Here come the Belgians Style Guide Edizione V

Ciao Italia.

The Giro 2010 is a thing of the past. It is time to pack away the Italian suit.

Also the Maglia Rosa is suddenly not fashionable anymore:

But I found two things which will still be fashionable in June:

Good old pasta with Gambas and the De Marchi jersey with 50% wool.

Here come the Belgians Style Guide - Tour of California

Well, somehow it seems our invitation (including business class flight tickets) went lost in the mail, so we missed out the final Tour of California. Yes, I'm pretty sure it was the last edition. I received confidential information that 2011 it will be "Tour of Hollywood". You want compete against the Giro? Than You need something better, bigger, more stars....

Included with the info were pictures of the new 2011 jerseys:

For best make up (before or after crash)

For best after party

For best ...well let us call it "Podium girl interaction"

The idea is that there is more interaction between the riders and the common people. So after each stage it will be like the Oskars: "And the jersey for best Make up goes to .... So for next year I expect first class flight tickets for attending the jury.

Remember a race is still a promotion thing, so the more impact on the people the better.

(Jerseys are from Primal Wear priced at app. 80 $, Rolling Stones not available anymore, special thanks to Alison T.)

Rapha-phile

As many of you may be aware both crossjunkie and myself have liking/weakness for a certain premium brand of British cycling wear. Now about four or five years ago I purchased their 'Classic' jersey and it has done sterling service since then including summer trips to Provence, the Alps and the Pyrenees (including a Raid Pyrenean). Great for rides out with mates, sportives even occasional chain gang sessions if the ego and legs were feeling resilient enough to take the ribbing. During this time the back of the black jersey 'faded' a little as I would expect with the amount of UV it was being bombarded with. Nothing that worried me it just looked like it had been lived in. Last week I received an email from Rapha entitled 'Classic Jersey Exchange', I almost ignored it thinking it was going to be a heads up for some London based jersey swap where you could bring along your spare old 'Brooklyn' jersey to swap for someone's 'La Vie Claire'. But no...

...on rare occasions we have seen a discolouration of the black version of the jersey due to moisture and extended exposure to sunlight. By no means the norm and perhaps isolated to only a small window of production, we still wanted to check in with you as someone who has bought the classic jersey to be sure it is not something you have experienced.

They asked for customers to return the Jersey for inspection. Now remember this is a four year old well used item of sports kit and Rapha were soliciting returns! That's some customer service. I packaged up the old jersey and Jo posted it off on Wednesday, it had to be worth a shot. Saturday morning arrived together with a knock on the door and our long suffering postie Veronica holding a lovely shiny black plastic envelope, jersey sized, inside was a brand new Classic Jersey and armwarmers:-) So 'Chapeau' Rapha, we may knock some of their more bizzare 'collectors' products but their core kit is exceptionally well built and backed up by great after sales service. So when I'm not sporting Duncan's fabulous designs at the races its got to be Rapha.

Belgians go Cumbrian on 4th July!

Advance warning of the next Belgians extravaganza, Cumbrian style.....

New signing, Philip Malcolm has been busy with his local maps and sniffed out a Cumbrian ripost to Duncan's Floubaix.

The route is finalised now at 120km with a few get-out points for people who don't want to do the full distance. There's a cafe stop at about 80km and two pubs selling Belgian beer in Cockermouth at the finish.

"Highlights include:

Mosser Fell - single track lane with stuff growing on it, 1.5m "not suitable for motor vehicles" descent to Loweswater.

Lorton Lonning - 1/2 mile twisty downhill lane with gravel, grass mud and holes

Thackthwaite/Scale Hill - narrow lanes, plenty of flicky corners on an uncertain surface, followed by a stamp up a 400m 20% hill.

"Mini Molenberg" - similar to Lorton Lonning but uphill with some steeper sections.

"Mini Madeleine" - switchbacked single track climb under pine trees, surfacing dubious(descent similar)

Paris-Roubaix Lonning - downhill, fast... I've ridden this in August and got a facefull of mud, you can slide through the corners if you wish.

Coastal Roads - some beautiful, windy lanes that twist all over the place, ending up in a 5 mile exposed slog across some marshland... You'd swear you were in Holland!

Silloth High Street - 1.5 miles of Flanders quality cobbles

Final circuit that resembles the closing stages of Ghent-Wewelgem.

Pub at the finish that sells Duvel, Kwak, Lindemanns and Westmalle."

I'm getting giddy already at the thought of it - put the date in your diary. 4th July 2010.

All welcome - Belgian or not. More details to come......

Soul to Soul

don't be fooled by those big sad eyes - he's a bandit

last Saturday Al and myself headed off to meet Dunc to ride the lanes and cobbles he had so brilliantly cobbled together (I know! so bite me). Al's new toy mapped it so well and a sterling report was scribed.
I love the whole ethos of soul riding it's what life is about, sharing a passion, chatting, laughing and chilling, not worrying about anything other than the choice between carrot cake or stawberry tart. and it's so important as it reminds us of why we ride our bikes.
The ride was made even better as these were new lanes to me - though Al pointed out at one point that we had ridden on some of them last year in the Cheshire Cat - I have no recolection of this as at the time I was hanging on to his back wheel in my own world of pain.
The vibe started before we left with Al texting to see if I was ready? my response "in 5" I walk down stairs to Al wheeling my bike out of the door - anybody would think he was keen to be out!!
Pre ride coffee at Duncs then not wanting to be left out his dog made off with Al's cycling shoe and did a couple of laps around the garden with Dunc in chase. As Al fastened up his shoes off the dog went with my pair.
Post ride panini's at Duncs (what a good host) and the dog made off with my shades only giving them up after the obligatory laps round the lawn with Dunc in hot pursuit - I wonder if Lance faces these problems???
so get a few like minded people together plan a route with coffee stop and throw out all thoughts of cadence, bpm, latic thresholds and gear ratios and pedal for the enjoyment of it.

Romiley Floubaix

Duncan had been planning this for weeks. A collection of snatched walks with the dog, forays on motorbike and then some pioneering efforts by bike.....


Floubaix? Well, take the short sharp cobbled climbs of Flanders, add in some classic Cheshire lanes and gravel tracks (including strada bianchi) and sprinkle liberally with some ancient Roubaix-esque pave. There you have it - Floubaix.

Romiley Floubaix

Map your trip with EveryTrail

Update: here comes the link

I think we all needed a bit of soul riding this weekend - coffee, chat and chilling round this great area. Dunc led myself and Mark round the route that, despite my previous and considerable knowledge of the area, yielded some absolute gems for the connoisieur. He found us a petit Arenberg, so rough that it has claimed several of Dunc's bottle cages on recce and a full blown, arrow straight grand Arenberg that is the closest thing to Northern France's finest you will ever find in this country. Riding on Dunc's wheel down these 16th Century cobbles, seeking out the centre ridge, for a moment I glimpsed what must the nerve shredding intensity of Roubaix, dodging the holes from missing cobbles, fighting to keep the bike straight, trying to relax amongst it all.

Like my Ronde, though only around 40 miles in length, this route wears you down with cobble, gravel and lots of up and down. No big climbs, but a hard parcours nonetheless. It flows beautifully, assuming you know where you are going, making great use of the small features as well as the overall landscape. We finished with latte and carrot cake in a great cafe in Marple Bridge, watching the elegant young ladies of well-heeled Cheshire going about their ritual Saturday shopping.

Oh, and if you like checking out how the other 2% live, then there are properties all over the shop that redefine the word 'mansion'.



PS Take some fat tires with you - your bike and bum will thank you.

Here come the Belgians Style Guide Edizione Tri

Remember someone once said, that is not about the bike.

So the theme of todays beauty edition is:

It is NOT about the face.

A cyclist does not need to look pretty, the only reason to use Botox is to remove wrinkles for aerodynamic reason. Never the less there is a big market for cream and we want our share of the advertisement market, so we have to put in something about cream.

So this issue will take care of your piece of skin you put on the saddles, as this should be as smooth as a babies bottom. So the first property of a good chamois cream is to reduce friction. Another important feature is to prevent inflammation of the skin. What I found is the type of cream depends on the chamois it is applied to:

- Old style chamois, leather like I found in some Nalini bib shorts, but also the rather rough surface of the Nalini chamois in the first Raffa bib short. They can be quite stiff especially after a wash, the seems to work best with a thick grease like Nalini is selling to make the leather soft to avoid friction. Although rather thin padding, these leather like ones are quite comfortable if one is using a more upright position.

- New style chamois are made with a softer surface, which has a lower coefficient of friction and seem to work the best with a thinner lube like from AGU. The Exteondo chamois in the Liberty Seguros kit can look like leather but I would rather classify it as new style. With the Nalini grease on new style chamois I had the feeling this was not adsorbed and just stayed on.

What does the cremes contain:

- Grease types are like butter and more likely are made from waterbased emulsions, the chamois butter package is just big enough to list a handful of emulsifiers.

- Lube types are based on white oil/vaseline and do contain in the case of the AGU: camphor and cajuput oil, which seems to be related to the myrtales, which we all know from Asterix and Obelix, which brings us back to comics and Belgium.

(The DZ nuts does not list the ingredients, in the press they said: Tee trea oil, Evodia and Masterwort.)

Question: So do I really have to pay ten quid for a quantity of 120 to 150 ml?

No, I do not think so. Unless one is really sensitive to inflammation, a normal vaseline based cream should do fine to avoid any friction. So I found "Melkfett" from Eimü made in Austria, the word "Fett" grease in combination with a picture of a cow made me belief it would a kind of butter. Totally wrong, it is vaseline like with witch hazel and zinc oxide. The witch hazel is antiseptic and the zinc oxide might give some very important sun protection. I think it was two quid for 250 ml.

Question: It is sunday 4 a.m., can I find something useful in the bath room?

I think You can. In my 4 a.m. emergency test I found "Face Protector" and "hand creme", both should be better than nothing. Unlike the products above they contain Paraben so I suggest to rather stick to the originals.

Question: What is NOT suitable for me - But maybe for my competition?

For sure "Face scrub", Grease for Carbon parts, Tabasco, Wasabi...

Soul Ride Saturday...

Simply put, we're* going for a loop around some of Cheshire's finest secret spots, unpaved, gravel, broken and a healthy dose of cobble (at least 10 sectors of cobble squire!). A leisurely pace for a few hours soul riding. Catchups and laughter mandatory. Join us if you fancy it, 30 - 40 miles, a couple of hours or more. Social.

Were riding through Romiley (here) at around 10.30 a.m. Two cafés there if you're coming along, grab a coffee keep an eye out for us.

Last word. I have a petit Arenburg, proceed with caution. Lightweight carbon equipment may quake with fear, dress your bicycle accordingly.

*(we - Me, Crossjunkie, Mark Sportsart)

Here come the Belgians Style Guide Edizione Due

What is fashionable this month? With our 2010 team jerseys still somewhere behind the great wall, there is no reason to ride semi naked or even worse not to ride at all. So what is hot in May 2010:



Almost nothing beats a nice maglia rosa, especially in the very limited "Here come the Belgians" edition.
(Pick any old pink jersey whose design You do not like and attach the team logo over it)
Just add any black tubulari, dark chocolade and Penne Regata.

Although You might prefer British understatement:

Maglia Nera! It is the jersey for the connoisseur, the person that enjoys riding - not looking at the clock all the time. The best rider just in a different context.
2009 Team Jersey available from Shutt VR, Continental Competition 25 mm Pink - priceless, choice of colour matched chocolade about 1 GBP.

So far so good, still looking for a bib short?

Something not boring black, something more stylish?

Well, see what Mailand came up with:

A Cippolini design from about 2004

GiroMANIA

What is a "Giro"? I think it is like a "Ronde", so a kind of oversized circle. Based on this knowledge I've been to the Giro de Amsterdam, which must be a kind of oversized alley-cat. Why You may ask?

Start is done by count-down bike lane traffic lights.

Riders with back packs are more interested in discussing advantages of disk wheels in the rear with a nice girl than going really fast.

Need another example: Running red lights is a common tactic. At least with Team Sky. So I guess directions were like: Nothing is going to stop us!

For sure not this team on cheap mountain bikes - not even with stickers saying "police".

Ok, clear. BUT why not simple Ronde van Amsterdam? Because of "L'Emozione", the Dutch decided to go for an italian stereotype:

Plenty of rubbish bags, as You would expect to see in the south of Italy combined with hundreds of white vans selling cheap goodies. Luigi just asked me to print clearly that "the family" has nothing to do with this business. Which brings me for absolutely no reason to Astana. Now with Vino back on board, they had a nice tribute to "The men training in Black" by using stealth black bikes.

But it seems that only one team actually started on fixies, the team with the longest name....

While the team with the shortest name had 40 k quid parked outside the bus:

In the meantime Rabobank went for some kind of mental doping:

Rabobank reminds me of Amsterdam and souvenirs:

- Freebies from Rabobank

- Free cap from Skoda (not shown)

- A souvenir from the Van Gogh museum

- a onion flower

Below some pictures I also found on the negative film:

Fred Whitton

After three years of unsuccessful attempts to enter the Fred Whitton it was a bit of a supprise to find myself 'on the list' thanks to Mr Waggetts organisational dilligence.

Unfortunately this success has coincided with probabably my poorest Spring preparation in many a year. In the end there is only myself to blame but there are mitigating circumstances. Firstly the weather. Our recent winter has been a bit of a double whammy; roads too icey for long rides in the Dales and the best ice climbing conditions for decades. As a resurgent ice climber after a twenty year abscence this has been a difficult temptation to resist and unfortunately for my bike fitness I haven't! So with trips to Cogne, the Ben, Lakes and Font (the latter bouldering not ice climbing!) my bike fitness has suffered.

Add to this a fieldtrip with work combined with a cold the week before and things are looking none too promising. Time for some technological assistance in the form of a compact chainset. The idea struck as I churned up the Coal Road at Garsdale Head in the Dales on my 3 Peaks cross bike, that 34 ring was making things a whole lot more pleasant! A hunt round the various interweb vendors turned up a Centaur compact (alloy, it had to be alloy to be fitted to 'Pinkie' no carbon!) at a decent price. A painless fitting, chain shortened, and fully fledged jessiedom beckons.



Just like modern ice axes and pro allows me to climb at a similar level to my younger fitter self I'm hoping the compact will compensate for a lack of 'legs'.

If nothing else I've pre placed my excuse ;-)


Otleyrich

Le Tour de Staveley

Whilst Alan is slogging himself around the Hit the North circuit for 8hrs I have opted for the far more appealing prospect of Le Tour de Staveley as organised by Wheelbase. more info at www.wheelbase.co.uk/le-tour-de-staveley/ £18 entry which includes drinks and a two course meal at Wilf's - result.

Fingers crossed I will be wowing the pelaton with my Belgian summer kit :)

hit the north... again, only harder

Those slightly scary but fundamentally nice people over at Hit the North are accommodating us competition starved crossers with....... an 8hr version of their hugely successuful 2hr winter race. Yes really.

Here's what they have to say....

Hit the North is back on July 17th.

Entries are now open and places will be limited.
All three previous events have sold out in a matter of days, so you need to get yourselves and your team mates organised and get your entry in!

The entry fee will be £33.33 per person and it is up to you whether you register as a solo, pair or team of 3.

For that you get...
An 8 hour lap based event on a completely new 6-ish mile course on mixed terrain including some bits that would perhaps be better ridden on a mountain bike and some bits that will probably be faster on a cyclocross bike... Oh, and there will be some carrying sections.
Free camping on Saturday 17th. Additional camping is available on Friday 16th July for a fee of £3 per person payable directly to the campsite on arrival.
The usual awesome catering.
Trade stands.
A beer tent with live band and DJ for the after event party.
Electronic timing with a free access site wide wireless network so you can keep tabs on your performance in real time via a phone, pda or laptop.
Toilets and showers (that work).
The usual relaxed atmosphere that HtN seems to create.

So why not sign up?.. It won't kill you.

All proceeds will as usual be donated to local charities and we are being supported by the amazing generosity of JMC IT, Cloversoul Jewellery, Pro-Lite and Ragley Bikes.

Hit the North
17th July 2010
11:00 - 19:00
Giants Seat Campsite, Ringley, Manchester.
M26 1DY

Hopefully we'll see you on July 17th

Go to our website for entry, news as and when it happens, details of preview rides, ask questions and put in a request for the DJ on our forum and maybe some other stuff.
www.hitthenorth.net

Hugs and kisses
Andrew, Simon, Jase and Warren.

Let me also plug and declare an interest in the post race party entertainment - principal accordian player for the Balkan Gypsy Ska-sters 'Nazedrove Houseband' is none other than my old music college pal and fellow Belgian, Winkie Thin.

Having played with diverse luminaries such as Lisa Stansfield and the Halle Orchestra, as well as at my wedding, Winkie seems to have inflitrated this band of merry loons and will doubtless entertain us while the beer tent fills to the sound of dehydrated ectomorphs keeling over after the first pint. Or is that just my likely fate....?

Get entered, get ready and come and Hit the North.

Infomercial over.