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

Velominatus: actor1

Order: Level 4 Velominatus

@actor1's activity:

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...

@actor1's posts:

  1. *hands* on tops… »

  2. hand on tops for warming up & descending. hands on hoods/drops for climbing/hammering.  opens up the chest more for more air, but i try to move them closer to regulate breathing & slow the heart rate a little.  but that’s just me, quite a bit off … »

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...

@actor1's posts:

  1. total shot in the dark (or a shot into the luce, considering this event)…. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. mini-Phinney 3. Tyler Farrar 4. Peter Sagan 5. Cadel Evans »

Guest Anatomy of a Photo: Here We Rest

@steampunk dropped this beauty of a photo on us. Volumes being spoken here, none of which makes being a pro look so great. Thanks Steamy.VLVV, Gianni…...

@actor1's posts:

  1. and the key is still hanging in the lock. »

Peer Pressure

Eight point V bar. From the moment I bought my first set of high quality road clinchers, I’ve ridden at that pressure. I started with that number because that’s the pressure the sidewall told me to pump them up to; I didn’t yet understand much about balancing the benefits of high and low pressures to optimize comfort and friction;...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @Batman i’m a firm believer in the conti gatorskins.  i’m 88kg, 193cm tall, & ALWAYS ride them at 110.  i’ve never had a pinch flat (of course, having said that, i’ll get one on my next ride) in the 4 sets i’ve had.  the trick on installing new ones i… »

Solitude

The task spreads out before me like molasses poured onto a tabletop, indulging in its viscous immensity. Its growing breadth makes it a kind of enigma, the sort distinguished by an elusive end and therefor an intangible beginning. It occurs to me, at this moment, that the difference between those who achieve and those who stagnate is not measu...

@actor1's posts:

  1. for a minimalist-padded goatskin glove, try aerotech designs. it’s got a crotched back, & the company is in pennsylvania.  they make most of their stuff right here in the good old u.s. of a.   »

V-Announcements: The Way of the Cycling Disciple

We interrupt the current programming for the following announcement:The more clever among you might have noticed slight shiftings of the sands, a new scent on the breeze. Indeed, the Velominati Boardroom has been bristling with activity of late; the meetings longer and more regular, the pints downed in quicker succession, the views shouted in loud...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @actor1 and DEFINITELY n.s.f.w. if you turn the volume up. »

  2. when you go on the book tour, make sure you use “siri” to ask where to get some food & drink, & use a scottish accent. a clip for apple scotland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGxKhUuZ0Rc&feature=youtube_gdata_player »

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...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @936adl we’ll be there for stage 11!  staying in grenoble on wed. night, then we’ll try to hitch a ride to the top of either croix de fer or get to the finish at la toussuire.  where will you be?  any chance you’ve rented a camper & need 2 people to h… »

  2. i’m also going to add a prediction for a stage win: big george.  i don’t think he’ll have the fortitude to make a podium step, or even top 5 overall, but here’s hoping he’ll at least get a stage win in his final tour! by the way, any velominatii going to… »

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...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @frank yup, rule violation duly noted. but somehow, & maybe this is harkening back to being a kid & seeing how fast a red bike looks, it’s mine & it makes me go faster: the essence of V. as for the stem, i’m slowly adjusting it down through the spacers…. »

  2. @eightzero yeah, you’re right about noncompliance w/ Rule #8. i just added the red bits on to pick up the ones on the frame, & black tape seemed too generic… »

  3. i’m posting my humble steed for review: 2009 fuji roubaix pro, 64cm ultegra: -6700 10-speed shifters* -6601 53-39t, 175mm cranks* -front* & rear derailleur zero g brakeset* ritchey w.c.s. logic II wet black os bars* origin 8 stem* fi'zi:k tape*, hudz “rou… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2012

We rode the Pavé of Roubaix in the dry, and any comforting feelings we might have been carrying about with us that suggested we had somehow prepared for them were summarily vaporized as we hit the first secteur. Riding together in a group, unable to reach for the brakes or the shifters, we all were hit with the same realization: these aren’...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @The Oracle re: photo #10 is frönk’s “O”-face. wow. what a day! my 12th wedding anniversary & a great morning spent drinking coffee & watching w/my gracious wife! »

  2. yeah, i know. i’m subjecting myself to all sorts of ridcule. george has had a great career & chances are good he won’t make it, but hey, i’m going to pull for the underdog anyway… VSP PICKS: 1. hincapie 2. boonen 3. pozzato 4. van summeren 5. ph… »

Asheville, North Carolina Mini-Cogal

Asheville, North Carolina holds the distinction of being the only town in the world wherein I came across an elderly gentleman who asked me where the “shindig” was. The shindig, I came to learn, was in reference to an impromptu bluegrass festival the town was having, and a while later we came upon the same gentleman busy ripping it up...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @actor1 “country”… »

  2. @Red red, you’re in dc? another velominatus also in the district! wishing i could go too, since i spent 2 summers in boone–beautiful ocuntry. & yes, much more likely to find a meth lab than a st*rb*cks. we’ll have to get a dc cogal set up here… »

La Vie Velominatus: The Toolkit

Even as a Pre-Cambrian Velominatus, the rusty wires in my brain must have made the connection between my machine’s aesthetics and the lack of a saddle bag; I can’t remember a time when I rode with a European Posterior Man Satchel. But riding without a saddle bag means the tools go in the pocket, and that means great care must be take...

@actor1's posts:

  1. tried to ride w/ the man-purse under the saddle. kept getting a feeling of ‘hey, that hurts’ every time i turned the pedals. looked down between my thighs, yup, 2 big holes on both sides from the velcro tab that holds the under-seat bag in place. haven’t … »

Q1 2012 V-Kit Order

It hasn’t always been this way, where we thoughtlessly disembogue 140 characters or less in messages sent into a medium where our crimes against language, spelling and grammar will live for ever.There was a time when we wrote letters. These letters were carefully composed and penned onto thick, quality parchment paper and sealed in wax. These...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @redranger great video! i’ve always wanted to try that ride. but why, in the name of merckx, can they not figure out that if you’re climbing up that cobbled hill (or any steep grade like that) & you come to a stop, JUST GRAB THE BRAKES & UNCLIP. … »

Look Pro, Part IX: Proper Cycling Caps

Rule #22 is perhaps the most complicated Rule amongst the (currently) 85. Part of the complexity springs from the fact that we are all very attached to this small cotton cap. Off the bike, it was once a badge used to recognize one of our own; now it has been taken over by the hipster crowd which subsequently ruined it for those of us who wore th...

@actor1's posts:

  1. cyclops–chapeau!!!!!! »

Indoors at the V and Dime

If we liked breathing stale, recycled air, we’d all take up a sport like wrestling or indoor fly-fishing. But we love the feel of a gale on our faces. We cherish the smell of cow manure filling our nostrils with its almost tangible grittiness. We hold scared the privilege to breathe in diesel fuel while doing hill repeats up l’Alpe d...

@actor1's posts:

  1. @xyxax and don’t forget JANE’S ADDICTION-’mountain song’….. »

  2. @The Oracle ha! i think several of us could be categorized as a brother from another mother. i was in college(s) through the late 80′s/early 90′s… as for social d., agreed! also for more aggro/tight harmony/short bursts of rage: AGENT ORANGE RAMONES… »

  3. @scaler911 during the intro to ‘annihilate this week’, hank intro’s the song w/ what is VERY apropos to this discussion of pain on the rollers: “this next song is about killing yourself to live, it’s called ‘annihilate this week’”. were you the dude ye… »

  4. @actor1 *like a group ride…* »

  5. @Cyclops hey, happy natal day!!!! »