El Cyclista

04.24.10

From The Saddle: Spring Classics

Woke up to a beautiful spring day here in New York, so we headed up to Nyack for a long lazy spring ride (there seemed to be an unusual amount of people on tri bikes today for some reason). I ran into this great group of riders outside of  the Runcible Spoon. Two classic and beautifully designed jerseys in amazing condition. The Wild-VIS jersey had a wonderful story attached. During a ride in Europe the owner (sorry, I forgot to get your name down before we left) got into a conversation with a rider from Flanders who informed him that Gevogelte, Scholler, Lier were essentially mostly things that you would find on a menu at a fine restaurant in Flanders. Interesting choice of sponsors. The D.L.F jersey was picked up at L’Eroica a few years back, and looked like a true collector’s item. Irish legs below, starting to emerge from a tough winter and look like European or American legs – well at least if all of the freckles join up they will. It is either that or I am the next Stuart O’Grady (in looks only).

02.10.10

Elcyclista Kit Update

Update! We have finalized the details of the next run of our kit with Capo Forma. If any of you own any Capo kit you will know that it is a high quality product. Great longevity and attention to detail. We will be releasing this round of the kit at cost price (prices per piece below). We are going to do a limited run, so let us know if you are interested nice and early as it will impact the quantities we get per size (we have already had a lot of interest). The main pieces we will offer will be the Elcyclista jerseys and bibs. Also, depending on the amount of interest we may do caps and arm warmers. We made a few tweaks to the original design but nothing major as the feedback we got was so positive. The details are below. If you are interested, drop me an email to eurobiker@gmail.com with the pieces you are interested in and the sizes you would want (the Capo Forma catalogue has more details on sizing). When I get your requests, I’ll email back individually with payment details (we will be doing it through PayPal). Thanks in advance for your support and spreading the word

The Jersey: $65 (USD)
We are getting European race cut (usually means if you like a little room like me you need to go a size up; I am 5’8″ and about 154lbs and medium build – I need a large jersey) using their Drop fabric, Dual-knit, tear drop style knit with proven moisture management and sublimation properties. The design has a full-length lockable hidden zipper, three back pockets and a silicone gel waist gripper.

The Bibs: $75 (USD)
Will be made with their 210 Power Lycra for longevity and have the Corsa chamois insert. It is an elastic one-piece construction with varying thickness (High 10mm, Medium 7mm and Low 5mm), perforated open cells for maximum air flow, anti-microbial microfiber composed of silver ion threads and enhanced perennial channel for additional comfort. This is a great all-around seating option.

Arm warmers: $25 (USD)
Ideal accessory for every climate and condition, providing both muscle support and effective UV protection. Power Lycra® SPF 50 and silicone gel arm gripper.

Caps: $8 (USD)
One size fits all! Standard cap size. Branded inside peak, wear it flipped up in honor of VDB.

Posting:
Using USPS on Priority Mail, flat rate, with 6 to 1o days delivery time
International: $14
Domestic (US): $10

01.24.10

My bike is better than your bike

A great t-shirt from Candy Cranks in Sydney. Available here for purchase.

01.16.10

Stevens SLC Team

I have been staring at this frame for weeks. It has been a dark week here in Brooklyn, I am buried in work and finding it hard to get time to do anything beyond push pixels and get some -30 degree riding in. I keep coming back to this frame and admiring the design and that muscle bike front end. A brand I didn’t know much about until the Cross Season started. Nice and light at a claimed weight of 890g. But something else did bring a smile to my face. I imagine if you are a pro rider you would get very excited at that time of the year when you go to the team’s first camp and get your new kit and bikes. And then someone does this to you. What possessed someone to choose “skin tone” as a color for a kit? They will look naked! Can’t wait to see this one on TV and hopefully they will ride Roubaix, all that mud and skin they will look like mud wrestlers. Blur your eyes, go on, I dare you…….

12.21.09

Elcyclista From Around The World: Spain

Whilst our Sunday ride was canceled due to 14 inches of snow, Stefan in San Miguel, Spain, was out giving his bike a “wash”. I just got these great shots from him taking his kit out for an inaugural ride around a soggy Spanish countryside. We are lucky enough to have Stefan be a regular reader, as he is also a pretty amazing photographer (check out his work, http://www.stefan-rohner.net/blog/). He said the kit held up well and the mud came out on washing. Also check out his winter ride below, a beautiful Speedvagon from Vanilla Bikes of Portland, Oregon. (Photos: © Carina Berlingeri)

12.07.09

Cycling Window Displays

I found this when I was trawling through last summers pictures taken in the Pyrenees. It was taken in the market town of Saint-Girons, which was going to be a stage finish town when The Tour passed through there in July. In celebration of being honored with a stage finish a lot of the local shop owners had dusted down their old bikes and/or jerseys and made window displays to show their support. This one in particular caught my eye. No one is missing this guy with those checks on his sleeves. I count a total of seven fonts on the jersey (and that is just the front). Blasphemy. On a separate and completely unrelated to cycling note. The window below is of a bookshop in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was a communist bookshop. No prizes for guessing.

12.05.09

Martin Earley and Team Fagor

In the days of wool jerseys and drilled bike parts, and when Ireland ruled the Tours, Worlds and the Sprints, the Fagor jersey and one of its riders was a huge source of inspiration. Martin Earley was one of the most respected riders on the local Irish racing scene. Practically unbeatable in his day and someone that was obviously going to follow on the path blazed by both Roche and Kelly. I remember one particularly bad day at a race near Naas in Dublin, when Ireland gave us one of its worst days. They called off the junior races but the seniors still went ahead. We were on our way home along the course when out of a cloud of car spray Earley emerged by himself a long way ahead of the field. I guess he just decided the quicker you could get this over with, the better. Seemed no one else agreed or couldn’t participate. The gap in level was pretty obvious, we all just wished he would bugger off to the continent.

He eventually did, and turned pro in 1985 with the Fagor team, staying with them for three years where he had some great results for a new pro. The best of these was a stage win at the Giro in his second year. It was difficult to get coverage back then, and the Internet was still all “tubes and wires” at a military facility somewhere in the Midwest. Finding out about results and the story behind the race meant buying Cycling Weekly or showing up at races where people had phoned home and given the back story. Stage 15 of the 1986 Giro was a hard one, with a mountaintop finish. Martin probably benefited from the fact that not a lot of the peleton knew his ability, which allowed him to get a break. He managed to stay away with Roberto Visentini, Greg LeMond, Giuseppe Saronni and Francesco Moser all chasing him up the climb, crossing the line with 1 minute 30 seconds to spare. Pretty impressive. One week later this picture appeared in Cycling Weekly (I think?). The expression says it all. Having raced in a bunch with him when the ICF decided the juniors needed “toughing up” and threw us in with the seniors, there was a connection between me and local races, and one of the greatest races in the world that wasn’t there before. This picture stayed above my bed for a really long time. Not Kelly, not Roche, but our Martin. Maybe because he wasn’t “god like” in the way that Kelly and Roche was, he felt like one of us.

11.29.09

From The Saddle: First Elcyclista Sunday Ride

Nice 4 hour ride today up to Piermont for our first proper outing in the new kit. Thanks to Wai, Paul and Patrick for coming along and special thanks to Wai for riding without a shell to show of the name, he is obviously harder than me. Also take note, Paul’s custom painted Bianchi with matching painted stem. Sweet color. I have also decided that there is an evil spirit somewhere around the junction on the way out of Piermont, that gets in your shorts and makes you all competitive on the way back. It seems to be impossible to ride “tranquilo” on 9W – but what can you do but join in.

11.25.09

Elcyclista Kit Is In!

It is a momentous day here at Elcyclista, today was the first road test of our new kit. A lovely dark 7am start with Chad from Endurance Werx in CP wasn’t really how I was envisioning rolling it out. I was thinking more like maybe along the Cornice outside Nice on the Cote D’Azur on a warm summers morning, but you take what you get. At least it stayed dry. A really nice job from Champion Systems (thanks to Brian Breech for pushing it through), although I may need butt balm with that Chamois. This is a first and limited run which are being given to Elcyclista followers so they can become pedal-powered billboards for us. We have a few sets left, so let us know if you are willing to let us pimp you out and become moving advertising. One clause, we will expect pictures, in kit, from bunch rides and exotic locals. Leave a comment and let us know.

11.08.09

Eddy Merckx Grand Fondo and Above Category Jerseys

Two new classic jerseys to add to the ever bulging kit drawer, both made by Vermac, and purchased on a recent trip to San Francisco. The first is a jersey from the Eddy Merckx Grand Fondo run in La Portenza in Italy. It has great color combination of leader jersey’s colored stripes (Yellow, Pink and Gold) from each of Eddy’s Grand Tour domination’s (in order of preference? – I always thought he liked the Vuelta better than the Giro). The second jersey is from one of the countries best bike shops, Above Category in Mill Valley. Rarely do bike shops get their jersey design right, they always try to do too much or just get one little bit wrong. Everything AC does rates high. Classy shop, kit and people.