Boy Racer and other tales.

Boy racer by name, boy racer by nature.

The mighty Cav's first foray into the land of Shakespeare and Chekhov is 'Boy Racer' now whilst no one turns into a donkey (though I suspect that there are some Cav would wish that on) and whilst it will never be claimed a literary classic it is a bloody good read (as they say).
I had a concern that it may well have been edited or ghosted to a point where what you got was far removed from what you wanted, ie full on Cavness. But no worries on that score, like it's author it delivers and what it delivers is highly entertaining.
It's genuine Cav, straight talking, open honest, heart on the sleeve stuff. You won't learn anything new, well you might learn a bit about some inter BC relationships, which may or may not count, but what you will get is highly entertaining. Cav is what the popular press call 'a character' and this book is full of that character. He tells it as he sees it and that for me is more than enough.

Star rating: 5 out of 5. (and the books bloody good as well)

The Full Cycle - Vin Denson

Before Cav, before Yates and Jones there was Vin Denson.
Vin was a pro back in the 60's, a highly respected domestique and right hand man for Jacques Anquetil, Vin, unlike Cav, was never a true star, but he is still a hero.
The full cycle - the story of Vins life as a bike rider, charts his move from success on the British scene to respect and glory as a continental pro.
Sit down with someone, anyone really and ask them to tell you the story of their life. With luck they will be a natural story teller and you will be captivated by the twists and turns they take to get to the point where they sit before you, Vin is a natural story teller and if he sat with you over a pint or two and recounted his adventures you would hear this book line for line, word for word.

Vin has a great life and a great life is a great tale and a great tale is a great book, easy as that.

Star rating: 5 out of 5.

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Minder is coming back!

Cipollini to advise Cav?

What makes a great sprinter? Well according to Eric Zabel it's speed, Teutonic efficiency and the ability to bore your opponents to death. According to Mario Cipollini it's speed, Italian flair and a way with the ladies.
So how the hell did Cav finish up being advised by Zabel?
It's all well and good being the fastest man in the peloton, it's very well doing all that pointing business after you've won, but come on, what about making improper suggestions to the podium girls? Surely the ability to suggest an after dope test rendezvous in the team camper van whilst waving your 'bouquet' and blowing kisses to the press is the mark of a great sprinter?

What made Cipo more entertaining than Zabel wasn't the number of victories but the style, the showmanship and of course the after race interviews, most of which seemed to revolve on what was going on between his legs during the race and we're not talking that bloody Canondale either.

Here at On The Banking we're massive fans of the mighty Cav, he's a world class rider but we firmly believe that alongside Rod Ellingworth he needs to employ Cipo.
Rod may well give him a training programme that results in GT stage after GT stage, but Cipo can add that something extra.

Like any training programme the one Cipo would give 'our Mark' would start in the off season, building the 'base' and move towards specific goals during the major tours.
Off season / Recovery phase: Regular intervals of blowing kisses and waving at passers by.
Pre-Competition phase: Pointing at you 'gentleman's area' as you cross the line, whilst simulanously winking at the girls
Competition: Bounding up the steps of the podium (this time not falling over), picking up the bouquet, chatting up the podium girls, drinking champagne and waving the keys to the team camper van all at once - true multi tasking and the mark of a mighty champion.

Come on Mark, ditch Zabel, you know it makes sense.


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Cav - he really is jolly good, don't you know.

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease.


Todays Observer has a fine, fine, fine interview with his royal Cavness. Perhaps the most indepth and intelligent interview we have had with the Cannonball.

What does come across though, or at least what is mentioned, almost in passing, is that Cav upsets a fair few folk on the cycling scene. So what's my take on this, well my take is, quite simply, Bloody good show old chap, as they say in the London stockbroker belt (sorry dole central, as it is now known).

There are many reason to enjoy Cavs antics on the bike.

Firstly he wins, now there was a time when this was a rare as hens teeth in British Cycling. In-fact not only does he win, but he leaves some of the worlds fastest sprinters floundering in his wake. So max points for that.

Secondly he is passionate about the sport and about winning. None of the old time plucky loser cobblers for Cav, no, he loves winning, he wants to win and he believes he's going to win.

Thirdly, well thirdly, his heart is on his sleeve. Cav knows he's going to win and as a result his is both confused and pissed off when he doesn't.
He doesn't go into the final 200m thinking 'Oh I could do well here, if I try really, really hard.' he goes in thinking 'I'm gonna win, I faster than everybody else, so I'm gonna win' his whole body is preparing for victory and as a result there is not a micron of his being that is being wasted thinking about escape strategies, consciously or subconsciously.

Get a blank look after you ask him what it's like not to win the stage? Er, what exactly do you expect? Ten minutes of self analysis, followed by a promise to do better tomorrow? Give it a rest.

Fourthly, He's a character. God knows we're short enough of those at the moment. In a peloton of worthies, earnest triers and faceless plodders we need all the passion and character we can get. Cav's up there with the great characters, he's not quite as much of a showman as Chippo was, I doubt anyone will ever be, and his post race interviews lack the lewd, rude and unprintable that Chippo often managed, but hey, he's young, he'll develop.
I remember being at a track meet and after Cav won he rode along the straight high fiving it with the crowd. Pure class if you ask me.



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Clean, cleaner, cleanish

LA, that's the once and future rider, not the place in America, was interview recently about 'the return' and said that the generation he rode with was the dirty generation...

'There's this perception in cycling that this generation is now the cleanest generation we've had in decades, if not forever. And the generation that I raced with was the dirty generation.' Says Lance.

This then will be the same Lance then, who rode against Filippo Simeoni in 2004 because Simeoni had chosen to testify against Ferrari (at that time LA's doctor), or maybe it's a different LA, maybe he's got Tyler Hamilton twin syndrome?

Indeed it makes deeply disturbing reading to look through the lists of podiums and jersey winners of the 3 grand tour over the last decade and play the caught, banned and disgraced game. Well actually disturbing is perhaps the wrong word, more like 'very annoying where's the baseball bat'. Remove those that are now disgraced from the list and you have a very, very different set of podiums, let alone stage winners.
Now this obviously makes me and I'd guess the average fan at the roadside angry, so what the hell does it do to the guys in the peloton? I am amazed that there hasn't been a in peloton fight yet. What I do know from reading various blogs, interviews etc after this years Le Tour is that is a lot of anger and it's starting to come out, Interviews with Robbie Hunter, Geraint Thomas and Jerome Pineau's blog leave you in no uncertain terms that there is a lot of ill feeling, not just to dopers, but to the 'old ways' of doing things.

So is the sport any cleaner now than in 1999? Well, yes I think it is. Tests are more advanced and far more comprehensive, riders are speaking out against dopers, sponsors have pulled out citing failed drug tests as their reason, fans are openly abusing riders that fail tests and cheering those that take a stand against drugs. So are we there yet? No far from it, but we have come a long way.
IMHO the UCI need to push for longer bans and a comprehensive testing and education programme to be introduced by all national federations (with removal from the worlds as the non compliance option).
A long way then? Yes, but we are so far ahead of the other sports in this area that we can at least feel some satisfaction there.
By the way, Filippo Simeoni's win in the 08 Italian championship is a win that we should all celebrate. At 37 he came back from ridicule to be a national hero, a ride that shows two things, one that determination and good training will pay off and secondly.... well, secondly, maybe things are getting cleaner.

On the racing front it's all happening in Spain isn't it, er... is it? Once again the Tour de Spain fails to rouse any excitement, other than climbing 20%/25% climbs in a bid to attract a TV audience. For God sake move it back to the start of the season, it at least had a value there and riders and fans weren't knackered by a long season.
I would be hoping by now to offer a detailed blow by blow account of the racing, but within minutes of switching on I've fallen asleep. Nope, move it back and leave the end of the season to the short week long stage races and Autumn classics.
Speaking of week long races the Tour de Britain is due to be 9 days long in 09. It was a good race this year and the general feeling from the riders was positive. Hopefully next year we'll have closed road finish circuits for the fans enjoyment and the riders safety. A few extra fully closed miles couldn't go amiss either. Still the relationship the organisers are building with host towns is very strong, hence the return of City Centre racing in 09 and with any luck as the years progress the race will move towards more closed road.

Cav has pulled out of the Worlds road, can't blame him can you, though doubtless there will be posters on the cycling weekly forum who do, the poor lad is totally knackered, 17 wins and racing since Feb (well he was riding World cups and six's over the winter, so it's a bit longer than he claims if you ask me). If anyone deserves a few beers and a bit of a lie in it's the Canonball. Take it easy Cav and see you at the Revolutions.

It's a wide open road.

Procycling had, this month, an Olympic special, but what was unusual about this Olympic special was that it covered the track as well as the road (Still no mention of BMX or MTB, perhaps they're not pros then?)
But in reading the interviews with Wiggo, Cavo, Vickyo, Sir Chriso, Jamieo Staffo and Darren Kenny what comes across is their love of the sport and their desire to see the sport grow. An interesting comparison can be made to any of the paupers in the top football division, where an interview will be more celeb lifestyle, my latest car blah, blah than anything else, still when you're only training for a couple of hours a day I guess there's little else to do other than fill your overburdened life with fantasy and fairy tale.

Whilst I'm on the subject of other sports, which apparently do exist (shock, smile, wink) I must pass comment on tennis. Well to be more accurate pass comment on the LTA, who shovel in more than 60 million of the British pounds into their bank account on an annual basis, mainly on the back of the Wimbledon thingy. Now Jamie Murray is indeed a fine player, but from what I can gather was trained by his mum and then sent overseas to a tennis school, so maybe he's not a product of the 'system'. Anyway there was a TV 'bit' on those who have helped him to a position of success, coach, trainer, fitness coach, dietitian, etc etc. Queue a bloke from the LTA saying 'this is something we can learn from..... This follows on from an interview I saw over Wimbledon fortnight where one of the Brit players says her game has improved a lot since she got a dietitian involved and started eating correctly. (that's eating the right food, not correctly as in I'm now putting the food in my mouth instead of in my ear). Now she was supported by the LTA, who it seems hadn't offered any advice on this.....
Now I'm sorry, but this is quite beyond belief. As a coach and rider it seems self evident that, fitness, nutrition etc etc are prerequisites for a successful athlete, whatever the sport. How in the name of all that is nameable, can an LTA rep effectively say 'Oh fitness and diet, hummm, perhaps we should look at those'. I don't recall the LTA being one of the Nat Associations that visited Manchester to see how the Britain's most successful sporting body does it's business...

On the back of LA's out of retirement business, it seems that ex riders are now queuing up to put down the pension book and take up the power meter again.
Best of all is Mr Landis. That's Mr Landis, as in 'Oh I had a whiskey last night, and it made me ride like superman'. He too will be back, oh joy of joy, hopefully all this action will spur returns from Vinko and the Chicken and then my life would be complete, it really would. I mean I don't know if there is enough hatred left in my body to handle any more unrepentant dopers in the peloton. Hopefully they will all join up at rock racing.
I saw the Hamilton twins interviewed on Tour de Britain (top coverage via ITV 4, sorry coverage by ITV 4) and he said that Michael Balls view is are you allowed to ride? If so, it's OK to ride and I must assume sign for the team that has no spare bikes. Well that shows the Rock Racing attitude to the sport if you ask me, publicity as a core value, sorry only value, and love, understanding of the sport not on the scale, Oh how different from the home lives of our own dear Kings and Queens.

The mighty Cav to remain at Columbia, is the non shock headline of the week. Did you really think his Royal Cavness would be going anywhere else. He has an absolutely amazing team around him, they deliver him to the line and it's podium time. I loved the interview when he said he's not chasing the Euro, just victories - Cav top man. I don't think there was ever going to be a Cav in the first incarnation of Nat Pro, there just wouldn't be the train for him. But maybe a few years down the line? Who knows?

Talking of signings the new Cervelo squad is starting to look good, certainly from a British perspective. Dan's Lloyd and Freeman move over from the Kelly gang, Hammond is in and the rumor is that Ben Swift has signed. Add in Sastra, Haussler and Thor and there's the core of a good team, rumors abound as to who else they will sign, but I doubt if the one about them riding Colnago will come to pass.

New bikes please.

Now that was a great days racing. Peloton ripped apart three Brits and Dan Martin all finishing in the top group, a lone winner, bloody awful weather, brilliant.

But even I have to feel sorry for the Tyler Hamilton twins, the poor fellas came off and due the Rock Racing team car not carrying any spare bikes had to borrow one from neutral service and then one from team GB. What is the point of having a team car that doesn't carry spare bikes? Surely that's the primary function of a team car? Organisation? nah, lets just get a flashy looking car and forget the bikes.

Still once again a day animated by the Brits, Cummings and Freeman looked strong and when they were joined by three more riders continued to set the pace. Again Ian Stannard was impressive, working hard and getting dropped on the biggest climb of the day, where he fought back and rejoined the group, a very impressive ride. Stannard still only in his first season as a pro is winning plaudits in Belgium for his performances in the classics, finishing P-r and Flanders in your first season and finishing them well bodes well for the future. Cav is being spoken of as a classics winner, but I also think that Ian Stannard will win one day.

ITV 4 have finally cottoned onto the idea that intermediate sprints and KoM's are worth watching, but they need a 2nd or even 3rd bike, it's OK to stay with the leaders, but it would be nice to see a chase getting underway and jumping across. But I shouldn't quibble, in Anthony Mccrossan they have the best race caller there is, I know he's probably working on a tape for ITV4, but his and indeed Martins work for CTV is of the highest order, show them an obscure Belgian pro and they'll know who it is, now this is either very, very impressive or slightly worrying, depending of course on your viewpoint. Me? I'd say impressive.

Across Le pond, Cav is still winning in Missouri, win 16 for the season and whilst he's on the podium a quick look at Le tour de Missouri will reveal, via the cycling glossary on the web site, that saddle is the bike seat and that puncture is a flat tyre.

Whilst we're there, good ol' Lance is making a comeback, I truly have no idea what to make of that, I really don't. I was actually more intrigued by Dave Millars comment 'He could do a lot of good for us'
So which races will he ride? Well looks like Le Tour is flagged up, and he knows how to prepare for that one and there have been older riders finishing on the podium in the past. Firmin Lambot is the oldest winner at 36, but of course you wouldn't put anything past Lance would you. Team wise it will be interesting, will he go to Astana? Or start a new team? It's a bit late for the latter, all the contracts for 09 will have been signed, so that leaves joining an existing squad. Lance will doubtlessly bring his own sponsors on board, so extra finance shouldn't be a problem, the question will be how will this be interpreted by the riders already in the team? Signing a contract saying you're team leader for Le Tour only to be told two months later that you're riding for Lance might be a bit of a blow to the ego and as we all know there are one or two of them about.
Maybe he'll join Rock Racing? He'll have to bring his own bike rack though.

Tour de Britain, Tour de Missouri

At the Tour de Britain I managed to catch up with Garmin DS Matt White for a top quality interview

STIGT: Matt. Many thanks for your time.

Matt: For sure

STIGT: Garmin has riders capable of not just stage victories, but of the over all as well

Matt: For sure

STIGT: Will you be concentrating on one or the other or just seeing how the race unfolds?

Matt: For sure

STIGT: Er, It's been said that with only six rides per team everyone has to be super vigilant or else the winning break could be up the road.

Matt: For sure

STIGT: So have you got a race plan or are you just going to play it day by day and see how the race develops?

Matt: For sure

STIGT: Er, you haven't answered my question

Matt: For sure

STIGT: In fact all you've said is for sure

Matt: For sure

STIGT: OK I'll try something different.

Matt: For sure

STIGT: Will Dave Millar be allowed to finish the race early, so he can go back to your house and have sex with your wife?

Matt: For sure

Dave Millar: For Sure.

Having been thrown off the bus, I then went looking for another victim, Alessandro Petacchi

STIGT: Alessandro, how do you feel after winning the stage

Alessandro: I is verrry happppyy

STIGT: You timed your sprint very well, were you confident before the race started?

Alessandro: I is verrry happppyy

STIGT: Your team mate Di Luca attacked early, was this to gain time or to force the other sprinter teams to chase?

Alessandro: I is verrry happppyy

STIGT: You haven't raced for four months, how difficult did you find today?

Alessandro: I is verrry happppyy

STIGT: What are your aims for the rest of the Dave Millar went round to your house to have sex with your wife whilst you're racing?

Alessandro: I is verrry happppyy

Dave Millar: I is very happy.

Meanwhile the racing had started, but over on ITV 4 you'd never know it, we saw the riders in the nuturalised zone and then if was off to Bletchley park, because it was only 7 miles away, er.. OK.
Now as far as I know (or AFAIK as we say in modern) the only vague connection to cycling is you can drive down Alan Turing way on the way to Manchester Velodrome, which I think is a bit too tenuous even for ITV 4. So why? Do they cut away from a football match to show you the delights of an couple of old building 7 miles from the ground? Oh, they do, I'll shut up then.

Top ride by Stannard, he's had a great season, rode all the classics and rode them well, great to see him off the front, just a shame he was alone, a couple more riders and maybe he could have stayed away, although the final climb slaughtered him, he was the rider of the day in my book.

Cav's at it again, winning that is, no problems in a chaotic one in the Tour de Missouri, despite a long and hard season he's still unbeatabley fast, so for all those that said why is he riding in the US here's the answer, winning in your sponsors back yard. Hopefully the road closures in the US were of a higher quality than over in Britain, where at some points it looked like the race was going through a Go-Ride snake.