More Thoughts on Stuff

I have another collection of links I like, but nothing that compels me to write a full article on it. So . . .

— Team Type 1 gets snubbed by the Giro d’Italia.

But the Giro’s director, Angelo Zomegnan likes what he sees with the team and thinks that another year of maturity could earn them a spot in the race next year.

Sweet.

Yes, I did notice that five Italian teams made it in. Whatev.

— Amber Meier, aka @MeierWife (Christian Meier’s wife), may be the hottest of the cycling GFs / wives. Maybe.

But, I think that Daniella Grace has overtaken her for second place in the race for coolest.

Daniella is Taylor Phinney’s gf.

#1 coolest, and still maybe the hottest, is Chiara Passerini Cadel Evans wife. Duh.

It’ll be incredibly tough to knock her out of the top spot.

Reader / follower @HDKnight / David Knight has clued me in to Mark Cavendish’s girlfriend, Peta Todd. She is smokin’ azz hot AND she did ride a bike to raise money for Help for Heroes, in support of British service veterans. She may not seem the innocently sweet and endlessly classy cool of Chiara or (seemingly) Daniella, but she rocks her own kind of cool.

Here are the links to H4H’s UK and U.S. sites.

Here’s a link to Peta Todd’s personal website. WARNING: It is NOT a work / family friendly site. In fact, after viewing it, I’m not sure the woman owns a top or shirt of any kind.

Sorry, Amber, but she’s bumped you back a spot in hotness.

And she’s on Twitter.

Podium Girl Jen? She’s Steven Cozza’s (Team NetApp) gf. Honorable Mention for coolness and hotness.

My thanks to Mr. Knight.

— Jonathan Vaughter’s has a great idea for individual teams to use independent drugs testing that utilizes ALL available anti-doping tests, not just those considered to be 100% accurate.

His idea is that if a rider fails one of these non-approved tests that a rider is then held out of competition until his blood values for the failed test normalize. There would be no risk nor even threat of full suspension, but drug testing could be more broadly and more effectively instituted.

At least that’s the theory.

If you’ll read this article (you’ll need to translate) you’ll see that Lowe’s hematocrit (red blood cell) level exceeded the 50% allowed by UCI and WADA in a quarterly check up.

When, exactly, did that occur? At the test carried out by Dr del Moral? Before? After?

Did it contribute to his remaining out of competition, in addition to or aside from Lowe’s issues with fatigue and low testosterone levels?

Did he transfuse blood in an effort to combat the fatigue? If so, who helped him? Was the team aware? How could a low level rider like Lowe have access to the people, equipment and funds needed to carry out his own doping program? How could JV and the team NOT know?

JV would like to the questions about Lowe to stop. I get it. I’m sick of hearing about it and writing about it. But how can this go away when things just seem to continue getting shadier?

Again, it’s sad that this question is raised only by foreign press and that the “real journalists” of cycling in places like America and Australia act like cops managing traffic at an accident in a bad comedy, “Nothing to see here. Move a long. Nothing to see here.”.

Who would have leaked this info about Lowe’s hematocrit level? Certainly Lowe wouldn’t rat himself out to the press for an abnormal hematocrit level. Is the information publicly available?

— Saxo Bank’s Bjarne Riis admits that he doped, that he, in fact, won the 1996 Tour de France doping.

His prodigy, Kim Anderson, the weasel who jumped ship to start the Luxembourg squad, Team Leopard Drek, failed as many as 7 doping controls.

With a history like that between Riis and Andersen, doesn’t it at least suggest that neither Saxo Bank nor Team Leopard Drek are any cleaner than Riccardo Ricco?

— Cycling Tips, one of my favorite blogs, got a write up over at BikeRadar.com.

Way cool.

Now I have to hate them.

Thoughts on Stuff (Part Who the Hell Knows)

— I’d love to have a copy of Chasing Legends. But $35? Have you lost yer fookin’ mind?

Why is anything related to professional cycling so stupidly expensive?

It’s like they WANT to chase away middle class and lower income fans.

::sigh::

— Thank you UCI for finally acknowledging that despite having the greatest number of riders in the professional peloton, by a wide margin, that French teams simply suck.

Though UCI still bowed to their ASO masters and gave the nod to Ag2r (who actually ranked lower than Cofidis).

Can’t we just have a first division with zero French teams JUST ONCE?! If there was a God or any justice in the Universe, this would be so.

Here’s the full list.

— How much do your favorite pro cyclists make?

It’s an interesting article, but what stuck out for me as that female cyclists, even at the elite level, have NO salarly minimum.

Women racers get screwed on too many levels and I think it’s fookin’ nonsense.

Until there’s a professional cyclists’ union you aren’t going to see any kind of fairness in this.

Um, Johan Bruyneel, you vowed to make the organizing of riders and teams your life’s mission. Was it all hot air? Was it just bullshiite, like so much of what comes out of your mouth?

— MTB?

I’m stealing a second article and third link from Cycling Tips for this one.

Here’s three tips for we not-so-experienced MTB riders; cornereing, up hill, down hill.

— Here’s a sweet lil “cycling” video to entertain you.

You’re welcome.

— And for the not-so-experienced winter cyclist.

Is this me this year? I haven’t decided, yet.

And my thanks to @BicycleWithMe on Twitter, who has no life and does not eat or sleep, but who does find mad cycling links like a fiend.

— And what of we not-so-experienced road cyclists / commuters?

Using the lanes “properly” and being a “savvy cyclist” is counter-intuitive and takes some real nerve, but overall is probably a MUCH safer way to ride. The problem is the anti-cyclist / cyclist-hater and the roadrage freak, and the likelihood that they’ll be more inspired to Kornheiser or Erzinger you. Of course, they’ll probably do that anyway, so . . .

Again thanks to @BicycleWithMe on Twitter.

— If you’re rich enough, you can find all manner of excuses backed up by the “professional” opinions of other rich people.

— Is Denis Leary, @DenisLeary on Twitter, a Martin Joel Erzinger fan?

T’would seem so.

— If you aren’t a fan of Taylor Phinney, you should be.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/17089341

Anatomy of a Time Trial (Phinney’s Road to Gold) from Jim Fryer/BrakeThrough Media on Vimeo.

Notes on Stuff

— Ben King (right, the American one) even after his amazing win at the U.S. championships recently, probably won’t get the respect that perhaps he should.

Come on, he’s 23 and has only just barely stuck his toe in the Pro pond.

But, damn, he is one tough mofo and he’s taking over the Stars and Stripes U.S. national road race champ jersey from George Hincapie.

Does he have the talent to be at the top of the elite game? Will he be a guy you hear about as part of a team’s Grand Tour squad and you instantly think “contender”? Or will he be the next Jens Voigt / George Hincapie?

As his father remarked, he may not have the “natural talent of Phinney”, but when a rider can suffer at the level that King can suffer, he can put some real fear in the guys who have to ride against him.

— Taylor Phinney (who I keep calling “Tyler” and I don’t know why), 21 yrs old and tearing up both timetrials and sprints.

Is he gonna be a guy who can challenge the super elite of both disciplines? Will he be able to challenge Fabian Cancellara, as well as Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar at a high level?

I’m incredibly eager to see him go head to head vs all of those guys next year.

— And with King and Phinney both on RadioSkank next season, what will the team’s goals be? Are they gonna be a sprint team? Or a GC team? Is Taylor gonna be a true Classics guy going up against men like Thor Hushovd, Heinrich Haussler and Fabian Cancellara? Or will he be challenging for the points jerseys at the Grand Tours vs Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar?

— With Hushovd and Haussler both moving to the Classics as part of their new roles at Garmin (and I think Hushovd, at least, if far better suited to that role than the role of pure sprinter, now), should Robbie “Head-Butt” McEwen, just perhaps, consider making a move away from the Grand Tours and toward the Classics in his final year or two?

— Is Phillipe Gilbert (Omega Pharm Lotto) really good enough to win the Worlds?

What about Fabian Cancellara?

Did the Vuelta take too much out of them for either of them to have a realistic shot?

Fabian and Phillipe are both great Classics riders. Why isn’t more made about them going head to head?

— Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) has withdrawn from the Spanish Worlds team.

Is he suffering from physical and mental burnout, as he claims? Or is he just pouting over his loss at the Vuelta?

Either way, boooooooo. I was really looking forward to him racing in Geelong.