Bold And Early

Mongo has a feeling...

The winner of the 2009 Paris-Roubaix will come from the Cervelo Test Team.

They may have the most dynamic team of possibilities. Dominique Rollin, Hayden Roulston, and Roger Hammond are the perfect lieutenants to help either Haussler or Hushovd go for the win.

I've just got a feeling...

Alternate "Boring" Prediction...Boonen/ Hincapie/ Ballan

Selfless Schmelfless

New Innertube...Six Dollars

Co2 Cartridge...Two Dollars

Cost of cutting your ride short on one of the nicest days of the year and changing a tire on a hybrid for a helpless stranger and then turning around and going home because you're too far out to not have a tube and some air...Priceless!

Ghent-Wevelgem

1. Hagen

2. Kuschynski

3. Goss

Not exactly the podium that Mongo expected...Hey, somebody's gotta win!

(Photo: Graham Watson/VeloNews)

Downwind And Out Of Sight

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.”

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Aluminum

Tonight's 23/2300 Hammerfest was exactly like the Tour of Flanders . It was cold, windy, and there was a mixture of rain and sleet. The only thing different about our ride was that there were no cobblestones and Filippo Pozzato wasn't wheelsucking anyone named Tom Boonen.

I actually rode pretty well tonight. Though all the big guns were in attendance, except Snowbunny and Doo Doo, both of whom took the night off to wash their panties, I hung around in the lead group longer than usual before ultimately getting dropped on the big climbs.

Riding the same course with the same people every week is a great gauge for me to judge my improvement or regression.

Every Once In A While

Yesterday I chased down a really fast dude on a TT bike. In my neck of the cycling woods TT bikes are becoming like iPhones, very trendy, so maybe in one out of five encounters you'll run across a worthy opponent. Most weekend riders of expensive bikes have much more money than ability.

When I rolled up on this guy I realized he had more than a little game. He was riding an Independent Fabrication, Titanium, "Single Speed"...with a full carbon, TT cockpit and Zipp 404's.

I have to admit that it was a sweet bike. It took me at least four miles to catch him in the 21-24mph range. His gearing looked like it was 52/14.

Rainy Days And Mondays

Mongo lives in a part of the country where at this time of year the weather and temperature can fluctuate dramatically. This past Saturday, Mongo did a fast 65k in the morning. The temperature was over seventy degrees when I was done with the ride. Yesterday, I did a recovery 40k in sixty degree, drizzly weather. And now today...

In honor of the Belgian Classics, tonight's 23/2300 Hammerfest will be contested in forty five degree weather with winds gusting up to 40mph. Sweet...nothin' better than trying to bridge a gap with a massive headwind. I can't wait.

I Am Specialized

Mongo stated on this very blog last December that my "Breakthrough" rider of '09 would be Stijn Devolder. Well...he's on his way!

Devolder won Flanders for the second year in a row like a man...in a solo breakaway.

Superstar on the rise, Heinrich haussler, took a flyer in the last few hundred meters and finished second.

In case you're scoring at home, or even if you're alone, Mongo predicted Devolder and Haussler in my top five.

(Photo:Graham Watson/VeloNews)

I Can't Spell

It was brought to my attention while perusing another cycling blog that I have been making the gravest of mistakes for a very long time.

The word is "Peloton" not "Peleton".

Obviously, I've come to rely far too heavily on spellcheck.

Thankyou VeloNews...

...for not suing me!

Every writer hopes to have a moment in time on which they can look back and say, "That's when I knew I'd made it."

For Mongo, this seminal moment came not after some silly award like the Pulitzer, but instead, on the threat of legal action.

You see, Mongo hasn't been giving proper credit or links to the images I've been using on my blog. Public domain images are one thing, but most of my pro cycling and equipment photos have come from VeloNews.

When I first started this blog over a year ago, I thought five friends and a few stranger might read it....Was I wrong! Readers in over seventy countries and eight hundred cities around the world have stopped by my little corner of the web. Though I probably knew better, copyright ramifications never crossed my mind.

From this post forward, any images taken from VeloNews or any other commercial site will be properly linked and/or credited.

By the way...VeloNews is the best cycling website out there...really!

Ronde Van Vlaanderen

Mongo's top five picks in no particular order...

1. Heinrich Haussler

2. Leif Hoste

3. George Hincapie

4. Daniele Bennati

5. Stijn Devolder

And His Name Is Reggie Hammond

Mongo used to like Robbie McEwen a great deal. Not as an individual, because I don't know him personally and I've always perceived him as a douchebag, but as the premier individual sprinter in the peloton. He couldn't climb, he couldn't time trial, but he was almost unbeatable in a field sprint.

Unfortunately for McEwen, time passes, aging happens, and a newer, better version of himself has come along to steal his thunder.

Mark Cavendish is everything McEwen was and more. The biggest difference is that Cavendish has one of the premier teams in the world (Medellin Alto Calle) behind him.

After back to back wins mano a mano over McEwen..."The King is dead. Long live the King."

Let The Pages Yellow In The Sun

"To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust."

(Henry David Thoreau)