I had no idea. Really. Watch, and appreciate.
A look back on the bad old days…
… and I’m not just talking about Mike Tomalaris’s 90’s haircut.
This is stage 17 of the 1998 Tour de France, disrupted by the peloton in protest against heavy handed treatment by anti-doping authorities.
Fun suggestion: play a game of spot-the-doper as the peloton rolls through the French countryside. Hypocrites to a man, they stood in solidarity with the – apparently few – clean riders, all the while knowing what was going on back in the hotel. Screw those guys.
Bike security pop quiz
What’s wrong with this picture?
Race season must wait another two weeks
My racing intentions for this year seemed clear back in October 2012. My plan was to race the entire Real Insurance XCM series (slated at the time to be seven 100km+ events), and fill gaps in the calendar with a few other races – some shorter XC, some enduro/all-mountain and perhaps some timed endurance.And another crack at Kanangra.
Oh, how that all fell apart. The XCM Series itself is now a non-starter, though the individual events remain. I’m racing Capital Punishment on March 16th, but am not confirmed for any other of the former XCMs. I am, however, confirmed for Round one of the Shimano MTB GP, which is what I’ve been stressing about for the last few weeks.
I get obsessive in race leadups. Continue Reading →
Lebensraum
Sometimes, one simply cannot resist…
Some tips for wet weather riding
Down here in Australia, we’re heading into autumn, and rainy days have started to emerge. This being the case, some discussion has been sparked on my workplace’s internal cycling list on the topic of wet weather riding. Lots of good advice is being bandied about, and it’s all valuable.
I slammed a big reply down to a thread yesterday, and since I spent so long typing it, I figured it might be a good idea to paste it in here and expand a little on the key points. More below the fold.
We all knew it was true, but now it’s official
Researchers at the University of Granada in Spain have confirmed what cyclists have known for years. Beer really is a superior drink to water after heavy exercise.
And I quote:
Professor Manuel Garzon, a member of Granada’s medical faculty, made the finding after tests on 25 students over several months. Researchers believe that it is the sugars, salts, and bubbles in a beer that may help people absorb fluids more quickly.
The subjects in the study were asked to run on a treadmill at temperatures of 104F (40C) until they were close to exhaustion. Once they had reached the point of giving up, researchers measured their hydration levels, motor skills, and concentration ability.
Half of the subjects were given two half pints of Spanish lager to drink, and the other half were given just water.
Garzon said that the rehydration effection in those who were given beer was “slightly better” than those who were given only water. He also believes that the carbon dioxide in beer helps quench thirst more quickly, and that beer’s carbohydrates replace calories lost during physical exertion.
So that settles it. But just to ensure the message is getting across:
Based on the results of the study, researchers recommend moderate consumption of beer as a part of athletes’ diets.
See you in the pub, bitches.
Classics Season starts this weekend…
I’m tremendously – unfeasibly – excited for this year’s spring classics season, which starts on Saturday 23rd with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. And in celebration of this, here’s one of the most dramatic views I’ve seen of Booooonen’s Paris Roubaix 2012 victory, from behind the scenes at OPQS
I’m unashamedly hoping Tommeke smashes the classics again this year, even though his elbow problem of the off-season is forcing him to be a bit conservative at this stage.
Incidentally, rumour has it that the only reason that hard bastard of all hard bastards Boonen didn’t chomp into his infected bursa, suck out the radioactive pus, spit it to the roadside and just keep pedalling is that even Belgians cannot bite their own elbows. True story.
