Bikeprom 2009 and Paris Roubaix yeah!!!

One of the most exciting cycling events in the Victoria calendar is only two weeks away. The schedule is up and it looks very promising:
http://victoriabikeprom2009.blogspot.com/

Friday, April 24th
Rip up Victoria's sweetest, sketchiest, and secretest alleyways in the Alley Alley Cat Bike Race. Departs Centennial Square @ 7pm. $5.

Cogs, Cranks, & Creatures Art Show: Bike arts of all shapes and sizes for show and sale. Bayanihan Community Centre. 1709 Blanshard St. 8pm - 11pm.

Midnight marauding along Victoria's most delectable bike routes on the Moonlight Mystery Ride. Departs Centennial Square @ 11pm. Don't forget your lights and delights!

Saturday, April 25th
Polo Prom Bike Polo. Vic High Tennis Courts: 1900 block of Fernwood Rd, between Gladstone and Vining. Starts at 11am. $5.

Get gussied up and disguise your identity for the Moonlight Masquerade Ride. Departs Fernwood Square (at Gladstone & Fernwood) @ 7:30, and leads to...

The Bike Rider's Ball. White Eagle Hall @ 90 Dock St. (in James Bay). Bicycle performances, prom photo booth, polo prizes, a big sweaty dance party, and oh oh oh so much more. Doors open at 9pm. 19+. $8.

Sunday, April 26th
The Morning After: Cure your morning-after woes with black coffee and Victoria's premiere of Bike Porn 2: Bikexploitation. 11am. Location TBA at the Bike Rider's Ball.

The alley alley cat race is exceedingly exciting and suggests a downtown alley cat which is always a lot of fun. You'll see lots of riders riding around, you have to deal with traffic, stairs etc. not to mention cobblestones. It should be a blast!
Speaking of cobblestones...Paris Roubaix is on this Sunday. The "Hell of the North" is one of the most exciting classics in the sport and this year it should be no different. the race this year will be 259km and as always will utilize many of the old French cobble stoned rural roads used by french farmers. Tom Boonen (quick step) won the race last year on his Specialized Roubaix and he's the one rated most likely to win this year. Cycling bookies have him rated at 1:3,5 to win, but other names mentioned are last weeks repeat winner of the tour of Flanders, Stijn Devolder (Quick Step), as well as Filippo Pozzato, Fabian Cancellara and even George Hincapie. But as for myself I'm going to bet on the "mighty hammer" Thor Hushovd with Cervelo Test team. Unpolitically correct of course, since he rides a brand we don't carry and is on the wrong team etc. This is not an educated choice, there's no reason for this choice other than I think he can do it and the fact that he is a tough Norwegian. I'll be hoping for nasty rainy, windy and muddy conditions because that's what he should be used to from his homeland. I think it's the Hammers time to win a classic. Go Norway, heyja Norge!