Interbike 2009

So its been way to long since this has been updated but I'm currently in the air flying to Vegas for Interbike. Hopefully I'll be able to snap some pictures and show you some new freshness in the bike world.

Ryan and India's Journey

Here's the link to the blog that Ryan and India are keeping on their journey to Portland. Follow along with their adventures!!

Transcontinental Odyssey

Stay Loose.

Tour de France 2009

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2009 edition of the Tour de France is off and jogging!  Sunday's prologue time-trial was easily drowned out by the echoing power of Independence Day fireworks and the soggy sound of Will Smith punching aliens on cable TV, but Fabien Cancellara still "tore the legs off everybody and threw them asunder" on the way to a convincing stage win.  Stage two began with what looked like little bumps on the stage profile, but looked like the wood grains on the inside of a coffin lid to the Athens faithful. Still, the four-man breakaway managed to stay clear up until the painfully flat final 25km, when they were snatched and grabbed by an errant breakaway artist who failed to stay away over the last 9k, and were finally caught by a ferocious pack led by Mark Cavendish's Mallets Of Athens/Columbia team. The MOA squad had done the lion's share of the work to catch the break, and applied the thumbscrews to the shift levers of the chasing teams.  After rounding the final corner with three leadout men still locked and loaded when all other aggressors had already spent every round in the chamber, the Mallets Of Athens rider won a convincing stage victory in his first sprinting test at the 2009 tour.  Here he is, replendent on the podium in the Mallets Of Athens (MOA) "Muscular Jersey," or "Maillot Musculaire."  

It is a little odd that the preeminent team in the pro peloton is also sponsored by THC, which is listed as a dangerous and harmful ingredient in marijuana smoke.  Also, I'm a little concerned that our favorite Manxman has some serious body-image issues.  He was recently quoted in a prominent cycling publication as saying that when he looks at himself in "the one mirror that never lies" he sees that "mother nature was on an off day when she made me."  Ladies and Gentlemen, please, when you see Mark please remind him that he is not "fat", that he must stick to his nutrition plan and keep up with the beer-drinking regimen that MOA director-sportif Vinnie Van GoGo has laid out for him.

In other news, everyone's favorite occasional cocaine user and big power strong man Tom Boonen has been allowed to ride this year's tour, but has been nowhere within sight of the podium on the first two stages.  Keep an eye peeled and a nostril flared for Boonen on Tuesday, as he will almost certainly be visible on the Team Time Trial.  A Loose Nuts/Mallets Of Athens viewing party will be held upstairs at Transmetropolitan to(morrow)night at 8:30.  Come and enjoy!

Buddy System Wrap-up

So, the Loose Nutters managed a strong third-place finish in the polo tournament at the Atlanta Midsummer Invitational and garnered the respect of many competitors who recalled the team's lackluster showing at the East Side Polo Invitational in Pensacola several months back. With a combination of smart tactics, well-honed mallet skills and clean play, the squad of Jones, Millard and Tavel cruised through their qualifying rounds, with their only losses coming at the hands of the teams from Richmond, VA and Columbia, SC(?) who were the eventual first and second-place teams. However, Mr. Tavel did not escape the competition unscathed. Through a bizarre combination of polo, trick bike douche-baggery and heavy-duty tent-tossing, Chris managed to crack some ribs. He's on the heal-up and will be ready to knock your teeth out with a slapshot before you know it.

In more current news, the Buddy System team alleycat took place this past Saturday here in Athens. Naturally, as the AMI alleycat was heavily tilted in favor of Atlanta locals, it was not difficult for Athenians to dominate the podium of the Buddy System. The two-person format was a new approach for most riders, who were tethered to their BFF at the start for a three-legged Lemans-Style start, forced to shuffle down a gravel driveway, disentangle themselves and mount up for the 2-hour long event in which competitors had to make it to four mandatory checkpoints and perform such diverse tasks as rope-jumping, 12" bike time-trialing, duct-tape leg waxing, tequila body-shotting, and trying in vain to score a goal against the infamous Dr. Jones on his home polo court. After that, there were a handful of optional challenges on tap for extra points. As in any urban race, a knowledge of the local area, traffic patterns, and elevation change was key, and the top teams combined an intimate knowledge of the Athenian bike scene with smart planning and high speed runs across town. In addition to the strong local showing (although the majority of Athens bigwigs were helping out running checkpoints) a handful of shredders dragged themselves down from hippie mountain for the festivities and made their presence felt on the road and by manning the grill and serving up about 10thousand delicious burgers for the post race party. Several teams also made the trek from Atlanta and made a respectable showing, especially in the late-night bar blitz that went down after all the free beers at Loose Nuts HQ had been cracked, drained and crushed. The temptation presented by dollar beers and 2-dollar shots proved to be a bit too much for some of the Atlanta faithful, who were left scrambling for a hole in the ground with cheeks full of upchuck. There were no official prize categories for out-of-towners, but when a plastic bag full of barely used bibshorts donated by a high-profile Athens cycling legend (who shall not be named here) appeared at HQ, the Atlanta boys were treated to a free lycra buffet and jumped at the opportunity like your fat cousin downing mac-and-cheese at Golden Corral.

All in all, it was a great race and one of the most fun alleycats in Athens history. Big props go out to all the winners, losers, DNFers, checkpoint workers, sponsors, and most importantly to Megs and Dr. Jones for organizing the race, buying a million beers and a thousand pounds of ground beef, and showing us all an awesome time.

Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming Bastille Day Cross-Crit race, July 14. Heads Will Roll!

Until next time,

RK

June gets it HOT!

So we're still waiting on news updates from the Atlanta Midsummer Invitational Polo tournament and street races, but the Loose Nuts team of Tavel, Jones and Millard and the Mallets of Athens squad of Sakai, Magner and Bushnel have qualified for the 8-team finals to be played on Sunday, June 21. This report from the Duke of the Mallet himself, K Sakai:

• 16 teams descended on the 2009 Atlanta Midsummer Invitational on a sweltering Georgia summer day capped by the temperature & humidity at over 9000. Athens arrived with 3 teams and moral support from the holligans of Athens and parents. The tone of the day for Athens was set with Loose Nuts (Athens-1), MoA (Athens-2) and Random (Athens-Composite) each winning their respective games in round 1. Loose Nuts dominated their games with strong play by Tavel, Millard & Doc Jones. They would later go on to topple Call to Arm's Tournament Champions, Ft Lauderdale, in a physical death match with casualties including lost fingernails and broken spokes. MoA (Athens-2) of Magner, Bushnel & Sakai kept the fire stoked with tournament newcomer, Magner, scoring a hat trick and the team pulling off a flawless record winning all four matches. Both Loose Nuts and MoA-A2 qualified in today's finale.

More information will follow as it is received.  

The next couple of weekends will carry the bike-citement generated by the AMI back home to Athens with a full docket of racing and rabble-rousing brought to you by a virtual whos-who of local two-wheeled celebutards. 

The first event to put your life, limb and potential happiness in jeopardy is The Buddy System, a team alleycat organized by UGA road racer and Loose Nuts cyclocross superstar Mighty Megs Denision and Loose Nuts track racer, polo killer and web mastermind Dr. Benjamin Jones.  

$10 for an afternoon of racing, food and delicious beverages?  Count me in!  Maybe we can get a big bicycle squaredance together and Madison Handsling our partners round and round!  If you don't have your buddy yet, don't worry.  There's always time for making new friends.

Then, on the very next weekend JohnDeere/UGA road bike crusher and stem-creak-freak Rigoberto Simpsoni presents his long-awaited Bastille Day cross-crit.  

I'm not sure what lies in store for racers on that fateful day in July, but you may rest assured that your pale-skinned, soft-bellied, weak-legged, lamb-eating, lassiez-faire, bourgeois ass will be humiliated and laid to rest in a mass grave with the rest of the upper-crusters. If you aren't tough enough, that is. This one's for the people in the streets, not the people City Hall.

Stay Loose.  We'll see you at the races.

-RK