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Can Phinney save cycling in America?
Americans love winners. It’s a cliché, but true. Taylor Phinney’s win in stage 1 of the Giro d’ Italia won’t project him onto the front page of newspaper’s here in the States as that’s reserved for the one bike race Americans know – the Tour de France. However, I’m hoping Phinney’s victory in Henning helps save cycling in the U.S. Even the most casual follower of professional cycling knows that the sport has taken a beating like a red headed step-child. In the beginning we all cheered for Lance Armstrong, but as the...
read moreAutomobile influence on the bike industry
With air slicing design, coupled with a mechanical beauty and visually pleasing color schemes, it’s no wonder that several bike companies have used automobiles as inspiration. Ferrari has been a muse to Colnago for several years. According to the Colnago site the first Ferrari badged Colnago was the CF-1 with a limited production run of 500. And if you need to ask how much a CF-1 retailed for, you can’t afford one. However if you gotta have one, I discovered that the Bike Exchange in Australia is selling a 60cm Ferrari for 26,000...
read moreParis-Roubaix scenarios with Levi Leipheimer
With Levi Leiphimer back in the States nursing his injury from his recent accident I interviewed him for Cyclingnews.com. The main focus of the interview was of course his injury, how serious it was and what affect would it have on the season – meaning the Amgen Tour of California, the Tour de France and the Olympics. However, as you talk other topics come up that don’t fit with the article. And sometimes, like in any conversation, you make small talk to broach a subject. With the obligatory Amgen Tour of California question answered I...
read moreIs this the new pro cycling meme?
Remember the Dirk Hofman Motorhome banners we’d see in the final 100 meters of all the classics. So far this year I haven’t seen them. However, this guy seems to have taken his spot. With about 17 kilometers remaining in the Tour of Flanders and then again at the finish this guy was waving his huge “Tornado Tom Frites” banner. You might remember that Boonen also has a training book, which I suspect doesn’t mention frities as part of any training plan. For those who may not know – frites are primary known as...
read moreBelgian spectators at Flanders
Check out the spectator that gets spun around by Sebastian Langeveld. He steps away from the crash like he wasn’t involved. He starts to approach Langeveld, but then turns around and returns to his group. That’s a dick move in my book not to even check how serious Sebastian hurt! According to Cyclingnews Langeveld was going between 70 to 80 kilometers an hour when they collided. The result was a broken collarbone for the GreenEdge rider and I’m guessing a sore calf for the lucky spectator to go along with a lifetime of story...
read moreHappy Flanders Day!
Some holidays we share worldwide – just perhaps not on the same day. Other holidays are exclusive to certain regions. This is why I don’t expect you to know that this is national cleavage day. For others this is the day before arguably the best one-day race of the season – the Tour of Flanders, AKA De Ronde. I won’t go into the controversy of the how the Muur and the Bosberg were eliminated from the course as I’m going to hold judgment until after the race. But wow, it stirred up as much controversy as a magazine sex investigation....
read moreMy Danny Pate interview and fate of the US Pro
I was walking down Main Street from the finish line of the US Pro road race to the post-race press conference. It was 2008 and Tyler Hamilton had just won the national championships in Greenville, South Carolina in a photo finish sprint with Blake Caldwell of Garmin-Chipotle (now Garmin-Barracuda). Teammate of Caldwell, Danny Pate, finished in third. Pate passed me on his bike talking to a fellow racer as he rolled over to the press conference. I don’t remember verbatim what he said but I swear Pate said he wanted to throw his third...
read moreFrankie returns to the Tour de France
I interviewed Frankie Andreu, director of the Kenda/5 Hour Energy presented by Geargrinder team the other week for CyclingNews. The site wanted an interview about the team, what was going on at the training camp and who were the new guys. There’s some information that I get that just doesn’t make it onto Cyclingnews.com, so I thought I’d post it here. I spoke to Frankie during the camp and as expected he was keeping busy getting the squad organized with the new equipment and the general organization that needs to happen when you get 20...
read moreThe Lance Armstrong decision – a done deal or more to come?
Honestly I can’t say I’m totally surprised that the federal investigation into Lance Armstrong has been dropped. The reason for my lack of surprise? The investigation seemed to be dragging on and on. The burden of proof is much higher in these types of cases and while it was rumored that some of Armstrong’s teammates gave it up apparently there was no concrete evidence. The Boulder Report’s Joe Lindsey reported that Armstrong’s ex-teammate Yaroslav Popyvych just replied “nyet” during his two-hour grand juror testimony. Another...
read moreShiv road bike project – Part II
This past Wednesday I wrote a post regarding the Shiv road bike that Specialized’s creative director Robert Egger has been riding on the the company’s famous lunch ride. Like many of you I was intrigued by the idea of taking a time trial bike – in this case the Shiv – and converting it to a road machine. I wondered out loud how the Shiv frame would handle in a road situation and if there had been any modifications to the frame to make it more road-like. I e-mailed Robert and he was kind enough to respond to my...
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