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

Velominatus: Anjin-san

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

Location: Asheville, NC USA

@Anjin-san's activity:

Look Pro: Éclatant de Panache

The Prophet was very clear on how best to ride an individual Time Trial; start as fast as possible and finish as fast as possible. As for the middle, his advice was to ride that as fast as possible.The same can be said of climbing; as we covered in Part I and Part II of the Sur La Plaque series, the key to climbing well is to hit the bottom as ha...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @frank Interesting the jump in performance from ’87-’90… big step change there.  Was that when EPO became so popular? On a related note, I just finished reading Chris Carmichael’s latest edition of the Time Crunched Cyclist.  Some good stuff in ther… »

Defining Moments: Hood Position

If I spent half a summer riding with one hand on the tops and one on the hoods, I spent the other half riding with each hand deliberately gripping the hoods differently. As any young Cyclist growing up in the United States in the late 80s, I had a major thing for Greg LeMond.I imagined Greg to be the perfect Cyclist, as youth often does of their...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @Chris … oh, the SuperSix Hi-Mod EVO.  Now THAT is a bike!  Quite possibly the best all-around bike in the peloton this season. »

  2. Favorite position hammering on the flats= wrists on the tops just outboard of the stem… makes me flat, aero, and relaxed all while being Casually Deliberate and Rule #80 Compliant.  Spartacus has this pose down to a science. »

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...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. I didn’t get to watch the race today (I was racing myself!), but it looked brutal!  Chavanel showing he is still a contender! »

Passista

My first article on Velominati was to introduce one of my favorite cyclists, Eros Poli. I refered to him as a domestique on the Mercatone-Uno team. This faux pas was properly pointed out much later by @KaffeineKeiser, a commenter who suddenly surfaced and unfortunately submerged just as quickly, like Das Boot in the Straits of Gibraltar.*I do tak...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @zalamanda +1.  Hard man indeed! »

Look Pro: Éclatant de Panache

The Prophet was very clear on how best to ride an individual Time Trial; start as fast as possible and finish as fast as possible. As for the middle, his advice was to ride that as fast as possible.The same can be said of climbing; as we covered in Part I and Part II of the Sur La Plaque series, the key to climbing well is to hit the bottom as ha...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. Pantani was just amazing in this race!  That said, I can’t stomach Ozzy covering Motorhead… he sounds like a boy band when compared to Lemmy! »

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...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Pozzato 3. Spartacus 4. Sylvain Chavanel 5. Boom »

Guest Article: Bike #2

I don’t have to tell anyone around here that @Cyclops is weird guy; most of you have already figured that out, and if you haven’t figured it out, you will soon enough. But weird doesn’t have any negative meaning, if you ask me. In fact, I’d say we’re all weird which makes normal more suspect. Several years ago, long be...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @Cyclops- that is a work of functional art!  Well done. »

Anatomy Of A Photo: The Gents Of Wevelgem

If you ever doubted for a minute that the hardmen of yore drafted the blueprint for The Rules, you need only look at these fine examples to be reminded that no matter how limited the resources they had to work with, they still managed to do a better job of Looking Fantastic than we ever could.It matters not to them that having pockets in the front...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @zalamanda +1. »

  2. Those are some big honking tires they are riding in that photo… If I had to guess I say at least 28c and maybe in excess of 30.  Anyone have any idea what the actual tire widths were back in the day of this photo? Separately, I really like this photo b… »

The Bikes

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...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @mcsqueak Wow!  I would not have expected that at all.  The new fat tire bike that G’rilla mentioned from Salsa supposedly weighs 24 lbs with a 1 x 11 drive train- that is truly sick!  I have since switched handle bars to the set up pictured here… more … »

  2. @mcsqueak It’s a Salsa Mukluk.  Tires say 3.8 inches but they measure over 4 when inflated to a whopping 8 psi.  Bike weighs 34 lbs and is set up as a single speed running 32/22.  Not for the faint of heart or legs here in the mountains, but it will climb… »

  3. Winter training rig! »

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...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @DerHoggz I prefer to ride metal frames, compact cranks (gasp), and clincher tires on my Graveur bikes.  CX setup is composite, standard crank and tubs.  Also, for the gravel I run Conti 4 Seasons in 28C… they have proven exceptionally cut and puncture … »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Van Avermaet 3. Cancellara 4. Evans 5. Vanmarcke »

Riding Ugly: Fernando Escartin

Sometimes, getting the job done means doing it by any means necessary. Football coaches, who have just seen their team scrape out a win by a dour defensive effort and a lucky goal, refer to it as “winning ugly”. But any true Velominatus would rather lose photogenically than win ugly. In fact, our credo could well be “it’s no...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. Anyone have a Top 10 Most Ugly on the Bike list they want to share? »

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...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. @Deakus Yeah, not a lot of motivation in the chase or peloton. I would have liked to have Vandenbergh pull it out after doing most of the work, but he just ran out of gas in the last kilometer. »

  2. Well, that kind of sucked.  Paolini, my fellow italian, was a wheelsucker! »

  3. Looks like Haussler is in the race- he didn’t really go down, but was mis-identified by race radio.  Chavanel is going for it with 40k left… he’s got 20 seconds on the lead group. »

  4. Haussler went down HARD… they carried him off.  Vanmarcke is off the back,  Sylvain Chauvanel is looking strong as well. »

  5. cyclingtv has high quality coverage.  ~$80 for the year.  Langeveld is looking good.  Boonen, not so much. »

  6. VSP PICKS: 1. Flecha 2. Vanmarcke 3. Langeveld 4. Steegmans 5. Pozzato »

To Carbone or Not To Carbone?

That is the question. Are carbon wheels a viable option for everyday riding? Should carbon wheels be your go-to wheels rather than your just-for-racing wheels? I don’t really race and I don’t own any carbon wheels and I wonder. Granted, every professional is and has been on carbon wheels for many years so it’s easy to think we sho...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. Sorry for the late addition to this string, but I bought a set of PowerTap 45mm Carbon Tubular Wheels in November 2011 as my training wheelset.  After going through what seemed like an Italian rear tire every other month I glued on some Continental Grand … »

Sur La Plaque: Café Roubaix Haleakala Climbing Wheels

I’m not going to lie to you, friction is an asshole. In the bottom bracket, in the bending of every single link in your chain as it rolls over the cogs and threads its way through the rear derailleur, and in the pulleys themselves, the devils. I cleaned out my rain bike last weekend after a few rides where I was forced to neglect my usual dai...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. I don’t know about y’all but I am ready to go take that exam with @Tessar.  Pretty sure I’ll pass now ; )  Sweet fuckin’ wheels Frank!  I use a set of Zipp 303 Tubulars as a race/climbing wheelset and they indeed feel faster than wheels that are only marg… »

Guest Article: Focus

@scaler911 likes beer and pizza, as we all do. I bet Jensie does too. He races more, we drink more, he has to finish each stage at the Tour, us, not so much. There must be a balance to all our cycling lives. Since we don’t have to earn a living racing we can relax a bit but this word “relax” maybe where the trouble lies.Yours in C...

@Anjin-san's posts:

  1. Well said.  In a couple of sadistically challenging races this year I came to the realization that cycling focus is very similar to the meditation that we practice at my Taekwondo dojang.  Go to that calm place and the effort just seems to flow out of you… »

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