This previous Saturday was springlike, however winter fought again on Sunday with chilly and even somewhat snow, and so I caught to my aspect of the river:
And to a extra voluminously-tired bicycle with flat pedals:
Although I’m sorry to report I used to be pressured to dispense with the Brooks Cambium saddle, which was one of many few remaining stylish parts on a bicycle that over the previous six years has developed from showboat to workhorse:
Sadly, whereas I discover the rubber Cambium exceedingly comfy, this explicit specimen had begun to squeak like a canine’s chew toy, and I’ve been unable to quiet it regardless of liberal software of all method of lubricants. Finally I may take it not, and so I modified it for one thing from the ol’ Saddle Pile, and the blissful silence is effectively definitely worth the slight downgrade in aesthetics and sumptuousness.
You would possibly suppose that lavish upgrades within the type of expensive baubles from firms like White Industries and Paul are an indication {that a} bicycle is beloved, however I keep that the alternative is true, and the extra you worth a motorbike the extra you defile it with odds and ends. The Homer seems to be the best way it does exactly as a result of I worth it extremely and journey it typically, and so over time I’ve modified this and that to optimize it for all situations and for as many makes use of as potential, from sunny-day pleasure rides to commuting to moist climate street obligation:
Nonetheless, in so doing, I’ve regarded at any time when potential to stuff I have already got, and the result’s a practical but matted model I’d characterize as “slovenly minimalism:”
Hey, it ain’t fairly, but it surely works:
Positive, in the event you’re a dick break apologist that is the kind of picture that haunts your goals:
However one man’s nightmare is one other man’s reverie, and when the spring lastly does come I’ll hose it down, perhaps give it a brand new chain and cassette, and it’ll be good as new:
Truthfully it’s good as new even now, but it surely simply doesn’t look it.
Talking of previous and soiled issues, doping scandals nearly destroyed professional biking. Now the game is in hassle once more as a result of…there aren’t sufficient doping scandals?
This sport actually can’t win, can it?
Apparently biking is by some means going to look higher if one of many huge stars will get busted:
In keeping with two totally different sources near the UCI, talking anonymously to guard relationships, the game’s governing physique has been urgent the Worldwide Testing Company (ITA) — which manages anti-doping applications for biking and greater than 70 worldwide federations — to discover a high-profile case of dishonest inside the sport.
These sources defined that many on the UCI consider the absence of a big-name suspension prior to now decade can’t be wholly because of the sport’s cleanliness.
In keeping with these sources, the UCI believes {that a} outstanding determine being sanctioned for doping can be a wholesome improvement, proof that the anti-doping program is functioning. It will additionally act as a deterrent to others — if an enormous rider may be caught, anybody can.
Wow. You’ve obtained to surprise who they’re about to throw underneath the autobus. As a result of piccoli pesci fish like this aren’t gonna minimize it anymore:
Essentially the most weird current case got here from Italian rider Andrea Piccolo, who was stopped at an airport in 2024 on suspicion of transporting human progress hormone. American crew EF Training-EasyPost sacked him, and he briefly opened an OnlyFans account together with his influencer girlfriend. In early February 2026, he was arrested by Italian police in Naples with counterfeit cash. The investigation is ongoing.
I can’t consider I missed this one:
Sadly for the UCI, biking can not depend on these types of salacious Cipollini-esque exploits to spice up its recognition, this being the post-woke period and all. Subsequently, one of many huge riders must go down in an enormous drug bust sooner than an OnlyFans influencer on a disgraced professional bike owner’s piccolo. Solely then will we return to the “transparency and openness” that when characterised skilled biking:
One other level worrying journalists is the overall temper of the doping dialog. Whereas questions on doping had been inspired a decade in the past, as the game sought to cleanse its picture, enquiries on the subject are more likely to be rebuffed and snarled at. Transparency and openness have given method to secrecy.
I can’t consider I simply learn that.