Leipheimer Keeps Lead

The Tour of California finished in Santa Rosa, Levi Leipheimer's hometown. New York Times story.

Here's the Tour's VERSUS TV schedule.

Tour of California Gets Rolling

Levi Leipheimer won the two-mile prologue in downtown San Francisco.

Floyd Landis Still Trying to Save His Name

The poor guy remains hung up in some sort of Jean Paul Sartre play. No Exit II? He deserves to get some sort of resolution as soon as possible. San Jose Mercury News story.

Deactivating Froggy's Dad and Others

If you have young kids, you might know the Froggy series of books written by by Jonathan London: "Froggy Plays Soccer," "Froggy Bakes a Cake," Froggy Gets Dressed," etc. Zupf! The lovable frog does it all.

In at least a couple of the books, Froggy's dad seems to have checked out and is shown sleeping off who knows what in bed while mom takes care of business around the house and helps Froggy get his s*** together.

Last night I was reading one of these books to my five-year-old and he called out Froggy's dad: "Why is that guy always sleeping?" he asked me. "You are so not like Froggy's dad, Dad." Thanks for noticing, little man.

Other Sunday Deactivations:

* Blogger's buggy "Upload Image" tool: You have been Deactivated. I think you have to wear a wizard's hat, speak in tongues, and rub a rabbit's foot to make it work.

* Media covering the Anna Nicole Smith travesty: Deactivated. You chewed her up and spit her out and now you're continuing to haunt her in the afterlife. For the entire 40 minutes I was on a treadmill the other day, CNN Headline News had live, uninterrupted coverage of a bunch of somber-looking lawyers with neatly arranged bottles of water in front of them having some sort of meeting about where her corpse should go. Meanwhile, the words scrolling along the bottom of the screen were providing updates to new deaths in Iraq and that sort of non-bald Britney Spears, unsexy news.

* Guys who buy "The Vermont Teddy Bear" as a Valentine's Day gift and women who actually like receiving it (if there is such a creature): You have been Deactivated. Go see "Norbit" again.

* Standard "News, Weather, Sports" formula for local TV news: Deactivated. How is it that hundreds of different news productions all over the U.S. use the same exact stale format to present news? How about a little creativity? Your act is so tired that even "News, Sports, Weather" would be like a breath of fresh air.

* Flu bug or whatever that has knocked out JPD and The Diesel: Deactivated. When these two guys pass on the opportunity to workout on a morning the mercury finally climbs above 20 degrees, you know they're truly sick. The frigid last month or so has taken its toll. Enough. The bodies are rested, winter poundage is intact, everybody's getting restless, and it's time to get moving.

438-Pound Beekeper to Run Boston Marathon

I wonder where he got his qualifier? This feels like a hoax. Yahoo! News story.

Scott Molina Interview

Xtri.com has 20 questions for the legendary triathlete.

Nation's Joggers Sick Of Finding Dead Bodies

"Citing the sobering statistic that over 10,000 of the 12,800 slayings in the United States in 2006 were reported by joggers, a national coalition of fitness enthusiasts called upon government officials Tuesday to impose measures that would reduce the likelihood of runners discovering lifeless bodies."

Story from The Onion.

Deactivating the So-Called Placebo Effect of Exercise

Reuters lists a publication called Psychological Science as the source reporting a Harvard study with results that "support the idea that the benefits of exercise may involve a placebo effect." The study involved 84 female hotel housekeepers -- a solid, reliable demographic for measuring fitness (or anything) if I've ever seen one. "These results support the hypothesis that exercise affects health in part or in whole via the placebo effect," the authors write.

Bogus study: You have been Deactivated. I think the career success of researchers like this is due to the placebo effect.

Story.

"There Will Be a Delay of Game"

Cruising to Fitness

Ten-time Ironman champion Lisa Bentley has her Cervelo and Computrainer on a cruise ship while she's on the Run in the Sun Cruise.

Norbit #1??

American movie audiences: You have been Deactivated. Welcome to the Deactivation Hall of Fame.

No offense against people who get lotsa laughs watching Eddie Murphy dress up as an obese woman and who like to read about Anna Nicole Smith, but news like this (and a painful walk through a mall on Sunday) makes me wonder about this country's future. Go read a book or take a walk.

Tour of Missouri Announced

Cool news: The new 600-mile Tour of Missouri cycling race will join similar races in Georgia and California as one of North American's top three pro races. The race will start in Kansas City Sept 11 and finish Sept. 16 in St. Louis, with a time trial in Branson. I'm picturing Ivan Basso and George Hincapie wearing shades and taking in an Oak Ridge Boys concert together. STLtoday story.

Tour of Missouri web site.

By the way, after this season Disco is nomo.

The Encinitas Beer Mile: "If you throw up, you have to do a penalty lap"

With a time of 5:53, elite U.S. marathoner Josh Cox took a break from his 110-mile weeks to win the Encinatas Beer Mile — racers must chug a beer a lap — which seems to have taken place in SoCal around New Year's Day.

Here's how celebrity filmer and YouTube user gojessi (Jessi Stensland) captions her video: "The Encinitas Beer Mile kicked it up a notch when a star studded field including Josh Cox, Paula Newby-Fraser, Heather Fuhr, Dave Kloz, Scott Tinley, and Katja Schumacher came out to drink...er, run."



(Link via SBR STL)

Racer X: Spinning Diapers

I'm always on the lookout for innovative ways to make my training more efficient. How else do you think I consistently place in the top 30% in my age group in the races where I don't DNF?

Over these past few days I have noticed that couch-jockey Americans seem to be infatuated with the fact that this poor astronaut woman wore astronaut diapers in carrying out her 900-mile astronaut drive as part of her bizarre astronaut love triangle.

But where the typical American asks, "Why?", I ask "Why not?" Where they see lame "Lust in Space" jokes I see a world of opportunities.

I won't get into details here, but this story has helped me devise a solution to my ongoing problem of how to spin on my trainer in my living room for 4-5 hours at a time without occasionally dismounting from my bike for bathroom breaks. It's an easy manuever when I'm riding outside but I can't afford to do anything in my apartment that will jeopardize my security deposit.

Will they fit under my bike shorts? Will they work? Depends.

Now it's time to do some isometric crunches and rock out:



Later,
Racer X

Run Up New York's Empire State Building

Reuters video.

Frostbite Run

Barefoot running in the snow, you have been Deactivated.

Men's U.S. Winter Triathlon Champion: Older and Better

Mike Kloser, winner of the U.S. Winter Triathlon Championship (8K snow run, 15K mountain bike, 10K ski), is 47 years old. "I love beating kids half my age," he said.

Activating Preparation

If you want to excel in anything, you'd better be committed to excellence and willing to do the extra work. And be a little obsessive compulsive.

Two days before the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning worked on all 54 footballs that would be rotated into the game to make sure they were conditioned to his liking. SI's Peter King explains how this enabled him to grip the balls and basically play like it wasn't raining when it was. Money quote from Manning:

"Pressure is something you feel only when you don't know what you are doing. That's how I feel. I get prepared. I prepare as hard as I possibly can. Sure you feel nervous, you feel anxious, but I don't feel pressure because I feel that I have done everything I could to be prepared for that game."

Epic South American Ride

Former pro rider Andrea Peron is riding a mountain bike across Argentina and Chile. PEZ story.

I Hate Winter

The temperature outside my window at 6:50 AM this morning — yet another canceled long run.

That's bad news on the day we Americans hop into our Hummers and head to various obnoxiously large-screen bearing venues to celebrate our addiction to over-consumption with gusto: "Hey rest of world: Think Americans are fat, shallow, and lazy? Well you ain't seen nothing til you've seen Super Bowl Sunday. After seven pounds of cheese, eight (light) beers, and a vat of fudge, tomorrow's a sick day for sure! How do you like me now? Pass the Tums."

Anyway, it has been a crappy week of stealing kisses to get in various workouts via treadmills, indoor tracks, weight rooms, spinning classes, and trainer rides (though it was nice to see Zoolander and American Beauty again). The romance of changing seasons is way overrated.

One day my bike and I will live in a magical place where it is pleasantly warm year-round and where cheery little elves and/or unemployed models who are certified both as massage therapists and gourmet chefs will wax my surfboard, re-stock my GU and Gatorade supplies, and wash my bike and workout gear while I sleep.

Speaking of beautiful warm-weather freaks: Venice, California, beach cam. I wonder if that one guy still juggles chainsaws? Wish I was there.

Preview of Super Bowl Halftime Show

Activeness has obtained exclusive footage:



Rock me, Dr. Zaius!

As for the game: I love everything about Chicago except for the cabbies and the cold and will root for the Bears, but it's Rex versus Peyton. That's like me lining up against Faris Al Sultan at Ironman. Take the Colts and give the 7 points.

Leisure Suit

Fiftyish guy riding the Lifecycle at the gym last night while wearing a three-piece suit, tie, and wingtips: For not giving a damn and creating one of the weirdest scenes I've ever witnessed at this gym — which is saying a lot — you have been Activated. At least you loosened your tie.