While I’ve made occasional reference to the concept of “pro”-ness on this blog, that fact is that it’s never been something of special concern to me. I have neither the income to assemble my own housing-level pro build, nor the free time to aggregate links directing my readers to the same. But recent events have…
Author: cosmo
Strange News While I'm Off The Grid
Man, I go off the grid for a second and the whole world goes bananas. I don’t even know where to begin. First, Versus (Comcast, really) and DirecTV get into yet another idiotic conflict over carriage rates. Versus temporarily disappears from DirecTV, words are exchanged, and predictably, the modern-day frog war is resolved. Strangely, Velonews,…
The New "Stop Lance" Shirt
So this (also available in white/red and black/yellow) is probably going to take some explanation. The best place to start would be with a history lesson: in 1972, Steve Prefontaine had energized American audiences with his sensational distance running, leading to a proliferation of fan shirts that simply read “Go Pre”. A few contrarians decided…
We Are Currently Experiencing Technical Difficulties
So for those of you who aren’t following me on Twitter, I’m currently in western North Carolina, getting in some riding and destroying my car on the very mountain roads that allegedly make this place so nice to ride in. Unfortunately, the infrastructure I need to produce things on this blog have been hard to…
Politics Between The Races
Kind of a strange little hiatus, here. Two biggish races and then a little gap before the ProTour gets rolling at Paris-Nice. True, Lance is racing again, but I don’t find the early season warm-up all that compelling—certainly not when I can spend my time sussing out the various mind games at work. It’s probably…
Is It Time To Update The Opening Weekend?
The 2010 season’s opening weekend has come and gone, and its traditionally tough races did not disappoint. Juan-Antonio Flecha finally got his first classic win at Het Nieuwsblad—though a glance over his shoulder just before his winning salute might have been a coy reference to that race he should have won. The next day, KBK…
How The Race Was Won – Omloop Het Niewsblad 2010
Yes! It’s bike season again! Here’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, half of the Belgian season’s opening weekend, run in some unseasonably nice weather over various cobbles and bergs, and featuring an inordinately large number of mechanical problems. [right-click for iTunes-compatible download] Contains a photo from Jeff Jones’ Cyclingnews days, and footage from Sporza.be. Be sure to…
QuickStep vs. Lotto – A Classic Rivalry
This weekend’s races at Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne mark the beginning of the classics season in professional cycling. It also marks the renewal of the sport’s best rivalry, between QuickStep and Omega Pharma-Lotto. But what’s that? You’d like to know some of the backstory behind this grudge match? Well, have I got a chart for…
Contador's Opening Salvo
Today, Alberto Contador broke away to win the mountainous third stage of what is turning into a particularly miserable Volta ao Algarve. In 2004, Armstrong issued a similarly strong statement in the Algarve TT. When asked about it in an interview with The Times of London, Armstrong said: I was thinking what would I do…
Drama in the Desert with Boasson-Hagen's Bladder
Whew! A day of rich drama and intrigue such as seldom graces the cycling world in February—and remarkably, most of it is due to racing. It all started at the Tour of Oman, which was introduced to the peloton’s pre-season swing through the Persian Gulf presumably to counterbalance the relentless flatness of last week’s Tour…