What can I tell you? I am absolutely disappointed. If I look back on the race there is nothing I would change. I did everything correct but still got beaten by someone who was simply faster than I was and deserved to win. Today stung really badly!

I had two team mates sporadically working for me. I did the majority of the work for myself today. Perhaps my over confidence lead me to do more work than I should have. I personally chased down every break that went off the front and got on every wheel disallowing even the least threatening of breaks go off the front. No one was going to spoil my day.

The race flew by. We averaged only 23 mph today and it felt positively slow in comparison to the Witches Cup. I felt so strong from the beginning warm-up to the first few laps and powered my way through the race focusing on the finale. Everything went perfectly! It could not have gone any better which is what makes losing so disappointing!

I placed third in each of the premes and only really noticed the lap counter with 4, 2 and 1 to go. I sat in third place in the pace line all day and coming around the final corner no one launched, I waited and waited and saw someone shoot around on the far outside left. I didn’t notice him until he had gone by me and already had a bike length. I quickly launched my sprint and in the process yanked the front of my bike off the ground about 3 inches in the air. I recovered quickly and got down into position. I guess I don’t realize how quickly I can sprint and how powerful I am right now.

The rider that went off the front had 3 bike lengths by the time I had reached full power. We sprinted for 500 meters and I managed to pull back only 2 bike lengths before we reached the finish line. He was fast, consistent and drove hard to the line. He was the faster man today regardless of whether we started at the same time or not. He told me later that I had beaten him several times. If he sprinted like he did today, I don’t see how that was possible?

Looking at the statistics after the race my sprint was flat out, .3 mph off of my full speed and I held that for 500 meters. That was a personal best. No complaints with my sprint. I was all out. I was closing by failed to close quick enough. I certainly have gotten faster and certainly am turning over a massive gear now into the finish. Where are those new cassettes?

So there you have it in a nutshell. I failed to make it 3 wins in a row and instead placed second again. This year I have received the most second place finishes of any sport I have taken part in in my life.

I’m off to recover now and rest tomorrow before I return once again to train for next week to avenge my loss. I’m looking forward to a week of spinning and fat burning on the bike to both physically and mentally recover from this week.

With now less than 11 hours to the race I am acutely aware of how difficult this week has been for me. This week has been my toughest competitive week this season. The first time this season I have competed in a race mid week. Additionally, this week’s race was the toughest one yet. My lungs are still hurting from Wednesday night and I’m still coughing.

I am also aware of how much I have improved in just one week and how much stronger I have become. This season has been about nutrition, recuperation and training for success. If there was ever a season I managed to get all of those variables aligned correctly it’s this one.

I will return to racing tomorrow with an entirely new outlook. I now know I have the power to not only ride off the front but I have the power to sprint to victory alone without needing to surf the sprint. On Wednesday I needed to push myself and my body to a new levels, levels I didn’t think was possible this year and tomorrow I will take this new level of racing to the race in the hopes of winning.

No racer has managed three consecutive wins at Wells Ave this year. Tomorrow I intend to reach that goal. More than that, I intend to go on winning races until the end of the season. My goal is not only to win tomorrow but to increase my strength x 2 before the end of this season. Finally I have rediscovered the type of hard training that has made me successful as a bodybuilder, strength training. All out strength training. I have not even started to utilize resistance, I am improving strength dramatically with simple body weight movements. I plan to become strong enough in the next few weeks to start using weights.

Wish me luck! I’ll post my results after the race.

At long last I have finally decided which car I will drive next. I have decided on the BMW 328 XI. I chose the 3 series for many reasons but the primary reasons were; I liked the body of the 3 series specifically the Coupe the most but two doors is not practical so the 4 door was the next obvious option; I dislike the size of the 5 series; the 3 series is obviously more economical which is important; the 3 series seems to be plenty fast (I hope in 3 months I am still saying this). As far as options go I’ve chosen everything except for the sports package.

I’m purchasing BMW Certified pre-owned because I feel purchasing a new car is a waste of money when you look at the depreciation. My exterior color choices are in priority order, Dark blue/Navy, Black or Graphite as long as it’s one of those I could care less. The interior must be Sand.

According to the dealer the car will need to be sourced as I’d prefer low mileage but should arrive within the next two weeks. I’m excited! While it’s not going to be as fast as my truck (which is a horse!) the BMW will have a lighter body, be smaller and be much more fun to drive. I can’t wait! I’ll keep you all posted when it arrives and will post photos.

It’s time now to continue the often sporadic post of, “What’s on my iPod?”. This is a post I’m planning to do more frequently as I’m asked this same question ALL THE TIME. Rather than writing full reviews of what I’m listening to I’m simply going to share what’s currently on rotation. Here we go ...

Enya - Shepherd Moons: There’s something about this album. It’s atmospheres and textures make it incredibly appealing to me. I think Enya is one of the most unique artists and while she’s not always ‘original’ in that each album is not necessarily a departure from the last, there’s still a lot there that resonates with me and is different enough to be appealing.

Pet Shop Boys - Discography: The Complete Singles Collection: What can I tell you about the Pet Shop Boys? I’ve been a fan of these guys for as long as I can remember. I’ve been listening to them my entire life and so it’s only natural that their music brings back so many memories, fond and otherwise but they’ve been with me through my life’s journey. There are few albums that can be listened to from start to finish but this is one, with the exception of a few songs, that I truly love and almost never fast forward through. Simply incredible.

The Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way: What can I tell you? We all have guilty pleasures and this is mine. This was a purchase spurred on by the myriad of awards this album won. As always, I put this on the shelf and didn’t bother with anything other than a terse look. Over the past several weeks this album has been growing on me more and more. What can I say? I’m embarrassed - yes I listen to the Dixie Chicks.

Psyclon Nine - Inri: Electrotech is yet another new sub genre that’s been spawned from the Industrial Rock genre I’m a huge fan of. I’m very much into the whole fusion of Rock and Electronica and this album is a match made in Heaven. It’s truly evil, maddening and insane in places yet beautifully crafted and commercial all at the same time. I wish their beats were a little dirtier and they grunged their sound a little more but this album is a great fusion of two genres that are very powerful.

Ladytron - Velocifero: French Electro Pop at its best. Ladytron’s latest offering is a superb array of genre defining tracks. I very much enjoy this album even though I’m not a huge fan of that French Pop/Electro sound.

The Witches Cup race for 2008 has now been run. I participated in the men’s Cat 4/5 race and must admit I have never been happier and more relieved to get off my bike safely and in one piece. Below are the details of the race ...

The men’s Cat 4/5 field was the only field that was entirely full with 75 riders lining up at the start line. Out of the 75 men that started only 44 crossed the finish line in the end. I managed to place 10th and could have placed higher if I had of been willing to ‘risk it all’ on the final two corners of the race. More on this later.

The most memorable part of today’s race was the pavement. There was not a single part of the pavement that was without some type of deformity or pot hole. If you ride bikes then you’re acutely aware of how much of an impediment even the smallest of pot holes or loose stones can be. When I got in the car tonight you could see the contrast on my legs where the top of my socks ended and the dirt from the road began. A line of black dust and who knows what else on the ground was kicked up on all of the racers in today’s race. That should give you a sense of the poor pavement we raced on. My shoulders hurt from the vibrations of the road. Enough about the conditions, you get it now, it was less than optimal.

The second memory I’ll take away from the race was the speed. I will also kick myself the next time I show up to a race and don’t get in the FRONT LINE from the very beginning! Criteriums are fast we all know that but this Criterium was out of control fast.

I started approximately 2/3 of the way down the field and spent the first 4 laps fighting and I mean fighting at 90% of my capacity to make it to the front. It wasn’t until approximately 6 miles into the race that I finally got on the front and sat in the first few places for the rest of the day. Never again will I NOT be the first rider on the start line ready to roll out but kudos to me for having the power to ride to the front and still be fresh for the end.

The beginning of the race was the WORST part of the race and certainly the fastest race I’ve ever participated in. I looked down at my speedometer on the first lap and saw 32mph; looked down on the second and saw 33mph; on the third lap we slowed to 31mph and so on ... you get the picture? This was absolutely the fastest I have ever gone on a bike on the flat.

I admit, I was worried, very worried in the first 7 miles that I would have a tough time maintaining the pace. Then I saw the lap counter and the presenter tell us we had over 30 laps to go!!! The race was so fast. SO FAST! I was seriously pushing hard to get to the front and pushing hard coming out of the corners to just keep up. It didn’t take me long to figure out that even though it took considerably more energy to ride the outside of the corners it was clearly the safest and I’ve mastered the ability to shoot up on the outside with my sprint kick and was easily able to jump 5 maybe 6 riders on each corner, yes on the outside - I told you, I’m fast now.

If this was any other race I would absolutely have been worried about the amount of energy I was expending so early in the race just to gain position but as far as I’m concerned it was imperative to get to the front and be safe in this race. There were 4 crashes in as many laps in the beginning of the race. I also quickly figured out (go me) how to ride the course the most efficient for me. So I continued riding in a way that allowed me to gain maximum speed and maintain it without needing to break. I knew early on the constant breaking and accelerating would kill me and there was no way I could maintain that power output. It was like a sprint every 7 seconds!

The pace did let up. At one point I recall we slowed to approximately 25mph but that was the slowest we went all day long. When the breaks went off the front we were accelerating to 30+ mph to stay in contention.

Once I made it to the front, I remained there for the remainder of the race. No mean feat and something I am proud of. I spent the last 5 miles of the race in third place in the pace line. Passed only a few times by some break away merchants who quickly realized it was impossible to stay off the front. One single break away lasted off the front for about 30 seconds and I sat on the back of it.

Coming into the last lap we were strung out as usual in a long line. The hammer was down but we were only hammering at approximately 31mph. However, the last 5 miles were done at this pace and we did not slow!

I made a decision coming around the second to last corner that I refused to ride as INSANELY as these morons were. They simply took any common sense and threw it out the window. Riding into corners at blistering pace and the form was SLOPPY.

I came around the final corner on the inside and opened up the sprint from the corner. I dropped the hammer and simply sprinted my B sprint to the line. My form was perfect and I was strong. I passed 5 or 6 guys and finished 10th. With bigger gears, no common sense I certainly could have pulled out a top 5 finish without a doubt but it simply was not worth the risk. I did learn I need more gears on my bike though! I rode in the biggest gear I have almost the entire race. Something I have NEVER done!

Overall I am delighted with my performance. It was great to know I had more in the tank at the end and felt even better that I could ride a few laps to cool down. My body does not feel sore, but my lungs are definitely hurting. The beginning of the race was one of the worst experiences during any race. Of the 75 riders that started unfortunately many were dropped or crashed out. Not surprisingly 2 riders were dropped on the first lap! How awful would that feel? So, all in all I am delighted that I had something left, stayed safe and finished with the top men on the day and did not get hurt.

Now I look forward to returning to Wells Ave to WIN three weekends in a row!

Here are some images of the men's race in 2007.

I have to say, having seen these pics I feel somewhat better about tomorrow.

The race is now less than 24 hours away. Rest and light stretching are on the agenda from now until I line up at the start line. I’m starting to feel anxious, nervous but a little confident all at the same time. I’m tired and I hope I sleep tonight.

Tonight I decided to do some Google searches and managed to find some footage of the race from last year. Seeing this footage didn’t ease the my nerves at all. In fact it simply re-confirmed in my mind that I would need to work extremely hard to stay close to the front tomorrow no matter how much energy it takes. That’s the same thing I say before every race right? I guess the tactics are almost always the same it just becomes more evident when you prepare and plan and see footage from last year’s race what tactics you’ll need to employ.

Last year an NEBC team mate won the race. So I’m sure all eyes will be on our team to do well again this year. To be honest, the race footage made it seem like the race was pretty fast last year and I’m not terribly excited about 45 minutes all out. I need to keep remembering that this is my territory, this is what I’ve trained for and this is what I’ve demonstrated an ability to do well at this year so far.

Below is footage of last year’s race. It gives you a great sense of what it’s like when you ride in the pack. Obviously this rider is hanging far off the back of the race and the hustle and bustle is far worse riding in or close to the front of the pack where riders are jostling for placings and fighting for wheels. Pay close attention to corners, notice how far back riders are as they round the corner. As you can see, if you’re sitting at the back you have no chance of winning (something I’ve also said in the past). Let’s hope I’m not sitting this far back tomorrow!

As tradition would have it, I usually create a funny little image when I win a race - this weekend was no different, I'm just posting it a little later than usual :).

While most of other the images were about pride and a celebration of the win this one is quite different.

The only thing left to do after winning and celebrating is to plan the next race. To look forward to the next win. It's time to recover, plan and execute towards the next set of goals. In essence it's time to go back to the drawing board if you will. That's what this image is trying to convey.

I'm very happy when I win and very greatful to be able to perform in the way that I have this season. I'm very happy crossing the finish line so quickly and in first place and I'm proud of myself and my accomplishments but that only lasts for a short period of time before I start to look forward and to dream again.

This Sunday the celebration was cut considerably shorter than it usually is. There was no celebration ice cream, no celebration chocolate or even a celebration day off. It was straight back to planning for the Witches Cup and preparing. Sunday was a big help for me and a huge confidence booster going into the Witches Cup on Wednesday but I needed to remain focused coming out of the race and needed to turn my attention to the last big race of my season and my last major winning goal. With significant prizes and the pride of competing and possibly placing high in one of the toughtest crits of the season, there was no time to relax.

My diet has been super clean and my training laser focused these past three weeks. I focused and adapted my work load providing plenty of time to work on sprinting form and power. I'm pleased to say that this morning I appeared to have reached peak power for 7 - 8 times in one workout. That's a significant increase from earlier in the season and I'll be spending today and the rest of the time until the race slowly recovering and strenghtening.

This will likely be one of the last posts if not the last post prior to the race. I hope to see you all there cheering me on and I look forward to sharing the race results with you all :)

A couple of people asked me to create some unique Web 2.0 buttons for their website recently. At first I was excited because I thought it might be difficult as it was something I hadn't specifically attempted in the past. It turns out that it was actually pretty easy. The ask from my friend was some pretty trendy buttons that were glacial and reflective. Similar to the ones below:

It probably took me about ten minutes to create the buttons for my friend and of course he asked me to show him how it was done (which I did). It's actually pretty easy to do and I probably should create a tutorial which explains how to create them but unfortunately I don't have the time.

Instead, I've created the next best thing, a Photoshop template that you can use and modify with no restrictions in your own projects. It's not a step by step how to but close enough. To download the template simply right mouse click this link and select save as.

Enjoy

At long last I have broken what seemed like an unbreakable curse, the curse of returning to race after winning the previous weekend. All season long it’s been a challenge to string wins together on consecutive weekends. Thankfully this weekend all that has changed.

As always I got little to no sleep before lining up to the start line this morning. The weather was chilly with temperatures in the high 60s. Traveling to the race I had the heat on in the car. This morning there were no nerves just lingering pain in my right leg extending from my butt into my right knee. A long series of stretches and a short warm up only accentuated the problem. I took some extra time to stretch at the start line while others warmed up.

Speaking of breaking curses, I was on time for the race this morning. Even lining up close to the start line while others warmed up. But, there’s always a BUT, unfortunately I did not sign in and so needed to run to the start house and sign in while all of the race was lining at the start line. Always drama. Thankfully I’m now known by name and the organizes watch for me they were able to tell me I hadn’t signed in :)

We rolled out shortly after 9am at a blistering pace. Straight away we accelerated to 24mph. I was tired and my body felt tired. Sending me signals that it DID NOT want to put in the effort this early in the race to stay with the pace being set. Laps 1, 2 and 3 were all done at 26mph! Despite my many efforts to get to the front and stay in the first 3 riders I failed. Deciding on lap 3 that I was wasting valuable energy trying to ride to the front and instead decided to concede defeat to the men that wanted to force the pace really hard early on. I fought today like no other time this year to stay at the front and people still kept passing me. It was INSANE!

Laps 4 and 5 got faster again until the first preme. I finished 4th across the line and it was now clear that the end of the race was in sight for many riders who decided to force the pace early on. Navigating my way through an awkward and dangerous field I finally sat 4th wheel. I was now determined to cover the breaks and stay at the front. To sprint and win you need to be an animal. I was now awake, time for the animal to come out.

4 breaks went off the front today. I went with each, knowing that everyone is tired at this point in the season and no one has the legs to chase down a winning group up front. Additionally, there were quite a number of obviously fast people in the race today that I NEEDED to cover, including Back Bay.

Each of the breaks failed and with 3 laps to go it was the team’s of the sprinters that came to the front to force the pace. With two laps to go riders were yelling that the pace was too slow and no one was willing to work hard. So, after a few choice words 1, 2 then 3 riders jumped off the front in anger. Not what I had wanted with 2 laps to go. We had been going very fast and I had hoped for a little more control into the finish. It wasn’t to be.

We came around the last corner into the last lap at 29mph. Stretched out into a long thin line just the way I like it. The bell tolls, last lap and we round the 4th to last corner. This is it. I now know I’ve covered the breaks all day and at no time is it more critical than right now. 2 riders in front of me. Onto the straight away before the second to last corner. No one is jumping. No last minute surges or crazy lunatics trying to get off the front. New tactics? Either way I’m starting to get concerned because it’s usually more lively than this.

It would seem no one had the legs to come round on that last lap because the race had been so fast. Sitting third from the front coming into the last corner the lead out man pulls off having driven the pace to 31mph. No need to worry about gear selection as I was in the biggest one just sitting in third place.

Into the finishing straight and the rider in front of me decides to lead out the sprint. In position and cautiously looking around I grab his wheel accelerating into sprint position. I look around, no one coming. I stay out of the wind, no one coming. What the hell is going on? Why is everyone waiting so long? I know I have legs so I’m going to use them. 300 meters to go - time to come round fearing I would be leading the entire race to the line.

I come round and kick HARD! I wanted to win and I wanted it to be convincing. Dropping everyone I accelerated harder again. I finally realized no one was or could come around me. In fact, no one even had my wheel. Could this really be the convincing win it seemed like from my vantage point? Yes it was. Comfortably and safely in first place across the line with at least a bike length between myself and the second and third place riders.

I punched the air with my fist, the curse was now broken and I can clearly lay claim to the most consistent rider at Wells Ave in the Cat 5 races this year and the most wins! It’s been a great season.

Many people regard the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic games as the finest introduction to the Olympics ever. I’m not here to debate whether or not it was the best introduction to the games ever; instead I want to share with you some of the images I found to be simply, breath taking ... Enjoy.

In a world where fresh ideas and quality music are difficult to find it’s encouraging to find a group that are still releasing quality music. I’ve been telling friends about Ladytron for a while but the message doesn’t seem to be getting through.

Here’s a little more gentle prodding in the form of Runaway, their new video of the single taken from their Velocifero album. After watching and listening to this video what else will it take? I’ve been telling you; Sasha’s remixed them for Involver 2 and there’s a huge fan base world wide. Time you all caught on.

‘Nuff said.

The seven-time Tour de France champion took second place in the Leadville Trail 100 on Saturday, pushing six-time defending champion Dave Wiens to a record time in the "Race Across the Sky," a lung-searing 100-mile mountain bike race through the Rockies.

"I was empty at the end just in terms of fuel. I just haven't had seven-hour rides," Armstrong said after his first finish in a competitive bike race since he retired following his seventh straight triumph in the Tour de France. Wiens crossed the finish on a flat back tire in 6 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds, shaving 13 minutes off the record he set last year while holding off Floyd Landis. Armstrong crossed 1 minute, 56 seconds later on a cool, cloudy afternoon.

Armstrong, who has turned his competitive juices to running marathons since he retired from competitive cycling three years ago, had said before the race he'd be happy with a top-five finish.

So, will he be back?

"I think so," Armstrong said, adding: "I won't come back unless I'm in shape. And I feel like I'm in decent shape. You can't show up to this race if you're not in shape. So it just depends on how I train. I'd love to be back."

Dave Wiens pulled away from Lance Armstrong in the final ten miles of Saturday's Leadville Trail 100 in Colorado, winning the race for the sixth time, in record time.

Armstrong accelerated on the Columbine climb — which tops out at the halfway point of the out-and-back race — and broke up a group of ten that had formed in the first half of the race. Wiens matched his pace and in a few short miles the two had a five minute gap over third place, which grew to more than 20 minutes at the 80-mile mark and more than a half hour at the finish.

Despite the huge gap, the two rode together, trading pace like road riders on the smooth sections. Surprisingly, Armstrong was often the stronger rider on the descents, while Wiens, a two-time mountain bike world cup winner, was more conservative.

Wiens said the drafting contributed to the record time. Wiens won in 6:45:45, about 13 minutes faster than the record he set last year. Armstrong finished at 6:47:41.

Armstrong dropped behind Wiens on one of the last climbs, but then caught back on the descent. A few miles later he told Wiens that he was through.

"He said,'I'm done, go," Wiens said. Wiens briefly tried to encourage Armstrong to continue, but then accelerated slightly and pulled away. "It wasn't like he just stopped pedaling, though," Wiens said. "I'd look back and he'd still be there."

Armstrong said he simply didn't have the miles in his legs for such a long race.

"At the end I realized I was totally cooked ... I haven't done a 7-hour ride in four and half years."

Armstrong called the race "a blast," even though he finished with some scrapes after crashing in the final miles, after Wiens pulled away. "I just overcooked it into a soft corner," he said. Wiens had his own excitement in the final miles, when his rear tire went soft with less than a mile to go. Manuel Prado of Lake Forest, California, was third about a half hour behind Armstrong.

Samuel Sanchez of Spain took the gold medal in the Olympic cycling men's road race on Saturday, winning a sprint finish of six riders at the end of a grueling course.

Davide Rebellin of Italy, who had attacked regularly throughout the day, took silver on his 37th birthday. Time-trial world champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland won the bronze.The conditions were hot and humid, and more than 30 riders abandoned the race before the end.

"It was just a real war of attrition on Saturday," said Michael Rogers of Australia, who lost out in the sprint and finished sixth.

The extremely strong Spanish and Italian teams worked tirelessly throughout the race to pull back a series of breakaways, but there was no success for defending champion Paolo Bettini of Italy, who came in 18th, 35 seconds back.

Two riders, Patricio Almonacid of Chile and Horacio Gallardo of Bolivia, broke away in the second kilometer and at one point had a lead of more than 15 minutes.

Almonacid held out until five laps from the end but was then caught. Later, Yaroslav Pidgorny of Ukraine and Aliaksandr Kuchynski of Belarus had a try, as did Austrian Christian Pfannberger. All were caught.

The decisive break came in the final lap, when Andy Schleck of Luxembourg took the initiative and was joined by four other men. Only Cancellara was able to bridge the gap between the leaders and the chasing group, and was rewarded with the bronze medal. Schleck had to settle for fifth.

Despite all of the uncertainty in the lead up to the mens Olympic road race, Tour de France runner up Cadel Evans will ride the race today and perhaps deliver Australia’s 400th Olympic medal. No mean feat when you look at the length of the race and the terrain. Cadel Evans' last media commitment before today's Olympic road race was a somewhat haphazard affair that lasted under a minute.

Evans, who suffered a knee injury at a post Tour de France party had this to say about his injuury, “I've been so concentrated on my knee for the last few days that I haven't had time to think about anything but that," he said, adding that he'd been treated by his orthopedic surgeon for seven days straight to maximise his chances of being fit.

"A few weeks ago, I was riding a three-week grand tour, tomorrow I will be riding a one-day race. It completely separates them. Different mindsets … Sastre isn't someone to me who is a big threat. I've never seen him perform well in a one-day race, to be honest. His teammate (Alejandro) Valverde, I think, goes in as the outright favourite.

It’s no surprise then that Cadel will be looking for a victory today. It is his chance to avenge his second place finish at the tour by beating Carlos Sastre who typically is not a one day race rider. "Whether I did good at the Tour de France or not, I'm here to play my role as a member of the Australian team and that's what I'll be doing. The knee's caused a bit of an upset coming into it, so I'm going to have to be pretty adaptable during the race (and decide) whether I'm here to ride for one of the other guys or, if the race unfolds and I'm good, whether to play the card and attempt to win himself)."

While there’s been a great deal of talk about the Australians the Americans cannot be discounted. Eight American cyclists are prepared to compete in the road race events scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Beijing. On Thursday, the U.S. squad previewed what’s been described by five-time Olympian George Hincapie as the hardest Olympic road race course he’s seen. With more than two weeks of Olympic cycling action on the horizon, the men’s road race will kick things off on Saturday, while the women’s road race will take place on Sunday. Below is a quick preview to the road race events in which the U.S. is looked upon as one of the favorites to come away with a medal.

The race is a 245.5-kilometer contest that will feature five Americans and showcase several of Beijing’s historic landmarks along the way. Starting for the U.S. squad will be European-based veterans George Hincapie (Greenville, S.C.) – American cycling’s only five-time Olympian, Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa), Christian Vande Velde (Boulder, Colo.) and David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, Utah).

The nature of the road course – which begins at the Yongdingmen Gate in downtown Beijing and winds its way around the Forbidden City and Tian’anmen Square before heading north to the Great Wall – favors a strong all-around rider who can climb well. After 78 kilometers of flat roads, the peloton will reach the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall where they’ll begin seven laps of a hilly, 24-kilometer circuit to Badaling and back. Each 12-kilometer ascent will begin to take its toll on the riders as only the strongest will remain in contention for a spot on the podium.

This is going to be an incredible race with riders going all out to lay their hands on a medal that comes around every 4 years. Within the next 5 hours we will know who will be the 2008 Road Race Gold Medalist.

The artist responsible for one of my all time favorite songs, Twist and Shout makes his debut solo album appearance. Twist and Shout was one of the songs that single handedly launched my more than 2 decade love affair with Progressive House. The only question left to answer now is, after waiting for more than a decade, does Dirty Nails and Paper Trails live up to my high expectations? In a word, no.

Unfortunately Progressive House has changed through the years. Gone are the energetic days of the early 90s. The infectious riffs have been left deep in the past and traded instead for a more stripped down minimal sound. Dirty Nails and Paper Trails is a progressive album that finds its place easily amongst the latest Progressive House. Following trends is one thing but it’s not necessarily synonymous with quality.

Surin alone makes this entire album worth purchasing. It is a phenomenal track with a ridiculously infectious melody. I was hooked instantly. Surin is quickly followed up by Sasha’s favorite from the album, Chasin A Feelin. This is a drum n bass track and you’re probably wondering, why does Sasha love it and why does it appear on a progressive house/DJ’s artist album? Well, I don’t have an answer to either of those questions. It’s a good song but I quite frankly can’t understand why people have been raving about it as much as they have. In any event, Sasha has been closing out most of the North American tour with this song.

Cloudless is an enjoyable, atmospheric down tempo breaks track followed by Ghosts and These Are The Days. All of which are good tracks but ultimately forgettable. Largely I’m disappointed with this album. I guess when you look forward to an album for more than a decade you can’t help but have mountainous expectations that ultimately cannot be met. Your mileage may vary so you should certainly take a listen.

I Choose Noise is the aptly titled follow-up to Hybrid’s 2003 album, Morning Sci-Fi. It’s an often sinister collection of quality tracks spread across an eerie bed of breaks.

If you purchase or get sent as much music as I do, you’ll invariably have music in your collection that you’ve barely listened to for one reason or another. Hybrid’s I Choose Noise is one of those albums I purchased when it was first released and I didn’t give it the time of day. Recently I dug this album out from underneath a mountain of new material and gave it a second look.

Although it’s the second track on the album, Dogstar is the real first track. It’s reminiscent of Hybrid’s early work and it’s a gentle easing into the mayhem that is the rest of the album. The albums title track I Choose Noise follows and keeps the quality high. What an awesome track and an appropriate album name. Last Man Standing is an eerie journey to the darkest corners of Hybrid’s studio and is not for the faint at heart. Keep It In The Family is one of my favorite tracks from the album and the rest are enjoyable but not instantly memorable.

While this album is not one that will instantly stand out it’s certainly a grower and one you’ll enjoy provided your mood aligns with that of Hybrid’s. I Choose Noise is a worthy follow-up to Morning Sci-Fi but does not surpass some of their early classics like Unfinished Symphony.

I'm frequently asked HTML questions from friends, questions that are usually easily be answered by a simple Google search. However, recently I was asked how to center images on a web page and I needed to think for a little bit. Didn't take me too long and I implemented the solution on the Blog. So, here's the code snippet and the site has been updated to utilize the solution so now you can enjoy centered images in Blog entries :) We're so high tech.

It's actually quite easy to center an image. It involves the following code in your CSS:

.imgcenter
{
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}

Once the above style has been defined you simply need to create an image tag, wrap it in a div and give it the following style, class="imgcenter".

That's it. Told you it was easy.

Today was a much needed rest day. I could probably do with another rest day but I don’t have that luxury. For the next 3 days I need to slowly ramp up my training to a peak ride on Sunday and then I need to take two days to rest before The Witches Cup race.

Tomorrow will be a 50 minute spin. On Saturday I’ll up it to an hour or more. Then on Sunday I’ll race and practice my sprinting form. I’m planning to go deep into the red during Sunday’s race in order to get my system prep’d for the race on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to those two days rest prior to the race even though I feel horrible and typically worse after a rest day.

All in all with 5 days to go I’m feeling good and confident I’ll be ready. I’m somewhat nervous about the potential average speeds. I suppose at this point I’m sticking my head in the sand hoping it wont be as insanely fast as I’ve been told and as the promoters are predicting. It remains to be seen though.

Thankfully I seem to be getting my weight back under control. I managed to add a few unwanted pounds and generally was feeling a little bloated. Partially due to lack of rest and partly due to my addiction to chocolate and ice cream. That should all be resolved prior to Wednesday and I should be lining up at the start line nice and lean around 192 pounds (light for me!).

They happen once every 4 years and they're the pinnacle of Sports for athletes and Sport's fans alike. Tomorrow night all eyes will be on Beijing for the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics. I for one, am excited!

If you're not content streaming Digweed's 1 hour Essential Mix from BBC Radio 1's website then you can download it and keep it here. AND he played, On Spec - Knights Of Columbus from his Transitions CD. It's full on. He's playing quite hard and quite a lot of Techno these days.

reFX finally release a monster update to the Nexus synth. NEXUS2 is a next generation ROM synthesizer of the highest quality that can turn your musical dreams into a stunning reality. If it’s half as good as the first Nexus then this synth will be simply phenomenal!

I cannot say enough great things about the Nexus. It is truly one of the finest synths ever made. You can literally open the box and start writing and producing, it’s that good! I have not personally sampled NEXUS2 as I have a bunch of other projects on going at present but I recommend this synth to anyone that is remotely interested in an incredible synth for their production projects.

My only ask was that they update the sound design capabilities of the synth. One of the frequent limitations I found was the inability to control the oscillators to achieve the types of dynamic sounds I was after. It appears that they’ve updated this aspect and so next to the Virus, this is probably the finest synth on the market!

It would appear as though someone managed to record Sasha live from Ibiza at one of his recent sets. This is a unique opportunity to actually download one of his live sets without using a file share network. So if you're a Sasha fan you can grab the set here.

While I don't think it's his greatest live set, I certainly do not agree with the scathing feedback connected with the post. It's Sasha and Digweed what do you expect? It's not going to be super exciting, it's going to be progressive, repetitive but you'll be locked into a groove and it's going to be unlike listening to ANYONE else for good and bad. Both Sasha and Digweed are Gods at what they do. Period.

Additionally, he plays his own remix of Ladytron's, Destroy Everything You Touch. A track from his forthcoming Involver 2 album. This will give you an indication of what Involver 2 is going to sound like.

I continue to have issues getting my Western Digital external USB drives to function correctly. I'm down to the last straw trying to format them and set them up correctly to first of all work and second of all to be read consistently from both my Mac and PC.

Today I attempted reformat #147,372 but this time attempted it on a PC and not the Mac in an attempt to have the drive work at least on my PC. It occured to me that the option to format a drive as Fat32 does not exist in the Disk Management utility because volumes larger than 32 gigs cannot be read by Windows (don't ask - google if you want the ridiculous reason). However, there is a utility that exists to allow you to modify the drive format type after the fact. It's an open source freeware utility and can be downloaded from Ridge Crop Consultant's website.

I've had such a horrible time with Microsoft IE; Windows and Western Digital drives in the past 72 hours. Let's hope my woes are behind me!

UGH!

... it is produced by arguably one of the finest producers in the world, Seamus Haji.

I've been such a huge Seamus Haji fan for a very long time. His remixes and original productions are at a level of quality that few producers and artists ever attain. Check out Boogie 2Night and just listen to the backing tracks and production. Even if you don't love the vocals or the tracks themselves, you simply have to concede the production is incredible.

You decide - I happen to think it is!

Since the site update, a number of you have enquired about the images and some of the code. In particular you've asked me how I created the background repeating images. While it's not difficult to create these images in Photoshop I opted not to create them from scratch and instead chose to use a great online free service provided by BG Patterns. Now you can create your own background patterns quickly and easily.

The list will never be complete - here's a few more excellent resources.

PS Hero

Photoshop Tutor

This is probably not a comprehensive list of the "best" design websites and resources but they are certainly a list of the ones I visit most frequently. I thought I would share these with you so you can also enjoy the abundance of great tutorials and further your learning and design skills. Enjoy, Bri!

Smashing Magazine

Fadtastic

Web Designer Wall

A List Apart

You The Designer

Unmatched Style

Kreativeuse

DesignFlavr

Web Creme

Best Web Gallery

Screen Fluent

We Love WP

I Love Typography

Fave Up

PSDTuts

NetTuts

Noupe

I will no longer provide support for IE 6. I apologize to those of you that still use this browser and refuse to upgrade but unfortunately the browser requires far too much effort and orthogonal code paths in order to have it work consistently. The resolution is to either use Firefix (no version limitations) or IE 7. IE 6 may continue to work in the future but appearance will be inconsistent and performance slow.

Internet Explorer continues to be a pain in the butt for Web Designers. It's support for transparent images, handling of CSS items continues to be a major nuisance. For this reason, I'm seriously considering dropping support for IE or support only later versions of IE. Please give me some time to resolve the issues with the site and or confirm IE support. In the interim, I strongly recommend utilizing Firefox.

If like me, you're always on the lookout for the latest productivity and Design tools for your browser then you'll be interested in ColorZilla from iostart.

This handy little tool allows you to use a tool in the browser that's analagous to the eyedropper tool in Photoshop to identify colors in your browser. It's really neat if you happen to not have Photoshop laying around and want to quickly get the hex for a color on a webpage.

If you’ve been checking the website this evening then it’s likely you will have noticed numerous updates to the header, footer and background images.

Parlaying my learning from the creation of Brian Roche Music, I decided to modify Brian Roche net to adopt the same functionality and implementation. Easier said than done!

The purpose of the update was to entirely separate the background repeating image from all of the others that sit on top. The most difficult part was modifying all of the images to be transparent while still maintaining the fidelity of the images, ie to maintain the shading etc. While it took hours of work to make the change and tidy everything up, it’s worth it in the long run. Now I can make modifications to each of the images and the level of flexibility will hopefully pay off in the end.

When it comes time to rewrite the site again I’ll likely throw everything away and re-implement the site incorporating all of my learning and best practices.

PHEW!

Just one more cool little first place celebratory sign.

I'm always working on new icons, images and backgrounds for the Blog. Today I focused a little more on being able to create my own Web 2.0 style images. Check out the latest creation.

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans is recovering from a knee injury obtained at the Tour de France after party where he allegedly "slipped on a wet floor". Mmm hmm, no booze involved? Hey, I'm just glad I'm not the only person that injures himself in the most ridiculous of ways. In any event, it appears now likely that he will ride in the Beijing Olympics after withdrawing from one race and saying he was doubtful for another, Australian team officials said.

Evans had said on Thursday that the injury was not serious and that he was still hoping to compete in the road race, but that he was withdrawing from the time trial as a precaution. Cycling Australia officials said the three-time world champion Michael Rogers would take his place in the event.

"It's not a major injury but it's something I will have to manage carefully," he said in a statement released by Cycling Australia. "I recognized I might not be at my absolute best in the race against the clock but I can still make a significant contribution to the team effort for the road race.

He's in he's out ... Christ! This is why I didn't think he was a good icon for the sport.

Although I'm not going to tell you about my date, I am going to tell you about the movie I saw. "Definitely Maybe" - have you seen it? What a great movie! It totally was not what I expected it to be. I expected it to be a little girl finding a date for her father. I had anticipated corny ridiculous endless scenes of comedic dating but instead was treated to an intriguing movie about loves (spelling?) lost and finding your way in life. We've all lost our way and I believe in some way this movie could or would resonate with almost everyone.

So, if you're attending your first date in a VERY long time like me, then this could be the movie for you.

Email me and let me know what you think.

PS have you noticed I seem to think today is the 4th of August? I have no idea why I have no idea what date it is today? Anyway, if you were puzzled by the previously incorrect post dates I apologize. No point being an idiot if you don't demonstrate it. : )

Well, not quite what you expected but when I win I'm usually in a pretty good mood. When I'm in a good mood I tend to get a little creative. During those times I either turn to music or art. Today it was art.

Although it's somewhat corny, I seem to create an image of something silly every time I win a race just for fun to acknowledge the event and today was consistent with tradition.

I happened to be messing around with the creation of realistic objects in Photoshop and churned this out. Enjoy!

Even though this website leverages quite a number of free Photoshop tutorials that have aired on various sites recently, it's still very tastefully done and beautiful to look at. Enjoy!

As always I try to draw your attention to the website designs I feel are truly inspirational and well done. This one is from Doug Cloud, a freelance web designer and everything about this site, from the repeating background through to the cartoon look and feel are a visual delight. Enjoy!

As the early morning rains subsided the cyclist's Sunday morning ritual begins. Tire pumping, bike cleaning and break testing before the big race. The cycling community was split down the middle today; the climbers made their way in earnest to Bow and the Sprinters mixed it up at high speed at Wells.

I did not adhere to the "perfect" cyclist's Sunday morning ritual today. Waking late and moving slowly after getting to bed at 2am I had to rush to the start line. I wasted far too much time fiddling with my race number to do any kind of warm-up this morning and ended up on the start line late for the second consecutive week. I really need to work on getting to the line on time!

Bruce and Conor were on the start line with me and dedicated to getting me the win. It was clear this morning my legs felt good and with a smaller than normal field I felt confident about the win. That was until the race started.

It had nothing to do with the fact that I hadn't warmed up but the race today was extremely fast. We completed the first mile at 24mph and the pace went up from there. Laps 2-4 were ridden at 27mph. Thankfully my teammates came to the front to take over the pace making and we controlled the race.

Early on I knew with a smaller field that I'd need to stay at the front and cover any breaks. There simply weren't enough teams or riders to help me chase back a break away and I was determined to not let another Sunday morning win slip away.

The first preme was fast, very fast. I watched from the pack as the sprinters hammered their way to the line. They were fast but I knew I could take them. It was odd having so many sprinters in the race. It meant no one wanted to work. Some laps were at 28mph today and some were at 24mph but it was fast all the way. There were no breaks in the pace and with a smaller than normal group of riders there was no hiding in the pack. We were strung out in a long line for most of the day as riders clung hard to the back end of the field.

With two laps to go I was sitting where I had been most of the race, 2rd or 3rd place from the front. Conor rode many laps on the front keeping the speed high. What a great ride he did with me sitting on his wheel second in the pace line yelling encouragement at him telling him how strong he was and how good he was riding. Bruce behind me making sure no one clipped my wheel or got stupid. Bruce also as instrumental in helping me pull back the breaks and keep control of the race when Conor took a break.

1 1/2 miles from the finish a break went off the front. A lone rider driving a horrible pace. It was a determined move that we weren't going to pull back very easily despite my yelling at everyone to watch the break. Bruce and Conor stayed on the front but Bruce buried himself in the final mile to bring it to 40 yards when suddenly the rider out front crashed. I heard the sound and at first couldn't believe there was a crash as they usually they happen behind us, this sound came from in front of us. I can only guess he was exhausted working all out and lost control.

With half a lap to go we came into the finish at 29mph. I selected my gear for the sprint... "no, wait, too high" I thought and I dropped down one. Remembering that this is training for the Witches Cup and knowing I wasn't feeling 100% I decided to be smart and not muscle a huge gear to the line. Rounding the last corner I was second in the line. Waiting and waiting for someone else to start the sprint. Perfect position but a place I hate being as I can't see what's happening in the race until the move goes. Bruce pulls off, no team mates left, Bruce and Conor buried and riding home in the pack. It was up to me. These guys killed themselves to get me here and I was DETERMINED it was time for the leader to do his thing.

The attacks finally started, slow at first 3 riders off the front. Immediately I grabbed the wheel and started to come round ready to wind it up. Realizing the sprint hammer still wasn't down I tucked back in. It was going to be tactical today. 300 meters from the line all hell broke loose and the sprint was finally on. Riders coming from the back. I waited and waited, giving them that extra bike length and waiting that extra few yards before starting my final kick. Then BOOM, around I came in a huge gear and powered to the line. I took the wheel of the second place rider and then kicked it into over drive flying around him to the finish.

It was fast and close as the sprints always are but I took first place once again. I felt good, my form wasn't great on my third and final kick to the line. I didn't feel tired just pulled up a little too much with my right leg. In hindsight I could have muscled a huge gear to the line but chose to select a smaller gear I could ride for 500 meters thinking the sprint was going to be long and hard today.

I don't know how I do it, I don't know if it's sheer strength or tactical intelligence but I'm always there in the end. Always hidden in the line until the last 800 meters when I make my way to the front. I did it again and I'm very happy! I was calm, adrenalin didn't get the better of me and I'm racing with my head again. I feel good after the effort but I need to work on my top end sprinting form. Everyone is hungry for a win as the season is winding to a close and EVERYONE is finding not one but two and even three serious accelerations to the line AFTER the sprint has started. Tactical sprinting and experience are playing an enormous role in my racing now. It's become quite challenging to not only be in the top 10 but to win.

I'm off to shower and then work on some more graphics for the website ... I'm very content and very happy to have won yet again. Unlike before, I don't feel any pressure to return and win, I feel good and am looking forward to riding a winning wave to the end of the season.

When I talk to other cyclists I'm amazed at how much quicker they seem to recover from so called “all out” efforts than I do. Last Sunday wasn't as tough as I expected it to be but I still left everything I had out on the course. For this reason, my knees, lower back, hamstrings and quads all HURT this week. In fact, I think I may have injured both legs in different ways. Albeit minor (any injury that causes me to be off the bike for less than a week I call minor) I'm still hurting and nursing myself back to pre race state.

This week I worked out on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. On Monday and Tuesday it was clear to me that I hurt something in my butt and that injury referred pain to my hamstring. Additional to this, I also hurt the hamstring insertion behind my right knee. As for my left leg, it's entirely unclear what was wrong with it but my left quad can withstand almost zero effort. On Wednesday when I attempted to ride out of the saddle (I rode on the trainer in a very controlled way) I could feel almost immediate pins and needles through my quad and couldn't manage longer than a 7 second effort out of the saddle before collapsing back into the saddle for relief.

After today's workout on the road and in the rain I could tell that my system seemed to be firing better than it had on Wednesday. While it's fair to say I'm still laboring and still hurting from the race effort I do feel somewhat better. Of course, I should put it all in context to give you some inclination of my conditioning; I was able today to manage some efforts of 24mph and averaged almost 22mph for approximately 45 minutes. While I don't have the exact numbers due to my power meter losing battery power shortly before home, I can tell you those were my readings prior to failure.

If you compare and contrast, I'm sure any normal person or most cyclists would be happy with workout results as achieved as those but unfortunately the context is racing and those results are simply foundational, or what's expected. At this point in the season everyone is fast and no one is taking prisoners because they don't need to!

It took me longer than usual today to get up to speed but it was relatively easy to sustain my training effort. At times it almost felt like my engine was back to normal. Unfortunately, I have lingering injuries which make it abundantly clear I am not operating at 100% and probably will not be 100% going into tomorrow's race.

Today's effort was not a pre-race ride as it was geared towards getting me back into shape and geared towards getting me stronger for the Cup race coming up. I have at least a 40 minute effort at average sustained speeds of 26-35mph and focusing on any interim goals between now and the Witches Cup would be a mistake as I simply do not recover from all out efforts as quickly as I would like or other riders for that matter.

That being said, I do expect to still be competitive tomorrow without the major acceleration and kick to the line I've exhibited in past races. I'm not making excuses, simply stating a fact.

IF, a big IF, I wake tomorrow morning and my injuries are miraculously gone then I'll certainly be capable of pulling out a win but that's a pretty big IF. Once again, let's spend another Sunday just “seeing how it goes on the day.”

Thanks to all for tuning in and showing the high degree of interest in my training that you've all exhibited. Before I go, I thought I'd answer a question regarding a previous post on my training schedule. I've been asked a number of times how/when I managed to get myself into racing shape and how I did it relatively quickly. While I know the answer to this question off the top of my head, I thought I'd consult my training diary month by month and share some of my thoughts in the hopes of providing a more comprehensive answer. The goal is to demonstrate to you all that this conditioning wasn't “over night“, it has come over the course of months. That being said, I do believe the discovery of power meters and interval training were the turning point for me.

To acquire the full story, you need to go back many months, to 2007 in fact.

October - After the struggles I faced during last season with dehydration, sickness, general exhaustion and inability to function I took September and a great deal of October off. I started riding in doors on the trainer in October and began focusing and working on my form.

November - through November I focused on repairing damage to my right knee and on strengthening it. I switched to base training at this point.

December - during November and December I focused on upping the gears. Up until that point, my knees, in particular my right knee, was incapable of withstanding higher gears and increased sustained loads. Physically I was incapable of riding comfortably in the drops. Surprisingly in December I found I was capable of handling greater gears for consecutive days and so the dream ignited, racing in 2008! I also started to focus on riding out of the saddle for minutes on end.

January - While December was challenging from a rest perspective I started to get serious about my diet and training in January. I was now capable of managing gears I had previously only dreamed of riding. My weight was now under control and at an all time low and sickness largely behind me.

February - I gradually increased my gearing in February while the snow on the ground outside made it impossible to hit the pavement. By now the dream was becoming a reality. Big gears, no pain and increased strength. Yet it was evident from my training diary that I was still concerned about nutrition and hydration and wary that I would be capable of the effort required to race. Nutritional experiments continued until racing began.

March - During the month of March I managed to ride outside. The first test of how hardened I had become to the sub zero temperatures and riding at speed on the road. During my first first few rides I was capable of average speeds of 18-19mph. Something I could achieve in 2007 on a good day!

April - In April I read a book on power training and intervals. I spent the month battering my body and subsequently over trained making it impossible for me to recover quickly enough from workouts and the thought of racing now seemed to drift further away. Finally, I stopped working out 7 and 9 days in a row and implemented a personal rule that I could only ever train for a maximum of two days before taking at least one rest day. Power training, rest and recovery were the turning points! I now learned to go ”ALL OUT“ and understood the meaning of all out. It means until you puke! It's not fun but learning to take it to this next level is what changed everything for me.

May - Thankfully I backed off, got smart and recovered sufficiently to race in May. Arriving in my first race to contest all 3 premes with a high placing and finishing my first race of the season.

June and July - have been pivotal months for me. Consistent 1st and 2nd place finishes and a respectable finish in a very tough up hill race. My average training speed is now 21mph and on a good day I'm capable of averaging 21mph for several hours with relative ease.

So hopefully now you can see from my training diary that I've come back from sickness and injury and worked so hard to achieve this level of fitness. This has been a hard, hard progression.

At this point, it's fair to say this season has taken it's toll and if I'm being honest, in a way I'll welcome the colder weather. Fall will be bitter sweet but I've earned a break and a rest from cycling. My plan for the Fall and next season? I'll retreat indoors once again to improve base conditioning. I'll finally know what it's like to not be in constant pain and will recuperate from an enjoyable and rewarding season. A season that has seen me not only achieve all of my goals but exceed even my high expectations for myself.

More from me post race tomorrow ... I'm off to bed to lay awake. Who sleeps before a race? :)

If you're a Digweed fan then you'll be salivating in anticipation for his essential mix broadcast live from Ibiza tomorrow night with BBC Radio 1. Tune in and start the recorders!

That's not all! If you're a Sasha fan then you can look forward to his essential mix live from Creamfields 2008 on August 24th. August is shaping up to be a great month for progressive house fans!

Stefani Germanotta (born 1986), better known by her stage name Lady GaGa, is a dance-pop and electronica musician signed to Interscope Records. On April 8, 2008, she released her first single "Just Dance".

As a child Lady GaGa attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart School. Having learned piano by ear at the age of 4, Lady GaGa went on to write her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mike nights by the age of 14. At the age of 17 she gained early admission to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, where she studied music. By age twenty she began writing songs for Interscope Records artists, such as the Pussycat Dolls. She performed at the Miss Universe 2008 pageant in Vietnam, singing her debut single, "Just Dance".

On July 31, 2008, she performed on the results show of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance. GaGa has finally landed and this song is going to go all the way to the Billboard Top 4 and possibly a number one. I'm a fan of the production and her performance.