Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: G\'phant

Order: Winner of the Velominati Super Prestige Giro di Lombardia

@G'phant's activity:

Festum Prophetae: The Impossible Hour

Update: You can watch the live stream (assuming it works from the velodrome) on the Velominati channel at USTREAM. When you log in, you’ll first see my little test video of my puppy eating grass. Please disregard me yelling at it. That never happened.I have always considered myself to have a good imagination, something I attribute half to my...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @Russ True that.  Thanks, all – including the Big Mad Dutch Guy.  A great way to spend a rainy Sunday morning working from home … »

  2. Chapeau, Frank.  Strong work. »

  3. Go you Good Thing, go. »

  4. @Buck Rogers We crossed. Thanks. Nowdid only I could  get that video to stream on my iPad… (Anyone know when the next Google balloon is scheduled to fly past?) »

  5. @G’phant Sorry ’bout that, Buck. That one ok? »

  6. 40.44 Go well. Frank. »

  7. 40.4 Go well, Frank. »

The Way of the Cycling Disciple: Publication & e-Book Sampler

Every once in a while, you stumble across a quote that changes your outlook on how you approach life. Of course, this requires that one does a good deal of “reading”, which is a problem for me, as reading anything that isn’t Cycling-related feels the same as doing “work”. I do the odd bit of it nevertheless, and in a r...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Excellent. Excellent. Strong work, lads. Cannot wait to acquire it. Will be heading to Unity Books or Parsons to place an order as soon as I get back to town. Well done. »

Saved By The Bike

Addiction is typically defined as a bad thing. Addiction to drugs, to alcohol, sex or even work is usually portrayed as a condition to be battled, to overcome. The same sources may recommend a strict regime of regular exercise and healthy living as the perfect antidote to the bad addictions that befall an overwhelming majority of the general popul...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @frank Frank, a reasonable and tolerant response, which is to your credit.  Personally, though, I favour  slightly more statements pressing of the same underlying point, thus: “Dear Sandy, if you don’t like the site, don’t fucking read it. We don’t come… »

Anatomy of a Photo: Rule #47

André Leducq was a complete French Badass, with a capital B. He was third, below Merckx and Hinault for Tour de France stage wins. Nicolas Frantz was an equally Badass Luxembourger. He rode to more victories than Frandy Schleck shall ever attain in a few lifetimes. He did win the Tour de France.The crowd is obviously pleased to have these thin, he...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Great photo. Would love to know the background to it. The crowd seem to be watching avidly. They glasses are about equally full. The drinkers are well away from the bar and standing. All this suggests some local ritual or ceremony that is a featured part … »

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 &#...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Belated burst of querelousness now posted as a result of none of my picks posting (despite them showing).  But let that not detract from a brilliant finish. He’s been threatening to do something fully awesome like that for a while, now.  Listening to Sean… »

Guest Article: Bernard Hinault’s 1980 Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Unfortunately the weather for 2013 L-B-L looks a lot nicer than the 1980 episode.  Then again, if the weather looked that bad, they might have cancelled the race or put them on buses before Bastogne and driven them back towards Liege. Who would be the Badger of the peloton of this year’s race in those conditions? Discuss. As always, we have...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Another excellent contribution to the site. Thanks, Wiscot. Keep ‘em coming. »

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 &#...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @Bianchi Denti On the basis that all but five abandon, but Andy is the last to do so… VSP PICKS: 1. Piti 2. Purity 3. G-G-G-Gerro 4. Uran 5. Kwiatkowski »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Spanish treble. JRod’s arm permitting. VSP PICKS: 1. Piti 2. Purito 3. Contodor 4. Phil Gil 5. Porte »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. An upset on the Muur de Huy is In store. Or I don’t know shit. It’s one or the other. My money’s on the second. VSP PICKS: 1. Johansson 2. Van Dijk 3. Vos Boss 4. Lizzie A 5. De Vries »

Velominati Super Prestige: Amstel Gold 2013

Yes it is a race named after a barely drinkable Dutch beer. I have enjoyed Amstel beer, brought to our table by a nice waitress, sitting outside in the Dutch spring. Atmosphere is everything. Do the Dutch brew awesome beer? I drank some good stuff in Amsterdam last spring but I’m pretty sure it was Belgian.Now we begin the Ardennes three race...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. This time … VSP PICKS: 1. Purity 2. Gibbles 3. Bumpinch 4. Terpstra 5. Gerro »

  2. No idea but do not want to Delgado … VSP PICKS: 1. Van Avermaet 2. Gibbles 3. Bumpinch 4. Terpstra 5. Gerro »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Crap shoot – but at least I did not Delgado this time. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabacus 2. Rollin Rollin Roelandts 3. Chavs 4. MinPhin 5. Boom Boom »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Aaaaaaaggghh! Delgadoooooeedddd..,, Damn, damn, damn. Spartacus will win. Not that that will do me any good. Sigh… »

Sur la Plaque: Rule #9

As many of you know, there’s been a lot of synergy between BIGRINGRIDING and Velominati for several years now. Though BRR and Velominati have very different flavors, we work on a similar principle: foster passion for the sport through a mix of knowledge, history, and humor tempered with a healthy dose of irreverence, all while obviously makin...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @JohnB Commiserations.  That sucks.  Heal well. »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @Dinan  He ain’t a douche. A least least, not on account of his wheelies and running men. Because those are funny – or, at least, obviously done with humorous intent.  Cav’s various line-crossing antics are never funny.  More often they are some tiresome … »

  2. Dice rolled, chicken entrails inspected, tea leaves consulted, magic 8-ball shaken, coin tossed, wet finger aired, eeny-meeny-miney-mo played, prayers offered, Cyclingnews read, others’ picks reviewed and self introspected at length. Still, remarkably, no… »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Armitstead 3. Borghini 4. Johansson 5. Collins »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Brett et al, have a blast. »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @Nate Yup. »

    2. Older Posts