes too closely) a cyclist looking for a reaction and when the cyclist flips off the car driver, the driver stops and a confrontation ensues.

During the confrontation the now-enraged cyclist damages the driver's car either by kicking in a tail light, scratching the paint or knocking off a side view mirror. Ultimately, the authorities are called and the police step in to figure out what happened and who is going to jail. Unfortunately, it is the cyclist and not the motorist who is charged with a crime.

The reason this happens is that most of the time, the motorist has what Bob calls "plausible deniability" for his/her actions. Even though the motorist intentionally passed the cyclist very closely, when questioned by law enforcement later, the motorist can claim that they did so unintentionally or by accident while trying to put a CD in their car's stereo or some such excuse.

However, the actions of the cyclist are not deniable. The broken tail light, scratched paint or broken mirror is undeniable damage to the car and is a violation of the law.

Bob recommends that in such confrontations, cyclists try to remain calm and do everything they can to avoid breaking the law by causing damage to the motorist's car. While this can leave a cyclist feeling less than satisfied with the outcome of the situation, this is very sound advice because, as Bob points out, the motorists usually has "plausible deniability" for his actions while any action a cyclist takes is not deniable.

Bruce

A few months back I wrote about the possibility of a Tour of Colorado along the same lines as the Tour of California and the old Coors Classic. Normally, I wouldn't have put much stock in such an announcement. For the past few years a group in the Vail Valley has been trying to put on a Tour of Colorado and nothing has every come of it.

But, a couple of things have conspired to make this project grow legs and now it seems more like a reality than a dream. The first thing is that Lance Armstrong is pushing for the race. You might remember that last August Lance bought a place in Aspen and now spends a lot of time there training at altitude and in the summer, escaping the heat of Austin, TX. Aspen used to be a key stop in the Coors Classic, America's premier stage race from 1980 to 1988.

The second thing that gives this project much hope is that Colorado's Governor, Bill Ritter, is an avid cyclist. He's such an avid cyclist that he's ridden, arguably, Colorado's most difficult organized ride, the Triple Bypass. The Triple Bypass is to Colorado what the Markleeville Death Ride is to California. It's tough.

To have a successful event you need the backing of the government and with Lance giving his blessing and running interference when things get sticky, there seems to be a very good possibility that we will see a top-flight stage race in Colorado in 2011. That would be pretty darn cool.

Bruce

Lance Armstrong returned to the Leadville 100 mtb bike race and simply crushed both his competition and the course. Not only did he set a course record by seventeen minutes(6:28), but he beat his nearest competitor by over twenty eight minutes(6:57). If there was ever any doubt that Lance could ride a mountain bike, no one is expressing any concerns after Saturday's race.

While many have claimed that Lance's amazing second place in last year's Leadville 100 was the impetus for his comeback, at the Tour this year, his coach, Chris Carmichael told me that Lance let Chris know about his comeback on July 22nd of 2008, over three weeks before the Leadville race. Regardless of the date and reason for Lance's comeback, the fact remains, the man is back and he is flying.

Lance used his new digs in Aspen as a training base for the Leadville 100; he was very clear in his goals for the race, win and set a new course record. Last year, he was a close second to David Wiens who set the then course record of six hours, forty five minutes(6:45). This year, Wiens was there to defend his title as was racing legend Tinker Juarez and a strong contingent of strong riders from Aspen and the Colorado front range.

There was pre-race talk that Lance would use pacers, much like in a running race on the track, to attempt to set the course record, but a cold rain which forced Wiens to stop and put on a jacket and a mechanical for Tinker Juarez saw Lance go solo for the last 60 miles of the 100 mile event.

This is a high-altitude race like no other. It starts at 10,000', climbs to a high point of over 12,000' and never drops below 9000'. Not only does a competitor need to be acclimated to the altitude, but any weather, like a good old Rocky Mountain thunderstorm, at this height almost certainly means that it will be cold.

Lance's next race is on some skinnier tires. He will lead Team Astana in the Tour of Ireland which starts on Friday.

Bruce

Last year, I kind of half-joked about Post Tour Depression (PDT) and how it was going to be a long wait before the flag dropped on another edition of the Tour de France. It seemed like there was still a lot going on in the cycling world so that while the 2009 Tour was still about 330 days away I was still not "jonesing" for a fix.

This year, things are different. I don't know if it is my lack of interest about what is going on in Europe and the US, cycling-wise, or maybe it was just that it was such a great Tour that nothing can compare. Let's face it, it was a great Tour. There was so much drama and so much attacking it was a feast for the cycling world. So, maybe I am suffering from a full belly.

One thing that is definitely contributing to the banality is the new rule by the UCI that riders cannot discuss with whom they are going to ride in 2010 until September 1. Frankly, this rule sucks. Back in the good, old days (and they really were the good, old days) all rider transfer information was made public on the first rest day of the Tour de France.

I don't know why the UCI decided that riders and teams needed to keep their plans for the coming season a secret for a couple of extra months. These guys are professionals. Even if they are moving to a new team next year, the will still ride as hard as they can for their current sponsor. To do anything less would jeopardize their value to future teams.

What is interesting is that some riders are respecting the UCI rule and declining to discuss their 2010 plans, while others don't seem to be too concerned about the rule and are openly detailing who they will be riding for next season. Hmmm. Do some riders just not know about the new rule or are they just not concerned about any repercussions from the UCI?

One thing that is definitely happening is that the cycling rumour mill is running at full speed, 24/7, churning out all sorts of "information".  We all know that Lance Armstrong will be on Team Radio Shack in 2010, but for just about everyone else, the sky is the limit when it comes to speculation. There are even rumours of transfer for riders who are contractually obligated to their existing team for 2010.

Things seem to be getting a bit out of hand. I think the only cure for all the rumour mongering is a good, three-week stage race. Unfortunately, ever since it moved from April to September, the Vuelta a Espana, hasn't been a good three-week race. To be sure, some non-Spanish riders have been in contention, but even so, this really is an overwhelmingly Spanish affair. Viva Le Tour! Can we have an autumn version of the race?

I have written several times about George Hincapie's narrow miss at the Tour's yellow jersey and the efforts made my Team Garmin-Slipstream to chase him down. One of the interesting side-stories of this whole affair is the fact that in Team Columbia's attempt to slow things down in the peloton so that George would be able to get the yellow jersey, they accidentally created a situation which ended up costing them the green jersey.

Obviously, Columbia didn't set out to lose the green jersey just to get the yellow one. In fact, I would bet that if it would have been know beforehand that trying to get George the yellow would have cost Mark Cavendish the green Team Columbia would have behaved differently. It is just one of those ironies that happens at the Tour. A few years ago, in Miguel Indurain's attempt to win the final TT at the Tour, he went so fast that he eliminated his brother who ultimately missed the time cut. That's irony.

What happened with Team Columbia is that, because they were trying to slow the peloton down, they didn't crank their leadout train into it's normal high gear with Mark Renshaw winding it up inside the final kilometer. Instead Team Columbia tried to run their leadout train in slow motion, so to speak, which allowed a number of riders, including Thor Hushovd to be in contention to sprint with Mark Canvedish as the line approached.

It was clear, watching the TV coverage, that Cavendish was trying to figure out where Hushovd, his only rival for the green jersey, was during that slow-mo sprint. Unfortunately, when Cavendish looked over his right shoulder to see Hushovd, he moved slightly to his right. This is a normal occurrence when riding a bike.When you look over your right shoulder, especially if you have stiff arms, then you move to the right. The same thing happens if you look left except that you drift left.

So, what happened to Cavendish was a pretty normal reaction. Unfortunately, it looked to the judges that Mark intentionally moved right, in what is called "hooking", to impede Hushovd's forward progress. I have seen enough "hooks" in my day to know when a rider is "hooking" another rider. What I saw Cavendish do to Hushovd just didn't look like a hook.  But, that's not the way the judges saw it and they relegated Cavendish to last place in that sprint, costing him enough sprint points to ultimately cost him the green jersey.

If Team Columbia had ridden a normal, full-speed, sprint then this problem would never have occurred. Cavendish would most likely have beaten Hushovd that day and also for the green jersey. One of the things I admire about Team Columbia is that they never publicly regretted their decision to try to help George get the yellow jersey even if it did end up costing them the green jersey. They realize that the Tour is full of ironic(as opposed to iconic) moments and this was one of them.

Bruce

Best rider at the Tour - no doubt at all it was Alberto Contador. He dominated in the mountains and the time trials so thoroughly that he had to start enduring the same "are you on drugs?" questions that plagued Lance when he won seven Tour in a row.

Most improved rider - Bradley Wiggins previous two appearances at the Tour were totally unspectacular. I guess all you have to do is lose ten pounds and still maintain all your power in order to become one of the world's best climbers. Once Bradley understands how to keep himself sharp for the entire three weeks of a grand tour he will be standing on the podium. Pick your step.

Most aggressive riders - the Brothers Schleck lit it up in the last week in the Alps in a style we have rarely seen in the modern era of the Tour. It helped that Astana either couldn't or decided not to try and control the race in the same fashion as Discover Channel/US Postal, but for whatever the reason, Brothers Schleck lit up the afterburners on the most strategic climbs. If Frank had been a tad bit stronger and able to match his younger brother's pace 100% of the time, the outcome of the Tour would have been completely different.

Best Sprinter - while he didn't have the green jersey in Paris, there was little doubt that Mark Cavendish was the best finisher in the Tour. Thor Hushovd was the most consistent finisher over the entire three weeks, but in a pure drag race to the line, the Manxman was tops.

Most Deserving Rider to Not Win a Stage - Tyler Farrar was the only rider to consistently challenge Mark Cavendish in the bunch kicks. He almost pulled off a win on stage 11. Kudos to Tyler and Garmin-Slipstream for making Cavendish earn his six stage wins, hopefully, sooner than later, Tyler and Garmin will get their first stage win.

Recipient of the Thomas Voeckler 'Never Give Up' Award - Thomas Voeckler whose win on stage 5 to Perpignan was proof that if you try hard enough, good things can happen. Even after he won stage 5, Voeckler continued to go up the road in breakaways. He is the most exciting rider the French have with Brice Feillu and Perrick Fedrigo as honorable mentions.

American Idol Most Favorite rider in the peloton - OK. I probably can't speak for all cycling fans out there, but Jens Voigt continues to ride well and his frank and honest commentary on the race make him a crowd favorite. My enjoyment of the Tour took a huge hit when Jens crashed on the Petit-Saint Bernard. Come back Jens, come back!

Comeback rider of the Tour - given how well he rode after his horrific crash in the Giro, Christian Vande Velde's return to the top level of pro cycling at the Tour was an amazing comeback. But, the nod has to go to Lance Armstrong who spent three plus years off the bike engaged in a number of high-profile non-cycling activities. His climb onto the podium in Paris was nothing short of incredible, but he if he rides the Tour next year he really needs to improve on his consistency in the critical stages.

Best Climber at the Tour - that award usually goes to the rider who wears the polka-dot jersey, but for some strange reason, even after doubling the points on the final climb of a mountain stage, nobody really seems to care about who wears the climber's jersey except for the three or four riders who accidentally find themselves in a position to contest for it. In case you were wondering, Alberto Contador was the best climber, polka-dot jersey or not.

Dumbest Rider in the Pro Peloton - While he didn't ride the Tour, Danilo Di Luca proved that you don't need a double digit IQ to be a professional bike rider. There have been at least five high profile riders busted for CERA, the delayed action version of EPO, but for some reason, the double Giro stage winner and eventual second place finisher couldn't keep his hands off the hot sauce. What's up with that?