Blogs need to be fed (both by the bloggers and, hopefully, by our readers), and the Crankset has been a little creeky lately.

Sorry about that. The Crankset is not going away; far from it. Granny, along with the assistance of Sean Weide, our wonderful Sprocket, friend and the Communications Director of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, have provided the Crankset with new directions that have resulted in a growing audience. That wasn't our goal when we started the blog with 53rd Tooth going on two years ago, but it is where we are more than 900 posts and many of your comments later.

Life gets busy and things slide. That's called priorities, I suppose. I maintain two other school-related (I teach) blogs, and they have been taking up a lot of my time lately. School, too.

But enough about mechanics ... time to turn the old crankset.

Here's an interesting story from the Sydney Morning Herald about doping and drug whistleblowers and the price they sometimes pay. I've never been to Australia (it's on the list), but it's obvious that the Aussies don't just love their tennis players. Cyclists and swimmers get their fair share of attention, and when swimmer Elka Graham wrote in a column in the paper that she had been offered performance enhanding drugs before the 2004 Athens Olympics, she came under such attack that no other than WADA boss Dick Pound came to her rescue.

Keep an eye on the Australian sporting press -- and on the planned Australian national team entry in the Tour de France for 2009.


Speaking of the Tour de France ...
The Crankset should not let the announcement of the 2008 Tour route July 5-27 pass without comment.

There is no prologue.

No team time trial.

Two times trials, including July 26, the penultimate day of the Tour (as usual).

In the Pyrénées, the Crankset fondly remembers the Col de Tourmalet (17.7km at 7.5 percent and 2,115 m) and the Col d'Aspin (12.1km at 6.6 percent and 1,489 m) from our 2003 Trek Travel trip. Stages 8 and 9 finish and start, respectively, in Toulouse, where the Crankset first met.

In the Alps, Stage 16 includes the remarkable Col de la Bonette-Restefond (26.7km at 6.2 percent and 2,802m). The 9,193-foot Col de la Bonette-Restefond was last part of the Tour in 1993.

Stage 17 includes both the Col due Galibier (20.9 km at 5.6 percent and 2,645m) AND a finishing climb to Alpe d'Huez (1.3 km at 8.6 percent and 1,869m).

"It's definitely a climbers' Tour," said Aussie Cadel Evans.

Much more to say about the route, but we'll leave additional comment to Granny and, as always, you.