Monday Musette - Valverde, Oman, Algarve, and 2 Great Videos

1. This weekend I learned a valuable lesson: never bet against Alejandro Valverde (unless it's July). 

"It’s February," I thought. 

"He’s saving his best for later in the year," I assumed. 

"The competition is more motivated than he is," I predicted. 

I was wrong on all counts—with the lone exception being yesterday's super-motivated stage winner, Francesco Masciarelli. My pre-race favorite, Johnny Hoogerland, finished the race in a respectable 4th-place overall—9 seconds behind the winner. The other favorites finished about where we expected: Vino, Gesink, and Danielson all finished inside the top-15. But in the end, it was Valverde who punched his victory card a bit earlier than we might be used to, thus cementing his status as the World’s most dangerous man in every race that's not cobbled or the Tour.

2. Two stages of the Tour of Oman have come and gone, and things are running as we expected: sprinters have won the first two stages and Edvald Boassen Hagen has taken the overall lead. It was nice to see Jimmy Casper continuing Saur-Sojasun’s optimistic start to the season with a Stage 1 victory. Kudos as well to Daniele Bennati—he and Chichi seem to be one of the sport’s most-formidable sprint duos at this point the season. Here’s hoping they can keep it up once they return to Europe.

3. The early season stage races continue this week in Portugal with the Vuelta Algarve, a race with quite an interesting start list. Algarve marks the first appearance of many of the favorites for this year’s Grand Tours including Astana’s Alberto Contador, Radio Shack’s Levi Leipheimer, and Garmin’s Christian Vande Velde. Several of the sport’s best one-day men will also be using Algarve to continue their slow builds to April including Stijn Devolder, Sylvain Chavanel, Geert Steegmans, Samuel Sanchez, Sergei Ivanov, Nick Nuyens, Thor Hushovd, and Heinrich Haussler. And don’t forget the sprinters—they’re here too led by Robbie McEwan, Andre Greipel, and Julien Dean. There are also several wild cards, talented men hoping Algarve will present them with chances to take their first win of the season while the stars collect their kilometers. Of these, Geoffroy Laquatre, Ryder Hesjedal, David Zabriskie, Joaquin Rodriguez, Lars Boom, Luis Leon Sanchez, Sandy Casar, Manuel Cardoso, and Bjorn Leukemans come quickly to mind.

In the end, look for a rider talented enough to finish well in the sprints and do well in the final stage’s ITT to take the overall win. I’ll go out on a limb and pick Thor for the overall victory—he’s sure to finish well on the flatter stages and the relatively short ITT suits his strengths.  

4. There were some great cyclocross races this weekend as well—but you’ll have to come back for Erik’s Cross Report and Power Rankings to hear more about those.

Away from the racing scene we have several other goodies—including some great videos.

5. My friend Fxdwhl at lockring.not.included posted a series of excerpts from the great Merckx-era documentary, Stars and Watercarriers. Of all the scenes Fxdwl includes, this one is my favorite. It’s got it all: a funky “recovery device”, an overly demonstrative Italian soigneur, scenes from mealtime—with separate tables for riders and staff, and of course, mechanics taping bars and gluing tires. In a word, it’s perfect. (Sessa, Geert, and Kepa: I miss you, guys.)

6. Let's jump from 1973 to 2001, and scenes from the USPS team car at Paris-Roubaix (I believe this comes via the Road to Paris documentary.  I enjoy this one for many reasons, but here are 3 of the best: it’s Paris-Roubaix in rough weather; it’s the one and only year that Mercury got an invite; and it forever answers the question as to who really ran the USPS team (if there were ever any doubts).

7. And while we’re on the subject of the 2001 Paris-Roubaix, check-out this terrific picture of Wilfred Peeters and his short-lived bid for Roubaix glory. Notice the front wheel--does it look familiar? Well, let’s just say it wasn’t standard-issue for Domo back then—heck, it wasn’t even "standard-issue" for Mercury. But that’s a long story for another day…

Enjoy your week!

Monday Musette - Horn-tooting, Merckx Love, Frame Lust, and Some Media

Some morsels for your Monday:

1. In case you missed it, I took Bill Strickland's Sitting-in Blog for spin on Friday over at Bicycling Magazine. If you like it, leave some feedback--I'd love to get invited back for more!

And while I'm tooting my own horn, hopefully you've been following my "Franco-Belge" story at Embrocation. Part 4 went live last week; the final segment will follow soon. Many of you asked for more tales from my days with Mercury-Viatel; this was a direct result of your requests.

2. And yes, in case you didn't know, I possess a soft spot for Eddy Merckx framesets. I've ridden several of them in the past--all before he sold his majority stake in the company. In an era of "What have you done for me lately?", I think there's something to be said for brand-loyalty--especially when the brand is a legend in its own right.

There are actually several places on the web where you can share your particular brand-love with like-minded souls. Gem runs a site called Bianchista where he expresses his lust for bikes, products, and of course, all things Bianchi.

A bit more of a focused appreciation--this time for DeRosa fans--comes from Germany via Bikeadelic. A stunning homage!

As for more recent brands, IF's been posting a slew of photos from their IF Owner's Club. I've had one of these in the past, and hope to again one day.

And what about Merckx? Do you know of a particular fan site or blog celebrating the Cannibal's bikes and frames? If you do, please share it with the rest of us.

3. Rapha's been adding more and more footage from this summer's Continental Calling over the past several weeks. I'll be sure to let you know when the ride we hosted gets the full treatment, but for now, enjoy this. While I love the fall, it kinda makes me miss summertime.

4. And speaking of gravel roads, Cyclingnews posted an article with one of my heroes, Michele Bartoli, discussing the gravel roads in next year's Giro. It sounds like it will be quite dramatic--perhaps even more so than the pavé included in the 2010 Tour de France.

5. And finally, here's a fabulous photo brought to my attention via Twitter. The caption says it all.

What about you? What's new and exciting in your neck of the woods?

Share your comments below!

An Equipment Appetizer - Wheels and Tires

We have yet to spend a significant amount of time at Pavé discussing equipment. Over the next several weeks though, one of the new projects we'll be unveiling will give everyone reason to get excited about some new (and old) products for the roads we all love to ride.

For now, I thought we would whet your appetites with a series photos courtesy of Jeremy
Dunn and his trip to see the Classics last spring. While I'm sure you've all seen Jeremy's (including his terrific videos), for me the most poignant might have been those photos of the unsung heroes of the Spring Classics: wheels and tires.

Mundane? Maybe to some. But as anyone who's ever ridden the pavé and/or dirt and unpaved roads can attest, wheels and tires might be the most critical choices you can make. Besides, I've always been a sucker for nice set of handbuilt wheels and some fresh rubber.

So which is your favorite? What's your choice when things get rough and dirty?

(You know what we mean...)

Share your thoughts below...

Wheels - Fit to be Tied

All photos from Handspun's Flickr

Brief posts this week as I've entered the final countdown for the Rapha Centre Ramble tomorrow. After a doctor's appointment this morning I'll make a beeline for State College and the Rapha Conti crew.

For now, a question remains, one that perplexes many a rider about to embark on a long ride in adverse conditions: wheels. What should ride? The Ramble has some serious climbing, so an argument can be made for lightweight (Shimano Dura-Ace Scandium); but there's also roughly 25 miles of dirt roads that make a case for durability and comfort (Mavic Classics Pro SSC's).

Both sets are some of the best wheels I've ever ridden, and both are more than worthy of making the trip.

It all gets me thinking: is there anything more classic than a nice set of wheels? Recently, I discovered that Competitive Cyclist has been offering sets of tied and soldered wheels. Talk about one of cycling's lost arts!

They're made by Handspun and boy are they beautiful! Handspun also made a set of classics wheels for Embrocation's Jeremy Dunn before he left for his week at Flanders, Gent, and Roubaix. Here are some photos from their Flickr photostream:



Nice choices, Jeremy.

Handspun offers several classic versions to suit your needs. As time passes, we plan to include reviews and articles about various classic and neo-classic wheel and tire options from Shimano, Mavic, Handspun, Challenge and more. But for now, you'll have to be content with just drooling over these samples.

What's your favorite set of wheels for the pavé?