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Author Archive for frank
Frank Strack, Founder and Editor

A lifelong Velominatus, the history and culture within cycling fascinates Frank (pronounced in Dutch and Flemish as “Fränk”) and, if given even the vaguest of excuses, will discuss it ad nausium. A devoted cycling aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Question? Email me.

2012 V-Moment of the Year: Boonen Goes Long

by frank / Dec 26 2012 / 110 posts

Yes, I know, I have a major thing for Boonen. But come on, wouldn’t you? Look at those guns. Look at that position on the bike. He even makes that ugly Specialized helmet look good. He even makes that ugly Specialized Roubaix look good, come to think of it. And those White Ladies? Kill me now.Picking The V-Moment of the year is always a tough...

Velominati Photo Contest: Season 2012

by frank / Dec 21 2012 / 252 posts

Truth be told, how many of us can resist a photo of ourselves Looking Fantastic on the bike? How many of us can resist the temptation of taking our eyes off the road and stealing a glimpse of ourselves in a shop window as we pass by? Not me, but then again a strong case could be made for my being a narcissist and I freely admit that I love looking...

Peer Pressure

by frank / Dec 17 2012 / 145 posts

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;...

Anatomy of a Photo: Six Days are for Closers

by frank / Dec 7 2012 / 47 posts

What do you do during the off-season when your name is Roger de Vlaeminck and you’re a certified organic free-range studmuffin?You roll down to the local Six Day in your Chick MagnetTM tweed suit and bring the ladies in for your pals while you stay Pre-Race Kelly, that’s what.…...

Gelukkig Sinterklaas

by frank / Dec 6 2012 / 59 posts

December 6th is possibly the biggest holiday of the year for the Dutch. We put out our shoe, we write gedichten, we play pranks on each other, and we exchange gifts. As luck would have it, the good old Sint made a stop by the Velominati Headquarters in Seattle and left me an absurdly large bottle of dry lube; the the point where I felt like I need...

Look Pro: The Hunchbacks of Notre V

by frank / Dec 3 2012 / 114 posts

The flat back position is perhaps the greatest lie ever told in sport, provided you ignore any of the racing we’ve seen in the last decade or two.It is possible, I suppose, that when we talk about a flat back, what we really mean is that on an elementary level, all curves are really just a series of straight segments connected at an angle; wh...

Product Review: Bont Vaypor and Vaypor XC

by frank / Nov 26 2012 / 123 posts

I have weird feet, apparently. It’s not really something you normally come to realize without asking questions that one rarely has reason to ask. I might have asked them, though, had I ever had any notion that feet don’t always have to hurt in a cycling shoe. Hurt might be a strong word – more like “squished” or “numb”. I’ve also h...

Anatomy of a Photo: V-Bank Line of Credit

by frank / Nov 21 2012 / 45 posts

Economics, in its most simple form, follows the Conservation of Mass as defined in physics. Basically, everything goes according to plan so long as outflow is less than or equal to inflow. Failing that, the balance is upset and things start getting complicated. Before long, the calculus starts revolving around “imaginary numbers” (like...

The Eye of Sauron

by frank / Nov 19 2012 / 132 posts

Aside from wheels staying in one piece and the frame holding together, the thing we take most for granted when riding a bike is how our bodies instinctively respond to and absorb bumps. The human body is, in fact, an incredible shock-absorber; our arms and legs are capable of flexing and shifting in ways that no mechanical suspension is capable of...

Solitude

by frank / Nov 12 2012 / 114 posts

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...
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