SUNDAY RIDES 26/07

Bastardi’s,

Two rides on offer this Sunday:

1. Normal beach run @ Hindmarsh SQ @ 8am - for all those recovering from Mt Ventoux!

2. Meadows run organised by Virgo (see below):

Fellow Bastardi,

Mike, Stevo and I are planning to have a ride to Meadows this Sunday starting at 8.00am at Burnside Town Hall (diagonally opposite Burnside Village). We have completed this route a number of times and it is good for both hills and flat riding.

Route: Burnside - Freeway to Eagle on the Hill - Crafers - Stirling - Aldgate - Aldgate Valley Road - Mylor - Echunga - Meadows (coffee and food at Bakery) - Kangarilla - Clarendon - Aberfoyle Park - Blackwood - Belair - Windy Point - Unley - Home

Note: subject to wind conditions the route may be reversed

Total Distance: approx 95km (depending on where you come from)

All welcome to come along - the more 'domestiques' the better.

Brian Schleck-Virgo
(the unheralded third Schleck brother)

Limits of Liability and disclaimer - Bastardi Grassi is not liable for any loss, damage, claim, cost, demand or expense arising due to cycling. NO responsibility is taken for any addiction that may originate from cycling and your need to upgrade, get lighter and go faster. The recipient is urged to ride with care, and not look at too much bike porn, you'll go blind! or poor trying to acquire it!

REGISTER FOR TOUR DOWN UNDER

TDU CHALLENGE RIDE 110/160km
http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/getinvolved/mcct

Everyone needs to register as an individual – early bird prices finishes 31st of July,

I will collect your individual registration numbers (make note of them) and register the team in August.

Jerseys available for sizing @ South Australian Visitor & Travel Centre, 18 King William Street Adelaide

Proposed team name: Bastardi Grassi

All team names and members must be registered by Monday 30 November 2009 at 5pm (South Australia time) to receive the team benefits.

Bargin box

Shimano R131 Carbon SPD Shoes From $70 - RRP $180

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=17048

Ride is on for 8am Sun 19.

All

FYI. The SA Tourism Office (18 King William St) now has the Tour Down Under jerseys to try on. They arrived today. For reference a 3XL is slightly loose on me so it seems about the same sizing as last year.

I got sent this very rare photo of the Peloton in the 1940 Tour de France - Aldo

Recreational rides

Put these dates in your calandar, biggest recommendation is Amy's ride with the ride along the closed southern expressway a must!!

Farthers day classic
60km
September 6th Sunday
https://secure.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/registrant/EventClosed.aspx

Amy's Ride
60/100km
November 1st Sunday
http://www.bikesa.asn.au/servlet/Web?s=2060570&p=RideGuides_OnRoad_AmysRide

Big city ride
60km
November 22nd Sunday

Tour Down Under
160/110km
January 22nd Friday
http://www.mcct.tourdownunder.com.au/

Coast 2 Coast
100/120km
March 14 Sunday
http://www.bikesa.asn.au/servlet/Web?s=2060570&action=changePage&pageID=692344369

CADEL's - BIKE

And the shitest looking bike in the peleton goes tooo........

The rankest looking bike i have ever seen!!!

Fabe's Machine

TT bikes - Hardcore Bike Porn

Bastardi News

Sundays ride - will be the usual @ 8am

TDU- Challenge ride uniforms still are not available so will let you know about team details closer to the end of the month.

Wiggle - Bastardi will be looking to do a wiggle run. Wiggles site offers free delivery over $240 so combining our purchases this can be easily reached. Most of their goods are seriously under local retail price. We did a run with Mike, Warwick, Gavin and I which was a success and on the back of this will look too do another run soon. Figure out what you want and I’ll keep you posted on a date for buying.

Wiggle.co.uk/Australia-Cycling

TDF - Doesn’t look like it is going to be a good year for Oz in le Tour. Rogers fell and last night and Cadell is at around 3 min without going up a single mountain. Either way tonight forms the first true test for one of the most exciting Tours in resonant history. The boss or the team leader? Who knows with around six in the hunt. My only wish is for big Fabian to stick it to little fellas, as he is truly a machine!! But in all reality look for Sastre and Schleck to challenge Astana on the climbs as these two have serious attacking ability when it comes to the mountains!

Best TDF site : http://www.letour.fr/us/homepage_courseTDF.html

I must declare that; I'm a massive Continental fan so all opinions expressed in this article are bias. But Continental have released some great fact on there range on their site, which confirms some of my love for the brand and it's product. Interestingly the facts and figures confirm some of my beliefs. To really cut along story sort:

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/general/home/index_en.html

Buy black tyres - they grip better and the compounds will last longer. Some part of the colouring process degrades the quality of the rubber from it's maximum. Conti being German and precise; will not award it's coveted "black Chili" label to any of its coloured compounds.

Buy black chili - the advantages in grip and rolling resistance are quite significant. You can only get black!

Buy GP4000 s - 's' for black chilli: For the types of riding Bastardi's do this is one of the best tyre's out their. These tyres are a measure of puncture resistance over rolling resistance and are good enough to race on yet reliable enough to ride all year. These tyres grip like no man's business.

Don't buy gatorskins - except for a commuter bike. These are as puncture resistant as hell and can be ridden on the canvas but the grip level is a serious compromise.

Note: i can compare these to Vitoria Rubio Pro's Slicks, which came on my TCR, which are top of the range Vittoria race tyres and i much prefer the feedback and ride of the GP. I can also compare to Specialized Mondo tyre which is a good tyre in it's own right but not a scratch on the GP4000 s.

Some general tips on tyres:

Always buy a foldable tyre, these are much easier to fit then beaded tyres - also easier to store.

Replace tyres regularly - it's the difference between being up right and sliding down the road.

Don't be tight arse when buying them - for the same reason as above.

Getting regular punctures - time for a new tyre.

Never patch a tyre - you should be pumping it up to a round 100-120psi, a patch is not going to cut it spring $12 you tight arse! patching a tyre changes the regularity in which inflates creating bulges in the tyre which will create a wobble or bump through the bike and compromise handling and may damage your rims.

A interesting brochure with some great literature on Continentals range.

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/general/downloads/brochure_bicycle_tires_en.html

Over view of Continentals tyre range.

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/tires/application_guide/application_guide_en.html

Gates-e with his ventriloquist doll - whoops i mean Cadel

Pic of the week

And no she won't be joining us on Sunday!

Tour Down Under

The full Tour Down Under 2010 stages has been released on their site today. Check it out @:

http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/

TDF - TIME TO MAKE SELECTIONS

IMPORTANT CHANGE TO TIPPING COMP

We are running with the SBS site for the grand pool prize, with $10 entry, winner takes all!!!

http://fantasytdf.sbs.com.au/

If you have not recieved the password or username, hollar to fsmith@hassell.com.au

Good morning Gentlemen,

With the news this morning that one of Cadel's top domestiques has been kicked out for EPO has put another dent in his attempt to win the Tour. It did look at bit wrong at the time when Dekker left Rabobank and has now been done for an EPO test retested from a sample taken in December 2007.

With only 2 more proper nights of sleep left before the kick off it is time to get your teams selected for the tipping competition. Boonen still hasn't been confirmed either whether he is competing or not but it looks like Alby will get the ride instead, which is great to see another Aussie riding.

For those of you who are keen, I have actually set up 2 tipping comps to see which one is best. You are welcome to go in both, but the one which the Bastardi kitty will be decided upon is the SBS competition. I will include details for both but the SBS comp has a bit more flexibility, and has weekly prizes up for grabs, as well as a $10,000 kitty for the winner. With this site you can change riders if one is having a bad race or stops racing, plus you need to pick a bonus stage which you score double points on. It also shows whos hot and whos not to help with any transfers during the race. You have a limited number of tranfers available during the race, but you can change your team to suit the different terrain. But as pointed out in the rules, your selections for final GC positions, stay with your original selection. - M. Gates

Here is the link for the PRIZE POOL site http://fantasytdf.sbs.com.au/

**Note, it list stage 4 as a individual time trial, this is actually a team time trial**

With the Velogames, you pick your team, and just sit back and watch, there are no adjustments that can be done during the race.

The link for the velogames site www.velogames.com

Thanks to Gates-e for setting up the tipping comp -FS

A new website for the Tour

In addtion to the cyclingnews.com and sbs pages, a new one for this year can be found at

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tour_de_france/index.html