We’re set up right next to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for Stage Seven today, and I couldn’t think of a place I’d rather be. The last couple of days have been action packed, so much so that I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. Solvang went off as planned, with Levi edging out Zabriskie to take his third consecutive AToC Time Trial. Let me just say the guy was pumped. If you’ve been following along on the internet, you’ve probably already seen the photos of him holding up three fingers during his podium time. From a guy as humble and determined as Levi, it was a confirmation that yellow really is his favorite color. I like to think the custom painted ursus-themed TTX Levi was riding helped give him the edge he needed to pull it off.

Speaking of edge, I’ve been getting questions about the super-edgy wheels we’ve been displaying all week, the Bontrager Aeolus 9.0. At 90mm deep, they’re the most aero of the Aeolus wheel family. The Astana team began using them in training just a short while ago, and our Bontrager Hard Goods Brand Manager tells me they just became available to the public. They feature the same great Swiss-built hubs as the Aeolus 5.0 and 6.5’s, as well as Wisconsin-made full OCLV carbon rims. If you are looking for the epitome of aero wheels, these are the ones. The rear disk that the team is using is a proto that’s not currently available, but you can check it out up close in the pic.

You wanna know what else has edge? The new 1274 TTX that Project One worked so diligently to provide us with following the theft of Lance’s original in Sacramento. We just got it yesterday, and it now spends the night in my hotel room. By night, I mean the two to three hours a day that I loose consciousness before resuming the bike ridin’ carny lifestyle the Trek road crew has been living this past week. Sleep is for sissies anyway. Some things, like bike races, are more important. The Trek Project One team proved that by pulling off the replacement in such a short amount of time. Mega-props goes out to the P1 peeps!

And finally, maybe you’ve heard about the encounter that Lance had with the so-called “LiveClean Devil” the other day. I was sellin’ t-shirts and talkin’ bikes while it happened but these pictures filled me in pretty quickly. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them as much as I did. Captions aren’t even needed.

http://drunkcyclist.com/2009/02/20/caption-this-54/