Hoping for a great Ronde this Sunday!

Hoping for a Ronde like this! NOT the race we saw last year!!!

Hope you enjoyed the clips, check out all our NEW T's including: Belgian The F*ck Up, Monsieur Paris Roubaix, and Cipo for President 

It's the Ronde Damn it!

Out of respect to the Flemish people and the race, we will refer to the Ronde Van Vlaanderen as well...the Ronde and not the Tour of Flanders. We would not want them to call the Super Bowl something like Buuwel Van Suvvpper (just guessing since I was unable to locate an English to Flemish translator.  They have online English to Luxembourgish or Hmong but not Flemish).

So obviously, Fabian, "Swiss Machine", is the favorite, but we are wondering if you think anyone of these people/things can derail him.

1. Boonen:  Looks like the knee is solid, no police incidents, no blow and he just won Gent Wevelgem. He also has the strong team card to play, like he has in previous years with Chavanel.  We're pretty sure Boonen and his Quick Step team are pulling for the radio ban, since they have Capt. D-bag Lefevere in their ears.  If he doesn't get caught taking a drink again, etc..do you think he can hang onto Fabian when he attacks?

2. Mechanical/problem (flat, broken chain, crash)?  Fabian puts out crazy power - add in cobbles and 20% gradients, it is a lot of stress on his ride.  If he snaps another chain, flats at the wrong time or ends up on the ground (he might break the cobbles not the other way around) no one will be waiting.   I know Conta is not in the race, but you know what I mean - This is a 1 day race

3. Philipe Gilbert:  He is a Belgian (a Walloon, but still) and he wants to win this race for King and Country and all of that.  We have no question he will put in an attack and if things play out, he might be able to make it.

4. Matthew Goss: Want a dark horse? Matthew Goss is Belgian at heart, and he is a flat out fast!  Not sure if you have noticed but he is showing the world he is a force to be reckoned with!  He is not scared of weather or climbs as he proved in Paris Nice, and he can out sprint Fabian if he has the chance.

* Our heart forces us to include Stijn Devolder - who know if he has the form to win, but we had to include him.  He will don the finest threads in the peloton, and that Belgian Champions kit will give him wings like 4 Red Bulls, a double purple nurple and slap on the ass!


Thanks for reading - check out our tees at www.hbstache.com and use PROMO CODE: RONDE for Free Shipping on any order this week! 


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SHUT UP LEGS! Trainer fuel!

It's that time of year (snow or - teen temps or both) where most of us will be seeking something to watch to get us inspired to get on the "road to nowhere".  We never support the Old Guys that get fat in the winter concept, as this keeps one from looking PRO, which is a HELL NO!  

So tell your Legs to SHUT UP and get some work done!

If you need this tee for post ride (please don't go Floyd and wear it with lycra shorts while riding), you can pick it up on our site at  http://www.hbstache.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Shut%5FUp%5FLegs%2DCharcoal

  Here are a few of our favorites, hope they inspire and lead to much sweating while wearing your mis-matched worn out kit from 2004.

2008 Ronde Van Vlaanderen

Greatest Cyclists of All Time (Top Ten)

STANDING START

The full version of Standing Start-UK can be found @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki2re9uILtc

Hope you enjoy your TRAINER ride! Come see us at www.hbstache.com 

1 day riders > GC riders

Super Model Stephanie Clerckx (when asked what she thought of the "make up" after Chain Gate)

After reading yet another Andy Schleck interview where he talks about being disappointed yet content. I had a realization about my own views on Pro Cyling. Over the last 11 years I  have changed quite a bit..on the road and off the road.  The Grand Tours is what hooked me, and the main thing I used to watch.  Then I quickly discovered the Classics and watched those as well.  I was a huge fan of several GC riders and pulled for certain guys in the Classics.

Fast forward to 2010 and I am ALL IN as a fan of 1 day riders like Stijn, Fabian and Boonen.  The GC guy's are not what I remember with Armstrong vs Ullrich with Pantani thrown in there.  Those guys had real deal battles and some deep feuds.  The current GC riders ]are not close to legendary hard men like Merckx or Hinault. There is no "Patron" these days and Tour 2010 showed us that.  Perhaps Cippo is right and the GC guys are now on the "soft" side.  Here is a part from his recent interview with Cyclingnews.com: 

“Seeing Schleck and Contador embrace on the Tourmalet after crossing the line and then seeing Contador affectionately pinch Schleck’s cheek during his interview was unreal for me,” Cipollini exclaimed. “Logically, Schleck should have been raging; he had just lost the Tour after all."

“After the chain slip incident on the Port de Balès, he should have attacked the Spaniard day after day, in front of the microphones and on the air too, without giving him time to piss!”

Hard to argue after seeing Andy go from a "Stomach full of anger" to "We are still good friends" in 24hrs. Conta gave him the you just won a stage and are now my bitch gift at the top of the Tourmalet.   I had been waiting and waiting and hoping to see the next great Tour shoot out but instead I got the bromance ending.  Cippo also dropped the mangina line on us with this one:

“I read an interview with Umberto Veronesi, a scientist, a reputed oncologist and Minister for Health,” Cipollini continued. “In five hundred years or more, human beings might have both sets of genitalia, male and female. I don’t want this evolution to have started already in cycling…”

Compare that to guys that train in crappy weather, crash on cobbles and attack each other every chance they get.  The current generation of Classic guys are as hard as the guys that came before them.  Sparticus is a hard core cat that will rip your legs off.  Boonen will go all out on the cobbles and go toe to toe with Cav in a sprint.  Stijn's back to back wins at the Ronde are two of my favorite races of the decade.  I recently saw this quote from Devolder about staying in Belgium while teammates go to warmer places to train. “It is not so cold that you freeze on to your bike. You go from a temperature of zero (Celsius) to minus one and you’re not dead; It hardens your character.”

Hoping for a great year of Pro-cycling in 2011, but I will be paying a bit more attention in April than in July this year.  I will be paying more attention to the guys training right now on the bergs and cobbles or sweating it out on rollers.  I will be a little less attentive to these guys in July.

Who are you when you ride?

Many of us fell in love with cycling becasue it takes us back to our childhood and the freedom we first felt on 2 wheels.  Cycling is so unique in that we can buy and ride the same bikes on the same roads as the Pro's. You can also buy and wear the same kits as the Pro's... we REALLY hope you don't, but you can. 

If you say you have never day dreamed about Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin voicing over your effort you're either lying or don't have cable.  One's mind also starts to compare/think of who you ride like on different types of terrain.  This happens to me and here is what I come up with:

On a rolling course, I hit it pretty hard and think about crushing it like Stijn at Flanders. I truly enjoy pushing it hard up and over each rise and hitting it hard on the flats!  This is my type of riding, and perhaps this is why I am borderline obsessed with Belgian racing. (Okay, my wife is shaking her head.  She says not borderline, but COMPLETELY obsessed)

When climbing I would say I think about  Levi hangin in there on major climbs (as I am also a bald, small stature, animal rescuing guy, this seems to work for me).  I am never going to be a "true" climber but I can hang within eye site of them.  I keep my rythm and make it to the top in a respectable time in most cases.  I get dropped by some but drop more than my fair share when the road tilts up.

When descdening do I think of riding like Salvodelli or Nabali?  Um...HELL NO! I think about riding like Jan Rasmussen (A combo of these 2 characters. As stiff as Michael Rasmussen and as sketchy as Jan Ullrich) Not sure why, perhaps it was living and riding in an area that was ALL rollers for the last 10 years.  Perhaps it was the wicked crash I had on my Scwhinn Predator going down the hill in my neighborhood at age 7. Not sure why, but all I know is once it's time to go down hill at 35+ I get a bit FREAKED OUT!  I have to work on that part of my game so I don't get passed on the descent by the chubby guy in the lime green jersey with dental mirrors on his lid.  

Great thing about cyling is that there is always something to work on! What are you working on?

Are you Belgian at heart?

It’s getting to be the time of year, when temps drop and liquid falls the sky.  Do you have an Inner Belgian? When the weather moves in do you smirk as you know there will be very few cyclists out today?  When you call your riding buddies on a bad weather day and they say they “don’t feel good” or will be riding the trainer, do you tell them they are acting like a Spaniard? (All due respect to Juan Antonio Flecha* - more thoughts on him below).  Or do you ask them if they need help booking their trip to Majorca?

Here is a list to let you know if your inner Lion of Flanders is beginning to roar:

1.       You will head out in a driving rain storm or don’t turn back as weather rolls in.

2.       The trainer is for times when you want to ride at night or snow is getting so deep you can’t ride a road bike in it.

3.       You think about other cyclists not riding and feel the only reasonable excuse is a Kidney Stone, a broken C-bone or a Cross Race.

4.       You begin to envision the mid-ride hill as the Koppenberg  and your final climb as the Bosberg

5.       You gain the skill to be able to take the lane as needed from motorists.  For Example:  Your riding in a bike lane/shoulder when you notice a large volume of broken glass or the body of a wookie blocking your path.  As you look over at the person driving the SUV drinking a latte they see your face covered in grime and the water droplets falling from the bill of your cap.  They yield the lane to you, they are in awe you riding in the weather.  They are still a bit chilly in the car with the heat on wearing a hoodie and their fur lined Crocs.  They also respect and realize that if they did not give it to you, you might bridge up and chase them to Arby’s.

6.       You can name more Belgian cyclists than Merckx, Boonen and Develoder.

7.       You notice and respect the “Belgian” in riders not at the front of the race, but are still racing even though their work is done.

8.       You have to think deep on whether you fanaticize about winning the Ronde instead of the Tour during interval sessions.

9.       You order Embrocation for the 1^st time

10.   You show up to a group ride and you are the only one there.

If you have not tested yourself in the elements, we recommend giving it a go and seeing if you have a bit Belgian in you.

* Juan Antonio Flecha, aka "The Spanish Flandarian" - is the exception to the normal "soft" Spanish cyclist.  We have heard rumor that Eddie Merckx's 1st cousin Thomas Merckx spent a good amount of time in Spain during 1977 and had a thing for Latin Ladies.  We're not sayin'...we're just sayin'.