The Boards

I love this photo. Omnisport Velodrome, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Photo by Bas Mulder.

Theo Bos to Compete on the Road!

It's official, Theo Bos is making the transition from track to road. It was announced this week that the sprinter, the holder of the world record Flying 200 time, will join Rabobank's road team. I don't know if that means we'll see him competing this coming season, the report on Pez Cycling didn't have a ton of details, but I'm excited to see if he can make the change.

Usually, the track stars that do well on the road are not track sprinters, they're usually much too big and heavy. It's hard to imagine Chris Hoy, for example, hauling himself up many Alpine climbs. It's usually the trackies who ride distance events that make good road riders. Cav, for example, rides distance events on the track, but is a sprinter on the road. But, if any of the current crop of top track sprinters could make the transition, it's Bos. He's a taller, leaner, lighter figure than Hoy or McLean, so it's possible.

And, just to remind you of what he's capable of, here's one of the greatest vids of all time, which I'm sure everyone has seen a million times, but could stand to see again. Enjoy.



Thanks to ChrisP for the headsup.

Colonialism by Bike!

"I need to get my oppression on. Where are those natives?"

I love this poster! Thanks to Neal-ZH over on chifg.com (the Chicago fixed-gear message board) for finding a whole bunch of vintage bike poster images online. This isn't necessarily the best looking, but I think it's hilarious. "As used by our colonial overseers." What a selling point! Actually, I have no idea what the text at the bottom says, but if any of our Dutch readers (I see you, Nijmegen!) could drop me a line with a translation, that would be great.

[edit] Apparently, the poster says "In use by the Dutch and Dutch Indian army." Thanks, Tom!