Always be prepared!

No, this isn't the big update I was talking about. And, no, that's not a picture of me - but I imagine the frustration level of that rider and myself earlier today were somewhat similar as I stood on the side of River Road between St. Paul and Newberg, Oregon after 2 hours of fighting headwinds (Avg. heart rate: 168; time in upper zone: 1:32:38). Oh, and this was my second flat of the day! The first one happened about 7 minutes into the ride!

So, many of you who may be my regular customers have heard me talk about what I carry every time I ride. (Spare tube, patches, tire levers, combo CO2/mini-pump, 2 full CO2 cartridges, multi-tool, tire boot material.) Well, today, I needed everything; including something more!

Missing the Giro d'Italia?

No Giro on Versus this year. Bummer.

But, if you have highspeed internet and the opportunity - you can still watch live racing (without commercials in some cases!). Thanks to my buddy Brandon at the Beaverton Bike Gallery for the head's-up on this one.

Head over to steephill.tv. They've re-configured their homepage to accomodate all the Giro traffic they're getting - but if you click the front-and-center photo (the one that looks like Alberto Contador stage-diving off the podium...) it will take you to their Giro homepage. There's a link for "Live Coverage" at the bottom left of the Contador photo on that page. Clicking there will take you to a page that has a bunch of different streaming options for the live video feed.

I've bounced around between the RAI Italian feed and the Universal English-language feed. The feeds labeled "unrestricted" have no commercials.

I'll also usually open up VeloNews.com's live text updates as I enjoy some of the witty commentary by Andrew Hood.

By the way...come back early next week for a BIG NEWS UPDATE. Changes are on the horizon.

Thanks for dropping by.

Matt.