Well that's a wrap! anyone got a bike i can ride?

Well, it's sunday and the race is over. sorry i've been out of touch for the last couple of days. Shit hit the fan on stage 5 with 3 laps to go and there was a massive pile up and yes, you guessed it, old tommy b. was right in harms way. nothing i could do but surf out the big one like Patrick Swayze in the end of Point Break. All joking aside, that one really hurt. i managed to re-open all the injuries i had from the first crash (which was, in all fairness, my fault) and add a couple of new ones, including a sprained wrist. there were moaning bodies all over the road and an ambulence and everything. i decided to just sit on the sidewalk and wait for medical attention for a while. before i knew it the ambulence had pulled away and left me there, bleeding on the side of the road. They missed me! Didn't even see me! Sooooo. i picked up my bike, bent a few key items back into place and rode it in. once i got to the finish i figured what the hell, might as well finish it right? so i rode it out to the finish.

i rode the final stage with a bandaged wrist and bowed out when things started getting hot. no need to make things worse i figure.

Price of bicycle frame (a freebe thank god): $1500
Set of fancy wheels (used): $500
BRAND NEW handlebars: $200
helmet (at least i didn't pay for this): $150
various articles of cloths: $?
bandages: complimentary
offset that with total winnings (per rider): +$40 Wow!

price of racing/crashing my bike in 2 separate countries: priceless!

overall as a team we did so so. The russians (god bless them) walked with nearly all the prize money that was up for grabs, leaving but crumbs for the rest. So now it's a week of rest and ointment for me, as well as a stop to the local bike shop for some essential gear before we head to malaysia for for the next race. SHould be fun.

BTW: thanks to all for the comments. i have been posting via email and have been unable to read your comments until now. some of you are too funny (you know who you are)!

tommy

ps. http://stefaninasia.blogspot.com is my teammates blog too. i put a link atthe top of my page to his site. you should read it to get a different perspective on things if you have the time. he's quite funny.

"I'll have what he's having."

From now on I'm hitting the Chinese buffet line behind the boys from Moscow because they are laying down some cold war hurt! Today was a 20 lap circuit totaling 88k, so a little over 4k a lap. Man, all I know is one minute I'm squatting in this weird porta potty thing and the next thing I know I'm somewhere's in the first turn of the race riding a BREAKAWAY with a German, Russian and Danish guy. We had a 30 second gap in one lap and I was already seeing plaid like in the movie Spaceballs when they hit ludicrous speed. At any rate I cried uncle after about 2 laps and the rest of them were caught in the next 2 laps. There were many other moves which we were all a part of, most notably Stefan's 6 lap break towards the end of the race. it would have made it if not for it's fatal flaw: it lacked a CCCP representative leaving them all to chase rather than to block. Ah well. For more you can check out results and pics on www.cyclingnews.com. I'm off to bed.
--
Thomas Bencivengo
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Tungsten Properties
13 Crosby St. Suite 304
New York, NY 10013
(917) 582-1979
(212) 937-4666 fax

www.tungstenproperties.com

Merry f%@$ing Christmas!

So I'm one day into this thing and i've already trashed my brand new bike and put a road rash the size of a moo shoo pancake on my left ass cheek. Ah yes, I just had to squeeze in one more crash before years end. One would think the good lord would be in a better mood on the birthday of his one and only that he might lend a guiding hand as I leaned into that turn on the LAST lap. He could have blown his holy breath to dry the one and only wet spot on the entire course just before the turn but nooo. "You didn't go to midnight mass like all of the other good Catholics." I hear him saying in his booming god voice. Perhaps I should start using the capital "G" in his name when referring to "Him" because I may be doing it quite a bit in the next few weeks.

At any rate, enough complaining. Overall the race was fine. Real fast but manageble. It's obvious right off the bat who the players are. The Russians are fit (especially the one with the world champ stripes on his sleeves) and very aggressive as are the Aussies. The Hong Kong national team isn't so bad either. Stefan (perhaps I haven't introduced him. He's the german guy who's racing for us. Real strong and real nice. And he talks just like Arnold!) and I took turns trying to get off the front. We got in several moves each but ultimately it came back together before the finish (at least that's what they tell me. I was busy peeling myself off the curb.) The crash was my fault if it was anyone's at all. We came into turn two smooth but hot and there was just the smallest trickle of water across the road before the turn. It was enough to wet a section of my tire and render it useless as I leaned her over @ 30 mph. Oops. Well I'm off to fix my bike so enjoy the egg nog and don't eat too much turkey, I know for sure that I won't.
Tom

Finally got some photos up!

Hey all. Here are a few shots from the last couple of days. Race starts on Monday! Talk to you then.
Tom

36 hours in-some observations.

Well things are getting settled here. We've been on a couple of rides, gone food shopping and used chop sticks. Pretty exciting I know. As we all know, excursions to other lands always reveal some interesting differences in everyday life and its rituals and habits. Here are a few of my favorites:

1) the pisser is the shitter is the shower. That's right, there's this little room in the bathroom that has this hole in the ground and a handheld shower head that so ingeniously accommodates your needs to take a leak, a pooh and to clean yourself. Now why didn't I think of that! It makes quite a bit of sense really. Thee's nothing like bending over to clean your feet and nearly putting your head in the hole that you just squatted over. Gives a whole new meaning to the term "shit shower and shave" if you know what I mean.

2) they drive on the left side of the road. Since I'm not driving on the road and only riding my bike on it with all the backwards-driving cars zooming around me I have nothing to worry about. Right?

3)food here so far is excellent except for that one little thing... Yes, it really is good and I like the style of bringing dishes to the table one by one. But about every 3rd dish or so my chopstick has nearly made contact when I realize I am about to pick up a whole ducks head or jelly fish tentacle. Wow.

That's it for now. Keep reading as the racing starts in a few days!
--
Thomas Bencivengo
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Tungsten Properties
13 Crosby St. Suite 304
New York, NY 10013
(917) 582-1979
(212) 937-4666 fax

www.tungstenproperties.com

here we go again

hey all!

For those of you who read my blog on racing in the Vuelta El Salvador in the spring you know what you're in for. For those of you who didn't, (big breath) I along with a handful of guys from the states have been invited to compete against some of the world's finest cyclists in 3 events. Riders from Europe, Mongolia, Japan, China as well as many others will be converging in Hong Kong to duke it out for over $40,000 in prize money @ the tour of South China Seas which is centered mostly around Hong Kong and Macau. After that we head to Malaysia for a week long race where many of the days stages will exceed 100 miles! Then with a few days rest it's off to Thailand for the tour of Siam for another week of racing which will take us all around the country.

As i sit here in my apt. in Brooklyn typing away with only hours before my flight i cannot contain my excitement. But then, as i was setting up my blog to send to all of you i decided to take a walk down memory lane and read my posts from El Salvador. Man that trip sounded aweful! Shitty food, bad water, unthinkable heat, insane racers! What am i thinking here! That trip was only two weeks and this one is five, which could very well mean that there will have to be a padded wagon and a straight jacket waiting for me @ JFK when i return. I of course signed onto this fiasco with the same .25 seconds or so of hesitation that was excercised in choosing to go to El Salvador and Venezuela (i didn't tell anyone about that one. sorry, it was real last minute). So read on my friends. Aside from tales of break neck speed and Kung Fu-like feats of two-wheeled mastery there will be many a dumpling choked on and plenty of crutial information lost somewhere between the lines of translation which should certainly make for a chuckle or two on your part. read on and pass it along to your friends...

here are some useful links and info on the races and general stuff:

http://davidsommerville.com/asianracingmanual.pdf

http://www.jelajah.com.my/

Http://www.tourofsiam.com