Saturday, February 27, 2010

FOR REAL?!

So as many you cyclophiles probobly know the North American Handmade Bike Show started yesterday in Richmond VA. With it being so close to the old Bull City, one might think that we would have a pretty strong contingent of folks making the three hour drive and indeed a few of us did. I myself was set to go and then this happened:


Total bullshit, man. The closest this thing gets to us and I get the flu. And not just "the flu" flu, it feels like someone hit all of my joints with a ball peen hammer and my intestines are trying to make a serious break for it. Suck. Maybe I can make it up there tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

dream team

if i didn't ride for Bull City Cycling (and occasionally Duke), i'd probably wouldn't ride for the following team, but it could be an interesting one. ladies and gentlemen, i present you with my entry to this year's Fort Garry Bicycle Club Spring Classics Pool. My theme was to pick riders from the most obscure European cycling countries in each tier.


Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
Martin Elmiger (Switzerland)
Matti Breschel (Denmark)
Oscar Freire (Spain)
Peter Velits (Slovakia)
Yauheni Hutarovich (Belarus)
Aleksandr Kuschynski (Belarus)
Martin Velits (Slovakia)
Alexander Kolobnev (Russia)

obviously, Spain isn't an obscure cycling country, but they don't have many strong classics riders, and there weren't too many other freaky countries for that one. Switzerland is small, especially when you exclude riders named Cancellara.

i think it actually has the chance to be a strong team in the "fantasy" pool, and probably the one with the most undervalued riders. if you think you can do better, enter your own team before this Saturday.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

no jacket required

it almost hit 60 today. here are several haikus:


No winter jackets
No booties or toe-covers
Springtime is closer

Boone-Roubaix training
Yes it's road racing, but roads
Don't have to be paved

Bike mechanic said,
While watching Jay fix a tire
That he "felt dirty"

Fratboys on campus
Leave sex-toys on the sidewalk
Linus knocked it down

On the way back home
I saw a surprising thing
Adam running laps

I raced last weekend
Combined college/masters field
I could do either

The thing about blogs
If you don't know these people
They don't make no sense

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

all you hosers salute Major (the) bull

When he's not out doing real racing, BCC's Jay is internationally known as a major threat in the virtual cyclocross director sportif challenge. Like fantasy football, fantasy basketball, and Dungeons and Dragons, you select a hypothetical professional team roster and win points based on how they finish. Unlike those other nerdy endeavors, fantasy cyclocross is much nerdier.

And, if you're going to participate in a nerdy endeavor, you might as well be good at it, right? Jay has assembled a top-teir squad this year and is kicking butt in the contest hosted by Winnipeg's Fort Garry Bike Club. However, emboldened by their country's first Olympic medal on home soil in decades, they posted this. For full effect, have someone read their blog post while you watch this (with the sound OFF):



But why these Canadians be hatin'? Canada and North Carolina are not that different. They like their donuts (Tim Horton's) like we like our doughnuts (Krispy Kreme). They like hockey and we have a hockey team (I think the Hurricanes are still here). They make good music (Arcade Fire, Destroyer) that's released on a Durham-based record label (Merge). We both think our neighbors to the south are unsophisticated hicks (we're right, they're only partially right) They like to ride their bikes in the snow, as do we (true, we do this as a novelty while they do it as a necessity, but what can be done). So why can't the folks from the Great White North and the Old North State just get along?

I actually don't know much more about Canada, other than what I've learned from this video, which I assume was produced by Canada's Ministry of Education



Monday, February 15, 2010

Best of Friends


Is it just me or do Ballan and Pozzatto resemble Ben and Hollywood in this photo?

Friday, February 12, 2010

Look who's a fan


The "Bike and Drink" sign in the Velonews profile of Japan's Protour star Yukiya Arashiro is evidence of BCC's Asian fan base. If only it had been Beppu.

Taking Donations....

Well, thanks Lance....because you are so popular, about 4 times as many folks registered for the 2010 Leadville 100 versus the 2009. Which means in short........my entry was not selected.....again. This year marked the first year of the "automated" lottery. I think I would have better luck in the the Colorado Lotto, than the Leadville Lottery. I'm now 0 for 2 now on Leadville registration, so I won't be sporting around that fancy belt buckle this year.

Anyways, now the back up plan........riding tons and having lots of fun, instead of stressing about pulling everything together for one high alpine race that is often plagued by thunderstorms, sleet, snow, rain, hypothermia, and Lance fans.

I was bitter at first....but now relieved. I think?

Oh and with all of this fun summer riding planned, why not cap it off with a much badder ass event like the Breck Epic in August. Check out this video and if you want to help me get the nearly $1000 entry fee.....I'll gladly partake in 6 days of mountain bike stage racing.

So who's ready to donate??? I know our fan base in Asia would love to read daily recaps from Breckenridge!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

hardrijders


check out Belgium's newest Olympic ice-dancing star (not Ali):



i actually don't think that adding spikes to cyclocross tires is the biggest event in 2 million years because (a) it's already been done and (b) uh, the iPad, duh. on the other hand, it must be a significant advancement in cycling technology since the UCI has banned them. actually, i'm glad they're banned. while having more traction does increase safety (for the rider who is already trying to ride on ice), it decreases the safety of everyone around them. better handling on ice can be a dangerous thing to super spies.



also, if you start putting sharp metal things on your tires, it's going to lead to an arms race that ends up here:



and if you think demolishing your chariot and killing several horses during a race is expensive, it's nothing compared to replacing a Dugast with a slashed sidewall.

as a sidenote, i never realized how much Sven Nys looks like Tintin.

i think that was actually Davide Rebellin's nickname, but now that he's done, i think Nys should reclaim it.

Monday, February 8, 2010

all you see is/crime in the city

I believe it was Emily Dickenson who wrote, "I'm tired of the motherfuckin' jackin." No wait, that was Easy-E (I frequently confuse the two of them). But who among us is not tired of getting jacked? Not me, that's for sure (to the extent that I'm sure that I figured whatever I just wrote). Case in point: I was washing my filthy chamois the other day in my apartment building's laundry room, which also doubles as a bicycle storage area, when I glanced over to see if the mountain bike I fixed up for my girlfriend was still holding air in its tires. I was slightly puzzled when I didn't see it in the bicycle rack, so I went back int my bicycle-infested apartment to see if I had actually brought it back. Nope, it wasn't in the apartment, so I returned to the laundry room and, upon further inspection, I discovered this:

The lock and half-inch cable were mine. However, I didn't remember modifying the cable with a severe cut. Nor did I recall leaving the cable on the floor, not attached to a bicycle. Now I haven't seen the new Sherlock Holmes movie, but I've seen enough of the commercials for the movie to deduce that I'd been jacked.

Having this bike stolen was irksome for a number of reasons:
1) This bike will never be used by my girlfriend to shred the gnar. Did she want to shred the gnar? Well, maybe not so much. It actually hadn't been ridden since the upgrades and had been sitting around the laundry room unused for long enough that I'm not even sure when it was taken (possibly several months ago). But the fact is that she could have, and now she can't.
2) I just fixed up that bike. I added some new (cheap) v-brakes and switched over some old parts.
3) Those old part were dope! Dope circa 1998. Marzocchi Z-2 BAM fork. Mavic Crossland wheels. Yellow Oury grips. Dope!
4) That bike was exchanged for dope. Or crack. Or crystal meth. Or whatever the kids are into these days.
5) The bike was locked up, in the laundry room, on the third floor of a reputable condo building. Okay, so this is Durham. And so, cable locks are crap. But still, there were plenty of unlocked bikes right next to ours that could have made a thief plenty happy. Not that I would wish a stolen bicycle on anyone else, especially one of my neighbors. But if your shit's unlocked, it's fair game for stealing. Not to say that it should be stolen, but you should expect that it could.
6) Seriously, this asshole can't really know what he was stealing. True, they did take the best looking bike, but it wasn't that great. The greatness was completely sentimental. I somehow feel attached to bicycle stuff that was once pretty rad and still works, but is now fairly obsolete. I have a box full of this stuff. I have nice bibshorts with no more elastic. It's sad, but I reckon it's how parents feel once their children start being cute and start being disappointments.
7) We are in tough economic times. While stealing bikes ain't new, folks are looking for anything they can grab. It should also be noted that the bike had a "World Bank Group" parkinglot sticker on it. True, this bike was once used as a commuter bike and parked at the Word Bank; however, it was not used by a banker, especially a fat-cat banker who made you poor. Teabaggers, step off.
8) Bicycle thievery is still going strong. Shortly after the invention of the bicycle, some brilliant thief realized, "this is the perfect thing to steal since it's worth money and it serves as its own getaway vehicle. yoink!" (This realization occurred just shortly after some other jerk invented awesomer wheels and tried to sell them at a ridiculous price, but before some other jerk tried to put aero bars on it.)
9) No bikes are safe. Lock your shit up. Lock it well.

Well, so, if you see an old Trek 5700 with a weird assortment of parts and a parking sticker for the World Bank Group, hit me up on the "comments" section.

Young Hollywood


Happy 35th Birthday! Remember you're only as old as you feel: once a shredder, always a shredder.

Friday, February 5, 2010

wintery mix

I was happy to see that our Durham friend Bobke Strut is back on the blog again and in fine form. I enjoyed reading his recent post about winter riding and, given yet another Friday of snow and ice, but zero accumulation, I give you, from his hit album "Twelve Inches of Snow":




Also, I went on a road ride with some of the Duke team the other day. Most of the snow had cleared, but when they put the hammer down, this is what happened to my lungs.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

more team transfer news

the following post on the Chapel Hill Cycling Googlegroup is a little sad because it seems to mark the departure of a member of the once-mighty Franklin Street team. but more than that, it's confusing. who is this guy? is the Franklin Street team dead? did he get kicked off? did he transfer to whatever the trendy new team is where he gets so much new clothing that he never needs to wear Franklin Street stuff ever again? and, most perplexingly, what random local cyclist would want to buy a used Franklin Street kit?

[Chapel Hill Cycling] For Sale: Franklin St Racing Jersey, skinsuit & accessories


Reply

TomB

to Chapel
show details 5:23 PM (14 hours ago)
From the 2005/2006 racing year:

1. Medium Full zip short sleeved jersey. New. Never worn, still in
bag. $35

2. Short sleeve skinsuit. Very good condition. Used little. Minor wear
in saddle area and a few marks from race number pins. $40

3. Gloves. Medium/large. Like new condition. $15

4. Aero lycra booties. Like new. $15

5. Knee warmers. Very good condition. $15

6. Arm warmers. Very good condition. $15

All are Team FSC issue. Would make fine team-issue training or TT
gear.

$120 for the whole package.

Pics available upon request.

Tom

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also, used skinsuit--where's my checkbook?



Wednesday, February 3, 2010

tune in Tokyo


it's finally (more) official, Fumiyuki Beppu will join team Radio Shack. this should be good news for his overall visibility (at least to the extent that the news coverage of his contract dispute has received more press than his racing). however, the question remains, will he lose his autonomy in contesting sprint wins now that he's a part of the Lance machine?

Beppu trains with MechaBeppu, now available for $29.99 at your local Radio Shack

Song for Marco

Cyclingnews has a "retro" profile of Marco Pantani's Pirate-themed Bianchi. Seeing this I was reminded that our own Pirate composed and performed this memorial ballad for the fallen Pantani. Wait for the music and prepare to be inspired. Thanks, Pirate.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Little Tabor

The professionals battled on the ice and snow in Tabor, Czech Republic this weekend. Amateurs in Durham awoke to similarly slippery conditions.
Geoph planned to plow our path, so our tires would touch not but pavement, but he didn't have a shovel and the rest of us had plenty of other stuff to do, so we toughened-up and got on with our snowy ride.

True, this was a mere dusting of snow, compared to the arctic winters our dear friends in Winnipeg endure, but still, it's pretty substantial for Durham. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade (provided that life has also given you ample amounts of sugar). When life gives you icy roads, make an epic bike ride out of it.

It was cold, but we brought something to warm our hearts.

Inspired by smAli's Phonak jacket, we tried to test Floyd's "Jack Daniels Defense" and see if whiskey actually increases testosterone. I cannot confirm that Early Times either (1) increased testosterone or (2) served as a performance-enhancing supplement, but it may have emboldened our recklessness.

At this point in the ride, my camera battery died, but you'll have to take my word for it that we did indeed shred the Al Buehler trail. And by "shred" I mean pedaled hard and rode slowly. We avoided crashing (much) and Linus managed some rad air and invented a new heel-skid dismount. We received many puzzled looks from kids and adults, sledding and not sledding. One die-hard runner gave us a cheer of encouragement and received a high-five for her effort.

Riding in snow is great fun...once, maybe twice per year. Suffice to say, it's more fun than yet another oval speedway race or riding an indoor trainer. But now that the roadways have turned to slush/ice, they've become a dangerous nuisance, both to steel frames and unbroken bones. So, enough with this winter crap, bring on the springtime. As the temperature warms, I'm ready to re-enact this ride with mint juleps.