Archive | May, 2008

Give Tinkoff Some Credit


Oh the drama! Brutt plays possum, Millar breaks his chain, Brutt attacks the break with a K to go. You gotta love the underdog team, and I do. We saw Tinkoff last year the Tour de Georgia, where they did quite well by winning a stage and making its presence felt (despite Tyler’s non-contributions). You also have to like any team that rides Colnalgos and has Dimitri Konishev on staff.

Then you’ve got Oleg Tinkoff, the credit card king of Russia. He’s the real Michael Ball.

(Millar and his (chainless) bike after he does the over-the-barrier toss. Notice the bent in left lever)

Millar does the bike toss. Didn’t he do this a few years ago too? At the Tour? During a tt? So, a broken chain. As far as I can tell, there are two reasons for a broken chain: 1) Defective materials. Sideplate, pin, rollers, whatever. The chain fails. 2) Incorrect assemblage. The mechanic cuts, then reassembles the chain incorrectly, usually not pushing the pin far enough into the side plate, so when massive amounts of force are applied the pin misshapes the corresponding hole and the chain fails. It’s never happened to me, but my measly gams can’t apply massive amounts of power. *3) & 4) Long shot explanations – Sabotage! One of Millar’s former teams got to his bike prior to the stage and rigged it… or – Cross chain. Millar spent the day in the big/big or small/small. An unlikely scenario being the Pro that he is.
Anyway, bike toss!!? C’mon. Show the sled some Pee Wee love. He wouldn’t sell his bike for a million, jillion, trillion dollars.

the way, the truth, the source, the life

According to The Architect, we must go to the source to find the truth. I’m surprised you didn’t know that, other John. Here is my source. My truth. They crank it up 2 or three times a week and produce the best espresso in the ‘Natti. $9.99 per pound and the tenth one is free.

The Swiss Miss

Assos is waging war on the Two Johns. From the beginning we have preached the points of what goes over and what goes under. Assos now manufactures something that looks like it is under but is really over. I don’t know what to make of it. I thought the Swiss were supposed to be neutral. Will we see the rebirth of this?



Or, is this what we are going?

*although there is a striking resemblance this is not Slipstream’s David Millar, but he might just own one of these

 

forgive me for i have sold out


What would it take? What is your breaking point? The threshold you cross when your caffeine headache is intolerable. I was out of town for a couple of days. The FrancisFrancis X5 does not travel. She likes to stay home and hold down the counter.

So, I did the deed. I went to Starbucks for a triple spro. They wanted me to call it a Trenti Venuiti or some such nonsense. As you can see I was in disguise. No, I did not purchase a 1/2 pound of the much-touted, the other John’s favourite, Regalo roast. They sell it in small quantity trying to create some false atmosphere of “scarcity.” Like it’s crack or something. I even gave them a false name to write on my cup when interrogated by the chipper register monkey. Did I drink my espresso? Yes. Did I enjoy it and did it make my headache go away? Yes and yes. Am I a sellout…

An Odd Quality & A New Podcast

 
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This installment of the podcast is full of Tour of Georgia talk, local racing that wasn’t, Rasta chimes in, a non-plussed girlfriend, how to train when you have other things going on- including getting older and much, much more. Its a long one- you’ll need a long car ride, bike ride or lots of laundry to fold to get through it.

The search for quality can take you to strange places, like this jersey. This may be the best jersey ever- and it may be the worst jersey ever- simultaneously.

I will attempt to explain. A component of quality is authenticity, and within authenticity there is truth. This kit is so unconsciously and unapologetically ugly it has claimed its own right to use every primary color, fade them into each other in random regions of the jersey then top it off with a pac-man inspired font.

Forget Aqua & Sapone’s zebra stripes, Polti’s ‘frog in a blender’ & Rock Racing’s Oakland Raiders meet various colors of slime- this jersey is badder than them all. The authenticity and truth of this kit is that it has no air about it.

If the cyclist who responded to the master when asked why he rode by saying, “I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle’, if that cyclist were a kit, this would be it. This jersey makes no apologies for itself, it just is.

By the way- the Twojohnspodcast can again be seen on a jersey.