A lovely few hours in the sun watching bikes and scantily clad women - only beer would have made things better

531, probably a good thing some of the guys didn't have tri-bars considering how much they wobbled using a normal set-up And there were a few disc wheels that were only adding extra weight, since they don't really make a huge difference until you are at a decent speed.....O'Neill was stomping though!

Fellas,
Just thought you might be interested to see how I spent my day. *WARNING* Actual bike content to follow

(531, are you sure that was me? I'm positive there's no hills in Australia )

Lovely welds. Yours?

Guys, my mate got bashed on Satdyarvo. Driving home from Sailing, in his street with the boat on the back and four punks forced him to stop by standing on the road, got his door open then bashed and cut him (broken nose, black eye and four stitches) for his wallet which they didn't get. Apparently they went on a rampage resulting another guy being admitted with a broken arm and a girl with 'serious injuries'.

Motto; If you happen to come across guys on the road who look dodgey, LOCK YOUR DOORS!

Naw, I'm not the welder, I'm the owner of the company, which means I get to hand sand titanium frames for 4 hours and then put the decals on.

Ahhhh....the glamour.

Sorry to hear about your mate, that's really crappy.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=180565&page=3

Fellas, any opinions on our esteemed colleague Walter Godefroot?

Tuesdy night crit... got 2nd. The sprint speeds are coming up though 50km/h two weeks ago 52.6km/h tonight

all I know is that he knows a lot more about that kinda stuff than I do.

He does seem to have some knowledge and "very" strong opinions which he dislikes others questioning. I think I actually have the footage of the now much discussed 2004 "incident" somewhere in the video cabinet but can't really be arzed finding it since I don't have the racing knowledge to add anything intelligent to the discussion. Sorry Thunder
Where's some input from ed073?

Put the pedal to the metal!

Got another lesson last nite. Looked like an easier field with the potential for a possible win. Pace early was generally slowish but a dad, who has the potential to win, and had his son and daughter racing decided to try a break with another rider at the beginning of the bell lap. I took the bait and chased down the break and both son and daughter and everyone else, sat on me while I towed them all in, stuffing myself half a lap from home.
Lesson 2,000,001; don't chase down breaks on the bell lap. You'd think a bloke as old as I am would be awake to that old scam. Not bloody me. I think I need a minder.

Added my 2c, need to support the god of race update posts

Wilchemy seems to have him nailed, but he seems to be an ok guy though. He's even stumbled in the aussie thread and posted once or twice!

IMO you blokes are over-analysing sprints and reading far to much into the split second decisions those riders make during a sprint. There are people on this forum who decide what a riders WHOLE PERSONALITY IS LIKE based on what a particular rider does in making those split second decisions, or based on stupid comments they make 60 seconds after they jump off the bike all full of adreneline and aggro.

Fact is good sprinters get to be good because they are desperate and hungry and even 'nice guys' like Zabel have DSQ's to their names because they like to win.

I've posted some of the pics I took at the Mens TT over in the Comm Games thread in RR forum if anyone is interested.

Was it a good day out? On TV there looked to be plenty of people out and about, particularly for a weekday.

Yep, very enjoyable. I only saw the mens race as I only took a few hours off work and rode down to take advantage of the weather. Some GREAT scenery amongst the spectators!
Huge contrast between the real contenders and the other 'participant' nations. Good to see thm out there havng a crack, but I'm guessing there wasn't too many Pro-Tour talent scouts in the crowd.

But did you follow it up with a stop at Krispy Kreme? Only in America can you find a drive-thru donut shop open on Sunday...

Did you see the 'Girls of Krispy Kreme' mock calendar that was going around? That was funny.

*eats on sale cinnamon doughnut from Safeway*

+1

yesterday was the best day of the week so far weather-wise. Was warm enough to wear shorts Got out to see a bit of the Men's TT before flying home. Best night was at the track, Keiren and Points race Golds !!!

Classic, agreed. If you read what all of what I wrote, I was saying sprinting is inherently dangerous, and the best sprinters don't think about the holes and line available to them, even if they are crossing wheels with someone behind. Since when did a sprinter look behind before they jumped for a hole. You look or think and it is almost race over.

I never judged personalities ofcourse, but one can judge weaknesses re Cooke and Mcewen's ability to keep it upright and get through small holes. That maybe why they get themselves into trouble also. You need to judge the individual sprints on their mertis and there were three good examples, Davis, Mcewen, and Boonen. Two dq's and one not even referred to race jury. Davis and Boonen should have been dq'ed, Mcewen I don't think so after seeing the footage.

Just like Mcewn should not have been dq'ed for the headbutt on O'Grady when he was trying to get freckle's arm of his handlebars. That should have been let go. I think O'Grady instigated it with his line and was strongarming Mcewen. But it looked bad visually and going over to the few hundred million viewers provided motive for a dq. Just like Breschel going off in an ambulance. The race jury is partial to influence and expediency, and so the decision is not a simple one, other factors besides the sprint are weighed into the decision.

Mcewen gets a hard rap. So does Cooke. Walter Godefroot thought it was Cooke's fault he went down last year after Bettini rode him into the barrier. I don't claim pure objectivity, but my analysis is fundamentally better than his

I think that is a furphy on nice guys like Ete (Zabel) and, wait for it... the Gentleman sprinter "Petacchi"

See Zabel's last tour win in 2002 and immediately after the sprint he shoved a tv cameraman quite aggressively. Albeit one can understand sprinters needing space and nbeing caught up in the moment. Compare that to Dennis Rodman the NBA player who was fined and suspended for kicking out at a Tv camerman, or MCewe who was lambasted by the media for telling of a youngster who grabbed a bidon out of his tt bike bidon bracket which broke the carbon fibre bracket.

My point is, some people get a bad rap for things and others slide scot free. Mcewen also gave the bidon away to another youth who was in the area. No one mentioned that.

PEtacchi punched Issaac Galvez Lopez in one stage in the Giro in 2003, well before a sprint. This gets Belli dq'ed for the race for punching a Simoni tifosi, and also Casagrande for punching a Spanish Colombian mountain rate for stealing a mtn prime or hindering his climb. They get dq'ed, Petacchi escaped, *I don't even think he was fined, he may have been though.

Ask, Matthias Kesler what he thinks of Ete Zable. Zabel was not the popular figure inside T-Mob outside Rolf Aldag, infact there was little or no respect there. He would never work for others, this is different to his situation now. So, they are the ones who would know better, but Zable has an aromour that smells like roses, whereas Mcewen is like the regional sewerage treatment facility.

So climbo, should kersten have been relegated in the kieren final? Did kelly hurl his bike onto the infield in disgust afterwards. Was there and collar-grabbing or finger pointing?

Finally a truly useful invention

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06...isplay_device/

[edit]OK so it was 5 years ago, but sometimes really useful ideas just don't take off like they should

Dont forget the drive thru KK at Penrith

Sydney is always clambering to be first to suck US corporate co--