Not much has changed at the top of the results table at the end of the day, but there’s been quite a bit movement in the middle, and some big news for Subaru. First, Petter Solberg was forced to retire (from the rally) after SS6 (the final stage of the day) when his Impreza lost fuel pressure 1.5km from the service park. In a vain effort to get his car to the service within the allotted time, Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills attempted to push the Subaru to service, but failed to make it in time. While this will hamper Solberg’s championship campaign, it won’t put an end to it, since even with a win, Sebastien Loeb would only pull two points ahead.

Loeb does still lead the rally, taking four of six stage wins on the day. He leads Marrko Martin by just over 30 seconds, and Martin has a 20 second cushion over Marcus Gronholm. Gronholm has all but conceded the rally (and the championship) but saying the Peugeot 206 has fallen behind the Ford Focus and Citroen Xsara. Gilles Panizzi (holding a disappointing sixth place) confirmed Gronholm’s observations, saying if he held today’s pace last year, he would have won by 5 minutes. Instead, Panizzi is just hoping to finish in the points, nearly a minute and half behind Loeb.

Carlos Sainz is keeping his title aspirations alive, holding fourth place at the moment after a fine run on SS6. Francois Duval is also putting together a nice drive for Ford, currently holding fifth place. If Duval can keep it together over the next two days, it should be a good rally for Ford, and they can reclaim third place in the maker’s championship from Subaru. Speaking of whom, Tommi Makinen is trying to finish in the points, currently holding 8th place. Richard Burns will drop in the championship standings, as he is having a terrible time of it at the moment, currently three minutes off the leaders’ pace.

Tomorrow should be an exciting, with two long, 56km stages to challenge the leaders. Those stages are long enough to have effect on the leaderboard, and no doubt Martin and Loeb will be pushing the pace.

Posted on 3 October 2003

We had some friends over for wine and cheese last night, and there were requests for a couple of my recipes, so here they are….

Pizza Dough
3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve the yeast in the water, and let sit for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well (I use a KitchenAide with a dough hook, but you can do by hand). You can let it rise for 30 minutes or so, but I’ve also used it immediately with good results. Be sure to measure the flour and water well, as it makes a huge difference.

Italian Peasant Bread
2.5 cups warm water
2 packages yeast (roughly 4.5 teaspoons)
6.5 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Unlike the pizza dough recipe, the measurements here can be less precise (in fact, the recipe calls for you to measure out the flour by weight instead of using measurement cups — if you’ve got a good kitchen scale, let me know, and I’ll send you the weights). Put roughly 4 cups of the flour and the salt solution in the yeast/water mixture and mix (I use a mixing paddle on the KitchenAide). Mix til the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Add the remainder of the flour (and use a dough hook if you’re using a mixer) and knead well. Add more flour and/or water as necessary. Cover the bowl with a towel, and let it rise for 2 hours, then punch down the dough, and let it rise for another 2 hours (you can also just let it rise all day, and push down the dough every so often).

When you’re getting ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 450 degrees (btw, it’s absolutely necessary that you have a pizza stone/baking tiles in the oven). Cut the dough in half, and make round loaves (or batards, for you cooking geeks). Don’t worry too much about the shape. Lightly flour a dish towel, and put the batards on the towel. Dust the tops with flour, and cover with another dish towel. Let rise for another hour. After that hour, put a bit of cornmeal on your pizza peel (paddle), take off the top towel, and flip (yes, flip) the batards on the peel (downside is now up). Slide the batards off the peel and onto your cooking stone. Now comes the fun part. Get some water, and sprinkle a few teaspoons of water on the bottom of the oven — this will create some steam, which leads to a nice crispy crust.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown, and the batards sound hollow when you tap the bottoms.

Posted on 3 October 2003

The Rally San Remo is four stages old, and the teams are in service until this afternoon, but so far, this rally promises to shakeup the championship standings. Seb Loeb is currently in the lead, with a 21 second cushion over Markko Martin (who won stages 3 and 4), and 28 second cushion over Marcus Gronholm. Francois Duval has been surprisingly quick, and he holds fourth place at the moment. Gilles Panizzi is currently in fifth place, 40 seconds off the pace, and quite unhappy with his Peugeot at the moment. Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae are in sixth and seventh, and Petter Solberg rounds out the top 8, just over a minute off Loeb’s pace.

Absent from the points at the moment is Richard Burns. He had a rough time on SS1 and SS2 (this rally has never been kind to Burns), and he’s fighting to stay in the top 10 at the moment. Solberg was quick on SS1, but some suspension issues caused him to lose time on SS2, but he’s back on pace at the moment, holding his position and gaining on Sainz and McRae. Expect him to charge at some point.

Posted on 3 October 2003

Meh. Somewhere on the hill on Stanton Avenue, there is something that causes flat bicycle tyres. At least once a month, I get to the bottom of the hill, cross over Negley Avenue and discover my rear tyre is losing air. At least this month, I got it out of the way early. So, I thought maybe, just maybe, I had a spare tube at home, and I could still enjoy the fine weather. No such luck. I had one tube, but it was for the cyclocross bike, and therefore just a bit too wide. Needless to say, today during lunch I’m going to stroll down to the LBS and get a frame-type pump and a handful of tubes. Yeesh.

And by the way, if you’re a commuter in Pittsburgh, please check out this site:

Bike Pittsburgh. I met the guy who runs the organization last night on my ride home.

In other news…

Rush Limbaugh’s tenure on ESPN’s Sunday Countdown is over thanks to his comments about Donovan McNabb and the “liberal media.” Well, it took four weeks, but Rush did manage to be controversial. Personally, I think I’m more knowledgable about football than good ol’ Rush, and could probably provide more insight on that show (I do not, however, have the suit collection to match Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson, and Steve Young) than he did. Perhaps Rush’s comments about McNabb were in fact racist, but his conclusions were so, well, stupid, that the discussion doesn’t even have to go that far. Why would the media care about what Donovan McNabb is doing? And if they care so much about McNabb, what about Kordell Stewart? No one comes rushing (heh) to his defense because he’s black. Heck, the media has no problem saying that Stewart is a plain old bad quarterback.

McNabb may not be same type of quarterback as someone like Peyton Manning (a precise passer), but everyone on the Philadelphia Eagles (did you hear that, Howard Dean? The Philadelphia Eagles) believes that McNabb’s athleticism and leadership more than make up for up.

Of course, I’d to like to ask Limbaugh why he took the job in the first place. Wasn’t he going to work for the same “liberal media” he frequently derails. I mean, ESPN is owned by ABC, right? I bet some of the very same people sitting next to Limbaugh on the show thought that McNabb was an MVP quality quarterback (and McNabb was spot-on when he asked why Limbaugh’s fellow panelists didn’t call Rush on his stupidity).

Posted on 2 October 2003

This weekend begins a hectic month for the World Rally Championship, with three tarmac rallies in the course of three weeks. With a tight race for the championship, this should make things really interesting, as the factory teams won’t have time to make little (and big) tweaks to their cars’ setups based on the previous rallies. Many of the drivers aren’t happy with the schedule, as they get about one day’s rest between the races.

San Remo is held in the mountains of Italy, near the coast, quite close to the same roads used for the Rallye Monte Carlo. It’s a classic tarmac event, with twisty old asphalt roads, and potential for very changeable weather. The teams should expect a bit of rain, and due to the nature of the roads, the course should stay wet for some time. It’s also an exciting rally, with the same feel as Monte Carlo and Corsica, with roads cut into the mountainsides, meaning dire consquences for a mistake. This will be final year for San Remo, at least for a time, as it will likely be replaced by a loose surface event in next year’s championship (Sardinia).

First, a quick review of the championship standings. Richard Burns holds first place by seven points over Carlos Sainz and Petter Solberg. Sebastien Loeb is another three points adrift of Sainz and Solberg, and Marcus Gronholm is another seven points behind Loeb. Though he’s ten points behind Burns, Loeb is going to be the marked man this month since he’s a tarmac specialist (though it’s hard to label him as such since his result last month in Australia), and he can win any or all of these events. Sainz can win on tarmac as well, but I think he’ll be looking to not lose any ground to the leaders, rather than use San Remo (or any of the tarmac rallies) to grasp the lead. Burns and Solberg have also shown quickness on the sealed surfaces, though I expect measured drives from both of them, as they’ll be looking to finish in the points unless they feel they can really challenge for a rally win. Of course, the favorite for all of these events is Gilles Panizzi. He’s far enough behind in the overall standings that he can’t sweep into the lead even if he wins all three events, but he can certainly upset someone’s title hopes.

Anyway, on to the teams….

Subaru
Petter Solberg has an excellent shot at winner the driver’s championship, and to do so, he really just needs to score good points in the next three rallies. He’ll be a bit happier if the weather goes south, as the Impreza (and especially the Pirelli tyres) perform better in the wet. But I expect a measured, mature drive from Solberg this weekend, and he’ll only push if he sees a chance to gain more points. He’s done well on sealed surface events in the past, so while he can’t be tipped as a favorite this weekend, he’ll be gunning for a spot on the podium. Tommi Makinen seemed re-energized in Australia after the announcement of his retirement at season’s end, so expect him to push the pace a bit this weekend. A spot in the top six isn’t out of the question.

Ford
The Focus has been the quickest car in the championship thus far, and there’s talk in the media circles of Markko Martin stealing one of the next three events from the tarmac specialists. It’s not out of the question, but Martin still lacks the experience on sealed surfaces to truly compete. He will be scrapping for a spot on the podium however, if all goes well. Francois Duval will be looking to finish, and perhaps find his way into the top ten. If Duval doesn’t do as well as the team would like, Subaru will cement its third place in the manufacturer’s championship.

Peugeot
First, Gilles Panizzi is the man to beat, regardless of his performance in Germany and Monte Carlo. He owned these rallies last year, and he can do it again this year. What’s really of interest is how the rest of the team performs. Richard Burns is in control of the championship lead at the moment, and he’ll be looking to stay there with a solid, consistent drive. Even if Loeb wins all three rallies, if Burns can stay on the podium, his championship chances look quite good. But Burns has mixed results on tarmac, and he will have to finish in the points to maintain his chances. Marcus Gronholm has seemingly given up on defending his title this year, so it will be interesting to see if Gronholm puts forth the effort this weekend. If he’s not nipping at a podium spot by the end of day Saturday, I see a rash of retirements in his future. Gronholm has never won a sealed surface event, and he’s quite capable of doing so, but I don’t think it will be this weekend.

Citroen
What a spot Citroen is in — two potential championship winners in Seb Loeb and Carlos Sainz. And they’ll be fighting with Peugeot for the make’s championship as well. Quite a first year in the WRC. Loeb is the obvious challenger to Panizzi tarmac dominance, and if he drives well, he puts himself in a fantastic position for the championship. While Loeb lacks the experience on these events (since he’s only been driving in the WRC for a few years on a limited schedule), he’s quick, and the Xsara is sealed surface machine. This rally will come down to Loeb and Panizzi. Sainz needs a solid drive to maintain his spot in the championship. He’s won here in the past, but look for King Carlos to simply maintain a steady pace and not drop many points to Burns.

Colin McRae is in an interesting position. He’s without a factory drive for next season, and it’s doubtful he’ll find one. The media has speculated that perhaps McRae and his brother Alister (displaced at Mitsubishi by Panizzi) may start a privateer team for next season. So, does McRae go all out for the remainder of the season and exit in a blaze of glory? More and likely, he’ll be scraping for points in the tarmac rallies, since he just recently got comfortable in the Xsara on gravel.

Skoda
This is a critical month for the Czech outfit’s new car. It will be hard to make improvements from rally to rally, so don’t expect too much from the Fabia. But, Didier Auriol is a quick tarmac driver, and if the car is at all up to the task, he will set top ten stage times, and potentially fight for manufacturer’s points.

Hyundai
Unfortunately, due to a contract dispute with their racing unit, the team will not compete in San Remo.

My Top Six
1. Sebastien Loeb
2. Gilles Panizzi
3. Petter Solberg
4. Marcus Gronholm
5. Richard Burns
6. Markko Martin

Posted on 1 October 2003

Well, we’ve found ourselves a car — a 1994 Volvo 850 GLT. It’s got a bit over 100,000 miles (that’s about one third of a Volvo’s lifespan), new tyres, and complete service records (a bonus, since now I know it just got a new timing belt and brake calipers). It’s priced perfectly for us, so now it’s just a matter of the dealer accepting the Subaru as a trade-in. That’s harder than it sounds, since they will owe us at the end of the transaction. If this doesn’t work out, we’re just suck it up with the baby seat/coupe combination, as I’ve grown weary of the poor service of the used car industry.

The fixed gear bicycle adventures continue. Today I hit the milestone of only using the brakes on the trip down Stanton Avenue — everywhere else (including red lights) I was able to come to a stop with just back pressure on the pedals. If I feel comfortable enough by week’s end, I may take off the rear brake over the weekend….

Posted on 30 September 2003

So I just went to Salon to check the latest headlines and columns, and since I don’t have a subscription to the site, I deal with the ads for a free day pass. Interestingly, today’s ad was the newest Cadillac SUV. Is Salon selling out for the almighty dollar? I mean, didn’t they run this piece decrying the gas guzzling machines? I realize that the editors try to give at least a somewhat balanced perspective on issues, but if anyone doesn’t think Salon is left-leaning should either get their eyes checked or take a political science intro course.

This reminds me of Slashdot running Microsoft ads…..

Posted on 29 September 2003

This morning was my first adventured with fixed gear bike riding (I got my new wheel last week, and my track cog yesterday. First, I didn’t die — I didn’t even crash. It was a big easier to get used than expected, though I couldn’t just trackstand on a dime like I could when I was freewheelin’ (generally I could make it all the way to work without taking my feet off the pedals). I took it slow and steady down Stanton Avenue, using a combination of back-pressure and my brakes to keep my speed (and pedal revolutions) to a sane level. I’d like to work up to having just a front brake on the bike, but I think that will take some time before I’m comfortable enough at back-pressure coming down Stanton…..

Posted on 26 September 2003

Reason has an interesting article about the libertarian response to the war in Iraq. I must admit, I’m bit surprised that the neo-conservative “war brings peace” ideology has permeated some libertarian thought, especially given the amount of money Bush is asking for the war.

One positive note, though. Scroll down the page to the response from Ivan Eland — it’s a well-argued anti-war perspective that notes one of the nasty by-products of the Reagan-era fights against communism, the Taliban and Al Queda. Interestingly, the other pro-war supporters who mention Reagan’s battles against the spread of communism do note that there were some “regrettable side effects” but the fall of communism was apparently worth the creation of a terrorist regime that was responsible for the attacks within American borders.

Posted on 22 September 2003

Not the most exciting weekend, but…where to begin, where to begin…

The used car hunt continues. We test drove a bunch of cars on Saturday, and we really liked a 1989 Volvo 240 sedan. It’s quite a tank, but Jen said it handled pretty well. It’s a cool, off-white color, and the interior was in good shape. Unfortunately, I think the dealer wants a bit much for it. We also found a 1995 Volvo 850 sedan and 1994 Audi 90 sedan in Oakland. Both seem to be really good deals, but we didn’t have the opportunity to test drive those cars yet. To further confuse us, I talked to my dad, and he said he knows a dealer who could probably find a car for us. That might be a good thing, since this guy won’t sell us a dud…..

The family went bouldering at Coopers yesterday. The weather was a bit of disappointment — warm and humid, but we still had a good time. I managed to find a new project — a short, hard problem the boy wonder put up a few years ago — and I could actually imagine doing the moves.

If you haven’t looked at the home page lately, there are some new photos of the boy

Posted on 22 September 2003