The Swiss surely are making a name for themselves in the Worlds, especially these days with Spartacus taking his fourth TT title. Of course we’re all waiting for the marquee event of the men’s road race but I’m sure Switzerland is proud to house the TT gold medal as well. The small, beautiful, and neutral…
Author: Marko
Marko lives and rides in the upper midwest of the States, Minnesota specifically.
"Cycling territory" and "the midwest" don't usually end up in the same sentence unless the conversation turns to the roots of LeMond, Hampsten, Heiden and Ochowitz.
While the pavé and bergs of Flanders are his preferred places to ride, you can usually find him harvesting gravel along forest and farm roads. He owes a lot to Cycling and his greatest contribution to cycling may forever be coining the term Rainbow Turd.
I’ve got some really cool students. Every year I instruct a course in winter camping, whereby a group of students and I go out into the BWCA wilderness for a few days. Last year’s trip was particularly interesting. It was fairly cold by Minnesota standards with temps dipping into the -30F range at night and…
Yesterday, Cyclops posted a link to a story about the abandonment from the Vuelta and subsequent retirement from cycling of Jose-Luis Arrieta. Nice work Cyclops. This man deserves a special mention. He’s pictured on the far right above and just a glance at his kit indicates the length of this man’s years as pro. Unless…
The Velominati would not exist if it weren’t for The Rules. Of the current 79 Rules, only two, Rule #34 and Rule #69 stipulate anything about shoes. Perhaps that is all that is needed. However, I do have a set of personal Rules that I’ve been living by and developing for nearly ten years now….
When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the huge stimulus package, into law I figured he was probably doing his job and putting some peeps to work. Merckx knows this country needed some help and I voted for the guy so I thought ‘what could possibly go wrong?’ That was until…
It's been called the most beautiful highway in the world. That, as with most things, can be left to debate. What's not debatable, however, is that the Beartooth Highway, which runs from Red Lodge Montana to Cooke City Montana via Wyoming, is a great place to ride a bike. I had the opportunity to ride…
The Velominatus’ domain is the road. The road is where we practice and hone our craft, work through the agony, and search for the ecstacy of riding. Paved trails are the domain of the family, casual rider, greenway commuter, and rollerblader. The only trails I’ve ever really ridden were those linking my old neighborhood to…
With the Spring Classics now turning to debates over motorized doping and the hardman’s GT over, perhaps it’s time to start turning our gaze toward the Tour de France. Sure, there’s some sure-to-be good racing between now and then, but who cares? The TdF is next up on the VSP and we here at Velominati…
Winning salutes are brought up from time to time here on Velominati. Of all the images and memories we have of cycling’s greatest athletes, many are of champions crossing over the finishing line in their winning pose. A rider’s salute as he or she crosses the finishing line first is not of insignificance. This is how…
If you've been paying close attention to my posts on other Keeper articles lately perhaps you've noticed my stable has been in a state of flux. It all started when Frank texted me a pic of a pair of used demo 404's at his LBS for sale. Well no, that's not true. It really started 10…
Few images inspire the Keepers more than those of hardmen grinding away large chainrings on roads of antiquity built as cattle paths in northern Europe. Throw in some grey skies, hordes of beer soaked Belgians lining the way, windmills in the background, and of course, Flandrian Mud, and the first word that comes to mind…