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Archive for the ‘Folklore’ Category

In Memoriam: The Tricolore

by frank / Mar 26 2012 / 87 posts

It was a simple time. Team kit was understated, with black shorts and a few colored panels on the jersey. Race Leader and National Championship jerseys were plain, and often even lacking in the name of the sponsor. National Championship jerseys in particular were a matter of national pride more than sponsorship; it was an honor to fly the colors o...

Tubulars: Art, Science, and Ritual

by frank / Mar 21 2012 / 108 posts

As Keepers Tour crossed from dream to reality and routes over the cobblestones of Northern Europe were sketched out, with it came the familiar tingling in my fingertips and uneasy sensation at the base of my spine as my mind starts its irrevocable journey towards categorizing as mandatory an unnecessary indulgence. I was going to need a wheelse...

Belgian Affirmations: Andrei Tchmil

by frank / Nov 11 2011 / 129 posts

Andrei Tchmil got so tired of the palpable disappointment of not being Belgian that he decided to become one. Envision the world the way you want it to be, then make it so.People are cynical when I talk about Belgium. They think I’m only Belgian on paper. That is not true. Yes, I was a Russian, even a proud one…. Now I am proud to be Be...

The Language of the Peloton

by frank / Oct 18 2011 / 72 posts

I can’t understand the American obsession with finger food in general and sliders in particular. Finger food, in its strict interpretation, should be food for your fingers, not food which is eaten with one’s fingers. While “finger food” is inaccurate as a generality, sliders are basically just hamburgers that never got the...

Look Pro, Part IX: Proper Cycling Caps

by frank / Aug 4 2011 / 159 posts

Rule #22 is perhaps the most complicated Rule amongst the (currently) 85. Part of the complexity springs from the fact that we are all very attached to this small cotton cap. Off the bike, it was once a badge used to recognize one of our own; now it has been taken over by the hipster crowd which subsequently ruined it for those of us who wore th...

Notes from Post-Apocalyptica: A Beer in the Bidon Field Test Update (from Phoenix)

by Joshua / Jul 7 2011 / 37 posts

I did not expect the test to go well.  To begin with, no beer holds up well at 96 degrees, and the Fahrenheit mercury outside of the light rail station at Arizona State University in Tempe read 96 degrees.  96 degrees stands far too close to 98.6 degrees, familiar to us all as body temperature, but also (and by association) the temperature of uri...

Look Pro, Part V: The Power of Hair

by frank / Apr 18 2011 / 66 posts

The power of hair is not to be underestimated. Especially when it comes to having it carefully disheveled, with little bits poking out of the vents of your helmet. Indeed, hair sticking out of your helmet vents can be thought of as a conduit to The V; the strands reaching into the Ether, channeling its power like a lightening rod into your very b...

The Unsung Hardmen: Herman Van Springel

by Marko / Jan 3 2011 / 36 posts

Making a name for yourself in the pro ranks during the heyday of Merckx, De Vlaeminck, and Maertens would have been tougher than making a name for yourself in the pro ranks during the heyday of Merckx, De Vlaeminck, and Maertens.  Especially, I would think, if you also happened to be Belgian. But with somewhere around 145 victories in a career whi...

V Ride of the Year: Strada Bianca

by brett / Dec 29 2010 / 25 posts

We are not hard. We may espouse the values of the mythical hardman, but we are merely pretenders to the throne of the Kings of V. While it is ok to talk about hardness, suffering and toil on the bike, when it really comes down to it we are mere mortals who would rather be under a rug with a warm cuppa than grinding the 53 in a subarctic-driven bliz...

Riders who put the “V” in Diva: Federico Bahamontes

by Marko / Dec 11 2010 / 67 posts

Cyclists can be a twitchy lot.  Able to both endure and dish out pain for weeks on end in a grand tour takes considerable fortitude, or what we call The V.  The cyclist must know their body and measure out its effort carefully.  The pros we look to as the Giants of the Road, the Flahute, or even the Unsung Hardmen are able to win while maintaini...
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