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Had a couple of friends over for a little spring barbecue the othernight and one of them showed up with a box full of Ding Dongs and a six-packof Miller Lite in plastic bottles. Nice to know there are still some goodpeople left in the world. Two weeks ago I wrote about hot dogs, baseball, bike racing and food.Now I’m off to the Tour de Georgia in search of some good finish-line foodin Savannah, Macon, Columbus, Rome and Gainesville, although I have a feelingI’m going to be itching to head to Athens by Saturday night for some finecurb-side dining at Athens Twilight. If anybody has any

I’m working on my tan. Oh, man. Working on my tan.– Tim Curry, “Working On My Tan” Colorado just sprinted past spring and plowed straight into summer,like Tom Boonen center-punching a finish-line photographer. This wouldbe a marvelous thing indeed, were it not for this pigmentation problemI seem to have developed over the winter. Where does this unearthly skin tone come from, this Day-Glo, über-ofayeggshell white, a pallor one might expect in the time-machine love childof a Wellsian Morlock and Bruce Willis in “Twelve Monkeys?” If a guy had something like an actual springtime to work with,

Off with the old! Volunteers remove boards on the backstretch of the Superdrome in Frisco. The first step in renovations is to remove over 700 old boards from the framework.

Ryan Crissey hangs on corner 2 to remove old boards at the Superdrome. The corners of the velodrome are banked at 45 degrees, making a climbing harness a necessity.

Angel Casero won the 2001 Vuelta a España, but suffered through injuries and poor form in 2002. The proud Spanish rider is committed to returning to top form in the 2003 season and vows to challenge for the Tour de France podium. Despite problems at his Team Coast, Casero said he’s confident the team will be shining at the season’s major races. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood caught up with Casero earlier this season. Here are excerpts from the interview: VeloNews: What are your sensations now that Coast is assured of going to the Tour de France and facing Lance Armstrong?

Hello Bob,At what point does a Canadian athlete need to pursue an American visato compete in the USA? If one receives a small stipend from a company,does that mean they are "working" in the U.S.? What are the tax laws surrounding winning prize money? It seems some athletes have been having problems with crossing the U.S.border as border agents seem to think they need visas, and I was wonderingif you could clarify who needs a visa, and who doesn't. -- M.M. Dear MM;I am assuming that you are a Canadian citizen. The United States Codeprovides for two categories of entrants into the United

Paola wants another?

Sheppard offers an opinion

New pedals

A conversation with Angel Casero

Petacchi

Kids! They can make you stronger... and happier.

Amstel Image Files

Amstel Image Files

...and so does Intense

One cool cat

Sevilla made his first appearance of the season

2001 world cross-country champ Alison Dunlap (Luna Women’s MTB Team) ponies up to the start line at the stage 4 downtown Redlands criterium

Charles Dionne, winner of the San Francisco Grand prix last year, shows off his new scar — the result of a crash at the Tour de Langkawi — that required 47 stitches.

“Hey, you gotta earn those stripes!” A cold Eric Wallace, manager of the Trek-VW MTB team, sporting part-time roadie Roland Green’s world champion jacket atop the Redlands stage 2 Oak Glen summit.

Genevieve Jeanson (RONA-Esker) takes in a bundled up moment of solitude while awaiting the Oak Glen stage ceremonies.

Getting Primed: Alex Candelario and Michael Creed caffeinate in preparation of the Sea Otter’s ill-fated stage 1 Redwood City circuit race.

Class clown: As the peloton waits for a decision regarding the dangerous course, Chann McRae, Floyd Landis and Phil Zajicek listen as Dave Zabriskie suggests the peloton let him break away for a solo win.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so this week I thought I’d put that theory to the test and quickly crank out a ten-thousand-plus word photo album from the two weeks I spent in California, covering the ins and outs of the Redlands and Sea Otter stage races. There was, no doubt, plenty of racing to see and report, but seeing as the results are, by now, old news and real race photos best left to the professionals (Casey B. Gibson, this means you.). Instead, I thought I’d try to give readers a glimpse behind the scenes.

Private Party: On top again, the Saturn trio of Chris Horner, Tom Danielson, and Nathan O'Neill swept the Sea Otter’s time trial.

Michele Ferrari, the Italian doctor formerly attached to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) who is alleged to have assisted an array of top athletes with detailed doping programs, took the stand in his own defense at his trial in Bologna, Italy on Wednesday. Ferrari, the physician and trainer for four-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, said he had never prescribed any banned substances. "I've never prescribed illicit substances because I know that doping, in other words the use of substances to improve performance, is a boomerang which will simply return to damage the athletes

Warming it up: Michael and Dede Barry and Jonathon Vaughters chat before the final stage’s 100-mile road race.

Professional riders will probably be forced to wear helmets during races no later than the start of the Giro d’Italia, UCI president Hein Verbruggen said Wednesday. Verbruggen said he hoped the plans, prompted by the death of Kazakh rider Andrei Kivilev (see “ Kivilev mourned at Paris-Nice”), would be put in place before the Giro's May 10 start date. "It is our intention to establish this new rule prior to the start of the Tour of Italy," Verbruggen said in a letter Wednesday to former rider Francesco Moser, the president of the professional cyclists' association (CPA). “And we will await

Taking the good with the bad, second-place overall Tom Danielson manages a smile after crashing on the wet Laguna Seca raceway, just one-mile from the finish on the final stage.

Charlie Hustle, AKA Pete Rose

Matt Decanio, left, and Michael Creed of Prime Alliance soak in some of the glory after winning the Sea Otter’s last two stages.

Motocross technology for your slalom bike

McEwen last year

Sea Otter Hustle

Ferrari

Litespeed goes lightweight freeride

The Union Cycliste Internationale has given former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich the all clear to return to competition in the Tour of Aragon in Spain on Wednesday. The 1997 Tour champion received the news he had been waiting on from the UCI, which had refused to allow him to take part until Team Coast deposited a bank guarantee to cover the salaries of Ullrich and other riders on the squad. Coast spokesman Marcel Wüst said he was elated by the news. "I've had a SMS (mobile phone text message) from Jan Ullrich's manager, Wolfgang Strohband,” Wüst told the French wire service AFP. “It's

The man from Telekom is still No.1

Ullrich at last week's Circuit de la Sarthe

Shimagnolo derailleur adapter

Room with a view... of the other two guys you have to share this with.

Bettini at San Remo, March 22.

This Paris-Roubaix will be his last, says Museeuw

Hey, what ever happened to... Doug Smith?

Hey, what ever happened to... Doug Smith?

Things have been looking up for our team since my last update from GP Flandres Francais. The majority of the riders have been in Belgium for about a month and we are starting to find some form. Likewise the firepower in the house continues to grow as Austin King and Corey Steinbrecher will be joining us this week. But first for some cultural insight. Normally. Normally Belgians have a problem with the meaning of the word “normally”. We would say, “Normally it rains in Belgium”. However, the Belgian translation is: “Hopefully, it will rain in Belgium,” but sometimes it can mean “Probably, it

Johan Museeuw said Sunday's Paris-Roubaix was his last. The Lion of Flanders struggled through his 16th Paris-Roubaix as a professional and said he would not race again on the cobbles of northern France. "As a racer, I will never enter the Roubaix velodrome again hoping to win the Paris-Roubaix. I will be back for other reasons, but this is the last time I will race," said Museeuw told the Belgian press after finishing a lack-luster 33rd at 4:33 back. Museeuw flatted on the cobbled section at Hornaing with 81km to go and the gap opened up to just over 1 minute and it was obvious Museeuw

Editor:I must agree with Mike McCormack of Maverick Sport Promotions. ForMr. Vaughters to declare that "race promoters very rarely take into accountanything other than pleasing sponsors when putting a race on" is absurdand offensive (see "Vaughters'view: Safety first!").Think about it. Most race promoters across the United States work full-timeand consider race promotion a "labor of love."They are not putting on a Sea Otter or Tour de Georgia, but a city-parkcriterium or county road race. I would guess most do not turn any sortof profit for their hard work. And yes, it is hard work. If you

It's been nearly 15 years since Doug Smith’s smiling face first appeared on the Wheaties box, giving the cycling community a nice boost in the mainstream world. Unlike many of today’s top domestic riders, Smith's initial exposure to cycling was not the result of extensive media coverage of elite American racers. He took to cycling because it was better than walking, especially for a guy who was still a year away from getting his driver's license. Smith soon discovered he had something of a talent for riding the bike, and his favorite mode of transportation became his passion. His season

That early break

The tough and dusty road

Wheels, wheels, wheels and finally a bike change for Tafi

Number four wasn't in the cards for Museeuw

Under control: Van Petigem was confident coming into Roubaix

Hesjedal: The animator

Green: The champ

The four cross produced extremely tight racing

King wore a much-ridiculed skinsuit to take the downhill victory

Sea Otter Gravity Sunday

Blatter and Dunlap

Eki' makes the bridge

Pieri and Aldag

Can Museeuw make it four?

Rodriguez

Americans ready for Hell of the North

Green tightens his grip

Green and Dunlap take short track at Otter

Jutras kept her eye on Jeanson on the final climb

Nathan O'Neill held on to take the overall

Postal and Saturn battle it out... and Decanio bides his time

Gracia

Donovan's idea of retirement

Dunlap keeps getting stronger

Editor:Just wanted to share an experience I had with a poorly marshaled racein a residential neighborhood. A few years ago, there was a crit held in Fox Point, Wisconsin (justnorth of Milwaukee), on the Fourth of July. I figured that it would bea good final test for the legs before Superweek, and a cool race for mymom to come watch. Almost until the end, it was a fun race on a good course. On the lastlap, as the field came out of the last corner and accelerated towards thefinish line, an ambulance pulled onto the course, trying to get acrossto the fire station - not a good thing during a

Bessette and Jeanson: The all-Quebec break

Normally, Tyler Hamilton would love to race flat out down a descent like the one included in the final-stage time trial at Spain’s Tour of the Basque Country on Friday evening. After all, the New Englander on the Danish team CSC was one of the country’s best alpine skiers, specializing in the slalom, before he became a pro cyclist. Those downhill skills, plus his low center of gravity, make him one of the best descenders in the European peloton, particularly on a narrow, twisting course like the one he encountered in this time trial. Starting the 13km test, Hamilton was equal on time with