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

Velominatus: razmaspaz

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

Location: Exurban Chicago

@razmaspaz's activity:

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. to swap in Cuddles or not, that is the question.  He has a good lead on Uran, but I’m not convinced he’s invincible.  Risk 10 to gain 5?  Mmm… »

The Rules

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @Sauterelle Forget cycling, isn’t this just good judgement?  Sports apparel should be reserved for playing sports, and would you wear a Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Raven’s jersey in a football game if you weren’t a Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Raven?… »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @Lukas I could never be a pro; having shitty jamiroquai tracks stuck in my head would drive me to an early grave. »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @Deakus Wild Boys is a clear example of why my parents believed MTV to be the spawn of satan. »

  2. @Deakus As one of those youngsters I’m quite familiar with the song, but not the video.  Are you sure this isn’t the broadway adaptation of Apocalypse Now? »

  3. Anyone else think the Lotto Belisol kit looks a million times better with the grey/silver lids? »

Self-Chosen: Il Pirata & Il Giro

We continue our Six Days of the Giro series with a look at the troubled bond between Marco Pantani and the Giro.Some were meant to be tormented, as though it were preordained that their brilliance should be balanced with fatal flaws. These are tortured souls, whose dramatic highs are equalled only by the devastating depths of their lows. Continu...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @anthony sands As an unqualified dork, I find your use of the word dork offensive. »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @motor city The Giro is such a different animal from last year’s Tour that it really can’t be called into play.  With an uphill TT and numerous nasty grades, look for Nibali to ride away from Wiggins the way Froome did in the tour last year, except he w… »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Nibali 2. Ryder 3. Wiggins 4. Phinney 5. Scarponi »

  3. I don’t see how Wiggins wins a stage race with a 20k uphill TT.  I’m guessing even if he does dominate the other TT, it’s not enough. VSP PICKS: 1. Nibali 2. Ryder 3. Wiggins 4. Phinney 5. Basso »

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 &#...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Nibali 2. Gilbert 3. Henao 4. J Rod 5. Valverde »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @PeakInTwoYears I have new 105 shifters and brakes on my Trek, with stock 105 pads, and I cannot imagine ever needing more stopping power. »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

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

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. Here’s hoping »

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

Paris-Roubaix 2013-Ride the Crown

Was Paris-Roubaix the best of the Spring Classics in 2013? Milan-Sanremo was amazingly photogenic, Ronde van Vlaanderen was inevitable but Roubaix was just about perfect. We all prefer the wet and gray “This weather is good for us” Roubaix yet this race’s drama transcended the fine spring day in the North of France. There is no be...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. Who dares doubt the sure thing?  I have to admit I couldn’t figure out how he was going to do it when OPQS had 2 riders in the break, but I knew that he would do it.  Had Boonen been present in that break, my faith might have been shaken. »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @Gianni If pro cyclist is an over romanced occupation, retired pro is surely underrated.  This has to be the best job in the world.  Getting paid to make amateurs look amateur.  I couldn’t tell if Frank got his wheel… »

  2. I hate to be boring, but there just isn’t a compelling argument for anyone else to win. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Chavanel 3. Phinney 4. Tjallingii 5. Boom »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Bronzini 3. Armitstead 4. Johannson 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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Chavenel 2. Cancellara 3. Sagan 4. Boasson Hagen 5. Boom »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

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

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Hushovd 3. Boonen 4. G. Thomas 5. Cav »

The Rules

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. @the Engine It turns out the laws of physics are more like guidelines anyway.  If you go fast enough they simply cease to apply.  Einstein did not quibble with Rule V. »

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...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. Going for broke and calling it a sprint day.  If the weather forecast goes to shit, I might revise this. VSP PICKS: 1. Cav 2. Sag 3. Greipel 4. Renshaw 5. Boonen »

Passista

My first article on Velominati was to introduce one of my favorite cyclists, Eros Poli. I refered to him as a domestique on the Mercatone-Uno team. This faux pas was properly pointed out much later by @KaffeineKeiser, a commenter who suddenly surfaced and unfortunately submerged just as quickly, like Das Boot in the Straits of Gibraltar.*I do tak...

@razmaspaz's posts:

  1. Very nice, but as you say: who wouldn’t want to be a big cobble crushing beast that can can just ride people’s legs off when required?  The mind of the passista must be the most self motivated in the peloton.  This seems to be the hardest of tasks, and … »

    2. Older Posts