Well, the Crimanimalz have some competition on the 405 with an Etnies skateboarder guy. Pretty soon with all of the bikes and skateboards riding on the Los Angeles highways you may start seeing moms with baby joggers and senior citizens with matching track suits and giant headphone radios walking down the fast lane of the 405 during rush hour.
Seems that the two un-sponsored American teams now have major sponsors. This is great news after last years folding of Discovery Channel due to the lack of new sponsors. Team CSC also found a new sponsor with Saxo Bank and Quick-Step has their sponsorship extended for three more years. Most of the top teams seem to be reporting good news on the sponsor front despite the constant drubbing of doping scandals for the past few years.
Columbia Sportswear will take over the main sponsorship of Team High Road. The sponsor seems like a perfect fit for cycling and slides into the lead sponsor role of one of the most successful teams of the year so far.
Garmin has been a smaller sponsor for several teams such as Milram. Now they step into the main sponsor role taking over the Slipstream team. Garmin is perfect for cycling especially with the 705 model which includes a map. Previously the Slipstream team was using Powertap computers to monitor their training. With Garmin coming in will they drop the Powetaps in favor of the Garmin 705/ SRM combo or will they have a very crowded set of handlebars with both Powertaps and Garmin GPS devices on the handlebars?
Here is my somewhat crowded cockpit with an iBike and Garmin 305.
Campagnolo decided to take cassettes to the next level and unveiled that all Campagnolo gruppos including the new (old name) Super Record will have 11 speeds. Pretty cool news, but just imagine how ultra narrow those chains will be now. When asked why the move to 11 speeds, Campy reps could only respond with “Why Not?”
Obviously, the key point is the extra sprocket on the cassette and plenty of hardened roadies will be asking ‘Why?’ We put the same question to Campagnolo and the quick answer came back “Why not?”
This reminds me of one of Spinal Tap and the 11 scene.
The new Campy 2009 gruppos feature a distinctly new shift/brake lever with an extra curve near the hood. It is said that the extra curve up top provides better aero positioning but it is not as pretty as the older models.
They rode around Paris with an anti drug (droggi.com) message posted on their rears. The Droggi girls will help you get in the mood for the Tour de France while advertising women’s underwear.
Cyclist Rolls Off Side Of Bridge – Watch more free videos
The video has been everywhere. This is a crazy crash and fortunately Frank Schleck made it out alright. Seems the racers who careen off of mountain roads usually make it OK. Oscar Pereiro crashed on the Col D’aubisque in the Tour in 2005 while busy with his musette and made it out OK. Jan Ulrich crashed on the Col de Peyresourde in 2001 in a very dramatic fashion, bike and all, but seemed to recover OK too.
Here is a link to an extended version of the incident
And here is another crash that is not as dramatic, but the cyclist goes into a creek off a corner during a descent in the 2007 Deutschland Tour 2007.
bicycletutor.com is a nice new site that contains several tutorials on how to fix and maintain your bike. Even though I’ve been riding for ages there are some things that escape me and I go over to the local shop for help. This site help to demystify fixing your bike.
In Los Angeles and other places rush hour traffic is so slow that you could get places faster with a bike. The Crimanimalz a group in LA decided to take to the highways during rush hour as a protest/demonstration?
Bicycles on the Freeway from RichToTheIE on Vimeo.
In LA most of the people in traffic were either too busy doing other things such as texting/using cell phones to notice or simply just too jaded to ever flinch.
Drivers scarcely looked up as the riders passed. Many were too busy texting messages on their cell phones in the bumper-to-bumper traffic. The riders grew bolder, weaving in and out, riding faster and faster. They had sent scouts for an initial stretch but decided to extend the ride. Two miles and 15 minutes later, they were back on city streets.
The result was bolder Lucas Brunelle type riding where they weave in and out of traffic. I can’t decide if I admire these riders for their bravery and sheer balls in doing something so scary. Or if I am disgusted by the action since they could easily cause a bigger controversy and backlash if one of them were to get injured or killed. Cyclist already don’t get much sympathy when there is a report of an accident. The Mexican bike race that was hit by a drunk driver helped the cyclist cause since the picture was so gruesome and vivid with carnage. But there was the occasional troll that would post things such as “strike” or they “got what they deserved” for being on the road. An accident with a cyclist being on the highway where they don’t belong would not be helpful in getting more bike friendly roads developed.
There are better ways to advocate cycling in your town, but sometimes doing something bombastic seems cooler.
As a side note there are certain states and areas where you are allowed to ride on the highway. I rode on the highway when I went to see the Tour du Pont in Wilmington Delaware. I was with a local cyclist to escorted me and two other friends to some nice roads to ride after seeing the race. I did not expect to ride on the freeway with 55mph+ traffic. The experience was scary and exhilarating. Once we merged back off I was excited to do it but did not want to ever do it again.
NPR Story: Bicycle Activists Take to the Freeways in L.A. | http://www.crimanimalz.com/
Cervelo took a huge risk when they became the main bike supplier to Team CSC. The risk paid off nicely with the huge success of the team making Cervelo bikes one of the leading brands out there. Originally Cervelo was a small boutique brand with an emphasis on providing better aerodynamics with their airfoil downtubes. Their biggest market is triathlon with their slippery fast P2 TT bikes that are some of the most lusted after TT bikes on the market. Their approach is less is more in some respects as they have a limited line that is very high-end. There are no cheapy sub $1000 bikes in the Cervelo lineup and they are always in demand.
Despite the negative drug related press, with the Ivan Basso debacle in 2007 and the Riis revelations of 2007 their sales are still strong. This is especially with the premium lusting baby-boomers who are getting into cycling.
Checkout the article http://www.reportonbusiness.com/
Originally I was going to title this post Riiis is “bringing Saxo Bank” into cycling. Apologies to Justin Timberlake for the bad reference to his song. But I decided to keep it basic.
Bjarne Riis successfully found a new sponsor to replace the outgoing CSC in Saxo Bank. Effective immediately Saxo Bank will cosponsor the team with the highlight being big exposure at the Tour. In 2009 Team CSC will become Team Saxo Bank marking a smooth transition over to the new sponsor. With the advent of sponsorless teams such as High Road and Slipstream and the loss of Gerolsteiner as a main sponsor it looked like cycling would have a tough time getting new sponsors into the sport. With Riis’ success at attracting Saxo Bank hopefully more sponsors will take another look at cycling.
Damiano Cunego bypassed the Giro to focus his efforts on the Tour de France. With fewer time trials, more climbing and a couple days in Italy it seems like this is a Tour made for Cunego. After some very sharp spring form where he outfoxed rack SAchleck at Amstel Gold Cunego is ready to tone up his Tour de France form by scoping out the major climbs and then riding the Tour de Suisse later this week.
The team Lampre website gives some general info about Cunego’s recent recon trip:
Under a grey, but not rainy, sky, Cunego and Marzano completed the reconnaissance of the final part of the 15th stage of Tour de France, the one scheduled on the 20th of July with arrival in Prato Nevoso. Two Lampre’s riders (foto) began the training in Chiusa di Pesio and after 40 kms reached Prato Nevoso. “This reconnaissance has been useful and I’ll remember the last climb when we’ll be here in Prato Nevoso during Tour de France – Cunego said – The climb has not very tough declination, but it could be hard to cover if the speed would be high”.
Cunego’s next races before Tour de France will be Tour de Suisse and Italian Championship.