Merckxy Christmas

Merckxy Christmas and a Coppi New Year

To each and every one of you in our community, we’d like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your continued support and involvement in our community.

Velominati is a project born of passion more than planning, and the fact that we’ve managed to gain your support means the world to us; over the years I’ve come to consider many of you friends, despite never (or rarely) having met any of you in person. Our Cogals are a testament to how our community straddles the physical and virtual worlds and it continues to amaze me; when I founded Velominati in 2009 and Bretto jumped on board soon after, I never imagined where this would go. Thanks to each of you for the gift you give us Keepers by being part of the community and letting your voice be heard (even when that voice is telling us we’re a bunch of idiots – you’re not wrong.)

In the spirit of the community, we are also excited to hint at a major refresh of the site to be launched later this week. Our site’s design, done by KRX-10 in 2009, has aged better than most, but design and technology has evolved considerably and it’s time for an update. The first step is a ground-up rebuild of the site with some exciting new features including basic social networking features including friending and following fellow community members, as well as the ability to privately message each other. We feel this will greatly enhance the sense of community. Consider that our Christmas gift to you for 2015, but more features will follow throughout 2015, so buckle your seatbelts!

Thanks go to each and every one of you for your contribution and loyalty; we wish you a Merckxy Christmas, one and all!

Yours for ever in Cycling,

– Frank, Brett, Gianni, Marko, and Jim

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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View Comments

ChrisO says:

Dec 27 2014 at 6:15 am

Testing out the new format...

So my Christmas swag was a nice Rapha Belgian winter hat, a merino base layer and a t-shirt.

Slightly worried that my wife bought everything in Large or XL. I had to say Thanks Very Much but can we change them for a smaller size please (apart from the hat).
ChrisO says:

Dec 27 2014 at 6:18 am

OK... so how does the Friends and Follow work? What's the difference?
Nate says:

Dec 27 2014 at 7:30 am

Merckxy Christmas to you lot!

My kiddies got new bikes and we are going to ride them today.

Eff yeah Velominati 2.0!
Chris says:

Dec 27 2014 at 8:54 am

@frank one immediate though ton the new format: I'm not sure that I like is that the Recent Posts and Articles pane doesn't show what article people have commented on.

Otherthan, that are we now the facebook of cycling?
frank says:

Dec 27 2014 at 3:19 pm

@ChrisO

OK... so how does the Friends and Follow work? What's the difference?

Friending lets you private message each other; following will just let you see people's activity in your activity feed -

More updates coming; pushing out the code with such a massive release really fucked things up and I was up until about 3am just even getting the basic bits and pieces working - I'll put up a full explanation (hopefully) tomorrow if I (incha merckx) get it all working.

@Chris

The article link somehow has gone missing. It is intended to be there and will come back eventually.
Kevin says:

Dec 27 2014 at 4:45 pm

So far so good on 2.0. I like it!
PeakInTwoYears says:

Dec 27 2014 at 7:34 pm

@frank

@ChrisO

OK... so how does the Friends and Follow work? What's the difference?

Friending lets you private message each other; following will just let you see people's activity in your activity feed - More updates coming; pushing out the code with such a massive release really fucked things up and I was up until about 3am just even getting the basic bits and pieces working - I'll put up a full explanation (hopefully) tomorrow if I (incha merckx) get it all working. @Chris The article link somehow has gone missing. It is intended to be there and will come back eventually.

Your labor is deeply and sincerely appreciated! I have a question or two but will wait until things are a bit more settled.
pistard says:

Dec 27 2014 at 9:12 pm

Io Saturnalia!

Personally, I'm uncomfortable with the zuckerberging of the site. I count you ALL as friends and want to hear from the entire community without "following," "friending" or popularity contests. More V, less Z.
ChrisO says:

Dec 27 2014 at 9:57 pm

@pistard

. I count you ALL as friends and want to hear from the entire community without "following," "friending" or popularity contests.

I know what you mean but as long as it doesn't hide comments or cause a lessening of public activity then it should be OK.

A private messaging system is welcome. I'm sure we'll get used to the features.

Let's see what the full suite and then tell Frank how much he fucked up... (still no smileys though?)
pistard says:

Dec 27 2014 at 10:06 pm

@ChrisO

@pistard

. I count you ALL as friends and want to hear from the entire community without "following," "friending" or popularity contests.

I know what you mean but as long as it doesn't hide comments or cause a lessening of public activity then it should be OK. A private messaging system is welcome. I'm sure we'll get used to the features. Let's see what the full suite and then tell Frank how much he fucked up... (still no smileys though?)

Of course...change is good. But we have a history and lexicon to draw from before borrowing from existing social media. I'd rather draft (or even wheelsuck) than follow.