From a Belgian mate on another forum Dailypelotonforums.com

So, one of the reporters of my paper is down under to cover the TdU and get some news on the teams and riders there. He got hold of Baden Cooke, the new team leader for Unibet this season, and the interview was hilarious. I think Unibet should give the man a bonus for his masterful way of handling the press. rolleyes.gif I'll translate it here, it's really short anyway thanks to Cookie's answers. laugh.gif


Reporter: Why did you choose Unibet.com?

Cooke: Because the team has confidence in me.

R: Unibet.com isn't part of the ProTour, so it's kind of a step backwards, right?

C: (slightly irritated) That's what you say. I don't think Unibet is a small team. On the contrary, there's the ambition here to become a part of the PT. And I got in just in time to help with that.

R: But you will be dependent of wild cards in the big races.

C: With riders like these we'll get invited anywhere. I'm not completely sure about the GT's, but we should be good for the classics. Which will be my primary goal anyway. The Belgian riders at Unibet are experienced in those races, which is what I'll need as a team leader.

R: Did you have to leave FDJ.com, by the way?

C: (remains silent)

R: It's said that manager Madiot screwed you over.

C: (short) They pulled a dirty trick on me there. I was very disappointed in them.

R: Story goes that he used a contract loophole to get rid of you.

C: (starts talking to Matthew Wilson -also Unibet next season- about the choice of tires)

R: But to be fair, your results last year didn't exaclty put you in a position to make high demands.

C: (agressively) Oh, you're one of those, are ya? I almost won a stage in the Giro and I had a nasty crash just before the Tour, but you don't want to hear about that right? All those lame excuses. I'd rather keep it at this if nobody's interested in hearing my side of the story.

R: Well, see you in Belgium.

C: (sarcastic) I guess.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gold. No flies on the Cookie monster.

Find a big carpark with a slope. Use a bike with low gearing. Point up the slope. Pedal really hard and pull up on the handlebars to get the wheely started, then ease off the power when you reach your balance point otherwise you'll have to step off the bike to prevent sore arse or head. Once you've mastere wheelies going uphill, move on to the flat, and then downhill if you're after grand-wheelie-poohbah status.

Nose wheelies are excellent fun, especially on a road bike because the brakes are arranged to make it really hard to do without necking yourself. :D You need a bit of speed and plenty of brakes to get the back wheel off the ground. The trick is to ease off the brakes a little at the point of no return. If you don't you'll end up with a sore arse or head. You may even lose bark or teeth. Roll for as long as possible. Extra cred points for 5 second hang time when you finally come to a stop. Mega cred points for pulling your rear wheel thru 180deg as you nonchalently stop on the packed start line of your local crit.

Oh, I forgot to mention something in the wheely section: when you bring the nose down make sure you bars are not crossed up. If you do you will probably experience some form of "face plant". Trust me, I'm speaking from painful childhood experience here

On the subject of wheelies, and other foolishness:

http://whnz.lostillusionsxxx.com/bf2.mpg

I think those pictures illustrate the techniques to be used quite well. Thanks Expat

Wheelies are good if you coast, lean back and roll to the balance point, maybe feather your brakes. Easy on a bmx with short chainstays, hard on a road bike. My mate can hold the tops of the bars on his road bike and roll coaster wheelies for ages, clipped in & downhill. It is scary to watch.

Im with jock, nose wheelies with the back just stepping out are good. I have never ever been able to sit on the seat and pedal along doing a wheelie, only stand up and coast along?

Hmm. Did you click the link, or go to the site?

I clicked the link, but the server must be gettin hammered so I downloaded it instead. The guys at work are now having a bit of a cack. Why do you ask?

The clip is great, I'd like to see the whole video. But the host site is about other stuff...

yeah, I kinda gathered from the exes in the URL

Fark I didn't notice them. Am I about to get sacked?

pisser....


Like the day I tried to get onto essendonfc.com.au or something similar at the office and some German p0rn had piggy-backed the webname.....

That little X up in the right corner is bloody hard to hit when you've got the cursor moving at warp speed...

I can't tell you because I'm not supposed to even think of looking at material like that. Expat can't tell you because he's a Mod and is not allow to break forum rules. So I guess it's up to you to venture in, have a poke around and report back to us.

Sacked for what?

For going to places with x's in the name. That's worse than saying "****".

Expat, want any second hand bike helmets to take back to the US?

Both helmets I bought in the States are not on the approved list in Australia so I cannot ride with them any more. Looks like I'll have to buy a new helmet. :(

Yeah, I need more stuff. Can't you use them for racing? My BMX helmet isn't Aussie standards, but I can still use it for racing.

nope, under Cycling Australia rules all helmets must have the Aust Std sticker, if you get caught out, you get kicked out of the race. You can't even train in one and expect to be covered under insurance if you crash. My helmets you can't even get here yet as they haven't passed the standards test yet. If you are keen we can talk $, they are:

Specialized S1 - white
Bell Ghisallo - white

For a bit of fun, skip the intro then click 'Watch' or the 'Watch Civic' sign in the carpark
http://www.honda.co.uk/civic/

well, I finally did it; i started my own stupid poll :p

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...77#post2060277

Go Alby !

Someone found Alby Mangles?!??

My brother is over in Adelaide watching the TDU and dutifully sending me race updates via SMS...I probably should tell him to save his thumb since I can get more info via the live coverage on cyclingnews.com. Their updates haven't made any mention of the team tarts tho!