Saturday, 30 July 2011

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.

Friday, 29 July 2011

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!

Thursday, 28 July 2011

la caravane du tour de france en tiltshift


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.

Monday, 25 July 2011

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
1Reading SpinnersUphillSpin7178
2Nobeef VegemixNeximus6745
3Square wheelsKarl Bird5856
4velorunnerJason B5789
5Murphy-LottoJoshua Murphy5769
6Velo AngelsUrbanHunter15374
7SpecialK`s fruits & nutsSpecialK5288
8Team RobsterChris Dobbs4833
9Team Bike TanJared Honn4790
10Ghost RidersPhantom4752
11PLENTYOJeremy Boucher4682
12Benito`s Bambinosben everitt4551
13The Boo`s BoysBetty B4436
14ALTRTTom4282
15Avonlea-Treasure RTDavid Curtis-Whitfield4272
16le futur dopeurLuke T4157
17ROLIVELOroland3948
18Radioactive ChamoisSam Graves3831
19Philip ShrimptonPhilip Shrimpton3366
20Mountain LionsBilly Whizz2899
21Pavé/Backseat DSWhit Yost2857

Friday, 22 July 2011

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.

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

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
TeamDirecteurScore
1Reading SpinnersUphillSpin5065
2Square wheelsKarl Bird4205
3Nobeef VegemixNeximus4124
4Murphy-LottoJoshua Murphy4103
5Team RobsterChris Dobbs3652
6Team Bike TanJared Honn3462
7Velo AngelsUrbanHunter13217
8velorunnerJason B3195
9SpecialK`s fruits & nutsSpecialK3138
10Avonlea-Treasure RTDavid Curtis-Whitfield3137
11le futur dopeurLuke T2875
12ALTRTTom2596
13PLENTYOJeremy Boucher2551
14Benito`s Bambinosben everitt2530
15Ghost RidersPhantom2508
16The Boo`s BoysBetty B2488
17Philip ShrimptonPhilip Shrimpton2221
18ROLIVELOroland2100
19Radioactive ChamoisSam Graves2091
20Mountain LionsBilly Whizz1968
21Pavé/Backseat DSWhit Yost1669

Saturday, 16 July 2011

life cycle

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

Thursday, 14 July 2011

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.

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

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.

Monday, 11 July 2011

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
TeamDirecteurScore
1Reading SpinnersUphillSpin3182
2Square wheelsKarl Bird2975
3Murphy-LottoJoshua Murphy2455
4SpecialK`s fruits & nutsSpecialK2193
5Team RobsterChris Dobbs2085
6Team Bike TanJared Honn1992
7Velo AngelsUrbanHunter11938
8Avonlea-Treasure RTDavid Curtis-Whitfield1911
9le futur dopeurLuke T1743
10velorunnerJason B1559
11Benito`s Bambinosben everitt1355
12The Boo`s BoysBetty B1330
13ALTRTTom1309
14PLENTYOJeremy Boucher1247
15Mountain LionsBilly Whizz1229
16Philip ShrimptonPhilip Shrimpton1189
17Ghost RidersPhantom1168
18ROLIVELOroland1063
19Radioactive ChamoisSam Graves1056
20Pavé/Backseat DSWhit Yost910