Pedal Dancer®: Rabobank

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26 December 2012

Cycling News Best of 2012

A summary of reader votes

CyclingNews.com conducted a readers poll of the best in cycling from 2012. Sure you probably received tweets or facebook posts or updates on who was nominated for the best of 2012, but we all know nomination is far from winning. So who did win the BEST OF for 2012 - here is a list. Do you agree? I have to admit - I do.

2012

The best of cycling 2012
[read more about the runners up under each link below]

Best Team: Team SKY
Best Stage race: 2012 Tour de France
Best one-day race: 2012 Paris-Roubaix
Legend of Cycling: Oscar Freire
Best team bike: Specialized S-Works
Best Tech Invention: Disc brakes for road and cyclocross bikes
Biggest story of the year: USADA vs Lance Armstrong
Best female road biker: World Champion and Olympic gold medalist Marianne Vos of the Nederlands
Best male road biker: Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins from the UK
Best female mountain biker: Olympic gold medalist Julie Bressett from France
Best male mountain biker: World Champion Nino Schurter from Swizterland
Best cyclo-cross rider: Sven Nys of Belgium
Best track cyclist: Sir Chris Hoy

Other Best ofs:

CyclingRanking.com lists Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver as the best overall road rider in 2012, if we want facts and not opinion.
Photographer Brian Hodes of CyclingIllustrated shares his best cycling photos from 2012
Andrew Hood of VeloNews.com brings us back to the top 6 sprints of 2012
USACycling.org awarded the best 2012 clubs of the year
PezCycling offers their The PEZ Best And Worst Of 2012. I always enjoy reading their annual holiday greetings from the Pez correspondents.
Bicycling.com offers their top 50 bike-friendly cities in the USA of 2012.
This year Bicycling.com also came out with their list of the 1 best bicycle ride in every state.
One of my favorite photographers Darrell Parks has compiled his 2013 Cycling Calendar
CyclingNews.com Gallery: Season 2012 - The cycling year in photographs

This year I appreciated this photo taken by James Startt (of Bicycling) at the start of the Tour of Flanders in Bruges. I personally found the true meaning of being a cycling fan in Belgium this past spring. James (the Cultural Artist) compiled his other favorite photos taken at various races, while his side-kick Frankie Andreu (the Pragmatic Analyzer) adds additional comments to each photo. 2012 Pro Peloton in Pictures

Popular cycling video of 2012 - receiving 6,536,881 hits on YouTube: Martyn Ashton - Road Bike Party

I am sure there will be more Best of lists in the coming week. For me, my best of 2012 was a hard list to create in a year full of many great experiences, but here they are:

PEDAL DANCER TOP 10 MOMENTS AS A TRAVELING CYCLE TOURIST IN 2012

Being with my family in the Rabobank VIP tent at the finish of the 2012 Tour of California in Los Angeles.
Being on the Kwaremont watching the 2012 Tour of Flanders.
Watching Tom Boonen ride through the Arenberg forest and win the 2012 Paris-Roubaix.
Having beers in Bruges Belgium with a brew master and my niece.
Discovering a new special bed and breakfast in Provence with impeccable French hospitality.
Having an incredible 4-course lunch with my friend Monica in Lastelle-Bétharram, France, and later riding up to the mountain top finish on Peyregudes for Stage 17 of the Tour de France.
Riding up and being on Mt Baldy with my brother and friend/photographer Willie at the 2012 Tour of California.
Discovering the beautiful Rhone River Valley between stages of the 2012 Tour de France.
Hanging out with Team SKY and BMC in Kortrijk, Belgium, as well as other stories from Belgium.
Meeting so many new fans, new friends, and seeing old friends again on travels and at races!

Creating this list makes me realize there were so many travel stories I never got around to writing up in 2012, including some of these top 10 moments of 2012. I guess I was busy living it!

Happy New Year from me and my labradoodle Jack Denny! I hope 2013 is a great year for all of you.

Karen of PedalDancer.com at State Championships cyclo-cross in Colorado
Photo by Photographer Annette Hayden

2013 ... what adventures lie ahead ??

31 May 2012

Images of the Day: Maarten Tjallingii & Provence

Pictures of the Day: telling cycling stories

Can you guess the story Maarten Tjallingii was telling my sister-in-law Suz?

Word of the Day: story = histoire (une histoire drôle = a funny story)

A wild ride for Maarten Jallingii Photo by PedalDancer.com/SyS

Maarten and Suz chatting in the Rabobank VIP area in Los Angeles
Photo by PedalDancer.com/SyS

Today in Provence
Today at the morning market in Cuceron, France. An image from Provence, where Suz and my brother Mike, and niece Kristina are currently traveling.

The Roman bath in the center of Cuceron, France Photo by PedalDancer.com/SyS

The Flower Lady in Cuceron Photo by PedalDancer.com/SyS

At the 1st century Roman aqueduct bridge - Pont du Gard - near Remoulins
Photo by PedalDancer.com

Update:

The best entry for the story that Maarten Tjallingii was telling Suz came from M.N. from AZ:

"... So I'm walking through Luby's right ... and then I trip over your friend there [that would be me] ... My tray goes flying! ... hits this old lady. But anyway, what's with her [me] damn leg fetish? Always taking pictures of our legs. Can you believe it? In Luby's ... [she's] hiding under the dessert table ... Then the Manager comes over ... Threatening me cuz ... turns out my tray and all my chocolate pudding hit his mother, visiting from Wisconsin ... so I turn around to point out your friend [me again] ... and she's following Luis Leon into the men's room! Taking butt pics the whole way ... and then it gets weird ... Joop. Zoey as we like to call him, comes running in from the team bus, turns out he's having an affair with the old gal, the one covered in pudding ... ... ... and the story continues ... [ok M.N. from Arizona - you owe me that round in Telluride at the up-coming USA Pro Cycling Challenge for printing your Maarten Tjallingi narrative - see you there!]

22 May 2012

You are looking good

The things American fans say

Last Sunday I was fortunate to see the finish of Stage 8 of the Amgen Tour of California as a guest in the Rabobank VIP tent at the finish line in Los Angeles. It was a wonderful experience where I had a nice chat between circuit laps with the Rabobank team Doctor Dion van Bommel. I had one question for him, “Okay,” I started, “I thought of your team as I was driving in my car from Bakersfield to Palmdale through the desert, I wanted to know - did you think of Cowboys and Indians when you looked out on that big desert?” Delighted with the observation, Dion smiled, looked me in the eyes and said, “Oh yes, we all said, “We could put a horse out on this road right here and it would be just like in the western movies.'”

Hwy 138 east of Palmdale "Cycling through the desert of California"
Photo tweeted by @dionvanbommel

Dion van Bommel, Rabobank team physician

Cowboy Country

Miles and miles of wide-open desert stretched between Stages 5 and 6 of the Amgen Tour of California last week, it may appear barren to us Americans, but to the Europeans visiting this vast open State it was quintessential American West. Riders visiting from Europe, South America, and Australia notice everything around them as new and different, just as we do when we travel abroad. I am guessing a few team radios landed upon, and stayed on, a country and western station while driving across central California last week.

Those double yellow lines in the center of our roads are not a familiar sight to French or Italians drivers, their roads are divided by white lines. Neither are the branded products in our grocery stores familiar items, or our menus with enormous food portions, watered-down coffee, big pick-up trucks, billboard roadside signs, hotels with shampoo and conditioner samples and cookies upon check-in, so much must seem odd to them. Even our “have a nice day,” parting words must feel like they are in a Hollywood movie.

The European riders enjoy coming here to race and ride. Maarten Tjallingii mentioned to my sister-in-law and me that he would like to return on vacation with his family. A number of the other riders mentioned how they liked the hotels and food. And then … there are the American fans. We are certainly unique. We cheer for the last guy as we do for the first guy, shouting out “good job!” when clearly the rider is falling off the back. But as my brother Mike says, “We are the country of little league soccer where every kid gets a medal.”

Careful what you say, a rider could be listening

The riders can hear what we say to them as they pass by, and we do not need to be screaming for them to hear. Yesterday a miffed Mark Cavendish tweeted from the Giro about the fan he heard say "ooh, Cav is in trouble!"

Rabobank Team Physician Dion van Bommel told me a funny story relayed to him from Robert Gesink (NED) after Gesink's brutal climb for the win up Mt Baldy in Stage 7. Robert told the Team Doctor, “This fan yelled out “Looking good” - I was suffering! I could not have been looking good,” Robert said. Together Robert and the doctor chuckled in amazement at the silliness of the American fan. That fan could have been me, maybe that fan was you?

Alright which one of you said Robert was looking good? Because he denies it.
Photo © by PedalDancer.com

“Looking Good !”

I might be going out on a limb here, but my guess is looking good and feeling bad are about as likely of a combination on a bike as looking bad and feeling good. These states tend to go together good=good, bad=bad. When you are racing over 10-22% grade roads on a bike you will quickly go into zone bad=bad. We might need Robert Gesink to confirm his state of being on Mt Baldy for us, or we could just go out and ride Mt Baldy ourselves and confirm my simple theory.

I know it was the definite state of being me on Mt Baldy. When I told Dion the team Doctor that I had ridden Mt Baldy myself the day before, his one word response was, "Suffering?" "Yes suffering," I concurred.

But hey, keep those positive comments coming, it is much better for a rider to hear our typical American cheers of “Looking Good,” “Good job,” “You are almost there,” than it is for any rider to hear “Man he looks like he’s not going to make it.” They can hear you remember!

The sunglasses can't quite hide the pain Photo © by PedalDancer.com/Willie Reichenstein

“Looking Goooooooooooood!”

Some of my favorite fan comments I heard emanating from the roadside while riding my own bike to the top of Mt Baldy last Saturday were, “What can I say I got a downhill body,” or "I only ring my bell for people who sweat," or “Come on guys it’s time to throw the cat in with the pigeons”. Now you'd think that laughter would be a good way to regulate my breathing but by that point at nearly 5km to go to the top of the climb my elevated heart rate was overriding all systems. I was in need of encouragement, and encouragement I got.

My next favorite comment was “Do you want a push?” This comment I used a solid 3 times after stopping to take photos on the accent (which was totally an excuse to stop). Shortly after my switchback pushes, a cyclist on a single-speed came by me giving a good 25 pedal strokes before nearly falling over onto the road after receiving his own push. The fans along the road cheered him loudly, then one fan said to another across the road, “yeah I only had one gear coming up here too – my last one,” yuc-yuc.

Much of the fun of riding up a stage as a fan are the sights along the road and the fun comments from fellow fans. Try it sometime – hopefully all the comments you hear will be entertaining and enthusiastic. If you are in America, your chances are good that they will be, if not, find a horse.

Wait a minute ... is Chris Horner smiling ???, There is no smiling in cycling!
Photo © by PedalDancer.com/Willie Reichenstein

Alright everyone - back on your bike, and this time do it with a smile, and remember to look good.
Photo © by PedalDancer.com/Willie Reichenstein

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