Trivial cycling news



Riccardo Ricco's new team kit



Oh yeah, Riccardo Ricco is back in the news denying that he transfused his own blood and almost died.  I don't think he is denying that he almost died, but I think he already forgot his near death experience.  Is this guy a goldfish?  I had sympathy for him when he was in the hospital dying, but now he is trying my brotherly love.  I'm pretty much done with this guy.  I wish him the best of luck, any team out there looking for a unstable rider with the memory capacity of a...hey check out that shiny sparkly...wanna go ride bikes.



I thought that we lived in the belt buckle of cyclist hateland, but apparently it is alive and well even in the most bike friendly parts of the world.  Authorities are looking into the "appearance of tacks" on the course of the Amstel Gold Race in Maastricht, Netherlands. Some local residents have been protesting against the "nuisance" of cyclists and the impact on their community.  A bunch of guys on bikes, is it the noise?  The pollution?  What's the deal with people on bikes?  If it were a marathon it's OK, put 'em on bikes and now it is unacceptable.  I'm pretty much done with cyclist hate.  Give it a rest people, hate something else like poverty, hunger, or cancer.  Use your hate for good not evil.

Photo: © James Huang/Future Publishing

Frederic Guesdon.  Doesn't ring a bell?  It did in the velodrome at Paris-Roubaix 1997 on the last lap before he won.  Did you google him yet?  What's that?  He rode in the 2011 edition of Roubaix with FDJ, and he was eleventh crossing the line.  How is this all relevant?  Frederic is 39yrs old, previous winner and he rode on a 2006 TIG-welded aluminum cyclo-cross frame that weighed in around 19.05lb.  Luddite to the core, and he must have a very impressive core to manage that kind of race on that kind of bike.  I'm going to have to give Guesdon 5 stars for being a badass.  Who in their right mind would line up a 39yr old as your go-to guy in arguably the greatest Classic?  Marc Madiot (Roubaix 1991) he must have seen something in Frederic, and if anyone would know Madiot would.  I'll give Marc 4 stars for having a set of brass ones.