Category: Soapbox

Raging Bike

Being overtaken by the rider of a Navy Blue Bianchi Pista didn’t cheese me off this morning. I’d past him at a set of lights earlier on the commute into work and he caught back up and passed me as I was slowing for the next set of lights. The thing that annoyed me was the way he made absolutely no effort to stop for the lights that were on red and sailed nonchalantly through them. I ended up stuck at the next two sets of lights which also turned to red just as I reached them.

I haven’t worked out if I’m more annoyed about being overtaken by someone who jumped the lights and that as I didn’t give chase I wasn’t able to catch them up after that or whether it was the fact that because I didn’t, I ended up getting red lighted three times on the way to work. I’d like to adopt the My Name is Earl approach to this and think that karma will even things up in the long run…

Soft Touch

Back in May this year Apple opened a new store on Boylston Street in Boston. It’s the company’s largest in the US, and second-largest in the world. It would of course have been rude not to go and take a look (there’s a page detailing the opening and lots of pictures here). It is a good looking store. So I went along and checked out some of the things on offer.

Now I’m quite interested in getting my hands on one of these new touch screen iPods. Then you think – maybe I should get an iPhone. The reason I ditched my personal mobile a few years ago was that I never used it, so it would have been pointless getting another one. I’ve been talking to iPhone users too, especially those who also have Blackberries too and the consensus is that there is no way that you’ll be able to text or email quicker on an iPhone. So if you do that a lot it’s not  good alternative.

So really all you need is an iPod touch. Basically an iPhone without the phone – all the same applications, although no camera, not that this is an omission that would make any difference. The iPod is lighter and thinner too. Thing is since Apple brought out the new iPhone the playing field has been thrown out of kilter. According to MacRumours you’d have to be off your rocker to buy an iPod touch right now because a replacement is imminent.

In fact the real reason you’d be nuts to buy one is because the iPod Touch 8Gb is $300 and the iPhone 8Gb is $200. So for $100 less you get an iPod Touch. And a mobile phone. And a camera. In one device. I felt like saying something, but clearly Apple know best, right? Despite the exchange rate savings, there’s no point buying one until some better kit come out. I think I’ll be waiting until they bring out a 64Gb version…

I wandered off and headed down to the great little Back Bay Bicycles store for some retail therapy instead. They have a neat little calculator on their website where you can see how much riding could save you in comparison to driving too.

ProTour No More

It appears that the conflict between the UCI, the organisers of the Cycling Global ProTour, and the organsers of the three grand tours* (Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España and Tour de France) and racing teams have come to a head. The UCI have had the foundations of the series swept from under them by the recent decision of all the major teams to leave the ProTour – a decision apparently supported by the grand tour organisers. Pat McQuaid’s cries that:

“These teams need to think of the responsibilities they have to those organisers, rather than just thinking of themselves,” he added. “They have a responsibility to the rest of the sport, and they are not doing that. The ramifications in a year or two is that ASO will be selecting the teams for the Tour de France out of a possible 30 or 40 Pro Continental teams. So where are half of these teams gone then?” (From cyclingnews.com)

He seems to be missing the point that majority of the teams and event organisers seem to have been deeply unhappy about the direction that UCI was taking professional cycling. Road Racing isn’t Formula One (although I’m sure many cyclists wish they were on F1 salaries) and efforts to globalise the sport further by taking it into ‘new markets’ isn’t something that’s in their interests. By failing to listen to the feedback and not working with the Grand Tour organisers to agree compromises on simple things like wildcard entries, the ProTour has been fatally undermined.

Most teams won’t care even if McQuaid’s warnings about the decision effectively being a jump out of the frying pan and into the fire is true. They should never have been pressurised to the point where such a radical decision was needed. The big question now is what significance the UCI will play in the future of professional road racing. Clearly the World Championships will continue to fall under their remit (complete with ghastly and shonkily rubbish website presences), but they tend to focus more on the individual and national interests rather than significance of the team.

I say keep a very close eye on Greg Lemond. Recently free of his connection with Trek through Lemond Bikes, the former Tour winner has been a vocal critic of the UCI under McQuaid. His statement that Cycling doesn’t need the UCI has generated a lot of support from the public. His anti-doping message which features an open criticism and (justifiable) lack of sympathy for those caught is in harmony with the current atmosphere in the 2008 Tour – the race is filled with and dominated by a new generation of riders who don’t share the same attitude to drugs**.

Lemond could very well be the man of the moment. Watch this space.

* operated by companies linked by an interesting web of shares in each others businesses.
** something that many cynics believe to be just as rampant as ever, just masked by increasingly sophisticated methods.