The Nearly New Cyclist Diary 2016: Revolution / Inspiration

Visitors to the site over the last couple of days will be aware that Conquista was present at the Manchester round of the UK's Revolution Series.  Even the buzz of the National Cycling Centre couldn't completely remove the whiff of the school sports day that always seems to hang over Revolution events, but I still had a great time, and even took some photos.  This was a great learning experience, as long as you think it's great to learn that velodrome light sucks.  At least I have a better idea what I'll be dealing with next time (if there is a next time).

 

The event was also noteworthy for a few other things. 

 

1. This was Cav's first outing since inking a new contract with Dimension Data.  After all those years with Specialized, it was strange to see him warming up on a Cervélo . . .

 

 

2. I also discovered my favourite cycling sponsor of all time.  How can a business fail with a name like "SPORT GRUB"?

 

 

3. Other media outlets invariably bring you photos of Robert Förstemann's preposterous thighs.  Yawn.  However, readers may be interested to know that they (and indeed all the other parts of his extraordinary anatomy - he's basically 5'6" cubed) are so vast that he regularly snaps seat posts, explaining this unusual little extra bit of support . . .

 

 

All this is tremendously inspiring, so I've been living the dream myself - that is, I've been on the turbo in the garage.  The scene this evening:

 

   

The bike's under there somewhere.  Still, I don't care: it may be a long way from the National Cycling Centre to my garage, but at least Cav and I have this in common: neither of us has mastered the rollers yet . . .