Odds and Ends

This looks like it was a fun race.
Cool new book about NE Cross.
New Spot.
Old meets new.

Unrelated to cycling but epic in its own way.

Fail

Hour plus drive. Hour warm up. Felt good. Broken spoke in the first mile. Epic fail. First warm sunny perfect day of the year.
Had good fish tacos in Dover and thanks to Disfear, I managed not to smash my car into anything. Also resisted temptation to stop at random tattoo shop and get FTW tatooed on my forehead.
There's always the next race.

Stinking Lizaveta Sacrifice and Bliss

This is the new cd by Stinking Lizavetta a band I had pigeonholed as a Dischord related jazz band from Philly. Then I moved on. The Dischord relation is tenous at best-a record released by Joe Lally and maybe some tours together. The jazz thing is a little more substantial but doesn't really hint at what you are getting here. They have also been putting out records since I pigeon holed them, and based on Sacrifice and Bliss, I am going to have to track the others down. This 10 song shredder is their sixth album on At a Loss Recordings There is a real SST Flag/Ginn vibe filtered through some riffing that reminds me of Left Insane of a more stoned Blast. But it is also done with more prog/fusion noodling. Somehow it works. Maybe a less ironic Fucking Champs? Simpy Saucer vs Black Flag vs Mahavishnu but as a 3 piece with no horns. But good.....
These people tour their asses off and this would be pretty sick to see live. Nice to see a band that is pretty self contained and self propelled. Play shows, put out records, repeat.
You also have to admire the sort of untamed oddness of the Papadopoulos brothers. They seem like they could be the house band at Bilenky's bike shop.

Battankill

I guess this isn't really upstate, but it was a different state of mind. We were too sketched out to stop and take a picture of the "foreigners go home sign". They guy probably meant us anyway.

Knowing when the climbs and dirt were coming was supposed to be helpful.... Failed attempt at pro style below. At least the rain didn't wash it all away.


My career as a cycling photog is pretty weak. A careful scan of the front row will reveal all the riders who got called up. No call up for Tim Johnson or Adam Myerson?

Sram support. Always rad.

I pretty much gave up on the photos and just tried to enjoy the day.
I don't think the world needs another race report on this, but two things bear mentioning.
First off, I owe a giant debt of gratitude to the anyonmous hero who gave
me a bottle of water on MeetingHouse Road. A real American hero.
Second hats off to the 50 or 60+ Masters crew that rolled across the line
arguing. You think cyclists get less cranky as they age? Imagine racing
against the same guys for that long?
It lived up to it's reputation. Hard but worth it. Would do it again, but next time I want to hit Paris-Ancaster in Ontario the next day. Double the fun.

Parting thought. This race is tough, but I think it compares more to the Tro Bro Leon more than Roubaix. I guess Tro Bro Battankill doesn't really roll off the tongue.
The Tro Bro this year was won by BBox Bouyges youngster Said Haddou.

Guest Column:The Anti-George.

The following is a guest column from uber-grouch and New Mexico Transplant Brad. You may remember a previous guest column from him lambasting bike commuting and bicycling magazine. Verbatim...........
"I fast-forwarded the race and watched the last 20k before my evening class. Boonen is simply the anti-George. Whatever million ways that George can figure out how to fuck up a race, Boonen has the same ability to win them in what looks brilliant but is actually just Boonen being "not-George". So the question is, how many more ways to win P-R does he have up his anti-George sleeve?

I may be mixing up my P-R and R-V-V finishes but still,
Ride off the front and ride solo forever. Done. (P-R)
Win in two up sprint. Done. (R-V-V)
Win in bunch sprint. Done. (Everywhere)
Ride off the front and let every else crash. Done.(P-R)

P-R in 2010??? Early prediction is that George retires, drives the team car into a ditch taking out the front of the Peloton while Boonen somehow lands upright in a field where he bunny hops back into the cobbles and solos away with 55k to go!!"


Another point of view from Ralf Aldag(go rent hell on wheels if you haven't seen it)
This quote is evidence of how deep Aldag was/is in the game and how much he rules(via cyclingnews)
"It is difficult at dinner the night before, there is a lot of nervousness. What you don't want to do is tell your old stories when riders broke their collarbones or hips.
"The boys were were watching YouTube last night, a video of me riding through Arenberg. They asked why I was going so slow, but I could not tell them that I just saw Johan Museeuw smash his knee or Steffen Weseman go unconscious. I just laughed and said 'I was taking it easy.'"

parting shots

roubaix clips

I can't remember when there were this many decisive crashes in the final 20K of Roubaix. VanSummeran gets major points for the powerslide recovery.

The Arenberg forest is unreal. Watch at about 1:10 when guys just explode into the crowd. The moto cam really captures how trashed the cobbles are. It is hard to imagine struggling on these solo, never mind in a bunch at warp speed.