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Girmay's new helmet
Last Post 07/27/2022 02:50 PM by christopher behrens. 9 Replies.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/26/2022 06:03 PM |
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Hilarious and "eye catching": https://cyclingtips.com/2022/07/biniam-girmay-has-a-new-helmet-with-a-cork-on-it/ |
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 07/26/2022 07:14 PM |
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| Makes me like him more. Nice sense of humor! |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/26/2022 09:15 PM |
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That helmet's fun!
Fingers crossed, but Girmay might easily be the Jackie Robinson of cycling. No, he's not the first. So yes, a few doors were already open. But, like Robinson, I'm betting he turns the make-up of the pro peloton on its head. It will take longer than in baseball. Baseball had a thriving Negro League of seasoned and very good pros. Africa has next to none of the like. But African 12 year olds are going to see Girmay in the paper, on TV and see that he already has made a mark. OK, it will be 8 years before they see the pro ranks. I'm guessing the early steps will be more white "entrepreneurs" starting clubs, teams and races to hopefully find talent they can introduce to the European teams. I'd love to see an African start this and create a long running affair.
The drive to achieve using one's natural gifts and hard work to lift oneself out of poverty is eternal. (Yes, only a few have the drive and gifts to see the highest levels. But show those few how and watch out!) Two example right here in the USA. Football and basketball. Cycling's tougher. Basketball, all you need is a court, two hoops and a basketball. Every aspiring cyclist needs a high end bike quite unlike anything in rural Africa. Access to pavement. But having Girmay in the local African news and becoming a celebrity (and having fun as he does so), well a few thousand African 12 year olds are going to notice! And if someone sends out fliers that the opportunity is coming for those kids to show what they can do - well, here's hoping. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/27/2022 09:28 AM |
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| Hmm he may need to add a cobble on other side of helmet. |
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6ix
Posts:485
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| 07/27/2022 10:21 AM |
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| Ben...really well stated. Thank you for that. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/27/2022 10:59 AM |
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| I would only caveat Ben's post with note that cycling is already huge in Eritrea and has been for considerable time, witness the crowds that celebrated Girmay on his return but also the highly successful national team (7 golds at African championships) who returned same day. Its a legacy of Italian colonial times. But maybe the bug will spread to neighboring countries. The talent is there already, the hurdle is established western teams identifying that talent, or maybe a team with origins on the continent will have to do the trick. Aspiring talent is unlikely to come from rural areas, it will come from urban and semi-urban areas that are really not all that different from Europe (picking up any of the many good Nigerian Nollywood movies on Netflix will illustrate that). The ohoto in this link shows you how massively popular cycling is in Eritrea (I am sure CK should be able to hot link it haha), it easily rivals crowds on Alpe or in Paris: https://sporza.be/nl/2022/03/30/eritrea-op-zijn-kop-gent-wevelgem-winnaar-biniam-girmay-wordt-feestelijk-ontvangen~1648650527151/ |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/27/2022 11:38 AM |
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Interesting little read. I think in a way, the hurdle for African talent to make it on cycling's big stage is really not all that different than it is for Americans, only magnified a bit. Being on a different continent with different culture, away from family is even a struggle for quite a bit of North American talent and many don't make it.
"Two days after the Tour ends, the winner’s bike and a few others are in for repairs at the Asmara bike shop of Tekeste “Gigante” Woldu, another Eritrean Olympian (1968, 1972). Also sitting there are brand-new racing bikes worth several thousand euros. The shop doesn’t sell many of these high-end bikes, but they do sell. In a city whose urban infrastructure is struggling and where you don’t need to tell the barman what kind of beer you want because there’s only one brand, you can still pick up the best bicycle technology the world has to offer"
https://qz.com/africa/1036533/eritreas-cycling-in-tour-of-eritrea-is-part-of-a-long-tradition-despite-its-isolation/ |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 07/27/2022 12:14 PM |
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Pretty cool. For the life of me I cannot understand why the teams don't encourage or allow individualized* paint schemes on helmets. I would certainly make it easier to identify riders in a pack and add some individuality/ marketability for the rider.
*Red Bull notwithstanding
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 07/27/2022 12:24 PM |
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Makes me like him more. Nice sense of humor!
I love guys that can poke fun at themselves... |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 07/27/2022 02:50 PM |
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| He certainly "poked" fun at himself ; ) |
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