Slightly missed the right time of the week for this however better late than never ! Im going for a ZZ Top theme this week. The excellent blues infused rock of everyone's favorite southern rock band.
First up, ZZ Top - Concrete and Steel
I love this tune, it is in my top 10 favorite songs of all time (and is the most played song on my ipod). It is not a well known ZZ Top song, which is unfornate as I think its there best. Billy Gibons playing on this track is just sublime and the solos are blissful.
Second is, ZZ Top - Heard it on the X
A song from earlier in their career, before the trilogy of Eliminator,
Afterburner and Recycler. This song is a gem, once again demonstrating the
band's mastery of the blues.
Last, but not least is ...
ZZ Top - Delirious
Alas, out of the two songs I have chosen this time none yet
have demonstrated ZZ Top's lyrics at their dirty, crazy and hilarious best. The
above song however ... Enjoy!
Well this has been an excellent year for cycling with loads really exciting
races and unusual outcomes. For a comparison I would say that the 2011 cycling
season, felt to me like the 2010 F1 season. Cycling is usually a pretty predictable
sport, with the favourite winning and the usual suspects in the top 10. This
year, however we say new names winning from the Grand tours to the Monuments,
indeed especially in the classics. I found this awesome video on YouTube that
sums the season up well in about 10 minutes.
It would be easier to name the races that were won by the favourites. These
were the Giro, Liege- Bastogne-Liege and the World Championships, theses where
won by Contador, Gilbert and Cavendish respectively.
The Monuments were particularly exciting this year. All of the winners, with
the exception of Gilbert, were first time winners (of monuments) and
unexpected. I don’t think many people would have put money on Vansummeren,
Nuyens, Matt Goss and Zaugg to win a monument. Whilst Vansummeren and Nuyens
where outside favourites, due to past performances, there recent form suggested
that, at best, they were hoping for a podium. What was really interesting about
the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, was the failure, either though lack of strength
or tactics (or poor luck) of the big favourites. Cancellera attacked in
Flanders and failed, which surprised many people (probably incluing Cancellera,
Chavannel's attack, whilst valiant was from a very long way out.
The "cracking" of a cycling giant in this way always makes for an
excellent unpredictable race, which is what ensured. Attacks were plenty and in
the end it came down to sprint. It is always interesting to review the tactics
of the other favourites when a giant such as Cancellera cracks. In cycling the
ability to bluff can go a long way; however it can also be a hindrance as it
was with Cancellera. Cancellera would have had a much better chance of winning
had Chanvannel worked with him, however Chanvannel didn’t due to his well founded
fear that Cancellera would blow him away with 10 km to go. I actually think had
Chanvannel worked with Cancellera he would have won (as does
Chanvannel).
It was a similar situation in Paris-Roubaix, where unusually the winner came
from the early (usual doomed) breakaway. Once again, this was partly due to the
"cracking" of the cycling giant Cancellera. This time though it was a
tactical cracking, which boils down to the following; Cancellara was the
overall favourite, this is his terrain, therefore once Cancellara attacks no
one is going to help him chase the breakaway. In addition, the other favourites
(such as Ballan and Hushovd) are going to gang up on him and attack him
remorselessly. What happened was that Cancellara matched the attacks, until it
was just him and Hushovd. This pair spent the rest of the race watching each other;
not wanting to help the other should the other win. Vansummeren, being the
strongest of the breakaway win then attempted a brave solo attack ~10 km from
finish, managing to fly away from his breakaway companions. To give Cancellera
his due he managed to come 2nd, 19 secs away from Vansummeren, alas it was too
little, too late.
Matt Goss's win in Milan-Sanremo is not so unexpected, although many will
have thought he would go on to do great things, but winning a monument this
early in his career and in tough circumstances showed the true potential of
this rider. He showed that he is not only a good sprinter, but a strong rider, managing
to keep up with the select group that formed on the Poggio. Zauggs win was the
most unexpected with a excellent effort that distanced some very strong riders.
Unfortunately for him I believe he will be on the Radioshack-Nissan-Trek super
team next year and may not get another chance to show off his talent in the big
races such as TdF.
The only monument that went according to plan was Liege- Bastogne-Liege,
which Gilbert won in style due to his excellent form this year, his natural talent
at this sort of race and the complete and utter tactical ineptitude of the
Schleck brothers.
Onto the Grand tours, firstly the Giro, the one which went according to the script.
The course for the Giro this year was truly brutal, probably too brutal, the
amount of climbing was insane. This would have made for one of the best grand
tours in living memory had Contador not been there, on a similar too or maybe
surpassing the 2010 Giro. Alas, with one dominant rider much of the possible excitement
that the course would produce was eliminated. That said, it was still an entertaining
and enthralling grand tour, although with one very sad moment.
The death of Wouter Weylandt’s was a grim tragedy that cast a shadow over
the race. Deaths, despite the hazardous nature of cycling, are not common in
this sport. The scariest aspect was that it wasn’t a particularly dangerous road;
in fact it was fairly standard for a cycling race. It was a freak accident with
a clipped pedal resulting in a fatal accident that took the life of a young man
before his time. RIP Wouter Weylandt.
The rest of the Giro consisted of stages for the breakaway artists and the
key GC deciding mountainous stages. The key stages were, dominated by sublime
Contador attacks that distanced the other contenders. The key contenders were
all showed what was to come on the first mountain top finish to Etna where
Contador accelerated away from the main contenders, with those who tried to
match his accelerations going into the red (such as Scarponi). There were two expectations
to the above. The first was the Zoncolan, where Nibali showed his strength by
catching Contador after every acceleration, slowly reeling him in with his
grinding, patient riding. Nibali also tried a valiant attack on Contador on the
descent of the Passo Gia, 58 km from the finish. For these performances Nibali
deserves a lot of credit, he could have come second if he had not gone for
first (which is what most riders would have done in his position). Contador
went on to win the Giro in dominant fashion.
The TdF (Tour de France) on the other hand was another matter. This was one
of the most, if not the most exciting and entertaining TdF's I have ever seen,
and I have seen 19 of them! It was a very open contest. I do have to confess I
was completely stumped in my predictions, apart from Andy Schleck! Once again
this season, we saw the cracking of a cycling giant, this time Contador. This
is not too surprising given the fact the Contador was trying to get the elusive
and very difficult Giro-Tour double, which has only been achieved by seven cyclists
who are all in the top 15 of all time, indeed this was a feat that not even
Armstrong was able to achieve. The route of this year’s TdF, lead to a lot of
the action, as quite a few of the nominally "flat" stages where
designed so that they wouldn't necessarily be dominated by Cav. This meant that
riders such as Gilbert, Evans and Boasson-Hagen got a chance to win in the
first week. After a typical breakaway rider, the French legend Thomas Voeckler wore
the yellow jersey for the second time in his career (the first being in the
2004 TdF). Once again he heroically held onto it for a lengthy period, and this
time unlike 2004, it looked very possible that he could win the TdF! He showed
to everyone this year (including himself) his real talent and potential and he
could very well win something big soon. The mountain duels between the top contenders
where excellent and some of the best racing I have ever seen. Of particular
note was Andy Schleck's ride in stage 18 to the Col du Galibier, this was an
epic ride, with his attack from around 60 km from the finish. He rode a brave
ride and showed cycling at its best, Chapeau Andy! This TdF also showed the
talents to come such as Pierre Rolland and Rein Taaramäe. The winners of the
classifications; overall (yellow), the sprinters points competition
(sprint/green), the climbers King of the Mountains (polka dot) and the best
young rider (white), were all deserving. It was especially nice to see Cadel
Evans win the Yellow Jersey and Cav winning the Green jersey, as Evans had come
second in two previous additions and many people thought he was past his best,
and Cav as he is the best sprinter of his and possibly any generations, and was
cheated out of the Green jersey in 2009 by a very poor decision by the commissars
(referees). The winners of the King of the Mountains and Young riders were
Sammy Sanchez and Pierre Rolland respectively. All in all, one of the best
TdF's for years!
The Vuelta is an often forgotten race that deserves as much attention
as the TdF etc. The course this year was excellent and lead to good racing. Particular
highlights were the awesome Alto de Angliru, the Liquigas team attack on the
descent into Córdoba on stage 6, and the long overdue visit to the Basque
country. Once again, not many predicted the overall winner being Juan José
Cobo!
As a final note, there have been very few cases of doping this year, a
problem that has dogged cycling for a long time. It seems there has been an
attitude change in the peloton and that the tests and in particular the biological
passport have been effective in catching dopers and dissuading riders to dope.
In conclusion, this has been an excellent year for cycling with lots of good
quality racing.
So time for the second instalment of the
“Book Friday” series. This time I will be reviewing a cycling book (which will
be no surprise given the amount of coverage I give this sport on here)
Slaying the Badger, LeMond, Hinault and the
greatest ever Tour de France - by Richard Moore
The quality of a book like this will
ultimately have to in some part depend on the topic, and alternatively a poor
author can ruin a good topic. In this case both the excellent and enthralling
topic and the superb writing style and extensive research brought by the
author, lead to an excellent result.
This book, as the title suggests, deals
with the titanic struggle between Hinault (“the Badger”), the titan of cycling and
LeMond, the American upstart, both teammates, for the 1986 edition of the Tour
de France. As well as this, there were other reasons that (especially in
hindsight) the 1986 Tour de France was interesting and indeed a pivotal moment
in the sport, which the book pays full attention to.
The two protagonists
Indeed, the actual main topic is only
covered in the last third of the book. The first two thirds of the book set the
scene acting as biographies’ for both LeMond and Hinault In addition the
backward cycling scene of the 80’s and the seeds of change that were being planted
during this period are covered. The blurb of this book does not mention this at
all, but the coverage of the modernisation of cycling during this period and
the roots of the coming momentous change in the sport, is one of the most
interesting parts of this book, especially to the may cycling fans who are
fairly familiar with the titanic struggle between Hinault and LeMond. I, for
one, never knew that this change was actually planned from the very top of the
sport with the all powerful Jacques Goddet having actively seeking to promote
cycling in American and American cyclists in Europe. As well as Goddet, many of
the big directeur sportifs (mangers) such as Cyrille Guimard also were trying
to recruit American cyclists to increase their attractiveness to sponsors and too
bolster their squads with unknown talent.
The book is very well researched, with the
author having personally conducted interviews with all of the key players in
the 86 Tour. In addition major figures of the cycling scene throughout the 80’s
in the peloton, in the bureaucracy of the race organisers and in the ranks of
the journalists who covered the race where consulted. These excepts are
invaluable to this books coverage of this spectacle, the reference of what was
said in the past and present is interesting, as are the recent opinions of the people
in the know, from the lowly domestiques to the all powerful directeur sportifs (manger).
The literature of the time, from the sports papers of Europe to the bemused
broadsheet coverage of the English speaking world is well consulted to good
effect.
This is a book that is good for both
newcomers to cycling (and the story of the 1986 TdF) and those who are fairly
well versed in cycling history. It explains cycling’s complexity and sometimes
strange ways to the former, whilst offering plenty of anecdotes to the latter.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone.
First up is a unknown but excellent blusey number from the film The American Astronaut.
The Billy Nayer Show - Hey Boy
The video is an except from the film, in which the song is played. The song was written by the Band the Billy Nayer Show, the one the members is Cory McAbee, the lead actor and director of the film (he is the one on the shitter). It is an excellent Missipi style bluesy number, which well crafted and catchy lyrics. Enjoy.
Next up is a pounding trance tune.
Tiesto - Just Be
I caught this tune the other day on a cycling tribute
video. Is a catchy song, with pounding beats and soaring vocals.
Last but not least is a heavier tune, from a band recently
reformed who will be visiting these shores in Feb 2012. I for one will be
there!
Biohazard - Punisment
This is a tune from my youth. I first got into Biohazard
when I was 12 after a friend gave me the album Urban Discipline as a
present. This was the most requested song on the original version of Head
bangers ball! Enjoy Biohazard at their furious peak!
