Ah! A fellow Michigander. Were you out at N24HC this year? I was thoroughly enjoying the downpour until lightning started striking around the course, at which point I was happy they called a suspension.

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Drop-Bear

 

the only upside ,is at least they don’t eat you…

You sure about that?

@Daccordi Rider
Bad luck – those furry fuckers are made of iron, no?

@scaler911

Kangaroos and wallabies are a serious fucking hazard on the roads out here.

You dont need to be far out of Melbourne’s cbd before they can be a factor especially at dawn/dusk (and of course, they hop down the main streets of Adelaide where they hold down big jobs in town). The dumb fuckers (the ‘roos not the Adelaideans) think nothing of hopping next to you whilst riding on a descent and then doing on a quick directional change which may or may not see their tail and your bike make contact. I know 4 fellas who have been brought down by them in the last 5 years.

And they are exactly like that one on Looney Tunes – they just jump along fucking fast without a care or apparent effort.

And then of course, there are the drop bears.

  the only upside ,is at least they don’t eat you…

A cool drizzle welcomed the riders for the start of the Lake Louise Road Race. The original 81km route along the scenic Bow Valley Parkway had to be shortened to 64km due to a family of bears and wolves that had moved into the area. This was a similar occurrence to what happened two years ago.

The 9:30am neutral roll-out saw our Cat 1/2 Men’s leader, Evan Bayer (Team Niklaus), don the yellow jer…sey and ride the 2km to the start with the group. Once at the start, the 2-way radio signaled that there was a grizzly bear on the course and that we had to hold the race. This was a déjà vu from last year’s race, where eight bears near the course kept the wildlife spotters and race caravans on constant alert.  lol.

From where I sit, Merckx is not a man but a machine. Over 500 victories, he made it look easy, right?

What I can’t believe is how much self-doubt fueled him, how much he was driven to show himself over and over and over. It wasn’t easy, and he didn’t simply assume he would win. That has been a true revelation for me and nothing short of inspirational.

I’ve been fucking about with a dissertation for far too long. The single biggest reason is that the project seems so big and insurmountable that silly ol’ me hasn’t a chance in hell of finishing it. I doubt I have what it takes, all those others who’ve written the books on the subject are surely so much better than me.

Reading that Merckx doubted himself, or allowed that fear of failure to fuel him has been eye-opening and really given me a great push to just get going and work at it, to not fear the doubt but simply let it push me forward. The Prophet, inspiring my academic pursuits, as well as my cycling pursuits. Amazing!

Time to stamp on the pedals, er, pages…

Just nitpicking that when The Prophet makes a long solo break, kamikaze is the wrong word.

Homicide maybe. I prefer manslaughter.

Asked what rider he’d tap to replace him, for once he was stumped, with no clever answer. Until this: “I think it would take maybe two persons. One to do the funny part, and one to be the bike rider.”

 

And one to maintain Omerta…

I celebrated over the weekend defending my title at a 24-hour road race. 685km in 21:15 of racing. We had about a three hour suspension due to a lightning storm, but I was riding in the sideways rain right up until lightning started hitting the water tower. Some fun Rule #9 conditions!

Chapeau

Father’s day having delayed my Festum activities, I watched the weather radar heralding Rule #9 conditions on 6/17. After work, and waiting for the lighting to be a few km off,  I set off to pay my respects in the rain. Merckx must have approved, because after 15 minutes of blissfully ignoring getting drenched I was treated to a stop to the rain, 23C temps, and a drying road. I was left to finish my weeknight hour in the best weather I can recall riding in all year.

I celebrated over the weekend defending my title at a 24-hour road race. 685km in 21:15 of racing. We had about a three hour suspension due to a lightning storm, but I was riding in the sideways rain right up until lightning started hitting the water tower. Some fun Rule #9 conditions!

A noble way to celebrate, indeed! The weather was truly a bugger this year. Congratulations from the west side of the state.

That’s dead sexy right there. Whacha going to kit it up with? Or is that a surprise?

Thanks.  No secrets, it’s getting Record 11 (except a Chorus FD, don’t see the point of a carbon FD plate), my Nemesis wheel set, 3T Rotundos, fizik saddle and seat pin.

@scaler911

@Marcus

@scaler911 one question – which number in your reasons not to live in Australia am I?

Prolly #5. Behind a few of the “most venomous shit on the planet” critters you have there.

Careful, you might be insulting @Marcus by excluding him from the “most venomous shit on the planet” list.

@Mikael Liddy

Nice.  My guys like watching bike races.  There was a phase when they were two that they both called the peleton the “choo choo train.”

I have the Merckx book on my beside table, can’t wait to continue reading it.

I’m thrilled to read all the reports on the rides everyone made happen. I missed having the time for a long ride, but I took a cruise to the local post-ride recovery drink store when we got home. Amazing how great it feels to just turn the cranks after a long, hard one-day layoff out of the saddle. How can one miss something so simple after such a short hiatus.

NATE! – no fucking way. That frameset is incredible. My Merckx.

Collin – goddamnit. I remember thinking this last year when you posted about that. 21 hours of riding? Nearly 700 kms in one ride? You fuckin’ Cannibal!

@Nate

@Mikael Liddy Balance bike, and don’t let him anywhere near training wheels, and you’ll have a promising Pedalwan.

the rate he’s growing he’ll be in this (designed for 6-12 months) by the time the tour starts! Figure some tour watching clad in it & reading sessions from the new book should have him well on the path to Pedalwan status.

on further review he may well already be on the path to enlightenment (hat tip to Harminator for pointing out the similarity in the poses)

@scaler911 one question – which number in your reasons not to live in Australia am I?

Prolly #5. Behind a few of the “most venomous shit on the planet” critters you have there.

I would like to honor a rightful heir to the Great One, someone who can inflict a ton of hurt with a solo breakaway. Last yea, here in Colorado, Herr Jens broke away climbing Independence Pass, a huge Cat 1 climb, then held on to ride to a solo victory 80 miles later.

Here are a couple of photos I took at the finish

 

 

 

 

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Jensy also worked his magic this year on stage 5 of the Tour of California.  The man is a legend and what is more he has a personality….love this quote

Asked what rider he’d tap to replace him, for once he was stumped, with no clever answer. Until this: “I think it would take maybe two persons. One to do the funny part, and one to be the bike rider.”

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/05/news/after-amgen-tour-win-voigt-says-it-will-take-two-riders-to-fill-his-spot_287162

He had also said early something to the effect that everyone knows his tactic and once he has 2 minutes he is never coming back so cannot understand why they still let him go…

Quality…a true disciple of the prophet!

Here are a couple of photos I took at the finish

[dmalbum: path=”/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/schorrratzlaff/2013.06.18.12.50.32/1/”/]

Ciao @frank ! That’s the Monte Bisbino, an hill of the Lake of Como, there are a couple of quite old switchback there…

http://app.strava.com/activities/60675693

Must be a fantastic view from up there!

@Marcus

And then of course, there are the drop bears.

And the hoop snakes.

And the lethal sea life. Twelve rows of teeth and something that fuckin’ stings you terribly (in the Words of the great Billy Connolly)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V4JYIOja10

Very dark, very cold ( at least the descents into bobbin head berowra and galston ) – got into office at 8.15 – quiet glow of reverential satisfaction all day long.

VLVV

I always thought he had to evaluate his priority again…

@Mikael Liddy Balance bike, and don’t let him anywhere near training wheels, and you’ll have a promising Pedalwan.

the rate he’s growing he’ll be in this (designed for 6-12 months) by the time the tour starts! Figure some tour watching clad in it & reading sessions from the new book should have him well on the path to pedalwan status.

http://app.strava.com/activities/60675693

On Saturday, urbanwhitetrash, a man doubly blessed by being born with 50% Belgian blood on The Prophet’s birthday, took me under his wing for a 227 km sortie into winds clever enough to always shift in front of us at a moment’s notice. In observance of this double blessing, The Prophet did smite a rear spoke of his not 3 km from my house, that he could add worry to his heap of suffering, and then one of my rear spokes a full 100 km from home, that I might equally stress and wring my hands with unglee. Our wobbly observance of the Festum proceeded with magnificently waning powers as the shadows grew long, yet the Man with the Hammer held off his final blow until we’d shared a tremendously delicious and final hoppy ale.

Bravo!

And then of course, there are the drop bears.

And the hoop snakes.

@Daccordi Rider I’ve been forced to promise that I’ll wait at least until he can hold his head up before buying him one of the wooden balance bikes…he’ll have to make do with his BabyMolteni jersey c/o Fyxo for the time being.

wooden? when you can get carbon with an internally routed brake cable? A steal at â‚¬1,499.

 

@Daccordi Rider

Reason #175 I don’t want to live in Australia. I’ll never get crashed by a Kangaroo here. Ever.

There’s a roo farm in Arlington. They escape. Never say never.

I never expected to hit a peacock, but almost did last week. Imperious little fuckers think they own the road.

@scaler911

Kangaroos and wallabies are a serious fucking hazard on the roads out here.

You dont need to be far out of Melbourne’s cbd before they can be a factor especially at dawn/dusk (and of course, they hop down the main streets of Adelaide where they hold down big jobs in town). The dumb fuckers (the ‘roos not the Adelaideans) think nothing of hopping next to you whilst riding on a descent and then doing on a quick directional change which may or may not see their tail and your bike make contact. I know 4 fellas who have been brought down by them in the last 5 years.

And they are exactly like that one on Looney Tunes – they just jump along fucking fast without a care or apparent effort.

And then of course, there are the drop bears.

Dooode! I prefer riding close to semi trucks over seeing off leash dogs while out on the whip. Bummer.

@Daccordi Rider

Reason #175 I don’t want to live in Australia. I’ll never get crashed by a Kangaroo here. Ever.

It is considered highly auspicious to have the frame builder ship out your frame on Festum Propetae.

That’s dead sexy right there. Whacha going to kit it up with? Or is that a surprise?

@Mikael Liddy Winter! – I thought I would be able to cover the wookie legs up with tights. Oh, the shame!

Merckz is obviously all knowing and sees through such a cheap trick!

Wool DeFeet socks at least…always appropriate.

I fronted up for a race to do my part for the celebrations, my second time in A grade, hoping for a good ride. The previous week I had hit a Kangaroo whilst coming down Mt Lofty at night and went over the bars at 50km/hr, ouch. My back and shoulders were pretty sore but guns felt ok so figured with a bit of Rule V I should be ok. Anyway got spat out on the first major climb and had a lovely training ride in the crisp winter air. You don’t need to be far off peaking to get put to the sword in A grade that’s for sure.

Ouch, I know of someone who broke both arms, many ribs & shattered his sternum after being on the wrong end of that type of collision. Sounds like you came away reasonably unscathed.

Merckz is obviously all knowing and sees through such a cheap trick!

In other potentially blasphemous news I’m going out on a limb & saying I reckon I actually prefer the Faema clad prophet to the Molteni one…

It is considered highly auspicious to have the frame builder ship out your frame on Festum Propetae.

i hope your local cyclists are well-oiled. The sound of jaws dropping will break the Silence Principle.  Beautiful.

Couldn’t decide which Merckx to ride today, so it had to be both. Couple hours on the Pista this morning, couple more on the Corsa Extra after work (where I glued tubulars instead of actually working).

Moules-frites and Gulden Draak next.

Blissful day.

Another 15km of hills and we decided to pull in for a coffee (and shed some layers) – chemist was open so though I might go and get a Betadine swab to clean it up – was a bit uneasy about what toxins/ bacteria/ nasties might be circulating through my body. Timnan waiting outside – pharmacist says Doctor is open next door – better go in and get them to have a look at it. OK then – well …..bigger than Ben Hur… thought I was going to be there for an hour. Asked nurse to go outside and let Tinman know what was going on – she came back in and said he suggested the doctor should give me an injection of Rule 5! 

Tetanus shot, wound packed and bandaged, waited obligatory 10 mins and then off again. Cut some of the bigger climbs out as not sure how I was going to react, but headed back to city and onto the original route around the river.

105kms with 1200m climbing at a temp of about 6C – plus dog bite – not a bad way to celebrate the Prophet’s birthday. Thanks to Tinman for showing up and his patience whilst I faffed about.

Got better – had a look at my watch – still had time to make the start of the first cyclocross race in WA for 2013 – go and have a look I thought. But also just enough time to drop home, grab my CX bike and give it a crack. Got there just in time for the scrubbers race – 30mins of sand, grass,  tape and plywood jumps. First CX I had every done! Legs balked a little at the getting off and on after the mornings effort, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Caught up with fellow Velominatus, BenJ, who won the “support” grade. and had celebratory malted recovery beverage whilst we watched the Elites.

Slept well that night.

VLVV

Wow that is a beauty.

We obviously teamed up with the right publisher – this arrived in the mail for us today.

1. I celebrated by completing my first metric century (670m gained) on Saturday, including some real Rule #9 riding when a thunderstorm rolled through.

2. I made my first post as a Velominatus on The Prophet’s birthday.

3. A thorough cleaning of the steed to ensure the Principle of Silence is adhered to on future rides.

Nice.

(That was me last year, after two decades off the bike. Riding makes everything better, doesn’t it?)

My ride on Sunday…

Gorgeous! Where is that?

The fastest line on this track is the red line on the straights and then cut across to the black line on the bank. Fucking terrifying track until you get used to it.

Rule 92, well done.

2. I made my first post as a Velominatus on the Prophet’s birthday.

3. A thorough cleaning of the steed to ensure the Principle of Silence is adhered to on future rides.

Well, you may want to ask @G’rilla where his priorities ended up that night.

Happy birthday Eddy! I’ll celebrate by launching myself off the front in a shot for glory at the “Monday Night Master’s Weekly World Champs”, then follow with a tasty beverage (tho not as many as I had Saturday night, Sunday morning. Gonna take the liver awhile to recover from that).

VLVV!

Report coming Wednesday, but this is how I celebrated on Saturday

And proof of the thorough recovery session afterwards.

So you only rode for an hour then drank lots of beer? Hardly Rule 5 compatible.Where are your priorities FFS?

I celebrated with my longest ride to date of 160km on Friday (I just started this, buying my road bike last August) and today I will celebrate further with my third time trial of 24km.

Oh if only we could have a few more cyclists like Merckx again ! You can shove your ‘tempo riders’ up your arse.

Today I went out for 96km including a few beasting climbs, in what was possibly the warmest day of the year here in Ecosse, so far (still only a measly 22 C though….) I enjoyed sitting at an old fountain in a small Perthshire village in the sun for a short 5 minutes to just soak up the all too rare sunshine. I passed a few other cyclists too, and made sure to give them a nod a and a farmers wave. Not an unusual day, but a decent few hours on the bike living the life.

And if we had them we would suspect they were doping. Sad but true….

And proof of the thorough recovery session afterwards.

Today I went out for 96km including a few beasting climbs, in what was possibly the warmest day of the year here in Ecosse, so far (still only a measly 22 C though….) I enjoyed sitting at an old fountain in a small Perthshire village in the sun for a short 5 minutes to just soak up the all too rare sunshine. I passed a few other cyclists too, and made sure to give them a nod a and a farmers wave. Not an unusual day, but a decent few hours on the bike living the life.

Eddy’s doctor ‘A glance was enough to show that the cardiogram was alarming,” he said. ‘There were no symptoms, only the risk of sudden death. Eddy Merckx rode his entire career with the sword of Damocles over his head.”

Eddy’s view  “I know I have a special heart, it’s very big,”

What a fucking legend

Saronni was riding one of the greatest steel bikes ever – a ruby red Colnago. His wool jersey was drenched in sweat at the finish – no fancy technical fabrics back then. It was a win that Merckx would have raised a glass to. Happy birthday to the Prophet!