Anatomy of a Photo: Phil Anderson

Phil Rockin the Eye Shades

In honor of the first Australian to win KBK it seems appropriate to give a Chapeau to our mates down under.  Congrats to perhaps the greatest up and coming cycling nation on earth and to Chris Sutton for a show of strength in what was a free-for-all to the finish in Kuurne today.

Lest our mates get too cocky though, have a look at the egregious attempt at the three-point system from the first Aussie to wear yellow in the tour.  Yes, Phil is a stud and the hair net and eye shades rule.   But in order for them to work some adjustment needed to be made.

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.

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  • Marcus:
    @G'phant
    You really do want to be Australian don't you?

    Only when thinking about cricket. Or surfing. Or tennis. Or rugby league. Or, sometimes, rugby union. Or cycling. Or weather. Or mineral wealth and balanced budgets. Otherwise, never.

  • il ciclista medio:
    @frank
    and one more thing I just noticed in the original photo - is the woman in pink making a wanking gesture? Now if so, surely it's not towards our Phil. Must be to the bloke beside her?

    They're playing scissors, paper, rock for who gets to ask Phil for an autograph. You can se the guy is going for scissors. Loser.

  • Love the shades and Panasonic jersey, but Phil does have to work on leveling that hairnet.

    @BigCog - Sadly, you are not alone in this sighting. There is a dude who shows up to our Thursday night road ride/race on a touring bike with bags sometimes still on...and with those sandals. Ugh. And maybe the most annoying part is that the guy has a custom touring bike, so ain't poor. Please, buddy, just buy some close-toed shoes. I'd even accept mtn. shoes, just not the sandals.

    (I must admit a bit of me thinks it's kind of cool how little he cares, but then again, if we just ignore The Rules, where does that leave us?)

  • Damn, the "then and now" photos from cyclingtips had me thinking that was Cipo. I think it was the hair that threw me off for a minute.

    Either way, Phil has some serious guns in the then photo, plus some sweet as hair, and some fine white-framed shades going on. That's a great photograph!

  • Awesomeness is that when the Tiger Woods-mustachioed man photo came out I rolled my eyes and moved on. Golf, fuck it.

    Yet here I am reading through every comment about the Phil Anderson photo. Without some keen eyes on others I'd never have noticed the rock, paper, scissors/wank in the background. Fine analysis!

    It's also awesome that some of you grew up with cycling posters on your wall. I've full embraced the Velominati Method at this point, but I can't imagine doing it since I was seven. That is phenomenal. Took me far too long to work through other sports on my way to cycling.

  • G'phant:

    Marcus:
    @G'phant
    You really do want to be Australian don't you?

    Only when thinking about cricket. Or surfing. Or tennis. Or rugby league. Or, sometimes, rugby union. Or cycling. Or weather. Or mineral wealth and balanced budgets. Otherwise, never.

    If ever make my feature film I am headed straight to the Land of the Long White Cloud. With Jake the Muss in a leading role of course.

  • The gruppo on the TT bike is Campag Record with Dia Compe aero levers, (not Mavic SSC) as Campag still had old style levers with cables from the top at the time. Not very aero.
    Phil & Jesper Skibby were the two riders that race tested STI before Shimano put it into production, one of the Shimano engineers travelled with them for the last months of the 1989 season and stripped the levers down & tested them after every race once the TVM mechanics had washed the bikes. I spent 30 minutes watching him at the 1989 Nissan Classic in Ireland after a stage testing the shift of the levers which looked almost handmade.
    Anderson was the V, he always turned up at the Kellogs tour in England & the Nissan in Ireland every year and won a stage & or a stage & the overall GC.
    Also the photo of the Collstrop rider posted by 'il ciclista medio' is Englishman Harry Lodge, not Phil A. The photo below it is Anderson & Sean Kelly in Liege-Bastogne-Liege 1989 in the race winning break with Pedro Delgado & Fabrice Philipot of Toshiba team. Kelly won with Phil Anderson 3rd, what a break with those two animals holding off the chase group by 5 seconds. 1989 the year of years for cycling!

  • @ roche kelly - Damn, that's a great post. Thanks for all the info, the identifications, and the background on the STI tests. All very cool.

  • @roche kelly

    The gruppo on the TT bike is Campag Record with Dia Compe aero levers, (not Mavic SSC) as Campag still had old style levers with cables from the top at the time. Not very aero.

    Absolutely spot on. I don't know how I made that mistake, but you're absolutely right. Still, though - I loved that SSC crank.

    Very cool story. It's interesting that the picture that got you going about the STI testing (Shimano Total Integration) collaboration has him riding a mixed bag of components. Shimano's effort to force all the components to be from one group seem to have been successful, since these days even brakes and their levers are paired and can't be split up. I miss the days of mixing Simplex shifters with Campy mechs and Dia-comp levers with Mavic brakes. Picking a group for their best bits was the true way of the Velominatus.

  • @il ciclista medio

    is the woman in pink making a wanking gesture? Now if so, surely it's not towards our Phil. Must be to the bloke beside her?

    Is that a woman??

    I thought it was a lad in a salmon-colored jumper. Either way, definitely making the gesture at the tool standing next to her/him. I mean, look at the guy. Obviously.

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