Man of the hour

Phil Gilbert has once again been nominated for Belgium's Male Athelete of the year.
A worthy honour for one the the greatest professional cyclists of our time.

You want cheese on that

Speaking recently to British pro-cyclist who is heading over the old herring pond, I learnt there is going to be quite a culture shock for him. Not just moving from Europe to race in the good'ol US of A, but also all the little things too. I mean, there is the obvious different weight categories they have in their domestic professional cycling over there. Over in Europe its pretty much a given that to be the best you have to tip the scales at around 60kg. Well to this pro i was talking to, he was told he had to gain at least 50kg to be in with a chance of race selection in his new team."Its a completely different playing field" he may have said.
Then there is the alarmingly different diet he has to get used to. No more high energy protein soya milk laxative based celery sticks. Apparently the team musettes will be handed out from a well know burger chain....sort of Mc-drive-thru style. Of course this brings up problems of its own. How DO you keep a double 1/4lb cheese burger and large fries warm in a musette? And will the super sized barrel of cola fit in a bottle cage on a 52cm bike? There are many idiosyncrasies that i clearly hadn't considered.

Recently, my contact posted on twitter that he had received his 2011 saddle. He was somewhat surprised apparently to learn that Lazy boy were now providing the saddles. Then there are of course rumours flying around that his new team have employed the services of an infamous doctor. But we have found these rumours to be totally unfounded. Dr Ruth clearly dismissed the rumours as "outrageous" but thinks "that with a little help all parties can work it out".


Early December he will be flying out stateside to take part in the training camp and to meet his team-mates. Here at the BC towers, we have managed to get a spy shot of the DS who will be providing the motorpacing that week.

Clearly this newly appointed Pro-continental cycling outfit have been taking there preparation very seriously. With a well organised squad like this, I can see them doing XXXXl things in the peloton next year.

And as a postscript to this. It is of course wholly untrue that it is in actual fact me on the motorbike. He's way to slim. AMATEUR!