03.29.10
That was quite the week of racing in Europe, but how are you supposed to choose between this lot,
90th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Spa, PT) March 22-28 – Spain
Settimana Ciclista Internazionale (Ita, 2.1) March 23-27 – Italy
65th Dwars door Vlaanderen (Bel, 1.1) March 24 – Belgium
79th Critérium International (Fra, 2.HC) March 27-29 – Corsica, France
53rd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen (Bel, 1.HC) March 27 – Harelbeke, Belgium
72nd Ghent-Wevelgem (Bel, PT) March 28 – Ghent, Belgium
With the politics that go on around race ownership, what races you show up at, who you bring to said race, and if you will be competitive when you start (using Tirreno-Adriatico as a training ride seems somewhat extravagant), and all of this determining if you get a spot on the big $$$ tours, which all of your sponsors want you at, which determines if you even have a sponsor or team next year (wouldn’t like to be Bjarne Riis right now)…the job of Director Sportif does not sound very appealing. I started having visions of Russell Downing showing up at E3 Prijs Vlaanderen by himself as Team Sky. But lucky for him someone at Sky figured it out. Get him into Critérium International for the second day, as it pretty much resembles a British style race, and boom he takes a brilliant sprint. Great to see him take his chance. A long way from a very wet St Patrick’s hill in Cork last “summer”. Nice one Russ.
CATEGORIES: Races, Riders
COMMENTS (1)
03.28.10
I got these wheels about nine months ago almost to the day, and this is the first time I have had them off my bike (I got a massive blow out last weekend that left a whole the size of a quarter in my new Evo Corsa). They have been over some pretty rough terrain in and around New York. They have also been up and down the Pyrenees last summer. Seven different states from California to Pennsylvania, and in and out of a bike box, a lot. After all of these miles and travel Mark at ifixbyx has only had to true them once, after a bounce in and out of a pothole on River Road. Despite the fact these are carbon clinchers, they are my everyday ride wheel, I find them to be absolutely bomb proof. The guys at wheelbuilder.com built them up, and all it took was a visit to the website and a phone call. The rims are Edge Composite 45 Clinchers, with a 20/24 spoke combo. For the hubs I chose the DT Swiss 190’s with ceramic cartridge bearings. The spokes are DT Aerolites in silver. The front wheel weight using the Wheelbuidler calculator comes out at about 650g, the rear wheel around 750g, without the cassette (total wheel weight around 1400g). So not the lightest, but what you loose in weight, you gain back with the DT Swiss super smooth hubs and bearings. They roll beautifully. Now I just have to get a new tire and look out for nine inch nails lying in the middle of the road.
ADDITION: By complete chance I just saw this post via Above Category and I couldn’t agree more. These wheels are not “too finicky for everyday use” as described in Bicycling Magazine. I have found quite the opposite. My rather large blowout was down to nothing more than my bad eyesight. Like he said sell your first born to get them and be proud to ride something niche.
CATEGORIES: Component Lust, Kit
COMMENTS (7)
03.21.10
All I could think of was that thank god this didn’t happen last weekend during the NYC Tsunami. The Redhook Criterium has become quite the spectacle, and an area of Brooklyn that would normally not see much life at this time on a Saturday night was packed with cycling die-hards, and a few perplexed locals. They turned up in all shapes and sizes, from the Cat racers, to the bike messengers, from the team-sponsored to the thrift store-sponsored, from the custom carbon track frames to the “fell off the back of a truck” Fujis. One race, men and women, all in. A note about the course: insane. From the newly paved carpet up by the new Ikea to the Beard Street cobbles, plus manholes raised, oh, a good inch above the surface, on a low light course so even if you could avoid the holes, spotting them was going to be a whole other thing. And off they went on a rolling neutral lap to get a little accustomed to the coarse. One lap in saw the field sort itself out, with a lead group separating themselves pretty quickly and setting an insanely fast time around the one mile lap. 20 laps later an Adler rider appeared out of the darkness of Beard street with his hands in the air like he just didn’t care, and we had a winner. We bailed at this point but I can only imagine the atmosphere in Sonny’s around the corner was good well into the wee hours.
CATEGORIES: Races
COMMENTS (4)
03.20.10
Right outside the office door, this beautiful old Basso. Chrome topped Columbus forks, Concor saddle and Cinelli stem and bars. Looks pretty much like the original build. Also below this powder blue commuter from outside the coffee shop. A very sweet daily ride.
CATEGORIES: Rides, The Other Stuff
COMMENTS (0)
03.19.10
The wonders of motor-paced cycling on the velodrome, or the Derny. Quite a spectacle. That guy above is definitely on my team.
(Found these shots on my desktop and forgot to tag them, so apologies in advance for the lack of photo credit).
CATEGORIES: Classic, The Other Stuff
COMMENTS (1)
03.15.10
The new 2010 Condor Leggero is looking really good. The bike of choice of the Rapha team has already got the season off to a successful start with two wins already. The frame went through a year long race testing period in 2009 with the Rapha team to get to this version for 2010. They have made it even lighter for this year with an average frame weight of 900g, using Dedacciai High Modulus T900 carbon fibre (this years Cervelo S3 weighs in at 1080g for a 56cm frame). Not the lightest out there with the current crop of 800g frames popping up, but with the right build a bike light enough for any terrain or rider. They also added internal cable routing and an inset seat tube. Unfortunately it likes like the paint job above is reserved for the Rapha team, and punters like ourselves will be offered up a version in white. Luckily it looks pretty good, I saw one of the test frames built up in the shop in November. This might be the perfect all-rounder.
CATEGORIES: Rides
COMMENTS (2)
03.12.10
I met Richard Delaume through our shared admiration of Jacques Anquetil and the old Mirror Sprint cycling magazines. He is an amazing photographer. Some of you will know his work already if you read the pages of Procycling magazine. We got to talking, and he shared with me this great cyclo-cross photo essay that he shot in France. So we decided to do two things. First an interview that gives you a sense of Richard, and his love of our sport and photography, and second we made a feature of the essay so you could see all of his great images and dirt in their true splendor.
When did you first pick up a camera?
I started slowly in 2003, when I bought a compact digital camera using money borrowed from my father. I found it strange taking pictures at first. Back then I was a sports teacher and cyclist. Then in 2005 I bought an SLR, and it changed everything.
Can you remember what your first shot was?
My first shot was in a Mall in Nantes with my girlfriend at the time. I photographed the escalators from the side, a classical composition, but effective. I entered it for a “Young artist” contest, and it got selected for an exhibition.
What do you enjoy shooting now?
I still love to shoot cycling, and I am still a correspondent for Procycling in France. But since 2009 I started to also shoot social reportage as well. Travel also interests me. I have been to Burkina Faso and in April I’m going to Palestine. I have also begun work on a project based on autism.
How did you get into shooting cycling?
In 2005 I began to do editorial for magazines, then in early 2006 I saw the potential in shooting cycling. I know a lot of things about that world, seen from the inside as a rider.
A lot of the shots you took in the cyclo-cross essay are pre or post race – what were you trying to capture?
For this essay I wanted to capture the essence of this cycling discipline, and not just the race. Capturing something of the mental side of the sport, the attitude. But also the audience and the passion they have for it in Brittany and Belgium.
What rider have you enjoyed photographing most?
Erwan Mentheour in 2007 for Procycling, when they asked me shoot for the theme “10 years on”. Erwan retired after the Festina affair. He was one of the first riders convicted of EPO use in the 1997 Paris-Nice when he was riding for Francaise des Jeux. I spent a day with him in Paris and Beaubourg. We talked a lot, had a lot of laughs and drank a lot!
There are so many iconic images of our sport – do you have a favorite?
Anquetil and Poulidor climbing the Puy de Dome during the 1964 Tour. That image catches the climax of their rivalry and the drama of the sport. We rarely see that now.
If you had your choice to shoot a grand tour or one of the classics, what would it be?
No hesitation, the Tour. But I also loved going to the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
(more…)
CATEGORIES: Interviews, Races, Riders
COMMENTS (3)
03.10.10
So they do this the week after I come back from LA? Google Maps directions now with bike routes included. This is a very cool addition, as I find myself using the “where the hell am I?” button quite a lot on Google Maps. Now the question is, are they going to add a Pro, Cat 1 or “on my fixie” filter that will adjust the journey time? One feature which I love is the crowd sourcing of the routes. They have put their best wheel forward at making suggested directions, but offer up the functionality for local riders to email in suggested changes to improve the quality. One feature missing though, is showing the best coffee and bike shops en route. Then you are talking about true technology for riders. Imagine this coupled with the Copenhagen wheel we posted earlier (http://elcyclista.com/2010/02/the-copenhagen-wheel/)….that would be pretty damm cool.
CATEGORIES: Digital Things, Routes
COMMENTS (1)
03.07.10
The weather caught up with me on my last day of riding in LA. It had been too good to be true, 60 degrees and sunny everyday. I wanted to head up La Flores one last time. When you turn off PCH there is a nice steady one mile to get yourself settled in, and then you hit a tough 16% section. Once past this it is a great climb that had hardly any traffic on it. I came back down the same way to PCH and headed back towards Dume Point to shake the legs out. If you ever get tired of riding PCH (It is hard to believe this is the equivalent of our 9W – hardly seems fair) there is a nice little side road called Malibu Road, that although it doesn’t have a great surface, you will get an idea of how the other half live. When I got back into LA I spotted a great little gaggle of surfers floating around looking for a wave. All of this right on the doorstep of the city. Completely changed my opinion of LA, it is a very cool place to ride.
CATEGORIES: From The Saddle, Routes
COMMENTS (0)
03.04.10
It just gets better and better. My first time riding in the Agoura Hills off PCH, and man it is some tough love riding. Beautiful Canyon roads, that get less traffic the more you go out along PCH. Today I headed up Encinal Road on the advice of my coach Chad and along Mulholland Hwy (probably the worst named road ever – because believe me this is no Highway) and back down Kanan Dume Road. The climb up Encinal is perfect, nice and steady and great views of the Pacific on the lower slopes. It averages out at about 5.5%, with a max of 8% and runs for about 6.5 miles if you go all the way up and over to the Malibu Country club. The legs are starting to feel a little cooked, but I am going to squeeze every ounce of life out of this sun before I go back to frigid NYC on Sunday. How can I go back to the Cyclops after this?
CATEGORIES: From The Saddle, Routes
COMMENTS (1)
