It's A Dangerous Business

In terrible news from Europe, two-time track world champ and Caisse d'Espargne rider Isaac Galvez died from injuries suffered at the Gent Six-Day event in Belgium. Paramedics revived Galvez on the track, but the rider died on the way to the hospital.

In Disco news, Jurgen Van Goolen crashed recently on a training ride, breaking his collarbone and a finger on his right hand. The team has indicated that the injuries are not serious and JVG will be ready for next season.

Basso de GQ

Check out Ivan Basso's website here. I am not sure what I find more amuzing; the GQ look or the fact that he has already redegined the site to incorporate the Disco move. I guess the GQ thing could hang on dude's italian heritage, but seriously.

I must say that I am stoked to see such a strong rider signed to Disco. I wonder how Tommy and Levi will do in their new "super-domestique" rolls.

Basso in Disco Kit

Basso in Disco Kit
Originally uploaded by RideTrek.

Enough said.

Ulle Good, No?

Check out the only dude to offer Ullrich a ride next year. Looks like a cyclist to me. Maybe Landis and Hamilton can score a ride with Party Dude Tinkoff as well!

Basso to Discovery

From CyclingNews:

Lance Armstrong has confirmed the signing of Ivan Basso to Discovery Channel. "It's done," quipped the seven-time Tour de France winner in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. This afternoon, from Austin, Texas, the official announcement is expected that the 2006 Giro d'Italia winner will ride for the same team that helped carry the American to his Tour successes.

According to the Italian sports newspaper, Discovery Channel is set to welcome the Giro champion in Austin on December 3, when he will be fitted for team clothing and gear during the team’s first, unofficial training camp. The Tour is the number one objective of the American team and it is unknown if Basso will want to continue with the same program of riding both the Italian and French grand tours.

You ain't shit

Check out this video of a dude in Norway thrown down some sick trials. I can't get enough of this. Of note is that in Norway, you don't need a chain to ride. Furthermore, the language is easily translated as you can see on this video.

Zabel speaks

“Cycling won't survive another year like this one," says German Erik Zabel. "Cycling doesn't have the best reputation at the moment. All the sponsors who now support teams will have to thoroughly think about whether they want to continue to use the sport as a platform. If the Festina scandal in 1998 was a warning shot, then 2006 was practically the opening of the war," he continued in an interview with www.spiegel.de.

I have always thought Zabel a great rider in that he is ALWAYS at the front.  This past year he had more 2^nd place finishes than any man should have to endure.

What he was quoted about cycling is true with one clarification: Professional Cycling won’t survive.  Sure, I keep an eye on the Pro Tour and there are dudes like Hammerson that are true, hardcore fans of the Pro scene.  However, I think most weekend warriors are more concerned about shaving a few seconds off their TT than about whether or not Tyler is a chimera or whether or not Floyd has heavy carbon atoms.

Did anyone notice?

Le Tour laid out the route for the 2007 version and as I feared would happen, I didn’t notice.  When I finally looked, I checked to see what the cool climbs will be.  There are a total of 6 climbing days which include the Peyresourde, the Telegraphe and the Galibier and a total of 3 mountain top finishes.

The prologue starts in London as was predicted.  One write up discussed how David Millar would be excited about the prologue being in London; I couldn’t care less what Mr. EPO thinks.

Also notable was the video showing Floyd in cracked glass.  Since the tour has excluded images of Big Tex and now shows Floyd in cracked glass, I get the feeling that they hate us.

 

Uneasy Feeling

As has been promised for the eight years that I have lived in Highlands Ranch, the OSCA (big ass open space) has been finally opened to hiking a biking.  These 8,000 acres have been set aside from the original 22,000 that comprise Highlands Ranch.  The open space and trail system is paid for by a tax on our homes and our quarterly dues.  In a sense, I paid for the OSCA to be shared with my neighbors.

But I am not sure how I feel about this.  This guy is pissed off that the open space isn’t open for everyone.  He didn’t pay for it but feels, as many people (not just Coloradans) do, the open space is for all people. 

This battle has been long running in the mountaineering, rock climbing and fly fishing community.  Private land has a lot of cool mountains to climb and fish to catch.  Should we all be free to enter someone else’s land to use its recreational resources?  Should a person be allowed to have their land free from trespassers?  If a dude lives on a tiny plot of land but has a cool rock on it, should everyone be entitled to climb it or should the guy that owns the rock have the freedom to view his rock without people climbing on it?  It is the same issue when we ride our road bikes through a gated community to link up a road on the other side.

There is a ton of precedent on this issue.  In fact, go try and ride on Ken Caryl’s open space; I got stopped three times, while with a resident.

To the dude in running this site, I offer you this: In the short term, if you would like to use the trail give me a call and we will go for a ride.

<a href="http://www.greenfusemusic.com/images/bandito.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://www.greenfusemusic.com/images/bandito.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>

Stealing from Reagan

For those of you playing along at home, the ‘net never seems to let me down.  Lately we have seen increasing number of visitors have come to this site by way of trustbut.  I personally find the connection very cool as this is the promise of the internet…connection.

If you haven’t seen the site, it is worth the visit as TBV does a great job aggregating a ton of information on the subject of Floyd Landis, the frog boneheads, the chemistry, the philosophy of a cheat etc, etc.  You can get lost for hours reading all of the chemistry alone.

While dude running that site clearly states that he is “personally biased towards Floyd”, it’s not clear to me why he does this.  It is not quite as silly as the TylerHamiltonis innocent.com from a few years ago as TBV does a lot more work.  Maybe he is secretly on the payroll of Landis.com and is running internet spin!!

In the end I questioned my motives for BansheeCycling.  While it started to chronicle our 2004 trip to the Ride for the Roses, it now serves as a history of commentary on cycling news, bitch’n photos/video and great rides in and around our hood.  I am not sure if this is interesting to anyone but the authors, but in the end it is a great outlet for shitty writing and even shittier graphics…..although the graphics a looking a lot better….and I still reserve the right to change them all the friggn time!

Veloswap on Saturday

Don't forget that this Saturday is Veloswap at the National Western Complex in Denver. I plan to attend for a bit in the morning whether via wheelchair, gurney or walker. Seriously, I should be able to get around on foot for a few hours. I have enough drugs to see me through.

Also, our man Barry has purchased a table with his brother at Veloswap, so anyone with items to sell should give Barry a call.

I would like to get there around 9:00 when the gates open to the public, or sooner if Barry can get us in. Let me know if any of you want to come along for the ride.

Ugcough

How bad does this look? Rolling down the road, enjoying your ride and along comes a "road train". My luck would be that this rig would be coming UP in a turn as I went Down the same turn....ala the Death Ride '05.

Jack Be Nimble Jack Be Quick

Velonews had an interesting article today regarding Pereiro and Basso having to wait out while Landis and le Tour work out their differences.  In an indirect fashion the article sheds light on the economic impact to other that these scandals have.

For instance, Basso gets paid based on performance and the quality of his palmares.  The difference between first and second is a lot.  So how do you classify your ’06 tour performance when it comes to getting paid?

I know that it wont happen, but when we find out who is guilty, (its either Floyd or le Tour), I would hope to see some big time penalties.  For example, IF sir Landis is proven guilty, dude is out for effectively 4 years.  What is the penalty for le Tour and the Frog Lab if they are found to be wrong?  Could they possibly pay restitution?

Holy Cats!

I think the dude survives, but I'm not sure. I am also not sure if this is real. Sucks to be him.



Floyd Landis is a total dope cheat...and if you just read this line it means that you are picking us up on an RSS feed rather than viewing the site. Do yourself a favor and check out the graphics that we have pulled together as they are a big part of the overall site.

How far?

I just read that the 24-Hour record was broken yesterday by Michael Secrest (no word on the relation).  Secrest rode 532.74 miles in 24 hours.  Get out your abacus as this is 22MPH!  What is really amazing is his 1990 record where he rode 1217 miles in 24 hours….while drafting a semi.

Can you imagine riding for 24 hours?  No less at that pace?

Tour de What??

So on Thursday of this week, the Tour de France is going to present the route for the 2007 race.  I always look forward to seeing just how nasty the climbs will be.  I will surely delight in some of the cool sounding towns that I have read on the names of the bottles of wine that I enjoy.  This year however will be the addition of a nagging question; will be whether very many people care?  As a fan, it seems that the luster of the race has been thoroughly tarnished by the Landis crap, Operación Puerto and the incessant bickering with the ProTour.

The Landis thing is confusing as ever and other than Jan Ullrich lies and inexplicable/erratic action, it appears that Operación Puerto was a publicity stunt.  But this bullshit with the ProTour is nothing but egos layers in more ego.  With all this going on to diminish our beautiful sport, why can’t we heed the words of the great pork-pie poet and “can’t we all just get along?”….that’s Rodney King y’all.

 

 

 

Masthead Party

You might have noticed that I have been burning with creativity lately for the masthead.  I really dug the punk rock chick with the pink background.  Adding fuel to the fire was the Commenter “Matt” dropping a punk rock referenced.  Pretty cool.

Today’s new masthead is inspired by a new trick I learned and a photo that formerly appeared on this site.  I hope you appreciate the beauty!