Allan

Grumpy GenX-er | FinTech | 🚴🏼‍♂️ ⛳️ 📸 🍷 ☕️ | 🇨🇦🇰🇷

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

Pogačar is better at cycling than Tiger Woods was at golf.

[Lukáš Ronald Lukács @lucxsronald]

3 monuments, podiums in all of those, Tour de France, World Champs, European Champs… what more do you need?

I feel like people outside of the cycling bubble don’t realize how insane it is achieving it in one season.

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

Where’s your Gold Medal..!? Oh right, you just buy your victories.

[Jake Paul @jakepaul]

Wow pls shut the fuck up

From all true Americans

If you don’t want to represent this country go live somewhere else

[Eric Harvey @ekharvey]

@flobikes The Trofeo Calvia stream quality is garbage. Not because the weather either, the audio is also broken and jumbled.

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@MattH_4America Where is -48°C? Saskatchewan, Canada.

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

Amen 👍

[Anthony Walsh | Roadman Podcast @Roadman_Podcast]

Zwift is killing road racing.

Not because it's a bad product. Because we've forgotten what it was supposed to be.

I know riders who won't show up to the Sunday club ride because they have a Zwift race.

People who've completed 100 virtual races but never pinned a number to their jersey in real life.

Cyclists with 10,000 Zwift miles who can't hold a wheel in a paceline when the wind picks up.

It got me thinking how this happened...

COVID locked us indoors in 2020.

Pros had to race on Zwift because outdoor racing was banned.

Club riders met virtually because group rides were illegal.

The cycling industry pivoted hard into virtual racing because it was the only option.

That made sense then.

But we never pivoted back.

Local racing calendars are getting decimated while Zwift Racing League grows.

Riders are choosing virtual crits over actual crits because "the competition is better online."

Club secretaries can't fill race spots but Zwift events sell out in minutes.

I get it.

Zwift racing is convenient.

No travel.

No 6am start times.

No punctures or crashes.

No weather.

You can race from your garage in your underwear.

But are we missing the entire point?

The pre-race nerves pinning your number on at the car.

The smell of embrocation and nervous energy at the start line.

Looking across at your teammate and nodding before the final climb.

The post-race coffee where you replay every moment.

The friends you make in the carpark.

The local rivalries that turn into friendships.

The community that forms when you show up, week after week, to the same circuits.

Virtual community isn't real community.

50,000 Instagram followers will never replace 5 actual friends who'll pick you up when you puncture 40km from home.

A Zoom coffee isn't the same as sitting across from someone, both of you wrecked, reliving the race over terrible service station coffee.

And suffering together on a climb, looking over and seeing your mate's face twisted in pain, knowing you're both dying together—that's what cycling is.

Zwift can't give you that.

I'm not anti-Zwift.

I actually really like Zwift It's a brilliant tool.

Winter training when it's dark at 4pm.

Structured intervals when you're time-crunched.

Staying sharp during the off-season.

But it's a tool to improve the outdoor experience.

Not replace it.

We built Zwift to save cycling during a pandemic.

Now we need to make sure it doesn't kill what we were trying to save.

Turn off Zwift.

Pin on a number.

Show up to your local race.

The sport needs you on the start line, not the leaderboard.

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@rcousine Actually, since you stopped running bike races, and lot of things seem to get forgotten.

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@jamierkennedy That was my exact set in the late 90s. Except sub in a 975 driver and the PT was the PT15 3 wood. I shot much better scores with those than the clubs I have now.

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@Top100Rick I grew up on fast greens, PGA Tour course until recently. I’m lost on slower greens so whenever they’re quicker I feel right at home.

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@Pcrawjr @CafeRoubaix “Active” 😅

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@rcousine I think you found the loophole

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

Six beers in by the turn… ⛳️

[Brock 💣 @Golfingbrock]

Never broken 80

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@rcousine And for the record, I’m often on a triple7 when flying YVR-YYZ. Just depends on the flight :)

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@rcousine Haha. With your luck you l’ll get stuck on an A321XLR 😅

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@IVIerCURYSTeVE @TimmyTebrows Probably Oracle, PNC, and Safeco.

[Edmonton Oilers @EdmontonOilers]

Thank you, @evanderkane, for your contributions to the #Oilers & in the Oil Country community over the last four seasons! 👊

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@geruzzi_jim I hope they win, but they won’t

[Allan @IcemanYVR]

@simonmaechling You lie. This is dihydrogen monoxide, and anyone who has ever had some, has or will eventually die 😉