Despite an unfortunate initial results mix-up, it was Nathan O’Neill first in the men’s prologue – and Katie Mactier in the women’s! Brown was 5th in the Tour of Belgium and O’Grady 2nd in the Rundfarht.

Meanwhile Simoni has taken the tough Zoncolan stage in the Giro, with Di Luca doing enough to stay on top overall. It’s looking good for Danilo, but can he hold on? The TT may be the true test.

Despite an unfortunate initial results mix-up, it was Nathan O’Neill first in the men’s prologue – and Katie Mactier in the women’s! Brown was 5th in the Tour of Belgium and O’Grady 2nd in the Rundfarht.

Meanwhile Simoni has taken the tough Zoncolan stage in the Giro, with Di Luca doing enough to stay on top overall. It’s looking good for Danilo, but can he hold on? The TT may be the true test.

Some countries – and some companies for that matter – block access to some sites on the Web. Typically these are attempts to restrict access to information that ‘the government’ deems either unsavoury and immoral – like porn – or counter to the stability of the country; or perhaps just the stability and longevity of government itself. We can be critical of these attempts, sitting as we do in countries where freedom is relatively unrestricted, but we should (here I go preaching again) be aware that (a) not so long ago Western nations were just as censorious and (b) it’s all relative. We don’t want terrorists, racists and extremists of any sort having unfettered access and influence, do we? Indeed as parents we restrict our kids’ access, and companies want employees to focus on their work rather than on MySpace, so it’s not so difficult to imagine wanting to restrict other groups for other reasons. Whether you do or not depends upon your personal moral and philosophical stance.
Having said all that, it’s equally valid to want all citizens of all countries to have the freedom to express their views without fear, and to receive access to whatever they want, when they want. Bottom line, it’s not always easy to allow that, indeed it can be counter-productive to moral and political stability, and some countries take greater care in blocking out what they don’t want their citizens to see. Of course some countries take a less democratic approach to such actions, and that’s where some Westerners, used to taking what they believe is the high moral ground, get passionate about civil rights. And some repressed citizenry get rightly upset as well.
Which brings me to proxy servers and other IP-cloaking techniques. Basically if you bounce your HTTP requests off a server that receives and resends that request, and on the opposite side receives and resends the response, you have a disconnect. There’s no direct connection between request and response as teh proxy stands between you and the target. Now this allows you to look as though you are accessing an approved site when in fact you could access any site, so you are cloaked, as it were. You could also wrap and tunnel your way out, but let’s just look at the simple way for now. Fact is that the proxies can be banned as well, but not so easily if (a) they move around a lot or (b) there’s lots of ‘em. So proxies let banned sites become accessible again, at least as long as they are unknown. Proxies are everywhere, but a simple proxy tool is gaining some mindshare and causing heartaches as well. Psiphon is its name. It allows anyone to set up a simple proxy server on their internet-worked PC. Anyone who wants to, can. Such proxies can then be seen as innocuous targets and remain unbanned, when in fact they could be providing a channel for ordinary people living under ‘repressive’ regimes to simply contact friends and family.

However Forbes has reported that these altruistic channels are also being ‘abused’ by porn-seekers, and theoretically could be used by anyone for any nefarious purpose. And the altruists can look in their proxy logs (surely a ‘breach of privacy’ to some, for starters) and see that abuse. Which of course has put some responsibility back on the proxy providers and resulted in at least some of them questioning what they are doing and – ironically – how they can ban ‘improper’ use. Which just goes to prove why censorship is all relative, doesn’t it?  

Forbes reports that Dell has indeed gone mad and turned to the bricks-and mortar retail channel – Wal-Mart, in fact – to get sales growing again. Now if you are an e-tailer who relies on pocketing the extra margin available from ‘disintermediating’, ie cutting out the ‘middle-man’, how exactly do you make any money by selling via Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart will hardly want to sell above your online price, so effectively you thin down your margin and take a smaller slice. Now this extra volume does hurt your competitors, sure, and it does keep your volume up (keeping per-unit costs down) and your revenue climbing in total value terms, but with less margin. Assuming this is an on-going arrangement, not a one-off that Dell walks away from in 6 months, the prospect is for ever-thinning margins… until?

Interesting quote here at VeloNews. “Frankly, if the rest of the peloton was clean, Ullrich would have won the Tour de France at least 10 times,” D’Hont said.

Now he also said that Ullrich had taken EPO, so I guess this is very hypothetical. But is he saying that if Ullrich had been clean, and everyone else, that Ullrich would have won 10 times?

Frankly it rings true for me. Does anyone remember how good Jan was at the start of his pro career? I do – he was unbelievably good before he rode Le Tour – and clearly a Tour-rider, not a classics-rider in the making (although he was talented enough to do well there if he wanted). So what he achieved in his career was pretty well consistent- no sudden rise to the top – well OK, he did fabulously well at his first TdF – but generally it was obvious that he was someone who could climb, TT and race day after day. He was ‘in the mould’, as it were, of the past greats. Now is that always true? I guess not, and it proves nothing about those who suddenly converted from OK to above-average classics-rider to stunning Tour rider – but it does make one wonder.

Interesting quote here at VeloNews. “Frankly, if the rest of the peloton was clean, Ullrich would have won the Tour de France at least 10 times,” D’Hont said.

Now he also said that Ullrich had taken EPO, so I guess this is very hypothetical. But is he saying that if Ullrich had been clean, and everyone else, that Ullrich would have won 10 times?

Frankly it rings true for me. Does anyone remember how good Jan was at the start of his pro career? I do – he was unbelievably good before he rode Le Tour – and clearly a Tour-rider, not a classics-rider in the making (although he was talented enough to do well there if he wanted). So what he achieved in his career was pretty well consistent- no sudden rise to the top – well OK, he did fabulously well at his first TdF – but generally it was obvious that he was someone who could climb, TT and race day after day. He was ‘in the mould’, as it were, of the past greats. Now is that always true? I guess not, and it proves nothing about those who suddenly converted from OK to above-average classics-rider to stunning Tour rider – but it does make one wonder.

It was good to see a fighting Simoni on the 14th stage, to see Garzelli win the stage and see DiLuca hang in there overall. DiLuca looks strong, maybe strong enough, but there are still mountains to climb, and a TT. He has fallen short in the past, and someone – perhaps DiLuca – could still crack. It may not be him, but we can expect some fireworks first as they desperately try to gain back time before the TT.

Meanwhile in Catalunya we see Karpets still in the lead over Rogers. By my calculations there’s just one stage to go – with 3 cat 3s and a cat2 climb to the finish. You’d imagine T-Mobile will attack at the base of the final climb and launch Rogers to the win, wouldn’t you? Yes, but this is T-Mobile, so you never really know. Menchov is also a chance, if the Rabo team can play the tactics right. Sevilla would have to pull off an almighty escape to win, surely.

It was good to see a fighting Simoni on the 14th stage, to see Garzelli win the stage and see DiLuca hang in there overall. DiLuca looks strong, maybe strong enough, but there are still mountains to climb, and a TT. He has fallen short in the past, and someone – perhaps DiLuca – could still crack. It may not be him, but we can expect some fireworks first as they desperately try to gain back time before the TT.

Meanwhile in Catalunya we see Karpets still in the lead over Rogers. By my calculations there’s just one stage to go – with 3 cat 3s and a cat2 climb to the finish. You’d imagine T-Mobile will attack at the base of the final climb and launch Rogers to the win, wouldn’t you? Yes, but this is T-Mobile, so you never really know. Menchov is also a chance, if the Rabo team can play the tactics right. Sevilla would have to pull off an almighty escape to win, surely.

OK, no-one is seriously surprised that Riis doped in ’96 to win the Tour, are they? He didn’t have to come clean, but he – like Zabel and Aldag – at least have the decency to admit their mistakes. The problem now is who should be declared winner of ’96? Ullrich was 2nd, and although he hasn’t admitted anything it would be a brave TdF organisation that would declare Ullrich the winner, surely.

OK, no-one is seriously surprised that Riis doped in ’96 to win the Tour, are they? He didn’t have to come clean, but he – like Zabel and Aldag – at least have the decency to admit their mistakes. The problem now is who should be declared winner of ’96? Ullrich was 2nd, and although he hasn’t admitted anything it would be a brave TdF organisation that would declare Ullrich the winner, surely.

OK, an iBike update, firstly. The 3V battery dropped below the recommended 2.75V so I swapped in a new one. First battery had lasted for about 26 average 1-hour rides, or about 40 days. I used the “coast” function about 7 times. Maybe 6 rides were about 90 minutes. The new battery lasted 2 whole rides (and 3 “coast” tests) before dropping below 2.75V! Aaaargh. I rode yesterday and today with the battery below the minimum and the results are fine, so I guess there’s a margin for error here (if you start below 2.75V and ride for 6 hours I’d guess you may lose some data, or get screwy data). Now I know why iBike sell batteries in bags of 20!

I also filled the memory once and have taken to dumping the ride list more often. The unit is still reliable but when analysing the data I suspect (and I cannot prove this) that it:

• undervalues flat-land efforts by 20-50W (ie shows 150-180W when my manual calculations suggest 200W is closer)
• overvalues sprints by a considerable amount – as much as 50% higher (ie shows 1500W when manual calculations point to maybe 1000W) but only for a second or 2
• is most accurate at sustained high or medium-effort climbs, where the output is often within 2-5W of manual calculations based on speed, time and inclination
• lags the actual effort by 10-30 seconds
• loses it’s pretty little head in corners and over bad bumps.

Now that reads pretty bad, but it’s not so bad, really because you can:

• smooth your data and remove ‘outliers’ such as spurious high-Watt readings
• normalise your data in a spreadsheet or online tool
• fine tune your friction and aero values on the provided USB-link software – this is better than re-doing the “coast” setup, I reckon, but it just may be that I’ve never done the ‘coast’ correctly (hmmmm…)
• ride on smooth roads and never go around corners.

OK, I’m kidding with the last bit. Overall the data is consistent and relative to the values entered and it remains a useful training tool at a great price.

Some other quirks are:

• It alters altitude overnight – presumably as the barometer rises and falls – so adjusting it is a good idea fi you want your data to be consistent
• It adds 100kg (or maybe just defaults to a really high weight) when you swap batteries – make sure you check your setup after changing batteries!

If I hadn’t bought the iBike (and I don’t regret it, BTW, if only because it’s still the easiest and least-cost way to get into full-function power meters) I would have considered Polar’s new CS600 with power reading. It looks like a real hassle to fit but at least is wheel-independent and would work on an indoor trainer (which alas iBike can’t – as yet – do). Pez has a good, detailed review of the CS600 here.

OK, an iBike update, firstly. The 3V battery dropped below the recommended 2.75V so I swapped in a new one. First battery had lasted for about 26 average 1-hour rides, or about 40 days. I used the “coast” function about 7 times. Maybe 6 rides were about 90 minutes. The new battery lasted 2 whole rides (and 3 “coast” tests) before dropping below 2.75V! Aaaargh. I rode yesterday and today with the battery below the minimum and the results are fine, so I guess there’s a margin for error here (if you start below 2.75V and ride for 6 hours I’d guess you may lose some data, or get screwy data). Now I know why iBike sell batteries in bags of 20!

I also filled the memory once and have taken to dumping the ride list more often. The unit is still reliable but when analysing the data I suspect (and I cannot prove this) that it:

• undervalues flat-land efforts by 20-50W (ie shows 150-180W when my manual calculations suggest 200W is closer)
• overvalues sprints by a considerable amount – as much as 50% higher (ie shows 1500W when manual calculations point to maybe 1000W) but only for a second or 2
• is most accurate at sustained high or medium-effort climbs, where the output is often within 2-5W of manual calculations based on speed, time and inclination
• lags the actual effort by 10-30 seconds
• loses it’s pretty little head in corners and over bad bumps.

Now that reads pretty bad, but it’s not so bad, really because you can:

• smooth your data and remove ‘outliers’ such as spurious high-Watt readings
• normalise your data in a spreadsheet or online tool
• fine tune your friction and aero values on the provided USB-link software – this is better than re-doing the “coast” setup, I reckon, but it just may be that I’ve never done the ‘coast’ correctly (hmmmm…)
• ride on smooth roads and never go around corners.

OK, I’m kidding with the last bit. Overall the data is consistent and relative to the values entered and it remains a useful training tool at a great price.

Some other quirks are:

• It alters altitude overnight – presumably as the barometer rises and falls – so adjusting it is a good idea fi you want your data to be consistent
• It adds 100kg (or maybe just defaults to a really high weight) when you swap batteries – make sure you check your setup after changing batteries!

If I hadn’t bought the iBike (and I don’t regret it, BTW, if only because it’s still the easiest and least-cost way to get into full-function power meters) I would have considered Polar’s new CS600 with power reading. It looks like a real hassle to fit but at least is wheel-independent and would work on an indoor trainer (which alas iBike can’t – as yet – do). Pez has a good, detailed review of the CS600 here.

Danilo DiLuca has taken the lead (again) in what is turning out to be a good, combative Giro. With the Zoncolan still to come, it may still become great. Simoni proved his worth again and Cunego is not far off the pace. The hillclimb TT comes next, which should give Cunego a boost. We shall see!

Meanwhile a tearful Erik Zabel has confessed to EPO doping in the ’96 TdF. He dropped it quickly, he says, due to side effects and was obviously regretful – as you would be. His teammate at the time, Rolf Aldag, admitted at the same T-Mobile press conference (hmmm, funny that Zabel gate-crashed this party, eh?) to more extensive doping and stopped when his haematocrit was consistently over 50. I guess he got a bit worried about (a) getting caught and (b) adverse health effects. I don’t balme him, or Erik for that matter. We are all fallible and build our lives incrementally on our decisions, both good and bad. Sometimes we make mistakes – but seeing that it’s a mistake and righting it matters. Admitting to doping when you’re unlikely to be caught – although there’s more than just a slight chance of being given up by the suspect T-Mobile doctor or even one of your ex-teammates – takes a lot of strength. Zabel could have just sat on it and waited but chose to come clean before his name was brought up. Is there a lesson here for other ex-T-Mobile /Telekom riders?

And some good news – Alby Davis takes a win after some close results. He bested both Baden Cooke and Bennati in the Catalunya stage 3 sprint. Tell us again you really weren’t involved in Operacion Puerto and Dr Fuentes, Allan. Thinking of which, another rider cleared of Puerto-affiliation – Oscar Sevilla – took a tough stage 4, Michael Rogers taking 2nd. Both riders moved up the classification and will fight it out in the TT. For which I can hardly wait!

Danilo DiLuca has taken the lead (again) in what is turning out to be a good, combative Giro. With the Zoncolan still to come, it may still become great. Simoni proved his worth again and Cunego is not far off the pace. The hillclimb TT comes next, which should give Cunego a boost. We shall see!

Meanwhile a tearful Erik Zabel has confessed to EPO doping in the ’96 TdF. He dropped it quickly, he says, due to side effects and was obviously regretful – as you would be. His teammate at the time, Rolf Aldag, admitted at the same T-Mobile press conference (hmmm, funny that Zabel gate-crashed this party, eh?) to more extensive doping and stopped when his haematocrit was consistently over 50. I guess he got a bit worried about (a) getting caught and (b) adverse health effects. I don’t balme him, or Erik for that matter. We are all fallible and build our lives incrementally on our decisions, both good and bad. Sometimes we make mistakes – but seeing that it’s a mistake and righting it matters. Admitting to doping when you’re unlikely to be caught – although there’s more than just a slight chance of being given up by the suspect T-Mobile doctor or even one of your ex-teammates – takes a lot of strength. Zabel could have just sat on it and waited but chose to come clean before his name was brought up. Is there a lesson here for other ex-T-Mobile /Telekom riders?

And some good news – Alby Davis takes a win after some close results. He bested both Baden Cooke and Bennati in the Catalunya stage 3 sprint. Tell us again you really weren’t involved in Operacion Puerto and Dr Fuentes, Allan. Thinking of which, another rider cleared of Puerto-affiliation – Oscar Sevilla – took a tough stage 4, Michael Rogers taking 2nd. Both riders moved up the classification and will fight it out in the TT. For which I can hardly wait!

Stage 11 of the Giro saw another crash and another big, strong, fast Alessandro Petacchi victory. Balducci 2nd, McEwen 3rd. Not that I am complaining but it would be nice to see someone else win – maybe tomorrow? Definitely not a stage for the flatland sprinters. Yes, folks, it’s the Col D’Izoard. Doesn’t sound so much like the tour of Italy, does it? Ah, those Alps, they get around!

Stage 11 of the Giro saw another crash and another big, strong, fast Alessandro Petacchi victory. Balducci 2nd, McEwen 3rd. Not that I am complaining but it would be nice to see someone else win – maybe tomorrow? Definitely not a stage for the flatland sprinters. Yes, folks, it’s the Col D’Izoard. Doesn’t sound so much like the tour of Italy, does it? Ah, those Alps, they get around!

I always imagined Dell would run out of products to cut the quality out of and assemble at bare-bones cost plus miserable margin. OK, they have been better than most – plenty of people jumped in and made clones – some of them pretty well (think Compaq). And Dell hit upon a few great ideas – efficient assembly of cheap parts, low cost production and low-cost sales via the phone and the Web. But I never imagined they would go retail. OK, they haven’t – yet. But they might! There’s a story here at Forbes that suggests a retail outlet could bump up Dell’s flagging fortunes. Yes, and cut their existing low margin as well. Perhaps with their efficient assembly line they can afford to lose a bit of margin in order to win another (maybe) $US800m in sales. That’s how most of the PC makers do it, anyway. And Dell are reputedly masters of the art of just-in-time, low-inventory manufacturing, so maybe they ahve more up their sleeves than meets the eye. Whatever happens, HP will lose some sales.

Enhance your cycling – set some achievable goals and go racing!

Think of this blog as my attempt to inspire you to race. I am targeting the non-racer, the recreational rider who is quite fit and interested in the sport of cycling but for whom racing is ‘something I can do later’ or ‘something that’s just a bit out of my league’.

Firstly, never put off to tomorrow what you can do today. I first ‘enquired’ about bike racing when I was 16 and riding perhaps 100km a week, including 60-80km ‘fun rides’ on the weekend. Having not been involved in competitive sport in any organised way before – I was a total bookworm -I lacked the confidence to give it a go, so I put it off – for about 8 years, in fact! What a waste.

Secondly, you never know until you give it a go. In my case I only gave it a go after much encouragement by other riders. Luckily I lived fairly close (10km away) from the premier cycling resource in Sydney, Australia – Centennial Park. So for about 8 years I frequently rode to and around the Park. Just by riding around with other riders I got fitter and faster. I found that I could chase and catch other riders and that I had an undiscovered urge to improve – and even to race. I still didn’t think I could do it, but the thought entered my head that I had a chance. Eventually I found another rider at the same level and we (at the urging of another rider – as it turned out the president of one of Sydney’s bike clubs, Randwick-Botany) made a commitment to try a race together at Heffron Park. We were placed in D grade. He won and I came 2nd. Now for him that ‘proved’ enough and he didn’t race again. But for me I was hooked. I came back and won D grade the following week and went from there.

That was more than 20 years ago and I’m still racing. You’ll never know unless you give it a go – and there’s a grade for everyone. Just get some miles in your legs firstly – say 80-100km a week for a few months – and find somewhere where you can ride with a few others. It will improve your fitness and your bunch riding skills. You’ll need a bit of both, even in the lowest grade.

So that’s my motivation out of the way – what about yours?

My personal recommendation is to just go riding, enjoy it and find some buddies to encourage you. Then leverage that fitness and skill to start racing. Of course there’s lots more to it than that.

For instance, what are your goals? Ask yourself ‘why am I doing this?’. Is it that you want to stay fit and healthy in the long term, and to get out there riding regularly you need extra motivation? Or is it to simply try out racing, just because you’d like to? Try to understand why you want to do it and feed off that motivation. Remind yourself why on those hard days when you question the whole idea. And review your goals regularly. You may want to find out how good you could be, given whatever constraints you may have. (I always had to work (or thought I did), for example, so doing more miles on the bike was always a balancing act.)

Goal setting helps you achieve something definite. Just ambling along seeing what happens may lead you somewhere interesting but it probably won’t be exactly what you wanted to do, or be the best that you want to be. It may be great and exactly what you wanted. Or it may be so disappointing that you drift off and do something else.

By aiming at achievable goals you do a few things. You are taking aim, and aiming at something improves your chances of hitting it. You are also building a set of stairs, small steps that will make it easier to climb to a higher place. If you aim at the top rung straightaway you may actually get there – we all have our ‘top rung’ dreams – but by setting out intermediate goals you will get there more reliably.

Let’s make a list.

1. Your first goal may be to start your first race.
2. The next to finish the race.
3. The next to finish with the lead pack.
4. The next to place.
5. The next to win.

You may find that you achieve several of these quite quickly, and that’s very important. It’s reinforcing to actually achieve your goals, it helps you to stay motivated and to want to do it again. Feed off that feeling by keeping achievable goals!

The beauty of bike racing is that these steps fit perfectly with the system. Whether you call them grades or categories, there are always rungs of the ladder. Plenty of people find their niche on one rung and just enjoy their racing in that grade forever more. They may go higher and then settle back. They may just find a balance that suits them. Some people enjoy the tactics, some like to win. Some like to help others win. It’s diversity that makes the whole cycle racing scenario work. We all do what we enjoy and that keeps us all riding – and racing.

And the racing is varied, too

Road races can be 50km, 100km or 260km, or 2,000km in a 3 week tour for that matter. Criteriums can be 30km or 100km. Track races may be short 200m sprints or 4km endurance pursuits. It doesn’t really matter what your personal strengths are because there’s a niche for everyone. A big strong male or female rider may power along in a time trial and then get dropped on a climb. A wiry, thin rider may struggle on the flats and in the sprints but cream the big guys on the climbs. And in between there’s an infinite range of possibilities. Now that’s variety – and that’s bike racing.

Not a racing story – although maybe this is where motorbikes will head, when liquid fuel runs out? Maybe not. Yes, it’s the e-lation bolt-on electric motor. Great idea, if hardly mind-blowing in its innovation. What gets me though is this pic on their site showing “how-to”. Well I wouldn’t do it this way myself… not on my frame, thanks!! I’ve highlighted the damage to show what over-zealous tightening of a u-bolt can do to a frame tube. Not that it would weaken it at all… certainly not.

Makes me wonder what the “warning” is on the frame, too. Don’t get me wrong, folks, anything that helps people get on their bikes is great, but I do wonder about how many ham-fisted amateurs will hack their bikes to achieve their green ends…

Not a racing story – although maybe this is where motorbikes will head, when liquid fuel runs out? Maybe not. Yes, it’s the e-lation bolt-on electric motor. Great idea, if hardly mind-blowing in its innovation. What gets me though is this pic on their site showing “how-to”. Well I wouldn’t do it this way myself… not on my frame, thanks!! I’ve highlighted the damage to show what over-zealous tightening of a u-bolt can do to a frame tube. Not that it would weaken it at all… certainly not.

Makes me wonder what the “warning” is on the frame, too. Don’t get me wrong, folks, anything that helps people get on their bikes is great, but I do wonder about how many ham-fisted amateurs will hack their bikes to achieve their green ends…

This time Napolitano overtook both Petacchi and McEwen, denying them both their expected win. No such luck tomorrow as the Giro heads back into the mountains. McEwen has suffered from a stomach bug – if he’s recovering – as it appears – then this will test him out. If he is OK then expect his team to rally and get him over the top within the time limit.

This time Napolitano overtook both Petacchi and McEwen, denying them both their expected win. No such luck tomorrow as the Giro heads back into the mountains. McEwen has suffered from a stomach bug – if he’s recovering – as it appears – then this will test him out. If he is OK then expect his team to rally and get him over the top within the time limit.

Mark Renshaw picked up a stage win at the Tour de Picardie whilst Petacchi took win number 21 at the Giro. Landis? Landis who?

Mark Renshaw picked up a stage win at the Tour de Picardie whilst Petacchi took win number 21 at the Giro. Landis? Landis who?

It’s hard to pick what to read… or make of it all. Robert Foster (Gerolsteiner) won today’s stage of the Giro. That’s the good, sporting side of cycling. But Greg LeMond somehow got drawn into the Landis drug hearings… sigh. It’s looking very, very sad. Come clean, Floyd, is what LeMond has apparently said. But Floyd stands firm. It’s the alleged nasty little phoned threats that make it seem just a bit more… ummm… apparent… that there’s a story here that Floyd’s “friends” may not want to be told. Will the truth step forward, please?

It’s hard to pick what to read… or make of it all. Robert Foster (Gerolsteiner) won today’s stage of the Giro. That’s the good, sporting side of cycling. But Greg LeMond somehow got drawn into the Landis drug hearings… sigh. It’s looking very, very sad. Come clean, Floyd, is what LeMond has apparently said. But Floyd stands firm. It’s the alleged nasty little phoned threats that make it seem just a bit more… ummm… apparent… that there’s a story here that Floyd’s “friends” may not want to be told. Will the truth step forward, please?

Danilo Di Luca takes the win on a day when the sprinters had to bide their time. Ricco, then Cunego 3rd, Simoni close. Alessandro and Robbie come out to play again tomorrow. CN report here.

Danilo Di Luca takes the win on a day when the sprinters had to bide their time. Ricco, then Cunego 3rd, Simoni close. Alessandro and Robbie come out to play again tomorrow. CN report here.

It had to happen. After a luckless 2006 Giro, breaking his kneecap, Alessandro is finally back to the big time, winding his 53×11 up in his typical ‘none-shall-pass’ way. It’s not the prettiest sprint but it’s darned effective. McEwen was 4th this time.

Just to comment briefly on sprinters, there are more ways than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. You can wind up a huge gear behind a train of riders – like Petacchi usually does, although today’s parcours didn’t suit that approach – and take the risk that you (a) will fade and get rolled at the line or (b) that you aren’t as strong as you thought you were and just can’t accelerate that huge gear, in which case you get jumped or rolled anyway; or you can rely on rat cunning, sit in and spin a bit more, and either roll the power guys at the end or use your better kick to jump ‘em and gap ‘em a little earlier on. Of course it’s more complex than that as different roads and obstacles arise that may derail your train, or someone else will jump first and gap you. And even a small rise will feel like a leg-snapper in 53×11. You can train to your strengths, like Petacchi, and organise a power train to bring you up to speed, but it’s also good to have a range of tricks up your sleeve and be adaptable, because anything may happen in a sprint. And lastly, you have to train both for power and kick. Today Petacchi proved he had that grab-bag of tricks and had done the training. He also had the luck of someone who took a bit of a chance and just went for it…

It had to happen. After a luckless 2006 Giro, breaking his kneecap, Alessandro is finally back to the big time, winding his 53×11 up in his typical ‘none-shall-pass’ way. It’s not the prettiest sprint but it’s darned effective. McEwen was 4th this time.

Just to comment briefly on sprinters, there are more ways than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. You can wind up a huge gear behind a train of riders – like Petacchi usually does, although today’s parcours didn’t suit that approach – and take the risk that you (a) will fade and get rolled at the line or (b) that you aren’t as strong as you thought you were and just can’t accelerate that huge gear, in which case you get jumped or rolled anyway; or you can rely on rat cunning, sit in and spin a bit more, and either roll the power guys at the end or use your better kick to jump ‘em and gap ‘em a little earlier on. Of course it’s more complex than that as different roads and obstacles arise that may derail your train, or someone else will jump first and gap you. And even a small rise will feel like a leg-snapper in 53×11. You can train to your strengths, like Petacchi, and organise a power train to bring you up to speed, but it’s also good to have a range of tricks up your sleeve and be adaptable, because anything may happen in a sprint. And lastly, you have to train both for power and kick. Today Petacchi proved he had that grab-bag of tricks and had done the training. He also had the luck of someone who took a bit of a chance and just went for it…

The McEwen formula is simple. Start the year early with some wins in Oz, to prove he’s still got it. Go back to Europe and prove it again by getting into “the form of his life”, only to get sick and lay low for a few months, missing some targets that he really wanted but never seems to be able to get. Then struggle back, just off the pace, just in time. With 2 races to go grovel at the back, just keeping within the time limit. Then win again, seemingly from nowhere, when no one is looking for him. Then front up at a Grand Tour and take the first stage. Easy as pie.

McEwen had good form earlier in the year, indeed he said he was climbing better than he ever has (being not a noted climber, of course, but better at it than 90% of the rest of us). Then he got sick. He always does. Somehow he gets enough form to hang in there on the first Grand Tour Giro stage, when the likes of Hushovd and Haedo are dropped and the bunch is thinned to a top 30 or so. Somehow his team get him into that selection, they grind back the gap to the breakaway and deliver him to the last 2 or 3 kms. He takes it from there, just sittin’ in and waiting for Petacchi’s train to leave the station. And then jump off, just in time to take the win. CN report here.

The McEwen formula is simple. Start the year early with some wins in Oz, to prove he’s still got it. Go back to Europe and prove it again by getting into “the form of his life”, only to get sick and lay low for a few months, missing some targets that he really wanted but never seems to be able to get. Then struggle back, just off the pace, just in time. With 2 races to go grovel at the back, just keeping within the time limit. Then win again, seemingly from nowhere, when no one is looking for him. Then front up at a Grand Tour and take the first stage. Easy as pie.

McEwen had good form earlier in the year, indeed he said he was climbing better than he ever has (being not a noted climber, of course, but better at it than 90% of the rest of us). Then he got sick. He always does. Somehow he gets enough form to hang in there on the first Grand Tour Giro stage, when the likes of Hushovd and Haedo are dropped and the bunch is thinned to a top 30 or so. Somehow his team get him into that selection, they grind back the gap to the breakaway and deliver him to the last 2 or 3 kms. He takes it from there, just sittin’ in and waiting for Petacchi’s train to leave the station. And then jump off, just in time to take the win. CN report here.

I knew something was wrong – the sharp metallic ‘ka-ching’ sounds didn’t happen all the time – usually only at max power from a slow start – but the empty, echoic sort of rattly noise was a real concern. Strangely, I could make it go away if I pedalled backwards… hmmm. What could it be? Something in the rear hub, or somewhere else in the drivetrain? I looked in vain, but of course as it was all working fine (other than the come and go noises) I didn’t look inside the hub. I assumed it just needed lubing. But no, it was actually breaking.

Luckily it let go at the end of a 40km lap of Brisbane Water, after one final effort up my local hill. It just quietly stopped. I knew it was all over, as I was suddenly freewheeling in my driveway, even when I was pedalling. Without looking I knew that I had I had broken the pawls (or the springs?) that are meant to engage when pedalling forward, rendering my 9 speed a freewheeler in both directions…

It’s time for an audit. Excluding bones and teeth, what have I broken (not just punctured or worn out) in roughly 31 years of bike riding? First off, my brother’s mirrors. Didn’t like ‘em anyway and they made a mess when you rubbed them on the road at 30kmh. (It was his bike, but hey, they just weren’t cool). Then I snapped my first spoke. First of many. It taught me to carry a spoke key, at least. Later I snapped the bolt that holds seat to seat post. I rode 60km with a saddle just hanging – literally – on that post. Which is to say I rode 60km out of the saddle. Great training.

I also snapped the expanding bolt inside the headtube, the one that was meant to keep handlebars and front wheel aligned and steerable. Let me tell you it makes a mess of the steering feel if that one lets go (luckily they make ‘em differently now, eh?). I haven’t snapped a chain – yet – but a mate did. Not pretty. And I saw some handlebars snap on a track bike – they let go at the stem, so he still had one handlebar that “worked”.

After years of perfect gear changing I managed to finally put my rear derailleur into my back wheel – just 30m from home. That bends some bits and breaks others with a satisfying tinkling sound. And I’ve snapped a few brake and gear cables, too. With a snapped rear derailleur cable you get to experience your smallest cog, irrespective of terrain. (OK, ok, I wasn’t actually maintaining that bike at all. And I had stopped using it on the road, too! It’s ‘old rusty’, my Hopkins crit bike that now sits on an indoor trainer – outdoors, of course.)

I have also managed to break the bolt that holds the seat tube to the frame, too. The seat slowly slides down into the frame… luckily I only had to ride out of the saddle for 20km that time. I’ve broken wheels, but everyone’s done that. And as I’ve shown you previously, I managed to snap my seat post. So it’s only natural that I’ve now broken a freehub. I mean, what else is there to break? Oh yeah, the frame… hmmm.

P.S., I dented a steel frame once – does that count?

I knew something was wrong – the sharp metallic ‘ka-ching’ sounds didn’t happen all the time – usually only at max power from a slow start – but the empty, echoic sort of rattly noise was a real concern. Strangely, I could make it go away if I pedalled backwards… hmmm. What could it be? Something in the rear hub, or somewhere else in the drivetrain? I looked in vain, but of course as it was all working fine (other than the come and go noises) I didn’t look inside the hub. I assumed it just needed lubing. But no, it was actually breaking.

Luckily it let go at the end of a 40km lap of Brisbane Water, after one final effort up my local hill. It just quietly stopped. I knew it was all over, as I was suddenly freewheeling in my driveway, even when I was pedalling. Without looking I knew that I had I had broken the pawls (or the springs?) that are meant to engage when pedalling forward, rendering my 9 speed a freewheeler in both directions…

It’s time for an audit. Excluding bones and teeth, what have I broken (not just punctured or worn out) in roughly 31 years of bike riding? First off, my brother’s mirrors. Didn’t like ‘em anyway and they made a mess when you rubbed them on the road at 30kmh. (It was his bike, but hey, they just weren’t cool). Then I snapped my first spoke. First of many. It taught me to carry a spoke key, at least. Later I snapped the bolt that holds seat to seat post. I rode 60km with a saddle just hanging – literally – on that post. Which is to say I rode 60km out of the saddle. Great training.

I also snapped the expanding bolt inside the headtube, the one that was meant to keep handlebars and front wheel aligned and steerable. Let me tell you it makes a mess of the steering feel if that one lets go (luckily they make ‘em differently now, eh?). I haven’t snapped a chain – yet – but a mate did. Not pretty. And I saw some handlebars snap on a track bike – they let go at the stem, so he still had one handlebar that “worked”.

After years of perfect gear changing I managed to finally put my rear derailleur into my back wheel – just 30m from home. That bends some bits and breaks others with a satisfying tinkling sound. And I’ve snapped a few brake and gear cables, too. With a snapped rear derailleur cable you get to experience your smallest cog, irrespective of terrain. (OK, ok, I wasn’t actually maintaining that bike at all. And I had stopped using it on the road, too! It’s ‘old rusty’, my Hopkins crit bike that now sits on an indoor trainer – outdoors, of course.)

I have also managed to break the bolt that holds the seat tube to the frame, too. The seat slowly slides down into the frame… luckily I only had to ride out of the saddle for 20km that time. I’ve broken wheels, but everyone’s done that. And as I’ve shown you previously, I managed to snap my seat post. So it’s only natural that I’ve now broken a freehub. I mean, what else is there to break? Oh yeah, the frame… hmmm.

P.S., I dented a steel frame once – does that count?

I love this (from a Forbes article on how hard it is to stop online ‘piracy’ of media: “The Pirate Bay’s copyright sabotage campaign is alive and well. Though Swedish police raided the site’s headquarters and confiscated its servers in May of last year, the site was soon back online, running on donated hardware. Since then, Pirate Bay administrator Peter Sunde says, the site has started distributing its servers and bandwidth to other locations to avoid the possibility of another raid. Sunde claims even he doesn’t know exactly where the servers are stashed.” My emphasis there.

It’s the fact that servers can get (effectively) lost that interests me. I did work with a domain name once that got changed (from .com to .com.au) and when we went to close down the old site we found that we couldn’t pin down exactly where the old box was. It was running, it had an IP address and it was one of a lot of other boxes somewhere in the US. That narrowed it down. But which room, in which building, in which city? Hey, it was a big company with big rooms! Whenever the box went down someone – or some thing – booted it back up. But we didn’t know where exactly it was… which brings to mind an important financial application, one that linked to South America for some obscure and largely undocumented reason. Break that link and the application (running in Australia) seized.. the guy who set it up had a reason, but he forgot to write the full story down. Or maybe he was living the good life in South America!
And there you have it. If you can get yourself a server and put it in a room somewhere, anywhere, all you need is its IP address and away you go. Want to pirate (and I’ll leave the legalities and ethics to one side for a moment) and avoid server confiscation? Use server obfuscation instead and simply lose it!