Sorry...Jeff Stewart, aka "The Dog". Former Victorian road cyclist (and a bloody good one..) 50kg wringing wet and winner of the 1995 Mazda Alpine Classic (amongst others).....until returning an abnormally high test. level. 2 year ban.

Sorry...Jeff Stewart, aka "The Dog". Former Victorian road cyclist (and a bloody good one..) 50kg wringing wet and winner of the 1995 Mazda Alpine Classic (amongst others).....until returning an abnormally high test. level. 2 year ban.

Great wheeler and dealer....got me Mavic Cosmics from Henk when he was riding fro Novell Software for $700 complete with cassette, tyres at the Sun Tour one year. Giddyup.

...COSMIC'S FOR $700!!! sounds like the man to know.....the last day at the sun tour has traditionally been a good day for some bargains.....specially if the overseas riders don't wanna take back all the stuff...end of season & all that...so seeing as you've 'retired'... and you won't be needing the cosmics anymore...........

cheers,

Hitchy

lol...this was like 1994, so they were the orignal silver puppies, screw-on 8-speed cassette, Michelin Supercomp HD tyres.

but yes...feeding frenzy at the end of the Sun tour was great. I've bought jerseys from Marcel Wust, socks and gloves from Jean-Paul van Poppel, sunglasses from Paolo Lanfranchi, wheels form Henk Vogels the list goes on and on and on......

A mate nearly bought Tristan Hoffman's whole TVM team issue Reynolds 753 bike for $2500, until his missus stepped in.

Morning

I've heard about this "feeding frenzy" at the end of the Sun Tour but I thought it was just
Beach Road bullsh1t.

So, it's true?
Can you get bike bits or just apparel?

Nah mate....100% correct. Was much bigger and more impromtu in the 80s-90s, now the pros are onto it and know they can make a bit of money from the punters so the great bargains are a bit diminished. You can buy anything, coz it's the end of the season and they'd rather sell than lug back to Europe.

You could dive into a tent with $200 and come out with 2 jerseys and 2 pairs of shorts, brand-new, swing tags still connected.

G'day,

man..some of these pro's will sell you the lint outa there belly button ifya make an offer!......cos it's the end of the season, some are swapping teams, don't wanna take it back to europe with them etc etc....A few years ago a mate offered some bloke in a 'mercury' kita $100 for the lot. he got bib, jersey, gillet, armwarmers & socks, lid, winter top.....the pro, (dunno who it was) had no problem undressing in full public view & handing the stuff over!. I saw 2 blokes come to blows over Robbie McEwens bike a few years ago...robbie was auctioning the thing.....litespeed (vortex i think) went for $3K with wheels & gruppo as ridden in the last stage...to bad he's a midget or i woulda been onto that myself......some dwarf got himself a bargain!,

cheers

hitchy

I don't get it -- I wouldn't have thought it was theirs to sell, especially the domestiques.

And I thought lugging the gear would not be the responsibility of the rider

My bag's already packed!

Spent a lot of time down at Rye in ye olde days, but who didn't?

Who's bringing the laptop with internet connection?

Dunno...I'm sure Ed will chime in, him being closer to this level than I'll ever be....I reckon they get heaps of kit every year...it probably changes just about every year as well, different sponsors etc.....as far as the bike bits goes...its usually (from what I've seen) the mechanics that are selling all the stuff....sometimes they just have all this stuff laid out on a blanket with price tags on outside the van.....sometimes you just ask if they wanna sell a particular item.....Alot of the pro's that end up doing the sun tour aren't the 'top' echelon...so the money can be important....theres a lot of ammo's in there too who have scored a 'one off' ride in a 'team' that only exists for the sun tour....all that gear will get flogged for sure,

cheers,

hitchy

Mmmmm.....51cm Vortex.

Bikes are to be sold and the funds given back to the team, or returned to the team's service de course in Europe where they are flogged off to the public at the end of the year.
As clothing, shoes, glasses etc etc are personal items, riders can do with them as they wish. (btw...ther'es no way I'm buying someone else's used shorts....)

Marcel Wust used to pack an EXTRA duffle bag just for Australia, absolutely busting at the seams with kit. I was buying some RMO gear from him and the bloke next to me was complaining that $70 was too much for Santini bib-shorts (**********?)...Marcel's response, "Hey man...I gotta pay for the extra baggage the airline charges me!"

So, Ed...shoot your load -- what did you do in Europe? Don't worry about making me feel like a 'B' grade hacker.

I want your whole carreer in chronological detail

hey ed,

I remember seeing Dave Maccas & robbies bikes hanging in bills shop in fitzroy about 3 days after a tour end.......Robbies Litespeed was $4.5k...again, too bad he's a midget...you probably sold it!!...

cheers,

hitchy

won't make for much reading mate.....only one season in Holland, 1996. criterium, criterium, criterium, road race, criterium....Couple of top 20s, one top 10, that's all. Every bloke over there is about 6'4" and can drive the 13 cog for hours with the same facial expression. Went to the tour in den Bosch, that was pretty good....met Stevo, Indurain, Danny Nelissen (went training with him B4 the Tour, so he told me where the Rabo boys would be warming up for the prologue..) and a few others.

spent the rest of my career (hah!) racing around Vic, road and track. It's been so long since I raced, I've never ridden on Vodafone or not had a tuesday night at VFL Park over summer!

Not Robbie's....but I was endlessly trying to flog off Macca's Kross-Montenari Daccordi. No joy...another midget....lol!

Speaking of....try and sell Kathy Watt's TT bike. Good luck.

Were you in Holland with any local VFL park heroes?

I'm sick of being snobbed off by Kathy Watt on Beach Road ; but I suppose she's sick of every fat d1ckhead like me saying "g'day" to her.

not in Holland, I was staying with "friends of the family", so I was on my best behaviour (apart from when Keiren won the 1500m final in Atlanta, then I went a bit mental..). I was all set for a trip down to Gent to hook up with the Aussie crew, but a crash on some klinkers in the rain at a race necessitated a new right hand Dura-Ace STI lever = no trip to Belge for kermis racing and chasing hoo-ha from Gent Uni!

she reminds me of those ugly little 'troll dolls'!......wouldn't give her the time o' day personally.....

Nup. Me neither. Never got on with her....weird personality.

smart, too

I currently work with a guy who has done five Hawaiin Iron Mans and has knocked around with various high-level athletes and coaches of both running and cycling culture. He says Kathy is a great athlete, but a little bit more than off the wall otherwise. Still not as crazy as her great nemesis, Lucy Tyler-Sharman, however.

Nice one....you broke my sarcasm meter!!!

another complete froot-loop.