Velominatus: ralph
Order: Level 2 Velominatus
@ralph's activity:
@ralph's posts:
@ralph's posts:
Paying my money and taking my chances. VSP PICKS: 1. Chavanel 2. Boassen Hagen 3. Cancellara 4. Hushovd 5. Roelandts »
@ralph's posts:
Apologies if this has been answered, but I’m trying to scare up a video feed for the US in advance of the race actually starting. I have a subscription to Cycling TV, but evidently that’s going to get me a 5-minute recap of the race, which hardly seems li… »
@ralph's posts:
With Easter almost here it didn’t seem right to pass over (!) somebody named Jesus. VSP PICKS: 1. Peter Sagan 2. Filippo Pozzato 3. Mark Cavendish 4. Edvald Boasson Hagen 5. Jesus Herrada »
@ralph's posts:
@Spun Up I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that any hood position copied from a picture of The Prophet cannot, by definition, be in violation of The Rules. »
@ralph's posts:
Does @Gianni get some to wear the Understatement Jersey for the following lines from the race description? Of course, the race also weeded out Boonen, who appeared to be one of the Hardy Belgians (sorry for the redundancy), so I’d say it was more than a… »
@ChrisO I second that point. I have no problem with deciding that winning this race isn’t worth the risks, but given the history of the sport and the sort of conditions people have slogged through in the past it hardly seems worth whinging on about. If it… »
Not being able to see any video coverage of the race (suggestions for a US source???), I’m curious as to what changes to the bikes they may have made for this weather. Would you ride different tires for snowy climbs, or do you just assume that the ones yo… »
I decided that since Gianni has declared that Farrar will not win I should clearly pick him to at least place. With any luck this will turn out to be another 0-[oint result on my part (although it’s hard to imagine not getting at least 1 for having Sagan … »
@ralph's posts:
@Chris VVaking up is a great description of what is required to get me out of a warm bed in the dark, but knowing there’s a ride waiting helps. »
@ralph's posts:
@The Oracle Maybe Frank needs to pick 3 “obvious picks” for each event and disallow their selection, forcing lists that do not all say Sagan/Evans/Cancellara. I do like the Billions and Billions (of babes?) nickname for P. Sagan »
In honor of the fact that the race is being held in Italy I’ve decided to go with an all-Italian roster. I was going to stick to the members of Team Cinzano, but after that regrettable incident with the frame pump in the spokes they are dead to me. VSP P… »
@ralph's posts:
@Sky Yes – I figured that out after putting in my entries. As I said, had I a clue I might have done better, but presumably this is how one learns… »
@ralph's posts:
Watching the video made me think of the cyclist in The Triplets of Belleville – same nose, same ugly look, but at least Fernando wasn’t scooped up by the Cycling Mafia. »
@ralph's posts:
If these picks suck I’m going to blame it on the cyclo-cross-dressing picture. VSP PICKS: 1. Boasson Hagen 2. Sylvain Chavanet 3. Thomas Geraint 4. Bernhard Eisel 5. De Vreese »
@ralph's posts:
@CanuckChuck Glad to have met (and perhaps even exceeded) my objective of winning the Lanterne Rouge right out of the gates! »
I would like to define the floor of information, since I know virtually nothing about how this is going to go other than what I saw at the end of last year. I am devoid of any current information other than the starting grid, so presumably when I pick som… »
So, I may be the last one here to have found this, but the following appears to be the official site for the Het Nieuwsblad race: http://www.omloophetnieuwsblad.be/nl/elite-men/race/participants, with a link to a full set of participants as a PDF. Google … »
@ralph's posts:
@Collin I have something of the same approach. I’m not banging out 200K rides yet, but if I decide to go for 80-100K I usually map out a loop of some sort through the countryside around me, ideally covering at least one section I’ve never been on before (… »
@ralph's posts:
@eightzero I was worried about the notion that you were going to donate to LAF, but about 1/4 second before reading on I realized it was a Casually Deliberate head-fake. And that truly is an awesome picture of The Prophet. I work as a professional photog… »
@ralph's posts:
@Deakus If my daughter has to skip a few meals I’m sure she’ll understand. The “regret” is very much of the mock variety. I have been having a hard time finding a saddle that I truly like (although I have a generic Giant brand one that I got for $5 at a … »
Well, I now have to blame all of you for the fact that I’ve added a Brooks B-17 to my Christmas Gift Demands/Wish list. I hope you’re happy. »
@ralph's posts:
@Nate @Deakus That’s certainly a better explanation than the idea that I was just zooming along too fast. I also considered that he was probably at mile 98 of an Imperial Century (or kilometer 160.9 if you prefer) and thus in need of a hop-based recov… »
@scaler911 Given that I am WTFTC (that would be WAY Too Fat To Climb), I was astounded on a recent ride when I came up behind somebody on a hill and seemed to be gaining on him. I kept back a good 20 yards (neither of us was hitting a pace that caused wi… »
@CanuckChuck Do you want the authors to burn the edges of the pages, or are you hoping for them to sing the text of the book in the company of a choral group? Or am I just one of those Internet Dweebs who makes pointless fun of typographical errors?!? »
Copy ordered as a gift for my sister, who is one of those people who ride a bike but is not yet a Cyclist. (Last picture I have of her shows her proudly attired in the YJA, and latest email indicates that she doesn’t feel comfortable removing a QR rear wh… »