Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: ChrisO

Order: Guest Contributor

Location: Abu Dhabi

Social: /

An Aussie, transplanted to Britain and living in Abu Dhabi. One wife, two cats, three kids and four bikes. I'm a TV person - originally in journalism but now management, consultancy and project management. I aim to ride 10,000km a year and mostly I do. I love club and group riding and would like to do more racing.

@ChrisO's activity:

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. Since it would be impossible to get a result with my previous selection I can’t really do any worse… can I ? VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps): 1. Evans 2. Nibbles 3. Santambrogio 4. Scarponi 5. Uran »

Bicycles and automobiles- can’t we all just get along? @Kah writes about this universal (do aliens have this issue also?) problem of us co-existing with humans in cars. We all drive cars too and have cursed the occasional cyclists for some good reason. Cars are our greatest threat. We can crawl away from our own bicycle crashes, thanks very m...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @Erik Andersen You have spectacularly mis-interpreted the article. The point is that many people who don this gear seem to adopt an attitude that it offers them  protection, when the greatest risks they face are from poor riding based on a mistaken sens… »

  2. I could almost understand that Shrug thing if it came down a little further at the front. But as it sits above the breasts it means that in cold and rain I suspect they will need to be reaching for the nipple lube. »

It was said by someone in the posts following Gianni’s excellent review of his tubeless system that an honest, long term analysis by a ‘real’ rider was most welcome. Well, you’re not going to get that here. You will get honesty, for sure, but ‘long term’ doesn’t come into the equation when a week is the am...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. I’ve pulled the trigger on a set of Enve 3.4 today, including a Powertap. Unfortunately the LBS default setting is for fishing tackle so I have to wait until they get a Campag freehub in, but even holding them felt lovely. And I’m also looking forward t… »

Bicycles and automobiles- can’t we all just get along? @Kah writes about this universal (do aliens have this issue also?) problem of us co-existing with humans in cars. We all drive cars too and have cursed the occasional cyclists for some good reason. Cars are our greatest threat. We can crawl away from our own bicycle crashes, thanks very m...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @Mikael Liddy Weeping baby Merckx… there’s been enough posted in the last hour to justofy a UN mandate for armed intervention in Australia,  known as Operation HTFU. Starting with the vegans… »

  2. @The Grande Fondue You are fucking kidding me. There are people riding around like that – seriously ? I’m equally gobsmacked by the idea that people have a helmet which they think is going to protect them in a crash, but they need additional countermea… »

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @mouse I don’t think it’s just that Mouse. There is some scepticism about just how bad it really was and that some people are using it as the excuse for Wiggin’s poor showing. Yes he would have won the TT, but before that stage everyone was saying he s… »

Bicycles and automobiles- can’t we all just get along? @Kah writes about this universal (do aliens have this issue also?) problem of us co-existing with humans in cars. We all drive cars too and have cursed the occasional cyclists for some good reason. Cars are our greatest threat. We can crawl away from our own bicycle crashes, thanks very m...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @HeinrichHausslersHairstyle WTF ? »

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @strathlubnaig Who said that ? Haven’t seen it quoted anywhere else but if as-reported, well they seem to have lost the plot entirely. Perhaps Nibbles has a V Meter field which overrides the power signal. »

Bicycles and automobiles- can’t we all just get along? @Kah writes about this universal (do aliens have this issue also?) problem of us co-existing with humans in cars. We all drive cars too and have cursed the occasional cyclists for some good reason. Cars are our greatest threat. We can crawl away from our own bicycle crashes, thanks very m...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. So totally spot on I want to find the author and shake their hand – hell I’d give them a reach-around if they asked nicely. We have a group here which calls itself Cycle Safe and basically makes people totally afraid of cycling. In their heads it is some… »

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @wiscot I don’t agree with that analysis. Just because a rider gets a few metres ahead on a stage doesn’t mean he would have won a tour. To do that you have to be highly focused and consistent for three weeks and also be able to work tactics and lead a … »

We’re huge pro cycling fans. Michelle and I both get very involved with particular riders; for Michelle her favorites have been Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani; for me, it’s been Ullrich, Pantani, and Ivan Basso. It seems we’re bent on loving riders who eventually get wound up in some sort of doping mess, and it’s getting real...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. I was looking to post this and wham, up came this random, but apposite, article… So, I know a doper. Over coffee after our ride today we were talking about whether people riding gran fondos or local races dope and I said that one reason to ride Master… »

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. Nobody tell me that flat stages aren’t interesting. I love seeing a break out for hours and then it comes down to the last few hundred metres. Hard, hard work all round. »

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @tessar Right, because Euskaltel have just got that whole marginal gains things sorted haven’t they. »

We close out the 6 Days of the Giro with our sixth and final installment.A body at rest, stays at rest. A body in motion, stays in motion. Things get a bit more ambiguous when it comes to a body on a bicycle tearing down a twisty mountain descent at speed, particularly in the rain. But it is here, on the boundary between clarity and ambiguity, wher...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @Tobin I find these thoughts go through my mind AFTER the descent – often that night when I go to bed, in a semi-sleep state I get these sort of images in my head. I’m a middling descender – not fearless or good enough to be with the fastest (being tal… »

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @sthilzy Oh and to add to that, for the punter and pro I suspect there are some very interesting data advantages to be had by integrating electronic groups with power meters and computers but that’s some way off. »

  2. @sthilzy I don’t think it is overly cynical to say that a large part of the answer is that the pro teams are supported by equipment manufacturers, and the bike industry in general. They want to sell bikes “as used by [insert rider]” . And part of the st… »

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @paolo Well spotted sir… »

  2. @itburns But Sky haven’t had seven years of near-complete domination. In fact they’ve had one good season on parcours which suited their metronomic style. Other teams have started to find them out tactically and their modus operandi hasn’t worked in c… »

  3. BTW, speaking of being clean, I see TVG has made an appeal to everyone to have faith in the new generation of riders at his pre-California press conference. So,, man riding in race sponsored by world’s leading EPO manufacturer says “We’re clean”. Who sa… »

  4. @snoov Hear hear… the marginal gains thing is misleading in my view. That’s certainly part of their philosophy but reading interviews with some riders – particularly those who’ve been on other teams – the ‘magic’ that Sky have brought is simply to oper… »

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @DerHoggz Or just look – iterally. Most clubs worth joining will do regular rides on weekend mornings and there are usually cyclist routes around that they tend to favour, certain climbs etc. If you see them out you’ll get an idea of what they’re like. »

We’re into day four of the Six Days of the Giro series, let’s talk trash. Yes the Tour de France started a few years before the Giro and has always been credited as The Tour to win. You win the Giro, you are a stud. Win the Tour and you are a stud for life. Why is that? Is the Tour longer, tougher, more murderous, more beautiful? In the 20...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. All very good reasons that make the Giro better than the tour – the race, the course, the fans, the Cognoscenti. The only thing it lacks is that the riders and major teams still treat it as second best. What are Sky arguing about ? Leadership of the Tou… »

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @Spun Up Agree with all the food advice EXCEPT cutting out carbs. You’re doing a fair bit of training and you need carbs to help replace glycogen, the fuel your muscles use. 2g of carbs per kilo of body weight is recommended after training (or 4g after a… »

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@ChrisO's posts:

  1. @minion It was extremely dodgy but it wasn’t a domestique it was another young sprinter Roberto Ferrari – he came across the sprinting line like he was avoiding a 6ft wide pothole. To make matters worse he then beat Cav in a later sprint and Cav missed t… »