VeloCast

Two strikes against Mr O'Raw! ;o) Missing the Merckx intro and then misspelling Eddy! ;) Lucky it's the season of goodwill.

J

My thoughts as well... sacrilege!! Hope Eddy does not find out, or he may ask that you pull his opening comments!

- Will

Was it me, or was Eddy missing from the open to this podcast? I thought since replacing Sir Chris Hoy that the new open was going to edure into perpetuity...

- Will

Damn, someone noticed! ...and I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!

Sorry, yes, Eddie was missing from the start as I forgot to enable the channel that that recording lives in before exporting.

Prize for most attentive listener goes to Will !!!

Cheers,

Scott.

So - what is my prize? A free subscription to the VeloCast? LOL

"Put it this way no one else is looking out for Wiggins interests. Sure Garmin supported him at the Tdf, did they have a choice? He was their strongest rider."

Sure there's a choice - the nominal team leader puts his foot down and demands that they work for him. Lots of pro sportsmen are very driven, type a personalities, so this isn't that remote a possibility. Although Armstrong is an extreme example, you only have to look at the way Astana "worked" to see that things could have been done quite differently in Garmin's tour if anyone had decided to get the arse with Wiggins stealing their thunder. (Smaller examples abound, like Cervelo taking away Pauwels' chance of a stage victory f'rexample)

I like Garmin, I like what they're trying to do in the sport, and I'm disappointed that they've lost so much of their personnel this year. I'm disappointed as well that Sky went back on what (I think I remember, anyway) was their commitment to not approach riders that were under contract - imo, this is a bad sport to set a precedent of not doing what you say you're going to do.

I worry also about what this means for small teams like Garmin (4th smallest budget in the pro-tour last year, if I remember JV right) - they're never going to get anywhere if the rich teams can poach riders showing promise at will.

The upside is that Wiggins is a nice bloke, and hopefully he'll have some good years both on the bike and financially with Sky.

Put it this way no one else is looking out for Wiggins interests. Sure Garmin supported him at the Tdf, did they have a choice? He was their strongest rider. Cycling is business these guys have a finite life span, and he has to earn while he can. What if this season was a fluke, and next season he's not so great. Think Sky would want him and pay him the money in 2011, would Garmin cut him loose for the next best thing? What is sport and entertainment for us is a job the puts food on the riders families table, who's business is it to slag on the riders decision to earn more. In the end Garmin let Sky buy the contract out, business is business. I hold the same opinion to those that criticize dopers, if they came out tomorrow with a pill that could help use mortals earn more money we'd all be trampling all over each other to get it. What is Sport to us is a living for those doing it, and you can't judge them till you've walked in their shoes.

I have no argument with any of what you say. What disappointed me was the duplicitous nature of Wiggin's tweets/comments prior to the transfer everybody knew was going to happen, and the manner of his leaving (threats of extended legal action etc). He of course has to look after number one. Given his frank and honest dealing with the press etc in the past the manner of his moving changes a whole lot in how he'll be perceived henceforth. It's clear from Vaughter's comments that Garmin didn't "let" Sky buy his contract out. They were made an offer they couldn't refuse. In any sphere of life that leaves a sour taste.

John

But you guys think the Dogma is ugly too. We have one at the local shop that I have a hard time not buying every time I walk in there. Its a true work of beauty, the paint is out of this world. Honestly the paint job on it is nicer than I've every seen on a Ferrari or Lamborghini. So they have the wavy forks and seat stays, at least it's recognizable there is no mistaking the Dogma for anything else.

Hey Steyrshrek.
As I said on the 'cast I adore Pinarello as a brand. I adored pretty much every bike they produced until this wavy fork/stay nonsense started.
So? Paint and finish? Gorgeous. Heritage? Nearly unrivalled. Wavy fork/stay stuff? Utter bullshit. In a carbon 'tube' with the profiles those frame elements have there is no way they make any difference to the ride quality or handling whatsoever other than perhaps a placebo effect if you've dropped a metric shitload of cash to own one. And there, in a nutshell, is my problem. A racing bike should be form following function. A machine dedicated purely to going fast. Do other manufacturers slip in branding elements to their frames? Yep, but none of them stray so far from the classic form of the pure race bike for no valid reasons as Pinarello do now. It's pretence and it's f-ugly. It's worth noting that this aesthetic purity of mine only applies to race bikes. Many of Scott's and my fave bikes in other categories are positively weird contraptions. But then we're back to the heritage thing again.....and of course it's differences in opinion that make life interesting ;o)

John