A quick note to say I am away for the next two weeks on a break where where there will be zero internet access but hopefully a cold drink.
But the blog continues with a range of articles cued up for automatic publication every day.
Housekeeping
Advertise on The Inner Ring
The website’s been well supported by Selle Italia in recent times but all good things come to an end and there will soon be space for someone else to follow in the slipstream of Strada Wheels, Competitive Cyclist, Seven Cycles, Ride Cycle Review and Selle Italia.
Thanks to Selle Italia
Enjoying the blog? If you’re visiting these pages for then note Selle Italia is sponsoring this website and without them the coverage would not be the same. So this is chance for an infomercial and to give another message of thanks to them.
Their sponsorship has helped directly, for example if you enjoy the “the moment the race was won” pieces then the action photos are paid for and the Selle Italia revenue helps offset the cost.
Sunday Shorts
Armstrong’s popularity plummets, ranked alonside Michael Bolton
Dallasnews.com tries to offer some metrics on Armstrong’s falling popularity. Clearly retirement meant he became less visible but last week’s revelations have punctured his public image.
Now he’s ranked 2,192 (out of 2,500 celebrities tracked by the Dallas agency) on par with Michael Bolton. As for endorsement value, he once was in there with Brad Pitt, slipped to Steven Spielberg, and now is neck-n-neck with foul-mouthed singer Nicky Minaj. People trust him about as much as they do Paula Abdul.
This might be amusing but there’s a serious point to this as well. If he begins to fall then don’t be surprised to see the media tear strips off him. Just as his rise was chronicled, now there’s a chance his downfall takes place in front of cameras, gossip mags and websites.
Thanks to Selle Italia
Enjoying the Tour de France? If you’re visiting these pages for previews and information then note that Selle Italia sponsor this website and without them the coverage would not be the same. So this is another message of thanks to them.
Their sponsorship has helped directly, for example making it viable to visit the Planche des Belles Filles, the Grand Colombier and the Arc-Besançon TT route in order to get useful information beyond the stage profiles and average gradients. Ok, the trips were combined with other activities but nevertheless the support and growing level of readership encouraged me to swing off the autoroute and head for the hills armed with notebook, laptop and, of course bike.
Thanks to Selle Italia
It’s not often Pippo Pozzato and I have something in common but you might have noticed the advert on the right meaning we’re both sponsored by Selle Italia. The Italian manufacturer is here for May and this is a note to say thanks in public for their support.
Although founded outside Milan in 1897, today the company is based in the Treviso area of Italy in a modern factor pictured above. I wrote about the concentration of cycling shoe makers in the region before (“Italy’s backwards shoemakers“) and Selle Italia is only a short walk from the Sidi and Gaerne factories as well as others. It makes sense when you think about it as early saddles and cycling shoes shared the same manufacturing tradition, namely leather goods that needed skill to shape and stitch the final product together.
Saturday shorts
The Amstel Gold race is on tomorrow but this is a busy weekend with some excellent alternative races. Sometimes a big race can overshadow the others, for example two weeks ago the Flèche d’Emeraude was on at the same time as the Tour of Flanders but I doubt many noticed the clash.
By contrast there’s the Tro Bro Leon race on Sunday which criss-crosses Brittany and uses farm tracks. These are dirt roads and muddy in the wet. Sometimes called the Paris-Roubaix of Brittany, the comparison isn’t quite right since the Tro Bro Leon has no cobbles, even if it does have dangerous roads. Instead of a cobble, the winner gets a piglet to take home. Rouleur Magazine’s blog has a nice feature on this, including a picture of the prize piglet. It’s a nice race in its own right. Even the website is good.
Sponsored by RIDE Cycling Review
A note of thanks to Ride Cycle Review for sponsoring the Inner Ring for April. The Australian magazine has long been a good read. When I’ve visited Australia it’s been something to make the long flight back to Europe more pleasant.
But you don’t need to visit Australia any more in order to pick up a copy, it is now available online via Zinio, the electronic magazine distribution site.
Thanks to Seven Cycles
A note of appreciation for Seven Cycles who are sponsoring the blog. The US framebuilder is here for a month with their ad on the top right of the page. They offer a range of custom built carbon, titanium and steel frames and to find out more, click on the ad to visit their site and learn more.
Correction
In the piece on Thursday entitled “One UCI official, two jets and three yachts” I mistakenly featured a Boeing 737 aircraft registered in the name of Itera Holdings, it seems planespotters have confused Itera with Intera and almost every image of the Boeing has it registered with Igor Makarov’s business. However this is incorrect and the Boeing 737 instead belongs to a Czech billionaire financier called Petr Kellner. Sorry.