pillars of french cycling - chapters I & II

following on from the very excellent pillars of italian cycling peloton magazine produce another two fine documentaries this time focusing on four of frances most iconic cycling brands time, hutchinson, look and mavic. seeing the carbon composite being woven in time's factory is a treat and shows the value the company place on keeping everything in-house and produced and hand finished in france rather than being fabricated in the far east like many of their competitors have done in a bid to cut costs.  if money were no object i would have a tough job deciding between a time and a look frame set.

Pillars of French Cycling: Chapter 1 from MovePress, LLC on Vimeo.


The Pillars of French Cycling: Chapter II from MovePress, LLC on Vimeo.

tour de france

via: keiren berlin

keeping with the subject of tilt-shift photography i found this image earlier.  it is easily my favourite example to date!

la caravane du tour de france en tiltshift

via: velogogo

as readers of this blog will have seen before i am a big fan of tilt-shift photography.  this image of a publicity caravan at this years tour de france is a great example, it looks so unreal.

velogames fantasy tour de france update

So another edition of the tour de france is over and what a fantastic race is was, some say the best in years. congratulations, of course, go to cadel evans who becomes the first ever australian to take overall victory and the yellow jersey into paris. australians will be especially pleased since it has been announced they will receive an extra national holiday to celebrate the victory. this will surely make evans australia's most famous and popular sportsman and will no doubt lead to a plethora of talented youngsters taking up the sport of cycling in their country.

i can also annouce the reading spinners won the velorunner fantasy tour de france mini league and in doing so win a £50 voucher courtesy of urban hunter.  in order to claim the voucher the reading spinners will need to email me at velorunner@gmail.com.

personally i am very pleased with my performance.  after a slow start i managed to claw my way up to finish in a tommy voeckleresque fourth position.  below are the final standings.  i agree with chris boardman when he said yesterday there should be a podium spot for fourth.

velorunner mini league

Rank		Team	Directeur	Score
1		Reading Spinners	UphillSpin	7178
2		Nobeef Vegemix	Neximus	6745
3		Square wheels	Karl Bird	5856
4		velorunner	Jason B	5789
5		Murphy-Lotto	Joshua Murphy	5769
6		Velo Angels	UrbanHunter1	5374
7		SpecialK`s fruits & nuts	SpecialK	5288
8		Team Robster	Chris Dobbs	4833
9		Team Bike Tan	Jared Honn	4790
10		Ghost Riders	Phantom	4752
11		PLENTYO	Jeremy Boucher	4682
12		Benito`s Bambinos	ben everitt	4551
13		The Boo`s Boys	Betty B	4436
14		ALTRT	Tom	4282
15		Avonlea-Treasure RT	David Curtis-Whitfield	4272
16		le futur dopeur	Luke T	4157
17		ROLIVELO	roland	3948
18		Radioactive Chamois	Sam Graves	3831
19		Philip Shrimpton	Philip Shrimpton	3366
20		Mountain Lions	Billy Whizz	2899
21		Pavé/Backseat DS	Whit Yost	2857

beyond the peloton: four - tour of california 2 & 3

mask the pain

via: steephill.tv

seperated at birth? not quite but i think the mask and andy schleck do look a little bit similar in this moment during yesterday's action packed tour de france stage which finished on top of the col du galibier.

velogames fantasy tour de france update

here is what the velorunner league looks like after sixteen stages.  I have somehow managed to climb to the heady heights of eighth, yeah i know, very average.  it will be tough for any team to catch the reading spinners though.  they look favourite to receive the £50 voucher to spend at urban hunter.

velorunner mini league

Rank		Team	Directeur	Score
1		Reading Spinners	UphillSpin	5065
2		Square wheels	Karl Bird	4205
3		Nobeef Vegemix	Neximus	4124
4		Murphy-Lotto	Joshua Murphy	4103
5		Team Robster	Chris Dobbs	3652
6		Team Bike Tan	Jared Honn	3462
7		Velo Angels	UrbanHunter1	3217
8		velorunner	Jason B	3195
9		SpecialK`s fruits & nuts	SpecialK	3138
10		Avonlea-Treasure RT	David Curtis-Whitfield	3137
11		le futur dopeur	Luke T	2875
12		ALTRT	Tom	2596
13		PLENTYO	Jeremy Boucher	2551
14		Benito`s Bambinos	ben everitt	2530
15		Ghost Riders	Phantom	2508
16		The Boo`s Boys	Betty B	2488
17		Philip Shrimpton	Philip Shrimpton	2221
18		ROLIVELO	roland	2100
19		Radioactive Chamois	Sam Graves	2091
20		Mountain Lions	Billy Whizz	1968
21		Pavé/Backseat DS	Whit Yost	1669

life cycle

introducing the new edition to my little family.  this is isabella rose age 30 minutes.  i am so proud.

the great bike race

i had a nice surprise yesterday when i arrived home from work to find an envelope waiting for me from my good friend dan. he had posted me a (very) belated birthday gift.  they say good things come to those who wait and to be honest i am happy i had to wait for this gift because inside the envelope was an original copy of geoffrey nicholson's book called the great bike race documenting the 1976 tour de france. belgian lucien van impe was the winner that year.  i think the rider on the front cover of the book is that of another dutchman hennie kuiper.  as soon as i have finished reading david millar's new book - racing through the dark: the fall and rise of david millar i shall get onto reading this one, i cannot wait.  thanks again dan.

massif

i do not usually post films by rapha here since i figure they get so much publicity elsewhere. however, i am making an exception in this case since their new short film massif (a reference to the region of france called massif central through which the tour has been racing through in the past couple of days) captures the essense of frenchness and the tour de france so beautifully.

Massif from RAPHA on Vimeo.

velogames fantasy tour de france update

here is the velorunner league placings after stage 9.  great to see tommy voeckler take yellow yesterday, especially since he is in my team!

also fingers crossed johnny hoogerland and juan antonio flecha recover well enough to be able to continue racing after todays rest day.  the race organises need to learn from yesterdays terrible events to ensure riders do not have have to fear being taken out by race vehicles in the future.

and lastly best wishes also go out to all the other riders who crashed and broke bones yesterday including alexandre vinokourov, dave zabriskie, jurgen van den broeck and anyone else i have forgotten.  get well soon guys.

velorunner mini league

Rank		Team	Directeur	Score
1		Reading Spinners	UphillSpin	3182
2		Square wheels	Karl Bird	2975
3		Murphy-Lotto	Joshua Murphy	2455
4		SpecialK`s fruits & nuts	SpecialK	2193
5		Team Robster	Chris Dobbs	2085
6		Team Bike Tan	Jared Honn	1992
7		Velo Angels	UrbanHunter1	1938
8		Avonlea-Treasure RT	David Curtis-Whitfield	1911
9		le futur dopeur	Luke T	1743
10		velorunner	Jason B	1559
11		Benito`s Bambinos	ben everitt	1355
12		The Boo`s Boys	Betty B	1330
13		ALTRT	Tom	1309
14		PLENTYO	Jeremy Boucher	1247
15		Mountain Lions	Billy Whizz	1229
16		Philip Shrimpton	Philip Shrimpton	1189
17		Ghost Riders	Phantom	1168
18		ROLIVELO	roland	1063
19		Radioactive Chamois	Sam Graves	1056
20		Pavé/Backseat DS	Whit Yost	910