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

Velominatus: zeitzmar

Order: Level 3 Velominatus

Location: Redmond, Washington, USA

I'm a longtime cross country runner and sometime swimmer who discovered my love for cycling when I bought my first road bike, a 1981 Raleigh Gran Sport that was waiting for me in the basement of the LBS in my tiny college town in Iowa. I quickly fell (not literally, not yet) for the sport and have been rapidly discovering the many joys of the way of the wheel. My sensei turned me on to la Vie Velominatus and the rest is history. I'm a recent Biology graduate from a small liberal arts school in Iowa and I currently work as an au pair (basically a manny) in France.

@zeitzmar'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...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps): 1. Wiggo 2. Nibali 3. Hesjedal 4. Scarponi 5. Evans »

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...

@zeitzmar's posts:

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

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...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. @Nate That they are! I don’t have an issue with them, but if I did I don’t have the money right now to do anything about it. »

  2. @mouse thanks! I was lucky that I found a chrome one because I think it would have been hard to match the original color. »

  3. Long story short, I just moved back to Redmond, Washington to live with my parents after 4 years in Iowa for school and 7 months in France working as an au pair. Sadly I had to leave my 1984 Peugeot in France with a friend and I found this 1990 Miyata 721… »

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...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Wiggo 2. Nibali 3. Hesjedal 4. Basso 5. Evans »

  2. I think a good viewing of this is in order: »

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...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. @RedRanger yes, I’m all about those. This is what I have been riding in France, although sadly I have to sell it to buy my return ticket. I’d love to find something else like it though. @G’rilla 53 or 54 cm C-T. I’m definitely down to ride, once I find… »

  2. @Deakus Thanks! Sometimes I feel like a fraud calling myself a Velominatus because my upcoming equipment debates will not be tubular vs. clincher or carbon vs. alu box section but something more like Huffy vs. Schwinn. I just want to find a bike that is g… »

  3. Fellow Velominati, At the beginning of April I will be leaving my au pair job in France and returning to the US to live in the Seattle metro area (specifically the Eastside) with my parents. I am a jobless, almost penniless college graduate, and it will … »

Frank vs. The Volcano, Part Trois

At some point, I reckon the idea may dawn on me that I’m not a climber. Eighty kilos and standing something just shy of two meters, I’m not clear on why climbing is what speaks to me most about Cycling; I’m certainly not built like a grimpeur. But there is no question about it; I love riding in the mountains. I only have to catch...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. Is there some sort of V-filter on the French internet? »

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;...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. I’ve found myself in a position where my only pump is a €14 handpump from Decathlon (a sports megastore here in France). I lack the necessary Velominatus Budgetatus savvy to acquire an actual pump, so I’m running my tyres at whatever pressure my forearms … »

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...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. @Deakus Thanks! I’m really missing riding fixed here in France, but the hills in the countryside around Paris are killer and I’m glad I have a road bike with derailleurs here. I’m hoping to take my french bike back to the states with me now that I know it… »

  2. third time’s the charm? »

  3. Merde ! »

  4. My college ride, left behind in Iowa at my ex-girlfriend’s mom’s house when I moved to France. Luckily she’s a huge fan of mine so I know it’ll still be there when I go back. I think it’s fairly rules-compliant for a fixed gear road bike. I found the 1990… »

On Rule #9: Love the Work

Fitness. The rhythm, the feeling of precision in our movement, the sensations of The Ride. The temptation of knowing we might in some way control our suffering even as we push harder in spite of the searing pain in our legs and lungs. The notion that through suffering, we might learn something rudimentary about ourselves – that we might f...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. @Deakus @pistard Actually that’s just his name. It would be funny if he were actually a 6-year old well of cycling knowledge. »

  2. So I work as an au pair in a town just outside of Paris. Sometimes when the kids I take care of are rowdy, I suggest that we do some drawings. Naturally I draw velos because I’m shit at anything else, and the boys of course want to join me. The 6 year old… »

Look Pro(phetic): Muck Around with Your Seatpost

I have a friend who is borderline OCD. He’ll sometimes wash his hands dozens of times a day, doesn’t like sticky stuff, cats drive him to antihistamine hell and there is a place for everything, with everything in its place. This can be annoying, not only for those around him, but especially for himself. It’s not a great place to b...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. I wonder what it would be like if this guy met The Prophet in person: »

Ride Like a Leader: White Bar Tape

When done correctly, Cycling can be both the hardest and dirtiest of sports. We relish in the glory of returning from a ride, battered by the four winds and soaked by the seven rains; our bodies, faces, and machines covered in the reasons why most people might stay indoors. Given that, there is something almost cavalier about submitting to the delu...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. I just got some new bar tape on my French steed. White cotton tape (a la The Prophet) purchased from Cycles Alex Singer in Levallois for 4€. The non Rules compliant saddle-to-bar drop is because I just switched to my rain saddle and didn’t get a chance to… »

Guest Article: Where the hell are all the Velominata hiding?

It is October, the last VSP of the season is up, there is still some race in China no one cares about. The road racing season is over. It is time for a little Velominati reflection. We tried to put in as many women’s races into the VSP as we could. They get little press, finding a start list is tough, picking the top five even tougher. But th...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. I somehow stumbled into this 1984 Dura Ace Group-san equipped Gios Torino (think Roger de Vlaeminck) for $175 at the local bike shop in my small Iowa college town. I had been looking for a bike for my girlfriend and it was a steal, for the components alon… »

La Vie Velominatus: Ritual

Along the lines of what Bruce Dickinson famously decreed while espousing the medical benefits of cowbell in the remedy of rare types of influenza, I put my shoes on one at a time – just like you. But after I’ve got my shoes on, I ooze Fluidly Harmonic Articulation.As Cyclists, we wield the mighty power of The V, yet lay victim to the na...

@zeitzmar's posts:

  1. @itburns My friends who we met up with were doing RAGBRAI with a truck pulling an old airstream. They had a designated driver who took all their stuff and also served as a sag wagon when a rider needed a day off. They brought tents, but in every town were… »

  2. @graham d.m. You should definitely ride RAGBRAI! It’s a lot of fun, and you meet some really amazing people along the way. I did a day and a half with a friend and we joined a larger group and strangers welcomed us into their homes when it started stormin… »

  3. @wiscot Thanks for the welcome! I agree with new bar tape, although I’d like to find something that aesthetically matches the bike. I’m hoping to make a trip to Alex Singer just outside of Paris to see what they have. As for the saddle, it’s a Brooks, and… »

  4. @graham d.m. Thanks! The bike had been sitting in this guy’s garage in a small village near where I live. I guess it was his son’s but my French is shitty enough that I didn’t really understand what he was saying. I went to school at Grinnell College (in… »

    5. Older Posts