Fiday

Typical Friday for me. Early departure and Tuscan red.

This is pretty big news. Ivan Basso has been cleared by the biking associations and is free to race. He was released from his contract with CSC a couple of weeks ago. Look for him to sign with Discovery and be their lead dog in 2007. He could win multiple TdF races in the next few years.

By the by...the 2007 Tour route was unveiled this week. The opening prologue is in London. They then cross the channel for the first stage in northwestern France. The route goes clockwise in '07 so they'll get to the Alps early for some sorting out of the players and the pretenders.

One of my meetings in Dubuque this AM was with a guy whose company had redeveloped an older downtown building for their office. I'm sure that there were rehab credits and local incentives to make the deal attractive for this company, because it is still an old building, but the interior was pretty nice. It was the original Kresge's Five and Dime Store, just like there were in most old downtowns, like Ottumwa. I had guessed to myself that it may have been a Kresge's store as I walked in, and I gave myself a little pat on the back when that proved to be the case.

The core of Dubuque's downtown Main Street had been shut off as a mall for about 30 years beginning in the early '70's. Just like Ottumwa. And they finally reopened it because the concept had failed miserably. Just like Ottumwa. The universal result of closed off streets in downtowns was the elimination of downtowns. (The planners that came up with that idea as the survival strategy for small town America are now working on that wall at the Mexican border.) Dubuque at least has some redevelopment going on now, spurned on I expect by an active gaming industry. Ottumwa was unsuccessful in getting a license this last go-around.

Cardinals can close the deal tonight. Lots of sports media people, none in StL, unhappy with that fact. They say the best teams, like the Yankees and Mets aren't playing, and the Tigers were waiting too long to start the Series. Cry me a river. Looks to me like the Cards are playing the best ball at the right time.

IC tomorrow. Will miss 1.

Be careful out there!