Category: Words

The Giro is on. Simoni is in Pink and Cipo is in the stink:

From: Cyclingnews
Subject: Cipollini carries on

Mario Cipollini took the start in the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia, the morning after a violent crash in the closing metres of a wet, dangerous stage 4. Cipollini crashed heavily in the final sprint, taken out by his leadout man Andrus Aug who drifted off course while looking around in the bunch finish. The Lion King required 14 stitches to attend to deep cuts in his shin and elbow, but slept in the team hotel after being examined at the hospital in San Donato di Arezzo. X-rays ruled out any fractures for Cipollini.

“Last night wasn’t easy,” Cipollini said before today’s stage start. “What worries me the most is my ankle, but I have to try [to start] for the tifosi… it’s my duty. I’ll try to pedal and I hope to finish the stage. To finish would already be a success.”

All exciting stuff, but perhaps not as exciting for wheel connoisseurs as a first glimpse of the widely expected and much anticipated Dura Ace carbon wheels. They’re here.

Causing a bit of an uproar is news that a 29er has won a mountain bike cross country race in the Netherlands, where since UCI rules were changed to permit the inclusion of 700c wheeled bikes, racers have been turning up with thinly veiled cyclo cross bikes, much to the angst of ‘mountain bikers’.

Officials have now stared debating a world of weirdness including making the use or proper sized mountain bike tyres a requirement. Quite wether a proper mountain bike tyre is a 1.5 Conti Cross Country or a 2.5 Nokian Gazzalodi or something in between is not clear, but as John Stevenson has aptly pointed out:

As someone who was deeply involved in mountain bike racing in the UK the first time this debate rolled round in the late 1980s, I can’t help but think this is all a bit silly. If a ‘mountain bike’ race course is so technically undemanding that it can be won on a cyclo-cross bike, then so be it. Either redesign the course, or put up with it. Artificial equipment rules to exclude a type of bike that you don’t like is exactly the sort of nonsense that drove people away from road racing and into mountain bike racing back in the ’80s and early ’90s.

The original rule against tyres bigger than 26in was introduced on ‘safety’ grounds – on a well-designed mountain bike course a cyclo-cross bike would be a hazard, the reasoning went, even though cyclo-crossers seemed to survive events like the UK’s Three Peaks Race on a course that no sane person would tackle on anything but a mountain bike. No mountain bike racer I talked to at the time wanted to exclude the ‘crossers, especially as we’d found ourselves being welcomed warmly at their events. But the rule happened anyway, because it’d never do to actually foster good relations between different branches of cycling.

What happens when you mess with a fixed gear bike? It shows it’s disgust by exacting oily revenge, meaning you’ll have one less digit to prod at it with in future. Carnage here.

And on singlespeed themes, Race Face kit is not invincible to the power of one.

Finally the recreational drug of choice for a generation is starting to get people into trouble, especially those growing it for personal use. America might be the land of the free, but I’m fairly certain the American dream wasn’t based on building wealth by growing pot. As former professional downhiller Myles Rockwell has just found out. I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere, but ‘don’t get caught’ isn’t necessarily it.

Why no photos from Glentress? Several people have asked. Well it’s because I forgot the camera, which I have started to thing was a good thing. Now normally I like stopping every now and then and taking in the scenery and the view and recording it on the camera.

Yet doing that does tend to interrupt any flow you get to your riding, so when the trails are good sometimes it’s better to ride them and not have to worry or think about anything else. Secondly I think when you’re carrying something delicate and expensive, you tend to subconsciously hold back a bit, which isn’t what you want when you’re trying to progress your riding.

Talking of progression, I have decided that there is no need for a big ring on the FSR and so I’ve just put on one of the Race Face bash guards, which is a fairly substantial piece of kit by any standards. It means the bike now has an enormous amount of BB clearance and there’s less to worry about when riding over stuff.

Steve Peat won the recent and increasingly popular Red Bull downtown race in Lisbon. There are some photos over at cyclingnews and PinkBike has the report.

Meanwhile the Giro d’Italia is in full swing. There’s plenty of coverage around, but Cyclingnews seem to be leading the way in terms of excellent reports. There’s more from the BBC and Pezcycling.

I linked up pushbikes.ca when it first started out. The site seems to be going from strength to strength, so if you haven’t been back there for a while it might be a good time to take another look. hilst you need flash to look at Leigh Hargrove’s site, it’s a class bit of work and the photos are fantastic.

Busy, busy, busy. Not much time for thinking about bikes these last few days.

Computer problems, work problems and tonight the backbox of the exhaust fell off the car on the motorway transforming a normally burbly motor into a TVResque monster. Fortunately my hearing is now recovering.

There’s some nice kit in the latest tech update from Cyclingnews. The Morningstar tools are also tested in the latest issue of Dirtrag.

I’ve been saying it for a long time but here’s the latest doom and gloom.

From: Bikebiz
Subject: Will bike shops be bike shops in summer 2004?

It’s becoming increasingly likely that there’s soon going to be a critical supply and demand problem in bicycle shops around the world. There’s not enough Shimano to go round. Not even the big guys can get their hands on enough of the stuff. For the first time ever, bicycle suppliers are hoping for a damp summer. BikeBiz.com has been reporting on the Shimano gruppo delays since December 2003 and on the raw materials shortage since February.

After a fair bit of faffing and wondering if it was actually going to happen a few of us made the trek up to Glentress once again. After the snowy affair earlier this year, the weather couldn’t have been more different. There was dust blowing and the trails were in great shape.

We rode the red route on Sunday morning, starting off with a bit of a muck about on the dual course. Then as we were going round we detoured up to the ‘shore section and after watching Jon clean it on his first go proceeded to try and follow suit. the chosen method for this was to build confidence by riding a bit then riding it again and the next bit until the whole thing was cleaned.

The see-saw proved to be interesting. The first time I ran out of speed just on the pivot and had to jump the bike off it sideways. The second time I cleared it and the third time I rode off the edge of it and crashed out in spectacular style with a fork bottoming nose dive. Not to be defeated it was straight back on the bike and at it again, cleaning it nicely.

After ripping down the black it was off to Innerleithen after a nice lunch at the Hub in the Forest. We all pushed our way to the top and the start hut and then found our way down – a journey interspersed with big jumps, getting caught mid air by gusts of wind, bottoming out suspension, avoiding trees and big rocks and getting the disc brakes warm. After a few cans of obilgatory Red Bull, the Midget and I rode the cross country course.

I wish MacPuppy Blance had been there to show us around, because while the first half of it and the climb up to the trig point on Minch Moor at 567m was a well marked and laid out route the riding up on the tops and the descents were a bit of a disappointment and we could have done with some local knowledge to show us the way.

After a curry in Peebles on Sunday night, Monday saw us tackle the black run again. For Ben and I it was the first chance to ride it without snow and what a difference it made. The downhills were ridable and everything.

Tomorrow morning I am being interviewed live on Radio 5 regarding the new legislation on bicycle bells that comes into effect from the 1st May. I am beginning to regret saying I’d do it, but as we’re off up to Glentress after work at least there is a highlight to the day.

Girly gear here. Probably in the wrong shades of pink and baby blue and probably guaranteed to result in the comment: Is this all you’ve got? T’is true. You just can’t win.

I am always interested in people who bodge stuff together. I have no idea if this is a thing of interest to anyone else, but there is some trailer shonkiness here.

Oh and get hot and sweaty more often. It’s good for you.

From: Bikebiz
Subject: Get breathless and sweaty five times a week, urges top doc

Couch potatoes beware, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has today published a report urging Brits to shed pounds not by signing up for costly gym membership but adding physical activity into their everyday lives. In other words? Hoover vigorously, walk to the newsagents, cycle to school.

Sir Liam has released a report on physical activity and health, At Least Five A Week. Smoking and unhealthy diet have long been established as major causal factors for chronic disease but the report says that inactive living is equally important. Sir Liam Donaldson said:

“People need to stay active over the whole of their lives if they are to stave off the threat of obesity and killer diseases like cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and cancer.

“We are moving less than our parents and grandparents. This is a major risk factor for the nation’s health. We need to combat the ‘couch potato’ culture, and this means building moderate everyday physical activity into our lives.

“It is not about spending hours and hours in the gym, but it is about finding ways to build activities into our daily lives.”

For general health benefit, adults should achieve a total of at least 30 minutes a day of at least moderate intensity physical activity, on five or more days of the week.

This report will be considered by Ministers when they draw up the forthcoming White Paper on Public Health, following the public consultation exercise, currently under way.

John Reid, Health Secretary, said:

“This is an excellent report which clearly sets out the importance of a more active lifestyle. The challenge for all of us; Government, business, the voluntary sector and individuals themselves, is how we achieve that.”

Sir Liam said the recommended levels of activity could be achieved either by doing all the daily activity in one session or through shorter bouts of activity of 10 minutes or more.

“For example, an adult may take a daily brisk walk or cycle to work and children could be encouraged to walk to school, in addition to two or three weekly leisure activities such as swimming, football, or gym. All activity can help prevent obesity, so people should make the most of all small opportunities to be active such as using stairs and doing the gardening.”

The report highlights that up to two-thirds of men and three quarters of women don’t take enough physical activity for a health benefit; a quarter of adults and six per cent of 2-20 year olds are obese; and the cost of inactivity – direct costs of treatment and indirect costs caused through sickness absence – is an estimated £8.2bn annually.

Global warming is hard to appreciate until it begins to affect you directly and the fact that sea level is rising probably faster thanks to human action that it would have been doing naturally is just one consequence. Recent research has shown that the rate of rising oceans isn’t a spatially equal process. I found this today. It made me think:

“Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money can not be eaten” Cree Indian Philosophy

After demand for some different local weather forecasting due to a bout of inaccuracy from the beeb, there’s now a few more options.

For those interested in the more extreme side of the sport, there are some nice photos of the Turner/Honda freeride bike over at Pinkbike as well as news that Wayne Goss has won the third annuall Race Face Ultimate Freeride Challenge.

Finally racing in the opening Sea Otter race this year was so dry that some of the pros wer running semi slicks, or totally slicks, or even ‘cross wheels and tyres on their mountain bikes. Pretty mad stuff. Velonews also have an good interview with legendary rider Missy Giove.

Well I missed the best potential day of riding of the year yesterday. Stuck indoors on call (have to respond within 3 minutes) so potential for riding is zero. At least there’s this weekend in Glentress to look forward to.

So whilst not a great option, I spent a bit of time yesterday updating the Singletrack Archive with the latest issue and mused over getting a new Singlespeed. I fancy a Kona Unit, but they’ve sold out of my size for the year. Maybe I should just get some 63mm travel forks for the Saracen? Anyway I have other things to worry about first, like the final payment on a new frame and having to pay for a replacement software key that’s gone awol.

I’ve also rejigged the bikes page. I decided that it was all a bit sad having individual specs for each bike. If it isn’t obvious from the pictures what’s on each bike people will have to ask. It also means that I know longer have to worry about keeping the specs up to date when ever I change a part. Not that I was ever overly bothered about either doing that or keeping up to the minute photos. I think the sexpest has the right idea:

Sexmidget Industries has no product to flog. Sorry about that, have to get your midgets elsewhere. It’s a website that people only read when they’re really fucking bored and waiting for something good to happen. Well; this site is totally devoid of anything entertaining apart from some stuff about riding bikes…

15/04/04 :: Been riding my bike I have. OF course, that’s not what this site is about, so here’s my new magic gallery. It’s got comments and all sorts of magic shit so you can say “oi, you sad cunt, why don’t you stop taking pictures of bikes and go knob some skanky bitches”. Which would be fair really.

Chilly has sent in this link to a site I’d never heard of before: Keen as chips. I don’t know what happened to keen as mustard, maybe chips is the new mustard. Anyway take a look at it. The Rainbow episode has gone down quite well with those that have seen it. Oh and the site doesn’t seem to work with Mozilla based browsers either. Well at least not mine anyway 😦

There’s been some fairly interesting news in the cycling world recently including word that Frigo is out of the Giro with a virus, Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme have been threatened with suspension, Simoni is back on track, a Motorist is on trial for the Otxoa accident, that the initial stage of the UK helmet bill has failed, Bruyneel is looking towards life after USPS, the Driver who hit Craig Lewis ignored officials and that Lampre have confirmed signing World Champ Astarloa . See Cyclingnews for more.

Finally – Chris are you back from the US and have you build up the Yeti yet?

Mountain Mayhem. Two months and counting. Is the team ready? Well Conrad is back from France today. There was a broken back drama, but it wasn’t him. Lets hope a certain person makes a full recovery.

And where’s my new bike? Not here yet that’s for sure. Although some absolutely top draw bling arrived from these good people yesterday. I want to be building it up now and getting out there and riding it in this fine weather. Thursday nights ride in Calderdale was to the setting of a beautiful evening. Cheers to Tim K for organising another fine session and to everyone else for providing beer, scotch and tequila and good company.

Whilst fixed offroad is clearly wrong (I once said that about Singlespeeding, so I wonder how long until I try it?), the website of the damned is rather good. Take a look at 63xc.com.

After massive publicity and internal pressure within the USA, it’s the end of an era for one of the greatest teams of the 1990s. Here’s the full report from Cyclingnews.com:

From: Cyclingnews
Subject: US Postal Service will end sponsorship

The United States Postal Service (USPS) will not renew its sponsorship of the Division I professional team headed by five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. The postal service’s contract expires at the end of 2004, but USPS spokesman Gerry McKiernan said in an AP report that the agency has decided to go “in another direction”, possibly with another sports venture.

“Now, it is an interesting time to stop,” Armstrong commented. “I think the team is better than ever. I think that we continue to compete at a top level and win tours and win big races.”

Bill Stapleton, Armstrong’s manager and chief executive of the Tailwind Sports, which owns and manages the USPS cycling team, said the team is “committed to keeping our riders and staff in place for years to come and furthering our goals of winning important events like the Tour de France.”

Presenting sponsor Berry Floor has indicated an interest in assuming a title sponsorship role, however the team’s future may depend largely on whether or not Armstrong decides to continue racing beyond this season. At the same time, Armstrong has said himself that he will not ride for any team other than the current USPS structure, making the arrival of a new sponsor to take over current operations critical.

“I think there’ll be two different prices for the team,” Armstrong told Bonnie DeSimone of the Chicago Tribune , referring to the prospects of a transfer to a new sponsor. “Obviously, if the team is still winning the Tour, or if I continue, it’ll be one level, and when I retire, I suspect it’ll drop off to another level.”

The US Postal Service, which has sponsored the team since 1996, has faced increased criticism over the value of the cycling team, estimated to cost the government agency $8 million per year. An internal March 2003 audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) cited an inability to verify revenues attributed the sports sponsorships, while public watchdog groups have repeatedly criticised the expensive contract in light of rising mailing costs and budget shortfalls for the agency.

“The Postal Service needs to consider sponsorships in light of its monopoly status, financial condition, investment returns and core mission,” the internal auditors wrote.

In the wake of the recent Kelme debacle, Manzano has just given his first interview outside of the Spanish media with Cyclingnews.com. Meanwhile while Cofidis sit out their own drugs accusations, their two top riders are increasingly linked with moves to other teams. Millar is now rumoured to be favoured by Saeco and world champion Igor Astarloa is alleged to be in discussions about a move to the Lampre team.

I’ve found a few more mountain biking websites recently so here they are. First up is Hcor.net, a freeride downhill based site a bit like NSMB, which currently has some photos from what was on show at the Sea Otter Classic. Then there is ridemonkey.com which seems to be a massive collection of discussion forums for the North American continent, one of which (the lounge) has the subtitle “working hard to get kicked out of corporate intranets.”

The London Bicycle Messenger Association is pretty self explanatory. Take a look at their website.

Finally trail access issues seem to be becoming increasingly more important to a lot of riders here in the UK. Unfortunately riders in the USA, have an even worse scenario to face. Tim Blumenthal of IMBA is profiled in this article written for the on-line version of the Outside magazine. It’s long, but in my opinion, well worth the read.

Now I like taking photos whilst I’m out riding, but I only have a fairly basic digital camera, because I know the potential for stacking and wrecking something better is very real. Most digital cameras have a resolution of something in the region of 1-6 mega pixels, so seeing someone that has created a 1 giga pixel image is pretty impressive. Take a look here.

At somepoint yesterday I managed to trigger the sciatica in my lower back and today I have been hobbling around like an invalid and maxed up to the eyeballs on pain killers. Tomorrow my physio will hopefully put me back together.

If I’m fixed I will be riding Calderdale this Thursday. Good times.

Of course it could be worse. I could have fractured my pelvis. Get well soon the Droid.

The guys from Brooklyn Machine Works were in Manchester today after a weekend at the Bike Show in Birmingham. They were on some ridiculous 24″ full suspension singlespeed things and proceeded to session Manchester. As a result of their visit we now have some of their Engliskniks in stock. I guess in comparison to NYC, Manchester must seem a bit small.

Finally I get a lot of crap in my mailbox these days but I think it highly unlikely that anyone is going to buy anti-spam software from someone who tries to sell their product by spam advertising. Cretins.