On Tap...

The Ronde
There are just some things in life on which you don't have to expound. In cycling, the giants are recognized by an acronym or a single mention, like L-B-L, MSR, Roubaix, and the Tour (although there are always two other Grand Tours on the calendar, the Tour de France is "The Tour"). The Tour of Flanders, Ronde van Vlaanderen, or simply The Ronde is such a giant.

For those of you who have never paid much attention to The Ronde, or the other Northern Spring Classics for that matter, the 91st edition of the race is the perfect introduction to single day racing, cobbled roads, and the hardmen of cycling.

The start list is shaping up as a who's who of cycling, led by Quick-Step's Tom Boonen. Some of the other favorites are:

Alessandro Ballan, Daniele Bennati - Lampre-Fondital
Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O'Grady - CSC
Stijn Devolder - Discovery Channel
Leif Hoste - Predictor-Lotto
Peter Van Petegem, Paolo Bettini - Quick Step
Steffen Wesemann - Weisehof-Felt
Filippo Pozatto - Liquigas
Juan Antonio Flecha, Oscar Freire - Rabobank
Roger Hammond, Servais Knaven- T-Mobile
Nick Nuyens - Confidis
Baden Cooke - Unibet.com
Philippe Gilbert - Francaise des Jeux

Oude Granny can't remember when or if this race has ever come down to a bunch sprint, as the strongest are usually separated out after 259km and 18 climbs. It can be seen Sunday April 8th, on Cycling.tv LIVE or on Versus at 7pm EST.

Snow Day
How thoroughly depressing. I come back from sunny California, having ridden around in Santa Rosa (more on that later), to 30 degree weather and snow. So my pick from the ROLL Film archive is the 1948 classic, The Bicycle Thief.

What Borzo ("the bike guy") said:
The Bicycle Thief demonstrates that in some countries and at certain times, bikes were a serious matter. They could mean the difference between a job and no job; bread and no bread. More...

What Strauss ("the movie guy") said:
There was a time when critics considered The Bicycle Thief one of the greatest, if not the greatest film ever made. More...

Granny's Take:
This is one of those films that you should go out and buy. If you can't find the original DVD or don't have a multi-zone DVD player, the Criterium Collection just came out with an NTSC version.