Today I’m gonna switch it up and start with the month-old Interbike news, even if it is a little moldy (get it? Carbon fiber frames are made in molds? Hello? *tap-tap* Is ths thing on?). Anyway, the big news this week is gonna be the announcement of the 2006 TdF route. If you’re in Paris on Thursday, don’t think you can just drop by in your Levi’s and Chuck Taylors; it’s a fashonable, invite-only affair. I tried to scam a ticket from Velogal, but she was unresponsive. No matter; though all we know officially is the prologue route, thanks to the magic of Usenet and people who have less of a life than I do, here’s a speculatory route for the 2006 TdF.
Meanwhile, Robbie McEwen, who got attacked yesterday, seems to be a little, uh, unclear on what went down. Here’s his report from yesteday’s Sportal:
“There were three guys walking towards me and as we got level one of them king-hit me. I don’t know if [the attack] was an attempted mugging but it was definitely a cowardly act. I lost my footing after getting punched but managed to get back up and win the fight by 50 metres. I might have to look at an athletics career if cycling fails.”
But then, in today’s edition (scroll down) of cyclingnews, they reused parts of an interview with Cycling Australia:
“Three guys coming from the other direction, nothing going on, and they just about got level with me when one king hit me. Don’t know if it was an attempted mugging or thrill attack for the hell of it but definitely a cowardly attack. I didn’t hang around to find out. I managed to stay on my feet, spun around and won by 50 metres. There might be a career for me in athletics if cycling fails.”
“Lost my footing?” “Managed to stay on my feet?” Which is it, Robbie? Was it one of those, lost-my-footing-but-recovered-before-I-fell-all-the-way things? Did you ever have more than two points of contact with the ground? I mean, I’m not gonna think you’re any less tough if you fell over, but if police ever catch these punks, the defense is gonna have a field day with this, man. Oh, and we have clarification on the definition of “king hit” (scroll down); it’s more a really hard sucker punch, like blindsiding someone.