Today started out about 3 hours ago. It was a start of 2pm local time. It you're out here, tune in and cheer on Daniel Holloway with us! It's the Zurich 6 day and the music alone will stay with you for hours! Daniel Holloway, a favorite of many of us here in the US, is having a blast. His battery was out of juice yesterday but is back up and streaming today! Yeah.

Some important links:

 

The Live Racing

Daniel Holloway's Live Streaming

A pretty good overview of 6 days

Enjoy!!!

Hey guys! I know I've been missing tons of great stuff here at the Cafe and please believe me when I say I MISS it terribly. Things at work are not very good right now though and I'm officialling way more than I had planned on. But all in all things are good and fun times are being had.

I just read through the Welcome thread and caught up on some emails that had been sitting in my in box and I think we have a pretty sizeable group here in Chicago, especially over the next couple of weeks. Currently we have Superweek going on, we have the Chicago Criterium coming up, followed the next weekend by Elk Grove, and just two short weekends later we have Downers Grove where the National Crit Jersey is on the line.

So my question and reason for this post...

Are you guys up for planning a PdC Gathering, Chicago?

I'm officialling the Chicago Crit and Elk Grove so it would be super easy to locate me at either of the races. I would love to get together outside of a race as well. PopUp is afraid of grass so something closer to Chicago might work well, otherwise a BBQ or something by me would be awesome. I might have some added house guests the week between the Chicago Crit and EGV so some fun possibilities are there for sure.

Let me know if there's interest and we can get to work on marking the PdC Gang that will be here!

Many of you know that Garmin Slipstream had a crew following them last year filming the team. The trailer is finally out and the video will be aired later this month. Mark your calendars!

Premieres Monday, June 29, at 10:30 PM on the Sundance Channel. More airtimes are planned throughout the month of July, to coincide with this year's Tour de France.

Documentary was made about a year in the life of Team Slipstream, a professional cycling team trying to prove you can ride clean and succeed at the highest levels of the sport.

Video is posted with permission from Nick Davis.

• Produced + Directed by Nick Davis
• Edited by Erik Dugger + Penelope Falk
• Co-Producers: Nigel Dick, Matthew Sausmer + Minor Strachan
• Production Coordinator: Lauren Dascher
• Music by Joel Goodman, Music Box
• Executive in Charge of Production: Sloane Cooper

 

• Starring:
• David Millar
• Christian VandeVelde
• Mike Friedman
• Magnus Backstedt
• Jonathan Vaughters

Hope you can watch!

I have to bow down to the "Where are you from?" thread. OMG! That thing so rocks! It's so filled with comments I'm waiting for it to blow up. Which, IMO, only speaks volumes for just how awesome the Cafe is! Since we gleefully pulled another awesome handful of Lurkers out of Lurkville, a handful which need some practice in jumping in to learn how to post pics, I think it's time we had another Hotitude thread. :-)

The fun is very simple. Huge encouragement to post your own pic of your favorite rider riding Flanders this Sunday (or at least on the start list). As in most of our cases, we don't yet have our own snapshots, so feel free to "borrow" other's. In doing so, in respect to the owner, please post the link to where you got it. We want to make sure we give full credit to the photographer - or at the very least, the location we found it.

If you're shy on posting the pic itself, we all love clicking on links here, so feel free to add a link to your rider's name. Simply highlight the name in your message (subject line will not work well, so do it in the message), click on the little link icon above the message part of your post and post the link of where your pic is. If you want to post the pic itself, go to the message part with your curser, click on the little icon of the tree and post the link. I recomend doing a preview to see if it worked first before posting. Some photo links are not friendly to posting so this is a quick way to check.

To start the post, I have to share a pic of one of my favorite guys, Meatball at Garmin. The man had an awful fall this morning at de Panne and his start could be questionable so in wishing him a speedy recovery, I wanted to share a pic. Here he with his roomie at the race Mr.Steven Cozza...

From: farm4.static.flickr.com

I also give you Greg Van Avermaet...

From: cache.daylife.com

And of course many of our favorites, the one and only Mr. George Hincapie (from my pics)...

Enjoy!

So after today's really exciting stage at Paris-Nice a fun thread is so needed to keep us all going right into Tirreno-Adriatico tomorrow. We all know that we like some fun threads and this one should help us all get into the swing of following two good races pretty much at the same time! Just some teasers to help get this going...

From: Clydesdale

From: CycleGirl

From: Sui Juris - forever in our debts... LOL!

This is an odd post but cycling related so here it goes...

I am looking for anyone out here that might know Polish and might be able to help translate for a friend. The World's (for track) are being held in Poland March 25th-29th. A family of one of our riders is going to be there to cheer on their boy but the language barrier in booking things is becoming a challenge.

We have a huge audience here so I thought I would reach out and see if any of you might be able to help. Specifically, I'm looking to find an answer to this... How much would 1 room with 2 beds be for the 23rd to the 30th. Hotel: http://www.idealhotels.pl/

Thanks in advance for your help!

A while back I bugged Chris about noticing that the previous PdC shirt ordering place appeared to be no more. Hopes to check out new sites to provide more shirts came about and of course we all got busy over the off season. A fun Podium Cafe Party happened out at the TOC and the topic once again got brought up. Then, Veloki, god bless her artistic awesomeness, gave us the ultimate logo for our team. In a fun thread we chatted up the idea of setting it up with several comments and such.

I've been researching different sites for ease of setting up the logo along with ease of ordering, set up costs, followed by sizes, shirt styles, and end prices. So far two sites seem to be the leaders in running. One offers a huge array of shirt styles and quality at different price points. The other offers up the option of the beannie that had some interest.

Before going through and setting up the shirts, I'd like to ask for some opinions to see if we can't capture the largest interest. I'd like to know if colors, shirt styles, sizes, etc would entice you to order. I'd also like to know if there is a huge interest in the beannie. One site offers lots of variety on the shirts, another offers a beannie. Please take the poll below and comment away on thoughts on the shirt and options mentioned above (sizes, shirt style options, colors of shirts). For a look at what we've got in mind, click here. (I'm hoping that link works for everyone. There's a front and back view.)

If I set us up via zazzle, ordering looks pretty easy and also looks like we can have a Podium Cafe tag so that we could possibly add other designs later. The shirt is all about us, so I want to try and capture the largest interest possible.

Poll

Would you like some Team Podium Cafe attire?

46%

I want a shirt!

30 votes

10%

I want a beannie!

7 votes

29%

I want it all!!

19 votes

12%

Cool, but probably not for me.

8 votes

64 votes | Poll has closed

A few weeks ago R Mc put up a thread that got some attention from a few of us that were going to attend the TOC this past week. With some quick Amazon checking, purchase, and swift delivery, the book was here and the fun was on. In an attempt to help replace a book, with autographs we could never truly replace, I set out to try and at least get Max a solid start on his continued tradition.

The stage finish on Thursday was start of the autograph getting. I knew Brad Huff was out of the race but also knew he was sticking around. I texted him while we were walking around checking things out and it turned out, he was in the Jelly Belly Booth - go figure, ha ha. I headed over to say hi, give a hug, and start the book. He was sweet as usual and took a look through the book to decide where he would sign. First one done! Huge thanks Brad!

Stage finishes are hard to get to riders. They're in a hurry to get to busses to get the recovery started so it was a slow day. The TT was Friday though and the book was in hand. I ran into Christian VandeVelde in the morning on his way to ride the course. A quick chat and note to come to the bus afterwards for him to sign. :-) After the stage we headed to the busses. I found Chris Horner right after his ride. Ringing wet and out of breath, he still took the second to sign it for me. From there we saw Tyler Hamilton and Fast Freddie who both signed. Then I headed over to say hi to C and John. C happily signed it and so did Tom Danielson and Steven Cozza, who was awesome as I saw him off on the side visiting with family and friends. Didn't mind signing and even got up to take a pic! Sweet thanks! I also found Rory Sutherland.

It was getting later and well, we kinda like, had a team meeting of our own we needed to get to?!? So off we were to the PodiumCafé HQ. What all happened there will forever bring some smiles to all I'm sure. I can only add that the guys like CrashDan and Jimbo do NOT disappoint if you enjoy some good laughs. The only disappointment... we didn't get video of CrashDan riding a non-motorized two wheel vehicle!!!

So on to Saturday's start. Let the fun really begin! We got there as some of the busses were still pulling in. Walked up and found Lyne and Steph. Those two - they're awesome! Lyne helped me with the Bissell and BMC riders. They were sweet! BMC signed it and even passed the book around to make sure the ones sitting there all signed. I got Jeff Louder while Lyne was wrapping up her interview. Ben and Andy Jacques-Maynes signed with smiles and so did Tom Zirbel. I swear this is such a horribly hard thing to help out with. Just horrible. Tee hee.

Then it was off to find Team Type 1. They've got a great story and a fun group of riders. Sean Weide from the team Rocks! He took it onto the bus for us and Chris Jones, Valeriy Kobzarenk, and Matt Wilson signed it. Big kudo's and sweet thanks Sean! From there I went and waited for Frank Schleck to finish doing an interview and I got him, Andy Schleck, and Jens! Voigt. Very fun but the place was very crowded. Crazy place the TOC was.

Here is where I insert huge hugs, high fives, and snuggie award performance nominations for Steph! She takes the book and goes running off to the sign in. She racks up signatures like no one I have ever met! And let me tell you, it was horrible for her! She was at one point surrounded by lime green lycra riders getting signatures. Torture! She comes back from the sign in and she scores riders like Stuey O'Grady, one of my favorites Michael Barry who I had emailed before hand and was bummed I hadn't gotten to yet, riders from Quick Step, Liquigas, and Cervelo TestTeam. The woman was amazing!

One of the cool moments for me was yelling hello to George Hincapie and asking him for an autograph as he was rolling to the start. The man, god bless him, rolls over to a stop so I can have him sign the book. Score! It was awesome. As we walked towards the start, we saw Tim Johnson sitting on his bike talking to some friends. I walked over and asked him to sign it. Of course tossed in huge congrats for an awesome Cross season before thanking him. Then the race was underway and I was off to find the men of the PdC. Located them only to find CrashDan on a mission to find a pub for lunch. Lunch was good, the beer yummy, and the company, well, that was about as good as it could get. :-)

We headed back to the car so I could get my stuff and we waited for the Podium Cafe Team car. The guys arrive and Clydesdale headed south for the finish and the rest of us head back north. Riding in a team car is quite the treat. CrashDan mastered the computer piping in the race over the car radio, Sui Juris manned the wheel avoiding low flying cessnas and pot holes (nope PopUp, they've got nothing on ours), and the Bossman, well, let's just say he had a reeeeally late night and shared tips on the importance of power napping. LOL Chris!

It was a great few days and a lot of fun. Meeting some of the PdC gang was by far my favorite part and getting the autographs was absolutely trying and such a chore - so kidding! I had a great time. I think Clydesdale has some pics of some of the riders signing the book. The one of Horner is hilarious as it looks like I'm picking his nose clicking the sharpie for him. Good stuff.

I hope little man Max enjoys the book as much as I did getting it for him. It won't replace the pretty impressive book he had but really, how do these guys not rock? They were so dang sweet!

I've mentioned the thanks above but just wanted to really add personal thanks to Clydesdale for the pics. Lyne for helping with the guys. Steph for her rock star performance. Sean for his help with TT1. Sweet thanks for Brad for being the first to answer my email, the hugs and hello's, and for being the first to sign! C for being the great guy he is and the great giggle I got from his response to my email. Michael Barry was great about it too. The riders are amazingly awesome. There are many, many, more I didn't list above and I hope they all know just how great and how much fun they made this adventure. All in all, there are close to 50 signatures from the riders from the 2009 TOC! Huge Thanks to All of Them!!!

I don't have the usual amount of pics that I take at races but enjoy... Thurs/Stage 5 Fri/Stage 6 TT Sat/Stage 7