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Showing posts from January, 2013

"It's only January..."

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Winterfietsen time. Looks like another winter of cycling-friendly weather around here... Very little snow, clear roads.   Last few weekends have provided an opportunity to get out for some good base miles rides. Almost all of mine have been in my trusty 40x16 fixed gear... flat to slightly rolling rides of mostly between 2 to 3 hours.  Less during the week.  It's been OK, but unfortunately not enough to get my doughboy body down to fighting weight.   Naturally, I overindulged this holiday season, what else is new.  Put on about 12 pounds.  Ugggh.  Genetics.   Time to get it in gear...but taking it slow and steady this year. Dr. Brad and I were joined by a special guest last Sunday: Barry 'the Bullet' Boyce: Cycling Revealed.com empresario, CCB International masters legend, and a fellow Ronde van Vlaanderen cyclo finisher.  We took a nice 3 hour spin around scenic Tiverton and Little Compton RI and Westport MA, at a gentlemanly pace.  First ride on derailleurs this

Book Nostalgia: The Big Loop.

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Winter wielersupporters:  Time for reading and films.   Saw a pretty good movie last week with my wife, Sarah's Key . My wife had already read the book, knew the story... and all about the 'Vel d'Hiv,' which really surprised me.   I didn't know the plot, but many of you probably know that this Hollywood movie (made from the bestselling novel) was based around a tragic event tangentially related to cycling:  The round-up ( La Rafle ) at the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris in July,1942, when thirteen thousand French Jews were arrested and locked inside the velodrome for days without air conditioning, food, water or sanitation - before being sent on a one-way trip to the death camps. Vel d'Hiv in the film La Rafle The 'Vel d'Hiv' , Parisian cycling's epicenter since the turn of the century, is also the theme of the 2010 French film Le Rafle,  based on the same event.   Both films are graphic reminders of the horrors of the Holocaust.  Cou