Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Anarchy Or Irony? The Veneer of Rebellion

In these lean times, corporate entities must do whatever they can to get free publicity. This is especially true of Rock Pants, for whom times are very lean indeed. Of course, a great way to get free publicity if you're a pants company with a bike racing team is to have that team win races, which, to Rock's credit, they did in stage 1 of the Tour of California. But another more slimy way is to create viral videos, like this one, to which I was alerted by a reader:



As much as it pains me to help spread the Rock virus by sharing this, the desperation of which this smacks makes it impossible to ignore. Yes, this video appears to depict a small graffiti strike force actually painting an anarchy symbol and the words "Never Surrender" on the wall of the UCI headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. (Though the soundtrack is, of course, completely inappropriate. The video works much better with this, which gives it the appropriate bumbling Euro feel.)



Moreover, the strike force seems to be comprised of fixed-gear riders on bicycles with Brooks saddles:


I'm not sure how this strike force was assembled, but I'm guessing that either Michael Ball placed an ad on the Lausanne Craigslist, or else he made the errand a prerequisite for the team's European members wanting to ride in the Tour of California.

By the way, even though Rock Racing don't claim responsibility for this act of petty vandalism, it's still obvious that they're behind it. After all, only Michael Ball would be trite enough to try to reheat the anarchy sign, which has been the international corporate symbol for mall punk since the early 1980s. The whole aesthetic make Poison's "God Save The Queen" cover seem edgy. Also, just check out Rock's site:


By the way, I agree with the "Rock's Not Dead" sentiment wholeheartedly, since it's true of both rock and roll and Rock Racing. Neither of these things are dead--they've just become incredibly lame. At any rate, if you watch the stupid video on the site where they show slow-motion images of the riders to moronic rap/metal musical accompaniment, it opens with the same logo from the UCI video:


Incidentally, I'm not sure I understand the sense behind forming a bike racing team, registering with the UCI, and then painting an anarchy sign on their headquarters. Nobody asked them to register with the UCI, and as far as I know nobody's demanding that they surrender either, so I don't see what they're rebelling against. Wouldn't it be more anarchic not to have registered in the first place? If Rock really wanted, they could be the most anarchic team in the world. They could live as freegans by dumpster-diving for their kit, equipment, and meals, and they could do wild stuff like rotate away from the wind instead of into it and wear their shorts on their heads. In the words of the People's Poet, "now that's what I call anarchy!"

At least it's good to know that Rock Racing embrace anarchy enough that they feel it's OK to paint on whatever you want. I only hope they can afford to come to Harlem again this year, because I can think of some logos and slogans that would look great on their Cadillacs.

Of course, if Rock Racing really wanted to be edgy, they'd have hired Chad Gerlach. Attentive readers might remember Chad as the former US Postal rider who fell victim to crack addiction and life on the street, and who was the subject of an episode of the TV show "Intervention" which I used as a wrong answer on a Friday quiz. Well, I'm pleased to report that Chad has found a team anyway, as I learned from this article in my favorite suggestively-titled periodical, Sacbee, forwarded to me by a reader:



Frankly, I think at this point cocky panhandlers would be a lot more useful to Rock Racing than viral videos.

Meanwhile, the Tour of California rolls on, and as it does I marvel not over the fact that the riders manage to brave "cold" and rain on a daily basis, but that anybody has the time to actually follow it. Don't get me wrong--I'm very pleased we now have a race in this country that draws a lot of top riders, and I'm also pleased that it receives so much TV coverage. (Even if one of the announcers is a complete mimbo.) It's just that I'm stretched pretty thin as it is, and between watching two hours of wet cold Tour of California action and my usual backlog of "Gossip Girl" episodes, something's got to give.

This is why, instead of following the Amgen Tour of California this year, I'm following the Rapha Continental Tour of California. This is much easier to follow than the actual Tour, since it consists mostly of photos of studiously "edgy"-looking people riding their bicycles while wearing Rapha clothing:


Thank you, Ralpha, for distilling the Tour of California to its essence for me. Races are complicated, but fashion shoots disguised as epic rides are simple--though I could have done without the ice baths.

One way the Ralpha Continental riders might have avoided the indignity of having to bathe in ice would have been to opt for the resilient, laterally stiff, vertically compliant, and horticulturally deciduous ride of birch wood:



Actually, after scrutinizing the photos of the birch bike for some time, I've come to the conclusion that it's a fraud. Clearly, that's not a wooden bike--it's simply an 80s Kestrel wrapped in woodgrain shelf paper:


And that's not the most vexing bicycle on Fixedgeargallery either. I was even more distressed by this one, largely because of the Nimble front wheel:



When it comes to "upgrades," most of them are pointless--especially for the sort of non-competitive riding most fixters do. Really, most "upgrades" just involve substituting one component for another, nearly identical component made in the same Taiwanese factory but priced significantly higher because of the logo that's been placed on it. Still, if you insist on "upgrading," at least follow some sort of logic in your upgrading. Putting a $700 front wheel on a bike with Truvativ Touro cranks is like wearing an Old Navy sweatsuit and one Prada shoe.

Now I have nothing against inexpensive cranks, but if you insist on spending money pointlessly at least "upgrade" the cranks before buying a stupid front wheel like that. If people are going to make pointless fashion-based upgrades, I strongly believe they should at least follow some sort of mandatory order, kind of like PEMDAS in math. There also definitely needs to be a rule prohibiting more than a $400 differential between front and rear wheel cost, as well as one banning both tubular and clincher wheels on the same bike. Instead, judging from the bar and stem, this rider simply seems to be working from front to back. Hopefully by the time he reaches the bottom bracket he'll either have gone broke or come to his senses, thus sparing us from yet another overwrought bike.

At the very least, he might have adorned his wheel with a catchy slogan. Even if "All You Haters Suck My Balls" is too mainstream for you, there are plenty of others to go around. Here's an interesting variation on the crotchal theme:

A deep sentiment to be sure, though literally speaking, depending on the rider's physical attributes, "balls deep" isn't necessarily that deep at all. Unless it's just missing an apostrophe, and he's a fan of the viral work of Michael Ball. Maybe he's one of the UCI taggers.

123 comments:

Anonymous said...

BKF

Anonymous said...

again?

Anonymous said...

and one more...

innerlighter said...

ood finish

Anonymous said...

Yeah! Life is worth living!

Anonymous said...

whatevs.

innerlighter said...

...or "good" if you prefer

Anonymous said...

Top 10! Good to be back.

RM

leroy said...

Aargh -- I must be slow from hip-checking the car service driver on First Avnue who tried to run me into a truck this morning.

Oh well, top whatever.

agent detroit said...

top 10!

Rapevan said...

top 10!!!!

Anonymous said...

"never give up, never surrender!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI5hi4c4y9k

libertyonbikes! said...

wow! can Ball suck any more?
can we rehash the 80's anymore?
'Punks not Dead'
They seem to be lossing that
street cred. they sooooo desperately need. Maybe they
could just ACTUALLY be punks -
like cycling's version of the
Hanson brothers from Slapshot.
Or like the Italians from
Breaking Away. Nothing like a
pump through the spokes!

libertyonbikes! said...

15th?

Anonymous said...

BALZ DEEP

libertyonbikes! said...

ok, now 15th?

libertyonbikes! said...

I'll take 20th in advance...
thank you!

Anonymous said...

note the double chain ring on the wooden fix.

Actually, it looks like a compact double.

confirmation, crack wrenches?

hillbilly said...

me too leroy! on 1st ave too! (around 18th or so)... ok, i know the odds aren't so slim, but still

Anonymous said...

2 rehashes from last comments section. 1) californians have got to stop talking about how miserable the weather is. it's still 47 degrees.

2) snob - i agree with you on most everything, but i think that fixters aren't nearly the weather woosies you make them out to be, the deluge of pistasters coming off billy burg bridge was overwhelming this am.

Anonymous said...

Woot! Woot!

Anonymous said...

the brake quick release is open too.

and wow, he rode it for 50 whole miles with no problems!

so, 300 or 350 hours of build time

divide by 10 hours of riding at
5 mph...

or do you prefer 2 hours of 25 mph?

=lame

bikes are for riding

Anonymous said...

i'm tall, but what up with the giant riding the masi. is it manute bol?

Anonymous said...

The owner of the wooden bike must have sanded off the Louisville Slugger logo from the downtube.

Anonymous said...

Are you my Daddy?

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize how tough things were in this economy. In the Tour Of California Amgen was too cheap to pay the toll on the Golden Gate bridge so VIP fans had to chip in at $500 each.

leroy said...

I think Rock Racing and Michael Ball may be the victims here.

It's kind of suspicious that when covered by a jacket, all you see of the Rock Racing shorts is the word "Dead" across the crotch.

That sounds like a plea for a good chamois cream that resists rain.

Is the same person who set Michael Ball up with the UCI tagging, the same person who arranged to print "DEAD" across Rock Racing riders' crotches?

Or is the DEAD crotch message a surreptitious plea flashed by Rock Racing riders held hostage to fashion?

No matter.

Good for Mancebo, I say!

The win is in, the word is out and now Mr. Ball can turn to product improvement instead of worrying about Rock Racing's reputation being in "tatters."

Unless, of course, "tatters" is newspeak for "schmatas."

streepo said...

I'd prefer ood, thank you

bikesgonewild said...

...here ya go, salt encrusted noreaster...i moved this over from yesterdays refuse left by the curb...

...yep, you guys do deserve props for commuting in the cold stuff, no doubt...but salt ???...that's for seasoning food, no ???...like california cuisine...sheesh...

...& while organizers don't "plan to" race bikes in it, you back-easters do have various forms of the activity known as skiing...

...i can honestly say i've been more uncomfortable riding my cross bike in the hills in the cold rain out here (warm rain's a different story) than i ever felt skiing in canada, as a kid...
...damp cold seems to penetrate everything...

...& i emphasize "plan to" because after receiving an e-mail from a friend in socal who is snowed in at their mountain cabin, i asked about the palomar climb on the last stage of the 'atoc'...
...his diagnosis is that while the road itself is usually clear, if it's snowing on top on sunday, then they'll come riding up in the rain 'til the snow line is reached...& it's apparently notoriously windy & blustery up there...

...should be an interesting finale no matter how it plays out...

Poppymann said...

Looking at those Rapha ice baths made my junk shrink.

leroy said...

Bill --

Dang, it's contagious!

I got into a little dust up just before Mount Sinai Hospital (talk about convenient).

Radio dispatched Lincoln Town car service driver, accelerating in reverse and coming straight at me.

I swing right and slap his right quarter panel as I pass.

He then changes direction, comes up around me and rubs me with his left front panel.

Well, what could I do? I knocked his driver's side view mirror backwards with my hand as he's trying to force me into a truck turning left.

Before we both hit the truck, I squeeze between him and the truck. Can't figure out if that was when he caught my hip or if that happened when he side swiped me.

I stayed on the bike and did a U-Turn and so we could have a polite discussion.

He was out of his car complaining that I had touched it twice.

How rude of me.

Jim said...

In addition to never surrendering, I understand that Michael Ball also wears sunglasses at night.

I'm noticing a theme here, and it ain't pretty.

hillbilly said...

unfrickin real. i hate that, i've had so many drivers yell at me for 'touching' their car, when it is (almost) always out of self preservation. town car drivers are right up there with access a rides...hope your ok

hillbilly said...

um, hope YOU'RE ok. yeesh

bikesgonewild said...

...wow...poppyman's got "shrunk junk"...most appropriate to 'rock' 'em in a pair of those "rocks not dead" cycling bibs & wear them w/ the "i wouldn't be caught dead wearing one a' those" jersey's that they handed out those folks who paid $500 bucks to ride across the golden gate bridge in the damp, early morning, just getting started slipstream of effluvium cast off by the already rain soaked, disgruntled peloton...

...& i guess that well spent money is just another way of appreciating the "blue collar" aspects of the colorful, glamorous & exciting sport of bike racing...erp, phew...

...just sayin'...

MINGUStheMECHANIC said...

The wheelbase on that bamboozeled bike concerns me.
Rock racing must've paid the UCI for wallspace w/ the aggreement to clean up after filming otherwise that southern sheriff who is after phelps will team up with the notorious(when not playing cycle ball-wtf)swiss police. Those cats are tuff.

kale said...

Snob:

Poison or Sex Pistols?

Either way they're fuckin' wankers.

The only real punks today are feegans, they're the post-pre-peri-punks. Their ideals are loosely based on only living a fee-based life. They want to live "in the grid", as they say, purchasing as much as possible from sources such as Hot Topic, American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, or Ed Hardy, extra street-cred goes for supporting locally screen printed shirts.

Michael Ball is their collectivly elected consociational organizer.

hillbilly said...

a-rod's press conference 'this happened for a reason, god gave me a forum to have my voice heard', you know, because he didn't have one before...

Anonymous said...

I hate car service drivers. They're like cabbies with a sense of entitlement.

Anonymous said...

As Udder noted, there is an unfortunate baseball theme today.

The Balls Deep fixed gear has the San Francisco Giants logo head badge making it a MLB-fixster collabo.

"Balls deep" could be hipster code for a homerun, "Bonds drifts back...looks up...and it's gone balls deep!"

Or perhaps a 3-0 count, "3 balls, no strikes, looks like the pitcher's balls deep!"

streepo said...

Sex Pistols wankers?

Now you're making me feel old.

Anonymous said...

The BSNYC Google Juice dropped at Mellow Johnnie's today and I scored a tube.

I masticating most and then prepped my chammy with the leftovers!

When I booted up my iPhone, I went to www.google.com and thanks to the juice flowing through my fingertips I found this:Balls Deep

kale said...

The days of the three
hundred dollar jeans are gone.
It's true: Ball is deep.

Anonymous said...

iMasticating

Anonymous said...

Snob, loved the People's Poet reference.....Cliff, Cliff, Guitar Riff....

Anonymous said...

ROCK RACING IS NOT DEAD.

It just smells like that.

Leroy..more on the DEAD crotch here.

Meester Balls..he feed us now!"

Anonymous said...

LOVE the Young Ones reference; the quote that came to my mind as I was reading was "Yeah, this will shake them up at the Anarchists Society" from the "Bomb" episode.

... although even Rick is less of a poseur than Rock Racing.

Anonymous said...

A self-proclaimed "fucking good writer" ought to know that a team comprises its riders, it isn't comprised of them. And don't bother whining about grammar nazis; I'm as critical as you are, and especially critical of hypocrites.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you. When I saw that Masi fixie on the gallery, all I could think was, "What the hell is that aero wheel for?" Us racers are told over and over that those wheels aren't strong enough for daily use, and we must care for them, and now fixsters are riding them on their everyday beater bikes? Please. Your Prada/Old Navy analogy was right on.

Maybe someone needs to come out and ask Rock Racing what they're rebelling against. So far their tour performance seems to be on par with tour performances. I want to seem them ride naked. Now THAT would be something. See how those rocks do in that cold weather...

Anonymous said...

i, for one, do not want to see how their rocks do in cold weather.

bikesgonewild said...

...leroy...glad ya weren't suffering from "deer in the taillight" syndrome...

...& a hard flat hand slap on a rear quarter panel makes a serious amount of "fuck, what was that ??? gotta stop now !!!" noise inside the car but causes no damage...

...when the inevitable confrontation happens, ya just indignantly tell 'em "that's what it woulda sounded like if you'd run me over 'cuz ya weren't paying attention, ya fuck !!!"...

...been there, done that...more than once...

Anonymous said...

When I decided to come back, for what I think is a very noble reason, you said, 'The nazi has been in Nurenburg for four years, our nazi has now returned' – meaning me, that I am the grammar nazi!

kale said...

So does the rule work both ways - I'm thinking about rubbing a Planet Bike rack on my new $10,000 time trial bike - should I have gone with Jandd?

Anonymous said...

Maybe Ball’s Deep, like Helm’s Deep in The Lord of the Rings, is a fortress of last resort where Michael Ball intends to make his final stand. I’ll be rooting for the orcs this time. They recognize they made a mistake by using performance-enhancing magic when they were running/rubbing/pillaging for Saruman, but I believe in second chances.

Anonymous said...

No more crack for Chad.
Good job, Brah.
Dope fiend beat.

First real comment.

Anonymous said...

that's not anywhere close to first real comment

Anonymous said...

punks hipsters and ironing come and go but rednecks is forever

fuck you leroy

nothing aginst you i just like the way it sounds

CommieCanuck said...

light it up!, Popo".

If yer really, really bored. Now with 100% more porn.

Gnarles Darwin said...

"ICEY BATH"

"COLD NUTS"

CommieCanuck said...

Dave!..written like a true level III dungeon master.

bikesgonewild said...

...yahoo headline: "First beaver in 75 years"...

...oh great, now yahoo's commenting on my sex life...god dammit...

Anonymous said...

The sponsors of Chad Gerlach's new team- McDonalds and The Vatican. WTF?

Anonymous said...

All You Haters Suck Mike Ball

Anonymous said...

There was a cyclist named Chad,
Who was quite a fast little lad.
But he called Lance "Dough Boy,"
And lost his employ.
Now he's wishing he tried to wear plaid

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure snobby meant "ruggedly handsome and athletically adept to a jealousy-inducing degree" in regards to a certain studious rider.

Mud said...

I actually saw that birch bike in the wild a couple of days ago. Well, it was captured in a roof rack at Bee Cave and Loop 360 but that is neither here nor there.

It didn't really give me a woody but to each his own.

Anonymous said...

Snob of Snobs: check the dictionary - you don't know what you're talking about.

Anonymous said...

so anyways me and ricky been hanging around jolenes house and watching pubic broadcasting network shit for kids and its even dummer than kids books i mean you can say anything you want to the little brats if yor smiling and you gots all yor teeth and yor a yung woman with big tits like looky here heres a big pile of shit and how does that make you feel about yorself i bet it makes you feel purty good

so i been feeding ricky lots of metromusil and hes going to have a reely big shit and jolene is going to say boy howdy look at that big pile of shit how does that make you feel and ricky is going to say purty damm good and im going to get it on my camcorder and well send it in to the pubic broadcasting company and make like a million dollors and well call it sesame shit
rickys telling me i needs to lay off the oxycontin but im saying it makes me reel creative

Anonymous said...

boy howdy!

bikesgonewild said...

...ya, good idea, red neckerson & i'd add "but don't quite yer day job"...

...prob'ly i oughta say "don't stop pickin' up them government (gubbamint ???) checks"...

Anonymous said...

that's one syllable. gumint

Anonymous said...

"Old Navy sweatsuit and one Prada shoe"

HEY!

bikesgonewild said...

...i'm bettin' it depends on which side of the tracks ya live on...

bikesgonewild said...

...this tour of california thingy involves a lotta team vehicles including buses...

...would somebody please throw craig hummer under one...

...thank you...

Anonymous said...

nope, take it from a southerner, one thing it ain't is gubbamint, that's just damn wrong. maybe gummin, or gumint, or g'min, but ain't no ubba in no word cept bubba

bikesgonewild said...

...fuck, anon 5:56pm...consider this a written apology...

...i defer to an obvious southern english major...

Anonymous said...

BGW, but would you take a hummer from Craig?

Anonymous said...

guh minn

Anonymous said...

damn, late again.

bikesgonewild said...

...nasty shit, that...but i'd gladly drive the bus as it rolled over him...

...& speaking of "roll", bob roll is infinitely more interesting when teamed up w/ phil n' paul...

...INFINITELY !!!...

THE PUNVERT said...

Lance Armstrong's bike is stolen...

Anarchy!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/4678052/Lance-Armstrongs-stolen-bike-Fake-adverts-on-eBay-and-Craigslist.html

Anonymous said...

what was that crap sound track on the video ?

Anonymous said...

I was so afraid you were going to talk a bunch of shit about Sac for the bike theft. And somehow that was skipped and Gerlach was discussed. Whew.

Anonymous said...

Good to see that that they had rear lights on. Damn you would not want to be run done from behind by a Saab when you are out tagging public buildings at 3.24 in the morning …. Or was it afternoon as I can never tell in those Viking climes. And given their environmental sensitivity , I would assume that they are using eco friendly water based paints

Frills I aint buying the new picture of yesterday .. we need to have it validated by either frilly stuff or bruises or both as we are a titillated based crew here

Perhaps BALLS are not dead but mighty numb.... just sayin

kale said...

Since we're on the subject of exploding crabon and expensive front wheels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MedBqoFPv-o

See 2:50

Does anyone know where I can get a derny? I want to show those Vespas what's up.

miketrackman said...

Chad just finished his first Stage race in his comeback. In his first crit back he started an early break with Jackson Stewart and stayed away the whole time. He would have won but he was riding a Trek 5200 with 36 spoke training wheels.

Anonymous said...

None of these losers can trackstand. posers!

Ronsonic said...

Maybe it's because I'm a cranky old curmudgeon - being all rebellious and anarchical about a system that cares so little what you do that it can't even be bothered to swat at you like a fly is just annoying. It isn't brave or even edgy, it's just stupid.

Dave said...

Rock Racing sure is hardcore, they stole the slogan from Galaxy Quest. Tim Allen is counter-culture as hell, yo.

Anonymous said...

okay, seriously? 90 comments and no one has figured out that "balls deep" refers to the teabagging that his stem takes every time that he rocks/runs/rubs an elephant trunk. Damn, this site is getting to be like racing in some sort of squirelly CAT 5 criterium in Ohio.

Anonymous said...

Teabag your top tube. Hilarious.

http://teabagsontoptubes.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

oh rapha... such the drama queens. 750 miles is very far yes, but 576 (AIDS lifecycle ride) is just as big of a feat. i rode ALC6 in 2007 and it was tough for me and i am no pro but still i think i am a decent enough rider. The real heroes are the riders with full blown AIDS that do not complain one inch of the way (and they ride the full 576 miles too). Having seen them ride that, it sort of dilutes the rapha "struggle" on day 3. Maybe it is a fashion week stunt?

Anonymous said...

http://shop.rapha.com/meditations-for-children-cd-206-p.asp

???

Anonymous said...

hey snob the first comment says "be careful". any clue why?

Anonymous said...

Not today AP. Its all about letting Levi ride.

btw, the bruise is doing well--not completely gone. Perhaps I will do an update shot in frillies instead of a thong. We'll see.

FrankOnABike said...

Is it just me, or does the fork rake on that Masi look a little steep? I know its a track bike, but the fork looks like it had an unfortunate encounter with a parked car. Might explain why he felt the need to upgrade the wheel. Better luck next time dude.

Anonymous said...

rapha has a lot of catching up to do with their media whore counterparts mash.

i caught a peek of them riding their overgeared fixed wheels ahead of the toc stage one course. they were chasing a peeping tom van that had a video camera pointing out the back.

as they road by me to the sound of snapping knee tendons i had an epiphany: mash is the globo gym that trains future white goodmans.

as warren beatty said to madonna, if it isn't being filmed why bother doing it?

george said...

BALLS DEEP ...The iron chef of pounding vagggggg

george said...

BALLS DEEP. I, like, seriously, love, you know, deep balls in my vaghhhhhh.

george said...

BALLS DEEP and Tea bagging the top tube....I Just came in my pants.

george said...

WIN CHAD. FUCKING.WIN.

panino said...

not even top 100.
I must have used to much energy yesterday.

Anonymous said...

I totally thought the same thing about Chad and Rock Racing.

Anonymous said...

From the Rapha Prologue report (http://www.rapha.cc/continental/index.php?page=695):

'each grabs a plastic bowl and fills it with yogurt and granola, followed by a mug of ‘sink coffee’ made with a giant French press and the local tap water.'

I can't believe they're reduced to making coffee with water FROM THE TAP!

Anonymous said...

Birch isn't stiff. It is rather flexy.

CommieCanuck said...

Frilly..you need to give serious thought to the purple and red garter for THIGHSTRONG. Once you start a charity, no one can ever question your integrity ever again.

Anonymous said...

The only true problem with any bike made out of wood is if you piss someone off at the bar or have friends that enjoy a good prank, they just may go out and literally set your bike on fire. With that in mind I need to go purchase some Ronson lighter fluid and start stalking the damn Calfee bamboo bike I know is in my part of the world.

Anonymous said...

i'm not usually one to hate on the comments, but, i don't know if it was the break or what, but these are some level way beyond completely lame.

Anonymous said...

Trackstands: Poser if ya do, poser if ya don't.

Anonymous said...

thank you for proving my point

CommieCanuck said...

anon 10:27:

Yeah, thanks for fixing that.

Anonymous said...

you betcha

swiggco world said...

What it is.....Rapha visited my shop last year on one of their epic tours. It was my wedding anniversasry so I told them that I had to leave work at 6:00 p.m. . They assured me that they would be there by 3:30-4:00 p.m. at the latest. They underestimated the epicness of thier route and showed up right around 5:40. I think what they are doing looks like fun, riding really challenging routes in nice wool cycling gear and having someone artfully chronicle the journey as it unfolds. I love to ride and wish I could do the same......too busy working. They are nice folks and not really as edgy in real life. Also, I doubt they would fail a dope test. Cheers, Paul.

Anonymous said...

Snob, I think your cynicism has blinded you to the homoerotic sado/masochistic (perhaps less sado than maso, but who really will ever know) poetry of the Rapha Continental. If you're interested and want to truly grasp what it's all about, a few of my pals (actually, imaginary pals) (we have long intimate discussions late into the lonely night) and I are organizing a Garden State Continental that will include some of the massive ascents in NJ, leg shredders!, lung flamers!, molar grinders!, such as the alpine treasures found in the vicinity of the Hidden Valley, the dreaded and adored Holland Mt. Road, as well as the prickly and hot Weldon Rd. to Mahlon Dickerson route. We plan on grilling boudin noir post-ride and scrubbing our lactic-leaden quads with luffa sponges lubed up with authentic NJ swamp water hauled bare-chested from local black bear drinking grounds.

CommieCanuck said...

Frills..

Let Levi crash

THIGHSTRONG has a front man!

ice cube said...

Nice use of Blitz?! Oi Oi Oi! SHARP Fixie Riders for life!!!!

Anonymous said...

Yes, Commie, but I think his wife might have an issue with him wearing the garter. Maybe if I put a little plastic cat or horse charm on it. Oh, I think we're on to something cuz that would pull in all the animal rights people.

Next stop, early retirement and drinks with little paper umbrellas.

Anonymous said...

Oxford Modern Dictionary Definition

Rock Racing- Poseur Cycling Team: widely known as Cocks Racing

Gio said...

"Putting a $700 front wheel on a bike with Truvativ Touro cranks is like wearing an Old Navy sweatsuit and one Prada shoe."

LOVE IT!!!

Preach on brother!

Anonymous said...

my girlfriend compares it to having a Ford SHO and one spinner

Anonymous said...

Bunch of snobs, bitching about unimportant shit. *yawn*

P.S. that balls deep bike is nice

Unknown said...

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