The Thread about Nothing....

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Ed, its probably been covered before so feel free to tell me to F off....

but when you went to Belgium, did you have a team organised to ride for or did you go over with no fixed plans to see what happens?


I lived in Holland....but MANY more riders go to Belgium, so it's easier to relate.

you don't need a team, just an international licence and somewhere to stay. Kingsnorth Wheelers are often looking for internationals and can help out with accomodation. There are 4500 races a year, so you can ride or drive to most kermises from a base like Gent, Kortrijk, St Niklaas, Geraardsbergen etc etc.

Most guys won't do more than 2, maybe 3 races a week....pay down to 25th, so they can be a good earner. An unwritten code exists between the kermis veterans....basically a noob can expect some rough treatment until they prove themselves. There was a great article on kermis racing in Cycle Sport about 12 months ago....someone might still have it at home and could scan in for ya.

Actually, Melbourne riding in winter is pretty manageable with just a bit of warm gear. Just takes us longer to get ready that you northern types coz we have to layer up.

Ed, did you see the guns on the "girl" pic I posted from cyclingnews? :eek: T'was a few pages ago of course at the pace this thread moves.


Saw her on CN.....Laura Gilder? Love the comment from the guys there. "2 x tix to the gun show."

Classic.

Speaking of predictions....what happened to Thunder? His insight into Le Tour would have been good reading.
Was doing reports for Crikey Will.

Besides the kibosh went on the thread, albeit no excuse for my no tour updates... sorry folks.

but i can't really think of anything bad to say about australians. The put farkin beetroot on a burger. :mad:

Yep, I have a bunch of thin polar fleece and polyprop beanies which help keep the wingnut ears from snapping off on cold mornings.

Yep. That's the one. One of CN's best photo captions I reckon.

edit: (in reply to ed073)

Yep, I have a bunch of thin polar fleece and polyprop beanies which help keep the wingnut ears from snapping off on cold mornings.

I have a nice polar fleece ear warmer thingy made by Mrs. Miyata610 for days when it's colder than 20c. It's great.

The put farkin beetroot on a burger. :mad:

Nah mate, it's just ordinary beetroot. :p

Nah mate, it's just ordinary beetroot. :pOk. And you can't beat a root.;)

you just gotta go early in summer before 7am. I absolutely hate the cold though. I hate riding in winter, even our poor excuse for one.

Thanks thylo for the link for the lights. It has the current issue of Australian Mountain Bike magazine's review on lights. :D Saved me $10 so I got Australian cyclist instead. Although I think my next ride (somewhere in the next 12months) is gonna be a single speeder mountain bike.

I know where you could get a Kona Unit for a good price, probably your size too, Medium I think it is.

nice to see the boys from my club mixing it up with the big boys at the Tour of Gippsland :)

Was doing reports for Crikey Will.

Besides the kibosh went on the thread, albeit no excuse for my no tour updates... sorry folks.
No worries thunder, I forgot you had the Crikey gig. Nice to see you in our new home anyway!

I know where you could get a Kona Unit for a good price, probably your size too, Medium I think it is.

do tell?

I lived in Holland....but MANY more riders go to Belgium, so it's easier to relate.

you don't need a team, just an international licence and somewhere to stay. Kingsnorth Wheelers are often looking for internationals and can help out with accomodation. There are 4500 races a year, so you can ride or drive to most kermises from a base like Gent, Kortrijk, St Niklaas, Geraardsbergen etc etc.

Most guys won't do more than 2, maybe 3 races a week....pay down to 25th, so they can be a good earner. An unwritten code exists between the kermis veterans....basically a noob can expect some rough treatment until they prove themselves. There was a great article on kermis racing in Cycle Sport about 12 months ago....someone might still have it at home and could scan in for ya.

Sounds tough! would be interested to read an article on it. Unfortunatley its a bit past my time seeing as im near 28 now but one can wish what mite have been. Would like to see the article if you get around to it?

would love to go home and break the news to Mrs HDT that i was off to europe to chase my dream :o

He's still around. We converse mainly by e-mail now.

SEN's #1 caller Friday nights....:D
I understand where they are coming from, SEN, Keenan and Wrochna, but they are a little too cheerleading, especial fabuous Phil Wrochna. They need to take a more impartial editorial take.

Phil said to Cadel he must be happy with his tour, first line he introduced/questioned him with. Bad start from Phil.

Evans would have conflicted emotions, this may have been his best chance to win a tour. He may well podium in the future, actually would be surprised if he does not podium atleast once, but dont think he will win, but this was a chance gone begging.

Pereiro should have been wiped from contention, so elevate him to 4th. Similarly Landis. Elevate him to third. A good timetrial and no flat in the final timetrial, he could have beaten Sastre or even Kloden.

So, all in all, abitrarily, 5th is not indicative and looks an under-performance.

Analytically, he took a hit in the tt with a flat, interrupted rythm, and he even said, could not get in the zone, in the hr, in rythm, just did not work in the timetrial, did not kill himself, he came away feeling comfortable versus dead which he would usally be after a tt.

He might have gone into the red too quickly on stage 16 and 17, attempting to follow wheels of Sastre and Kloden. Perhaps if he had a team he could have gone within his threshold and been quicker to the top by 30 seconds on each of those stages.

If he had a team, he definitely would not have let Landis and Pereiro back into the race.

Analytically, it could be seen in a better light.

If he gave everything he should not be too disappointed, as he is 28 and should get stronger, most of the riders ahead had 2 or 3 years on him, PEreiro the exception.

But Phil wrochna never probed the nuances of the race. Evans would not be happy, he would only be content in leaving nothing on the table, but he would certainly have felt pangs of disappointment for his arbitrary 5th, or non-arbitrary if you don't get my gist. But a win was possible in this tour, as I proved, a little better timetrialling and he would have challenged Kloden. Going into the last tt Kloden and Evans were separated by 40 seconds. There is not much difference in their timetrialling abilities, it is just Kloden had a fine timetrial on the day, and Evans had a comparitive shocker. things could have been reversed.

Phil and Matt Keenan also went too easy on Brown, and have gone to easy, or over the top on the drugs issue. I disagree with Phil, he supports Armstrong yet disagrees with the AFL's policy on recreational drugs. Where was he living in his teenage years and his twenties, a monastery? And they are from the scool of "Australian's do not dope" even thoug Davis was implicated in Operation Puerto, but then cleared, I am not sure they even said anything. at the start they were adament no Australians were involved even after Davis was named, yet they may have been justified with their stance, albeit serendipitously. Still, Saiz links and his doping of some of his team has not been probed fully, so I would not be surprised to see more named from Liberty/Astana, that have been ostensibly "cleared". Just what was Saiz doing with all those products? Obviously not a sick mother-in-law.

I do however understand their broadcast style, because no one else gives cycing any airtime, and if they took a more critical perspective they would not have the guests on the program, and they are A1 guests and A1 effort must go into their pre-production and network to get them to air. Kudos to that.

Just wish they would back off the jingoism and nationalism to a slight degree. Thats all.

do tell?

my local, Tony has a 2006 model there, been in the shop for a while. He would do a decent price on it for someone I refer to him. Not sure what's on the sticker but I can find out.

my local, Tony has a 2006 model there, been in the shop for a while. He would do a decent price on it for someone I refer to him. Not sure what's on the sticker but I can find out.

Tis tempting, one needs to run such purchases through Mrs HDT though these days....

If i could just sell that Marshall then id have no worries :)

Kotter? MTB? I'm proud to say I may have had a small hand in the creation of this monster.

If i could just sell that Marshall then id have no worries :)

isn't that to pay for the wedding flowers? Man, you are in trouble... :)

Kotter? MTB? I'm proud to say I may have had a small hand in the creation of this monster.

what can I say. That blue cannondale and that shiny XTR caught my eye