Official Cycling Thread

[juho]

Hey guys!
It's not all about work and games (pun intended). Sometimes you have to do something to let some steam out in your free time. In my case it's cycling. I found the sport couple of years ago but I've always liked to watch the Grand Tours. Anyways, if any of you guys like cycling, post your thoughts, pictures, race results and well basically anything related to cycling here.

I'll start by showing couple of pics of my bikes.

My first custom bike I just finished. It's based on GT Avalanche, but basically I replaced all the parts except the frame and seat post.


This is my trail bike Commencal Meta 55. Nice full suspension, but rather heavy to ride long rides.


Here's my DIY Ikea bike rack. Holding Meta55 and my trusty road bike Olmo Impact with Campognolo Veloce parts set. I hope the game sells well enough, so that I could buy a new carbon fiber road bike


And finally here's apic of me after some hard day of riding.

[Alaric]

Wow, you are a real pro! I bicycle casually and am not particularly awesome at it. I also have only one bicycle - a Scott Sportster P55.

[Mameluk]

I'm also a pretty casual biker. I use bike to get to work; the place is not that far away, and there are no good parking lots nearby anyway. Besides, it DOES feel good to let some steam out after a long day.

Anyway, in my experience, NOT a good sport to be doing around winter. At least not around here. Too much snow everywhere. And it's slippery.

[Shadow]

Wow, I am not even gonna try competing. My bike from Costco would get wrecked lol.

[juho]

Anyway, in my experience, NOT a good sport to be doing around winter. At least not around here. Too much snow everywhere. And it's slippery.

Snow, ice and bad weather are just poor excuses . Though I'm looking forward to spring and summer

[juho]

Big classic races dominate the start of the road cycling season and yesterday the first of these classics was ridden. The race is called Milan - San Remo or La Primavera it's the longest of UCI World Tour's one day races, reaching close to 300km. It's the most respected single day race after the world championships and every rider dreams of winning the race. The race has been ridden since 1907 totaling 103 races so far. Yesterdays race was really tough and one of the favorites "The Manx Missile" Mark Cavendish found the pace just too overwhelming around 60km before finish. In the end three man brake away settled the score in finish sprint. My personal favorite Fabian "Spartacus" Cancellara came in second after doing all the work for the brake away. The race was won by Simon Gerrans of the new Green Edge team.


Image (c) milansanremo.co.uk

I also started my cycling season with short ride. It was icy, wet and hot (because of my bad condition) but fun as heck. Roads weren't that good though. Lots of slushy ice/snow. Lets see if I can top this year my last years total of 6000km. Propably not .

[Vermis]

I have a Hard Rocx one, really good frame but everything else is messed up... I need new rims, tyres, well everything but the frame, and I'm soooo good at procrastinating Gah.

[Mameluk]

Today, the roads were extremely bumpy and slippery (basically frozen slush). I'm lucky to be alive.

[Vermis]

Don't take any chances until AFTER Grimrock, you hear?

[juho]

Now for two weeks in a row cycling fans have enjoyed some awesome classic races. Last week was The Tour of Flanders or Ronde van Vlaanderen. An awesome race with cobble stones, sharp short hills and endless sprinting. The race was won by Belgium's Tom Boonen.

Today was the legendary Paris-Roubaix know also as The Hell of the North. 257,5km riding of witch around 50km was on cobble stone roads of various degrees of condition. The race is the toughest and probably most respected single day race after Milan-San Remo. And as week ago, Tom Boonen of Omega Pharma QuickStep won the race for the fourth time. The way he won it made him immortal in cycling world. Around 50km to go he took off of the break away group and just dominated everyone with his power. Even though the chasing group had 15 riders trying to catch Boonen he still could keep the distance. Truly amazing victory.


Tom Boonen punching it hard.


Winner's trophy is one cobble stone of the road. I bet it's pretty heavy to lift after the day of racing.


Trouée d'Arenberg has become the symbol of Paris–Roubaix.