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

Velominatus: Simonhi

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

@Simonhi's activity:

Descendeur

We close out the 6 Days of the Giro with our sixth and final installment.A body at rest, stays at rest. A body in motion, stays in motion. Things get a bit more ambiguous when it comes to a body on a bicycle tearing down a twisty mountain descent at speed, particularly in the rain. But it is here, on the boundary between clarity and ambiguity, wher...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. Great article and very timely participate I completed a hilly imperial century last weekend and whilst I’m Too Fat To Climb I found I could make up the deficit when the gradient pointed downwards. Nothing gets my head buzzing more than a fast decent temp… »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. @Mikael Liddy Congrats, my VMH is gonna be that way come November, well timed for out of season !!! »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. Fucking clumsy fingers and apple software correct !!! »

  2. @snoov Cheers snoov, the headset colouring was Rickys idea, I pretty much just let home do his thing and I’m well pleased with the results. The fenders have the same pint striping running down the centreline. Also not shown is the top of the seat stays… »

  3. @Buck Rogers Thanks Mr. Rodgers. I call it my no. 2 more as in chronological order. It will be my go to bike for shitty weather and the odd commuting but mainly for long hard days. It’s a slightly relaxed geometry from my no. 1 which gets tiresome on my b… »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Wiggins 2. Nibali 3. Hesjedal 4. Scarponi 5. Porte »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. I put forward my No.2, made by Ricky Feather of Feather Cycles. I ordered the bike from him at Bespoked in Bristol last year and collected it at the Bespoked a few weeks ago. The bike is based on the paint / car seen in the documentary Urban Outlaw featu… »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Wiggins 2. Nibali 3. Cuddles 4. Basso 5. Hesjedal »

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 &#...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Fast Phil 2. Dan Martin 3. Henao 4. Nibbles 5. Valverde »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Sagan 3. J-Rod 4. Valverde 5. Porte »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Sagan 3. J-Rod 4. Valverde 5. Gerrans »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. Feck !!! VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Johannson 3. Van Dijk 4. Borghini 5. De Vries »

  2. I’m not Delagado’ing again !!! VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Johannson 3. Van Dijk 4. Stevens 5. Borghini »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Faboo 2. Stannard 3. Chavanel 4. Flecha 5. Roelandts »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Armistead 3. Johannson 4. De Vries 5. Stevens »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Armistead 2. Vos 3. Johansson 4. Bronzini 5. Stevens »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Cancellara 3. Boonen 4. Stannard 5. Goss »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. The beast from the east Sagman 2. Cavendouche 3. Faboo 4. EBH 5. Chavanel »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Faboo 3. Boom 4. Potato 5. Flecha »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. G Thomas 2. Thor Hushovd 3. Flecha 4. Chavanel 5. Pozzato »

Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women 2013

Finally, some cold nasty Belgian one day racing. Oman, Qatar, does anyone brag about winning those stage races? Yes, they might but really, it’s a tune up for the real season which finally begins this Saturday. Will racing in China or Oman grow the sport? Will there be a new wave of inspired young racers from these countries. Does professiona...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Armistead 2. Johansson 3. Gunnewijk 4. Worrack 5. Bras »

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...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. @Deakus Hey, I’ll lend you 6.7′s for a day and see if you change your mind !!! »

  2. Carbone all the way for me too. Fair weather on my No.1 I run Enve 6.7 tubs on 23mm Veloflex Criterium tubs. No finer combination of rim / rubber can I imagine. Rule #9 / shitty roads sees the spring classic set a la Fronk come to the blacktop. Nemesis /… »

Insight on Rule #34

Rule #34-Mountain bike shoes have their place-on a mountain bike.During our very recent Cogal I gained some on-the-road insight on Rule #34. We were on a part of the route I have never ridden on a bike and had no memory of. The pavement was pavé, Maui-style. Somewhere deep down below the surface of the road was primordial road, patched with onl...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. I once got off and walked what turned out to be less then a hundred metres, I lost count of the number of bends when scaling my nemesis that I thought I was known here near the top. I felt like such a loser and put in an extra 45km to punish myself for b… »

Not Really A ReView: ENVE SES 3.4 Wheelset

It was said by someone in the posts following Gianni’s excellent review of his tubeless system that an honest, long term analysis by a ‘real’ rider was most welcome. Well, you’re not going to get that here. You will get honesty, for sure, but ‘long term’ doesn’t come into the equation when a week is the am...

@Simonhi's posts:

  1. @brett Hey, there’s no point in me arguing with a Keeper, but seriously, have a read of the linked page on my earlier post, it makes sense. Just becuase a wheel builder says so doesn’t make it right, I used to think that tight spokes made for stiff whe… »

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