Baaaack
The weekend is upon us again, and this time there will be a Hopeful Friday to greet its arrival. There. Universe corrected. We can all go on with our lives.
Saturday there’s a CRCA Club Race in Central Park.
Sunday is the Campagnolo Gran Fondo New York at the George Washington Bridge.
On Sunday there is also a Lucarelli and Castaldi Cup race, I would advise against driving over the bridge to get there.
Is it too late to sign up and Turk the GFNY?
1st!
Better tan turd
Breaking away is not how much you can take, but how much the peloton will give you đ
It’s kind of funny to pick on Zach of all people. Given the amount of local guys playing full time cyclist, Zach is a guy who could have gotten on a bigger team and traveled, but instead has chosen to not take any of this too seriously.
I agree the peloton let Phinney roll off of the front, nobody was chasing him!
It’s kind of funny saying that Zach could be Pro when he hasn’t proven anything to show Pro potential or even attempted it. Most people turn Pro when they are in their early 20s. It takes many years of training to get really good to attempt to even ride at a Pro level.
the Zach thread being heavily debated over at band camp
Someone out there seems to have a man crush on Zach… or something.
“It’s kind of funny to pick on…”
News flash– no one was picking on him. No one was saying anything about him. Until you.
Grow up, child.
you guys are all smoking crack
like evelyn stephens?
Uli Fluhme is a joke and a sham. His Gran Fondo New York simply trades on the notoriety of his recently adopted home – NYC, for his financial enrichment.
” Uli has lived here for 3 years.”
Lidia Fluhme – https://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2011/gran-fondo-nyc
But Uli – you must know that it is the little lies that get you in the end. First of all, GFNY does not finish, nor arguably even begin, in NY. (Well actually maybe that’s kind of a big lie considering its the name of the thing.) The 2014 map on your site shows it finishing to the North of the George Washington Bridge, when in fact it finishes well to the south. I guess that’s to give the impression that Fort Lee New Jersey is somehow Fort Lee NY. Oh, and it begins at the top of the George Washington Bridge, which is the boarder of…that’s right, yeah, New Jersey.
http://granfondony.com/granfondo-2014/course/overview/
Remember in 2011 and 2012 when Uli & Lidia boasted all over the Internet that he was giving away $100,000 in prizes? That the value of these prizes somehow legitimized the event? Oh really Uli? How about you run us through how that whole one-hundred thousand dollar thing works? Your wife apparently “landed an Investment Banking job”, so she probably knows how the math works if you don’t.
“”But it is a race” she insisted “there are prizes and a chance to qualify for the the Amateur Worlds”.
“With thousands of participants, how many awards do you offer?
Gran Fondo New York has over $100,000 worth of prizes. It’s more likely that you will receive a competition or raffle prize than go home empty-handed.”
“>>>4) How many Pinarello’s and Carbon wheels are they offering as prizes?
If you are a racer, you’ll have an honest shot on good prizes. Beyond Pinas and Mavic wheels, there are many more prizes.” Uli and Lidia Fluhme
Being present at the 2012 podium, I recall the men’s and women’s overall winners got a Gran Fondo New York custom painted green Pinarello Dogma. These were bikes that Uli undoubtedly got at no charge in exchange for sponsorship. Fair enough. It’s not out right lying to say those should be counted at full value as prizes. Okay, it true that usually when a promoter claims $100,000 in prizes, it means an acutal cash purse. But we will give you this one and chalk this up to just savvy promoting.
Let’s say those two bad boy Dogmas were worth $10k… hell even $15k a piece – so that’s 30k of your “$100,000 in prizes”. Well, you say, there was some shoes, buckets of bike cleaning products, and let’s not forget the Temurpedic pillows that were given out as prizes. Those had to be worth a few bucks, right?
Who knows? We got $70,000 to go. Well Uli – you care to explain how you gave out another $70,000 in prizes in 2012? Are you a little uncharacteristically lost for words Uli? Why’s that, is it because you know damn well you didn’t?
Prize values are no longer represented in any way on the GFNY website. And only recently did Uli clarify the truth, which is that: “Distribution of prizes is at the sole discretion of the organizer.”
http://granfondony.com/granfondo-2014/race/competition-and-raffle-prizes/
What happened there? Did GFNY get a little bitch slap call from the DA about false advertising?
On the eve of this 4th edition of your “race” its pretty clear that Gran Fondo New York is really just a well disguised $300 group ride that you’ve deftly branded in such a way to mis-appropriate both Gran Fondo and NY for the sole purpose of your and your wife’s enrichment.
Most likely you and your wife justify these little cheats about locations and prize money, these business dopings, as necessary. Maybe you needed the event to appear bigger and stronger than it actually was at the time in order to get it off the ground. And maybe you even said to each other that once the event was established you’d no longer misrepresent the truth. No doubt you felt that at the time the business climate was such that without resorting to these deceitful tactics, you wouldn’t be able to to follow your dreams, to compete at the international Gran Fondo organizer level.
Well, your are in good company, not just in the peloton, but in the business community in general. This is America – after all – and we have a long history of folks who realized that there is big money once you stretch the truth to allow people to see what they desire, but not necessarily the truth. You and your savvy investment banker wife, Lidia, are to be commended for your exemplary craft in being able to slowly wrap NYGF around the face of NYC Cycling over the last three years like a huge vampire squid, relentlessly jamming its money funnel into anything that smells like money. (to shamelessly borrow a taibbism)
Nicely played Fluhmes. Nicely played.
the podium girls a smokin
Anybody else out there convinced there was collusion and they let T. Phinney just roll off the front/win yesterday?
Don’t forget the spring classic at the velodrome on sunday, as well!
https://www.bikereg.com/24515/Kissena-2014-Spring-Classic
By popular demand and a schedule change, the Tour of the Catskills is returning to 3 days in August: ITT, RR, Crit. It’s an omnium format – race 1, 2, or all 3 days for a daily and omnium prize list.
Registration will re-open on Wednesday.
Carry on.
Dieter
What is wrong with you
I am envious of someone with that kind of disposable time to waste
Cat 1 Crit riders are not even strong enough to be Cat 3 road racers. Wheelsucking doesn’t equal fitness!
You sound like a psycho. It’s a bike race. Get a life.
UHC is making these wins look routine. Chalk up another win at Wilmington. They put one guy in the winning break who lead out the final sprint to win by a bike length. Meanwhile back in the main field they lined up 4 guys to control the field for 15 laps and won the field sprint. Basically made it look like they were racing Cat 5’s today – ouch.
Well if UHC raced against real competition they would get shelled out the back like they do when they go to Europe!
Excellent.
Now that’s what _I_ call getting Dietered.
GetReal, that statement is not even remotely any near being half-true. I will not even bother to provide examples to the contrary of argument, honest racers respect both forms and should give credit where it is due.
Crit riders are not even in as great form as road riders. If so then why don’t the Pros race crits in Europe? Because racing in circles proves nothing! And wheelsucking proves nothing!
That’s like saying 400m sprinters are not as good athlete as marathon runners.
Different. Period.
No go back to watching FOX.
Uhm sorry guys… Most of you couldn’t even possibly come close to finishing an NCC crit. Not even an easy four corner one like Athens. Forget even making it through the first twenty minutes of Wilmington.
Get Real….I’m going to pile on. What an idiotic thing to say. Apples & oranges.
UHC was lucky to win that race. They had two in the break and sent one back to the field to bring it back for Luke Keough. They were unable to do that and got lucky that Brad White was able to win.
UHC will come to Somerville so that they can win some cash from the amateurs in the Pro 1 race. What a bunch of sissies!
You obviously did not see the finish. Brad White lead the break out of the final turn to the finish line and turned on the afterburners. Yes he had a bike length on the Champion System dude coming into the finish. Next raping Sommerville.
Guys in the race may want to try other tactics to slow them down maybe a few well placed head butts or jam a lead pipe in the spokes since that’s the only thing that will slow them down…..the new and improved Toyota United.
In 2011 at the Tour of Somerville UHC got throttled by Pure Black Racing from New Zealand. Tim Gudshell soloed away by half a lap on the last turn and made UHC and Karl Menzies look like a bunch of fools. The rider was a former Euro Pro from FDJ.
Yes, I remember that proper flogging, however, UHC has righted the ship. If Mr. Gudshell attempted his version of Sparticus again at Sommerville that attempt would get stamped out. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a UHC fan boy “yet”. (I still have some mileage in my Rock Racing kit for the trainer.) But they sure are dominating things on the crit level from coast to coast like a well oiled machine.
I’ve done a couple races against UHC, when they turn on the gas at 10 to go it’s a pretty crazy pace because they work so smoothly. Also, the reason they rarely get beaten is not so much because of ability as it is blocking. No one can come around them without getting sent to the hospital. Ask anyone who has been there, the tactics at a Pro/1 crit are dirty in the final laps. If you want to go for a gamblers prime at 2 to go you often need to get permission from UHC.
For the other statement below regarding crits, clearly someone is ill informed.
As fo rthe thing with Uli, I agree with some aspects of what you siad, but for the most part you sound like a 10 year old crying about not getting a rive for 17th place.
Not this year. Holliday, baby!