Handmade Bicycle Show: Rapha Roller Races

London based cycling apparel brand, Rapha, brought a level of cycling subculture that in it self is timeless, but still holds as a modern marvel amongst those with a competitive heart and the urge to push themselves to their limits.

In conjunction with North American Handmade Bike Show (NAHBS), Rapha’s Series of sights and after party delights gave crowds of cycling enthusiasts a photo exhibition by Rouleur to the inevitable group ride.

What drew a packed crowed to Craine Building in downtown Portland was the Rapha Roller Race. What you see when you walk into the venue is something that you may recognize from the Triplets of Belleville; four rollers side by side with a screen behind to track distance and time which determines the winner.

The “track” is a 500m circle that starts from a dead stop to all out sprint. There is not much pacing when athletes are pressured to make times below twenty seconds to keep up with their competitors. As a throw back to a vintage style of arcade competition, roller racing is always surefire way to draw a crowd of energetic cyclists that were drawn to Rapha’s promise of entertainment, beer and house DJ.

This spectacle brought a diverse crowed from the NAHBS that included the racer chic to shaggy messengers and everyone in between for a night of stellar competition and show celebration.

Photos and text by Tucker Schwinn.

ATOC - Tools of the Trade

ATOC - Stage One, Image Dump Part II

ATOC - Stage One, Image Dump

ATOC - Interview with Tony Cruz

While wandering around the pits on Prologue day at the Amgen Tour of California, BKW ran into Classics specialist and all-around nice guy, Tony Cruz. Over the course of his career, Tony has raced with some of cycling's best and, like the team here at BKW, Tony is crazy about the Classics. Tony was gracious enough to answer a couple of questions for us.

BKW: What is your fondest memory of the Classics?

TC: Out of all the classics, my fondest memory is actually finishing Roubaix, I want to say I finished 47th or 48th.

BKW: What year was that?

TC: 2004

BKW: How many Roubaixs do you have under your belt?

TC: Five, and 2004 was the only one I finished. I felt like I won the race. When I came into the velodrome I wanted to just throw up my hands. Probably one of the hardest one day races ever.

BKW: So, you are a part of history?

TC: Yeah, exactly, I got to go in the showers and clean up with the rest of the guys.

BKW: That's a victory in itself.

TC: Yeah, it is, it really felt like it.

BKW: So with BMC as your team for 2008, is there anything you will miss out on?

TC: Well, we may be doing Roubaix. BMC has really stepped it up for this year. I, personally, will be doing 20-25 races in Europe. Maybe more...we will be doing Tour of Romandie and we have a wildcard status, which means more race possibilities. I have never been able to race Roubaix for myself, so maybe a different approach for this year.

A Stain on Yellow

Astana is out of the Tour de France. No sooner than High Road was refused entry to the Giro, RCS reconsidered and gave the team a spot. And Operation Puerto has been reopened. Even Hollywood blockbusters don’t have this many twists of plot.

There can be little doubt that ASO and RCS want drugs out of cycling. And frankly, if it’s what ASO and RCS wants, then that is where the sport will go; the small race organizers don’t have much influence for good or ill.

Here’s what’s so fascinating about Europe: The complete lack of rationality in the administration of justice. Last year at the Tour (as if you don’t remember) Astana wasn’t the only embarrassment. Certainly Cofidis and T-Mobile brought some amount of embarrassment to the event courtesy Christian Moreni and Patrick Sinkewitz. But can anything in the entire 2007 season compare to Michael Rasmussen being fired from Rabobank?

So how is it that Rabobank will be at Paris-Nice and, ergo, the Tour de France? ASO clearly deserves the right to restrict invitations to only those teams that meet its standards. When asked about Rabobank, Patrice Clerc responded that the problems with Rabobank were limited to one rider and a director: Michael Rasmussen and Theo de Rooy, respectively, and not with the sponsor. Similarly, the problems at Astana could be said to be limited to a director, Mark Biver, and two riders, Alexander Vinokourov and Andrei Kashechkin. Umm, so how are they different again?

To be fair, the French are suspicious of Johan Bruyneel the way cats are suspicious of dogs. He’s the only team director with more than five victories to his name and the fact that he replicated his previous success with Armstrong with the second youngest Tour winner ever give them ample reason to worry that Contador could stand on the podium until his 33rd birthday—another nine years. ASO’s exclusion of Astana is as much about Bruyneel as it is Vinokourov et al.

Is refusing entry to Astana supportable? Maybe. But the only way it can seem a remotely just decision is if Rabobank is refused entry as well.

The problem with ASO’s inconsistent selection process is that it makes their choices seem arbitrary. If we were discussing rock musicians or starlets, irrational would be a selling point, but when it’s a corporation organizing the largest annual sporting event it’s a little scary.

The worst part is the irony. The stain on cycling caused by doping has tarnished the Tour, though not irreparably. However, if ASO uses arbitrary criteria to exclude teams, or applies objective criteria inconsistently, their disrespect for clean riders will cause a new problem that doping control can’t solve. There is no stain like crazy.

Photo courtesy John Pierce, Photosport International.

ATOC - Prologue, BMC

ATOC - Prologue, Astana

ATOC - Prologue, Bouygues Telecom

ATOC - Prologue, Slipstream

ATOC - Final Preparations, Part III

ATOC - Final Preparations, Part II