During the Ronde von Vlaanderen, we of the 2012 Keeper’s Spring Classic Tour were right on the Oude Kwaremont climb as the women big-ringed it up the cobbles. Kristin Armstrong (US Women’s Team) was burying herself to get on Judith Arndt’s (Greenedge) wheel. It looked like the winning break was going right in front of our eyes. Seeing professional cyclists in action is always a humbling experience and seeing these women was no exception. Damn, these women looked great: fit, strong, awesome and crushing the Oude Kwaremont in the Ronde. They must have been jazzed too, anyone who gets to race these fabled climbs must get a buzz storming up, urged on by the massive throng of beer infused Belgian fans.
They will be doing it again on the Mur de Huy on Wednesday. Will they be as psyched to crush that climb? Perhaps the winner will but everyone else might find it a bit too steep the second time around. This year’s course is 123km, 13.5km longer than last year’s with two ascents of the Mur de Huy. Marianne Vos (Rabobank) was sick for the Ronde but she is the heavy favorite having won Fléche Wallonne Femmes only the last four times. Stay on her wheel until the final 30 meters and pop by for the win. How hard can that be? Bloody impossible judging from her previous record yet betting against Armstrong, Arndt or Pooley seems foolhardy.
It’s cheating to look at Cyclop’s picks. He obviously sold his soul to the devil, that might be cheating, I’m not sure. The betting office window closes early Wednesday morning so do your worst. Here is the start list.
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@Buck Rogers
I'll need to remind myself of "the romance" when birds are making nests in my wheels as I slog my ass up the local hill run tonight....I will be the guy yelling, 'Where's the romanace?!!!", as all the skinny bastards drop me.
Remember to dispute your points if you didn't get the points you expected. Click on the little arrow beside your pick and click on the word "dispute" Frank will fix it.
I think there is still something wrong with the coding: it keeps mapping Emma Johansson as JohansenCecilie
@eightzero
While I can appreciate your stance - your generalizations are pretty skewed (and in her case factually wrong) but hey, we can agree to disagree!
@Buck Rogers
Yopu seemed like as good a choice as any! Plus, with you I know I'll get a snappy, moderately entertaining reply!
@Tobin
Yeah, it seems that the "romance" escapes me most times during the moment but slips back in later that night over a nice glass of bourbon or Grand Marnier.
Kill'em on the climb later tonight!
@eightzero
I think its easy to glorify the luxury of financial stability - in a lot of ways I think its HARDER to be dedicated to the sport when money doesn't play a role (besides, I'm not sure she was the kind of high-level banker that money is no object). What reason does she have to go out in the pouring rain to train and to do hill repeats?
If you accept the premise that she doesn't need the money, then the only thing driving her is her passion for the sport. I think that's cool as fuck. I like her, and I like her story.
I like that she got into the sport late and found a calling - and committed to it full stop. It gives me hope that we still have a chance to get good some day.
@Mikel Pearce
Ha! Maybe if I have "had a few" then at least I will think that they are snappy or entertaining! Although "entertaining" is a greta adjective b/c even watching someone fail miserably can be really entertaining (the "Go Joey CX crash video" comes to mind!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGAIYKTZ9w
@Netraam
Thanks for the constructive tip! There's nothing wrong with the logic, but some bad historical data from last year's Worlds that upset the way the picks get automatically mapped. I went through and updated the database to get that bad stuff out of there, and we now have a dramatic shift in the VSP for the women's event. Thanks! +1 badge goes to you for (a) being specific enough that we can debug it and (b) not just asking questions about points in-line instead of using the dispute system. Thanks.
Bah. Didn't notice my iPhone had autocorrected Vos to Via. Had her down for the win though, so it only cost me a point.