Where to next?

So if you have noticed, the blog is currently placed on an indefinite hiatus. We’re currently moving on with our lives quite far away from the sport and the athletes. It might excite you though that you can keep in touch with your favorite cyclists through their websites. One of our favorites includes the following:

Geraint Thomas – a standard on how personal cyclist websites should be built

Teun Mulder – one of our fave track cyclists has his rather sporadically updated website

Shane Perkins – this Australian track cyclists also boasts of some minimal but good and relevant content

Zach Bell – this hot Canadian track cyclist’s blog may skimp on updates but it gives you a glimpse into the personal world of the track cyclist

Cameron Meyer – this site for the amazing Australian cyclist delivers the goods

Chris Hoy –  a slick personal website, as minimalist as a world class cyclist can be

Francois Pervis – this French cyclist has a dedicated fan base maintaining the site

Robert Foerstemann – without a doubt perhaps the most popular cyclist on this blog based on this hits, the website has a wealth of information though perhaps you might have to learn some German

Maximillian Levy – Yet another personal website for a German track cyclist, this one was one of the first to launch and has updated information on current races

There are other notable websites, but given the limited scope of this blog, this is the most accessible and relevant list of personal websites we can find for the readers of this blog. And of course for the fetish side of things, here’s a new blog that might interest you- The Tight Spot. Quite an odd name but fitting for the content it delivers. (Warning: adult content in the link)

6 Days Berlin

These photos of the 6 Days Berlin 2011 by sports photographer Kerstin Winterkamp is nothing short of amazing. We can’t stress enough how stunning these photos are. Well composed, shot and edited. Of course, these photos has gone under some serious post processing but you can’t deny the high quality and stunning composition of these photos. We have never seen the 6 Days in such a gritty fashion. Moreover one of our favorite shots are those of the surroundings, and the inanimate things usually taken for granted by photographers. It makes for quite a compelling story. Generally though, these photos follow the lives of Leif Lampater and Christian Grasmann, so take a peek at what goes in and out of the 6 Days Berlin. Unfortunately though, there are no photos of the Hooters style ladies surrounding the velodrome.

First Person View of a Crash

Now here’s a crash video that’s quite unique and fresh in the sense that the camera is mounted in one of the bikes involved. This one taken in the recent 6 Days last January 27. The team with the camera tries to bust through an exchange and ends up in a very well documented crash.

Off the camera this is how it looked like. Photo taken by Javelin for bf-one.

Team OUCH

Now that we’re back to the States, we’re putting our focus on American teams. We’re sure a lot of you know the real state of professional track cycling in this country. At its current state it’s well organized, and promising but our cyclists can’t dominate this sport at their level when the French, British, Germans are very well ahead. We have a lot of catching up to do. The London Olympics 2012 is almost near and it’s our wish that our national track cycling team will be able to perform superbly in this event and all the events leading up to it. So what’s the missing ingredient? We can’t really say, it’s multifactorial really. We already have world class Olympic champion and medalist Jamie Staff training our team as well as sufficient financial support. We also have a decent sized fanbase and supporters for our track cyclists, so what we probably lack is the enthusiasm and coordination of all fans, athletes, and media outlets with regards to the sport of track cycling. Perhaps one day, and we hope it will be one of these days in 2011, we can all see everyone working together to produce a world class track cycling team who will topple the Brits, Germans and French off the podium.

So in relation to that rant above, we have here a track cycling team we’re all very excited to see. Team OUCH. Don’t let the name fool you, what we have here are world class athletes who, with the right support and training can give the other teams a run for their money. The support here is quite good, and their performance in the nationals is nothing short of stunning. Moreover, the athletes are on their way to becoming the best cyclists in this nation. The team is led by Sarah Hammer, and is composed of Jimmy Watkins, Austin Carroll, Daniel Harm, Cody O’Reilly, and Brent Kay. So as you can see in the photo above, they are big guys in the sport and even Austin Carroll is quite a beast himself. We hope this size gives them a distinct advantage aside from looking badass and intimidating. (Although as you might have noticed, Malaysia’s pint sized cyclist Azizulhasni Awang proved to be quite the opposite of what we just implied). So okay, the launch of a new track team will only spell excitement for the first few weeks and months after its launch. But our point is, the fact that there is some movement in the professional track cycling world in this nation means something. We’re going for gold.

Procycling Magazine Cover Shoots

You probably have read the article from Cyclingnews showcasing some cover shoots of Procycling Magazine by photographer Jesse Wild. You can read the article HERE. Of course, the best part is the photographs he shares of some pro cyclists including one of our favorites, Tyler Farrar (photo above). Now that the 2011 pro cycling season has officially started, it’s about time to revisit these cover shoots of 2010. Obviously, Mark Cavendish is one of the favorite and most reported cyclists out there stemming from his exploits and his electrifying personality. Personally, we kinda like the guy for his balls. He has the ability to add spice to the sport even though his ways are quite questionable. Word wars end up with Cav receiving the short end of the stick from the press and he even has a couple of brushes with the press. Still, you can’t deny his presence brings a fresh personality to the sport. Though we wish every cyclist out there would have the amazing personality and charisma of Tyler Farrar, Tyler is one of a kind and that makes him unique and well loved by the press despite underperforming and some say, overhyped performance. Read the article in the link above and if you’re interested go ahead and subscribe to the mag. Here are more photos from the article.