There’s always the chance that the front predicted for early the following week will come across earlier. Any Velominati Meteorologisti got an opinion on that? (Even just a weatherman would do.)

Full article here. I love reading this stuff!

@Dr CComplete lack of moral fibre and roller burn out. I should train tonight but I could drink beer and eat curry whilst watching bike racing on the telly instead.

Also an admirable training regimen

@Dr CAlready the excuses begin ?!?

Au contraire, fighting this poxy virus will make me even stronger!!

Plus, it’s beer and curry.

Still trying to figure out if it was a calf strain or pull during this morning’s ultimate frisbee game.

Frack!!!!

@all O’Conway’s Pub inside the Lille Europe railstation is the only pub in the immediate area apparently (and the official KT transfer meeting point). I’ll be in there for lunch and a pint of traditional northern French Guinness at about 12.00pm.

Had to post. I p!ss myself every time I watch this…Please don’t kill me.

@Chris – see you at the pub sometime around 4:30.

@936adl

@Bianchi Denti

KT support vehicle?

I wouldn’t fancy riding that through Arenberg!!!!

I wouldn’t want a beer from that after it’d been through the Arenberg!!

They say some beers don’t travel well – could this be the explanation?

@Bianchi Denti

KT support vehicle?

I wouldn’t fancy riding that through Arenberg!!!!

I wouldn’t want a beer from that after it’d been through the Arenberg!!

KT support vehicle?

I wouldn’t fancy riding that through Arenberg!!!!

@Bianchi Denti
I’m getting into Lille at 11.26 but I’ll be making my own way over to the accommodation at some point during the afternoon (I’m doing the weekend on the cheap and staying in a B&B nearby – looks fairly easy, a couple of trains from Lille).

If you or anyone else is getting in at roughly the same time, we could meet up for a bit of lunch in Lille.

That could work. Where will you arrive – airport? Lille Europe? Lille Flanders?

However, I’ve also asked Alex & William where they want to collect us from. So that may override lunch plans.

If I get very lost I may just do that… have also paid for GPS in car !

Dr C (or anyone else) if you are coming via Brussels you’re very welcome to come with. I won’t have a bike with me so there’s plenty of room in the car.

My flight gets in about 1430 I think and I’ll get the car from the airport.

Going back to Brussels Eurostar on Monday and taking the train – haven’t got the time to hand but I think it was 1600-ish.

@Bianchi Denti

I had previously emailed them to ask about transfer and they said Lille Europe station (there’s also a Lille Flandres) around 6pm.

As it turns out the flights into Paris that day for me are either incredibly expensive or the timing is wrong, so I’m going to fly in to Brussels mid-afternoon, hire a car and drive over.

Cool, can you pick us up from Amsterdam on the way through?

If you or anyone else is getting in at roughly the same time, we could meet up for a bit of lunch in Lille.

@ChrisO
You might want to have a chat with @Dr C, he’s getting into Brussels at about the same time as you.

@Bianchi Denti

I had previously emailed them to ask about transfer and they said Lille Europe station (there’s also a Lille Flandres) around 6pm.

As it turns out the flights into Paris that day for me are either incredibly expensive or the timing is wrong, so I’m going to fly in to Brussels mid-afternoon, hire a car and drive over.

Sweet. Thanks@ChrisO.

I had previously emailed them to ask about transfer and they said Lille Europe station (there’s also a Lille Flandres) around 6pm.

As it turns out the flights into Paris that day for me are either incredibly expensive or the timing is wrong, so I’m going to fly in to Brussels mid-afternoon, hire a car and drive over.

So is everyone collecting in Lille and then being shuttled out to Hulhove?

There doesn’t appear to be any events in Lille that day, but want to make sure I’m not missing out on something, since I’ll be driving in, likely straight to Hulhove.

I’ll be catching the TGV from Paris to Lille on Friday. ETA depends on which Lille station is best for collection.

Have any other attendees planned their arrival time and station beyond “Lille sometime on Friday”?

Alex & William – any advice?

Has anymore thought been given to the Cogal that’s mentioned above? I’m not on the tour, but will be over watching the racing and would love to join the Cogal if it’s possible.

There doesn’t appear to be any events in Lille that day, but want to make sure I’m not missing out on something, since I’ll be driving in, likely straight to Hulhove.

@brett

@Marcus
Wrestling? Rolling around on the ground, oiled up? Yeah…

The bromance is getting a little musty round here.
Oli, you’ve unknowingly invoked what’s known as the Bretto effect. When some off colour joke including someone’s sexuality is made, he pops his head up and chimes in. Only time I see him these days, he like a perverted whack a mole.

Here’s Brett in when he’s not on Velominati.

@Jarvis
This is a Cogal:
Cogals are meetings of like-minded misfits brought together by the promise of beer, preceded by a bike ride. Cogals are free, open to all, organized by our fellow Velominati and are always followed by consumption of post-ride recovery ales and merriment. These are gatherings of unbridled observance of Rule #4.

@Jarvis
Holy shit, Jarvis! Welcome back mate!

Otherwise I am in the doodoo.

I can either fly in to Paris and then train to Lille, or into Brussels and then get to Ghent/Kemmel.

I’m staying with the family in Kemmel so transferring from Lille with the main group would be ideal. I won’t have my bike with me at that point. I can hang out with you guys until the family arrives, then I’ll know where you are and what the plans are for Saturday.

What time is everyone expecting to get through Lille ? The morning flight from AD gets into CDG around 1430 so to Lille about 1630 probably. Or there’s an overnight flight that gets in at 0730.

2002 Paris Roubaix

just stopping myself sleeping by dreaming of end of March….

Notice too, how these two gods of the spring classics seem to be riding in some kind of beatific sunbeam from the heavens, casting magnificent shadows upon the pave.

Discuss and let’s have no more pictures of fat slobs playing a silly game in children’s clothes.

I can live with this.

The way I’m going to think of it is like the atomic model. Old school cool is like the models of J.J. Thomson giving way to Neils Bohr, then further discoveries leading to matched seat and bar tape colours and the disproving of EPMS theory.

The Rules were always there, but the important work of those who came before us means that we truly stand on the shoulders of giants in our abilities to perceive them. And look good doing it.

Well put. Excellent work. You’re ready to teach.

@Marcus
Wrestling? Rolling around on the ground, oiled up? Yeah…

The bromance is getting a little musty round here.
Oli, you’ve unknowingly invoked what’s known as the Bretto effect. When some off colour joke including someone’s sexuality is made, he pops his head up and chimes in. Only time I see him these days, he like a perverted whack a mole.

@Blah

@frank

@Blah

@frank
I said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.
Buuuuuuuuut:
Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

Guy on the left is Eric De Vlaeminck, Rogers bro. All their shorts were too short back then, but to my point – your words cheapened the shot, didn’t they? A shot which I think is awesome. Especially the unnamed German’s guns. Merckx.

Teaching ethics at the moment to 10th Graders. Looking at moral relativism. Does this attitude mean that The Rules are not absolute truth, but relative to the time and place we find ourselves?
I lean towards The Rules being absolute. If they are not, they would not have attracted a following from across the world. There would not be such excellent examples from the ages.
If The Rules are truth, the large expanse of thigh, and high expanse of sock, on display is cheapening the shot, not I, the humble (hahaha) messenger.

Ah! Excellent point! The Rules are, of course, an Absolute Truth. They might even be an Absolute Truthe, because adding an unnecessary e to the end of any word gives it gravitas.
But, The Rules are steeped in history, in the culture of Cycling. We can not be where we are today were it not for yesterday. Indeed, the shorts are too short. But that is how it was then. They were as they were, and that is what fed the Goldilocks Principle and brought us to where we are today.
There are to ways to look at this photo. We can look at it and scowl and say, Grinch-style, “Those idiots didn’t know a thing about style! Their short are too short! Their socks are too long! Their seat posts too low, their bars are too high!”
Or, we could say, “That was the way it was, and we have learned from their mistakes to better our future. Their sacrifice helped improve our world. And they were still Hardmen, and they were still Awesome. Thank you, Merckx, for giving them to us, and for letting us learn from their mistakes.”

I can live with this.
The way I’m going to think of it is like the atomic model. Old school cool is like the models of J.J. Thomson giving way to Neils Bohr, then further discoveries leading to matched seat and bar tape colours and the disproving of EPMS theory.
The Rules were always there, but the important work of those who came before us means that we truly stand on the shoulders of giants in our abilities to perceive them. And look good doing it.

Wrestling? Rolling around on the ground, oiled up? Yeah…

The funny thing is, they both know exactly what you mean…

@Marcus

You guys obviously have some deep yet unresolved feelings for each other. I think the only thing that will break the unbearable tension you’re suffering is for you to get together and vigorously massage each others legs, if you know what I mean.

Belgian Affirmations: Kapelmuur

@mblume
This photo could have been as easily posted in “Anatomy of a Photo”. My take on the kid with the chubby cheeks and serious face (the only tifosi who is serious here) is really the only one who fully grasps the magnitude of The V being displayed by the 2 combatants.
If I am not mistaken the kid is Philippe Gilbert. I am quite sure his young mind was plotting something to the effect of: “Damn,I need to start applying Rule V and colorng my hair now in kindergarten if I want to win the Fleche Brabanconne, Amstel Gold , Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2011.”

Alright, if I remember, you’re getting the +1 badge next week. Absolute solid gold!

I also remember you were going to badge someone up for something worthy this week, but can’t remember who it was. I’ll keep it warm till it gets figured out.

@frank

@Blah, @minion
Boo-hoo. Isn’t it Springtime for you guys? My fingers still don’t feel right after yesterday’s ride. Talk about serious problems. On top of that, I have to figure out what to have for dinner, which is never an interesting thing to do when you’re cooking for one. Problems.

Yeah, it was COLD yesterday. Normally I get hot enough to unzip the jacket when climbing in cold weather, but it was cold enough to make me think “nah, I think I’ll keep this heat zipped in so I have it when I start the descent…”

Yeah, we had an inversion. High of 0C (32F) most places, and it got warmer as you climbed, which meant that coming down into colder weather literally froze the shit out of you. (I mean figuratively, not literally.)

@Blah, @minion
Boo-hoo. Isn’t it Springtime for you guys? My fingers still don’t feel right after yesterday’s ride. Talk about serious problems. On top of that, I have to figure out what to have for dinner, which is never an interesting thing to do when you’re cooking for one. Problems.

Yeah, it was COLD yesterday. Normally I get hot enough to unzip the jacket when climbing in cold weather, but it was cold enough to make me think “nah, I think I’ll keep this heat zipped in so I have it when I start the descent…”

@frank

@Blah

@frank
I said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.
Buuuuuuuuut:
Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

Guy on the left is Eric De Vlaeminck, Rogers bro. All their shorts were too short back then, but to my point – your words cheapened the shot, didn’t they? A shot which I think is awesome. Especially the unnamed German’s guns. Merckx.

Teaching ethics at the moment to 10th Graders. Looking at moral relativism. Does this attitude mean that The Rules are not absolute truth, but relative to the time and place we find ourselves?
I lean towards The Rules being absolute. If they are not, they would not have attracted a following from across the world. There would not be such excellent examples from the ages.
If The Rules are truth, the large expanse of thigh, and high expanse of sock, on display is cheapening the shot, not I, the humble (hahaha) messenger.

Ah! Excellent point! The Rules are, of course, an Absolute Truth. They might even be an Absolute Truthe, because adding an unnecessary e to the end of any word gives it gravitas.

But, The Rules are steeped in history, in the culture of Cycling. We can not be where we are today were it not for yesterday. Indeed, the shorts are too short. But that is how it was then. They were as they were, and that is what fed the Goldilocks Principle and brought us to where we are today.

There are to ways to look at this photo. We can look at it and scowl and say, Grinch-style, “Those idiots didn’t know a thing about style! Their short are too short! Their socks are too long! Their seat posts too low, their bars are too high!”

Or, we could say, “That was the way it was, and we have learned from their mistakes to better our future. Their sacrifice helped improve our world. And they were still Hardmen, and they were still Awesome. Thank you, Merckx, for giving them to us, and for letting us learn from their mistakes.”

BTW I think the Keepers tour’s problem is an incorrect use of the word tour – it’s being used as a noun but the Keepers would need to be something that can be toured. It doesn’t work the same way as the UCI tour or the PGA tour it would have to be used as a verb which doesn’t quite sit right. (You tour PGA or UCI events.) You aren’t making a tour of the keepers, you’re making a tour of the cobbled classics. If you were to use the word as a noun a Keeper’s tour would be a tour by one keeper: Keepers’ Tour would be a tour by more than one keeper. You’re looking to fix with an apostrophe the use of a word that doesn’t quite fit, which is why you’re struggling.
Anyway screw it who cares. I’m probably wrong anyway, but so long as I think I’m right, I rule.

Minion, some poor bastard was promised the +1 badge and I’ll be buggered if I can find the post where I called it. That pissed me off. Until now.

Because you just summed up the ethos of Velominati. Badge goes to you. Whoever it was that actually earned it – I’ll keep searching and you’ll get it next week. Sorry about that.

I’m a conflicted man. I’m mostly Dutch (3/4), a culture of people who yell at each other their opinions but despite their apparently arrogant impression, we are a people who are not interested in matters of pride; we are looking for the right answer. We’ll keep yelling and talking over you so long as we think we’re right. The instant – the instant – you convince us otherwise, we back off and fall in line. Its a funny characteristic, and one that those who aren’t Dutch don’t really understand.

The other part of me is German, and my dad – the Loudest Man in the World – is half German and really only identifies with that half of himself, much like I identify with the Dutch side my heritage. And Germans just yell out of stubbornness and really are just interested in being right, which they usually are. In Germany – and I think most Germans will agree with this – the loudest voice is the Right Voice.

So despite my insistence on making my points clear, I’m really just interested in finding the right answer, whether that’s mine or someone else’s. So long as I am convinced in the end, I’m just as happy when the person I’m arguing against is right as when I’m right, so long as we’ve found the best possible way forward.

Except, of course, when I get German and all I care about is being right. The fun part? You guys get to work out which personality is arguing when.

@Blah, @minionBoo-hoo. Isn’t it Springtime for you guys? My fingers still don’t feel right after yesterday’s ride. Talk about serious problems. On top of that, I have to figure out what to have for dinner, which is never an interesting thing to do when you’re cooking for one. Problems.

It is actually Summer. Which is what G’rilla was still trying to tell himself at 6am on Saturday morning (in about 15 degrees celsius )as he was the only rider in a bunch of about 40 who wasn’t in long sleeves. We all thought he was so tough!

@Blah, @minion
Boo-hoo. Isn’t it Springtime for you guys? My fingers still don’t feel right after yesterday’s ride. Talk about serious problems. On top of that, I have to figure out what to have for dinner, which is never an interesting thing to do when you’re cooking for one. Problems.

Dinner for one. Things like riding are easy when it’s dinner for one. Thing is, kids upstairs woke up the two year old in the next room, who came in to our bed and extended the fun for another half hour before we got back to sleep.
Spring? Bah. We have wet and dry. It’s wet right now.

@Blah

@frank
I said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.
Buuuuuuuuut:
Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

Guy on the left is Eric De Vlaeminck, Rogers bro. All their shorts were too short back then, but to my point – your words cheapened the shot, didn’t they? A shot which I think is awesome. Especially the unnamed German’s guns. Merckx.

Teaching ethics at the moment to 10th Graders. Looking at moral relativism. Does this attitude mean that The Rules are not absolute truth, but relative to the time and place we find ourselves?
I lean towards The Rules being absolute. If they are not, they would not have attracted a following from across the world. There would not be such excellent examples from the ages.
If The Rules are truth, the large expanse of thigh, and high expanse of sock, on display is cheapening the shot, not I, the humble (hahaha) messenger.

John Daly doesn’t know what you’re talking about.

@minion

@Blah

@Blah

@frankI said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.Buuuuuuuuut:Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

*world, not word.Can you tell I’m in a stinker of a mood today? I swear there are no parents in the apartment upstairs. 2.30am these psycho kids start screaming at each other, moving heavy furniture and, amazingly, taking showers. Went on for nearly an hour.I adjusted the alarm from 4.40 to 5.10 and abandoned the extra 15km I was going to do this morning. Ride cheered me up a bit, but 35km rather than 50km before work pisses me off.

Heh, I’m in a pretty foul mood too, hence the above. When I stop to reflect on the number of unrelated pics I’ve posted of Australians, sheep, boats and beer, I’ve got no grounds to complain. (Which is why I don’t stop and reflect.) I justify it that nearly all of them were to wind up Marcus, which as a Kiwi is both a national pastime and obligation.That and I’ve had a sinus infection for a week. Planning on starting base training in at the beginning of summer, since I haven’t ridden for about 10 days, and I still feel sh’ouse.

As to infections, I would get your urinary tract checked as well – cos you sound like a big pussy.

You get shorter every time you post.

Anyway screw it who cares. I’m probably wrong anyway, but so long as I think I’m right, I rule.

@Blah

@Blah

@frankI said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.Buuuuuuuuut:Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

*world, not word.Can you tell I’m in a stinker of a mood today? I swear there are no parents in the apartment upstairs. 2.30am these psycho kids start screaming at each other, moving heavy furniture and, amazingly, taking showers. Went on for nearly an hour.I adjusted the alarm from 4.40 to 5.10 and abandoned the extra 15km I was going to do this morning. Ride cheered me up a bit, but 35km rather than 50km before work pisses me off.

Heh, I’m in a pretty foul mood too, hence the above. When I stop to reflect on the number of unrelated pics I’ve posted of Australians, sheep, boats and beer, I’ve got no grounds to complain. (Which is why I don’t stop and reflect.) I justify it that nearly all of them were to wind up Marcus, which as a Kiwi is both a national pastime and obligation.
That and I’ve had a sinus infection for a week. Planning on starting base training in at the beginning of summer, since I haven’t ridden for about 10 days, and I still feel sh’ouse.

As to infections, I would get your urinary tract checked as well – cos you sound like a big pussy.

@frank
I said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.
Buuuuuuuuut:
Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

Guy on the left is Eric De Vlaeminck, Rogers bro. All their shorts were too short back then, but to my point – your words cheapened the shot, didn’t they? A shot which I think is awesome. Especially the unnamed German’s guns. Merckx.

@Blah

@frankI said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.Buuuuuuuuut:Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

*world, not word.
Can you tell I’m in a stinker of a mood today? I swear there are no parents in the apartment upstairs. 2.30am these psycho kids start screaming at each other, moving heavy furniture and, amazingly, taking showers. Went on for nearly an hour.I adjusted the alarm from 4.40 to 5.10 and abandoned the extra 15km I was going to do this morning. Ride cheered me up a bit, but 35km rather than 50km before work pisses me off.

Heh, I’m in a pretty foul mood too, hence the above. When I stop to reflect on the number of unrelated pics I’ve posted of Australians, sheep, boats and beer, I’ve got no grounds to complain. (Which is why I don’t stop and reflect.) I justify it that nearly all of them were to wind up Marcus, which as a Kiwi is both a national pastime and obligation.

That and I’ve had a sinus infection for a week. Planning on starting base training in at the beginning of summer, since I haven’t ridden for about 10 days, and I still feel sh’ouse.

@frank
I said the word makes more sense. Those pics have a definite otherworldly quality.
Buuuuuuuuut:
Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

*world, not word.

Can you tell I’m in a stinker of a mood today? I swear there are no parents in the apartment upstairs. 2.30am these psycho kids start screaming at each other, moving heavy furniture and, amazingly, taking showers. Went on for nearly an hour.
I adjusted the alarm from 4.40 to 5.10 and abandoned the extra 15km I was going to do this morning. Ride cheered me up a bit, but 35km rather than 50km before work pisses me off.

Buuuuuuuuut:
Second shot – shorts too short, socks too long. (Dare I say it?) Discipline too cyclocross.

@minion
Ah… I see the problem. You have to read the words and not just look at the pictures. World makes more sense that way.

Two examples of there words are not needed. In fact, I think words would just cheapen them.

John Daly? Really?

I hear you about Keepers’ Tour, but if it was say ‘Vaughters’ or ‘Garmin’ putting on the tour, would it be ‘Garmin’s Tour’? Garmin is a group, so it would be Garmin Tour. If Vaughters was doing it, it would be Vaughters’ Tour (a badly dressed one, granted). Or Tomac Tour. Or Tomac Bikes Tour. We’re The Keepers and we’re going on a tour, so Keepers Tour will do, whether it’s technically correct or not!

We won’t be thinking about where our apostrophes are in April, only where the lung we just coughed up landed…

Booked. 117 sleeps till V-day!

Count me in for the first weekend. I have a permit to travel!
@Dr C
You wouldn’t be so kind as to remind me of the details for your defunct brewer/abbey would you?

Hurrah!

Binned the Abbey, as we have nbow moved to Kemmel, a couple of miles from Leper (Ypres), so I booked this fairly basic B+B – ( I nabbed the single room!)

Best to book it either way, as best to have something in the book, cancelling is free and easy, and if we like, we can switch it later

GFI!

@Dr C

You wouldn’t be so kind as to remind me of the details for your defunct brewer/abbey would you?

@Steampunk
Wrider = Vrider

Fixed your post.

It’s like the Rules – not only should they be obeyed whether you like it or not, but you should never knowingly allow or assist others in breaking them.

I agree 100%, its just that I’m not sure you’re right. Brett’s argument seems right to me, made also by @itburns in the following statement:

PS – all this is silly. Can’t wait to participate in the Spring’s Classics.

Srsly @Frank, I need to see a picture of a cobble with the V-Cog dan henry painted on it here on the site by April. GPS coordinates of that turtle should be provided.

I can watch that video replay of Cancellara escaping from Boonen and it shocks me every single time.

On another note, why have already questionable golfers taken to trying to look as absolutely stupid as possible? Where is the degree of class? (I do realize one of those pictured is a ‘neck nutcase. However, both men and women seem to be dressing as horribly as possible. Some of the women wear knee high black socks!)

To close all argument on this matter may I remind you that my wife will be in the vicinity and in charge of a large vehicle – she would not have the slightest remorse about running down people who had willfully ignored and abused apostrophes.

It’s like the Rules – not only should they be obeyed whether you like it or not, but you should never knowingly allow or assist others in breaking them.

@Chrisperfect example:Millar pulls it off no trouble, JV is trying way to hard and TF is meh

Absolutely agree. Millar is pure fuck’in class, JV is such a twatwaffle who tries wayyyyy tooo hard and sucks so bad at it, total poser, and TF is just confused.

Just a guess, but your particular forte may be generating high max power in short punches compared to less but more sustained power over time. See testing protocol as described by CyclingTips. Can be a focus of specific training.

That said, seeing the kind of riding you do, they’re both well above the average.

@Blah
I know your being sarcastic. But this guy here had class

Let’s hope you’ll be better at Lear Jets after av. school than that guy’s flight crew was.