Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Always happy to see a newcomer to the shiny side of life. Bob Roll now a baldy courtesy of Johan Bruyneel and Livestrong.

Rainier dropped a chain going maybe 35mph decsending. He had record time from clipped t foot jam.

The guys at MASH SF completed the Tour of California Route on Sunday in addition to the Pro racers. The MASH guys rode the entire course of the Tour of California on fixed gear bikes. This is simply an amazing physical accomplishment when you consider the 5400 ft climb up Mt. Palomar on Sunday. Climbing is tough, but descending is even tougher when you consider that most of the fixies don’t have brakes. Congrats to the MASH guys that include twitterer Josh Kadis (http://twitter.com/kadisco)

More info at http://arkitipintel.com/2009/02/23/tour-of-california-report-dominated/ and http://www.mashsf.com/blog.php

The Rapha guys look back on riding the Tour of California route.

Rapha Rides the TOC – Finale from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Perhaps Rock Racing is going through tough times as they ride bikes from bikesdirect.com and have graffitti over all their clothes and equipment. Chris Baldwin was in the heat of the stage 7 breakaway when a funny thing happened, he stole Hincapie’s water bottle. The bottle never made it to Hincapie or Baldwin, but fell on the ground.

Here is what Hincapie had to say:

pretty funny moment at toc stage to pasadena. http://tinyurl.com/da3jye At the time not that funny..

and

PS, he did not do it on purpose, was just not paying attention i guess. He’s a good guy, and a buddy of mine.

A view of Levi Leipheimer’s crash yesterday at the Tour of California. Just goes to show that you should always watch the wheel in front of you no matter what. Looks like Levi is OK after that crash since he reported that the pain went away and he was able to finish the stage with the main group.

Francisco Mancebo took the win in a brutal stage that Lance Armstrong said:

Holy hell. That was terrible. Maybe one of the toughest days I’ve had on a bike, purely based on the conditions. I’m still freezing.

Photo by Ken Conley

Mancebo attacked from the start of the stage and was joined by two other riders Jurgen van de Walle QuickStep and Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas. With constant rain and temps in the 40 degree range these were conditions closer to Belgium than of California.

Photo by Ken Conley

Rock Racing busted out a new “Anarchy” theme complete with a graffiti themed kit design. The red A on the shoulder is nice, but the “Rocks Not Dead” across the crotch area is not too great. This is an even worse placement when you consider what jackets and other over-layers will do to the overall look of the kit. If you see Mancebo happily crossing the finish line after a tough stage, you see the text DEAD over his crotch area. This is not the message you want to send to the ladies. Maybe a slight adjustment of the placement of that text or some plain black shorts without the graffiti will be better for the next stages.

Mancebo gave Rock Racing a big win in California and is marking his own comeback of sorts to the professional peloton. Mancebo abruptly retired when his name was put into the Operation Puerto investigation in 2006. He was one of the many Tour contenders of 2006 that were not allowed to race. He is in the company of Ivan Basso (served two years) and Jan Ullrich (retired). Mancebo decided that he could return to cycling, but no one really wanted the former Tour contender, so he returned with the smaller Relax-Gam team where he was competing in much smaller races. His only result of 2007 was a win at the Vuelta Chihuahua.

Mancebo’s win will mark a great result for Rock Racing which has been through a difficult off-season. Their brand of uber-cool and uber-expensive jeans were a major victim in the economic downturn. The team is said to have just enough money to run until mid-season at which point they will either cease to exist or get a new sponsor, or hope to get a bailout from the Government. Even a win by a former Tour de France contender who retired to the lower ranks of pro cycling to avoid any Puerto related issues will not convince the ladies who’s husbands used to run massive Ponzi schemes and now find themselves on the brink of jail-time to buy some more Rock and Republic jeans. Maybe Rock and Republic should take a note from Mancebo’s career and downgrade. Mancebo found that he could not ride in the upper levels of the sport since he was being implicated in the Puerto Affair. He quickly retired but then returned in the lower ranks. Now, Rock and Republic is finding it hard to sell overpriced jeans and clothes. Perhaps they should go downmarket and pony up next to Martha Stewart at KMart or be a new brand at Wal-Mart?

Rapha has style. If you need any proof of that checkout this ad shot just for the Tour of California. Simply breathtaking. Play this anytime you don’t feel quite like riding.

Rapha Rides The Tour of California from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Team Garmin Slipstream went to CLIF Bar HQ with the fixie guys at MASH to talk about the Tour of California.

Some of the usual pre-race quotes from riders about their approaches to the race. This year’s field is mixed with the most talented and some of the most controversial riders making a comeback. They will be tempered with Garmin which features toughman Svein Tuft and an pioneering drug testing program. Garmin poses a squeaky clean images which was balanced out with the riders from MASH.

Trent Lowe

“I think it’s the strongest field ever for this event. It’s absolutely going to prepare us for the grand tours.”

Tom Danielson

“It’s a very demanding race. The thing we’ll be testing here is the team component, and we’ve got a great, thorough team here. It’s really the only way we’re going to succeed – as a team.”

David Zabriskie On how do you decide who on the team is racing to win and the others will support:

“Everyone on this team is in extremely good shape right now. We can all be a threat. It depends on how high a classification a rider has (as the race progresses). It’s good to have options, and we have options.”

Christian Vande Velde Joking to MASH about equipment needs for the Tour of California:

“I break my best stuff and they give me a new one right away. You guys are screwed!”

Tyler Farrar On being on a Clean Team:

“The nice thing about coming to a team like this is that you don’t worry about your teammates doping. You don’t worry about your teammates making you look bad. There is absolutely no stigma attached to this team, and that’s a great thing for all of us.”

MASH are the group of fixie riding guys who actually enticed Lance Armstrong to take a spin with them when they visited Austin. With cool fixies and possibly a Heineken Draught Keg in hand they will ride the same course as the pros with 10 or 11 sprockets in the back.

Here is the video including Lance.

Quotes from the night include:

MASH

Garrett Chow

“I’ve been riding bikes my entire life. It’s a huge part of all of our lives.”

Talking to Garmin riders about Tour of California race-day plans:

“We’ll be starting about 4 a.m. Hopefully you won’t spit on us when you go by.”

Asked by Garmin if they’re ready for rain during the Tour, he joked:

“Yeah, we brought two pairs of jeans.”

On equipment for the Tour, he quipped:

“We’ve got two spare tires and two spare chains. That out to get us through the nine stages.”

Mike Martin: Why doing the Tour

“It’s for the love of bikes, and we wanted to make this project happen. We’ve all got day jobs. We’ve got riders from age 18 to 40 on our guerilla version of the Tour. There’s a plumber, there’s a student. We just want to ride the same route, log the same miles … but on track bikes.”

Here is the full press release.
CLIF BAR Hosts Garmin-Slipstream at 2009 Amgen Tour of California Pre-Race Bash
MASH Fixed Gear Riders Also Make Guest Appearance

BERKELEY, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2009) – More than 250 enthusiastic cycling fans rolled into CLIF® BAR headquarters Wednesday for an entertaining evening of bike talk with eight riders from the Garmin-Slipstream Pro Cycling Team.

The event, hosted by CLIF BAR and benefiting the Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program for children and adults with disabilities, provided an intimate glimpse of these elite athletes just three days before they begin racing in the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.

Garmin-Slipstream and 16 other teams will each send eight riders to the starting line Saturday for one of the most anticipated professional cycling races in the world. CLIF BAR and CLIF SHOT® are Garmin-Slipstream’s official energy providers.

Held in true CLIF style with burritos and beers, the Garmin-Slipstream riders talked about their Tour of California preparations, commitment to being part of pro cycling’s Clean Team, what it’s like in a hybrid individual-team sport and much more.

“I raced in high school because it was a sport that kept me away from drugs and alcohol,” said Garmin-Slipstream cyclist Steven Cozza. “It was really disheartening to see some of the guys I admired test positive. I can guarantee to everyone out there who might be looking up to us, we’re riding clean.

“Garmin-Slipstream has really taken a strong stance to make the sport a better sport. It’s a great opportunity not only to race, but to get this message out.”

The nine-day Tour of California opens with a three-mile prologue in Sacramento and will visit 16 host cities during its grueling 750-mile trek – including a scenic sprint across the Golden Gate Bridge. The race finishes Sunday, February 22, in Escondido.

“It’s awesome that the Garmin-Slipstream guys were gracious enough to take time out of their schedule before such a big race,” said Matt Sharkey, Clif Bar & Company’s Senior Sports Marketing Manager. “They were engaging and offered some great insights for elite cyclists and casual riders. CLIF BAR is extremely proud to support this team.”

Garmin-Slipstream’s world-class eight-some will look to dethrone two-time defending Tour of California champion Levi Leipheimer and seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

“California is going to be unbelievable,” said Christian Vande Velde. “We’re anticipating something special here, and everyone really wants to show their best stuff. It’s early in the season, so we’ll all be testing each other and pushing each other.”

In addition to Cozza and Vande Velde, other Garmin-Slipstream riders at CLIF BAR last night were Thomas Danielson (USA), Tyler Farrar (USA), Trent Lowe (AUS), Tom Peterson (USA), Svein Tuft (CAN) and David Zabriskie (USA). Their argyle race kits will make all of them easy to spot in the Tour of California.

MASH to Shadow the Tour of California
Sharing the stage with Garmin-Slipstream were three riders from MASH, a fixed-gear bike crew that will unofficially ride the entire Tour of California – just to see if they can.

The eight-member MASH unit plans to ride seven- to 12-hour days, leaving ahead of or after the peloton. CLIF BAR is MASH’s nutrition sponsor for the Tour of California, providing the riders with the full array of CLIF products.

“We’ll be using the same bikes we ride every day,” said MASH rider Garrett Chow. “We ride them to get a burrito. We all cycle passionately when we can. It’s kind of like, ‘Why do people climb Everest? Because they can.’ We’re giving it 100 percent and seeing what we can do.”

In addition to Chow, fellow MASH members Andy Peterson and Mike Martin spoke from the CLIF BAR stage. Also riding with them in the Tour of California will be Walton Brush, Jos Kadis, Will Meeker, Gabe Morford and Blake Vonknopka.

Usually racers sail down the starting ramp on a TT. Sometimes if a rider is too concentrated on the effort they may forget simple things like going in straight line down the start ramp.

Worst Female Cycling Start Ever – Watch more Funny Videos

This morning on the Behance Network portfolio site I noticed the Trek Project One configurator. I previously noticed the online config tool for Trek’s high end bike when my recent project Syracuse Bike integrated it to their site.

Concepting, design and UI for Trek’s Project One – a custom bike program where you design the bike of your dreams. Work completed for Hanson Dodge Creative. Design your dream bike at projectone.trekbikes.com

Selling the Project One bikes through a configurator is a big bonus not only for dealers but for customers to be able to sort through the various options for the bikes. The configurator even estimates the delivery date and final price for the bike with the selected components. The configurator is funt o play around with to build up your dream bike, You can configure everything from your gruppo, paint scheme, brake hoods and cable colors. The end result is a bike that looks totally custom but is made through the usual Trek process.

Here is one orange bike I designed influenced by the Syracuse University colors.

Taking the custom project to extremes, you can design bikes to your choosing. Here are some designs that model after birds.

They come to snuff the rooster.

The configurator takes a concept of upselling and makes it easily accessible to the customer. Instead of browsing through catalogs and imagining what the final bike would look like, a customer can run through any option and get a solid idea of the finished product. Trek gets an easy way to upsell all sorts of products such as higher end wheels and carbon stems made from Bontrager. previously customers who would plunk down the cash to get a truly custom ride would get all of the extras in after market goods which would probably not be from the Trek empire. Now the configurator gives the customers one stop shopping to a tricked out ride.

The configurator is optimal when there is lots of money to spend. But now we are in a tough economy where some customers may actually balk at the prospect of spending 6 to 8k on a bike. With cost cutting in mind can customers use this configurator to actually get a better deal on a high end Trek? Here you can substitute a lower end gruppo and lower end s wheels to get a better price on the final bike. Go without the totally custom paint job and choose a semi-custom stock setup and you can be riding for a few thousand less than what a bike shop would typically get in a showroom. So if trek positions this correctly the configurator can be used to save money for the customer and still keep sales coming in to Trek.

Behance Portfolio Network
Bike as birds