That's my little sister Mimi. If you haven't already, click on the player
on the left side of the home page.
Mimi inherited my mom's incredible vocal cords. Through her work with David
Byrne (of The Talking Heads), Michael Stipe (of REM), Moby, Bryan Eno (of Roxy
Music) and others, Mimi made quite a name for herself within the music biz.
She started as the lead singer of a band called Hugo
Largo (which backed up
the Sugar Cubes with Björk at a concert here in San Diego back in "the day").
These three songs are from her solo album called "Soak" and
are available for listening and purchase at Amazon
(MP3 format) and the iTunes
Store. Enjoy!
~ Dan Goese
Cycling News
There's a lot more happening in the SoCal/San Diego cycling scene than you'll
find links to on this page. Explore the tabs above, depending upon your interest.
If you're interested in racing, click here to go
to the racing page. If you
prefer less-competitive fun rides, click here.
Each of these resources is organized by month so you can pick an event that
fits in with your schedule.
George Hincapie is one of the winningest and most popular
American cyclists in history. He is the current (2009) National Champion and
helped Lance Armstrong in all seven of his Tour de France victories. This is
the third time George has won the national championships. He's also won Ghent-Wevelgem,
the Tour of Missouri, the San Francisco Grand Prix, stages of the Tour de France
and countless other races. I had the pleasure of riding with George and friends
around his current hometown of Greenville, South Carolina thanks to the CEO
Challenge in 2008. George is racing with BMC in 2010.
I've met and chatted with Andy Hampsten a couple times at a local fun-ride called
the Alpine Challenge. I asked him if he races as a master anymore, and in his
typical humble fashion said, "Oh no...those guys are way too fast." Right. Then
he flew over the next few hills quite effortlessly. Andy is living in cycling
heaven. Like Lance Armstrong, Andy holds a place in cycling history that no other
cyclist can claim. Andy is the only American who has ever won the Giro d'Italia. Now,
he runs guided cycling tours in Italy. Not too shabby.
Chris Horner may be from Bend, Oregon, but he's also
a true San Diego boy. He raced with SDBC as a young athlete and has come back
for SDBC annual banquets in recent years. If you ride in San Diego, you may see
him riding in the kit of his latest professional team. He's quick to smile and
wave back if you give him a friendly shout out on the road. He's an incredible
bike racer and works with top teams because of his talent and dedicated teamwork.
Chris won the first Tour de Georgia in 2003, was the NRC champion in 2002, 2003
& 2004, and has won numerous other races and stages in the USA and Europe. Time and time again, Chris is found doing stuff in pro races to help out teamates and even friends from other teams. If there's a "Good Sam" award in cycling, Chris is definitely one of the winners.
It was very exciting to see another American win the
2006 Tour de France after the long, 7-year reign of Lance Armstrong, who [temporarily]
retired after his victory in 2005. Unfortunately Floyd was later stripped of
his victory due to doping allegations. He was one of the less fortunate dopers who got caught in a way he could not escape. As we all know now, Floyd and many others routinely dope(d) in any way that might go undetected. While his "naming names" seems like a despicable choice, he has done more to help the anti-doping authorities learn about how the cheating continues. Those who simply fessed up or stayed in "denial mode" have generally not provided any information to help clean up the sport. Floyd retains
his place in history as one of the strongest American cyclists at the turn of
the millenium. As a guy from San Diego County who shows up at local events [photo
at San Diego Velodrome] now and then, he remains a favorite on our list.
When I first heard his name, I assumed Levi was just another
strong European cyclist. He was racing for European teams and this was before
the first Tour of California (TOC). He's won all three of the week-long TOCs
so far, and is always a very serious contender in stage races. I can only imagine
his disappointment after breaking his wrist in the 2009 Tour de France. We can
look forward to another exciting year of racing from this hard-working California
boy in 2010.
What can I say? Even your average Joe knows the Lance
Armstrong story. He is sheer determination incarnate. Many say he's the greatest
cyclist of all time. I might hop on the nationalistic bandwagon and agree, or
point out the wide variety of races (including 5 Tours de France) that Eddy Merckx
won when he was in his heyday. They're both incredible studs and spokesmen for
cycling, so there's not much to argue about.
It's not easy finding a lot of information on Neil Shirley
online since his web site seems to go up and down, but he has been a mover and shaker in the domestic racing scene, racing
for Kelly Benefit Strategies and Jittery Joes. He has come to SDBC club meetings
and participated in one of our fun SDBC-only club cyclocross races at UCSD. In
2007, Neil shared the US
Pro National Championship podium with Levi Leipheimer
and George Hincapie.
Everybody knows Lance won the Tour de France seven times,
and that is incredible. Eddy won it five times, but also kicked butt throughout
the season rather than peaking for "a" race each year. Highlights include a record
seven victories in Milan-San Remo (absolute record in one classic), two in the
Ronde van Vlaanderen, three in Paris-Roubaix, five in Liège-Bastogne-Liège (record),
and two in the Giro di Lombardia, a total of 19 victories. He also won the world
road championship a record three times in 1967, 1971 and 1974, and every classic
except Paris-Tours.
Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter have done a nice job
of producing a "hybrid" who has both the interest and ability to dominate in
cycling. He's pretty tall, but some "big guys" (e.g. "Big Mig" Miguel Indurain) have
shown it can be done in a bigger frame.
