The big news yesterday was that Mario Cipollini is leaving the Rock Racing Team. There wasn’t much reason given by either party but Cipo seems to say it was his decision while a statement from team claimed that they were behind the split. Whatever the reason, I’m not really that interested in the story. I’ve never cared that much one way or another about Cipo. I wasn’t overly excited that he was back and I’m just as uninterested in the fact that he’s gone again. Best of luck and all that but, whatever.
That being said, I do have a Rock Racing-realted topic to discuss and that’s the Rock Racing Women’s Team. Seven strong, atheltic, sexy women from California who - like every other female pro cycling team - get zero media coverage and deserve to be recognized.
As the mother of a young girl I look at this picture and I pray that when my daughter gets old enough to have non-animated idols it’s women like this that she chooses to look up to and emulate. If I can get her to believe that being a hard-core athlete can be cool, and if a poster like this one can take the place of the Hillary Duffs and the Paris Hiltons of the world on her wall, I will be a happy mom.
Italian Mario Cipollini has requested to end his contract with Team Rock Racing and may be racing in Tinkoff colours for this Saturday’s Milano-Sanremo, a race he won in 2002. ‘The Lion King’ and owner of the USA Continental team, Michael Ball, have had their differences since starting their relationship last fall, and now Cipollini is in a race to annul his contract.
The 2002 World Champion from Lucca has a renewed desire for racing the Milano-Sanremo since he returned from retirement in the Tour of California. He now faces a race against time if he is to participate in the 298-kilometre race known as La Classicissima as he needs his racing license resolved with Rock Racing, which he requested last week according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, before signing for a new team.
Seton Claggett owner of TriSports.com hooked Ride-Strong.com up with some FREE Schwag to give away to one of our lucky readers.
Based in Tucson Arizona, TriSports.com is a leader in mail order and on-line shopping for cycling enthusiasts. Although geared for the triathlete there are many great deals on items for cyclists. Check out thier website by clicking here.
TriSports.com gave Ride-Strong.com a wheel bag that holds two wheels. This bag retails for $119.95. It is an awesome wheel bag! I wish I could keep it. I may have to buy one for myself. Seton also hooked me up with 2 water bottles to give away with the bag.
Sorry but the Zipp Wheel does not come with the bag. Maybe we could get Zipp to send us a set of wheels for the give away.
Ride-Strong.com will be drawing a lucky winner on Monday March 24, 2008. Simply comment on the post below. Make sure you include your full name, email address and website if you have one in the comment fields. Also in the comment section leave you city and state.
Thanks to Seton for making this cool bag give away possible. If you are ever in Tucson stop by TriSports.com. They have one of the coolest retail floors around.
If you would like your product or service featured on Ride-Strong.com visit this link by CLICKING HERE.
One of the first pieces I ever wrote about pro cycling was a profile on Chris Horner for the Daily Peloton. I remember researching the article and reading about how Horner hit the road on Stage 2 of the 2005 Tirreno-Adriatico race. Pain shot through his leg but he got back on the bike, pushed past it and finished the stage. He started again the next morning but the pain was overwhelming and after coming in third-last on the next stage he abandoned the race.
Horner was disappointed by his experience in Italy and, despite still feeling pain from the crash, vowed to do better a week later at the Setmana-Catalana race in Spain. He made good on his vow and scored two top-10 finishes before ending the race 16th overall.
A week later, still unable to shake the pain, Horner finally saw a doctor and found out that he had raced the entire Setmana-Catalana on a broken leg.
I remember being so amazed by the physical extremes that these athletes put themselves through for their profession and I was reminded of that never-give-up attitude today when I read about young Linus Gerdemann of Team High Road crashing on Sunday at this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico and breaking his leg in two places. His response? “I will do my very best to be back on the bike as soon as possible and I will fight to become part of the 2008 Tour de France.”
Being a professional cyclist is anything but an easy job. In what other profession do you break your leg in two places on a regular day at the office and have to get up, dust yourself off and immediately start working with your doctor to figure out exactly when your bones will be healed enough to get right back to work? No whining. No complaining. No excuses.
I’ll never forget little Linus Gerdemann and his amazing stage win at the Tour last year. Overnight he went from being just one of those fresh young faces on the T-Mobile bus that no one had ever heard of, to having his name and face known by everyone in the sport. He’s part of that fresh crop of young riders who represent a break with the past and carry the hopes of all cycling fans for a brighter future.
I wish him a speedy recovery and I certainly hope we see him back on that bike before July.
Riding our bikes on the road can be very dangerous and even fatal at times. As cyclist, we need to ride defensively and anticipate what cars around us will do. Many times cars don’t even see us because they are not looking for us.
Watch the video below for a perfect demonstration on why cars do not see cyclists.
The BicycleTutor.com is a great site that has all sorts of video tutorials on fixing your bike. Alex is a bike mechanic in Vancouver, BC and posts bike ‘how to’ tutorials on his blog that are extremely helpful.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day and I do apologize for the lack of posting lately but it was all I could do to keep up with the whirlwind that was March Break at my house last week. Anyway, back at my desk now and trying to tackle the mountain of work that has grown during my week of neglect.
I stopped by Cycling News this morning to try to catch up and was truly horrified to read this story about Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe of the Quick Step team who was visiting a crematorium recently to attend to the unthinkable task of making funeral arrangements for his infant son who passed away shortly after being born premature. While struggling through what must have been one of the worst days of his life, van Impe was met by a drug tester who demanded that van Impe provide a sample on the spot or risk a two-year suspension for failing to comply.
Who is this guy and please tell me he doesn’t have a job anymore. It’s amazing enough to me that professional cyclists have to submit themselves to the humiliation of having to “drop and give me a cup” at any moment of the day or night, at home, at work, even on vacation. But while preparing to bury your son? Surely that’s too far. Surely there was a line back there somewhere that we crossed without noticing.
Happily the Flemish Minister of Sport did concede that the timing of this particular request had been in bad taste stating that, “”I can well understand the rider had other things on his mind at the time of the test,” and promising to find a way to continue random tests while trying to avoid these kinds of unique circumstances.
Ride-Strong.com is happy to announce our RSS feed subscription contest!!!
All you need to do is simply subscribe to our RSS feed. Look to the upper right side of this page to subscribe or the link at the bottom of this post. Read us through a reader, email, whatever you want. After you subscribe to our feed, comment that you have done so in this post to qualify.
After we get 500 subscribers we will be drawing a name. The winner will receive $100 in CASH and a Ride-Strong t-shirt. As of this post we have 465 RSS subscribers as you can see below.
If you’ve already subscribed before this contest, you are still eligible, just make sure you to leave us a comment below so you can be entered. To win, it will just be a random drawing. Your name will basically go into a hat, and we will draw. Possibly “live” on a video camera. This contest is fast and free to enter, good luck!
We are sad to say that to win this prize, you must live in the U.S. If you have any questions you can email us via our contact form. Thank you for understanding, we will have cash prizes in the future.
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Tucson has become a huge cycling meka in the winter time. Cyclist come from all over the world to train in Tucson, AZ during the winter months contributing thousands of dollars to community. The Shootout is a huge draw for cyclists. Without the Shootout the Tucson cycling community would not be the same hurting Tucson’s economy during the winter months.
Most people are just getting out of bed by the time cyclists are done riding the Shootout. Shootout riders are not doing harm. By the action of the Police Officer you would think we were criminals being chased in hot pursuit.
As the mother of a young girl I look at this picture and I pray that when my daughter gets old enough to have non-animated idols it’s women like this that she chooses to look up to and emulate. If I can get her to believe that being a hard-core athlete can be cool, and if a poster like this one can take the place of the Hillary Duffs and the Paris Hiltons of the world on her wall, I will be a happy mom.
One of the first pieces I ever wrote about pro cycling was a profile on Chris Horner for the Daily Peloton. I remember researching the article and reading about how Horner hit the road on Stage 2 of the 2005 Tirreno-Adriatico race. Pain shot through his leg but he got back on the bike, pushed past it and finished the stage. He started again the next morning but the pain was overwhelming and after coming in third-last on the next stage he abandoned the race.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day and I do apologize for the lack of posting lately but it was all I could do to keep up with the whirlwind that was March Break at my house last week. Anyway, back at my desk now and trying to tackle the mountain of work that has grown during my week of neglect. 
