Categories: Racing

Grillin’ Up a T-Bone on the Fourth of July

W is for Wouter. Photo: Fotoreporter Sirotti

In the US on the Fourth of July, we drink shit beer and grill loads of meat to celebrate our declaration of Independence from England. I think that’s supposed to be ironic, us being lazy and getting fat on this day, because my understanding of the Delcaration of Independence is that it said something to the effect of, “You guys are lazy and fat and suck. And we hate tea and taxes. That’s two more reasons than we need to be rid of you.” Personally, I like both the English and tea, but nobody asked me so here we are.

I’ve never made it a secret that I’m not a fan of Vaughters’ “sit in” tactics and, by association have soured on Gramin-Cervelo in general this year. But I have to admit, I’m coming back around to the boys after their stellar efforts in the opening stages of the Tour. In contrast to their Rule #67-violating standard-operating procedure, today they wrested control of the bunch away from a dominating HTC-Highroad train, chucked a Maillot-Juane into a leadout so strong it looked more like a breakaway than a bunch sprint, and delivered T-Bone to the line first on the Fourth of July.

I haven’t done the research to back this up, partly because I’m certain someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this represents the first American Tour stage win on this particular date. To top it off, we had an emotional win dedicated to Farrar’s fallen friend, Wouter Weylandt.

America, fuck yeah.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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Dr C says:

Jul 7 2011 at 2:09 am

@Marcus

@frank @ChrisO Oh yes, and that particular cycling team called Sky is ultimately owned by the second-most famous Australian-turned-American in the world (Mel Gibson is the most famous).

@ChrisO

@Marcus
Yes and it even managed to employ some Aussies... I mean it's not like they have their own team is it ;-)

And we wonder why a Kiwi gets upset when we asked if they are an Aussie - when Aus tries to become friends with USA by inviting Oprah round for a free holiday.... that said, Nathan Outteridge is an extremely nice chap (I suspect he is a really Kiwi)

Anyway, we know you are only joshing, and the Ashes was really a gift to the English.....
Dr C says:

Jul 7 2011 at 2:12 am

bit too much of this going on yesterday - did Tomeke make the start line for today? - he looked on a fuckload of pain yesterday

is that Cav in the picture foreground?
Chris says:

Jul 7 2011 at 3:37 am

@Dr C

and the Ashes was really a gift to the English.....

a gift they keep on giving. They certainly didn't fight for it!
Dr C says:

Jul 7 2011 at 3:46 am

I dare them to take on the Irish at Cricket....
Chris says:

Jul 7 2011 at 3:55 am

Fourth of July ebay special.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-7-VAN-CINELLI-Allen-Wrench-/290583037637?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a81946c5#ht_5446wt_1270

America fuck yeah.
Msrcus says:

Jul 7 2011 at 5:46 am

@ChrisO
GreenEdge buddy - they have a CEO who is so hard he is a VEO (mike McKay). And over half the Australian population couldn't give a fuck about rugby.
ChrisO says:

Jul 7 2011 at 6:11 am

@Msrcus

Why are you now Msrcus ?

Yes I know Green Edge but at the same time a year ago Pegasus was on the way and it turned out to be as mythical as the original.

Continuing the classical theme... a little less hubris would do the Aussie image some good after that debacle :-) They should learn from Sky who came in waving their swords and found they were at a gunfight.

And to be fair, more than half the English and Scots couldn't give a fuck about rugby either, and I suspect quite a lot of Irish too. Rugby is probably comparable to football/soccer in Australia. It's League in the north and football everywhere. As in Oz, rugby is predominantly a middle class and localised sport.

The Welsh are the only ones who really care on a national scale, apart from the Kiwis.
ChrisO says:

Jul 7 2011 at 6:14 am

Ooh ooh ooh ... I've moved up a level. I was wondering how bloody long I had to serve my time on level 2.

Maybe I should be going for the intermediate sprints.
Dr C says:

Jul 7 2011 at 7:16 am

@ChrisO
Well done ChrisO - dogged persistence pays dividends - Green Jersey for you next

Au contriare on the Irish Rugby thing, it is the only thing we care about, as we are shit all use at anything else internationally (apart from fishing and rolling stones down country lanes in Cork)
ChrisO says:

Jul 7 2011 at 8:41 am

@Dr C

I was less sure about the Irish. I know rugby has some massive strongholds but was wondering if a substantial part of the population, if not a majority, might care more for Gaelic football ? Particularly in some parts of the country ?

Pretty much everywhere rugby union is played it seems to compete as the second or a localised/stratified game rather than the main national sport. Apart from Wales and Kiwiland.

Doctoral thesis in there somewhere.