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.

The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige continues with its the first Summer Classic, Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian, on Saturday, July 31. This will be the first post-Tour event in the series and with the unpredictability of how riders are recovering, it makes this race a tough one to predic…

It’s a good question, this: who in their right mind would willfully hurt themselves doing something they “enjoy”? I’m guessing psychologists have a word for this type of behavior, and I’m not afraid to assume it’s not a flattering one. Indeed, we are all of…

I think the last time I cheered for the guy who won the Tour de France must have been Greg LeMond in 1990. Although he would later become one of my favorite riders ever, I didn’t cheer for Jan Ullrich in 1997 because wasn’t cool enough yet.  I didn’t cheer for another eternal…

Looking back on this year’s Tour, it occurs to me it’s been one of the best Tours I’ve seen.  The 2003 Tour will forever go down as my favorite, but mostly because we were there that year, my boy Jan Ullrich nearly won, and I got to sit on Ullrich’s TT bike right before…

At one point [Conan the Barbarian], and his other old warrior friends capture this village, but then they find that they are surrounded by an army of tens of thousands, and his only reaction is, “Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!” – Jens Voigt…

The Cycling Aesthete

by frank / Jul 20 2010 / 23 posts

There are those who are challenged to find the value of aesthetics in a sport which requires eating 11T cogs buttered with chain oil for breakfast and drinking kegs of Rule 5 at dinner. Ye of the Congoscenti, I present you with the following photos of some of the quintessential hardmen of our s…

We Are Not Animals

by frank / Jul 19 2010 / 49 posts

Of all people, a Velominatus knows that our sport is a civilized one; it is steeped in tradition and etiquette and rife with unwritten rules. High on the list of unwritten rules are those that outline acceptable behavior when various hardships befall the leader of a Grand Tour. One of the reas…

The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige launches it’s second VSP Sub-Competition with Stage 14 of the Tour de France.  The competition will allow contestants the opportunity to win bonus points in the VSP Tour de France by choosing the top three finishers of the stage for a chance t…

One of the most cherished bits in my toolbox are the four rolls of 3M Electrical Tape: red, green, white, and black. In the past, I’ve used off-brands, but those appear to use an adhesive that leaves a gooey residue and the tape itself seems to shrink (especially in heat) as it sits in it…

Those who complete the Tour de France are referred to as The Giants of the Road, and a look back at the first week of the Tour doesn’t leave much room for wondering why.  With barely ten stages behind us, we’ve seen some amazing battles.  We’ve seen Pharmstrong take a smal…