While I've been riding Il Progetto Originale for a month or so now, the finishing touches were still being waited on, either being sought out from bargains online, or finding just the right new old stock to give the old girl just the right blend of old and new. After a long couple of weeks,…
Category: General
Rule 31 was conceived out of necessity, aesthetics and plain good taste. Seeing an oversized saddle bag hanging limply by velcro under a Flite, Arione or Regal just isn’t right. Frame pumps, while they undoubtedly do the finest job of inflating a tube, add nothing but bulk and clutter to the lines of a frame (and…
Reading articles and viewing accompanying images here you'll notice a common piece of equipment on a large number of the classic riders' bikes. The Cinelli forged quill stem. Cinelli must have had one hell of a business model going in the 60's, 70's, and 80's because it seems their stems and bars were the must…
So I just got back from a 30k shake-down ride and Il Gruppo Progetto is exactly what I expected. You will get no Huangisms from me. I'll just say it's a bomber steed with some classic touches that's good old-skool fun to ride. It'll fit the rain bike need perfectly. Thanks again for your input…
Just a week after contesting one of the most brutal, exciting one-day races of the year, a bevy of battered, tired bodies make their way back to Europe for the penultimate round of the inaugural Velominati Super Prestige series. As if the heat and gruelling course of Geelong wasn’t sapping enough, the 20-odd hour flight and…
It's a widely held belief in the pro road racing ranks that winning the World Championships can have an adverse affect on the rider's following season; The Curse of The Rainbow Jersey. And while there may be some merit to it (see Simpson, Roche, Dhaenens, Leblanc, Brochard, Astarloa, Ballan et al), it's usually more a…
The Swiss surely are making a name for themselves in the Worlds, especially these days with Spartacus taking his fourth TT title. Of course we’re all waiting for the marquee event of the men’s road race but I’m sure Switzerland is proud to house the TT gold medal as well. The small, beautiful, and neutral…
Verona, Italy, 1999. You’re 259 kms into the World Championship Road Race, and you find yourself in a select group of nine riders. You look around and see you are surrounded by a veritable who’s who of the pro peloton. Ullrich, Vandenbroucke, Zberg, Konyshev, Casagrande, Camenzind. “Do these guys even know who I am, or…
We love our niche categories here at Velominati. Titles such as Reverence, Evanescent Riders, Defining Moments and Anatomy Of A Photo give us the impetus to bring you some entertainment when we may be somewhat low on inspiration, you might say. And if a sub-category can supply us with one article idea, then why not…
Like a kid at Christmas, that’s how I felt today. There was the opening of some cool presents, one old, some new, all awesome. The Bosomworth finally turned up, and the Chorus gruppo was awaiting it eagerly, like baubles waiting to be added to the old tree every year. I spent the afternoon stripping, cleaning,…
I’ve got some really cool students. Every year I instruct a course in winter camping, whereby a group of students and I go out into the BWCA wilderness for a few days. Last year’s trip was particularly interesting. It was fairly cold by Minnesota standards with temps dipping into the -30F range at night and…
Yesterday, Cyclops posted a link to a story about the abandonment from the Vuelta and subsequent retirement from cycling of Jose-Luis Arrieta. Nice work Cyclops. This man deserves a special mention. He’s pictured on the far right above and just a glance at his kit indicates the length of this man’s years as pro. Unless…
Initially, “Beer in the Bidon” was to be a single, definitive posting, an authoritative ranking of the single best variety of the single best and most important cycling performance beverage yet devised by the hand of man: beer. “Beer?” you ask. That’s right, beer (and say hello to your mother for me). Or, to put…
With La Vuelta in full swing and the Worlds only weeks away, there are more than a few riders who will be feeling the effects of a long, hard season. Months of training, travelling and racing take a physical and mental toll that we, as mere mortals, can only begin to imagine. But without the…
As an ex-muso and DJ, I thought my days of rockin' out, layin' down some beats and droppin' tracks were well behind me. Then, last week I received a curious email from our esteemed community member, Geof. Curious, because he was now referring to himself as the “G'Phant”, and informed me that we (meaning him…
The Velominati would not exist if it weren’t for The Rules. Of the current 79 Rules, only two, Rule 34 and Rule 69 stipulate anything about shoes. Perhaps that is all that is needed. However, I do have a set of personal Rules that I’ve been living by and developing for nearly ten years now….
We, as cyclists, as Velominati, may share a common passion, yet invariably have our roots planted in differing turf. Some may be late bloomers, coming to flower in our adult years, when we decide that a sedentary lifestyle, an expanding waistline or the realisation cycling is indeed more than just a sport or an activity,…
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 us completely nuts. When I’m not filing TPS Reports, it’s my job to help…
When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the huge stimulus package, into law I figured he was probably doing his job and putting some peeps to work. Merckx knows this country needed some help and I voted for the guy so I thought ‘what could possibly go wrong?’ That was until…