Female Beefeater to guard Tower

This is self-explanatory, and that goes without saying.

from BBC.com:

The Tower of London has appointed a female Beefeater for the first time in its history.

The Yeoman Warder, who has not been named, will join the 35-strong guard in September after undergoing training.

She fought off competition from five other candidates, all male, and will replace a retiring Beefeater.

A successful candidate must have served a minimum of 22 years in the forces as well as boast a long service and good conduct medal.

Spokeswoman Natasha Wollard said: "There were six candidates for the vacancy, and she was the only female. She was awarded the job on merit.

"Because woman have been carving out careers in the forces... they are starting to come up. More women have got the criteria that they need."

The new Beefeater's scarlet livery uniform will be the same as her male colleagues' although it will be altered to fit her figure.

Her role will involve acting as a guide for tourists visiting the Tower, which is more than 900 years old.

Beefeaters have been guarding the Tower since 1485 - for 522 years.

The Beefeater nickname of the Tower of London's Yeoman Warders is thought to derive from the daily ration of meat they received.

Their full title is Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary.

For state occasions they wear the well-known ceremonial dress of red and gold with red stockings, a white ruff and black patent shoes.

For everyday duties they wear dark blue trimmed with red.

Hot Chicks with Douche Bags

If this picture makes you want to vomit, then check out this great website!

It's Business Time

If you're looking to get it on with your lady friend (or vice-versa...) I highly recommend this saucy tune. I'm not sure who it is, but it is so fine, SO FINE!

Police to conduct DUI checkpoint

FYI:
"The Boulder Police Department will be conducting a DUI checkpoint beginning at approximately 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, in the 1400 block of Canyon Boulevard. The department will use grant funds as part of the "Heat is On" campaign through the Colorado Department of Transportation. The stationary checkpoint will be staffed by as many as 14 officers and is scheduled to run until 4 a.m. The Boulder Police Department reminds everyone to drink responsibly and always have a designated driver."

new house, new job, new underwear?

Howdy y'all, Brandon here. So I've been thinking about life changes recently. Last month I was living on my own in a one bedroom apartment, and now I am living with four crazy awesome dudes! This change hasn't been hard at all because it's just too darn fun here at the Chamois Army Fort. Whereas last month I would come home from work and just sit around, now I come home from work and join in on whatever's going on, whether it be watching a movie, making dinner, or practicing parcour by jumping off the roof. To sum it up, it rules!

The next big change I'm making is in the work department. I've been full time at Performance Bike Shop for the last year, but I'm leaving at the end of next week to start a job with a company called SmartEtailing. The company makes web platforms for bike retailers, and my job will be writing descriptions of bikes and cycling accessories for the sites. Bikes and writing are two things that I love, and I feel really lucky to have found and landed this job. I'll definitely miss the people at Performance, but I think it will be a good change as I'll be making more money, improving my writing skills, and having more of a schedule. Working in retail with an ever-changing schedule, time just kind of oozes by. It's nice working different shifts and doing something different every day, but I'm looking forward to the structure of a schedule, and being able to enjoy a full weekend. I think I'll take more advantage of my free time when it comes regularly, and I plan to make some fun trips up to the mountains this fall.

The last thing I want to discuss is switching from boxers to boxer-briefs. Now this might sound like small potatoes compared to the other two topics, but believe me, this is by far the most daunting and nerve-wracking change of them all, and I have no idea what will result. Last week, my ratio of boxers to boxer-briefs was 13-1, and the latter were a pair purchased specifically for hiking. I only wore them when I was slacking on laundry and had nothing else left, and though I was not unhappy on the days they were worn, I never moved them closer to the front of the drawer.

However, on a recent bike commute home from work, I had a falling out with my beloved boxers, and this horrible incident led me to consider the many advantages of boxer-briefs. On Monday, I decided to invest six bucks in the issue and purchased a 3-pack of this hybrid style of drawers. I've been alternating for the last four days, and I must say that I am genuinely impressed with the BB's. I'm definitely going through some anxiety about completely overhauling my underwear drawer, and perhaps this infatuation with boxer-briefs is simply a dirty adulterous affair that will only be a bad memory one day; but it could also be that I've found the love of my life.

I feel like Rachel McAdams towards the end of Wedding Crashers, just completely and utterly confused. I wish Christopher Walken was here to help me through this crisis.

One Bad Mother!

Congratulations to big Taylor Phinney aka( Taylor Wart) for his win in the time trial at jr worlds.

Spy Photo

Since being booted from the Tour, Rasmussen has really let himself go in the last few weeks.

Darn Dogs!

And to think that Sandy Casar still won the stage.

CAF gets financial boost from Pro Tour Sponsors

Yeah that's right, indirectly, CAF will now have a better shot at getting sponsorship dollars, euros, and yen because the sponsors are so pissed at wasting their money on cheaters, dopers, and rasmussen. (yeah that rhymed).

Practice your foos CAF members cause I'll be there in a week.

As if things couldnt get any crazier

So the tour is just crazy every day now. the day after day shit about guys testing positive and then michael "chicken" rasmussen lying about being in italy or mexico and missing drug tests. so today the breakaway of riders was hauling when a dog ran out into the road and sandy casar and another guy bit the dust. i couldnt find a pic or video of this yet but i did stumble on t mobile rider marcus burghardt nailing a dog back on stage 9.



oh and the word here in belgium is "chicken" is roaming around the tour of vlaams brabant looking for his rabobank team.

It's Like a Train Wreck...

...You want to look away, but you just can't. More scheisse hits the fan in le Tour. Remind me again why pro racing is relevant to what hardworking amateurs, like my friends and roommates, do all summer long in domestic races throughout the country. At least last year we knew who most of the cheaters were before the race started.

Cheater.

Well, for those who haven't heard, Alexandre Vinokourov has been caught doping, fired from his team, and his team, Astana, has subsequently left the Tour. After watching him win two huge stages in a very courageous manner, it is such a letdown to learn that he was doping. I'm pretty sure I won't follow the rest of the Tour or pro cycling in general for this year and maybe even longer.
It's really pathetic how persistent these people are in their drive to cheat. Why is it so hard to stop this problem, even with all of the new protocols and rules in place for ProTour teams? Is cycling the only sport aggressive enough in its testing to expose the frauds or is it simply a dirty sport that cannot manage to hold elite-level competitions that are fair?
Either way, it sucks. Pro cycling has a long way to go before it can earn my respect again.

beckham scmeckham, bring me Zidane

The greatest in the world, zinedine zidane, should come back out of retirement une autre fois to play for the MLS.

check out this lil tribute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYUtKKbBTkw



and go vino.

Better late then never

So I have been over here in Belgium since the 15th of May and finally today i figured out how to log in to the CAF blog since its always in Dutch. So now Im here and ready to get this whole blog phenomenon going.

Thursday I went out on a 160 km adventure with Big Tex and Krughphoto.com. We did a few of the Tour of Flanders climbs around Oudenaarde. We rode some of the nastiest cobble stone sections i have ever done, some of which were 3 km in length. In total we did at least 20km on the pave. The highlight of the day though was getting passed on the canal by a Pro Tour rider from the greatest team in the world. ASTANA!

Cascade Classic

So I just recently got back from a week in Oregon visiting fellow CU rider John Crawford and racing in the Cascade Classic. The 4's race was 4 stages over 3 days in beautiful Bend, Oregon. I rode the time trial of my life and took 3rd, then maintained my position in the overall throughout the rest of the 3 stages. A podium finish was awesome for me because it was my first big stage race, and it got me the rest of the upgrade points I need to become a 3! I guess I'm slowly working my way up... Anyway, the trip was a blast, capped off with a great mountain bike ride the day before I left. Next up is Mt. Evans, which could be a whole different story...



nice view of Mt. Hood from the plane on the way in



exhausted after the road race


on the podium

Great Success!

Well, I headed up to lovely Spearfish, South Dakota last weekend for my first Xterra (off-road triathlon) of the season, and to quote a famous Kazakh, it was a great success! After a kind of rough swim (Spencer - wetsuit = sinking like a rock) I fought my way through the pack on the mountain bike and extended my advantage on the run to win the overall. It's fun to win a race once in a while; that sort of thing doesn't seem to happen that often for me out here in Ballerado. You can read all about the race in the Rapid City Journal, as fine a news source as I've ever seen.
Also, props are due to our comrade, Kiel for pulling down a top-10 in the National Championship crit last weekend. Next week he's racing the Tour de Toona – allez Kiel!

Obama Video

Who says politics are boring? This video has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for our country's democratic process.

This shit is priceless!

From the Facebook Group "Bicycles or Women?"

Epic Winter Park Trek

On the Sunday after Crankworx last weekend, Kevin, myself and Abby decided to go on a hike, starting on Berthoud Pass, finishing in Winter Park — a super knar shuttle run. It was a pretty nice day, but the clouds were moving in fast and we were all glad to be in a car by the time the rain came around 2 or so. It was so gorgeous up above treeline in the Vasquez Wilderness. The only bummer, from my perspective, is that this beautiful place can never be enjoyed on a mountain bike. While mountain bikers are low-impact trail users, scientifically shown to have a similar environmental impact as hikers, they are unfairly excluded from all Wilderness areas. It's really important to protect our land for future generations, but there are other ways to do it besides Wilderness designation.
Anyways... the hike was wicked sweet. We saw some ptarmigans, a guy skiing one of the snowfields (I was jealous), found some sweet stuff on the ski hill and totally blew out the legs hiking down Mary Jane to get back. An awesome day in the mountains, capped off by some sweet, sweet ice cream at the Dairy King in Empire.


Still a bit snowy up around 10,000 feet.

For all the photos visit the links below:
Album 1
Album 2

Mt Evans Throwdown

What better way to celebrate our illustrious nation's birth than to climb a mighty peak on our bicycles? Our crew set out in the wee hours of the morning on July 4th with heavy hearts because one of our comrades just had all of his bikes stolen... so lame! If you see any sketchy dudes trying to sell Blake's bikes on the street, take them out at all costs — shoot first, ask questions later.
Nonetheless, we soldiered on and tackled the 14,264 ft peak in the cool morning mountain air. As we passed numerous recreational riders, Kiel and Rolf broke away from the pack, heading off to do battle alone in the wasteland above treeline. I hung back and kept a steady tempo in the grupetto, knowing that they weren't a threat to my GC aspirations. After 2:40 (So close to Tommy D's record!) and 7,540 ft of climbing, we reached the summit, where we took some pictures, ate a little food and then got the hell off the peak after watching some nasty clouds roll in and developing mild cases of altitude sickness.
The ride down was fast and furious and was only made better by gorging on Rolf's cookies once we had returned to the car and dismounted from our trusty steeds.



It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll...