Who needs email when you can video?

The Shimano/YouTube video competition has been attracting some flak from vid-posters who were offended by my comments on the group forum. Many of the video submissions appeared to be pre-existing on YouTube rather than created for the contest. I said all the videos were pre-existing. Big mistake.

took me to task and posted a video attacking my comments. I wanted to comment but kept getting error messages on the YouTube group forum. So, in the end I had to create a video of my own to reply to makala6:

Dick Pound is “deleted” by mistake

The World Anti-deletion Agency has today charged Floyd Landis with the “unlawful erasure of Richard Pound.”

WADA claims their chairman was “wiped” by the American athlete. Landis countered by saying he was “just doing a bit of spring cleaning” when he “accidentally” deleted the Canadian lawyer.

Pound was due to have stood down as head of the anti-doping agency in November but he may now have to stay in position until he can be “digitally reconstructed.”

Data retrieval experts say this could take many months and take many billions of US dollars. A spokesman for WADA said:

“The expense will be worth it. It’s essential we de-delete Dick. Who else would ignore WADA rules and accuse athletes of doping before their hearing dates? Without Dick, we’re screwed.”

MGM puts Obree trailer on YouTube

Over on BikeBiz.com I’ve been closely following the progress of Graeme Obree bio-flick The Flying Scotsman since 2002.

Very closely. I knew of its cancellation before any of the contracted actors.

I was really happy when the film was resurrected and last year was happy to report on the film scoring a distribution deal with MGM. The movie has been shown in the US in a few selected cinemas but distribution in the rest of the world is patchy. So, before you get a chance to watch the real thing, check out the MGM trailer:

I love Steven Berkoff’s character assassination of Hein Verbruggen, then president of the Union Cycliste Internationale. The blazers at the UCI didn’t like Obree’s ’superman’ position so banned the bike. In the movie, Verbruggen - a Dutchman - is portrayed as a German and the UCI becomes the WCF, the World Cycling Federation.

That’s the glossy Hollywood version. But YouTube has also been loaded with footage of the real thing, Graeme Obree’s smashing of the World Hour Record in 1993:

“Because it sucks the most”

I’d like to share two film clips. Both are grainy, atmospheric and well worth a few minutes of your time today.

They’re the work of Brian Vernor, a framebuilder at Santa Cruz bicycles of California.

Pure Sweet Hell is a class movie about the pain, stupidity and bad weather that is cyclo-cross.
WeJustWorkHere is an MTB film but it’s like nothing else out there. Vernor eschews digital video, he shoots on Super 8. Thankfully, he eventually digitises it, hence the appearance on YouTube as trailers for his soon-to-be-published DVDs.

Source: Dirt

Mark Cavendish talks about his Scheldeprijs victory

The 20-year old T-Mobile rider outsprinted tough opposition to win last Wednesday’s Scheldeprijs one-day race in Belgium.

“People have asked me before if I was surprised that I could win the Scheldeprijs ahead of Robbie McEwen. But I wasn’t and I’m not.”

“It wasn’t a fluke by any means. I knew what I was capable of doing, and looking back at the win on DVD, I really don’t see how else how I could have raced those last few kilometres.”

Here’s a helicopter shot of the final sprint from Belgian TV:


“I didn’t make a single mistake, I came round the right-hand side of him and it was the long way round. But it was the right way to go,” said Cavendish.
“I’m sure this will change my status in the team a bit, but to be Read the rest of this entry »

Indie says Newcastle is brill for bikes

Who on Earth could have told today’s Independent that cycling on Tyneside is so fab?

50,000 cyclists spin for Budapest Critical Mass on Earth Day

And some of them can be seen here.


The is now the biggest in the world.

At the beginning of the video, shot on 22nd April, the cyclists are shouting “Bicikliutat!” or, “”We want more cycle paths.”


Caboddle.hu reports that “When those at the front of the procession had Read the rest of this entry »

Make your bicycle sound like a horse or a Harley

Bicycles are famously and perfectly silent, a huge benefit to the environment.

But a North American company reckons this needs a shake-up. Silence on city streets equals danger, believes Sound of Motion. Here’s the company’s promo video. Get ready for your jaw to drop.

With a motion simulator attached to your wheels, a download from the Sound of Motion website and a cellphone you can make your bike sound like a throaty motorbike or an inpatient horse, perfect for spooking joggers. According to Sound of Motion, the noise maker will make motorists take more notice of bikes. Or, of course, it could lead to even more collisions as drivers p*ss themselves giggling…

Sound of Motion’s application runs on any Java-enabled mobile phone with Bluetooth for wireless connectivity to a sensor attached to a bicycle wheel. It could also used by drivers of silent hybrid and electric cars, reckons Sound of Motion.

The sound simulation technology allows MP3 phones to play various sound themes through a mini-amplifier, attached to the phone mounting base, according to the Read the rest of this entry »

It’s just not cricket

On the most recent The-Spokesmen podcast I banged on about how bad we Brits were at cricket and football, but how so good we were at cycling. We dominated the recent Track World Championships, Nicole Cooke can do no wrong and we have up-and-coming pros like the Isle of Man’s Mark Cavendish of the T-Mobile team who are now winning races.

In short, we rock.

And other sports are sitting up and taking notice. Check out the article I’ve written for Bikeforall.net on the English cricket boss approaching the president of British Cycling…

Retro Tour de France vid is a class act

Lots of YouTube cycle-related videos ‘borrow’ Kraftwerk’s pulsing music from the German band’s seminal Tour de France album. Most use TV images from recent Grand Boucles. The one below is different. It’s grainy, it’s black and white…it’s a classic.