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Monday, April 12, 2010

Paris Roubaix

It was a beautiful day yesterday, most of which I wasted sitting in the sunshine smoking a cigar and reading. Late in the afternoon I went in for a beer and was high-jacked by the end of the Masters. The Masters - knocking a little ball around a garden with dyed water ponds and recorded bird calls, being cheered on by row after row of overweight Republicans. They are so cute in their trim little white shorts and floppy hats. By the way, who is the fellow who always shows up to holler, "In the hole!" every time someone tees off, even if it's a par 5?

   Fabian leads Tom Boonen (and a bunch of other Freds) Note: see comments.

As the Masters wound down I flip-flopped between the garden tour and the 108th Paris Roubaix, the Queen of the Classic one day races, run over the narrow, beat-up cobbled roads of rural northern France into Belgium. It was a close race until Fabian Cancellara kicked it up a gear and left the peleton looking like a bunch of stunned Freds. One of the reasons I love this race is there isn't all of that maintaining 3 second margins, team tactic bullshit of the TdF. It's a race of truth, where a rider puts his head down, pedals hard and, if he is the best man, wins. It also helps that the bigger, stronger men win, not some little 120 pound spider of a creature. No offense, spider men. Eventually Fabian ran the margin up to over 3 minutes before letting up and cruising in about 2 1/2 minutes ahead of the field. He is a Man on a flat road, winning his second race in a week. It's too bad they invented mountains or he's ride away with the TdF too. Bad roads and all, he averaged over 25 mph. I've torn the computers off my bikes because they interfere with my experience, but I'm not certain I can even hit 25 mph anymore.

12 comments:

c.a.ricco said...

brilliant :)

Anonymous said...

????????????

Gunnar Berg said...

Welllllllllll, I'll take that as someone who questionnnnns my opinions.

And who, incidently, also violated Rule No.1.

Anonymous said...

Tom Bonnen, a fred??
-Tony

Gunnar Berg said...

He was yesterday.

Gunnar Berg said...

I've reconsidered my position. It was not a fair remark. Tom Boonen is not a Fred. Yesterday, he just didn't have the legs to react. He couldn't even try, and lord knows if he could have, he would have.

Mimbres Man said...

Awesome!
A humble guy as well judging on the bit on the Versus website.

kevin c ruberg said...

did you hit someone or yourself at least when you tore it off...i know i can barely get up a hill but i can definitely hit 25 w/o pedaling downhill ..pedaling all the way(almost) is too dangerous in my experience...i'll add that story to my blog...first i crashed (age 10 or so) ...and then i woke up ...literally

Silk Hope said...

God where do I go with this:

Tom is not a fred he is one away from one of the cycling gods, that being Roger De Vlaeminck.

Gunnar I am a distance cyclist and a one time member of my College Golf team. Golf is a sport and I consider one of the most difficult.

An if one considers the two together there is no cheating in golf and I would dare say there is a considerable amount in Cycling.

As for the republicans in the gallery a couple of my friends went to the masters and they are democrats.

Jack

Gunnar Berg said...

J.
So, what part did you agree with the most? (I abhor attaboys.)

Boone is a good cyclist, not a god. Gods don't freeze when attacked.

Golf. Golf is best played out in rough fields, the way it originated, not in manicured gardens. Of course I watched it anyway. Also, most people feel that "their" sport is the most difficult.

Your Democrat friends are aberrations. Neither a good nor bad thing, statistically golf is heavily weighed to the Right.

Gunnar Berg said...

J,
Note in an earlier comment I temperd my remarks re Tom Boonen.

Silk Hope said...

Gents:

Thought you might like this. Here is the link to velo news with the album of all the team frames etc. Some very cool stuff going on here.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/04/photos/2010-classics-bike-galleries_110824

JG