2024 Pro Cycling Season

[G650 14229]

I love weather like that, ha.

[Whitewater Horn 968]

28 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

He didn't even look like he was trying in the last two kilometers. 

I’m sure the “Cycling Highlights” YouTube channel will address (savagely skewer) this in their usual sarcastic and hilarious way. 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

2 minutes ago, G650 said:

I love weather like that, ha.

Especially while descending paved roads with painted stripes down high mountain passes. 

[G650 14229]

Just now, Whitewater Horn said:

Especially while descending paved roads with painted stripes down high mountain passes. 

If it's good enough for Andy Hampsten, it's good enough for me.

[Txzen 498]

There was a time when I would agree. I think there was one spring in the Bay Area that broke me. It was an El Nino year, and so riding in the wet was just the way it was going to be. But crossing the GGB on the way home, it started to hail. That combined with wind whipping in froze me. Sat in a warm bath for an hour trying to get my core temp back up. Never the same, and now I'm too old and soft to repeat. 

Not enough words to describe how TP is just on another level. He's such an amazing all-rounder - great TT, great climber, not impacted by the cold, not averse from trying Spring Classics. We haven't seen one like him in a long time. And he'll give the jersey off his back for a young rider (as he did today). 

Great Giro so far for Danny Martinez - always liked him at EF.

Worried about the weather the next few days. Hope we don't get a repeat of today. 

[G650 14229]

Thank fucking god.

[Whitewater Horn 968]

“Steinhauser beating off the competition!”

[G650 14229]

14 hours ago, Txzen said:

There was a time when I would agree. I think there was one spring in the Bay Area that broke me. It was an El Nino year, and so riding in the wet was just the way it was going to be. But crossing the GGB on the way home, it started to hail. That combined with wind whipping in froze me. Sat in a warm bath for an hour trying to get my core temp back up. Never the same, and now I'm too old and soft to repeat.

Yeah it's actually kind of bizarre for me, the older I get, the less I can deal with heat. I actually prefer cold and damp. It's almost the opposite from everyone else.

 

That said, the coldest you can ever be is cold on a sailboat. It's wet and you don't dry out for days if you are offshore.

Just now, Whitewater Horn said:

“Steinhauser beating off the competition!”

Yeah old Hatch has a way with words there, lol

[idigTexas 2284]

On 5/21/2024 at 10:37 AM, G650 said:

I love weather like that, ha.

Me too, though it's tough on the bike.  

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

 

 

 

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

On 5/23/2024 at 9:20 AM, idigTexas said:

Me too, though it's tough on the bike.  

Agreed. One time my friends Dave and Eric and I decided to do a 60-mile ride though the Sam Houston National Forest --- from Huntsville to New Waverly and back.  We got to Huntsville and holy cow it was a torrential downpour. We got about three miles in and saw a tree get BLASTED by lighting about 500 yards out into a field. I wanted to give up. I said to Dave "this is crazy as hell."  Dave said "and that's why we're just the men to do it."  So we did.  Got back to Houston after the ride and I swear my bike has never been so grungy. It took me about an hour and a half to get the damn thing clean and I swore I'd never do that again.

[G650 14229]

6 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

It took me about an hour and a half to get the damn thing clean and I swore I'd never do that again

I've swore I'd never do it again about 457 times at this point I believe!

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

Two freestyle skiers, Miro and Flora Tabanelli, jump above Pogača as he ascends.

[idigTexas 2284]

Looks like the guy on the left didn't account for the lift cables.  

[Litig8r 414]

So the TDF finishes in Nice this year?  Well that's nice 

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

13 hours ago, Litig8r said:

So the TDF finishes in Nice this year?  Well that's nice 

First time it doesn't finish in Paris.

[Litig8r 414]

6 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

First time it doesn't finish in Paris.

guess they were worried about pooping on the course. 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

Guess not many following the Dauphiné, but Remco put 40 seconds into Roglic on a 34km ITT on stage 4 today. With Jonas unlikely to be in winning form (if he even shows up to lead Visma), I was, and am, hoping to see Roglic come into July with a realistic shot at pushing Pogi into savage mode and making a great race. Never mind. Pogi lives and sleeps in savage mode. I was hoping not to see another grand tour decided by upwards of ten minutes. I think the TdF window is closed for Roglic and he’ll have to fight for a podium spot in Nice. 

[idigTexas 2284]

7 hours ago, Whitewater Horn said:

Guess not many following the Dauphiné, but Remco put 40 seconds into Roglic on a 34km ITT on stage 4 today. With Jonas unlikely to be in winning form (if he even shows up to lead Visma), I was, and am, hoping to see Roglic come into July with a realistic shot at pushing Pogi into savage mode and making a great race. Never mind. Pogi lives and sleeps in savage mode. I was hoping not to see another grand tour decided by upwards of ten minutes. I think the TdF window is closed for Roglic and he’ll have to fight for a podium spot in Nice. 

Yep.  Window is closed.  Even if it were open, I don't think Bora have the supporting cast that UAE have.  

Edited June 6 by idigTexas

[G650 14229]

Well, another horrible crash

[Whitewater Horn 968]

Yes, just horrible. I hate seeing riders getting carted off and hearing the list of abandons. Even worse leading up to the big loop. 

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

You've got to feel especially bad for Visma Lease a Bike. I can't remember a team that has had so many of their most important riders crash so badly in such a short period of time.  That one crash was maybe the biggest I've ever seen.

Poor Remco Evenepoel.  Comes back from a big injury only to be involved in this.

[Whitewater Horn 968]

5 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

You've got to feel especially bad for Visma Lease a Bike. I can't remember a team that has had so many of their most important riders crash so badly in such a short period of time.  That one crash was maybe the biggest I've ever seen.

Poor Remco Evenepoel.  Comes back from a big injury only to be involved in this.

No kidding. Visma was already limping into the Tour for the first time in a while with the  probable expectation (from the outside) of not winning the race. And seeing Remco stay on the deck and Roglic down again sucks. 

[idigTexas 2284]

Very bad juju this year.  Did someone drink Jobu's rum? 

[G650 14229]

Lmao. The cars don't know where they are going

[G650 14229]

Matty J looked strong today

[Whitewater Horn 968]

6 minutes ago, G650 said:

Matty J looked strong today

Stayed well placed and anticipated that last jump from Roglic. What great progression over the last couple of years. 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

Wow. Great effort, Matty!

[Whitewater Horn 968]

Roglic avoids another jersey losing heartbreak by 8 seconds. 

[G650 14229]

Got damn boys Matty almost did it!

[G650 14229]

And how about Derek Gee???

[Whitewater Horn 968]

26 minutes ago, G650 said:

And how about Derek Gee???

(North) America, fuck yeah!

[Txzen 498]

Maybe the positive for Roglic is that he’s not peaked too early. But this was a familiar sight today - just needed an ill-fitting helmet half off his head while he struggled to hold onto seconds to complete the picture. 
 

Let’s see if Tadej burned too many matches, but I doubt it. As said above, hope at least it’s an interesting 3 weeks in July. 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

45 minutes ago, Txzen said:

Maybe the positive for Roglic is that he’s not peaked too early. But this was a familiar sight today - just needed an ill-fitting helmet half off his head while he struggled to hold onto seconds to complete picture.

How can we ever NOT think of this when we see Roglic trying to hang onto a race lead? Just brutal. 

[EastHorn 281]

On 6/6/2024 at 11:43 AM, idigTexas said:

Very bad juju this year.  Did someone drink Jobu's rum? 

No but as an announcer said I do wonder about disc brakes.  If you want to lock up the wheel these days it’s way easy. Not that I blame it on that crash as that road looked terrible. 

[EastHorn 281]

The Pinot episode in the season 2 Netflix documentary.  Chills.  

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

Binged the entire second season of Tour De France unchained. MUCH better than season one. Way more access to more teams, explains to novices the tactics of the race much better etc ...

Still so sad about Gino Madur.

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

Bradley Wiggins broke, bankrupt, homeless:

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/it-is-a-mess-he-has-lost-everything-absolutely-everything-sir-bradley-wiggins-homeless-after-filing-for-bankruptcy

[G650 14229]

3 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Bradley Wiggins broke, bankrupt, homeless:

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/it-is-a-mess-he-has-lost-everything-absolutely-everything-sir-bradley-wiggins-homeless-after-filing-for-bankruptcy

I saw that the other day on Reddit,  such a shame. I always really liked Wiggo. His demons seem to be too much for him.

[Whitewater Horn 968]

9 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Bradley Wiggins broke, bankrupt, homeless:

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/it-is-a-mess-he-has-lost-everything-absolutely-everything-sir-bradley-wiggins-homeless-after-filing-for-bankruptcy

I read this the other day and found it saddening and a bit of a shock. I’ve followed Wiggo enough over the years to be aware of his childhood abuse and subsequent demons. Having devoted much of my adult life to advocating for abused and neglected children, and being part of the foster and adoptive communities, I’ve always had a soft spot for these people and became a fan, even though I wasn’t really a fan of Team Sky. From my young adult years playing (badly) in North Texas punk and rock bands, I’m also fond of fellow weirdos, seekers, and all kinds of cool and original fringe people, so when you find these types in the cycling world, it’s easy to be a fan. I’ve seen this outcome for too many people over the years that I care about. I hate it for Wiggo and hope he hasn’t burned too many bridges so as to be left without a solid social support network. What a top bloke and true original. 

Edited June 18 by Whitewater Horn

[G650 14229]

1 hour ago, Whitewater Horn said:

From my young adult years playing (badly) in North Texas punk and rock bands, I’m also fond of fellow weirdos, seekers, and all kinds of cool and original fringe people, so when you find these types in the cycling world, it’s easy to be a fan.

100%

[locodos 5387]

 

[G650 14229]

My kingdom for a gear ratio

[idigTexas 2284]

16 hours ago, G650 said:

My kingdom for a gear ratio

1:1

[locodos 5387]

Mont Ventoux is going to be a real bitch on those rigs... or any rig in my case.

1 hour ago, idigTexas said:

1:1

The key is to have really short cranks for the sprint

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20390]

Fucking asshole. This is attempted murder.

 

 

 

[G650 14229]

Holy shit.

 

I'm sure this will get the full weight of the law applied like always....

[Whitewater Horn 968]

That shit looked pretty deliberate to me. Glad no one was killed and glad video cameras are everywhere to capture this crap. Hopefully it will be taken seriously and the driver prosecuted. 
 

I, along with two friends, were on a training ride on some barely traveled backroads in rural Tarrant County when we were in high school (86 or 87), and got hit and forced off the road into a steep ditch by some jackass in a pickup. County sheriff’s department refused to take a formal statement, much less actually investigate the incident. They told us and our parents something like, “we don’t patrol these backroads, and there’s bound to be some good ‘ol boys driving around liquored up and not expecting you kids screwing around on fancy bikes out there. Y’all should be more careful.”  It’s infuriating that there are still a lot of people who think bicycles have no business on roads and that the cyclists are responsible for inciting road rage from drivers. 

[Hornius Emeritus 12450]

About 25 years ago I was out on my road bike coming back on a training ride out to Hutto and back. I was on the Sprinkle Cut Off road, which was a narrow road that was twisty and winding and hilly and there was absolutely no room for anybody to pass me safely, so I was out in the middle of the lane. I'd already ridden about 40 miles and was tiring. As I was going up a hill this jerkoff in a pickup comes up behind me and starts gunning his engine, like he was going to run me over. I was doing probably 18 mph, hammering really, and there was no place to safely pull over. And back then I was in my "screw you, I have every legal right to this road" stage. So I kept my line.  Dude keeps revving his motor and I was getting pissed off. I got up to Ferguson, made that right turn on to Ferguson, and it's a screaming downhill all the way to Cameron/Dessau.  Dude was still right behind me but now he's not revving because I'm doing about 40 and he can't really go any faster than that.  I got up to Cameron and right there Ferguson split into two lanes. I was making a left so I pulled up to the stop sign in the left lane. Dude pulls up in the right lane and I can see it's a burly sheetrock worker with a burly sheetrock worker friend in a 1975 Ford truck that look like it had been beat with a tire iron. I can also see that he's holding a 16 oz Busch beer in a brown paper bag.  His window is rolled down and he says, in a thick, Texas drawl,  "Hey little buddy' you's impedin' the flow of traffic."  Now, at that moment, normally, I would have launched into my lecture about how I'm a vehicle and how in that situation ---- one narrow lane going both directions with no shoulder ---- I'm legally allowed to be in the middle of the lane and that allowing somebody to pass me would be unsafe blah blah blah.  But I realized I was in my spandex and cleats and that they'd probably jump out of that truck and beat the hell out of me before I could even get off my bike.  And I don't know how or where this came from or what came over me but a divine spirit seized me and I said, in an equally thick Texas drawl,  "Well, the road is long and the road is narrow and all God's children gots to pass."   And suddenly, the glower in his face softened as he contemplated my wise, peaceful words, which called on the inherent Christian, godly nature he no doubt thought he had, and he smiled, nodded, and said "Well that's all right, little buddy,"  then raised his 16 oz Busch beer in a brown paper bag to toast me.  

Beat down averted.

 

Edited June 20 by Hornius Emeritus

[Pablo 494]

Damn, I used to ride those exact roads on my road bike in the summer of '92.    The way you describe them flashed me back to those days.  I didn't have spandex or cleats and was just a dumb kid on a road bike after finally selling my freestyle bikes that I rode all over town as a young buck back in the late 80s.