Way back in the day, 2003 to be exact as I was trying to do the college swimmer/partyer thing, I actually liked Team CSC, I actually liked Cervelo, why wouldn't I? They were a radical young company just starting out, offering decent priced products ( cervelo not CSC). Team CSC had a Tour war hero in Tyler "I finished 4th with a broken collarbone" Hamilton, I felt sympathy for Bobby Jullich who always seemed to have heart break, Fabian Cancellara was still some punk on the U-23 circut. Then came 04 Tyler left for Team SyntheticTestosterone.... I mean Phonak, won gold in Athens, then got busted for doping, he served out his ban and rode in obsurity for the rest of his career....what a waste..sadly a sign of bigger disappointments to come with Floyd Landis....to this day I think the Med. Staff at Phonak was behind most of the doping either that or my joke about free EPO with a BMC Time Machine wasn't a joke ( seriously Astana and Phonak two teams with the biggest doping scandals were using BMC's)...but anyway I digress, Tyler Hamilton broke my heart, I still liked a majority of the CSC riders until last year, when Zabriskie left, there were no Americans on their tour roster this year. Also everyone was drooling over Fabian " sex on wheels" Cancellara last year, I fail to see what's so special about him, so he rides an insanely fast time trial, let's see him average 50kmph up Alpe D' Huez , let's see him grit through 3 weeks with a busted collarbone and top 10 or just top 10 for that matter. Ok I'm jealous of his speed I'm man enough to admit it....I want time trial skillz that killz.....
Enough of the cyclists back to my beef with Cervelo while I was in a two year stint at Fordham and a summer of self detox in 05 Cervelo went from being a bike company that was anti-establishment, or the Anti-Trek ( yes after 1999, every kid and their brother was buying a Trek because "Lance rode one", heck the TDF could have been badged the Tour de Lance and OLN could have been dubbed the Lance Armstrong network, nothing against the guy, I love seeing Americans win but when he finally retired in 05 I was almost happy to see him go, now it meant there would be a tighter race ( although 03 was good on many levels.).) By 2006 that had changed Cervelo was the fastest growing bike at Kona, Transitions across the country were full of them, they had become *gasp* the establishment. Upon browsing and Slowtwitch it was like I was an unwelcome pilgrim in Cervelo Nation, if didn't use a Cervelo you weren't one of the "in" crowd... It was as if the hippies and rouge engineers were replaced by stiffs in suits bent on world domination...so what did I do... bought a bike from a more " established" company. I'll admit it I sold out when I started looking at Treks, Specialized, and C-dizzle but these guys were offering the financing I needed, sadly one of the reasons I didn't go with Trek was they didn't have anymore of the model I wanted /could afford in stock and I wasn't throwing down 2k on an aluminum Lemond. But I love my Stomper it has smoked many a person, and almost has me pledging unwaivering loyalty to Specialized granted I will ride anything with 2 wheels that I can get a good deal on.
Alright that was my rant I should have a shorter training related post this evening.
Fighting the man!
R.D.
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I STILL think Tyler Hamilton is the baddest assest mofo out there. Synthetic testosterone DOESN'T block pain, so that collarbone stunt was the real McCoy. And, come on, EVERYONE'S doping, it's just a question of who gets caught.
And as far as Cervélo, you don't have me convinced. Not an innovative company, okay. No track record (although they've been pretty impressive with what they've done in the last few years), fine. But I think the brand loyalty kind of speaks for itself. And yes, I DO love my Specialized.
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