diphthong

hay'all...tour down under is upon us. bike forums code from last year not working. started a new league for 2024, much to the dismay of all thirteen point five peoples...

league name: bike forums
league code: 230144811

don't blame me for your gambling losses, absolute loss/waste of time that can never be recouped or failed relationships.
if you want to blame me for an unlikely rash of flats this winter season, feel free. do your wurst. nee.

slcbob

Great minds think alike.

Or is it fools seldom differ?

diphthong

neither, yet both, simultaneously. happy 2024. and, if i may, quote from the book of slcbob..."embrace the suck."

Shadco 

We be guessin




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slcbob

Lots of guessing and embraceables.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. Well, even though stage 1 was a sprint.

diphthong

yet another season of horrible predictions and rued decisions hath begun. yay!

Shadco 

and I was stupid picking Caleb what was I thinking.

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slcbob

Well hello there canam73 , limboing in artfully, well under the incredibly low bar we set.

You're waving Yates at us a little defiantly. I wonder if he's out for a training ride surrounded by his team of flying antipodeans. Though he'll probably score more points than my Irishman, Fillip O'Ganna.

slcbob

This Velogames thing is just like riding a bike. It all comes right back to you.

• Welsford, Bauhaus, and Narvaez were on team version next-to-last. Rotated off due to some vague and ill-conceived notion about picking GC contenders.
• Plapp stayed on the team. Sorry, Luke. You lost a lot of skin.

A few days ago I was reading something about the "curse of the 'next' Merckx" moniker being laid on up-and-comers, with a look back at eight non-Merckxs over the decades. It seems the curse of the current X Merckx Spot pick remains nothing to sneeze at, either.

With the hills coming for the last two days, perhaps my team and canam73 's can vault into the top 80% of the field. I have high hopes that diphthong and Shadco may even make it to the top of the bell curve. Modest expectations dutifully executed. Aim for the sky! Well, the low part of the sky, near the horizon. Keep up the adequate work, lads.

GrainBrain

Ah shoot I had been following but didn't realize this was fantasy material! Thank you for the link, though I would probably have picked nothing important. I also have no blame in Plapps skin removal - which one of you picked him? Bob!? Narvaez is certainly impressive being at the front in the sprints and third up lofty - I might've thrown him a pick. Hard to know who I would've picked between Ewan vs Welsford.

Good on Onley and Israel Premier - hopefully the start of something good!

Shadco 

If Onley we had picked some younger riders…

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slcbob

Congratulations to Shadco . Cream of the crap in our little league, diphthong barely visible in the photo. Still well into the bottom half of the gen pop

canam73 somehow pips me for brown jersey. We are well represented in the autobus.

What's next? Off to the sandbox? Prepare to be underwhelmed.

GrainBrain

3rd - 2nd - 1st -- Liftoff for Stephen Williams! Israel Premier just had a stellar start to 2024!

Shadco 

Probably shouldn’ta dissed Caleb earlier in the thread he made up a lot just not sprint wins.




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diphthong

rule #87 has had an interesting, last few years. seemed dialed in...until he wasn't. personal jury is still out on the rehabbed version.

diphthong

two gnu games up with deadlines to enter early on the 31st!!

slcbob

Enjoy Valencia without me. I missed the sign in. As I type, the break has ~3 minutes with 25k to go. One for the wild cards?

Protests cancelled stage 1 of the other one so I limbo'd on in with a team of some sort. There goes my shot at the pre-season championship. Well, honestly, it was gone after Adelaide.

Good luck all.

GrainBrain

I might've picked Tonelli maybe but alas. I'm excited to see Lazkano active so early in the season!

slcbob

How could you not know he was due? C'mon, man.

slcbob

Provence starts next.

Who won Valencia in our little league? I was on the outside not looking in.

semroc

The bounty won. Canam

GrainBrain

Ah yes Croatia, *stares off thru the distance*

Hey I'm doing better in Provence! Happy with that Watson pick, but who the heck is Söderqvist?

GrainBrain

Great team he had with Bilbao, Hindley, Buitrago. Thought I had something after I picked Barta and McNulty - ah well I'm so happy for Barta! Project Echelon making some impact with Stites getting some top tens.

slcbob

Croatia. Slowly I turned. Step by step. Inch by inch...

Provence, inevitable prologue pop-ups. It's not a long way to wherever we're headed, but let's at least get to stage 2 before feeling too lucky or unlucky. 🤔🫣

slcbob

They're getting a good dousing in Provence.

Meanwhile, the Pocket Rocket had a nice dry launch in Oman. It looks like Grain Brain didn't knead his baguettes into pita, but the other 4 usual suspects will druel it out in our little league. Semroc will be well out front after today's tally, then his roster has some sprinter heft less aligned to the parcours. Will it be a good, bad, or ugly choice in the end? We shall see.