There’s something not quite the same about how the Pros climb and how we climb. They go faster, I suppose. There’s that. They’re skinnier, too, and climb better for their weight to boot. And they’re stronger, that probably helps although I can’t speak from personal experience. I’ve also noticed that while under pressure, theirs is…
Month: April 2011
We’re going to take advantage of our break in the Velominati Super Prestige to get a few articles out that have been sitting in the queue but haven’t had the opportunity to see the light of day due to the busy race schedule. Besides, we’ve spent the last two days bemoaning a couple skinny kids’ lack of…
A lot has been made lately of the fact that riders today are lacking a little bit of the V. It’s not so much a criticism of how they conduct themselves during a race (although that has also been called into question lately), but in their general demeanor towards their life as a cyclist. It doesn’t…
Before my dad bought his C-Record Merckx in the late 80's, the family stable consisted of mostly Shimano bits, with a light smattering of Suntour. All these components were things of beauty – after all, there is something of fundemental beauty in any bike part – but none of these trascended time. In a sense,…
The power of hair is not to be underestimated. Especially when it comes to having it carefully disheveled, with little bits poking out of the vents of your helmet. Indeed, hair sticking out of your helmet vents can be thought of as a conduit to The V; the strands reaching into the Ether, channeling its power like…
Sometimes we need to be reminded that originality is paramount to leading a good and honest life. It took some home truths from a poster in Frank's Gavia post to jog our memories that old news is, well, just that; old news. We need to come up with some new material man, that shit is going…
I suppose it's just a sign of how rich our sport is and how enthusiastic we are about it that some of the most iconic rides in cycling go virtually unmentioned in these pages. It almost seems as though they are so tightly woven into legend that we take them for granted, these rides. Nevermore,…
Here stands a man. A quiet man. A hard working man. A Belgian man. A man from a life of grit, cold, and rain. Here stands a man who has chosen a life of hard work and sacrifice; a hard life even within the context of Cycling. A man who spends long hours in the wind…
It’s on like Donkey Kong! Welli-Roubaix: Hell of the North (Island) is recon’ed, the seal of approval has been licked and stamped and the gravé awaits. Oh, yes, it is on! It looks like there may be a touch of dampness around on Sunday, which only adds to the fun (read: no fun). We’ve added in a…
It wasn't created from nothing by the concentrated will of an obsessive Velominatus, nor by the grace of Merckx out of pure ether. No, as with all of our stables, mine started simply, and grew over the years. My first honest bike was a Cannondale SR600 with hot pink decals that I bought in 8th…
What better week is there to pay homage to one of the finest ales the world has ever known? Each year, Cycling Week in Belgium has me turning toward the top shelf of my regular beer peddler for a bottle of Chimay Red Label to be savoured on either the day of the Ronde Van…