Sly and T-Bird say that soy will kill us all … but the next big stage race in the US is known locally as “TOFU” …

Wonder if the winner will be vegan?

As much as I can’t stand Larry H. Miller, I sure am glad that he is choosing to sink some of his money into our little sport. Thankfully, he’s not making sure that the race has a ZZZZZZZZZ at the end like everything else he touches.

Mark Cavendish wins fifth stage of Tour de France - Times Online
Jeremy Whittle, Châteauroux

Cometh the hour, cometh the Manxman. Mark Cavendish, 23, emerged from the jostling mêlée at the climax of the 232-kilometre fifth stage of the Tour de France to support his claim as cycling’s top sprinter with an irresistible dash to the line in Châteauroux.

Cavendish made his Tour de France debut last year, when the race started in London, and had cut a dejected figure when a crash en route to Canterbury denied him the chance of success on home soil. But yesterday the rider from the Isle of Man made amends, securing his maiden victory in the Tour and leaving his rivals for dead as he took the first British stage win since David Millar’s victory in Béziers in 2002.

“It’s the biggest thing to have happened to me and to do it so young is massive,” Cavendish, of Team Columbia, said. “I came here with the intention of winning a stage and I would have gone home disappointed if I hadn’t.”

What an exciting finish … Nicolas Vogondy (the current French National Champion) sure looked like he squeaked out enough of a lead in the last kilometer to hold off the field until the finish, but Team Columbia (formerly Team High Road) pulled hard on the front, and the Manx Express popped out of the middle of the pack to fly away with the stage.

VeloNews | Tech Report: The Campagnolo 11-speed Super Record group

In Feltre, Italy, this week, just 15km away from the memorial to Tullio Campagnolo at the summit of the Croce d’Aune pass, Campagnolo reintroduced its Super Record racing group.

Super Record was Campagnolo’s mystical racing group, but it has been decommissioned for more than 20 years. For 2009, it, along with new Record and Chorus groups, will help celebrate the brand’s 75th anniversary. In addition to the groups, Campagnolo will offer new versions of its four top wheelsets: Hyperon Ultra Two, Bora Ultra Two, Shamal 2-Way Fit and Eurus 2-Way Fit.

The technologies and the range of products presented are nothing short of truly impressive. With SRAM’s Red, the new Shimano 7900 Dura-Ace group and now Campagnolo’s three new groups, 2009 will offer more choice and technology than ever before for those in the market for a new set of components.

But this is about Campagnolo. Its new products highlight the brand’s willingness to approach its competitors head on with its own innovation and new technology. On another hand, Campagnolo hasn’t lost its passion or respect for its own heritage; the new groups are as artful and stylish as any it has ever produced. And the new components are all still produced in Campagnolo’s factory in Vicenza, Italy. The three groups are based on and share technologies surrounding two key features: the third edition of Ergopower, which is called Ergopower Ultra-Shift, and an 11-speed cassette.

I know, I know … I should actually ride more before I start drooling over more bike parts; but you have to admit this group is absolutely gorgeous!!!

Three races disappear in less than a week. From www.cyclingnews.com today:

Tour of America cancels for 2008

It may no longer be April Fool’s day, but it would be understandable if you thought otherwise as the organizers of the first Tour of America announced on April 2 that their race for 2008 would not materialize. Dr. Frank Arokiasamy, Ph.D., president of Aqu Sports, organizers of the race, had announced previously that last Monday, March 31, would be the go/no-go decision date – and apparently the decision was to wait another year.

“After we announced the Tour of America last fall, we hit the ground running to make the event happen in 2008,” Arokiasamy said in a press statement. “Everyone we have spoken with wants to see a ‘Tour de France-style” race here in the United [sic] We want to work with USA Cycling and UCI to establish this event as a compliment to the major international races, and at the same time not conflict with established races in the United States. Overall, we want to make sure the Tour of America strengthens the sport of cycling and the race calendar. In addition, potential sponsors and route cities have expressed strong support for a fall 2009 race.”

Further down the same page:

Tour of Virginia also cancels 2008 race

Another race on the National Racing Calendar (NRC) circuit in the United States has announced a major change for 2008. The Tour of Virginia, formerly the Tour of Shenandoah, posted on its website this week that it is cancelling the 2008 event due to a lack of funding. “I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t supremely frustrated, devoid of confidence and depressed after having this experience,” event director Matthew Butterman on the race web site regarding attempts to sign sponsors for this year’s event.

“From the start of this event, we have pushed forward under the assumption of ‘build it and they will come,’ ” the statement said. ” ‘They’ refers to private corporate and state financial support. The state has been unwilling to invest in this event… So we built it anyway with the hope that a media friendly, attention-getting event would eventually attract private support either from within our venue community network, or from the outside. This has not happened to a sustainable level despite what must be described as our best efforts as a grossly underfunded promoting organization”

And finally this news from a few days ago:

Tour de ‘Toona shrinks to one-day

The Tour de ‘Toona, held in and around Altoona, Pennsylvania, will shrink to just one day for 2008. After 20 years, the race had grown to seven days. What remains is a criterium on July 27 in downtown.

“I’m just disappointed this year we’re stepping back, but we hope next year to come back even stronger,” Race Director Larry Bilotto said to the Altoona Mirror. The organization plans to return to a full schedule in 2009.

Bilotto said the steering committee needed a break, especially after contending with lawsuits related to a former race director and a rider injured in the 2005 edition, deaths of committee members and recent sponsorship struggles. He did not elaborate on the latter.

How much of it is the economy, and how much is the current state of cycling, with all the doping scandals, lack of a “proper” big name American star cyclist to generate interest in the sport, especially with all the politicking between the UCI and race organizers in Europe throwing things into further disarray.

It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that it’s going to get worse before it gets better, as well. Soon Versus will start cutting back their Tour de France coverage to an hour or two a day (like ESPN did back in the 1990s), and then eventually down to a 1-hour special at the end of the season (like has happened with the Vuelta a España the past few years …

Thankfully, there are online sites like cyclingnews.com and VeloNews to provide coverage. Other video-based sites are popping up and getting bigger as well, like WCSN.com and Cycling.TV … and those of us who are serious Euro race junkies will still be able to get our fix.

You know you’ve got issues when even your therapist is bugging you about starting to date again …

But it’s like this; I’m scared. I’m scared to death of repeating the same mistakes that I made when I was married. I’m afraid that I will still not be able to open up and share who I am with the person I love. So right now, it’s easier to just avoid the situation.

And then there’s this … my competitive days are long behind me. I’m not intimidated by women who are better at something than I am; in fact quite the opposite, I find it extremely attractive. I prefer active, fit women, but my corresponding fitness is not there, and it will take time to retrieve.

I’m not looking for a training partner; if you’re racing, I’ll be the guy on the sidelines who makes sure you’re being taken care of during the race. Need food/water/clothing hand-ups? I’m your man. I prefer to be behind-the-scenes making an event a success for others, rather than killing myself to finish mid-pack or worse. I want to be with someone who wants support from her partner, not competition.

But it seems that most of the women I am meeting not only have this huge competitive streak in them, but are looking for the same in their partner; which just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t see how two people can have a healthy relationship when they’re always competing with each other, and yet it seems like when athletes get together, much of the competition is within the relationship as well.

And to me, that’s just wrong.

I ride my bike to ride my bike … and the main reason why I seldom ride with more than one or two other people (when I’m not riding alone) is because most group rides turn into some sort of big swinging (virtual or actual) dick contest. That’s not what I’m about. If I’m not paying money and pinning a number on, then I’m not racing … and it’s really easy for me to just say “see ya!” when the people I ride with start acting as though every ride is a race.

The downside of this is that I spend a lot of time alone … which when you are dysthymic is not really healthy either. I reach out to my friends, but unless we have made specific plans, I tend not to follow-through and nothing happens. And thus I get lonelier and feel like my friends don’t want to hang out with me; when in reality, they could very much feel like I don’t want to hang out with them either, because I don’t follow-through or flake. I know that friendship is a two-way street, but I find it very difficult to offer much of myself, even when I think that the people I’m with are some of the nicest, kindest, and coolest people I’ve ever met.

I’ve been this way nearly all my life … and I know that much of it is a protective measure from how much I used to move around when I was a kid; a different school every year or two doesn’t lend itself to long-lasting relationships … and when I do start building a relationship that means something, inevitably I feel like I’m going to sabotage it somehow.

And so I keep working on myself; keep seeing the crazy doctor, keep taking the happy pills, keep reaching out … and keep trying to follow-through.

This article, in its original form, appeared in the final edition of the Bridgestone Owner’s Bunch (BOB) Gazette, in 1994.

What is the most frustrating thing that can happen to a cyclist?

I think one of them is being forced to walk. One weekend, late in the summer of 1994, I had that experience.

Since my weekly mileage had been rather low, I felt the need to push myself, and went on an 80-miler. I left my Nob Hill apartment about noon, made my usual stops at Il Fornaio on Union Street for paninis and at City Cycle (across the street) for Gu while on my way to and through the Presidio to the Golden Gate Bridge. From north end of the Bridge, I dropped into Sausalito and rode through Mill Valley, then climbed Camino Alto to drop into Corte Madera.

By then, the weather had warmed due to the Bay Area’s lovely microclimates, so I took off my arm and leg warmers and stuffed them into a jersey pocket.

I worked my way through Fairfax, around Nicasio Reservoir, through Samuel P. Taylor State Park, and several small towns you haven’t heard of unless you live in the Bay Area, and eventually reached what is locally called the Paradise Loop, around the peninsula that forms Tiburon.

That day, Paradise proved to be anything but. It was almost 6 o’clock, and the fog was starting to roll back in, so I reached back and discovered that my my arm and leg warmers had disappeared.

“Not a problem,” I thought. “It’s a short loop. I’ll finish before it gets really cold.”

Climbing the first short hill on Paradise Drive, I began to hear a “tick-tick-tick” noise coming from my rear wheel. After stopping and looking vainly for the source, I hopped back on my bike and continued on. A few miles later, I was riding a flat.

“Still not a problem,” I thought. I whipped out my spare tube, wrestled off the tire and replaced the tube, and off I rode, discarding my old tube. A mile or so later, I had another flat.

I know, I know … it’s never a good idea to discard a punctured tube, especially not mid-ride. And no, I didn’t just toss it on the side of the road … I threw it away in one of the garbage cans at the end of a driveway.

“This could be a problem,” I thought. I remove the wheel, wrestled with the tire again, and removed the tube. I had forgotten one of the cardinal rules of flat repair and didn’t check my tire for sharp objects. This time, I found a wire embedded so deep that I had penetrated the tube twice. The “tick-tick-tick” noise was the wire hitting the brake calipers as the wheel turned.

I patched both holes, replaced the tube, and off I rode.

Psssssshhhhh…

“This is definitely a problem,” I thought. Again I removed the wheel, wrestled with the tire, and removed the tube. This time I was looking at a valve stem partially torn away from the tube. I was 20 miles from home, with no spare tube and a useless patch kit, and I was at least 5 miles from payphone (this was in 1994, before the now-ubiquitous cell phone).

I took off my shoes and socks and started walking.

Mmmmm … barefoot walking on asphalt, when it’s in the 60s and temperatures dropping by the minute. FUN!

Around 7 o’clock, it got foggy and windy. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, after several people passed without a second glance-even a few riding (gasp!) Bridgestones-a guy on a titanium wonderbike (again, still a relative rarity back then) rolled by and asked if I needed help.

“Yeah! Gotta spare tube?” I shouted back.

“No patch kit?” he asked. So I told him what happened.

“Hmmm,” he replied. “I only have spare sew-ups. In a pinch you can stretch one on a clincher rim, as long as you’re careful cornering. Want to try it?”

At that point, I would have tried a mountain bike tire and a Band-Aid if there was a chance it would get me home. He gave me a brand-new Vittoria CX, which we stretched over the rim. Sure enough, it worked, and off I rode.

While heading up the other side of the Tiburon Peninsula on my way back towards Mill Valley, my saviour passed me going the other direction, turned around, and joined me.

“How’s it holding up?” he asked.

“Pretty well, so far,” I replied, so we continued to ride and chat for a while. I promised to send the tire back to him, and eventually we went our separate ways.

At this point, I had been out for about eight hours, had three flats, and had lost a layer of clothing. The Bay’s famous fog and winds were out in full force, and I couldn’t face the climb back up to (and then the ride across) the Bridge; luckily, I still had time to catch the last ferry from Sausalito back into the City, and made it home without further incident.

Who was my benefactor? His name was Chris Cameron, then an advertising director for Mountain Bike magazine.

Sure hope he doesn’t mind having his name put out there, some 13 years after the original incident; and I wonder what he’s up to these days. Still riding, I hope.

I’ve always felt that BOBness is an attitude, not limited to cyclists, and is definitely not acquired just by joining the Bridgestone Owner’s Bunch or becoming a member of Rivendell Cycle Works.

To me, a BOB is a person who understand there are more important things about cycling than just the latest equipment (or the rejection of same) and training times.

Cycling is not about racing; it’s not about how quickly you can climb your local mountain; it’s not about how far you can ride; it’s not about fenders and 32mm wide tires and matching Carradice bags; and it’s definitely not about what kind of bike you own, be it lugged steel, aluminium, titanium or even carbon fibre.

The most important thing about riding a bike is simply that … just riding. As individuals, we shouldn’t let magazines (not even the Rivendell Reader) dictate our attitudes about equipment.

BOBness is part of the psyche; part of the soul

Among other things, it’s a willingness to help a stranger without expecting any more than a thank you in return.

In my opinion, Chris’s actions that late summer afternoon in 1994 epitomize this attitude.

Recent experiences in other parts of my life make me think back to that day; and one thing that I’ve come to realize is that there was almost an almost Zen-like (or at least my interpretation of Zen) quality I once had towards bicycles; a quality I’d like to rediscover.

I’ve been giving some thought to resigning my position with my current team, to just going back to riding for enjoyment. When I joined the team 3 years ago, it’s because the attitude was of having fun … riding bikes and drinking beer; and it really didn’t matter how we did in competition. It seemed for a long time that there was a slot saved in second-last (or NQDFL) for a Cutthroat rider.

These days, I’ve lost my joy of riding. The team is doing better at races, people actually train, and it seems like much of the fun has gone out of it, especially for me.

For the past couple of years, I’ve not ridden my bikes much at all … a lot of which has been due to dealing with various life issues, such as depression and divorce, but also because it just isn’t as fun as it once was …

Most of the time I do ride, it’s by myself; because I don’t have to worry about holding people back, or the ride turning into a mini-race.

There is a time and a place for racing, but does racing or training to race have to be a part of every ride? I don’t think so …

On the other hand, I know people who totally reject racing as well … for them cycling is still all about the equipment, but in the opposite direction of the racers; cycling is about fenders and bags and wool and seersucker, or about fixed-gears and brakes (or no brakes).

And it really shouldn’t be about any of it … or it should be about all of it.

Oh, I’ll still ride cyclocross (since what I do can’t really be called “racing”), simply because it’s such a blast … and I love that the Utah Cyclocross series is a situation where I can have a positive impact by helping make it possible for those who want to race to do so.

No decisions about the team just yet … just a long ramble.

Addendum: Call me a hypocrite if you will, but despite all the above rambles, I still think that recumbents are sick and wrong.

The type of rider who wins races where 125 riders start and one finishes—that’s a Flahute.

A Flahute thinks the Tour de France is just a bunch of long training rides. A real race is one where it’s pouring rain, it’s cold, the roads are treacherous, and the prize list is about the same as your 8-year-old neighbor’s allowance. When you’re a Flahute, that’s racing.

To put it another way, if your cycling spirit dampens at the sight of rain, you sure as shoot ain’t a Flahute.

Flahute racers focus on such classics as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, those tough northern classics filled with some of the worst roads and weather imaginable in bike racing. The only thing tougher than the races themselves are the guys that win them. They are the real Flahutes.

Riders like Eddy Merckx, who won 5 Tours de France and 5 Giros d’Italia, in spite of being a Flahute. Riders like Roger de Vlaeminck, who won Paris-Roubaix on 4 separate occasions. Riders like Andrei Tchmil and Johan Museeuw and Peter van Petegem. Riders like Rik van Looy and Briek Schotte. Tom Boonen has the potential to be a Flahute. Frank Vandenbroucke will never be a Flahute. Jacques Anquetil knew better than to even try. Bernard Hinault was one of the rare Frenchman who could contemplate qualifying. Sean Kelly was the first (and only) Irish Flahute. Lance Armstrong doesn’t have the balls to be a Flahute (yes, pun intended).

Probably the best description of the Flahute that I’ve found is in Graham R. Jones’ article titled “Flahute and ‘The Lion of Flanders’”. Go read it, then report back here.

Update: 11/26/2005

Another great description, entitled simply “Flahute” … dig it!

Update: 11/13/2006

More great descriptions of what makes a Flahute; this time in a two-part article on Walter Godefroot. Read part one and part two.