Questions?

You still think you want to go ride in Belgium?
Think you're hard enough?
Did Hoste pick up MMA as a hobby?


Dude crashed in Stage 1 of De Panne. Now let's do inventory...
-Lost one tooth
-Chipped tooth #2
-Chunk of meat missing above eyebrow, and I mean CHUNK. I saw the pic w/o the bandage. It looked like he got hit with a flail!
-Road rash...ON HIS FACE!!!

Yeah, he's starting Flanders on Sunday. Hard is as hard does...

TNWC #3

Another good turnout last night...
Probably a bit over 30 at the start, including the juniors, which is nice to see. The SRAM/Zipp van was also parked on the side of the course. At first, a few of us got excited about the possibility of neutral support at the TNWC, then the realization that it was Cleve fell hard upon our heads. Don't get me wrong, Cleve Blackwell is a hell of nice guy, but he just breaks legs, period!
Maybe we can figure out a demo night for SRAM/Zipp wheels out there at some point this summer. Upside? We all get to try cool, fast wheels. Upside #2? Cleve will have to hand out wheels to demo, instead of handing out ass-whippings.
Anyway...
The field got thinned out throughout the 45 + 2 laps. Good solid pace last night...a little more ebb and flow than the first two races. It was nice to know that every time I was suffering, the field slowed, which means everyone else was suffering too!
As usual, nothing got away and it came to a bunch gallop with the Dr. LP taking it out for the 45+ demographic. He's gone from retirement to winning the TNWC in just 6 short weeks. Ask him how...
I went a bit harder and dug a bit deeper last night...both without pain, but I still didn't feel terribly comfortable entering the Cave, so I just sat up after making efforts. Such is the beauty of a practice crit...
Save of the night goes to CR. He shellaced the hole on the backstretch at 45kmh, thus giving his rear tire a vicious gunshot pinchflat. A little wiggle, but he maintained control and got it whoa'd down. Nice...

It also seems that my 'anatomy of a photograph' post was quite popular, so it will become a weekly series. I'll breakdown photos from all facets of the World of cycling. It may be amusing, or it may be dumb...such is life...I make no promises...

Start embrocating know...Flanders is Sunday...

Funny how that works...

Mavic's 'research' for wheel designs to tackle Roubaix...

Thor Hushovd is getting ready for the Paris-Roubaix from Mavic on Vimeo.

Now that you've watched the video, the new M40 wheel they are getting all foamed about sounds suspiciously similar to the Zipp 303 Roubaix version on which Cancellara dispatched all comers last year. 40mm height? Check. Wider profile? Check. More Spokes? Check.

What's the bet there's more than a few sets of HEDs and Zipps floating around the Service Course at Mavic?

Edit-
The Madonna del Ghisallo is going to fuck up someone's day very soon.



Visconti's Italian National Champ painted Cipollini was lifted out of his car IN ITALY!
Someone will take a smite worthy of being chronicled in journals, both cycling and biblical, for generations. That's just BAAAAAAD juju!
First, stealing bikes is bad, but stealing this particular rig, from the Italian National Champ, and doing it IN Italy? Fuuuuuuu....

anatomy of photographs

Let's break down a few from this past weekend of Euro action...

Gent on Sunday-
1) Bont WC shoes. Jamie is probably going to need a few minutes alone after seeing this...
2) If you are 'here', then you are ______ !
3) All on carbon wheels for a cobbled race. Wonder if we'll see this during Roubaix?


Spartacus killing the E3 -
1) When FC makes this face, you die! Wonder what his "O" face looks like? (not really)
2) No Di2 for our man Fabian
3) Here's his motor. No buttons needed...



Bunch kick from Sunday's Gent -
1) Don't take BoomBoom to the line...PERIOD! Are you listening Vaughters?
2) The new Venge...where's that 30w advantage @ 50+ kmh now?
3) The finish line is not over there man, or are you watching Tommeke and Farrar rip by? One ponders why you crashed after crossing the finish...

Hmmm...good Saturday!

E3 Prijs-Harelbeke





Pure class. There's riding across to the break, then there's riding THROUGH the break! Cancellara is, in fact, a horse!

Criterium International S1



It's seems Schleck has fired a shot across Clentador's bow, eh?

Good day for Lay-O-Pard Trek today...

Speaking of, if you missed the Palmetto Velo group/training ride this morning, then you missed what was probably the best ride that's taken place in Columbia for a long while. I'm not going to re-hash the whole ride. I'll let your little imaginations fill in the blanks how you see fit. I will say, however, that it was a pleasant 100km jaunt through Lower Richland. Good ride, good riders, good conversations. Met some new folks and rode with some that don't normally venture into downtown. Good stuff all the way around!

Peace!

End o'the week

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Welcome to my World!

Good ideas all! Or, carry a Glock 33 compact chassis...

In case any of you are headed to Flanders and need to know where to climbs are along the route. Pic courtesy of Lay-O-Pard Trek. I guess the red lines indicate exactly where their Madones failed along the route. I keed...I keed...

Good Thursday ride last night. Good group and plenty of work. I actually pushed a little bit last night, just to see what would happen. I feel a couple of small twinges of discomfort, but I could still push. Didn't put it anywhere near the PainCave, but it was a nice barometer of where I stand 4 short weeks after surgery. I'm perfectly fine with my current state of being.

I think I'm nearly ready to do a review of the 2011 Ridley Helium as well. One word for now? Sublime...

Saturday morning, Palmetto Velo is doing their group/training ride. 0930 from Cycle Center. 55 miles through Lower Richland. Should be a steady affair, and the plan, according to Meat, is to keep everyone together in an effort to have a nice, big group ride to foster a bit of camaraderie and fun in the Columbia cycling community. Be there!

And an aside...
For all of you folks here in the lovely Southeast, don't complain so loudly about the Springtime pollen and wind. We could all be in the Northeast, or Front Range, shoveling our cars out of the driveway. Instead, we have the hard decision whether to take armwarmers...just in case it gets 'chilly'.

TNWC #2

Good turnout for Round @ tonight. It was breezy, but beautiful and the pollen was bearable, if you're a honeybee. It seemed the pace was fast, but pretty steady. I say seemed as I only jumped in for about 5 laps of the 45 + 2...completely against Doctor's orders. It did feel good to go fast and open up the lungs and legs. I think I'm doing just fine considering surgery was 4 weeks ago today!
Back to the TNWC...
As happens when the wind is blowing at all, it came down to a bunch gallop, with MW outkicking BCobb at the line. The margin of victory was thin...borderline anorexic.

The group could have been way larger, and hopefully, those who were conspicuous by their absence will make appearances throughout the Summer. I know everyone has their own agenda(s), but coming out and participating in the practice race makes EVERYONE better, and serves to strengthen the riding community in Columbia.

To those who came out tonight, thank you, and I hope to see you next Tuesday!

Now for two Specialized pics that make me happy:

Cav's Venge @ MSR...not that it helped him.

And if you gotta have a custom painted Shiv, this isn't a bad livery to choose....

Thursday night @ the gate...6:15pm

Peace!

MSR 2011

From the base of the Poggio through the finish...so the last 10km.
DOG, I love Euro bike racing!





Brilliant...just GD brilliant!

Went out with the group this morning and turned off. It was a really good group, but I just can't go with that pace right now. 30-35kmh...fine, I'm comfortable. Anything more than that for an extended period and my chest starts to hurt. Longest ride since surgery though (2 hours), so I'm pleased.
TVH had a Campag 11 speed pulley eject on the run out of the Fort. We found the pulley and the bushing, but the bolt was nowhere to be seen. His ride was over. Thankfully, he got home just fine. He should kick his mechanic (not me!) square in the ass. There's no excuse for that to happen...NONE!
Cash had a shift cable break, so he was stuck in the 11, with either the 53 or the 39 to switch things up. He finished the ride though, when most would have turned for home.

The Saturday ride will be at 9 (for the time being) from the traffic circle at The Fort. It'll get moved up to 8 when the temps reach further into the red.

It's beautiful outside people! Go play!

Namaste!

Share this...

Please share this article/link with your non-cycling family and friends, as well as those who think folks like us may be touched in the head. It's proof that a bicycle can, and will, save your life!!!

83 year old Japanese woman outrides tsunami....

Oh, and your Specialized Tarmac just got rendered obsolete. May I introduce, the Venge...



And a great post from Michael Barry about love for the bicycle...

TNWC #1

A grand total of 9 showed last night. Of course, the wind was blowing, and the rain was imminent. It turned to 8 immediately after the neutral lap, as your author is not allowed to ride at any speed, or effort, over a conversational pace. As the 'race' progressed, it was easy to see who's been training. It came down to GW (he needs a nickname), JayC, and Der Kaiser at the end. As was stated earlier, the rain was inbound, so at the first sign of drops, I bailed and headed to HQ. Although this coincided with the '2 to go' call, I figured the three of them were all bright enough to figure it out.
Hopefully, there will be actual attendance next week.
I really enjoyed the fact that the shite that I blew/swept into the gutter on the inside of Turn 1 had all blown back into the street. Needless to say, I'll go back out before Round 2 for another go at that corner.

For me, it was just nice to get back on the bike. I really don't care if it was all at <30kmh! AND, it was the maiden voyage of the new Helium. I really didn't ride it hard enough, nor long enough, to be able to write a review, but I will say that it's definitely stiffer than the old version.
Rode it again this morning for nearly two hours with CR. Nice ride, even though the weather is Portland-ish today. Just kind of spun around out into WeCo and came home.
I still feel like some sort of fitness is lurking...it's just the trauma of the procedures I had done is nowhere near healed. Who cares? I've said it before, and I'll say it again (and again), no pro teams are watching, so I'm just gonna ride and smile!

2011 Nokere-Koerse



Steegmans is Flemish for "come around me...if you can..."!!

Peace!

It's a Trap!

Look...it's a hipster trap. I'm willing to bet we could easily bag the limit in Five Points.


Tirreno Stg 6

Update

Tirreno Stg 5



Another stellar finish...Gilbert is on form, eh?

PN Stage 8



Voeckler is class, period!

I skipped the circuit race today and cleaned up the yard. It's the first time I've done ANY sort of physical activity since surgery, and it felt pretty good to get the blood going and HR up.
I'll be out at the crit course in the morning to clean.
Even if you don't come out to race, come out to watch and/or say goodbye to Ken Oglesby. The Army, in their finite wisdom, has decided they need our friend Ken to go to Iraq...again! He's leaving for some supplementary training in Georgia and Texas in about 10 days, then off to Iraq until this time next year. I believe this is his third trip to that sandy shitbox in the Middle East.

On a completely separate note, I love Ebay.
Backstory:
I found a pair of 9 speed shifters in my building, and seeing as 9 speed is seldom used among the cognoscenti, I decided to throw them onto the 'bay. Started the auction 5 days ago at $1 American dollar with no reserve...what good were they doing me? I expected $50-ish bucks. Add a Ben Franklin to that estimate and we have our sale price. Unreal...

See you guys Tuesday night!

Saturday

PN Stage 7


Hey, Movistar dude, don't look around at the line! Of course, he almost made it across on his stomach...

Tirreno Stage 4...great finish...just fucking brilliant!




Went out to Blythewood for the Crit(s) today. Beautiful day, great course, big fields! Days like today restore one's faith in bike racing. Here's a link to the pics I shot today. If anyone wants the original (BIG) files, sent me a note with your email address and I'll send them to you!

Dy-no-mite...

J.J. "Kid Dy-no-mite" Haedo took it out today. Garmin needs to work on the leadout a bit. ThorSmash went a bit early, and Farrar acted like he'd forgotten how to bomb it into a corner. Leaving a gap that big through the last corner killed his sprint. It's hard to close a gap, much less a gap that's rolling at 60+ kmh, then have any kick left to sprint. ThorSmash shouldn't have to look around to find Farrar...

The TT happened in Paris Nice today. Tony "Completely not a German name" Martin won pretty handily, and looked like a slobbering Springer Spaniel while doing so.



As for me, 72 more long hours until I can put my big, pasty self on the bike...

See you folks tomorrow in the 'wood...

(see below)

Tirreno Stage 2



Farrar led out by the rainbow jersey! Nice!

Paris-Nice Stage 5



Great finish! The descent and run into the line were damn fine racing!

Don't forget...

The Blythewood races are this weekend. Good races on a closed course...
And the TNWC goes off next Tuesday @ 6:30...

Peace

Paris Nice Stage 4

Voeckler, roughly translated, means ROCKSTAR!



Great finish!

Tirreno-Adriatico started today with a TTT. Looks like Lay-O-Pard needs to get some horsepower for the flat land. Spartacus tore the legs off his own team...

The Damned Things

I missed this show in Charlotte two weeks ago...it was the same day as my surgery. I should have rescheduled...

Paris Nice Stage 3

Nice finish! Betting the Liquigas mechanic is going to be spending some QT in the truck tonight, regluing tubulars!

Stelvio

This is the best picture of the Stelvio for a couple of reasons. It truly shows the scale of the undertaking, should one choose to ride it...
...AND, the only car in the shot is a freaking Dodge Challenger R/T!

Good show by Hendy today @ Paris-Nice as well.



I remember several years ago, he was in town with HealthNet, and did the TNWC in his small chainring, as he was prepping for track Worlds...
Not today though! That was BIG ring! Or, as the Frenchie announcer said, "Facile...tres facile..."

Oh yeah, the TNWC kicks off next Tuesday..the 15th...@ 6:30pm. May have to cut it a bit short because of the newness of the time change, but it'll go off. It would be nice if people actually showed up this year...
I'll be out Wednesday morning to clean the corners...safety first!

2011 Strada Bianche finish

That finish section up into Piazza di Campo in Siena was BRUTAL.

It's alive...ALIVE!

Channeling my best Doctor Frankenstein (you know how to pronounce it), I slapped the new 2011 Ridley Helium together today.

I think it turned out pretty well, considering I put my trusty old 7800 Dura Ace on it. Hey, the stuff isn't terribly long in the tooth, and it works like a champ, so there's really no reason to buy a new group, other than sheer vanity of course! That being said, SRAM Red would look pretty dope on the frame. Even with the 'old' 7800, heavy-ish Mavic brakes, and a boat anchor Flite Ti Gel saddle, it tipped out @ 16.23 pounds. It could easily be taken deep into the 15s without a lot of difficulty.
It's a totally different design than my old (if 2008 is OLD) Helium. The front half of the frame is pretty similar, but once the downtube gets BIG and SQUARE where it meets the BB shell, all similarities end. As shown in the BB photo, the cluster is meaty...waaaay meatier than the old frame. I'm guessing this one will be stiff, even for my beefcake.
I tried to get a picture of the new seatstays, but none of them really properly illustrated the design. They are about 1cm thick...flattened out, and 3cm wide. They're almost airfoil-ish.
I'm willing to bet that this new frame rides a bit stiffer than the old one, and it was no Cadillac.
The chainstays are far larger than the old frame as well, and seem to have a bi-axial sort of orientation going on. The rear drops are also carbon with stainless inserts...kinda trick.

Unfortunately, a ride report won't be available for a while, seeing as I'm not allowed to ride for a few more days, and even then, not with any sort of anger.

Oh, and the Strada Bianche went off in Italy today. One of the best races on the schedule, yet in garnered ZERO TV coverage...even within Italy! WTF? Hey Versus, you schmoes, are you listening?
Peruse the photos in the above link. Makes you want to go ride, eh?

Happy Weekend!

Maybe there's something...

...to the radio ban in the Euro races. Yesterday's GP Samyn was pretty brilliant. The Dogs had to race with their senses, rather than the DS screaming in their ear. Just watch...
Dudes looked wrecked after crossing the line...




Brown Santa has my new Helium right now, which means I'll be hanging around the house today, because as sure as shit, the very moment I leave, the UPS truck will hit the driveway. Not that I can do anything other than build the thing, and then stare at it for the next week...

Sniper is as Sniper does...

The video above is proof that innate badassness is lifelong! He had a Black Card before there was such a thing as a Card-Carrying Badass!



Like the bumper sticker says, 'God Bless our Troops...especially the Snipers'!!!

Spring done sprung...

Boom Boom was dressed like he was out for a training ride during the Omloop...and he very well may have been. When he makes that face, he hurts...and you die...

And how about Flecha? I know Langeveld won, and it was a great finish, but Flecha chased across, in what can only be described as abysmal weather. Here's a fun activity. Save the above pic. Import it into some sort of editing software. Now drop the color saturation to zero.
Almost looks better in black and white, eh?

And big up to CJ Sutton for taking out the sprint in KBK. Good on ya mate!

So the NAHBS went on in Austin last weekend. Lots of hella cool stuff from people who are, in fact, artists. From perusing the myriad photos available from the show, there seems to be a trend towards usable bicycles, things you drool over and want to actually own. Of course, there's always one that proves that builders sometimes have more time and money than orders...I'm talking to you Calfee...

Now, let's move on to the picture below. I know I've been critical of Sachs in the past, and those opinions stand. The 'muddy' bikes he showed in Austin sort of bother me in a different way. It's the aesthetic of the thing. The weren't ridden into the condition shown in the photograph.
The muddy was created, and then applied to the bicycles...kind of like when automobile companies fake the mud on their trucks for TV ads.

I've ridden my CX bike in every condition available to me here in South Cackalackey, including more types of mud than I can describe in this post. I can tell you, with a LARGE degree a certainty, that mud doesn't not affix itself, nor stay affixed to, a bicycle in the manner illustrated above. There's no need for a CSI: NAHBS-style breakdown of how it was done. I hope that you, fair readers, can figure that out for yourselves.
I appreciate the idea, but the execution was sorely lacking. Next time, fly Junk and me in and we'll fuck them up properly!


6 days post-op:
-feeling a bit more human
-showered for the 2nd time since surgery, so definitely smelling more human
-shaved face and legs for first time in a week...looking less homeless. It did look like someone sheared a small goat in the tub though...
-still waiting on the new Ridley (decision was made to keep it)
-Post Op appointment tomorrow
-Urge to ride is slowly returning. One more week, then I'll be on the Greenway! (rollseyes and shuffles away....)

Namaste!