El Cyclista

02.23.13

Support For Thousands Of Miles

I want to give this project as much tailwind as possible. It looks and sounds like such an incredible piece of work capturing someone living in the saddle on an amazing voyage of discovery across America. For Thousands Of Miles is a documentary film directed by Mike Ambs as he follows Larry McKurtis as he cycles forty-two hundred miles across the Northern route of the USA. It took him 64 days to reach the Atlantic. The film is in its final stages of production and is still currently totally independent. Mike needs Kickstarter funds to finish out the sound design and final production to make a Spring release. If you can afford to give anything you can contribute here on KICKSTARTER. Watch the trailer, it is beautiful.

02.21.13

What The Pope Will Be Doing In Retirement

It is a good day for cycling.  Good things are happening. 1: Martin Irvine took two medals at the World Track Championships. Ireland has a World Champion. That is pretty incredible as Ireland doesn’t have a single Velodrome or an “Institute Of Sport” to build around Martin in the way that Team GB or Australia has. For the last few weeks I have been following tweets of him killing team mates in training in Mallorca and raving about his form. It is nice to see hard work pay off and Ireland pick up their first medal since 1986. 2: NetApp Endura got a wildcard invitation to Paris Roubaix. This is good because we might get to see riders like Russ Downing and Alex Wetterhall grace one of the biggest races of pot luck around. These guys will have been training in the hope of something like this and with a little luck on the day… What I wouldn’t give to see one of them make the split. 3: The GIRO is coming to Ireland, and starting in Belfast. There were not many things that could bridge the divide between North and South and Catholic and Protestant when I grew up there, but cycling was one of them (ironically boxing was the other). This is a huge honor for the local community. I can only imagine that the Belfast stage will head up the Antrim coast and over the Glens Of Antrim. Lets pray for a little rain and a sea breeze and have some proper Irish style racing.

02.18.13

The Scars Of Battle

Johan Van Summeren enters the team bus after the 2011 Milan San Remo, carrying the scars of taking one of the many bends in the finale on on his back.

02.02.13

A little Sky Rapha Kit Love

It is at this time of the year I think I am most jealous of the pro’s life, as they return to the job of riding, refreshed and full of hope for the new season. Embarking on trips to Mallorca, Australia and Argentina to spend weeks riding on sun-kissed roads. Older team members rekindling room-mate relationships like old married couples. Showing up at camp carrying a little too much weight, but also just right, trusting their bodies that it will be gone in the next 6 weeks in-time for the classics. New team members sometimes riding in their old team kit looking for a career reboot, or nervous young riders putting shoes on next to stars they have admired from afar, who have maybe over-trained just a little too much to be “good at camp”, and make a good first impression with the new DS. But it is actually really none of this that makes me jealous. It is all that f*#king new kit! I love new kit.

Nothing makes me happier than riding a new build for the first time. Or slipping my arms into a nice new jacket, or a pair of shoes that are still perfectly white. So you can image how my jealously went to 11 when I saw not one, but two! kit cases that Rapha delivered to the team members of SKY. There is no disappointment to be had here my fellow kit therapy seekers. This is no Fuji-Servetto skin colored kit that made the riders look naked on the bike. There is no “what the f#*k is this…” moment here. Just a nod and a smile in the knowledge that every other team in the village and on the start line is going to be very very jealous. Yes the new Rapha Team SKY kit is nice. Simple, but not boring. Just enough design, to be well designed, but not brash. Not overstated in an Italian kind of way, but making a strong statement in itself with its minimalism. I am happy to see a British brand show the Italians and French how to do style, in a way that they have mastered and lead in fashion, product design and cars, but seem to be remiss in bringing to their cycling teams. Chapeau Rapha.

01.27.13

Post Doprahgate

This shot of the wife of Wim van Est listening hopefully to the radio coverage of the her husband in the 1960 Tour, instantly takes you back to a time when more was left unsaid than was broadcast. In those days it was easy to keep the inner workings of the teams cloaked in secrecy, and their stars put on a pedestal. I just finished reading the Eddy Merckx biography “The Cannibal” by Daniel Friebe , which does an excellent job of looking into the mind of the legend, and also the suspicions of how dope ridden the peleton was back then. Granted, nowhere near as sophisticated as Doprahgate, but in their own way sophisticated enough, that today they are still thought of mostly as just that, suspicions. It was that secrecy and the riders and managers that perpetuated it, that maintained an acceptable face to the public and more importantly the sponsors, giving them the assurances they needed before their name was stuck on the back of a jersey. And here we are today, post Doprahgate, post the managed message, post naivety, post a few fallen heroes and post quite a few sponsors. But some still remain and I am thankful for them. Sponsors like Sky and Garmin that are giving us some of the best racing we have ever seen. We enter a new season with most of our dirty laundry hanging out to dry ( I can only hope ) and a wave of new riders taking victories from Argentina to Australia. Lets hope for a good one, and no more media frenzy around those that have left the sport close to implosion. In this era of media manipulation – lets face it choosing Oprah was a cop-out, she is not really know for her journalistic rigor – lets hope some of that same media can help get the sport back on its feet by reporting some of the good out there.

Photo: Collectie SPAARNESTAD PHOTO/W.L. Stuifbergen

01.01.13

Interruption In Service

Thank you all who sent notes over the past few weeks to see if everything was ok (there has been a distinct lack of posts). I am unfortunately going through a very difficult time with my family right now and it is taking all of my energy to focus on that. There isn’t a lot of inspiration to post, but I am at least still finding my time on the bike a place to gather my thoughts and strength. We will be back soon in the new year with a LOT of new projects to launch that have been cooking over the last few months. I hope you are all well and have a wonderful 2013. Ride safe and enjoy every moment of it while you can. Normal service resumed soon.

11.08.12

The Stunning “Purple Blast” From VANDEYK

The latest frame from VANDEYK in Germany is the stunning “Purple Blast”. Inspired by the iridescence of flares the paint was done in partnership with a high-end car paint shop. Limited to 25 frames only, this one is seriously going to stand out down at the coffee shop.

11.02.12

11.01.12

Howies Bringing Back Some Classics

It is worth taking a look over at the HOWIES site. They are doing a limited time run of some of their classics from a collection of t-shirt designs that date back to 1995, including this one above “Ride Like Hell”. See more of the designs HERE