Gilbert and the Giro!

--Great job by Gilbert this weekend. Such an amazing string these past few races. I'm still not sure what the Schlecks were thinking. They pulled Gilbert to the line without attacking once. Were they expecting to outsprint him? At 1k to go Andy is talking into his radio and then what? What was the advice then? It's two against one!!

Rigoberto Urán and Kreuziger had amazing results. Glad to see them doing well (both are only 24).

Also, check out this pic I found on Cyclingnews.



Notice anything? Check out the aero cut on the front of his Jersey. Absolutely no bunching up on it. Looks like their clothing sponsor is Vermac. These are super sick.

--I rail on McQuaid a lot but he can't seem to keep his foot out of his mouth. Check out his latest. My favorite quote from it:

"They’re biting the hand that feeds them. Cycling cannot survive just on Europe alone."

Cycling, which has survived for a century on "Europe alone." Yes, he's right, cycling desperately needs a Tour of Beijing. Oh wait! It's just the UCI (McQuaid) that needs that. That's why none of the teams even want to do it. McQuaid calls the teams greedy and says the race radio issue is a red herring. Me thinks McQuaid's "greedy" issue is a red herring. He who smelt it dealt it.

--The Giro is coming! I got an email yesterday reminding me it's only 10 days until the start. Woohoo! I still get that giddy feeling for the first tour of the year.

Not to mention, this year they're climbing the Zoncolan again! If I remember correctly Vino used a compact and a 33 on this last year. They had Sram Apex on those bikes.

--Homeland Security is busy doing its job in NYC. That's right, blocking the bike lane while getting their Mac goodies repaired. That's what I like to see!

--One of my readers has reaffirmed the Cycling.tv suck. Here are their comments:

"I just finished disputing a charge with cycling tv and received my money back through VISA. I recommend you do the same!

Cycling TV is whack!"

I, too, tried to file a complaint with the credit card company but it was too late. If you're going to pay for cycling online stick to Versus or Universal Sports.

--Martin forwarded me this profile of one of the CAS members. The guy's even co-authored "Credit Cards, Legal and Practical Aspects." He's a shoe in! Clearly this guy is a qualified sports authority.

--And I'll leave you with a funny pic of Tommeke courtesy of Wick Nasty:

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Open Letter on Golden Gate Bridge Speed Limit Proposal

To Whom It May Concern:

It came to my attention recently that new proposals were being made for the Golden Gate Bridge’s cycling traffic. As an avid Bridge-crossing cyclist I decided to investigate the issue. I found a copy of the report by Alta Planning + Design and began reading it.

I noticed a number of logic errors within the report which lead to the proposal of a speed limit for bikes. I’ll list them as follows:

1. The Bridge is unsafe. Yes, 2008 and 2009 had the most collisions of any years previous. What isn’t noted is that the number of cyclists, according to the 2008 SF State of Cycling Report, has been increasing at roughly 20% a year (14% from 2006 to 2007, 23% from 2007 to 2008). Using the number of accidents alone to define “safe” or “unsafe” isn’t sound reasoning. To give a measure of safety one has to know how many cyclists are actually crossing the Bridge. If we assume there is more traffic on the Bridge than ever before--which is indicated by the data about increased numbers of cyclists--we would actually conclude the Bridge is getting safer.

2. “Absolute speeds are not as significant a factor in collisions as speeds relative to other path users” (Atla Planning + Design, 9). This statement isn’t supported by the data in the report. The report states there are “five times as many solo bicycle accidents” (ibid., 7). So, if there are five times as many solo bike accidents, but the significant factor is “speeds relative to other path users,” then speeds are not a significant cause of most collisions.

3. “The highest speeds and greatest potential for speed-related collisions comes from road cyclists” (ibid., 12). These two observations are not correlated. Road cyclists, as a matter of practice [and physics] go faster than non-road cyclists. On account of this, they are also more accustomed to these speeds. If anything, they are safer than other cyclists going these speeds. The “greatest potential for speed-related collisions” according to the data cited by Alta Planning + Design, and not its conjecture, is in mixed environments (cyclists and pedestrians) and even in this case it only happened 12% of the time. Thus, just because these cyclists are going faster does not necessarily mean they are a greater risk.

4. “These faster riders generally account for about 10 percent of bicyclists on the Bridge” (ibid., 12). Despite Alta’s assumption these higher speed cyclists have the “greatest potential for speed-related collisions” nowhere in the study is there data to support this assumption. Strictly because speed was a factor in a collision, as reported by the officers on the scene, doesn’t mean it was one of these cyclists. Thus, to state its this sect of cyclists with the highest risk is an opinion, not something that’s based on data.

Speaking of opinions, I have a few on the matter. First, with regard to speed, I would make the same suggestion that BIKESAFE makes and recommend not instating or enforcing a speed limit on shared use paths (ibid., 18). Alta cites this in its report as a source but then ignores the recommendation in its own conclusions. Alta also cites a study which states “speed limits should be used only as a last resort since they require consistent, ongoing enforcement, may not improve real or perceived safety on the trail, and may discourage bicyclists from using trails for commuting.” Lastly, Alta cites the Seawall Trail (ibid., 21) whose General Manager of Engineering Services concluded “the results … are inconclusive, showing little change in speeds.”

Setting a speed limit on the bridge would only serve to punish the commuters or others whose average speed is greater than 10 mph because Alta’s study assumes incorrectly and without factual evidence these are the source of the perceived safety issues. As I pointed out this conclusion is strictly opinion, and not supported by Alta’s own data, or the data of those cited in the study.

From personal experience, many of the unsafe practices I see on the Bridge are due to ignorance. First-time Bridge riders make errors of judgement by attempting to pass without being able to effectively judge how long it will take them to pass. This is the most common and most dangerous maneuver I see on the bridge.

The second most glaring safety concern I see on a regular basis is cyclists on rental bikes stopping in the middle of the path to take pictures.

The third major safety concern I see is cyclists on rental bikes taking up the entire path when riding.

Thus, I agree that a painted line dividing pedestrians and cyclists would be the most effective long term solution to the problem. I also believe that signs instructing bikes to stop against the water side railing and to stay to the right would be effective.

More than either of those, I believe a lot of the problems would be solved by educating cyclists on rented bikes. Since most of these bikes are rented by only a few companies, a simple checklist could be made and given to renters. Something as simple as this:

Always...
-Stay to the right on the path.
-Look behind you before changing direction or stopping.
-Use hand signals to indicate changes in direction or slowing speed.
-If you must stop on the bridge, pull over where there is ample room for 2 lanes of bicycles to pass in either direction. Remember to look both ways before merging back into moving traffic.

Finally, I believe my opinion and those of the hoards of avid Bridge cyclists, given the vast amount of experiences traversing the Bridge, should hold more weight than Alta’s conjecture on the issue. Please either commission a study that will support its recommendations with data or save the money and listen to people who ride the Bridge.

Sincerely,

*Jarrett Streebin

(Credits to Mel for her edits!)

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Amstel #WIN, McQuaid #FAIL, Golden Gate Bridge #FAIL

--Another exciting Amstel and Flèche Wallone! Those races are made for Gilbert so it was good to see him win. He was fortunate enough to have avoided all the tacks on the course! That's right, apparently some disgruntled enviro-activists were putting tacks on the road. I guess they didn't realize that flats = more tires = more destruction of mother nature. Maybe next time they could just pick up the trash?

At Amstel lil' Schleck went pretty early with an attack at about 8k. I thought he was crazy when I saw him go but apparently that's where big Schleck went when he won it. I think if he--and Joaquim for that matter--had gone around the 1k mark they might have had a better chance. Still don't think they could have beat Gilbert, though.

During the commentary Sean Kelly mentioned he'd won a cow once at a race in Holland...

--The teams walked out of the recent UCI meeting as McQuaid continues to prove himself inadequate as a leader. In this video interview he claims first that it was a scheduling issue, that they didn't change the agenda. He says the teams alerted him too late. Again pulling attention away from the real issue of race radios.

He goes on to say that it's not a power issue, or wait, it is. The teams want power and to have a say in their governance and they can't, not in cycling, not in any international sport. Wait so teams want to actually have a say in how the sport is governed? Get out!

Oh and it gets better, from this article it looks like McQuaid even tried to blackmail the teams by saying that he had the Biological Passport data and isn't telling who's suspect.

--Cyclicio.us has a great post up about the Golden Gate Bridge speed limit issue. Looks like the Bridge bureaucrats commissioned a survey. If you look at the statistics it's pretty clear what they found: despite the thousands who traverse the bridge each year, or maybe in spite of the thousands, it's still EXTREMELY safe. I mean really, an average of 16 accidents per year? That's including both the clumsy tourist walking side and the bike side.

However, since they'd already funded the study, they had to do something. (Because in bureaucracy, the protocol is that a study must result in action. This gives the illusion of work being done.) For the "action" part, they made a blanket recommendation for speed limit which was done completely out of protocol with how typical speed limits are set. Classic.

Here's the study if you're looking to kill some time.

This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.

--Freire had some kind words about the Tour of California!

"In California, there is a huge expectation that you don’t see at the European races,” he said. “That surprised me the first time I went over there, in 2008. Over there they don’t see cycling just as a sport, but as a spectacle. The problems that we have in Europe, all stories of doping, people don’t care about them there."

Freire is right on with the last part. We're Americans, WE DO DRUGS!!! (Okay was going to link to the really funny commentary I posted a while back but apparently the guy has closed his YouTube account. I guess with a title of "lance armstrong does drugs...duh..he rides bikes for a living" the Lance mafia was on him like a Livestrong bracelet on a cancer survivor...)

--Matthew Lloyd gets the boot from Omega Pharma for, um, "behavioral reasons" which is Aussie for drinking.

According to statements from Lloyd:

"If I've been bleeding in places you cant see, and feeling the affects of doors being locked, I’ve called the people who change the locks, and the gate is open...All I have to do is ‘open the gate’.."

--Okay, I'm going to go with the bad news first on this one. Looks like there's not going to be any carbon fiber on future iPads. I've been pulling for the "iTeam" for a while and was hoping adding carbon to products might get Apple comfortable with PRO cycling. Well, it hasn't happened yet.

The good news is that something carbon-y is in the works. Apple is hiring a carbon fiber engineer. Let the seeds grow...

--Ben King (@benking89) continues to prove what a fantastic writer he is, not to mention rider.

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Fight the Power: Speed Limits on the Golden Gate Bridge

"Let every man determine thy speed of thy penny-farthing." - John Hancock

--Recently, the Golden Gate Bridge think tank known as the Building & Operating Committee has thought of imposing speed limits of 5 mph and 10 mph on cyclists. Despite the fact that, according to them, speed was a "contributing factor" in only 39% of accidents. (I'll play devil's advocate for a moment and just say that speed is a "contributing factor" in all bike accidents, by nature. That's called physics.) It also omits important information such as: what side of the bridge did this happen on? If it happened on the east side, where tourists walk and where cyclists have to ride before 3:30 PM on weekdays, then that could be solved by keeping the west side open to cyclists at all times. Also, how many of the accidents were caused by tourists?

There are lots of ways to lie with statistics and this is one of them. Quote some misleading stats and then call for action. This will make it look like they're doing something since the bridge renovation project--you know, the one that was supposed to begin last fall--has still yet to begin.

Here's my proposal:

Two sides. East side: TOURISTS. West side: LOCALS.

Should the proposed speed limits be enacted there will definitely be an uprising. I and the rest of my RIDE OR DIE brethren are fully willing to take any means necessary to fight this. I've yet to run from the police--by bike that is--but I'm fully prepared to do so. If that means breaking my LT by going 30 across the bridge, so be it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

--My buddies Marek (Mellow Johnny's jersey) and Timo (guy who mentions breaking other guy's nose) were on TV about the issue the other day:

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Sea Otter!

Last Friday Henry and I went down to Laguna Seca for a bit of Sea Otter. His wrists are both still broken so he wasn't racing. Me, I didn't really have an excuse.

We got there around 1 and headed over to the festival. The first thing I saw was this Angry Birds themed Giant:



The birds were hand-painted.

We walked around a bit more before stopping off at the K-Edge tent. These guys have some sick parts. They even had a couple MTBs set up with full Di2!







Here are some close ups of the first bike.

We walked around a bit more. Found the guys at Edge and chatted a bit--Henry distributes BRO deal Edge wheels to all the local Freds.

I wandered off a bit and stumbled upon...the Liger!!



It was so much better seeing it in person. It's my favorite animal.

We watched some of the masters circuit race, Henry ate some lingua tacos, and then we headed over to the Peanut Butter & Co tent. Along the way we passed the Cannodale tent and...Tinker Juarez!



At the Peanut Butter & Co tent, Kristin Armstrong, Olivia Dillon, and Coryn Rivera were all chillin'. Henry is friends with them so he intro-ed me. I hit 18 year old phenom Coryn up and she'll be doing an interview soon!

After that we'd seen our fill so we left. We headed to Monterey to have dinner and along the way we saw some of the RealCyclist.com riders and...Mancebo! He was just riding back to the hotel with his teammates. So cool!

We ate on the water then drove home. Good times.

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Mellow Johnny's: Shop Review

--A few weeks back I was in Austin for SXSW. The first thing that came to mind was, well barbecue. The second thing, though, was the Mecca of bike shops: Mellow Johnny's.



I entered through the Juan Pelota Cafe. I started to order a coffee when I noticed--wait, what I did was walk in, stand in line, and get stared at by the cycling capped hipster with the "Hey, you're bothering me" face (I've bought coffee at Blue Bottle and almost any overpriced coffee shop in SF, NY, or London so I'm used to it).

I ended the standoff by saying I wanted a peanut butter milkshake, one of my favorites which they happened to have. I looked around the corner to find Fred outfitters central: rows of Mellow Johnny's kits.

I headed back to the cafe, grabbed my milkshake, and began spelunking.



The place has all the Lance memorabilia you'd expect. Tons of jerseys and bikes. Also, they don't just have Trek bikes on sale, they had some decked out Colnagos along with other brands.



The main floor has an open shop area which is pretty neat. They also have a solid spread of bikes, like in the pic above. After I'd perused the main floor I headed to the basement (at @jwbender's suggestion).



The downstairs is where they have the workout facility and some cool Treks.



They had a number of his RadioShack bikes as well as some other bikes. I walked back upstairs and headed out.

The shop was definitely cool. It's well laid out and there's a lot of cool bike stuff. More than anything, it's a museum, or shrine, to Lance.

I headed back to SXSW and Iron Works. Good times.

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World's Best Wedding Proposal

--Paris-Roubaix was off the chain this weekend. The last 100k are awesome. I loved at 25k when Ballan and Hushovd, current and former World Champs, are sitting on Fabian's wheel refusing to help. Then, Fabian crying to Vaughters in the team car for Hushovd's help. It showed what a true champion Hushovd was (not to mention the brilliant Garmin tactics). He could have worked with Fabian to bring back the break and then would have had an amazing shot at winning Roubaix. Instead he refused to chase down his own teammate and the rest is history.

I was watching a Sporza feed which kept showing Van Summeren's girlfriend at the velodrome. It was cute. Then, when he won he proposed to her.

Mel, my girlfriend, and I were wondering if he was planning to propose all along. I mean, he couldn't have gone into the race thinking he'd win. What was his backup plan? Proposal from the broom wagon?

In the end, was great to see Johan win it. Fabian proved he's still got the strength of an entire team. But Johan embodied all that is beautiful about cycling. The fact that on any given day the little guy has a shot. It reminded me of when Szmyd won on Mont Ventoux.

This classics season has already been amazing and I'm excited for the upcoming races.

(Here's a fun shot a la last week's one from Flanders where Fabian attacked and is going so fast that Bak is in the aero position behind him:



--Looks like Cozza has a coloring book out!



I'm tempted to buy one, for kicks.

--Anyone notice how spot-on the Facebook friends suggestions can be? The other day I logged in and got this:



--Okay, that's enough out of me. I gotta get back to work.

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Ryan Trebon Interview

Listen here or Podcast

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Perry-Rubix/DON'T BUY CYCLING.TV

--I've been at a new J.O.B. lately so have fallen off on the weekly updates. Well, actually it was because I thought the interviews/race reports were better than my summaries. Henry, my new BOSS, says he liked them. So I'll blog on.

--Anywho! This Sunday, Perry-Rubix, be there. Was super psyched to see Fabian work like a dog last weekend and then get pipped by Nuyens. Not to mention Chavanel, who I would have loved to see win, gets dumbest ride of the day--no? I mean, had a free ride from Fabian most of the way and then blows it.

My favorite part was the second time Fabian attacked and Chavanel went with him. There was this shot where they've made a gap, Fabian is cranking and you look behind him and Chavanel is tucked in the aero position. On the flats! I loved it.

Back to Perry-Rubix and the issue of actually viewing these classics. Some of you may have been getting emails, or entertaining thoughts of purchasing one of the packages on Cycling.tv. I understand, I've been there. In fact, just to date myself, back in '09 I was lured into purchasing one of these "packages". What a waste.

They had what they called the "Grand Tour" package. This was right before the Giro and I was psyched about being able to watch it through a dedicated feed. Then, Universal Sports bought it out. This was fine, because I still got to see the Giro. The problem was Cycling.tv never refunded my money. I called and emailed, nothing.

Then, the Tour came around and all they had was daily highlights, not stages.

Then, the Vuelta, I ended up doing better watching it on Sporza (was in Belgium at the time but you can find the feed).

The moral of this story is don't waste your money on those hacks. Really. There are plenty of solid feeds out there on sites like steephill.tv and cyclingfans.com. Not to mention, a lot of the races are now being featured on Universal Sports and Versus. Better yet, shoot me an email or Tweet me (@jstreebin) and I'll send you the feed I'm watching it on.

(PS Universal Sports rocks. I had some issues with the player so they: a) refunded my money, and b) gave me 50% off on their Grand Tour package. Definitely worth the money.)

--Okay, enough of that. I'm excited to see the race and hopeful for: Ballan, Gilbert, Boonen, and my wildcard of Sagan. Okay, wait, I take back Ballan, it's looking like his Worlds win was a fluke. Sagan I really REALLY want to see him win a classic but I think that's a tall order from such a young rider. I do think he'll get one in the next two years, though.

--In case you're wondering what exactly Roubaix is like, check out my post from summer 2009. I rode there from Gent and had a blast (even got to ride the velodrome! no lie!!).

From Gent-Roubaix - 9-21-09

--Team Type 1 just got an invite to the Tour de Suisse! Good for them. Nice to see them making headway in Europe.

--WADA wants to eliminate B Sample testing in doping cases. They say it's costly and unnecessary. Maybe. But doesn't the suspense make it all worth it? You know, there's the initial "Wow! Really? Contador??" And then you get that 2-3 week window where you're kind of on the fence. Fun, right?

--Quizno's Pro Race Colorado Stage Festival Tour (or whatever they were calling it) is changing its name to the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Neither of them had any ring but I like this one better. Apparently Quizno's is still paying the same amount in sponsorship. Not sure how they finagled that...

--Pozzato was hoping to respond to critics at Flanders last week, but we all know how that went. Fortunately, only God can judge him.

--Looks like they're adding a women's TT to the Solvang stage of this year's Tour of Cali. I think it sounds a bit sexist to me. Here, women, try to beat the men. Meh. Doesn't really excite me and I don't think it's that great of an idea, period.

What was a killer idea was hosting the women's crit right before the Tour of Cali rolled into Santa Rosa back in 2009. I showed up early, got to see the women race, then got to see the men race. Fun day.

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Paris-Nice with Leopard Trek: Part 4

We change Bruno's flat and get him going. Then, we race up alongside all the cars that had passed back to our spot at 17.

It's about three hours into the stage and we start the final circuits. Jens is in a break and Kim keeps giving him time updates on the radio, "Allez, Jens! Allez!" By this point I'm also running on about an hour sleep in the last 36 hours and am still not over the flu. I can barely keep my eyes open and before I know it, I nod off.

My head falls to the side and I wake up. "Shit!" I say to myself. "Keep it together! You can't fall asleep during the finish!"

I look over. Kim's tell Jens the time gap and didn't seem to notice. I crack the window a bit because the car is burning up.

Kim rolls the window back up. I take the hint.



We go through the finish area on our first time around the circuit. I'm still fighting hard not to fall asleep. The fans are cheering on both sides of the road.

i

I continue to have momentary lapses into sleep. Then...crash!

The cars block the road. Someone went down. We get there as a Sky mechanic comes to the rescue.



We go through the start/finish again.



This is the final lap of the circuit. Jens is off the front still and they're holding the gap. Go Jens!

There's another wreck on the back side of the circuit. Velits comes to his feet as we rush by.

Jens is still holding them off but he and his breakaway companions are losing time. The updates are getting less frequent and we can't tell what's going on. Occasionally we'll pass a rider who's fallen off.

We pass the 5k sign. No word about Jens or the break. Clueless about the race ahead, we pass through hoards of fans.

4k

3k

2k

1k

We drive until a gendarme blocks the road and waves us off. Leopard Trek has yet to have a win so the suspense is killing us.



Something is said over the radio in French. Kim is bummed so I know Jens lost.

Kim drives along until we get to the team bus. I thank him and Gregor for the ride and then get out of the car. A fan approaches and asks for a bidon. I tell him there aren't any and he walks away.

I walk back to the train station, past the podium and all the fans. I feel the cool air on my skin and it perks me up. I'm beat but excited to get back and tell all my friends what just happened.

I catch the train to Paris and then back to London. I fall asleep the minute I get on the train. Cycling's been good to me.

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