Everything is irrelevant

I know how we all like to banter and speak about our bike racing knowledge, be philosophical about how races unfold, talk about how this climb is brutal even though we have never seen it in person. When guys cant pull through when we have placed beer bets on them, we throw them under the bus for this reason or that reason. But it is all irrelevant at this point.

Hours out on the road looking for glory is not going to happen for any of us. We are all too old, weigh too much, drink good Belgium beers to much, spend to much time in front of a computer or fill in the blank excuse and add too much to the end of it....and there is nothing wrong with that.

De Koppenberg Pers is going black for the rest of the summer. With the passing away of our youngest, newest member of the peleton on Saturday the 19th, bike racing is irrelevant.

So when that Saturday or Sunday comes along and the temps are going to be in the
80's, instead of dropping that 25 bucks for another office park crit, suprise your wife and kids and take them to the zoo or the park or the movies. It will cost you the same, you are still in the sun and having fun.

There is nothing more important in this world than spending time with your family. Becuase 12 days 3 hours and 20 minutes was to short of a time for Grant Lars Visscher to be spending time with my wife and I....

Tom Boonen heeft de 106e editie van Parijs-Roubaix

WOW!!!!
I don't know what else to say about today's race. It had a bit of everything. Guys falling down, flat tires, breaks, catches, sprints and the best....COBBLES!!!!

With this being the last race of the parlay.....picks were:

Big Brian: Hincapie
Ron: Boonen
Rich: Hoste

Once again, cycling.tv has let us down....thank god this is Dash's money that is being wasted. After getting up at O dark thirty to turn on the race and then waiting almost 30 minutes for the log in to work....I was able to find another live stream but no audio. Once I was logged in at CTV, the audio was the only thing that worked. It was so bad the CTV opened up all streams for free....what is Dash's 50 bucks going to then????? Found this post over at CTV about it,

So I was able to get to the race at the best part...Arenburg Forrest. The 3 leaders came through and then the lead group, then Pretty Boy Pozzato and Flyin' Flecha after then crashed into each other. PBP was kinda torn up with his hip hanging out his shorts but FF looked good and after a 25k chase, both were back up there. Then our US of A kid, Ditchcapie fell victim to a flat tire and with their team car in the 24th position and no yellow moto around and his teammates leaving him on the side of the road, his day was done, as stick a fork in him.

Tomeke, Spartacus, Stijn and ABallan saw this and hit the "GO" button and it was game over for the rest. Stijn and Stuey were off and the rest were holding the bag until Hoste and Big Van Summeren brought them back but it was time for the kings to head up the road.

Spartacus, Tomeke and ABallan went and nobody was going to go with them with less than 20k and 3 sectors of pave left. It looked like Spartacus was going to take another flyer like he did in MSR but it never happened. Tomeke took a big turn up the banking at the velodrome and came by quick and fast and the other 2 never had a chance. Here is a great clip from France2 about today's race.

Superman!!!!!

Next up on the schedule is the Scheldeprijs on Wednesday and then most of the big Northern Classics guys will shut it down for the spring and get ready for the pre Tour stage races in June and then Grande Boucle!!!!

Our next 3 race parlay will be starting on Sunday with the Amstel Gold Race, then Fleche Wallone and then Liege Bastogne Liege...which has some of the nastiest climbs outside of the high Pyrenees and Alps.

My rider parlay is not looking good

So I am a little late with this update. My wife and I just had are second world class cyclist on Tuesday night. Grant Lars will be out turning circles with his brother Mason and the old man before you know it.

Picks for G-W follows:
Ron - Fillipo Pozzato
Brian - Mark Cavendish
Rich - Tom Boonen

So Wednesday morning, in the hospital, using Ron's log in, I got to watch part of G-W. Cycling.tv needs better servers. Ron is paying for the mack daddy package at 1200 and we can barely watch stuff at 400 at this point. When it did finally come up, Ron's pick was out in the lead and riding away with Philipe Gilbert. Then QSI, Rabo and High Road hit the front and pulled them back and then the attacks started. Looked like CSC was going to do it with 2 guys in a 5 man break.

But it all went up in flames in the final 2k and Mark Cavendish must have thought that the red kite at 1k was the finish line because he just stopped pedalling. Tommeke was not close either and Pozzato might have just crossed the line now since he was out in front for a while.

Sunday is the greatest day in Frecnh Cycling, Paris-Roubaix. It now starts in Compiègne, about 100 k's North of Paris these days. I am hoping for a day of this type of riding:

According to weather.com, here is the forcast: Cloudy, periods of rain, High in the upper 40's.

I like that forcast. The only that I can predict now, everyone will be on the Vittoria All Weather 700x26mm tubies.

The second greatest day in Belgium cycling

The 92nd edition of the Ronde is in the books and I am buying Primus for everyone!! Tough man Stijn Devolder has taken the win today for all of Belgium. Rode away with about 25k to go and rode over the Muur and Bosberg by himself. It was touch and go with about 5k to go with Nuyens and Flecha but he had the power to hold them off.

Got up early and turned on http://www.cyclingfans.com/ to see who had the live feed and low and behold, Eruosport was open to the world. Big Brian and Dash called from AZ to let me know that over at http://www.cycling.tv/ you can use the same login on multiple machines so there was a backup plan.

Up the race came with 70k to go and we are off races fans. Was just sitting down to breakfast when the Koppenberg came up and Tommeke was powering up and killing the field. A couple of k's later and there is Leif Hoste, standing in the middle of the road with a dead bike and no team car in sight...that feeling has to suck!!

A few minutes later, Angel Gomez from Sanuier Duval had one of the biggest crashes I have ever seen. He is chasing with his head down and runs straight away into a parking island, the cop with his flag had to move so he would not get hit. Carbon Scott bike and Mavic wheels everyone...dont think the mechanic will be able to put that back together.

From there it was all Stijn, all the time. He waited for attacks to come back from Oscar Freire and Thor. Decieded it was time to hit the GO button on the Eikenmolen at 25k and waved bye bye. A great win for him in the tri-color of Belgium national champ.

Next up on the menu is Gent Wevelgem on Wednesday as Flanders week heads down the road and then Sunday, the greatest day in French cycling, Paris Roubaix.

Big Brian, Dash and I have always bet on races since we met. Tour, Giro, Classics, City Park, 2 kids on bigwheels riding down the driveway, it does not matter who is in it. We have a 3 rider parlay going for this week. You get 20 points for a win and 2 pts for 20th and you get 1 point for your guy finishing the race.

For Flanders, here were our picks

Brian - Fabian Cancellara

Dash - Phillipe Gilbert

Rich - Sylvian Chavanel

The highest points after next Sunday wins and the 2 losers have to buy beers at the Cheeky Monk.

Update - Let me also add that Velonews SUCKS!!! They have a story on George with the title of : Can Hincapie suprise at Flanders? But they have a picture of him in a Disco jersey from 2 years ago!!! Bettini is right behind him in a regular QS jersey...he has been WC for 2 years now. Note to VN staff: Get a current picture of George or dont put up anything...you look like you dont know anything about cycling!!!

Velonews - tuning into the "People" magazine for the cycling industry