[VdB]

Burkni, on 19 January 2012 - 11:04 PM, said:

Burkni is currently at a beer course/seminar and just received a lecture on Westvleteren.
(he is somewhat inebriated)

All he can say is RESPECT TO VDB!!!

Yes, respect to VdB!! Haha! What did the course teach Burkni that he didn't already know? VdB is intrigued by what our distant friends on their cold island may think of Westvleteren.

Having said that, VdB has been inspired by a previous bet (that you may have followed) to offer a grand prize for the ITT wielerprono competition this season...he will provide the overall team winner this season with a 33 cl bottle of Westvleteren 12 from his special reserve. He figures that if that doesn't motivate the troops to actually perform this season, nothing will!

Of course VdB wouldn't mind keeping it for himself too, so don't expect him to give it up without a fight!

[crockett]

VdB, on 21 January 2012 - 10:05 PM, said:

Yes, respect to VdB!! Haha! What did the course teach Burkni that he didn't already know? VdB is intrigued by what our distant friends on their cold island may think of Westvleteren.

Having said that, VdB has been inspired by a previous bet (that you may have followed) to offer a grand prize for the ITT wielerprono competition this season...he will provide the overall team winner this season with a 33 cl bottle of Westvleteren 12 from his special reserve. He figures that if that doesn't motivate the troops to actually perform this season, nothing will!

Of course VdB wouldn't mind keeping it for himself too, so don't expect him to give it up without a fight!

Well now.......this competition has just become very interesting!! Crockett wants to know if his wife can enter a team to double his family's chances, putting family Crockett on par with the Canadian house.

[VdB]

crockett, on 21 January 2012 - 11:22 PM, said:

Well now.......this competition has just become very interesting!! Crockett wants to know if his wife can enter a team to double his family's chances, putting family Crockett on par with the Canadian house.

Haha, well VdB has no real qualms about that provided that the entry is honest and actually her team (and not a second team designed by Crockett)! And after all, as WP history has shown, chances of winning the competition seem to be raised dramatically by not spending a lot of time on putting together a decent team so she may even surprise! (that was assuming she doesn't follow cycling as much as Crockett)

[crockett]

VdB, on 22 January 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

Haha, well VdB has no real qualms about that provided that the entry is honest and actually her team (and not a second team designed by Crockett)! And after all, as WP history has shown, chances of winning the competition seem to be raised dramatically by not spending a lot of time on putting together a decent team so she may even surprise! (that was assuming she doesn't follow cycling as much as Crockett)

And Crockett's 3 kids......? [Probably ineligible due to prize.]

Family Crockett creates a mini-league on velogames for each GT, and Crockett almost never wins. Crockett's youngest produced an incredible result either last year or the year before. He picks solely based on jersey color and design, with name as a tie breaker. Mrs. Crockett also had a big win last year, having finally given up on Basso and Cunego.

[crockett]

Wondering how far along NBOL is on his trusty spreadsheet......

[VdB]

crockett, on 24 January 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

And Crockett's 3 kids......? [Probably ineligible due to prize.]

Family Crockett creates a mini-league on velogames for each GT, and Crockett almost never wins. Crockett's youngest produced an incredible result either last year or the year before. He picks solely based on jersey color and design, with name as a tie breaker. Mrs. Crockett also had a big win last year, having finally given up on Basso and Cunego.

Haha! VdB has an American friend (well, he's Puerto Rican/Dutch, how's that for funky combos?) who participated in a fantasy American football team for the first time last year. He didn't know anything about football so he picked his team based on how cool the names were (alliterations like Tim Tebow were welcomed) and won his league. Now he's a year later, actually knows the rules of the game and the players a bit, and is mortally afraid his perceived knowledge will tank his team.

As for Crockett's kids...let's keep the competition over 16 here Although VdB will say, anyone who's not into beer at all can of course wish away their prize to a possible 2nd placed beer connaisseur should they want to. Or their spouse!

VdB is already expecting this news to migrate to other cycling boards and ITT becoming a powerhouse of semi-anonymous cycling fans. Still, they're all welcome, so feel free to invite anyone else. The team's numbers have been dwindling rather than anything else in the past few years, so new blood is always welcome!

[VdB]

VdB just checked the rider prices btw.

1 GILBERT Philippe 3168

...no comment needed...

[Burkni]

VdB, on 26 January 2012 - 02:48 PM, said:

VdB just checked the rider prices btw.

1 GILBERT Philippe 3168

...no comment needed...

ROFL

And here Burkni was last year ranting about inflation in riders' prices

This post has been edited by Burkni: 27 January 2012 - 10:12 AM

[N.B.O.L.]

crockett, on 25 January 2012 - 10:48 PM, said:

Wondering how far along NBOL is on his trusty spreadsheet......

Since there is no "Start List" for the Spring Classic season, NBOL has never attempted to do a spreadsheet for the classics, and really has no idea how he would.

[N.B.O.L.]

VdB, on 26 January 2012 - 02:48 PM, said:

VdB just checked the rider prices btw.

1 GILBERT Philippe 3168

...no comment needed...

NBOL's team may consist of Gilbert, Cancellara, Farrar, Hushovd and as many other riders as he can find for the remain 648 points.

Edit to add: Boonen is a steal at only 502 points.

This post has been edited by N.B.O.L.: 27 January 2012 - 03:49 PM

[Patrick B. Penguin]

Penguin feels that NBOL's spreadsheets would be most useful this year if they included all active riders on the pro tour who are 10pts or under as everyone's team will require at least 6 of them!!! VdB - get on the phone to track down FormerlyFit immediately! Perhaps a signing bonus of some sort?

Penguin will start the list off with
3065 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 0

Penguin is happy to be in touch with everyone again after a long off-season and raises a glass of Chimay to his teammates! (and future Team Crockett teammates?)

[N.B.O.L.]

Patrick B. Penguin, on 27 January 2012 - 04:47 PM, said:

Penguin feels that NBOL's spreadsheets would be most useful this year if they included all active riders on the pro tour who are 10pts or under as everyone's team will require at least 6 of them!!! VdB - get on the phone to track down FormerlyFit immediately! Perhaps a signing bonus of some sort?

Penguin will start the list off with
3065 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 0

Penguin is happy to be in touch with everyone again after a long off-season and raises a glass of Chimay to his teammates! (and future Team Crockett teammates?)

NBOL will add Valverde to his roster. NBOL has never thought of Alejandro as a classics rider, but checked his palmares and see he has done well in some in the past.

NBOL now just needs another 6 riders for 146 points total.

This post has been edited by N.B.O.L.: 27 January 2012 - 07:35 PM

[crockett]

Patrick B. Penguin, on 27 January 2012 - 04:47 PM, said:

Penguin feels that NBOL's spreadsheets would be most useful this year if they included all active riders on the pro tour who are 10pts or under as everyone's team will require at least 6 of them!!! VdB - get on the phone to track down FormerlyFit immediately! Perhaps a signing bonus of some sort?

Great idea PBP, although Crockett thinks that NBOL should also include all European continental team riders as many teams will get invites for certain spring races. If that isn't too much trouble......ahem.

[N.B.O.L.]

crockett, on 27 January 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

Great idea PBP, although Crockett thinks that NBOL should also include all European continental team riders as many teams will get invites for certain spring races. If that isn't too much trouble......ahem.

In case NBOL wasn't totally clear the first time. The first NBOL spreadsheet of the season will be published for the Giro. NBOL briefly considered doing a spreadsheet for the evaluation of Belgium beers, but never considered doing one for the classics seasons.

[Burkni]

N.B.O.L., on 27 January 2012 - 11:02 PM, said:

In case NBOL wasn't totally clear the first time. The first NBOL spreadsheet of the season will be published for the Giro. NBOL briefly considered doing a spreadsheet for the evaluation of Belgium beers, but never considered doing one for the classics seasons.

... Briefly considered ... Classic!

Burkni has just stumbled through the door looking rather out of shape, true Ullrich-style. He vaguely remembers having some sort of leadership role on the team following a strong Vuelta but the off-season is somewhat of a haze.

[VdB]

Burkni, on 30 January 2012 - 11:02 PM, said:

... Briefly considered ... Classic!

Burkni has just stumbled through the door looking rather out of shape, true Ullrich-style. He vaguely remembers having some sort of leadership role on the team following a strong Vuelta but the off-season is somewhat of a haze.

Vdb confronts a sordid-looking Burkni with the team's private eye's pictures of him gorging down on Schwarzwald cake in Badem-Wurtemmberg during the off-season. Burkni told VdB he was training in Iceland's comfortable winter climate!

[The Rake]

Will Contador be available for Vuelta selection at zero points?

[VdB]

VdB fears this may not be the case. On the bright side, with Gilbert slurping up every point in the rankings, he'll probably be a lot cheaper than usual.

[Burkni]

VdB, on 06 February 2012 - 12:54 PM, said:

Vdb confronts a sordid-looking Burkni with the team's private eye's pictures of him gorging down on Schwarzwald cake in Badem-Wurtemmberg during the off-season. Burkni told VdB he was training in Iceland's comfortable winter climate!

Burkni is currently looking through the window at the comfortable winter climate (currently 2deg C and sleeting) and contemplating wrapping up in 3 layers of lycra and have a new set of pics taken ...

[VdB]

VdB took the liberty to compile a list of bargains below 100 points for the upcoming WP year...some of them may be on there for price/quality, some because of past exploits, some because they're promising young talents...and some just for comedy value. VdB apologizes to NBOL for usurping his position as Keeper of the Sacred Spreadsheet! P.S. this list probably isn't complete and marred by VdB's limited knowledge, so feel free to suggest additions (or omissions)! Also, he left some riders out who were retired (Dessel, Lorenzetto, Arvesen, Garcia Acosta etc) or cheap but on absolutely obscure teams (like Markus Fothen) so unlikely to ride anything on the WP calendar.


3067 LLOYD Matthew 0 (now on Lampre, rumours of psychological issues when leaving Lotto)
3068 DE VOCHT Wim 0 (on Verandas Willems, bound to get invitations to some classics and semiclassics in Flanders)
3066 PELLIZOTTI Franco 0 (No team yet afaik, but suspension ends before the Giro and wants to ride it)
3065 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 0
2733 GUTIERREZ CATALUÑA Jose Enrique 2 (The Buffalo...on a Colombian team)
2460 RIIS Thomas Nybo 5 (Riis' son! On a small team though, so not gonna see any top level racing yet)
2295 BONNAIRE Olivier 5 (FDJ)
2290 WILLEMS Frederik 5 (Lotto)
2285 ARMSTRONG Lance 5 (if one believes in another comeback!)
2212 REUS Kai 6 (back after his horrific accident, but on a US team. Probably not many races in Europe)
2082 NYS Sven 7 (cyclocross represent!)
2073 HULSMANS Kevin 7 (domestique, on Pozzato's new team Vini Farnese. Will likely ride quite a few classics)
2032 VANENDERT Dennis 8 (Jelle Vanendert's younger brother. Nothing special, but is on Lotto and likes the climbing classics)
1941 GIANETTI Noe 10 (Mauro's son - was on geox last year, no idea about his 2012 team)
1932 DOWNEY Sean 10 (young Irish rider, rides for An Post - Sean Kelly who may get invited to smaller races)
1872 PEÑA GRISALES Victor Hugo 10 (Colombian team)
1830 BOUTEILLE Thomas 11 (Levi's long lost French brother!)
1817 VAUGRENARD Benoît 11 (experienced rider, on FDJ)
1815 DEKKER Thomas 11 (A steal! On Garmin, and part of their early season team so far)
1669 SINCLAIR Shaquille 15 (Shaquille? Really?)
1561 LE FLOCH Guillaume 16 (on Europcar, average rider)
1528 KEISSE Iljo 17 (6 day star, but finished 3rd in a sprint in K-B-K once before. Is on QST too, so invitations won't be a problem)
1502 PAUWELS Serge 18 (on QST, did some very nice work in the mountains for Sastre a few years ago)
1494 MOUREY Francis 18 (CX rider, but on FDJ and rode several GT's in the past)
1486 ZANOTTI Marco 19 (no idea where he rides these days, if he still rides at all)
1382 TRAKSEL Bobbie 21 (always decent, on Landbouwkrediet so likely to get a lot of wildcards in the classics)
1361 LHOTELLERIE Clément 22 (formerly a big talent, now on an obscure French team. Tour wildcard, who knows?)
1319 RICCO Riccardo 24 (The Cobra!)
1291 DA DALTO Mauro 25 (Liquigas)
1284 COYOT Arnaud 25 (Saur-Sojasun)
1285 LANCASTER Brett 25 (Greenedge)
1236 EIJSSEN Yannick 28 (young talent, BMC)
1228 KASHECHKIN Andrey 28 (back for another round with Astana)
1193 FEILLU Brice 30 (at Saur-Sojasun after a failed season with Vacansoleil)
1185 SPEZIALETTI Alessandro 30 (veteran, Lampre)
1136 KROON Karsten 33 (a steal)
1126 SINKEWITZ Patrik 34 (Vini Farnese, Pozzato's team)
1112 RABON Frantisek 35 (QST)
1109 VAN IMPE Kevin 35 (Vacansoleil)
1062 VOIGT Jens 38 (Jens!)
1058 VALLS FERRI Rafael 39 (showed some nice things at Fuji/Geox, now at Vacansoleil)
1039 NOVAL GONZALEZ Benjamin 40 (Saxo)
1040 HORRACH RIPOLL Joan 40 (Katusha)
1033 IGNATIEV Dimitry 41 (Katusha)
1015 CASTAÑEDA ORTEGA Jaime Alberto 43 (Colombian team)
998 HOSTE Leif 44 (Willems Verandas)
999 ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU Mikel 44 (Euskaltel)
989 CHAMPION Dimitri 45 (obscure French team)
986 PICHOT Alexandre 45 (Europcar)
983 VAN DE WALLE Jurgen 45 (Lotto)
962 VANDENBERGH Stijn 47 (Lotto)
963 MAASKANT Martijn 47 (Garmin)
956 VEIKKANEN Jussi 48 (Lotto)
950 MARZOLI Ruggero 48 (Acqua e sapone)
932 VAN HECKE Preben 50 (some nice results last year in the classics, on Topsport Vlaanderen)
894 DEAN Julian 55 (Greenedge)
877 TALABARDON Yannick 57 (Saur-Sojasun)
866 BOUCHER David 58 (FDJ)
854 BERTAGNOLLI Leonardo 59 (Lampre)
855 ARDILA CANO Mauricio Alberto 59 (on Colombian team now)
856 HUNT Jeremy 59 (Sky)
857 SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio 59 (not sure what team he's on next year)
831 RAKE Christer 62 (for The Rake!)
828 PAULINHO Sergio Miguel Moreira 62 (Saxo)
819 CHRISTENSEN Mads 63 (Saxo)
802 DURBRIDGE Luke 65 (Greenedge)
798 ZANDIO ECHAIDE Xabier 65 (Sky)
790 KONOVALOVAS Ignatas 66 (Movistar)
765 VELITS Martin 71 (QST)
766 VEUCHELEN Frederik 71 (former winner of Dwars door Vlaanderen, Vacansoleil)
754 BAZAYEV Assan 72 (Astana)
740 LAVERDE JIMENEZ Luis Felipe 74 (Colombian team)
719 MOSER Moreno 78 (young rider, nephew of Francesco. Rides for Liquigas)
717 SABATINI Fabio 78 (Liquigas)
715 NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel 78 (Saxo)
711 CODOL Massimo 79 (Acqua e Sapone)
707 POPOVYCH Yaroslav 79 (Radioshack)
708 GARATE CEPA Juan Manuel 79 (Rabo)
709 KRIVTSOV Yuriy 79 (no idea where he rides this year - probably AG2R)
705 MINARD Sébastien 80 (AG2R)
692 PLAZA MOLINA Ruben 81 (Movistar)
694 LUND Anders 81 (Saxo)
684 IGLINSKIY Maxim 82 (Astana)
679 PATE Danny 83 (Sky)
664 BURGHARDT Marcus 85 (BMC)
654 MOURIS Jens 86 (Greenedge)
647 FENN Andrew 88 (young Scottish sprinter, won a stage in the trofeo Mallorca this season already (iirc). On QST)
648 ROULSTON Hayden 87 (Radioshack)
634 PEREZ MORENO Ruben 90 (Euskaltel)
635 BONO Matteo 90 (Lampre)
627 HAMMOND Roger 91 (Not sure where Hammond is riding this year)
623 HADDOU Saïd 92 (Europcar)
609 IGNATIEV Mikhail 95 (Not sure)
599 BONNET William 97 (FDJ)
597 KIRSIPUU Jaan 97 (Oh yes, 42-yr old Jaan is still riding...not that he's likely to appear in any of the WP races though!)
594 POSTHUMA Joost 98 (Radioshack)
595 BRESCHEL Matti 98 (Bargain alert! Rabo)