Superstitions in cycling

[Swarley]

Last week-end I've read an article on Velonews http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/04/news/lucky-no-11-rodriguez-moreno-share-historic-hotel-room_282780 about the room 11 in which many riders slept over the years before winning a Classic, so I thought about a thread related to the superstitions of pro riders. Do you know some interesting ones (and by interesting ones I mean other than black cats and number 13)?

 

[RHRH19861986]

Bart Wellens (Belgian cyclo crosser) eats a pingeon before each cross race.

 

[Swarley]

Bart Wellens (Belgian cyclo crosser) eats a pingeon before each cross race.

Your joking... I just hope it's not a raw one.

 

[Contadoraus Schlecks]

Bart Wellens (Belgian cyclo crosser) eats a pingeon before each cross race.

Lol. Never heard of a Pingeon. Hope it's not penguin related

 

[RHRH19861986]

Your joking... I just hope it's not a raw one.

No, no joking

Raw one? That would be one step too hardcore, I think... But who knows...

 

[RHRH19861986]

Lol. Never heard of a Pingeon. Hope it's not penguin related

These birds that sh.t onto the streets in every town larger than 10.000 inhabitants...

 

[Swarley]

I also know that some riders don't shave their legs on the morning of a race, and don't shave their beards before a ITT.

 

[williamp78]

Pigeon is pretty tasty btw

 

[serfla]

Pigeon is pretty tasty btw

Here's a pigeon joke, for all the lovers.

Two pensioners are talking to each other in a park:
- Have you brought bread for the pigeons?
- No. I eat them without bread.

 

[iZnoGouD]

Superstition are for weakminded people, if you weak minded you're no cyclist

 

[williamp78]

Here's a pigeon joke, for all the lovers.

Two pensioners are talking to each other in a park:
- Have you brought bread for the pigeons?
- No. I eat them without bread.

I wonder if we can morph this thread into a pigeon humour thread!?

An old couple is on a walk, when a pigeon flies by and deposits a poopy little present on the woman's head.
"Yuck!" yells the woman. "Get some toilet paper."
"What for?" replies the man. "He must be half-a-mile away by now."

 

[williamp78]

Superstition are for weakminded people, if you weak minded you're no cyclist

Back on topic; I too hate superstitions. What I do like however is routine; and I'm guessing that most cyclists aren't actually superstitious but if their routine is changed or hampered then they can be negatively affected by that. As such it may seem that their adherence to a routine can come across as supersition

 

[The Hitch]

I heard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) transfuses a bag of blood before every race.

 

[alitogata]

I also know that some riders don't shave their legs on the morning of a race, and don't shave their beards before a ITT.

The first has some kind of logic... They don't have time to do so on the morning of the race and probably they can't bare the itching afterwards during the race..

 

[The Hitch]

I heard a very common superstition among southern european riders was to wake up once every hour the night before the race, to stretch the legs and walk around.

 

[shalgo]

I heard a very common superstition among southern european riders was to wake up once every hour the night before the race, to stretch the legs and walk around.

I thought that was just a nineties habit, like bleaching your hair and having a little goatee.

 

[Rossco8]

I heard a very common superstition among southern european riders was to wake up once every hour the night before the race, to stretch the legs and walk around.

Didn't that superstition stop in 2006?

 

[Caruut]

I heard a very common superstition among southern european riders was to wake up once every hour the night before the race, to stretch the legs and walk around.

Or if it's 1996, check the ol' HR monitor.

 

[ElChingon]

Superstitions are only used to psych out opponents or to make an opponent do something dumb to think its helping them.

I personally always sleep with a scale model of a Pyramid under my bed, keeps me safe from all bad things, has worked so far. (Lets see who knows where that one is from )

 

[personal]

I heard a very common superstition among southern european riders was to wake up once every hour the night before the race, to stretch the legs and walk around.

Ha, ha! Good one!

 

[Pantani_lives]

Nico Mattan was notorious for his superstition. He was obsessed with the number seventeen and places starting with p.

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/cnt/GGVDUH2N