A lot has been made lately of the fact that riders today are lacking a little bit of the V. It’s not so much a criticism of how they conduct themselves during a race (although that has also been called into question lately), but in their general demeanor towards their life as a cyclist.
It doesn’t surprise me much; historically, riders chose a life on the bike as an escape from their other occupational choice which typically involved hard manual labor in a dark pit or on a cold field whereas today’s riders generally come from more privileged backgrounds and find their way into this world from a life of relative luxury.
A life of hardship went beyond their working-class roots, it applied to their life on the bike as well. They scaled the same passes we do today, except they did it over dirt roads aboard heavy, flexy bikes with relaxed geometries, wearing what amounted to little more than leather loafers. Hardness wasn’t something to aspire to; it was simply the way it was.
This is one of my favorite photos of a cyclist, and the bicycle is nowhere to be seen. From the look on his face, Coppi just ate himself a Schlecklette and, based on the gesture he’s making, is preparing to drop trou and shit ‘im right back out.
To put Cipollini’s sentiments above into Coppi’s words:
Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.
To todays generation of riders, I offer this advice: take no prisoners, fucktards.
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I'm loving "Schlecking". Sod using to say you dropped your chain, much better to use it to describe a lame-ass wanker.
The number of times that Schlecklette has now said he put in "x" accelerations (where "x" is quite a high number) but to no avail. I'm starting to think that he's confusing accelerating with pedalling.
@frank
maybe they were cooked, but they couldn't be that bad if they weren't dropped by Phil. the big insult: they DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING TRY.
That's the third time it's happened, that I can remember off the top of my head in three seasons: LBL '11; Alp d'Huez '10; Galibier '09
No idea what's going to happen in the Tour this year, on paper very few can challenge Schlecklette in the mountains, but put a tactical decision in their way and they may well "schleck" again.
You can tell a Hard Man from the pieces of schlecktasta in his stool.
@frank
Schlecks were cooked -- that's my take.
I think "Schlecking" is better used in reference to crashes resulting from a complete lack of descending skills. "Schleckanical" for chain drops. Or should it be "SRAMcanical," to also encompass the unfortunate event in 2009 when Spartacus blew up his chain on the Koppenberg?
@SupermanSam
thank you.
@all
i don't have any pretext for sharing this video, 'Servizio Corse Strade Bianche', other than i thought it was great and worth sharing.
Have any of you watched the Cipollini bike video? What's the consensus on shirtless riding?
Great discussion on this topic.
Firstly, I love the photo up top. Vintage photos are great. My old man was a professional photographer and owned a photo lab for almost 30 years, so I've got a soft spot for sweet old photos.
Secondly, regarding the whole Gilbert/Schleck thing: I'm relatively new to bicycle racing, so I'm still learning a lot each time I watch a race and when I read a lot of the comments on this site.
Can someone give a little explanation about what may be going on "behind the scenes", and what might motivate a racer to "just hang on to 2nd place", rather than try a hard attack and risk falling further back?
Are riders "punished" in some way for getting 34th instead of 2nd? Do they get paid less? Does the directeur sportif chew them a new one? I don't understand the motivation to not fall back in position if there is no consequences other than pride.
@eightzero
"That climb was so hard I had to shake some Schleck from my bibs."
That DadIsTheOriginalHipser site is fucking genius. I love it.
@Marko, I made one up for your wee lass, fastforward 15years:
This is your dad. He was into Tele skiing way before you read that joke about randonne being "French for 'can't tele.'" He could laugh at Euros riding mono skis and wearing fartbags while trolling for rocks with one knee and bouncing your mother on the other.
@mcsqueak
Re what might motivate a rider to take second rather than 34th, I highly recommend Joe Parkin's A Dog in a Hat. But I doubt that is what was going on last Sunday.
Re "punishment," I think the UCI gives riders points for places down to 20th, though I could be wrong. Higher place=more points. These can influence a rider's ability to find another contract for next year. Points for minor placings are probably more important to lesser names than the Schlecks. But it can incentivize minor placings, over, say, spilling out your guts for your leader as a domestique. One would hope a professional DS would know the difference, but a sponsor might be more influenced by an "objective metric" like UCI points.
@frank
You said:
'the Schlecks were completely cooked'
And that's for me all the story.