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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frank says:

Mar 1 2011 at 7:10 am

@Oli Brooke-White

As he autographed a Motorola jersey for me a few years back he used my back to support it saying, "Hur, hur, I'm giving it to you from behind! You Kiwis love that don't ya?" For once in my life I truly didn't know what to say...

Beautiful! He just went a few rungs up the ladder in my book.
frank says:

Mar 1 2011 at 10:09 am

@all
Oli's been holding out on us:
http://oli-roadworks.blogspot.com/2011/02/cleaning-house.html
(Scroll about halfway down to the P.Anderson stuff.

Here is the pair that Gianni sent me. I had a pair myself, but they've gone the way of the Dodo bird.
Cyclops says:

Mar 1 2011 at 10:11 am

Dan O:

@Cyclops - you are correct sir, concerning the history of Oakley - got their start as grip company for motocross, then exploded with the BMX scene. Interview with Mike Bell and the history of Oakley here: http://www.oakley.com/sports/bmx/posts/2709
I rode with Oakley Eyeshades for awhile. Still have 'em sitting in the garage somewhere.

The roots go deep. Cyclops (#607) bringing it home for the '96 Idaho State Championships title.
Marko says:

Mar 1 2011 at 10:21 am

@Cyclops
Dude, WHAT THE FUCK is up with the dude's face on the left? It looks like he should be riding a Derney, not racing BMX. That is a weird picture.
Pedale.Forchetta says:

Mar 1 2011 at 10:26 am

@Marko
Ahahah...
Buck Rogers says:

Mar 1 2011 at 10:32 am

@roche kelly
Damn man, that is indeed an impressive post. Seems like you've found the right place here!
mcsqueak says:

Mar 1 2011 at 10:42 am

Ron:
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?)

There was a guy that showed up at a group ride this past summer with open-toe sandals, flat pedals, and a pannier rack and bag. He also wondered when we were stopping for a lunch break (without irony). He made it through the 73 km ride, but we never saw him again.
Cyclops says:

Mar 1 2011 at 11:09 am

@Marko

Funny story about that guy. He's from Boise on the west side of the state and I'm from Idaho Falls on the east side. He got his three 1st place scores on the west side and I got mine on the east side so we were both bringing perfect scores into the State Championship. The thing is that I heard all year that he was talking shit about me and how he was gonna kill me in the SC. I didn't lose a moto and kicked his ass all weekend an won the SC "while picking my nose." About 5 seconds after that photo was taking he tried to come up under me and pimp me in the first turn but crashed instead. I got it on video and he stands up and picks his bike up over his head and slams it to the ground. I liked it a lot.

Of course, when I went to Nationals I got my ass handed to me and never made it out of the motos so there you go.
roche kelly says:

Mar 1 2011 at 12:41 pm

@frank
Thanks for the welcome Frank, Buck Rogers & Ron. I have been dipping in to velominati for a while now after following a link to Rule#5 from another site. Love the rules & especially #5! When I had to decide if I went out in the rain to ride last Sunday I decided to follow the rule!
Regarding Mavic SSC Frank, totally with you on the chainset for that gruppo, I still have the chainset on an old steel bike with the Mavic SSC sealed cartridge Bottom Bracket. The bottom bracket was bought back in the late eighties and is still smooth & working without ever being serviced. This bike was originally set up with a Mavic drive train, Simplex gear levers. Sadly from another era now, but the quality of those components still shines through & they could really take a hammering when needed. Especially when belted by a Mr Sean Kelly over cobbles in the rain heading to Roubaix.
il ciclista medio says:

Mar 1 2011 at 2:20 pm

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.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!

My mistake and I blame Google images as they had his name listed below.(that's my story and I'm sticking to it!).
Brilliant post BTW. I had recently read the same story re: Phil A. and Shimano, which was a two part series on the man and his legacy to the sport, in "Ride" magazine.
With your apparent wealth of knowledge, feel free to correct errors on my behalf.
Irashaimase