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

Velominatus: Paco

Order: Level 4 Velominatus

Paco has not set up a V-Profile.

@Paco's activity:

New Rule: 52 (Plus a Guest Reverence)

With the writing of our first book supposedly well underway (but in reality being discussed ad-nauseum in the Boardroom rather than actually committed to text), The Rules have at least been getting some form of attention from The Keepers. When deciding which Rules each of us were to curate, no-one really had much idea what exactly was in there; ask...

@Paco's posts:

  1. This rule is too much about the look. Why dehydrate yourself, or make too many stops just to look cool? Riding without having to stop is much cooler than stopping. »

Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2012

We are proud to announce a change to the Velominati Super Prestige moving forward: sponsorship. We are delighted (if a little surprised) at the interest our partners showed in this endeavor, despite the short notice we gave them. Four sponsors will be gracing the sides of our team bus for this year’s race: fi’zi:k is our Super Domesti...

@Paco's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. B. Wiggins 2. C.Evans 3. F.Schleck 4. D.Menchov 5. R.Gesink »

La Vie Velominatus: The Rain Bike

In our privileged stables of bikes, it ranks towards the bottom of the heap as Bike #2 or lower, but the Rain Bike is no slouch. This is, after all, the bike we rely on in bad weather, trusting it to carry us safely through what typically amounts to the most dangerous conditions we ride in. Provided you ride year-round, you likely ride this machin...

@Paco's posts:

  1. And after the rainbike comes the “pekelfiets” »

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2012

After a winter of long training rides that offered more in the way of numb extremities than it did in acute enjoyment, I have to say that the warming of the air and brightening of the skies have served to remind me that while I love riding in bad weather, I certainly don’t have anything against riding when its nice out.But dont think for...

@Paco's posts:

  1. Nothing special. VSP PICKS: 1. Ivan Basso 2. Frank Schleck 3. Michele Scarponi 4. Roman Kreuzinger 5. Christian Vandevelde »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Fleche Wallonne 2012

I just had to use this pic of Tom Simpson in 1965 wearing the Peugeot kit as the title pic for this year’s VSP for La Fleche Wallonne. Rigid hooked himself up on the Keepers Tour with the same kit he purchased at the Flanders Cycling Museum and it’s Grade A nipple lube. Although victory eluded Simpson in this Classic he still looked dam...

@Paco's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Valverde 3. Vanendert 4. S.Sanchez 5. Voeckler »

Velominati Super Prestige: Amstel Gold Race 2012

When people think of the The Netherlands, they generally think of flat lands, windmills, and a topography where people claim to “live at elevation” when their home on the third floor of a building. Never the less, this is not entirely true as The Motherland does, in its most southern reaches, boast quite hilly terrain; the province of...

@Paco's posts:

  1. 6->12 Hoogerland Veuckler Sagan F.Schleck Gilbert Van Avermaet Freire VSP PICKS: 1. Valverde 2. Samuel Sanchez 3. J.Rodriquez 4. Mollema 5. Westra »

Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The 2012 Velominati Super Prestige kicks off in proper form this season with the debut of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as part of the series. I’m tempted to stubbornly refer to this race as Het Volk, but I’ll toe the line and refer to the race by its bewildering new(ish) name.This is a tricky race to predict because the big races in April ar...

@Paco's posts:

  1. They have an IPhone and Android app. http://www.appmiral.com/ »

Il Progetto: Nederaap CX-V

Building a frame has been, since childhood, a dream which always seemed a little bit out of reach. Aside from not being sure how not to do it wrong, I’ve always assumed that, in addition to nunchuck and computer-hacking skills, my lacking of welding skills would render any would-be frame unridable at best and lethal at worst. Not to mention...

@Paco's posts:

  1. @JC Belgium Don’t use this bike in Holland, the Belgen will laugh about it… @Paco Not that is not a beautiful bike, just the name! »

  2. @JC Belgium Don’t use this bike in Holland, the Belgen will laugh about it… »

Ride Like a Girl: Marianne Vos

While it took seven Belgians to dominate the Men’s Cyclocross World Championship race on Sunday, it only took a single Dutchwoman to dominate the women’s race. That’s seven times more dominanter, if my math is correct – which it always is.Cyclocross fascinates me, mostly because it is completely insane. But I admit: I like...

@Paco's posts:

  1. @JC Belgium Here it is She probably will be allowed to start in some local races not organised by the UCI. Of course, watts per kilogram say more about efficiency than reaching the finish line as first. It will still be hard for her to finish in a cri… »

  2. She was pushing 6,63Watts/kg at a test with the Rabobank team. That is more than most men, this is a Gilbert like wattage. Her coach Jeroen Blijlevens asked the cycling union if she can start in men’s racing a few times, to still have something challengin… »

The Language of the Peloton

I can’t understand the American obsession with finger food in general and sliders in particular. Finger food, in its strict interpretation, should be food for your fingers, not food which is eaten with one’s fingers. While “finger food” is inaccurate as a generality, sliders are basically just hamburgers that never got the...

@Paco's posts:

  1. There are a lot of strange cycling terms in Dutch, but I don’t know if they are interesting enough to read for a non Dutch speaker. Here are some examples in Dutch, French and Flemish. Derde bal (Dutch). (3th ball literally). A big pimple that can pop up… »

Velominati Super Prestige: 2011 Clasica San Sebastian

The Velominati Super Prestige continues with it’s typical post-Tour follow up, Classica San Sebastian. The race isn’t normally given much credit, though it stands out as the first major classic of the Summer season. It’s unfortunate that the race suffers from the ill effect of being overshadowed by the Tour; if it occurred anywhe...

@Paco's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Rodriquez 3. Rojas 4. Hushovd 5. LL Sanchez »

Velominati Super Prestige: 2011 Le Tour de France

While a good number of Velominati get all uppity around May and make rash statements like their preferred Grand Tour is the Giro d’Italia, because it has more and bigger climbs, beautiful white roads and crazy tifosi, there’s no denying that Le Tour de France is the real grandaddy of them all.Admit it, July trumps May every time. Conti...

@Paco's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Alberto Contador 2. Andy Schleck 3. Samuel Sanchez 4. Robert Gesink 5. Ivan Basso »

Guest Article: Cutting Weight

Weight. There are few segments of the population more obsessed with it than cyclists, apart from teenage girls and young men hoping to be selected for the highschool varsity ballet team (wrestling). Our sport is unique in the respect that friction between road and rider doesn’t significantly increase or decrease with rider weight, meaning tha...

@Paco's posts:

  1. @Xyverz You can never win (or even finish) a race on such a diet. Eating normally, only use pills when you know you have a shortage of something and HTFU is much more efficient. »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Fléche Wallonne

La Fléche would perhaps be my least favorite classic, were it not for Gent-Wevelgem’s ill-timed bike-throw in their race for last place. It isn’t anything to do with the quality of these races themselves, but more to do with the company they travel in. Gent used to be sandwiched between de Ronde and Roubaix, just as La Fléche is betwe...

@Paco's posts:

  1. @Paco Contador won’t started. Swapped with Gerrans VSP PICKS: 1. Vino 2. Gilbert 3. Gerrans 4. Rodriguez 5. Di Luca »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Vino 2. Gilbert 3. Contador 4. Rodriguez 5. Di Luca »

Velominati Super Prestige: Amstel Gold Race

Holland. Not known as a hilly country, this. I have relatives who live “at elevation” near the Kinderdijk, where I took this photo. They live at 3m above sea level. Right. Known more for wind than we are for hills, then. In fact, one of the many (many) interesting things about the Netherlands is that while most countries use windmills...

@Paco's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Geesink 2. Frank Shleck 3. Gilbert 4. Vinokourov 5. Freire »

Gelukkig Sinterklaas

Today is a pretty important day in the Netherlands (and Belgium). It’s the day we pull rank on those who only celebrate Christmas. While the rest of the world awaits December 25th for Santa to deliver a new bike, for the Dutch December 5th is the eve of Sinterklaas, or “Loot Day”, as I like to call it. Settle in for an uncharacter...

@Paco's posts:

  1. @Steampunk I think I mix up languages. I mean castrated rooster (“haan” in dutch, sounds similar to hen, that is “kip” in dutch. »

  2. “Kapoentje” Does means “castrated hen” according to the “Van Dale” dictionary, but I heard it used to be used for castrated man, circumsized man or someone celibate (sexual abstinence). It might refer to the celibacy of the bishop Sinterklaas in a sarcast… »

Bar-O-Phelia

It starts with a casual observation. You hardly even noticed when it happened, but something shifted in your mind. A bit later the same observation is made again, this time in a slightly different context. It happens again and again and the observations layer atop one another like sheets of tracing paper that, when flattened together, form a comple...

@Paco's posts:

  1. The carbon bar I use for a year now, absorb shocks so much better than the metal bars I had before. I don’t miss the bar tape on the flat area on bad roads without gloves. I also use thinner tape than I did previously with the metal bars. When you don’t n… »

  2. I have seen pros from Skill, Rabobank, Astana, Caisse d’Epargne and Katusha riding with flat carbon bars. Different riders in the same team use different bars and different ways of taping. Also compact bars seam to be more popular. It is just personal pre… »