We are not hard. We may espouse the values of the mythical hardman, but we are merely pretenders to the throne of the Kings of V. While it is ok to talk about hardness, suffering and toil on the bike, when it really comes down to it we are mere mortals who would rather be…
The Archives
Our Antipodean readers may want to skip this article and come back to it in June as the Austral winter begins. Anybody reading in the northeastern states may want to get down to their closest bike or ski shop stat. But regardless of where you are on the globe, if you ride in, let’s say,…
Passo San Boldo lies in the northern reaches of the Italian Alps, and was a walking path until World War I, when the Austrians realized that traffic accidents were a less conscience-laden approach to controlling population growth than chucking mortars across a border at people who drink different alcohol than they do. Access to the steep,…
From everyone here at Velominati, we wish you a very Happy Holidays, and temporarily suspend Rule 11 for December 24 and 25. Cheers, and thanks for being part of our little community. Merckxy Christmas to all, and to all a good ride.
Simplicity. There is little in this world that I find more exciting than a complicated problem solved by a simple, elegant solution. Focusing on simplicity is particularly useful when weighing intricate competing facts because it allows you to say, “None of those complicated factors are likely to work out in my favor, so I'll ignore them and…
It's been an interesting week in the Velominati Archives of Awesomeness, after a freak discovery of boxes containing “photographs”. After conducting some research, we've come to understand that “photographs” are like pictures, except they are stored neither on the Geekbox nor on the Interwebs, but instead reside on a special kind of shiny paper that…
Training Properly clearly isn’t everyone’s bag, baby. Heart rate, power, cadence; it’s all bollocks if you are being told to hold back, or are put into a place where you don’t want/aren’t supposed to be. If it hurts, and you’re flying, it’s working. If it hurts, and you’re crawling, it’s not working. No amount of…
olympics
Defining MomentsAlexi Grewal’s version of his win in the ’84 LA Summer Olympics
Is it the shades? The W.C. Jersey? The Z kit? The d.t. shifters? Talk amongst yourselves. I just had to get a pic up that’s worthy of this site. Thank me now.
Let me open this by stating that I firmly believe that Animals should be treated with dignity and respect, and should be given the right to live a wholesome and fulfilling life. Chickens should be allowed to preen and pluck proudly; cows the right to socialize as amicably as cows can, and pigs should be allowed to…
Cyclists can be a twitchy lot. Able to both endure and dish out pain for weeks on end in a grand tour takes considerable fortitude, or what we call The V. The cyclist must know their body and measure out its effort carefully. The pros we look to as the Giants of the Road, the…
Jarvis has been with us for most of the last year, and throughout has dropped hints about a back injury that not only kept him off his bike, but laying flat on his back in the floor. On the anniversary of the accident that caused the injury and as we start to look towards and…
Looking Pro is a delicate art rife with paradox and enigma. Aesthetics in a sport as difficult as cycling is itself a contradiction; surely anything wrought with such suffering should be driven by function and function alone. Yet cyclists are both some of the hardest people in sport and the most vain. For a cyclist…
Today is a pretty important day in the Netherlands (and Belgium). It’s the day we pull rank on those who only celebrate Christmas. While the rest of the world awaits December 25th for Santa to deliver a new bike, for the Dutch December 5th is the eve of Sinterklaas, or “Loot Day”, as I like…
I can’t decide if Tony Rominger was an Evanescent Rider or not. After all, his wins range from 1988 all the way to 1996, which technically means the word “evanescent” doesn’t seem to fit. That said, after a successful streak in the Vuelta, he suddenly discovered a “cure” for his allergies which previously kept him…
The mind’s influence over the athlete is considerable; particularly in a sport as difficult as cycling. A strong mind can push its body well past its limitations and into the realm of the supernatural; forcing the legs to continue giving more despite each of the million muscle fibers screaming in unified agony. You could say the…
We’ve been busy little bees over here at Velominati. While you may not have been seeing much “evidence” of actual “activity” on our end, we’ve been hard at work adding a few new features that the community has been asking for: The Works and The Bikes. The Works is a place where we’ll be organizing…
It is dark now when I rise. It is dark when I return home from the office. Leaves crunch under the soles of my shoes as I walk in the city. The rides that once occupied a devoted period of each day have now become stolen indulgences of either serendipity or careful planning. The rain…
If ever there was a photo that illustrated why anyone would be given the monicker, “The Canibal”, this is it. I devoted a full seventeen seconds to ‘finding out the history’ of this picture, and came up empty. G’Phant sent this my way with a short but clear note, “This photo looks like it was taken…
commuting
GeneralIt’s snowing today in Seattle, which a full 78% of the population is not able to deal with, even though it happens every year. I rode in, as always (I commute, therefore I am) and on my way I passed a fellow cyclist in sandals and wool socks. At least they were spd sandals. Merckx…