On April 7, 2013 the twisted cycling minds at Spy Optic are rolling out their “Hell Of The North County” Belgian Waffle Ride for the second year in a row. The 200k race features 10,000 vertical feet of knee blasting climbs, dirt roads, creek fordings, river crossings, bone jarring descents while winding its way through San Diego, California’s beautiful, yet perilous North County region.
Here’s how event founder and Spy President and CEO Michael Marckx describes it.
“Belgium has been for a century the epicenter of international professional cycling in the early spring race season, and the SPY Belgian Waffle Ride is an homage to the storied history and folklore of bike racing in that region, a tribute to the incredibly arduous competitions staged there, and a celebration of our cycling heritage as a brand,” Marckx says. “With some similar terrain to Belgium that North County offers, we’ve done our best to emulate the race experiences of rural Ghent, Wevelgem, Flanders, Liege and Bastogne, with wearisome rolling hills, steep climbs, gravel and dirt roads, water crossings and a distance that few racers will ever contend with in the United States. We’ve also baked-in a fun Belgian breakfast and dinner, a whole lot of twists in the way of awards, and there’s a great foundation (CAF) that we’re excited to support through donations this year.”
So at least there’s a good cause for all this pain. For the official word from Spy, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Once again, instinct and passion took over, and one frame at a time, one bike at a time, slowly at first and then very rapidly we started collecting a PK Ripper bike here, a Ciocc frame there, and finally some time later deciding that the cycling bug never really did leave us after all. And in this brave new world of Internet and treasure hunting and collecting, what better way to combine the two than to allow one to feed the passion of the other.
The bikes aren’t cheap. The Pista is currently listed at $5,750 and the Masi is $5,685, but they certainly are fun to look at.
Specialized is recalling the forks on their “2012 Tarmac SL4, 2013 Tarmac SL4, 2013 Crux and 2013 Secteur Discs” according to a story on Bike Radar.
All riders with one of these bicycles are asked to stop riding them immediately and bring them to a Specialized dealer, who will remove the fork and ship it to Specialized’s facility in Salt Lake City for inspection. Specialized spokesperson Sean Estes said most forks will not need to replaced, but some may have a 40g carbon sleeve installed inside the steerer tube.
Bike owners will get the fix if they need it and a $100 store credit for Specialized merchandise. Sounds like Specialized continues to do things right, except for the forks, that is.
Armstrong will address the alleged doping scandal, years of accusations of cheating and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied cycling career. Winfrey speaks with Armstrong in the only interview since the seven-time Tour de France winner was stripped of his titles and dropped from millions of dollars in endorsement deals after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released an extensive report accusing the renowned cyclist of doping throughout his career. Armstrong was given a lifetime ban on competing professionally. Late last year, Armstrong resigned as chairman of the foundation he created, Livestrong, which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in the fight against cancer.
Wonder if he will mention this new Live Juiced skateboard? The graphic, created by artist Ron Lemen,features what appears to be a man in cycling shoes, surrounded by bottles of urine, with a syringe in his mouth, tying himself off to shoot up with EPO, baby. Saying you don’t skateboard anymore? Well, just think of it as a great wall hanger.
For a closer look at the Juiced graphic, follow the jump. It’s good. [click to continue…]
That former Tour de France winner we’ve renamed the BLOAT (biggest liar of all time) will reportedly sit with Oprah Winfrey for a 90 minute interview airing on Thursday, January 17, 2013 on the OWN Network.
In the interview, Winfrey speaks with Armstrong at his home in Austin, Texas in the only interview since the seven-time Tour de France winner was stripped of his titles and dropped from millions of dollars in endorsement deals after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released an extensive report accusing the renown cyclist of doping throughout his career.
The good news is that the BLOAT may come clean on his past, the bad news is no one is watching the OWN network.
We all know how Strava has changed our riding (and the lives of those who love us) and turned us into temper tantrum throwing babies when we get a dreaded “Uh Oh” email, but in this Outside Magazine story, Tom Vanderbilt explains our obsession to the civilians in a story titled, How Strava Is Changing The Way We Ride. Here’s the sub-head:
A new social-media app for cycling has more than a million riders racing, cheating, and even dying for virtual supremacy over the world’s roads and trails. A recent convert to the cult explains how Strava is changing the way we ride.
I just can’t do it. I can’t be interested in something if I’m not actually doing it. Just can’t. This often puts me in awkward situations, because lots of things are probably fine to watch and not participate in, particularly for middle agers like me. But maybe I’m not your typical middle ager. Rather, I’m the one 44-year-old on a field of 20-somethings at the Sunday pick-up soccer game, or at the skatepark with a swarm of tweens zipping all around me. And when I say awkward, I mean for them. Because—after all—I’m used to the looks, the shrugs, the questions. It’s everyone else who’s crazy.
I think I’m just comfortable around weirdos (that would sure explain a lot). In fact, I gravitate toward them. You’d think that as I settle into middle age I’d be content with all the work, family, hobbies, and clutter I’ve accumulated in almost a half century of accumulating, but such is not my nature. Every so often, my mind latches onto something new, and I investigate, and sometimes exhaust my interest in it; I’m pretty picky these days, I don’t just hop onto every cool thing I come across (that Stratos jump was pretty neat, but I don’t plan to become a human rocket anytime soon). [click to continue…]
Don’t know what we were doing the first time this little Sons of Science edit rolled through. Probably cleaning our chains. But we will say this: guilty as charged.
We’re posting this because everyone is talking about it and everyone has an opinion. Our thoughts on the interview? Italian always sounds so lovely, truthful, and smooth. Would be nice to just take everyone at their word wouldn’t it?
