Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

This is a good overview of how to handle yourself on the road. Some of these techniques such as divergent lanes next to a highway on-ramp are new to me. I would always wait to cross over at the right spot and stay to the side of the road.

I normally post about Top Gear on my other blog, but this episode has a good aspect on bikes. The Top Gear crew is known for doing elaborate races such as a jet plane racing a Bugatti Veyron. Here the Top Gear crew takes four different forms of transportation across London. Richard Hammond rides a bike, Jeremy Clarkson takes a speedboat, James May takes a large Mercedes and the Stig rides the subway. The result may or may not surprise you, but it is fun to watch.

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

Jan Ullrich is very serious about his training this year. Der Kaiser traditionally trains in Tuscany around this time of year as the season approaches. The weather in Tuscany has not been cooperating with Ullrich’s training schedule, so Jan, a few teammates and Rudy Pevenage took the next flight available for South Africa.

“Currently, winter has Italy in its grip. The snowfall and the freezing cold make it impossible to train efficiently. The risk of catching a cold is much too high,” said Ullrich, who thinks that he will be able “to do a more focused and intense training under the South African sun”.

The South African sun is more agreeable and allows Ullrich better training. Plus, there is less risk of catching a cold or other malady that may offset his training regimet leading up to the Tour. Jan looks serious this year, maybe that is why Eddy Merckx and Lance Armstrong picked him to win the Tour.

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Jan Ullrich now has Eddy Merckx picking him to succeed in France come July. Merckx made a few comments on the “Man with the new coif” while assiting at the Doh International GP. Merckx particularly likes the fact that “Der Kaiser” has decided to add the Giro D’Italia as part of his training schedule leading up to the Tour. Merckx himself won the Tour five times and thinks that a rider like Jan Ullrich needs a few races to get into form. “The Giro will allow Ullrich to come into excellent form for the Tour” says the Cannibal.

Eddy does offer some criticism to Jan and others: “in the last sven years he concentrated solely on the Tour, but he is a rider that needs many more miles of racing in his legs in order to perform well at the Tour”

Well said Eddy, that was always odd how Jan was in great form at the end of July, August and September while Lance was sitting back going to talk shows and parades. Will the 8th time be a charm for “Der Kaiser”?
http://it.sports.yahoo.com/29012006/8/tour-2006-mercks-l-anno-ullrich.html

Perhaps Bode Miller has been a little too eager to give interviews and speak his mind. Miller throws fellow athletes Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds under the bus for simply taking pills and not asking questions. Come on Bode, do we need to make the drug issue more of a witch hunt than it already is? Seriously, remember what Charles Barkley said long ago in a famous commercial. I am an athlete, I am not a role model. Maybe Bode Miller has an insight to the dark underbelly of sport. Maybe he has some insight into what really goes on in the backrooms of gyms or in French hotels during the Tour, but that does not justify simply making random accusations in Rolling Stone.

Read the interview here

Selle Italia is getting their season off to a winning start. Yesterday, they took their first win with Russel Van Hout, today they get the victory with Alberto Loddo who won the fourth stage of the Vuelta al Tachira in Venezuela. This is a comeback for Loddo who last season moved down to the amateur ranks when he could not sign up with a Pro Tour team. Previously Loddo raced for Lampre and Saunier Duval without much success. Today’s victory combined with a third in stage 1 puts Loddo in striking distance for the overall victory.

Vuelta a Tachira Stage 3:

1. Alberto Loddo (Ita-Sel)
2. Pedro Perez (Cub) Cuba
3. Jesus Perez (Ven)
4. Ivan Castillo (Ven)
5. Juan Torres (Ven)

Team Milram have their official presentation today in Brema, Germany the home to the dairy company. Milram is the latest blue jersey to join the peloton and will be headed by three team captains in Erik Zabel, Alessandro Petacchi and Mirko Celestino.

All three it seems have had some hand in trying to win Milan-San Remo in recent years. Zabel was most successful by winning four times, while Petacchi won last year. Mirko Celestino was born along the race route as the race was passing by, which gives him an emotional connection.

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Rule number one of riding in the rain is do not ride through puddles. There are many reason to not ride through a puddle and number one is the fact that you do not know how deep the puddle is or what is below. A bicyclist in China had his ride through a puddle turn sour when he hit a deep crevase or some type of pothole in the road. The photographer is catching some heat because-as the perfectly caputered photos show-he was waiting around for someone to crash. The Photog wanted to call attention to the city’s poorly paved streets by documenting a crash. Mission accomplished.

Some maybe not-so obvious observations:

1) It is raining very hard, so the guy is soaked already. Why is he riding with an umbrella?

2) If he is trying to avoid getting drenched more than he already i sby carrying the umbrella, why is he riding through the puddle? His fenders would dissipate most water, but they wouldn’t completely dissipate the rooster tails caused by the puddle.

3) Most puddles can cause you to crash simply by hydroplaning or disrupting our front wheel, why is he riding through the puddle?

Bike fall: Ananova – Photographer criticised

On the list of links to rider’s sites, one of the best has to be soprojones.com. The quirky website was always worth a visit for something entertaining even though it was not always updated. The last week or so, I noticed that the site seems like it was taken over by some generic company that places holder pages on expired domains. Did the domain expire before Jones could reup? Did he move to another site? A few quick search turned up nothing. So anyone know what happened to soprojones.com?

Quick epitaph of soprojones.com, Here is a summary of soprojones.com

Mike Jones of Healthnet is from the Binghmaton area of New York, so kind of a local guy (Velochimp is from Syracuse).

One of several veteran Italian riders left out in the cold after the Sony Ericsson debacle will still race next year. Fabio Baldato will join the Italian Continental Team Tenax – Nobili Rubinetterie – Salmilano. Baldato will bring a wealth of experience to the young Tenax team. His palmares include 2nd place in 1994 Paris Roubaix, 2nd in 1995 and 1996 Tour of Flanders and second in 2000 Milan San Remo. Baldato has been professional since 1991 and has also won two stages in the Tour de France
Team Tenax: ingaggiato Fabio Baldato – Yahoo! Sport IT