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By BIXEL, June 30, 2009 3:17 am

The '09 Tour de France

It’s Tour De France time again. 23 days, 21 stages beginning July 4th running to July 26th. The 2009 race will cover 3,500 kilometers, travel through 4 countries and some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. There will be 10 flat stages, 8 mountain stages, 2 individual time trials and returning this year, 1 team time trial. There are 3 mountain top finishes, most notably Stage 20, the day before Paris, that finishes atop the famed Mont Ventoux… and in the end, the 3 riders standing on the podium will be separated by mere minutes, if not seconds. This years tour promises to be on of the most exciting since 2003, watching is not an option - it’s mandatory for the true cycling fan.

For those who have never followed the Tour, here is a short lesson on what to watch for and expect: The race is broken down into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totaled to determine the overall winner for the race. The rider with the least elapsed time during the race wears a yellow jersey. The course changes every year but it has always finished in Paris. It’s possible for a rider to win the Tour without winning a stage, Greg Lemond comes to mind. There are 20 teams in this years race with 9 members to each team. A team consists of 1 leader (the boss) and the discipline specialist (sprinters, climbers adn time trialist) then there are the  domestiques (the workers). The leaders sole purpose of existence is to win the race, the specialist do what they do best and the domestiques sole purpose is to help the leader succeed in his mission. In addition to the Yellow Jersey or the Maillot jaune worn by the leader, there is a green jersey for the leader of the points classification, a polka-dot jersey worn by the most consistent climber and a white jersey worn by the best young rider in the Tour. Learn More Here For those with little ones that Like the Tour check out Mike and the Bike

And now for some Geo-Spatial info. The tour is a huge showcase for some really cool digital mapping applications. Plus, the TV broadcasts are like a rolling geography lesson. Watch it on VS, they will have 14 hours of coverage a day. You will see beautiful aerial coverage form helicopters and ground views taken from motorcycles at the cyclist level, you will see what they see. It is truly spectacular coverage that blows me away ever year.  Mapping: If you want to see the all 21 stages in Google Earth click here. (A special thanks to the Google Earth Blog for publicizing this.) Last year you could even follow the Tour live in Google Earth, right from your desktop. I’ll post a link to this when more information becomes available. You can also view route and profile maps of each stage on the official Tour website. (example below)

Stage 20 Profile Map

OH YEAH, LANCE IS BACK. After 7 consecutive wins (1999 to 2005) Lance is returning after 3 years of retirement to come and play with the big boys in the toughest bike race in the world. Lance has said that he left “unfinished business” on top of Mont Ventoux. Stemming from the 2000 Tour when he and Marco Pantani fought an epic battle on the climb and Lance gave the victory to Pantani. There is also the 2002 Tour when Richard Virenque bested the field to win on top of Ventoux. Even if Lance is not leading the ‘09 Tour on stage 20, I would watch for magical things to come out of his legs on the climb up “The Bald Mountain”. By taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing over it, he is superior.

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By BIXEL,

Life’s Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting,  ‘Holy cow…What a Ride!’ So Live.Play.Enjoy…Get Outside!

One of the great things about Texas is that it offers a wide variety of outdoor activities that you can enjoy year round (although I can’t recommend tubing the Guadalupe in January). This section of Texas Outside is for all of you who love outdoor activities and sports including: hiking, biking, kayaking, climbing, disc golfing, horse back riding, surfing, scuba and snorkeling, windsurfing, tubing (can we call that a sport?), and more.  The intent of this section is to provide you with some great locations to enjoy all of the above, some links to information pertaining to each sport, a brief description and rating of trails, and more.

CHECK OUT THE SITE HERE

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By BIXEL, June 21, 2009 11:59 pm

Sasha ready to pounce

The pictures from our fun filled day of volunteering for Free Spirit Siberian Husky Rescue at the Harvard Milk Days have finally been posted. We walked some the of dogs that are available for adoption in the parade, along with a few other generous husky loving volunteers. The weather was less than perfect, it rained and it was cool otuside. However, there was a huge turn out and the rescue received a ton of attention, and the huskies were the stars of the show.

You can see all the pictures here: Harvard Milk Day Parade Pictures

Thanks for playing along – now go outside and do something fun

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By BIXEL, June 12, 2009 4:47 pm

Hey everybody, tomorrow, Saturday, June 13 is National Get Outdoors Day.

So, this seems like a perfect time to re post my favorite passage from Edward Abbey. I’ve said it before and now I am saying it again. “These are words to live by”

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”

From a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News in the 1970s or early 1980s under the title “Joy, Shipmates, Joy.”

You may notice that my Bio on Twitter was adopted form this.

Thanks for playing along… Now, go outside and do something fun 

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By BIXEL, June 11, 2009 6:54 pm

I guarantee that I can make you lose 5 pounds in one day. That’s right folks, I said ONE day. All this with no pills, no exercise, no diet and with a plan that works this fast, no EXCUSES!!!!! One day with me and you will loose 5 pounds, I PROMISE.

How can I make such an outrageous claim? Because I did it today, that’s why. First hand experience is the only experience I need. 

My plan is probably backed by many years of research and maybe even a few clinical trials. But, that’s not Important, all you need to know is that it works. Remember these words, IT WORKS! I will say, that millions of hard working people have already discovered the secrets of this plan. Now you can too!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you can eat all of the foods you would normally eat. Hell, I had 2 Weinerscnitzel Chili Cheese dogs for lunch, with fries. I still lost 5 pounds today.

How did I do this all in one day. As I said before, I did all this without pills, exercise or special diet. However, I never said that it was going to be EASY or FUN. So, now is the point in the story where I reveal all my secrets. It’s called WORK; hard work, outside work, work in 95+ degree heat, 11 hours of hard work outside in 95+ degree heat, work where you sweat, work where you sweat a lot, work where you sweat so much that you get the car seat wet when you get in it.

That’s it – that is my simple plan, that I promise, will help you loose 5 pounds in one day.

Of course, I hope that everyone see’s this as a joke, meant to be funny, meant to be used as a way to poke fun at the quick weight loss spammers that keep following me on Twitter.

Now for the moral of the story. Go outside and – bike, run, swim, fish, play with the kids, play with the dogs, paddle a river, mow the grass, plant a tree, hike to the top of the hill, run to the end of the street, then run back home. Just go outside and do something fun, something that does not involve computers, TV’s and couches. Then let me know how it worked out for you.

sbixeloutside – out. Thanks for playing along.