The Thread about Nothing....

matagi said:

So, Classo, what's your opinion on Zakarin's descending ability?

It’s not very good. I may have stated this. Instead of using [censored] analogies I’ll put some context around it.

Loving commentators on twitter saying he is so much better than an average cyclist at descending and they shouldn’t criticise. I call [censored]. I’ve been down the skatepark and can recognise there are 11 year olds that can handle a bike better than me and better than some pros.

I’ve raced against pros and not all of them can mix it when it’s argy bargy. He’s that bad I reckon most blokes riding at B grade at a state level would descend better because they can look up the road to anticipate, hit an apex, descend in the drops and follow a wheel. Zakarins skill level is so poor he can’t even follow the line of component descenders. He lost over 1 min to Peters in 10km of descending. Well over 6 seconds per km. That is woeful.

Geez, it was about 70k before anyone slipped off the front. That's one sticky peloton.

Hirschi goes down hill pretty good. Even in the wet. Those white lines give me the heebie-jeebies, but they don't seem to bother him.

What. A. Cracker.

Another great stage!

In today’s edition of “stuff you didn’t know that will amaze the [censored] out of you”, I learned that:

Chad Morgan is still alive
Chad Morgan is still alive and performing

He is 87.

Poor Fabio Aru. I don’t think there is anything physically wrong with him. His head fell off. Hope he can re-find his motivation and confidence. When he is on he is exciting to watch.

Saronni is being an [censored]. You’d think he’d have more sympathy. He was [censored] after 83, other than one reasonably good year in 86. He might have won a couple of Giro stages in 84 or 85, but the stages must have been downhill because he looked like the little fat kid off Hey Dad those seasons and did [censored] all else. He was invisible otherwise. Saronni raced until 90 or 91. Pretty much took five seasons of pay checks based on all his results prior to 84 and one blip in 86. So [censored] you Beppe.

"Surprising" performance?

http://www.climbing-records.com/2020/09/tadej-pogacar-crushes-peyresourde-record.html

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-de-france-power-analysis-tadej-pogacars-record-breaking-ascent-of-the-col-de-peyresourde/

classic1 said:

Poor Fabio Aru. I don’t think there is anything physically wrong with him. His head fell off. Hope he can re-find his motivation and confidence. When he is on he is exciting to watch.

Saronni is being an [censored]. You’d think he’d have more sympathy. He was [censored] after 83, other than one reasonably good year in 86. He might have won a couple of Giro stages in 84 or 85, but the stages must have been downhill because he looked like the little fat kid off Hey Dad those seasons and did [censored] all else. He was invisible otherwise. Saronni raced until 90 or 91. Pretty much took five seasons of pay checks based on all his results prior to 84 and one blip in 86. So [censored] you Beppe.

You had to feel for the guy as he was riding alongside the broom wagon, with the cameras shoved in his face.

classic1 said:

Poor Fabio Aru. I don’t think there is anything physically wrong with him. His head fell off. Hope he can re-find his motivation and confidence. When he is on he is exciting to watch.

Saronni is being an [censored]. You’d think he’d have more sympathy. He was [censored] after 83, other than one reasonably good year in 86. He might have won a couple of Giro stages in 84 or 85, but the stages must have been downhill because he looked like the little fat kid off Hey Dad those seasons and did [censored] all else. He was invisible otherwise. Saronni raced until 90 or 91. Pretty much took five seasons of pay checks based on all his results prior to 84 and one blip in 86. So [censored] you Beppe.

I have one of these forlornly hanging in my shed down in Perth...
https://cyclingtips.com/2018/04/bikes-of-the-bunch-colnago-saronni-for-leroica-and-a-dancelli-for-training/

HI TAN!

Gidday!

.

L to R: Jono. Jono's dad, Laurie. And some other extremely handsome skinny cnut.

gplama said:

HI TAN!

Hello you!

Man, he came from way way back. Stupendous win.

Dunno how he won that one, was lucky the gap opened up about 100m out but he had the speed and being in the middle of the road he was likely to find room. Ewens team mate was incredible at 1km to go. Very clever.

Some [censored] Sagan fanboys on the webs reckon Wout van Aert should have got relegated for deviating off his line. I don’t know what race they were watching, he sprinted as straight as an arrow. There wasn’t a gap there, so Sagan made one. [censored] awesome bike handling though.

I think van Aert really appreciated Sagan's effort by the congratulatory hand signal he gave Sagan after the line. And Sagan was admirably modest with his "What? Who me?" response. Such bonhomie and delightful esprit de corp.

Best wild animal encounters peoples. I bet some of you can do better.

• Ive seen pods of Burrunan dolphins in the Gippsland Lakes a couple of times.
  
• Humpback Whales at Harvey Bay. Saw them do all their behaviours, they were singing so loud the captain of the boat turned off the hydrophone, and one whale even cracked a stiffy.
  
• Wild Cassowary in the Atherton Tableland, scared the [censored] out of me.
  
• Nearly ran over a baby wombat training one night around dusk.
  
• Two wild emus at Wilson’s Prom
  
• Sea Turtles near Green Island.
  
• Grey kangaroo chasing a swamp wallaby whike riding the mtb in the pines near Morwell. Weird.
  
• Nearly hit a wedgie eating a dead roo near mt tassie.
  
• A curious stingray coming over to say hello at Walkerville.
  
• The legendary Gippsland/Boolarra panther. It’s a really massive black feral cat. The old man knows ppl living out there who say the same thing. I reckon it was at least the size of a Staffy. Bigger I think. It jumped off the road and cleared a drain and wire fence in one go, at least a 4m leap from near standing start. I was out on the bike. I [censored] bricks for that one too.
  
• Massive koala sitting on the road near Tarwin Lower. He was so big his head came up to the drivers side window. Never seen one that big before or since.
  
• This creepy [censored] Koala that watched me packing up after fishing up Traralgon Creek. I’ve got better pics but it looks possessed in this photo
  

[ATTACH=full]4750[/ATTACH]

Here's my latest encounter. I nearly ran over this fella on the Golden Highway near the outlaw's farm. You have to be very careful when you pick them off the road... not only because of their spines, but because they're quite vulnerable. Some wildlife folk say you're not supposed to pick them up, but I think that's the lesser evil of having them flattened.

That's a pretty impressive list Classo. Can't top that. But here's a few highlights from the last couple of years.

The frog and goanna are ace. Only ever seen 1 wild goanna, a lace monitor,

Dad and I rescued an echidna once. Dad picked him up while I stopped traffic. As we rode off and dad was whinging about the [censored] on his hands I realised I had mitts on and he didn’t ahahahaha