El Cyclista

09.02.10

A nice illustration of “Coppi” sent to me by the Italian artist Riccardo Guasco. Reminds me of the glory days of illustration and artists like the great Cassandre. More of Riccardo’s work here.

08.31.10

08.15.10

A TransAm Honeymoon: Kissing With Helmets

There is no better way to discover a country than from the seat of a bike, and America has undoubtedly one of the richest mixes of landscape to see. I have an Ernest Hemingway quote pinned above my desk (yes I know, an unlikely fan of the bike) that says, “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. You have no such accurate remembrance as you gain by riding a bicycle“. It is with that quote that I wish Brett Clever and his wife Edie the best of luck and safe riding on their epic ride across America, on their HONEYMOON. Yes I said honeymoon. They are taking on an amazing 4,787 mile ride from Astoria, OR, to Brooklyn, NY, along the TransAm route, undoubtedly something they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Brett and Edie have planned this trip down to the last detail, and knowing Brett as one of the the local New York scene’s most competitive Cat 2s, it wasn’t hard to get some support from some of the best bike brands out there. The bikes are killer. Two matching IFs with a custom paint job influenced by a 87 Haro Team Master, that will let us see them coming into Brooklyn all the way from Illinois. Topped out with matching white Ritchey, FSA, Chris King, and Ultegra parts, makes for one pretty nice “touring” bike. Some custom Lightweight jerseys from their friends at Rapha will be keeping them nicely ventilated, but out of all of the detail, my favorite item has to be the custom”Kissing With Helmets” head badges by Jen Green, the name of this whole adventure. Check out the Kissing With Helmets site, Brett and Edie will be posting as they travel (if they can find Wifi in Kansas). I can’t wait to see and hear the stories from this one, we will post when we get news of their travels.

Brett: I am not sure that Drum and Bass is going sound right on those long flats of Kansas. I suggest “The Wild Hunt” album by The Tallest Man On Earth. The cover alone will give you a hint of what you are in for…

07.13.10

Is This The Sadest Image Of The Year?

Cadel post stage explaining to his team how he feels he let his team down. Could that not be so far from the truth? He rides what looked like one of the toughest and most aggressive stages in recent Tour history with a broken arm. The fact he even got on the bike this morning at all is an amazing achievement, and he still finished the stage. A rider who wears his emotions on his sleeve, I can’t help but admire his courage and dedication to his team. He knew he was not going to compete at 100%, but there was no way he was going to deny BMC their day in yellow. I loved this rider before, but now, the guy is an idol.

06.10.10

Inside The Tour Of California

We are again lucky enough to be able to publish the great work of the photographer Michael Crook. This is an essay she shot from inside the Fly V team at the recent Tour Of California. The full essay has a great range of on the road, behind the scenes, pre and post race. The team continues to be impressive wherever and whenever they race, even if some of them are taking a little battering. Get the full set of images here.

06.08.10

This Should Be Flagged As Inappropriate

Found this great piece of helmet Cam footage over at La Gazzetta Della Bici. Shot on the last 450 meters of the Plan De Corones time trial following Michael Barry you get a real sense of what it must have been like for him to ride up through the Tifosi, without the lung busting pain of coarse. The last kilometer has to be one of the steepest ridden in any race, and took on average about 5 mins to ascend. As I was watching it on Youtube I couldn’t help looking at the “Flag as inappropriate” button, and thinking damn right, how inappropriate is it to make a rider time trial up this. Accompanied by Paolo Conte’s “Bartali” – a song dedicated to Italian cycling legend Gino Bartali. A great piece of footage.

06.05.10

Rider “Stunt” doubles for the Tour? What next?

Well I wouldn’t mess with him in a sprint either. First mechanical doping, and now stunt doubles for “dangerous” stages – what is our sport coming to. If the rumors are true, Liquigas have signed Christian Bale to act as a stunt double for Roman Kreuziger on the early cobbled stages of the Tour. After Liquigas experienced the “classic-like” stages in the Giro they decided to recruit a couple of look-alikes to ride the early stages in case of a repeat of all of the crashes. When Bale was asked about this new role he said “I plan on staying at the front, if Armstrong wants to try and come past, I will not be responsible for the consequences”. The team continues to search for a double for Basso. Hollywood casting director Sylvia Fellico said “It is a hard one to find, we can’t figure out if he is smiling or grimacing”

06.01.10

You Never Know Who You Will Bump Into

It must be hard being a Pro. The Tour is looming, and that bloody Tourmalet is in it twice. I know, you say to yourself,  I am going to get out there and do a few sneaky hill repeats on it, that will get the head right. Well what do you know, you arrive at the little cafe at the top for a quiet hot chocolate and there is a bloody circus going on. Not one, but two Schleck brothers!, team cars (with bikes) and two bloody film crews. Scuppered. This is one conversation I would loved to over heard” (Photo of Contador and the Schlecks who bumped into each other at the top of the Tourmalet when out training this weekend)

AS: “Hey Berty!”
AC: “Andy? Frank? what the….”
AS: “Is that a compact you have on there Berty?!”
AC: “No, no this is my brothers bike, it has one of those litle motors in the seat tube….”
AS: “Berty you know that is illegal?”
AC: “How come you guys got silver frames and I got stuck with this horrible blue and yellow?”
AS: “We live close to Switzerland Berty, where they know how to design”

05.27.10

The Climb, The Weather And The Underdog

The Climb
It would be tempting to say that tomorrows 12.8km of the Passo del Mortirolo will decide the fate of what has been one of the best ever Grand Tours. But with the following day going over the Gavia, weather permitting, and a time trial into Verona there are still plenty of places to gain and loose time. If you think it is between Basso and Evans, then 42 seconds is nothing. There are time bonuses on the finishes and if Evans hangs with Basso until the last KM of the climbs I expect to see him attacking. In the time trail he should pull between 20 and 30 seconds out of Basso. But if Basso has the Pink jersey on his back, and Evans crumbles at the end of what has been a brutal three weeks and the pressure of his first GT win, he might want be a little closer than the power meter numbers from their coach Sassi says. So that puts it back on the Mortirolo and maybe more importantly the descent of the Trivigno.

The Weather
Then there is the weather, if it hits tomorrow then the odds and players change somewhat. We have already seen Basso back off on the wet, while riders like Evans and Vino pile it on. So the descent of the Trivigno may well be the ideal place to gain time and maybe by the the time we hit the Mortirolo it will all be about minimizing loses. Andy Hampsten must be laughing at them all as the potential for snow at the summit of the Gavia the next day may redirect the stage, but with that type of weather threatening you could even see abandonments! I say let them go up, providing it is ridable of coarse.

The Underdog
And what of David Arroyo Duran? Who thought he would have turned in the time he did on the slopes of Plan de Corones? This will be his first time up the Mortirolo, not really the circumstances you want to be tackling one of the most famous climbs in the world. But a Spaniard winning the Giro, now what more carrot do you need? Plus he will have seven teammates all determined to control the race at least until the Motirolo. If he rides to limit his loses and still looses 1.30 min, that still gives him nearly a minute going into the final two days.

This is going to be good. Very good.

05.24.10

Brooklyn Gets A Tweed Run

On heading out for a Sunday morning park ride I ran into these guys by Grand Army Plaza. It turned out to be the beginning of Brooklyn’s (and probably New York’s) very own Tweed Run. We posted a heads-up on the original London run a while back, that got an amazing turn out of over four hundred appropriately dressed riders. This run looks like it is just getting started, but the energy was there for this to grow. There seemed to be more of a focus on the outfits than the bikes, although I did spot this beautiful Hetchins above. Whilst the outfits in London seemed to definitely weigh towards the Dandy, some of the rider outfits here had a very cool American Worker look (apart from the guy in the cape and Bowler obviously). We wish them all the best with the run, they get top marks for making the effort.