Bauer again!

My buddy Jack one again this weekend! Hats off to him. With a start like this he'll be ProTour by next year!

In other news, Riccò's woman is caught! A family affair? Wick Nasty called me Friday night to let me in on the news. Surprised but not shocked...

VelocityNation has a funny Toto (cartoon) up about the incident.

This Italian site has some great pic galleries. They're all listed on the right side of the page. The Canyon factory is quite impressive. Well, the building is at least. I'm not sure how great their bikes are but they at least know their architecture. After all, they did do some pretty jank stuff with their first cut at the ProTour...



"Canyon.com" for a logo? Weak. The colorway is pretty uninspiring too. It's still leaps and bounds above Lance's cartoon Tour bike.



This isn't gratuitous Lance bashing either, that thing was just awful.

The De Rosa gallery is pretty sweet too.

One of the bikes in the EuroBike or Handmade galleries came with an interesting bottle holder...



Also, did anyone notice Greipel's Painful Podium Face at the Tour Down Under? Here's a montage:



It seems to progress a bit though and become a little less pained by Stage 4. Maybe that's because victory is in sight at that point.



Speaking of pain, Jens is back in action! After his crash in the Tour this year I was pretty worried he'd have permanent damage to his face. Then, while looking for the crash clip I came across this one of him talking after the crash. Luckily, per the pic above from the Tour Down Under, he and his face seem to have recovered just fine.

Speaking of descending, a friend forwarded me this killer video of Levi descending:


Levi Leipheimer Descending Pine Flat Road from Roger Bartels on Vimeo.


There's also one of him on a mountain bike. He flies!

Oh yeah, the Trek-LeMonde suit has been settled. Apparently Trek is going to make two $100,000 donations to a charity LeMonde likes. I'm guessing it's not Livestrong.

Lastly, I'll give a plug for my new favorite sauce:



It's out of this world good. I tried it at a Chipotle's the other day (okay I'll admit, I've eaten there once, maybe twice since they stopped sponsoring Vaughter's boys). They also have it at Safeway now. (Note: use in moderation and definitely not before a ride of any length!)

Late Late Jan Post

Okay so I promised racing/training adventures and if not those, then opinions. Well, I did ride up Tunitas in the rain on Sat. Along the way I smoked a kid in a Stanford kit. (By smoked I mean I was riding easy until I saw him, rode hard past him, then rode easy again once out of sight.) We chatted once he got to the top and he said he had bonked. We chatted a bit and I gave him two bars then headed home. That's all for the adventure/training/racing. Now for opinions...

The Time frame is fixed! I don't know if I mentioned it but it was damaged in shipping. DON'T USE UPS FOR BIKE SHIPPING!!! They totally screwed me. In shipping the rear drop and derailleur hanger were bent. The guy packed it really well. However, UPS said it wasn't packed well enough so they gave me $0.00 for my insurance claim (I had purchased $1000 in insurance). How did they decide it wasn't packed well enough? I took pics they requested and they judged based on that. Seriously! Not to mention I had to call repeatedly for info on the situation. Apparently their policy is they only speak with the shipper.

Basically, don't ship bikes UPS, even if they are insured. The insurance means nothing. Also, the rule of thumb on insurance is this: if you can afford to replace it, don't buy insurance. I've been shipping eBay gear for years and have never had a package lost or damage. I've saved hundreds. The one case in which something was damaged, this one, the insurance was useless. (I realize that's a completely un-mathematical justification for not buying insurance and I assure you (insure you) that it can be justified mathematically (scientifically) but I can't do that, per se.)

Anyways, I took it by the LBS in HMB and they fixed it right up. They had this Campy tool for straightening the drop. They also said that derailleur hangers are almost always unaligned, even on new frames. So, after my ride I took my Tarmac by and they realigned mine (it was slightly off).

News!

The bike news recently has been pretty uninteresting. Well, except for Niels Albert winning the World Championships with a broken rib!

Looks like ISD is going to be on Cipollini bikes this season. They look pretty cool but I liked them on Specialized, especially with their neon yellow. In the word's of Cipo, "The MCipollini bike is an egoistical bike because its been created for a rider like me, who demands the best and pays huge attention to detail" Hmm...an egotistical bike? Is that possible?

They set the stage with another in a long series of awkward bike pics:



While surfing eBay late last night for a way to burn my eBay Bucks I came across some interesting auctions.

The first was this really cool hoodie:



Then there was an auction for an autographed Alessandro Ballan jersey.



This reminded me of his INCREDIBLE attack during the 2008 World Championships. Out of all the cycling clips I've seen over the past, well 2 1/2 years, this is my favorite.

Before dropping all my eBay bucks and another $200 on the Ballan jersey I came across this Riccò signed jersey...for slightly less ducats.



I had to settle on the less appealing Saunier Duval miniature tour bus.



Does it come with Riccò and Piepoli action figures? Is this really safe for children? I mean, isn't the Suanier Duval Miniature Tour Bus kind of a gateway drug? According to the listing you can even get the 2th bus shipped at reduced cost!



Lastly, a killer tandem off Velogo:

El Niño again??

(In case you don't watch the news, I don't, it's been raining a lot on the West Coast.)

Advertising

I read some more of the Riccò-covered Pro Cycling. While scrolling through the last few pages I noticed this ad:



It's for the Club La Santa which is apparently the "Number One [their caps not mine] sports and active holiday resort in the World [again, their caps]." What do people do at the world's "Number One" active resort? Ride in bibs!!! Wow, cool resort!

The rest of the issue was pretty good though. They did an article on Levi's Gran Fondo with a ton of pics.

They're running a special right now on subscriptions if you're interested. Here's the link. No, I'm not getting paid for this. Despite having vast experience in html (Source: circa early 2001 internet database for Metal/Rock MIDIS known as Jarrett's Realm) I don't have the 'know how' or 'sticktuitiveness', at least in the digital, interweb sense of those terms, to get paid for it. However, if you do subscribe, please let me know!

Catfights...

Speaking of Riccò, he responds! Really? Is this really news? No one has informed us why they haven't revealed the results of the 2008 Giro re-tests, likely he'd test positive there too, so they're left spinning gossip. Blah! I did enjoy one of The Cobra's responses though: "He’s the number-one sprinter in the world and so he’s always right." The king is always right!

More kit reviews (ha!)

How about Astana's new gear? I like the addition of red to their kits/bikes. Also cool to see them on Specialized. Maybe Specialized can get its first Tour this year?!

"Vino have go potty!"



Initially, I thought the sky kits were super weak.



But, after seeing them win at the Cancer Council Helpline Classic (say that three times fast), I've changed my tune.



I think from a marketing perspective these are the smartest kits in cycling. Clear, concise, SKY!

However, the guy rocking the coolest kit this year will definitely be Big George. Let's hope he pulls a classic win this Spring!



Tech - don't get scientifical!!

Velocity Nation has an interesting piece on ceramic pulleys. An engineer who cycles told me a while back the ceramic bearings used in bike gear are really low grade. Zipp's lead engineer goes into more detail in this interview. Bottom line, your money's better spent on fruity drink mix, at least you'll notice a difference.

J W Bender introduced me to a nice piece of non-cycling gear that's useful for cycling. It's a 3M tape that's designed for aircraft use but is also good for protecting your frame from cables. (Note: I just put some of this stuff on my bike so I'll update in a few months how it's wearing.)

Okay I swear I'll have a post up soon with a good training or racing tale. If not, I swear I'll have more opinions, hehe.

Kiwis and Camo Kits...

Where to start? Jack Bauer wins the Kiwi Road Championships!!



I was checking cyclingnews when all the sudden I see Dean, then Roulston, then...Bauer!!! This made my night. So cool to see him beating those seasoned PROs!

I met Jack at "the Farm" this summer. We even raced together. By 'race,' I mean I paid my three euro, he paid his three euro, I survived maybe a lap, he finished top 3.

Congrats Jack!

In other news, Footon-Servetto-Fuji just unveiled the ugliest kits in the ProTour...



I'm not sure what they were going for here. Did they want a camo look? Was it so they escape detection in another fruitless Vuelta breakaway??

The photographer went on to take the most awkward cycling pic I've ever seen...



Speaking of cool team uniforms, check out the new blazers from ISD - Neri!



Quick Step unveiled their new bikes. I liked them on Specialized so I'm sorry to see that end. However, the Merckxes are pretty sweet...



Pez had a great interview with Kenny Van Hummel. He's infamous for being the Lanterne Rouge. I think it was the Tour's Doctor who said he was the worst climber in the ProTour... Outside of climbing thousands of meters each day, he's super fast and seems like a cool guy.

Pez also did a nice Zirbel wrap up. They explain the steroid for which he tested positive. I still want to see the B sample but I suppose that's naive.

The coolest article of the week was about the Garmin Service Course. I love seeing the 'insides' of bike racing and this is a great article for that. Here's the gallery.

Oh and I swear I'll have some more race reports/adventure blogs up soon. I'll be down at the Early Birds next weekend and after that the season begins!

Lastly, the gear of the year...podium shoes!! Finally!

Everyone's Favorite Spin Instructor...

The latest edition of Pro Cycling features none other than Ricardo Riccò on the cover! Inside there's an interview with him, Hamilton, Millar, and Kohl.

The interview with Riccò is so-so. As you might guess, the guy's a joke. In his defense though, he made the 2008 Giro and Tour super exciting. It was at a cost though. Cavendish takes a shot at him in the magazine by saying he wanted to punch him in the face. "In the 2008 Tour, I almost finished outside the time limit because of what he did in the Pyranees." Cav points to an oft-neglected fact, Riccò put 30 people out of jobs. That's not completely true but it's still a good point. Suanier Duval is just no longer the sponsor, Fuji-Servetto is, now Footon-Fuji-Servetto.



The interviewer also takes him on his word that the only time he took EPO was before the Tour. Really? So he launched the same awe-inspiring attacks without doping? Riccò says he was "tired" after the Giro. I'm not buying it. It's also no wonder that Zomegnan refused to retest the Giro samples. No use taking down the top Italian finisher. According to the Wiki on the 2008 Giro the UCI has gone back and retested these samples despite Zomegnan's wishes. No news has come out other than there were some positives.

Enough about that though, some real news came out this week. Zirbel's positive!?!? This COMPLETELY shocked me. If I could pick one guy least likely, well he'd be up there. I also was rooting for him after his move to Garmin. It was inspiring to see a guy who didn't go PRO until his late 20's make it so far. My guess is that it was something in his food or a supplement he took. I remember the doctor from Belgium telling me that U.S. supplements were unsafe due to lax standards. He said that supplements were sometimes manufactured on machines that had been used for other supplements leaving traces of, say steroids, in your B12 vitamins. Fortunately, they don't test the guys who get pulled so I never worry about this.

I think this is completely unlikely and really feel for the guy.

Okay I'm losing steam but here are a few more quick pieces.

Soler's going to Caisse. It'll be interesting to see what he can do on Caisse. He looked strong at the 2008 Giro but has apparently be plagued by injury.

Tibco's going international! It's really exciting to see them going so big. Also cool that they're right down the road in Pescadero, well at least Linda Jackson is. The other day I was out riding and came across (they passed me) Brooke Miller and Alison Rosenthal, and another guy. I rode with them up Tunitas then returned home. Brooke's a singer, in that she sings a lot while riding, and Alison has a full time job. Both were a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to ride with them.

Velocity Nation has a good interview up with Farrar.

Lastly, my quote of the week "I'm just a regular guy humbled by how inspirational I am." Courtesy of the latest Toto...