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.

Roubaix 2001 - a classic classic

This was a classic Roubaix for many reasons. First off weather. Rain to sun left some mud caked warriors battling. Second it was billed as a Mapei vs Domo showdown. Belguim vs Italy. Obviously this clip highlights the agony that is Hincapie in Roubaix. Domo (Dope-O?) dominates. Thankfully Roman Vainsteins and his horrible rat tail have been lost to the pages of history. Knaven is still at it and racing for Milram this year.
Chris Peers(one of the Cofidis Pot-Belge maniacs) riding helmet-less. Along with Mattan in some mud soaked winter cap??? Must be the drugs.
Wilifrid Peters-the uber hardman. His solo attack and riding til he puked.
Ludo Dierckxsens-2001 funky pink Rudy Project helmet? Another harder than hardman.
It was also Ballerini's last race. And he went out with the right sentiment


Merci Roubaix indeed.

Roubaix! Roubaix! Roubaix!

It's that special weekend. Even though I have been enjoying Tour of Flanders more the last few years, Roubaix is the undisputed Queen of the Classics. Who doesn't get excited for it? Waking up to rain this morning was made more bearable by the fact that it was the Roubaix weekend. Het Volk dropped a photo series of training days.
Quicksteps throwback kit is 100 times radder than the too much white they are normally rocking. Too bad they can't switch it up for the whole year.
Lotto gets to ride special Aluminum Canyons for Roubaix? Tell me that is not punishment. No carbon til you get back on a podium!

Boonen, Flecha,Maaskant. That's my three. As much sentimental as anything.

This year I have developed a soft spot for GH and despite all the evidence and past performance, I would be happy if he won. Just don't think it will happen, but if it does the bizzaro world podium will be-Hincapie,Hoste, Pozatto. Everything will be shook up if big GH is on the top step.

I think the Cervelo TT domination will be coming to and end. At least it better unless they want to be the new Gewiss or something.

Cap Life -a look inthe closet......

There are so many things that define cycling as a sport/lifestyle whatever. Some people obsess over embrocation or tires or fixed gears or tubular gluing... The list is endless. One thing that has always had my interest are classic winter cyling caps. They were just so unique to cyling with that hardman mystique.
Here is a look into my OCD relationship with winter cyling caps.
The key is to balance ear coverage with minimal bulk so it fits well under a helmet.

I got a Swobo blue/black cap and this Beimme at about the same time. I managed to shrink the Swobo cap to pinhead size almost immediately.(Luckily pinheads in need of Swobo keep an eye on Ebay) This Biemme is windstopper with a liner. It worked well in the time period when I rarely wore a helmet(99-2000. I am not so old that I mean the 70s or something). With a helmet this cap is a little too bulky.


Up next was another Swobo cap. Basic black. A simple wool classic. Works under helmets with no problem. A little on the small side, but good for everything except the coldest rides.


Got this Mapei cap-cause why wouldn't you want to rock the jello cubes? This is a mainly fleece type cap with a windstopper front panel. It doesn't have a liner, but is still too bulky to wear under a helmet. It is super warm.



This cap is pretty plain, but like a lot of other Louis Garneau gear-it gets the job done. A light fleece. In the period when I was Swobo-less, this was my go to cap. I got a second one for Xmas once and it was a little different material. I preferred the 03 vintage. This one is larger than a swobo and can handle slightly colder temps. It makes up in function what it lacks in panache. Works under a helmet.


Up next are a couple of Ebay scores
Skil/Shimano-come on think Sean Kelly not Fumiyuki Beppu(no offense to Beppu intended, but he's not making me stay up til midnight to win auctions for winter hats....). This is a simple wool job, a classic. But like a nice cinelli hairnet helmet-not for everyday use.



This next one was an impulse buy-totally unknown team/club. It was Belgian/Dutch???-therefore I wanted to get it. It was lined cap. Pretty big, but again a little too hot and wouldn't work under a helmet. Had a real 80s feel. Letters were felted on. This one got sent back into the world via Ebay. Catch and release.

I have messed with the Rapha cap-all black. It was of course super engineered with a host of refinements and understated elegance.... With a liner. The size was good,but I didn't really like how the stiffened the brim. Thankfully anything Rapha holds its value and made some one else happy via Ebay. I don't really liked lined caps. Too sweaty/hot. Caps with liners are good for keeping it Euro while washing your bike or working in the yard, or any other situation that you want to broadcast to the world that you are a huge cylcling nerd.
Thanks to my model. If not for her, there would have been far too many shots of my mug in a wrestling mask or lone ranger mask.
Even though I am satisfied with this lot, I am always looking for that perfect cap. It's a lot like records.....gotta keep hunting. Even though I did briefly obsess over the Vermac winter beanies that everyone was wearing. Just a fling, good for the casual life, but not so good on the bike with a helmet. I have also dabbled with the drawstring cap both fleece and the fleece/windsopper combos. They never seem to make the cut when grabbing gear. Although, my cheap ass picked up one of these on sale and have found it to be good in cold races as it is not bulkly and can be pulled down pretty far for good ear coverage....

popguns

I am really just waiting for dry warm temperatrues, but hey winter means cross so that ain't half bad.
Lost English classic. High production value. ANother wasted night on youtube. You should not get on teh computer after interval workouts when you have zombie brain.