Velominati Super Prestige:
Giro D'Italia 2013
Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: moondance

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

Location: USA - Indiana

middle aged riding noob American, but a mutt, ie: French (Canadian) - likes red wine Belgian - likes beer Irish - likes whiskey German - likes beer

@moondance's activity:

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro D’Italia 2013

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...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Nibali 2. Wiggins 3. Hesjedal 4. Pozzato 5. Santambrogio »

Velominati Super Prestige: Luik-Bastenaken-Luik 2013

There is something to love about a race that makes a deviation to its route for the simple joy of sending a fleet of professional riders up a fiendishly steep and narrow ramp. The Cote du Stockeu offers zero benefit to the route from a logistical standpoint – in fact, all it does is complicate things. On the way down from the Cote de Wanne &#...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Nibali 3. Valverde 4. Sanchez 5. Moreno »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Flèche Wallone 2013

We came tantalizingly close to adding a foray up the Mur de Huy during our excursion to Liege-Bastogne-Liege during this year’s Keepers Tour. But good sense and The Anti-V prevailed, as they are wont to do, and only two of us were left wanting a dig at the most notorious finishing climb in the Classics season.I write this, then, woefully igno...

@moondance's posts:

  1. I was semi excited when I heard them mention all of my picks within the last minute. Oh, well. My 1-2-3 finished 6-7-8. I, too, was able to score with the ladies, @Tobin. »

  2. Moreno Henao Betancur Martin Kwiatkowski »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Flèche Wallone Féminine 2013

Last year we saw Evelyn Stevens out-last Marianne Vos at the top of the Mur de Huy. The take home message is don’t start one’s charge too early. Vos should know this finish, having won it four times already. It’s hard to know who is on form in the professional women field as the races are too far apart to infer much from the last...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Van Dijk 3. Longo 4. Johansson 5. De Vries »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Flèche Wallone 2013

We came tantalizingly close to adding a foray up the Mur de Huy during our excursion to Liege-Bastogne-Liege during this year’s Keepers Tour. But good sense and The Anti-V prevailed, as they are wont to do, and only two of us were left wanting a dig at the most notorious finishing climb in the Classics season.I write this, then, woefully igno...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Rodriguez 2. Valverde 3. Anton 4. Uran 5. Fuglsang »

Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2013

It looks so easy on the television. Well, no, actually it looks pretty bloody hard. We think we have some understanding of how they suffer, how their bodies can take the continual beating. But we don’t really know. Not even by riding these abominations they call roads twice in the space of a few days can we understand the scale of the thing...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Chavanel, Sylvain 3. Stannard 4. Phinney 5. Roelandts »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2013

Imagine a world without the little things we take for granted; a house without a roof, a pub with no beer, a Keepers Tour without any clothes. The last one is a reality for me at the moment, five days in and still no trace of where the hell between Wellington and Paris my bag (filled with V-Kit, shoes, helmet, everything) is. The other thing that h...

@moondance's posts:

  1. Cancellara, Sagan, Roelandts, Kristoff, Ladagnous Haussler, Van Avermaedt 6,7 »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen Féminine 2013

Marianne Vos has never won this? She who wins everything all the time has never won this? Is it not hilly and tough enough? This seems like a tear in the time-space continuum. Someone is going to be wanting to add this to her palmarés. Weather sounds like a cold but dry day for racing. This is a big one, maybe worth two bumper stickers, so ponder...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Worrack 3. Johansson 4. Armstrong 5. Arndt »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2013

Imagine a world without the little things we take for granted; a house without a roof, a pub with no beer, a Keepers Tour without any clothes. The last one is a reality for me at the moment, five days in and still no trace of where the hell between Wellington and Paris my bag (filled with V-Kit, shoes, helmet, everything) is. The other thing that h...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Haussler 3. Cancellara 4. Van Avermaet 5. Stannard »

Cultural Immersion

I’ve been lucky enough to do quite a bit of travelling in my life. As a family, we travelled all over Europe when I was just a lad, and recently I’ve had the opportunity to visit more exotic places like India and Hawaii. What I’ve learned from my travels is that the key to a great experience is to leave your predispositions on t...

@moondance's posts:

  1. @PeakInTwoYears You’ll find the same treatment here in Indiana. Foreign dialect, red-faced matron scolding you “no alcohol sales on Sunday!”. Except that it will be at the checkout counter, for all to see. »

Velominati Super Prestige: Trofeo Alfredo Binda 2013

This is the second round of the Women’s World Cup, the first being the Ronde van Drenthe. Laveno Mombello to Cittiglio, 120 km of racing in Italy. It is a very worthy course and we know who will be wearing the number 1 on her jersey. Enough already, I like Ms Vos as much as the next person but someone has to work her over on the climbs and ri...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Cantele 3. Armstrong 4. Johansson 5. Pooley »

Velominati Super Prestige: Gent-Wevelgem 2013

Gent (Deinze)-Wevelgem, it starts with 130 km of cruising around Belgium and Northern France followed by a flurry of bergs and then a final 38 km of  flatter riding to the inevitable sprint finish. How hard can the climbing be if Super Mario got over them? Ask the riders from KT 2012, (the ones not in the following car) and they will tell you...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cavendish 2. Sagan 3. Eisel 4. Cancellara 5. Phinney »

  2. At least for now… VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Stannard 3. Sylvain Chavanel 4. Maxim Iglinskiy 5. Phinney »

Cold Fact

Wellington isn’t renown for its great summers; a mate is always quick to remind me that if the weather was perfect all the time, everyone would want to live here and we’d be overrun by Aucklanders (just like Aussies but not quite dumb enough to live in Canberra). As our summer goes into its last death throes of amazingly calm, sunny, cl...

@moondance's posts:

  1. @Gianni Now I need to pony up for a full-on V kit, on the off chance some random VMH will pull me over and chat me up. »

Velominati Super Prestige: Milan-Sanremo 2013

Finally, we have Milan-Sanremo. I hope pedale.forcetta is ready to shoot some pictures, especially black and white because it will be cold and possibly wet. Throw in a little wind and a race of this distance will weed out the less hardy. Recently, but not too recently, this race would be won out of a decent size field sprint. And yet, besides Fabs...

@moondance's posts:

  1. Now OPQS says Chavanel is still in….. »

  2. Well, Boonen, Chavanel, and Goss have abandoned. If Sagan and Cavendish join them, I will have picked them all! »

  3. VSP PICKS: 1. Boonen 2. Chavanel, Sylvain 3. Goss 4. Sagan 5. Cavendish »

Velominati Super Prestige: L’Eroica/Strade Bianche 2013

Until the 70′s it was common to race on gravel roads, but the Paving of the Planet has led to nearly every road being graced by smooth, black tarmac. As is the case with most things, once we are shown the easy path, it is difficult to return to more arduous ways. So it is with gravel roads; we take measures to avoid unpaved roads and in doi...

@moondance's posts:

  1. @Buck Rogers Reminds me of my Cuban bunkmate while I was in the Army. He taught me three or four things in Spanish. Then he and his buddies would laugh while I got into a fight for saying them to others. Of course, they always had my back. (I wasn’t too… »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Pozatto 3. Pellizotti 4. Phinney 5. Cancellara »

Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2013

Outside my window, its pouring rain. My bike is leaning agains the wall in my office, covered in grim and grit from the ride in, which was characterized by equal parts cold, wind, and rain. The spot in the locker room where I changed before my shower was marked by sand and mud, and when I walked to the shower, I left a trail of dirty footprints.It...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Terpstra 2. Roelandts 3. Phinney 4. Van Avermaet 5. Van Marcke »

Velominati Photo Contest: Season 2012

Truth be told, how many of us can resist a photo of ourselves Looking Fantastic on the bike? How many of us can resist the temptation of taking our eyes off the road and stealing a glimpse of ourselves in a shop window as we pass by? Not me, but then again a strong case could be made for my being a narcissist and I freely admit that I love looking...

@moondance's posts:

  1. »

Velominati Super Prestige: Paris Tours 2012

The final race of the 2012 Velominati Super Prestige season is upon us. It’s not the most inspiring race, supposedly a race for the sprinters. The long straight final run in to the finish line begs for a mass sprint. It should be called Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais-Tours. The route is 235.5 km of small rollers through the French countryside. The...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Degenkolb 2. Flecha 3. Van Avermaet 4. Bouhanni 5. Ballan »

Strack to Lead New V-Studies Initiative at McMaster University

La Vie Velominatus is set to become the subject of intense scholarly analysis next week, as Frank Strack will receive an honorary PhV from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (chapeau to @ten B for the PhV). It’s been a heady week for the cycling types around these parts; Strack will close out festivities that included the Bike Snob and Mari...

@moondance's posts:

  1. New Harris tweed jacket w/leather elbow patches – $195 New polka-dot silk bowtie – $45 New briar pipe, tobacco, lighter – $85 Being an enthralled audience member to this monumental event – PRICELESS ! »

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro di Lombardia 2012

Il Grillo gives it some stick in 06. Photo: actionplus sports images[/caption]Lombardia is a beautiful race. Taking in the majestic shoreline of Lake Como and climbing past the shrine to the Madonna del Ghisallo, its stunning Italian-ness bookends the Monuments along with Milan-San Remo which started them way back in March. And it’s a coming...

@moondance's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Nibali 3. Uran 4. Valverde 5. Pinot »

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