Contador: El Pistolero or… humble beancounter? Many riders have surnames that are also nouns. I apologise if this ruins your TV viewing, those once exotic Euro names can actually prove a bit dull but here are some of the peloton’s names translated into English: Alberto Contador = Alberto Accountant Ivan Basso = Ivan Low Lars … Read more
The Fredcast The podcasts open with about five minutes of advertising. Obviously you can skip this in a click but the naked commercialism isn’t a good start for me. People have to earn money but it sounds like some commercial radio station. FRD FM! Even during the show a lot of content seems to be … Read more
I blogged last week about how Radio Shack doesn’t even mention its cycling team and Lance Armstrong on its website. Well maybe this will change? Because like many bloggers I keep an eye on who is reading and one recent visitor to The Inner Ring was none other that Radioshack Corp. Here’s the screen grab … Read more
Watching today’s stage of Paris Nice on TV I noticed Cofidis’s Amaël Moinard in the breakaway, and that he had an SRM meter on his bike. In case you didn’t know the SRM system measures the watts produced by a rider with a pair of cranks that have been modified with strain guages, plus a … Read more
Cyclingnews.com has a piece on British kilometre specialist Jason Queally aiming for selection in the team pursuit. It says the Briton is after a new challenge. He’s 39 and won gold in Sydney. But is this really a new challenge? Instead I think we might be seeing the start of a change in the way … Read more
Watch Peter Sagan ride in Bratislava, the Slovak capital. For more on Sagan, see the previous blog entry about the Super-Slovak.
I’d put out a quick guide to the early stages on Sunday and promised to return with the later stages in due course. I got lucky, my predictions came true, from the crashes and crosswinds on Stage 1, to Stage 3 likely to cold as well as selective than might think. So here is the … Read more
There’s a nice small feature on bikes and design from The Guardian, including Wouter Mijland’s “limobike” as pictured above. The theme is re-using old bikes and components to create something new, from furniture to fashion. Click here to see more examples.
I blogged about Laurent Fignon and his book on Monday hoping that he’d be with the Paris-Nice race. He’s been part of the race since he first rode it in 1982, later winning a stage in 1987. On retirement he took over the race organisation from Corrine Leulliot. He sold the race onto ASO – … Read more
Cycling is too hard. Too hard because though you play football or rugby, cycling is something you do. There is a nuance here, if you lose the ball it is only ever a mistake to be forgotten as soon as the ball comes back to you again. If you weaken on a hill, it is … Read more