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

Velominatus: anotherdownunder

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

Melbourne Australia

@anotherdownunder's activity:

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2013, Stage 10

Day 5 of the Six Days of the Giro continues with an impromptu VSP event.Lets have a look at where we are in the 2013 Giro. Wiggins must have spent time training in Luxembourg because he’s been descending like a Schleck when things get dodgy before disappearing into the team van to have a cry about it. Hesjedal has put in some good moves and...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Nibali 2. Evans 3. Ryder 4. Henao 5. Scarponi »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

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

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. Question for the CX crowd if I may. When sorting out which size to get do you stick with same size as road bike or do you go a size bigger or smaller? Reason for asking is that there may be a CX bike available to purchase shortly and was thinking N+1. b… »

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 &#...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. GIlbert 2. Gerrans 3. Valverde 4. Nibali 5. Joaquin Rodriguez »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. helps to pick riders who are entered… VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Gilbert 3. Contador 4. Valverde 5. Kwiatkowski »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Gilbert 3. Gerrans 4. Valverde 5. Kwiatkowski »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Johansson 2. Vos 3. Borghini 4. Kupfernagel 5. Borgato »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Gilbert 3. Gerrans 4. Van Avermaet 5. Kwiatkowski »

Guest Article: Finding My Level

Keepers Tour 2012 veteran @ChrisO is back to his racing ways in Cyprus. Yes, this is not Northern France; let us take a brief respite and go to warmer Mediterranean climes. This is ChrisO’s second guest article about his racing; his first was a stage race, the Tour of Sharjah, last year. Yours in Cycling, Gianni Continue reading...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. I am impressed by the amount of food you consumed, that is a serious amount of calories. Well done for having a crack, has reminded me I need to commit to going back to racing this road season. Missed the whole crit season because I just could not be b… »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Roelandts 3. Maaskant 4. Haussler 5. Pozzato »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Worrack 3. Cromwell 4. Neylan 5. Stevens »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Geraint Thomas 3. Sagan 4. Chavanel 5. Gatto »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Armistead 3. Borgato 4. Kuchinskya 5. Guderzo »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Boonen 3. Chavanel 4. Guardini 5. Farrar »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Cancellara 3. Thor 4. Pozzato 5. Goss »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde Van Drenthe 2013

Ok, so you guys and gals don’t miss a trick, but sometimes we do. In fact, we kind of specialize in it. @Bianchi Denti just texted me to point out, as others have done on site, that we have almost missed the next stop on the VVomen’s VSP calendar, the Ronde Van Drenthe. On International Women’s Day, of all things.All I can tell yo...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Emma Johansson 3. Loren Rowney 4. Elena Kuchinskaya 5. Rochelle Gilmore »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Sagan 3. Cadel 4. Sacha Modolo 5. Boom »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Elena Kuchinskaya 2. Loren Rowney 3. Chloe Hosking 4. Charlotte Becker 5. Elizabeth Armistead »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. And the stress levels rise. VSP PICKS: 1. Boom 2. Roelandts 3. Hushovd 4. Phinney 5. Nuyens »

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…...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. @brian I would expect that  Rapha will sell a bazzilion of the Team Sky kit courtesy of  Sir Wiggo and the increase in cycling exposure in UK. Overall it is not a bad looking kit, is not for me, but will sell well I think. Is a lot more stylish than th… »

The Sunday Morning Reasonable Ride

I rousted Frank early. The Sunday morning group ride rolls out at 6:30 am from Twin Falls. As I put bikes in the truck  I saw a sky full of stars, a good indicator for a beautiful morning ride. I have been crazed to show Frank our local Sunday morning group ride and now he was on Maui it was finally going to happen. It is a Casually Deliberate rid...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. Speaking of warm water, it was 40C plus today in Melbourne and the water in the pool is a bath like 33C degrees. I read of you guys battling cold and crap weather in the North, down here it is so hot. But great dry heat, not humid. »

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...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. @mouse Will be very interested in a longer term appraisal, especially of the wheels. Stuff like Enve and Zipp are big $$ and these are about 40% of the price of those. I assume you did a bit of research on the rims as probably a lot of stuff from China i… »

Book Reviews: Racing Through the Dark, The Secret Race

I must admit to not having read most of the cycling memoirs in the Works. I may eventually but the local public library doesn’t carry any of them and never will so I’ll have to buy them or ask Frank to tote everything he has to Hawaii. I did get off my wallet and buy these two and it was money well spent. David Millar and Tyler Hamilton...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. The Millar book is well worth the read, not a big fan of him these days to be honest, but I did enjoy the book. And as to this Cyclops: “Me: I got to quit racing so conservatively.  I mean, I’m just an overweight master, it’s not like there is money on t… »

Guest Article: Bikes Smell Awesome Too.

@snoov moves the topic away from Lance, doping, EPMS, and Berty’s Spanish adventures. Our brains are so crammed with nonsense our childhood memories get jammed deep down into the center.  A memory waits to be released and sometimes it’s a remembered smell that floats it up to the surface. VLVV, Gianni…...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. So many memories…. There was a shop in Blackburn ,Victoria, Australia run by a grumpy old man, was early in my cycling that I frequented it. Was full of crap but a wonderful place. One of the things I loved was that he sold bikes, guns, ammo and darts… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s Olympic Road Race 2012

What a difference four years can make. In Beijing, Nicole Cooke was the dominant rider in Women’s Cycling, taking wins in every important race on the Women’s calendar for several years running. Fast finish, good in the hills, good against the clock, she helped give context to what we mean by the term “all rounder”.Four year...

@anotherdownunder's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Pooley 2. Bronzini 3. Arndt 4. Cooke 5. Vos »

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