Announcing New V-Features: The Rides and The Cogals

WE'VE BEEN BUYSSE PREPARING NEW FEATURES

I peer into my V-Pint, seeking out the V-Cog in its base as the hoppy taste of a local IPA washes over my tongue and begins its work. I breathe out slowly, basking in the sense of satisfaction that can only come from knowing you’ve done just enough to avoid failure. That’s right, fellow Velominati; we’ve launched two new V-Features and I’m knackered. Since this ain’t your first rodeo, and none of you are cowboys or cowgirls, I don’t have to tell you that I have almost zero confidence that these features work and that they don’t contain bugs that might cause the further deterioration of water quality in developing countries around the globe.

The fact is, as I write this, I can’t even be sure these features are worth having around. But if the feedback I got from the other Keepers is anything to go by, these features “look nice”. Besides, who am I kidding? These features were demanded by you, the Community, and they are comprehensively rad. I’m serious: don’t touch your screen with a wet finger – these features are high-voltage and may cause lasting harm. Also, the last time I made a mistake was 1972 and that was four years before I was born. So yeah, I’m guessing there are no bugs, either. I was just teasing before, to give the impression of humility.

The Rides

The Rides is the shrine to the cathedral of our sport: the great rides we partake in. Consisting of two pieces, The Rides contains a catalog of must-do rides for any Velominatus as well as Articles detailing some of the most epic riding adventures we’ve been on. Some of The Rides follow the routes of the Great Pro Races, while some of them are local secrets. But all of these are rides that will change your life, that you’ll remember for years to come.

In keeping with our Curated Crowd-Sourcing model (I bet you didn’t know what’s what this is), we started the catalog with a few no-brainers, but we’ll be looking to you, the Community, to suggest other rides for inclusion. As always, make your suggestions in the posts and as a group we’ll decide which belong in the list.

The Cogals

As we have embarked upon the next phase in the evolution of Velominati by starting to organize Cogals, we have added a place to keep track of them. We don’t have many in place yet, but we have some, and we plan to have more. The Austin Texas Cogal is nearly upon us, and we have interest in one or two Australian, Belgian, and English Cogals. This is also the place to order your Cogal V-Pint.

The Cogals contains a Calendar of events, a list of upcoming Cogals, and detailed information about the events themselves. All Cogals are categorized; by clicking on the category, you’ll see a definition of that category as well as a list of the Cogals associated with it. Remember, though, that the primary information for Cogals will be stored in the Articles announcing them, so with that in mind, each event page has links back to those articles and their discussion. (The Cogals will also house other events that aren’t Cogals but that would be of interest to Velominati.)

We welcome anyone to organize a Cogal and we’ll be considering the addition of a mechanism to submit Cogals in the future. For the time being, though, we’ll follow suit with all the other areas and take submissions either in the posts, or via email.

Cheers, vive la Vie Velominatus.

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17 Replies to “Announcing New V-Features: The Rides and The Cogals”

  1. Thanks for yet more wonderful reading material for when the dark English nights prevent riding for fear of crashing into another badger!

  2. Chapeau indeed Frank, your second paragraph reminded me of this meme that was floating around the geekier communities a while ago.

    As a hop head, I’m curious which local IPA is whetting your whistle?

  3. @urbanwhitetrash

    Chapeau indeed Frank, your second paragraph reminded me of this meme that was floating around the geekier communities a while ago.

    As a hop head, I’m curious which local IPA is whetting your whistle?

    Fucking gold. I’ve had this up on my laptop while watching Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels for the last rather long bit of time. Fucking gold.

  4. @urbanwhitetrash

    As a hop head, I’m curious which local IPA is whetting your whistle?

    Sorry I missed this before. My new favorite is a very very local Seattle brew called Two Beers Brewing, and their IPA is the Evolutionary IPA. Comes in can. (BTW, I love beer that comes in cans, but I always drink beer from a glass so you can taste it properly and smell it the way its supposed to be.

  5. Thanks for the new features and hard work, Frank!

    There was a “Talk of the Town” a short while back in the New Yorker regarding the actor who plays that dude in the Dos Equis adverts. In reality, the dude is pretty wild Dude himself. Lots of craziness in his life, so far.

    GREAT cycling today. Headed out at 9:30, was in the high 30s. Didn’t get home until after 14:00, when it was probably 56*F in the sun. Damn, could spend all day, or at least half of it riding my bike!

  6. @frank Lock, stock and two smoking barrels? really? that mockney shite? I’d’ve had you as a ‘Layer Cake’ kind of guy… i.e. the real thing, not the pretenders

  7. You know, I’ve long loved this pic of Buysse, which has popped up here every time Frank wants to play with being busy (I chuckle every time). But that’s one encumbered rider! He’s carrying his weight in stuff. And why is his musette draped under the inner tubes?

  8. @roadslave

    @frank Lock, stock and two smoking barrels? really? that mockney shite? I’d’ve had you as a ‘Layer Cake’ kind of guy… i.e. the real thing, not the pretenders

    Layer Cake, such a worthy flic.

  9. @roadslave

    @frank Lock, stock and two smoking barrels? really? that mockney shite? I’d’ve had you as a ‘Layer Cake’ kind of guy… i.e. the real thing, not the pretenders

    My tastes in music and films is eclectic to say the least. As it happens, I have Layer Cake on at the moment – no joke. Sitting upstairs, packing envelopes of V-Kit, watching Layer Cake on the BAT-V (Big-Ass TV). Daniel Craig is the coolest dude ever. True story about Daniel Craig.

  10. Awesome Frank. I especially like the additional Cogal’s section. I love the fact that this blog has reached the next level where we can do more than just read and blog. We can ride together too!

    Can wait for the Australian cogal. Hope its in Melbourne?

  11. @frank

    And that was dated 2007…

    …so now I’m imagining a five year old bottle of beer in the fridge with ‘For Daniel – hands off Frank’ scrawled on it in marker pen.

  12. Fantastic to get more Velominati related rides together. This site has become a community – awesome. If another hits the Seattle area, I plan to attend. Freakin’ cool stuff.

  13. V-antastic Keepers, bloody good effort and very useful additions to the interweb home of Veolminatus. If I may, perhaps another section could be added at some point in the future something like The Tomes.

    In that section the Keepers could review a new V-Tome once a month, the cycling bibles if you were. They can be the technical guides to maintaining a silent riding mechanical marvel to the fun such as BikeSnobs. I am sure it would stimulate lots of conversation amongs the Velominatus and a great excuse to put more awesome pictures alongside the great Tomes.

    Keep up the bloody good work!!

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