Outstanding Badkamers races today! Both men's and women's. Cool to see van Anrooij leapfrog Betsema. And we finally had a genuine sprint finish for the men instead of one guy like 2 minutes up on everyone.

Weird day by Pidcock. Looked to be fighting his equipment the entire race.

I saw a few of you on Zwift around weekend mornings. Anyone up for a group ride where we watch a race while getting in some trainer miles? I figure it'd be a bit more healthy than just staring at the screen.

Next weekend may make for a good start to this (although the CX World Championship races will be in the afternoon).

I'm down.

Sunday morning is my steady AE ride, so that could work for me. Not sure about my availability during next weekend's (1pm?) race, but if you make a meetup send the invite my way and I'll make it if I can.

Stealing this from cycling meme overlord @i_simp_alaphillipe, but it was totally apt for today's World Cup race.

I'm happy to organize the invite, as long as we can get at least three committals each week. It'll probably be UCI World's next week (I can do Saturday or Sunday), and in general, i'll be using the "keep together option", so that no one gets dropped as long as we all pedal. I personally won't actually be looking at Zwift while spectating. I'll probably send out a request, say the Wednesday beforehand.

Also, no need to be actually on Zwift to do this. It's basically just live cycling banter on Discord.

And then for subsequent weeks, we can basically have an event coincide with a classics race.

My knees are kinda shot right now (only on the trainer), and I have serious doubts as to whether I can do more than 90 minutes indoors. The goal is to build up enough comfort by Paris-Roubaix that we can all spectate the last two hours or something (one is always welcome to finish the ride early and start day drinking).

Trainer Fondos. Dig it.

Will miss Cx World's though.

I'd be up for this as well.
Although I won't be able to do it this coming weekend.

I'll probably just do a google spreadsheet asking for availability the Wednesday before. Sort of an added component to our regular banter.

Also, the audio set-up might get wonky (e.g. might get some strange echoing with broadcast sound reverberating), but I think we can deal with it when we have an actual event to plan for. Discord's "mute unless speaking" function should go a long way toward remedying it.

They're saying Bernal has a fractured femur after a collision with a bus? That guy's had a rough go of it, would have been great to see him healthy and battling Pog and Rog this year.

Wow that’s terrible news for Bernal. A broken femur is sure a difficult thing to recover from.

Damn. And he and Carapaz narrowly missed a collision with vehicle last week. Brutal, doesn't seem the Tour is remotely possible, at least to be competitive.

Apparently MdVP is not riding at all for a while, and spring is in doubt. :(

So another continuing plot line on hold for the spring.

Edit: Oof, I didn't mean to make an equivalence there when upon further reading it sounds like Bernal's injuries are far worse than MdVP's

Don’t worry. I don’t think the pitch fork mob comes for you in this safe house.

Sounds like it may be a lot worse than just a femur (not that a femur is not pretty bad in and of itself).

I've been out of the loop for a while and when I read that I thought, oh, LeFevre is up to something again......

Yeah, the more details that keep emerging, the worse the news is getting... "vertebral and thoracic trauma, blunt trauma of the thorax, musculoskeletal trauma, and trauma to the lower limbs." Yikes.

I had some similar surgeries from a bike crash and was in a back brace for 4 months and on crutches for 3. He’ll be lucky to race in 2023.

Just sad, brutal news. The surrounding story leading to this sucks worse. I'm ready for some more positive bike news already.

Cyclocross Worlds is in the USA.

No talk of anyone going? (I am.)

Disappointing that no Wout or MVDP (also no Betsema and Worst), but races should still be great and there are future stars to be seen in U23 and Junior's ranks (where folks in Louisville in 2013 would have seen Wout and MVDP race).

---

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

I think @TurdBurgler is attending?

Crazy. I assumed he was descending, but on the flat into the back of a bus? Awful. Racing looks to be a far second to just full recovery at this point.

Word. Racing again likely isn't even on the radar right now, it's about just making a full recovery #FuerzaEgan.

Does raise some questions about Ineos this year though... originally I think it was Carapaz riding the Giro with TGH , Bernal doing the Tour with Thomas and Martinez, and Yates/Carapaz for the Vuelta.

I'm not bullish on G as a grand tour contender at this point... so do you move Carapaz to the tour? And maybe roll Martinez and TGH as a Giro 1-2?

I saw a translation of the post spinal surgery medical report. It mentioned a dislocation-fracture in the thoracic spine. Some quick googling suggests that is pretty bad and likely to cause at least some neurologic damage.

I hate hearing about serious crashes. I've always been a fan of Bernal because he seems like a really decent guy.

I think so. He won't be better than 3rd favorite, will give up time in TTs, and isn't the flashiest climber. But he's a tough mofo, rides strong through the 3rd week, and has impeccable instincts.