Go Clipless

Lindsay Lohan likes her fiber (carbon, that is)...

Here's DL Byron from BikeHugger looking for some advice on his new carbon brakes:

[A] question on brake pads came up for me this weekend at a hilly race when a set of Kool Stop carbons squealed like Lindsay Lohan at a Hollywood coke party.

I'm a sucker for a good biking simile. Now what exactly is Lindsay Lohan famous for anyway???

Floyd Landis competes in first mountain bike race in 9 years, doesn't fare well

There's being in shape, cycling shape, and then there's mountain bike shape. I don't care who you are or how fit you may be if you haven't been mountain biking in a while, you are going to struggle.

Such was the case for Floyd Landis, yesterday at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado. While there were a few notables - Ned Overend, Travis Brown, Jay Henry, and Ross Schnell - the field of elite men was not especially competitive. Despite this, Landis only managed to muster a 36th place finish and was passed by Shonny Vanlandingham who started four minutes behind and won the women's race. (Via VeloNews)

He blamed his lackluster finish on the time off the bike during his doping hearing, saying:

There were quite a few weeks when I rode a reasonable amount, 200-to-300 miles a week...Then that hearing; I didn't ride at all. You're sitting there. The next thing you know, you're eating doughnuts and you don't even care. It was awful.

Now sure, if he ate one less doughnut and kept the training going he would have fared better, but I'll bet he wouldn't have cracked the top 15. It's going to take a lot more than miles on the road and good eating to compete with the big boys in the pro mountain bike world. In the 9 years that you've been away Floyd, mountain biking has grown up and the elite mountain biking world does all that, plus they get dirty.

Let this be a wake up call to all those past and future Tour de France winners out there (Lance are you listening?), that you can't just turn around and think you'll start dominating in the mountain bike world without even trying. This is not a game you can play in your retirement.

Still, it would have been fun to watch the Lance and Landis showdown at Leadville, even though they might have been competing with each other in the middle of the pack.

Read my letter to Lance Armstrong after he backed out of the Leadville 100.
Read my letter to Floyd Landis admonishing him for scaring Lance.

Are you a fat cyclist?

It's official. You no longer have to be overweight to be a fat cyclist. In fact, starting today there's a whole new meaning to acknowledging that you are a fat cyclist.

Let me fill you in on the back story. In April, Elden Nelson, author of the popular Fat Cyclist blog, learned that his wife Susan was stricken with a serious form of cancer. Of course, Fatty's (as he calls himself) fans, being cyclists and all, rallied to his side in support with well-wishes delivered through comments on his blog as well as cards.

Not only that, but Twin Six, the hippest jersey maker in the industry, rolled out a limited edition Team Fatty jersey and companion gear in support of Elden and his wife, but also to fight cancer in general. All of the proceeds of Team Fatty gear will be split between covering Susan's medical expenses and recovery trip (she wants to visit Italy once she is well enough) and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (and if you've ever had doubts about the good an organization like this can have, read this account from Elden). Now how's that for cool?

So everybody say it with me out loud:

I want to help help a fellow bike blogger - I am a fat cyclist.

I want to save a life - I am a fat cyclist.

I want to cure cancer - I am a fat cyclist.

I am proud to be a fat cyclist.

Now...get yourself a jersey (they are for both men and women) and wear it to your next race or club ride, and do it with pride, you hear! Thank you.