Whitewater Horn

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Lucas address it directly, but it’s clear that the vacuum of space doesn’t exist in the Star Wars galaxy. Space is just a fun backdrop for the storytelling. If your spacecraft breaks in half in space, you’ll be fine and can easily enter the atmosphere of a planet and land safely. You can also casually mill about the open landing bay of a space station with no ill effects. And spaceships absolutely make aircraft type sounds that generate a robust doppler effect when passing another point of reference. The more ridiculous the better.

No kidding. Visma was already limping into the Tour for the first time in a while with the probable expectation (from the outside) of not winning the race. And seeing Remco stay on the deck and Roglic down again sucks.

Yes, just horrible. I hate seeing riders getting carted off and hearing the list of abandons. Even worse leading up to the big loop.

Since the proliferation of Star Wars content really exploded with streaming, I’ve always been pretty patient and forgiving, not expecting anything great. Andor was a nice surprise, and there have been other good moments, especially some stories in The Clone Wars and Rebels. Beyond the movies and series, I’ve read the Thrawn Trilogy and a handful of other EU things back in the day, but I’ve never been obsessive about it and have been able to laugh away the botched sequel trilogy and the incel outrage over clunky and forced diversity. I’ll always give new Star Wars stuff a shot to see where it’s going, and hopefully be surprised by something original and interesting with compelling characters and good writing. That said, what I watched from those first two episodes of The Acolyte was dog shit. I’ve made an effort to stay present and not succumb to the distraction of the phone when watching movies or shows, but 10 minutes into the first episode this thing was already in my hand. Maybe it was watching a Jedi dominating a fight, and all of a sudden couldn’t sense a ruse to distract her and catches a blade to the heart? I know the plot demands that a Jedi has to be killed to put the story into motion, but that’s the best they could come up with? Wookiees are cool, but Jedi Sasquatch? Now they’re just fucking with us. Plenty of other head scratcher and laughable moments followed to the point where morbid curiosity kept me there to watch all of both episodes.

Guess not many following the Dauphiné, but Remco put 40 seconds into Roglic on a 34km ITT on stage 4 today. With Jonas unlikely to be in winning form (if he even shows up to lead Visma), I was, and am, hoping to see Roglic come into July with a realistic shot at pushing Pogi into savage mode and making a great race. Never mind. Pogi lives and sleeps in savage mode. I was hoping not to see another grand tour decided by upwards of ten minutes. I think the TdF window is closed for Roglic and he’ll have to fight for a podium spot in Nice.

“Steinhauser beating off the competition!”

Especially while descending paved roads with painted stripes down high mountain passes.

I’m sure the “Cycling Highlights” YouTube channel will address (savagely skewer) this in their usual sarcastic and hilarious way.

Pure class. After causally riding away off the front and past a few hopefuls to win the stage, he reports to the race leaders cool down and protocol area. 2nd place finisher Guilio Pellizzari approaches Pogi to congratulate him and ask for his pink glasses as a souvenir. Pogi obliges his request and also strips off the Maglia Rosa right there and presents it to Pellizzari.

That was a cringey mess for a grand tour stage. What a clown show from RCS to not be better prepared with bad weather contingency ready to implement. Good on the riders for going to their team buses and cars and skipping the ridiculous parade. The town already had their moment with a stage finish, podium ceremony, and rest day. And yeah, on such a shit day that began in shameful disarray, of course Aliphilippe is one of the primary agitators.

Funny how this method converts wives, girlfriends, non-cycling friends, and even children.

Yep, understandable. I’ll keep it on in the background mainly for the comfort of hearing the sounds of bike racing and commentary while I’m working. Even though the outcome is settled, barring something shitty for Pogi, there’s still some good scenery to come.

The way he dropped the group with G and how quickly he put a minute into them was crazy. And not only an undeniable force of nature and talent on the bike, but also a super likable guy. It’s always been clear through his enthusiasm and sportsmanship, both in defeat and victory, that he just loves to race his bike and compete, leaving it all out on the road. You see his interview after the stage yesterday giving genuine props to Steinhaiser and Quintana and talking about being excited and happy to see how well they were going. It’s cool to see such a dominant athlete who operates with earned confidence and legit respect for his competitors and the sport instead being an asshole fueled by ego and bluster. What an absolute monster of a bike racer and badass sportsman.

Yeah, that could be definitely interesting form an entertainment perspective, but I do my best to avoid train wreck tv and internet content, so I’m hoping all of the possible contenders for the Tour show up rested, fit, and in top form. Obvious and ubiquitous pondering of “performance methods” in the pro peloton aside, I’m not interested in watching the Grande Boucle ironically, lol.

He’s been making some big efforts, so he’ll need to moderate that regardless of who ends up being a GC contender at the Tour. I can’t see how Jonas can achieve the fitness and race form to win in July. Even Plugge said they won’t take him to the Tour if he’s not going to compete for the win. They may give Wout the leader role, but I don’t see him beating Pog even if Pog is less than himself because of going for the double. Whatever happens with all of the moving parts regarding the principal players at the Tour, it should be an interesting watch.

Ganna again on the hot seat in an ITT and asked if he’s optimistic: “With Tadej, it’s impossible.” No shit.

That’s especially questionable since Pog is trying for a Giro/Tour double. Seems like they would be trying to avoid burning too many matches. Looks like Bardet just blew up. Surely Pogacar will go soon.

Some head scratcher moments today for sure. After gearing up for true bunch sprint, then seeing the break nearly escape, I was laughing and hoping to see either Pog or G pull off a cheeky win.

That little move at the end by Pogacar and G.

Saw some Stage One picks for Narvaez around the web in the last couple of days. Very well timed to hold off Pogacar and Schachmann. Bardet and Arensman dropped is a shock.

I’m ready. It’s always fun to watch Pogacar be Pogacar, but barring something unexpected or unfortunate, it seems pretty likely that the most compelling race within the race with be to see who stands on the podium with him.

Lucky section 13 may have been the winning move. When MVdP decides to go, you can see he’s just a different class of bike racer.

At least he’s doing LBL instead of Roubaix and doesn’t have to worry about the condition of the pavè, especially Arenberg, which they are saying is in even more shit condition than usual. Let’s hope he stays upright and whole going into those next two big races on his program.

Jesus. It just keeps getting worse. I’ll still watch, of course, but was really hoping to see some great battles with a healthy and revitalized Roglic, along with Remco, Pogi, and Jonas at full strength.

Fucking carnage.