F#CK YEEEAHHHH BOOOYYYZZZZZ!!!!

2 Good #awseome!

TDF 100 YEARS

Via http://www.milanofixed.com/

TOURMALET - BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

Visibility Low!

These signs are evil. sign says next km averages 9% and there is 6 km's to summit.

Above the Clouds!

The difference a day makes! Epic view. This is the west side I climbed up.

One year after I was there and the tour satge is climbin it today so here is a little retrospective.

The most brilliant and horrific climb I have ever done. Actually breath tacking with the altitude having a significant effect on the air bags when you get to the top. On the second attempt I gave it a quick sprint in the final 300m to shake a young buck from Melbourne, man did that hurt!! If you are ever in the this area of France check out the valley to the west of Tourmalet, so beautiful with amazing scenery everywhere, waterfalls, rivers, cliffs, woodlands. you can mountain bike, ride road, kayak, white water raft,  rock climb, hike, fish it is awesome.

 If you ever plan going there is a hotel in St Savin which is awesome. Little restaurant does you hot breakfast and 3 course dinner 50 Euros!! even can pack you a gourmet lunch for the road! The village of St savin is out of this world. neselled on an almost imposible slope in the hill side above the valley floor it is amazing!

To put the climb in context it takes 20+ minutes to descend at about 60km/h!! The poles they put on the side of the climb telling you how far to the top and the ave grade of the next kilometer sector suck!! So evil!

Loved the climb so much did it two days back to back. one in fog that you could not see a thing  and the next day the sun could not have been brighter! A hard climb, cause setting a tempo was difficult as the grade changes quite a bit. An hour and a half of climbing is a lot! FS

Check Strava info here
More Photos on f.book.

BIKE PORN AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCALE

Epic! Found @helmeteering FS

BANG

Via milanofixed

TDF 2011 COMPONENT RACE

198 riders, 3 component sponsors, 21 Stages.
Which sponsor get its money’s worth?

01. CAMPAGNOLO (Gilbert, Omega Pharma-Lotto)
02. SRAM (Garmin-Cervélo team)
03. SRAM (Farrar, Garmin-Cervélo team)
04. SHIMANO (Evans, BMC)
05. SHIMANO (Cavendish, HTC-Highroad)
06. SHIMANO (Boasson Hagen, Team Sky)
07. SHIMANO (Cavendish, HTC-Highroad)
08. CAMPAGNOLO (Costa, Movistar)
09. SHIMANO (Sánchez, Rabobank)
10. CAMPAGNOLO (Greipel, Omega Pharma-Lotto)
11. SHIMANO (Cavendish, HTC-Highroad)
12. SHIMANO (Sánchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi)
13. SRAM (Hushovd, Garmin-Cervélo team)
14. CAMPAGNOLO (Vanendert, Omega Pharma-Lotto)
15. SHIMANO (Cavendish, HTC-Highroad)
16. SRAM (Hushovd, Garmin-Cervélo team)
17. SHIMANO (Boasson Hagen, Team Sky)
18. SHIMANO (Schleck, Leopard Trek)
19. CAMPAGNOLO (Rolland, Team Europcar)
20. SHIMANO (Martin, HTC-Highroad)
21. SHIMANO (Cavendish, HTC-Highroad)

Shimano (12),

Campagnolo (5),

SRAM (4)

via @ annyas.com

Check more old logos @ annyas.com

NAIL BITING TOUR

via milanofixed FS

BIKE OF THE YEAR!

Click image to enlarge, Found @ the.fixed.union

Putting it out there "Bike of the year". A bike fit for a legend! FS

BMC SLR01 - Mailot edition!
Di2 groupo
SRM power meter cranks
Mailot fizik saddle
Mailot speed play pedals
Easton EC 90 tubs with conti rubber

CADEL RESPECT - NUFF SAID!

Look at Cadels face! "Hell no bitch - I won" Photos via Steephill Tv

Cadel showed some of the biggest names in this years tour what power and sheer guts is - hitting the go button a long way from the line and hanging on with pure ozzie grunt! FS

TDF TTT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bastardigrassi/sets/72157626984137149/

Today again we lucked it! After criss crossing the vendee country side we were pointed to a feild of hundreds of cars. then simply followed our noses and the TT bikes being ridden by mechanics on test rides to the teams prep areas. check out all the back stage happenings. Found a great spot in the shade, just behind the finish line, infront of a crepe store serving beer, infront of a large screen tv, plus the finishing podium for the presentations. Also happened to be next to the anti doping test quaters which was also interesting. Alas no Yellow for Cadel but good showing so far! Garmin were stoked on the win and the presentations were interesting to watch to see all the going on's that make the event. FS, KN, & WK

I LOVE VENDEE

See more Photos @ BG flickr

What a stage! Perched on the first bump of the tour on a little valley in the Vendee a small contigent of BG experienced the flare, and utter crazyness that is le Tour. scoped the night earlier we found a hill defned by camper vans and knew we hit the right spot. Shade tree for lunch 50km veiws through the Vendee, valley road to alert you to the on coming peleton, voila`! I've seen promo vehicles before @ the TDU but never at this scale, floats passing you at a foot s distance doing 70 km/h lobbing hordes of goods @ you. This went on for close too an hour till we realised the local farm men had set up a small tent city in which a 4m wide projection screen was braodcasting live footage in a paddoc on a hill in the middle of no ware - gold! The riders flew past in full splendour and spectacular speed only slowed by the hill for only an instant, the aura of the peleton took your breath away! FS

What an experience.......standing in a dusty ditch in the middle of rural France, waiting for hours for thirty second of cycling madness.........simple the best thing ever. WK


Love from France! - bitches!

TOUR DE FRANCE - TIPPING

Thanks again to Gatesy for organising the Bastardi Tour de France tipping contest.

For those not on the emails check out the instructions and advice below:


Its that time again for another tipping comp.

I have set up a league again on the SBS website with the league name of bastardi and password grassi all lower case. Same rules seem to apply as last year, just check the scoring system to work put which riders to choose.

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/home/fantasy


Good luck and choose your riders carefully.

No riders seem to being showing great form yet, will Alberto "the butcher" be too tired from the Giro, will Andy's chain stay on in the important moments, will Cadel finally string his good form through July and can Mark "the Missile" Cavendish concrete on cycling instead of tweeting long enough too finally win the green jersey. Then there are the usual outsiders such as Basso, Wiggins, Sanchez, Van de Brocke etc fighting for top 5 placing. Should be a cracker of a race again.

Get your tips in ASAP and start watching from Saturday night…..

- MG

Le TOUR

pic from CT

BG's, KN and I'm are headed to Paris, look out for the BG Jersey at the first 3 stages and the last 4 stages! Last tips to make your le tour a cracker from the sofa!

Get the ride mag official guide for the tour, a great read and heaps of info on the tour plus a kick ass map of france inside.

Get the Sportal, Le Tour App for you iphone/smart phone a sweet little resource with news, maps, and profiles. Currently free @ Mac App Store.

As always keep an eye on Cycling tips for some great coverage - i'd expect he's got some cool things lined up!

I'll try to post some updates, and keep an eye on the flickr page. Otherwise don't get soft while i'm gone, a lot of BG's are looking good for this summer carrying a bit of form through the winter, and good numbers on sun rides still!

Get some inspiration from the tour and get out there, good time of year to start setting those base miles for summer if you have been MIA! FS

Le TOUR 2011 ROUTE

Click on Map to enlarge. More info HERE

Info via http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us/le_parcours.html

CONTADOR ON THE LOOSE

Big news, Contador is set to move rejecting Astana’s offer, placing the soon to be legend on the loose free of a contract, more here.

More series news on Contador and Andy’s developing relationship, ignited during the 2010 TDF, after their sickening displays of affection can be found here.

“"What we've seen on this Tour between the two favourites is inconceivable," ranted Fignon, who knew a thing or two about feisty duels in his time.

"Cycling can't be a thing between friends. The competition has to be merciless, especially once the race is started. Nothing should then stop it. I never fell into Bernard Hinault or Greg LeMond's arms. When you're rivals, you can't like each other, you mustn't like each other. It's not healthy."” @BlazingSaddles

In other news is just a coincidence that when you type ‘Contador’ Microsoft want to change it to ‘Contender’? Was his parents that wise?!?

Man love – it’s not healthy! FS

2010 TDF - BUT A MEMORY

See full gallery of some of the best tour pics here. Thank FYX

RENSHAW HEADBUT VID

Via http://www.versus.com/

@BikeRumor

TDF ST11 - RENSHAW OUT!!

'As HTC-Columbia wound up the speed inside the final kilometre in a bid to drop rivals and deliver Cavendish to the 200 metres to go mark, his lead-out man Renshaw tried to head-butt New Zealander Julian Dean three times.

Top race official Jean-Francois Pescheux said: "Renshaw was declassified immediately but we have decided to also throw him off the race.

"We've only seen the pictures once, but his actions are plain for all to see. They were blatant. This is a bike race, not a gladiator's arena. Everyone could have crashed today."

Tyler Farrar, whose Garmin-Transitions team promised to challenge Cavendish's domination prior to the stage, had tried to sneak up the barriers on the inside of Cavendish only to have Renshaw then veer to the left to block him.

"Everything was going great. I was on Julian's wheel and he took me up to Cavendish's wheel with 300 metres to go," said

"When Cavendish launched his sprint, Renshaw veered to the left and I had to put my hand on his back to steady myself. They just don't need to race like that."

Farrar admitted Cavendish's sprint was clean, but said he was more concerned about safety issues resulting from Renshaw's tactics.' -sbs

VIDEO - Renshaw on his DQ @ SBS
http://player.sbs.com.au/tdf#/tdf_08/interviews/interviews/playlist/Renshaw-and-team-on-his-DQ

Renshaw's punishment will be for changing his line in a sprint more so then jostling (head butting) with dean. Always hold your line!!! - FS

TDF ST10

via steephill.tv

TDF ST 09

What a battle - EPIC!!!!!!!!!!

Pics @SteepHill.Tv

VIDEO def worth a watch if you missed it:

SBS TDF VIDEO - Stage 09