I don't think Parkin tried to make DIAH a moving work of literature, nor do I think the reader is supposed to develop much sympathy for him. What I think he succeeded in doing was exposing at least a bit of the schitzoid reality that was the Belgian kermesse circuit in the '80s. I certainly didn't get the feeling he was trying to make excuses for not being a more successful pro. The idea that some of those riders were so far down the amphetamine pit of addiction that they trained and raced for the sole purpose of maintaining their unfettered access to the drugs still seems incredible to me.

It's too bad Hemingway wasn't a cyclist.

But he was...

http://le-grimpeur.net/blog/archives/26

By the way... I am elated that Le Grimpeur is flowing once again. I had given-up on it and seeing Jeff's mention of Hemingway recalled that I'd read something about Hemingway and cycling... and after a quick Google, I saw that it was there in Le Grimpeur that I read that piece.

Thanks Jules for bringing-up the subject and to Jeff for mentioning Hemingway.

Speaking of Great Blogs Gone Silent (the inclusion of 'raincape' in which, we are admittedly unresolved) it's worth mentioning that the author of BobkeStrut is not yet, in the purely Pythonian sense, dead...

http://www.bobkestrut.com/

A good one indeed... and how funny is this Roll quote about his blog update frequency:

"It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that Bobke Strut has been updated about as often as John Gadret wins bike races. Like once a millennium."

I was pretty underwhelmed by A Dog in a Hat - but it was worth the read. If anyone wants to borrow my copy give a shout!

Speaking of Hemingway:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/raw-video-hemingway-look-alike-contest-26028668.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fus-15749625%252Fraw-video-hemingway-look-alike-contest-26028668.html

I found DIAH fascinating; there are precious few glimpses an outsider can get of that world, and most are given to us by people angling for a career in journalism, or (worse) ghost written with an eye toward narrative arc.

I wonder if Parkin just gave up on 6yearsinaraincape. He's running both Bike and Paved magazines. And, at least when he started working for them, he was commuting back and forth from the Santa Cruz area to San Clemente.

DIAH was a labor of love for Parkin, or at least a personal reckoning of his earlier life. VeloPress, the publisher, is too small to pay for a ghostwriter, let alone good copy editors.

I give Parkin serious props for going in an era when it was a real adventure into another world. And his tale of seeing the "doctor" has had me wondering what intelligence that guy had to determine that Joe was better built for classics. Then again, if you see him today, it wouldn't be much of a jump.

my take on DIAH: http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=PRODUCT_REVIEW&ARTICLE_ID=1168&QUERY=dog%20in%20a%20hat&RETURN=review%20search%20for%20%27dog%20in%20a%20hat%27&RETURNLINK=%2Fza%2FCCY%3FPAGE%3DPRODUCT_REVIEWS%26QUERY%3Ddog%20in%20a%20hat%26RETURN%3Dmain%20reviews%20page&PRODUCT_REVIEW_PAGE=&SEARCH_NAME=&QUERY_BRAND=

Here's a shot of him from a few years ago, but he looks pretty much the same today.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allhailtheblackmarket/4701606132/

JP,

This all sound accurate? You know Pelkey, right? I always enjoyed his velonews live update commentary. Not a big Armstrong fan to begin with, but this is superlame. All the guy did was make a little joke about yellow wristbands and Lance goes on attack mode.



"A couple of days before he went in for cancer surgery, Velonews fired Charley Pelkey.

and then this

Charles Pelkey
( FORMER) Senior Editor, VeloNews

Well, my life and its travails seemed to have garnered more attention than I expected.

In addition to Wednesday's lay-off, I had other news, which I chose to Tweet, using my Twitter account for the first time in six months or so:

@Charles_Pelkey
A bit nervous. On top of everything, cancer surgery on Tuesday. All I ask, though, just please don't buy me a @#$%ing yellow rubberband

Apparently that raised the ire of a Twitterer (Twit?) with more than a Bazzillion followers and he felt compelled to respond with

@lancearmstrong
@Charles_Pelkey wow. stay classy charles.

Cool. Now what can a guy say, but

@Charles_Pelkey
@lancearmstrong I will. I promise. Can you make the same commitment?

Weird. Never thought I would get into a pissing match with the world's greatest anti-cancer crusader on the eve of cancer surgery.

CP"

I wrote for Charles a few times shortly after he started at VN. I chatted with him a bit whenever I saw him at InterBike. He friended me on Facebook some time ago. I bring all this up to write that the comments by Pelkey seem to be within what I can tell is normal chatter for him. Several months ago, Pelkey did an article for Velonews.com,
"U.S. and Italian authorities examine Armstrong-Ferrari ties"
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/04/news/u-s-and-italian-authorities-examine-armstrong-ferrari-ties_169668

shortly after which Armstrong tweeted "So clueless, charles". http://twitter.com/#!/lancearmstrong/status/61172958894370816.

Touching. Of course, Armstrong has chosen not to clue anybody in.

I think Pelkey was given the drugs beat at VN. He wasn't on the road much, so it wasn't like he was jeopardizing relationships with sources, and he's a bit older, so it wasn't like he was racing with the current crop of US star riders.

I doubt Pelkey was fired over this. I think Competitor Group is purging all their senior staff. Editor Ben Delaney was fired when he was in France, and it seemed like he presided over the mag's re-design. Wilcockson, who they had be going to less and less, also got the ax. Pelkey, as one of the longest-serving VN employees, who wasn't a kid when he started there, had a real journalism career, probably has a salary they'd like to do without.

Here's the exchange on twitter:http://twitpic.com/5xzbyo

I didn't realize Charles was going in for cancer surgery until this exchange. I sent him a note earlier in the day about his pink slip.

when i was a noob and my dad got the print version of Velonews, i thought it was the jam

nowadays, the only thing that is remotely interesting is the "ask nick" column

come to think of it, they've been giving him a ton of work lately in addition to his column - maybe they realize he's one of the few not-dull people writing for them

of course, the dullness could all be coming from top-down management/editors

in my mind, velonews is the perfect encapsulation of the milk-toast American approach to the sport that we've become familiar with via OLN/Versus coverage of the tour

Tru dat. Nick and Pelkey (formerly) are two of the few decent things about velosnooze these days.

Not to mention, VN basically plagiarizes foreign newspapers. Go check out an article about Italian cycling in Gazzetta, for instance, run it through Google Translate, and compare that to the VN (or CN for that matter) article on the same story and it'll be pretty darn similar. It's a real shame we don't have anything better.

They had some good results, but it does not seem to be enough.

Some good results? Something like 500 wins overall, 50 wins in Grand Tours. Top teams like Astana, Liquigas, Leopard-Trek, Quick Step, Radio Shack, BMC, Garmin, just about every team out there, doesn't compare. I bet that if the money had been there Cavendish would have stayed because his leadout team is incomparable and he wouldn't have been able to take them all.

I guess one of the many differences is that Bob Stapleton didn't want to be an angel investor nor did he court them. These have been essential to Cervelo Test Team and Garmin. And teams like Lampre, Euskatel, BMC benefit from a sponsor that is passionate about cycling. I think Rabobank sees it as a marketing of their values--they sponsor bike racing from juniors on up, on the road, in cx and mtb. I'm almost surprised that Specialized didn't come to some kind of partial rescue, as their CEO, more than the brass Trek or Cannondale, lives cycling. The one thing that might have limited him is Specialized's investment in Alberto Contador, which seems pretty great.

It will be interesting to see who goes where, both on the management and rider sides. As Highroad focused on youth and teamwork, I can see just about everyone finding a home, and them displacing many riders.

I don't think Cav, or Tony Martin will have trouble finding a place in another pro team. I think the loss of HTC-Highroad is really a loss for the women's peleton. They were a strong sponsor and fielded one of the best women's teams out there. The sponsors are not as deep in women's cycling as it is for the guys. It is sad to see them leave that role.

Hopefully there will be a sponsor to continue to support their women's team.

The reports read like Stapleton is still looking for a sponsor for the women's team. Might be easier to get, especially if it focuses on a Euro schedule.

this sucks - they were one of the most exciting teams out there

i've said this before, but cycling has such a shitty business model

until the ASO shares some of the media/broadcast rights, the best teams int he world will continue to fold at the height of their powers for lack of a lousy few million euros

wicked bumma!

Fascinating post on inner ring:

http://inrng.com/2011/08/highroad-pro-cycling/

Inner ring got a few things wrong.

Stapleton started VoiceStream. Sold it to Deutsche Telekom, now T-Mobile, and thus earned a seat on the board and gained a fortune. The story is he asked to run the team. When T-Mobile pulled the plug, I think because of the Sinkewitz positive, that a board member was running the team meant that it was highly unlikely they'd walk away without fulfilling their contractual obligations. I think in any other situation, the team would have gotten nothing. At the time, Stapleton didn't defend Sinkewitz, just said it proves tests are working and left it at that.

Yes, I think this money was significant. It could have funded the team for a while. Deals with suppliers could have helped, but I don't think as much as Inner Ring suggests. Yes, a bike sponsor probably throws in a big chunk of money, but they didn't have a real clothing sponsor (Moa is a big producer of clothing, so big they cover a big chunk of the peloton, and their consumer line Nalini doesn't benefit from the association), they had a small helmet sponsor, they had no wheel sponsor (riders could race whatever they wanted), and the other technical suppliers are sufficiently small that I can't imagine they made much of a difference. SRM was probably giving them power meters, but probably not paying for the priveledge. No, I don't think Stapleton put in his own money, otherwise, it probably would have continued.

So did the formation of GreenEDGE lead to the downfall of Highroad? Is this just trading one un-sponsored racing team for another? Are we at a point where professional athletes will no longer be sponsored by corporations but by wealthy individuals, almost as patrons of racing?

^ Sweet

or maybe it's always been sponsored by wealthy individuals, just in the past, they justified it by spending their company's money.

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/08/the-intensity-trap/

Interesting post

i need to pin that on my handlebars

If you've ever considered buying a vibrator...
http://nyvelocity.com/content/coachingfitness/2011/amplitude-vibration-studio

For those wondering about the carbon footprint of their bikes

http://www.slate.com/id/2300676/

No surprises for us, but when you're at a cocktail party and someone questions the value of a bicycle, the stats could come in handy.

saw this article in a link when reading JP's article.

Bike beats plane in a race in LA
http://www.slate.com/id/2299432/?wpisrc=obinsite

Josh,
I read about it as it was coming up. Jet Blue loses to a bunch of cyclists. Pretty awesome.