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The Best Cycling Gear We Tested This Year

January 7, 2019 By Will Robins Leave a Comment

My job is to test a product hard, then move on to the next thing to see how it all stacks up. As a result, I test piles of cycling equipment in a year. But I keep very little of it, returning most to the manufacturers and donating what they don’t want back to a local National Interscholastic Cycling Association league.

Of course, there are products that either get me so excited with their innovations or so dramatically improve my riding experience that I choose to hang onto them, often plunking down my own cash to do so. It might be overreaching to call these the best products of 2018—some have just come to market and some have been out for a season or two. What I can say, however, is that this is the gear that made it into my permanent rotation.

Bontrager Ion 200 RT/Flare RT Light Set ($114)

best of 2018(Courtesy Bontrager)

Given the increasing frequency with which cyclists are hit by cars these days, I will not ride on the road anymore without lights—day or night. Fortunately, Bontrager’s Ion/Flare combo set makes that easy. Though the lights are maybe twice the size of a playing die, thanks to high-power Cree LEDs and carefully designed reflectors, each throws a huge beam, with a 200-lumen white light up front and a 90-lumen red light in the rear. On very long straightaways, such as the lead-up to Mount Lemmon in Tucson, Arizona, the claimed visibility of up to two kilometers seemed about right to me. The lights are fully weather sealed (yep, I’ve used them in downpours), charge via micro USBs, clip to and detach from a bar or post easily by way of a built-in rubber belt, and even auto-adjust to changing conditions, like going solid when you hit a tunnel and then returning to blinking back in daylight. And I love that even after the battery is drained, there’s still a 30-minute battery save mode that keeps the lights going till you’re hopefully safely off the street.

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Goodyear Escape Bicycle Tires ($75)

best of 2018(Courtesy Goodyear)

When automotive tire giant Goodyear entered the cycling market earlier this year, I was pretty ho hum about the development. Tires are getting so good these days that I thought Goodyear would have to do something special to make an impression. But after a year of riding a number of the new treads, I have to admit that the company’s designs are pretty darn impressive. In general, the tires sport rubber compounds that are surprisingly grippy yet long wearing and resilient. None of the four models I’ve ridden are exceptionally light, but they are competitive.

The standout model for me is the Escape ($75) mountain tire, an all-around trail model with evenly spaced midsize knobs that have proven fast rolling but still Velcro sticky in conditions ranging from dry hardpack to squishy loam. I was at first disappointed that 2.35 inches was the biggest diameter, though these are bigger than many models in that range. Besides, Goodyear has since launched a 2.6. I’ve also been impressed with the County ($70), a 35c gravel model with a slick top and microknobs on the sides for a grip that I have subjected to nasty, sharp desert conditions for months without a single flat. I do wish it came in some wider options, as well as 650B, though I imagine that will follow. The all-mountain-oriented Newton and the asphalt-leaning Eagle All Road have left similarly outstanding impressions

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Berd Spokes ($8 per spoke)

best of 2018(Courtesy Berd)

One of the most unusual and convincing products I tried this year came courtesy of a wheel builder and friend of mine, Mike Curiak at Lace Mine 29 , who equipped one of our tester mountain bikes with a set of carbon hoops built with Berd fabric spokes. Yes, you read that right: the spokes are made of a polyethylene (i.e., plastic) material dubbed PolyLight that resembles Dyneema or sail cloth for its combination of high tear and cut resistance and very low weight. According to Berd, its spokes are between 30 and 200 percent lighter than a range of standard steel spokes—but 50 to 100 percent stronger. Compared to a set of comparable wheels, 29-inch Enve 640s to be exact, these wheels, with 36-millimeter-wide Nox Kitsuma carbon rims and DT Swiss 240s hubs, were a half pound lighter. But weight is only a part of the story. Because of the elasticity in the spokes, the wheels have a springy, energetic ride unlike anything else I’ve tried. They make the bike feel explosive and frisky, to the point that I’ve found myself climbing tech and railing corners with new confidence and exuberance. We’ve also been beating the hell out of these wheels since mid-October, and they are still true.

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100% Speedtrap Sunglasses ($185 to $205)

best of 2018(Courtesy 100%)

This moto-eyewear company has burst onto the cycling scene in the last year or two courtesy of its sponsorship of three-time road world champ Peter Sagan. (I mean, he wore moto goggles around his neck to collect his cobble for winning this year’s Paris-Roubaix.) Don’t get me wrong: the product is every bit worthy of the champ, with my favorite model, the Sagan-edition Speedtrap ($230), featuring huge coverage, adjustable temples and nosepiece, and ridiculously flashy red-on-red mirror styling. Optics are crystal, and wind is stopped dead, which, for someone like me with dry eyes, is a godsend. And the S2 and Speedcraft models are just as good. Performance aside, I can’t help but think that Sagan is single-handedly helping to make brazen, mirrored, shield-style sunglasses great again.

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Kitsbow Front Range Merino Sweatshirt ($150)

best of 2018(Courtesy Kitsbow)

Once again this soft-goods company from Petaluma, California, hits it out of the park with a seemingly simple design that turns out to be the most comfy, high-performing, best-looking piece of riding apparel of the year. This long-sleeved top fits like a well-tailored shirt, keeps you as warm and dry as the techiest race pieces on the market, but feels as soft and cozy as that favorite old rugby jersey. The nylon face fabric is somehow both stretchy and rugged, shrugging off errant branches and rocks from the occasional crash, while the Schoeller panels on the elbows and shoulders are even burlier. I carry this midweight piece in my pack on high-mountain summer days, wear it almost nonstop in the fall and spring over a light base, or even layer it for warmth in winter. And the merino interior means you can wear it day after day without a whiff of odor.

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Shimano XTR 9100 (Price varies)

best of 2018(Courtesy Shimano)

I was stunned when I realized that 21 of our 25 test mountain bikes for 2019 were equipped with SRAM components. Of the remaining four with Shimano, only one had the new XTR 9100 group (the Pivot Mach 5.5, thank you very much Chris Cochalis), and yet that’s the drivetrain that won my heart. Look, SRAM has done an excellent job of building and winning the 1x market, and Shimano has fallen way behind, but I am relieved to see the Japanese manufacturer has finally started making a comeback because 1) it makes hard-wearing gear that typically just goes and goes, and 2) we need competition to drive innovation. You can pour over all the details of the group here, but suffice it to say that the 10-51 cassette is massive, the shifting is silky, and pedaling is as smooth as a butter churn. Meanwhile, the brakes are stunning to look at, and they feel like they’ll never fail. Will this be the beginning of a mountain-bike resurgence for Shimano? Who knows—hopefully it presages fast releases of similar tech in XT and SLX. Either way, if I was building my dream mountain bike, it would be equipped with the 9100.

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Henty Enduro 2.0 Hydration Pack ($150)

best of 2018(Courtesy Henty)

Waist packs (butt bags, fanny packs, call them what you like) are all the rage, but they don’t work for me because you either have to ratchet them so tight that it’s hard to breathe or they bounce around like a drunken Olympian at the end of a badly adjusted springboard. Enter the Henty Enduro, which mates the low, off-the-back fit of a butt pack with the stability of a full-back hydration bag. Basically, this is a waist pack on steroids, with all the weight carried low on the lumbar, with space for a three-liter bladder and more, and huge, zippered, wraparound belt wings mated to a pared-down, mesh shoulder upper. The top half of the pack provides stability when you’re slamming trails without the sweaty, clammy, awkward feel of all that weight on your back. And Henty’s clamshell, zippered pack design has plenty of space inside for a day of necessities, plus all manner of straps, daisy chains, and mesh pockets for sundries. Best of all, this second edition comes with a tailor-made, three-liter HydraPak reservoir. My only niggle: the strap on the envelope flap that keeps it all down should be three inches longer, which would make it easier to lash down bulky bits and pieces. Still, for one-day outings, I never reach for anything else.

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Blackburn Mammoth Flip Pump ($45)

best of 2018(Courtesy Blackburn)

For years, the Wayside Hybrid floor pump was my go-to for backcountry endeavors, thanks to its combo of high volume and built-in pressure gauge. It’s discontinued now, I assume because it felt as heavy as a small barbell. Recently, my wife has converted me to the new Mammoth, which pushes very nearly the same volume of air but weighs about half as much as the Wayside. And I have to admit that, with a clean swivel design that opens to a foot peg, a long flexible hose that makes airing in the field easy, and a full-metal shaft for durability, this pump is every bit as good as my old standby—except a lot lighter. I miss the pressure measure but, truthfully, have been carrying an independent gauge anyway.

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Dynaplug Megapill Plug Kit ($75)

best of 2018(Courtesy Dynaplug)

Thanks to Dynaplug, I almost can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve actually suffered a flat in the field and installed a tube. For all but the most egregious of holes and rips, this little kit—which has a snub nose, a hard tip, and gummy plugs to seal up tears so you can retain your tubeless setup—is pretty much all you need. I’ll admit that it’s unnerving the first few times you have to shove the metal, plug-wielding proboscis through the damaged tire casing, thereby causing a bigger hole. But I’ve yet to come across a puncture I couldn’t seal (though one large gash took two plugs). And while there are now lots of plug kits out there, I love Dynaplug’s aluminum, pill-shaped tool, which not only makes fixes easier but also neatly houses everything you need for a quick fix. A word of advice: unless you exclusively ride road, go for the three-pack Megaplug upgrade as the larger diameter will make sealing holes simpler almost every time.

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Specialized S-Works Prevail II with ANGi ($250)

best of 2018(Courtesy Specialized)

Last only because it was the final product of 2018 that I received and I haven’t had time to fully test it, Specialized’s ANGi technology makes the list because the idea is so expansive and its execution so clean and sublime. Specialized partnered with MIPS to develop a new application of the rotational force-resisting layer, in which the support framework is integrated into each separate anchor point to keep the infrastructure minimal, the ventilation high, and the overall helmet weight tiny (266 grams). But what really sets this helmet apart is the quarter-size electronic sensor on the nape of the neck, which not only tracks all your ride metrics and reports them to Specialized’s proprietary app (automatically synced with Strava), but it also allows a preselected list of contacts to follow you as you ride—and contacts them, by text or e-mail, if it discerns that you’ve been involved in a crash. (Tracking and notifications require an annual, subscription-based service.) Specialized says that in a year or more of testing, the system has returned zero false positives. While I love the fit and feel of the high-end Prevail, the ANGi sensor will be available in six Specialized helmets, road and mountain, down to $130 retail, and it will also be sold as an add-on ($50) for most Specialized helmets moving forward. How can you argue with safety?

Buy now

Read more: outsideonline.com

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: been, high, irsquove, like, mountain, pack, them, they, which, year

Offseason Capsule: Bahrain Merida

November 25, 2018 By Will Robins Leave a Comment

Lots of Meh, not much Bah, but a surprising amount of Wow

One of cycling’s monied new projects had a relatively quiet second year but took a huge step in the right direction. There were a few glorious moments.

What we said last year

I pointed out that 2017 had been a team dominated by Nibali’s performance, without much spread of points. I wondered what we’d get from Sonni Colbrelli and outlined a range of possible outcomes, vowed never to underestimate Nibali again, and entirely missed the imminent emergence of Matej Mohoric. Fortunately, that error was rectified in the comments.

What we got in 2018

The last win of 2017 was an unsurprising monument victory for the evergreen Nibali. The first win of 2018 (that I care about – for effect, I’m ignoring a Dubai stage and the GP of industry and artichokes) was another monument win for Nibali. This was far from expected – if I had to describe it in three words, they’d be surprising, thrilling and glorious. The boss spent an article reflecting on how just why and how it was fantastic, and after a long season, it is good to revisit it. In a year without Froome’s Giro stage, I’d say it should have romped away with the race day of the year. You never get a day’s entertainment from MSR, but goodness me, the last half-hour is pulsating stuff.

Nibali’s year would move from the sublime to the ridiculous, as he tangled with a camera strap and a police motorbike during a chaotic climb of Alpe d’Huez on stage 12 of the Tour. He broke two vertebrae and was out of a race in which he sat dangerously in fourth. Frustrating for fans and for Bahrain Merida, but it was good to see him back at season’s end. He’d finish second in Lombardia and is back with Bah-Meh next year.

The team were led into the Giro by Domenico Pozzovivo, who finished 5th (adding high places in prestigious races like Liege, Lombardia and the Italian Nats, without getting a win) and in Spain by the Izagirre brothers. Ion’s 9th in the Vuelta was his first top 10 in a grand tour and not, you’d expect, his last. For much of the early season, you’d have taken Gorka as the stronger brother. In his sole year with the team he won the Spanish roads and added podiums on a Tour stage and in Paris-Nice.

Meanwhile and seemingly throughout the season, Matej Mohoric was on a rampage. His eye-watering descending prowess and fearless riding style won him many admirers and saw him grab overall wins in Binck Bank and Germany (the latter with a stage win) as well as a Giro stage, a stage in Austria, the aforementioned Artichokes win and a national championships. The offseason peanut gallery of 2017/18 were on the money; this was a breakout season. Elsewhere, Colbrelli was disappointingly quiet through the cobbles and Ardennes but did grab podiums in Kuurne and Brabant, as well as his usual glory in the autumn races of his native Italy.

All in all, the team grabbed 26 victories, with a range of winners, some prestigious trophies for their proverbial cabinet, and unexpected development of some talented youth. It was a good year.

FSA-DS Ranking 2018

6th – a huge step up on the 14th place they suffered through in 2017. Solid stuff.

Top Highlights

1. Vincenzo Nibali rode away up the Cipressa and held off the sprinters to win Milan-San Remo at the 10th attempt, adding a third monument to his four grand tours as he continues to build up a palmares that is seemingly not of this era of hyperspecialisation. Incidentally, he looked more than handy on cobbles, too.

2. You can more or less pick your moment from Mohoric’s season, but I’ll go with his tough and intelligent ride on the final stage of Binck Bank into Geraardsbergen. Riding to maintain a lead was a new experience and he took his first stage race win a world tour event with plenty of canny veterans poised to pounce. He’s more than a one-trick pony.


Getty Images

3. Mohoric again, this time for his victory in stage 10 of the Giro. This was much closer to the “one trick pony” label – grabbing a two-up sprint after escaping on a long and rolling stage with a tough descent towards the finish.

Bottom Lowlights

1. Nibali grabs this for his misfortune on Alpe d’Huez. Only his biggest fans thought he was in a winning position but his race was a very long way from over. More importantly, this was a crash that was not his fault and which had serious repercussions (mercifully, he has made a full recovery, as it could have been even worse).

2. I’ve got through plenty of these capsules so far without having to refer to drugs, but Kanstantin Siutsou went old skool (and idiotic, assuming the test is accurate) in getting pinged out of competition for EPO. Not part of the image this team are going for.

3. After a year that went well by any reasonable standard, let’s put the transfer market in this spot, and return to it in the next section.

Comings and goings for 2019

Ins: Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing), Stevie Williams (SEG Racing Academy), Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing), Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal), Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb), Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing), Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Andrea Garosio (d’Amico-Utensilnord)

Outs: Manuele Boaro (Astana), Ion Izagirre (Astana), Gorka Izagirre (Astana), Niccolo Bonifazio (Direct Energie), Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data)

Renewals: Hermann Pernsteiner

There’s a lot here, so this section will be longer than usual.


Getty Images

The names that leap out at me here are the Izagirre brothers, moving to Astana where they’ll provide Nibali’s rivals with valued lieutenants and grant the team other options in classics and weeklong races. They’ll be missed. Boaro joins them and is a versatile and experienced team member. Gasparotto’s departure is probably a function of age and opportunity but he’s not a rider to forget about on the biggest stage. Finally, nobody will be sadder to see Bonifazio drop out of the world tour than me, and my abiding belief in his talent.

There is plenty of talent coming into the squad, including Rohan Dennis and his rainbow chrono kit. Dylan Teuns stepped back on a great 2017 last year but is young enough and talented enough to fly, whilst nobody is ready to give up on Bauaus as a sprinter yet. Tratnik, Sieberg and Caruso are all useful pieces, Pernsteiner was worth keeping, and Williams is a youngster with untapped potential and well worth trying at this level. I was surprised to see Garosio given a permanent contract after underwhelming as a stagiare, but I’m willing to trust that the team see something in training or on the team bus that is yet to come across in his results.

Given that my only quibbles are with two Izagirres leaving (in a season where lots of talent came in) and one gamble was taken on a 24 year old who might not cut it at this level, why am I putting the transfer performance on the lowlights list? Simply because, after a successful year on the road, they’ve somehow made this team more confusing. Here’s Fausto (always worth reading in the offseason comments, but don’t tell him I believe that) commenting last year.

Bigger picture? Maybe we still don’t see a plan for this team because there isn’t one. At least, there isn’t one beyond “be Nibbles’ team until he wins the Olympics in 2020 and then retires.” It’s been his personal vehicle from Day1 and, for me, nothing they’ve done yet definitely contradicts that.

As a response, they’ve brought in Dennis, who for all his success as a time triallist continues to fail as a general classification rider and is one of the hardest talents to understand in the peloton. They’ve also brought in Teuns who is another of these “what is he good at?” types from whom BMC didn’t extract all of the available talent, and a sprinter in Bauhaus who is a long way from the finished article. None of these moves are, in themselves, wrong. Great riders without blemishes aren’t ten a penny on the market and a good team with a good plan can make unfinished pieces fit. This, though, feels more like a fantasy team than a cohesive unit. I don’t know if they’re trying to support Nibali, build for youth, or manage both. I don’t know what sort of races they are targeting. Truth be told, I don’t think they know either and the haphazard offseason simply hammers that point home.

Most intriguing rider

I’ve talked about Mohoric, who I think is more “talented and wildly promising” than intriguing, so I’ll leave him alone for now. Instead, I’ve edited out all references above to Mark Padun. Not because I’m not keen to talk about him, but because he belongs in the intriguing section. The intrigue is quite simple – he’s clearly good, but just how good can he be?

First, let’s look back at his results. Like a lot of the world tour wunderkinder, he’s done an awful lot right in the junior ranks, and his third place in Valle D’Aosta in 2016 caught the eye. A cursory review of the top ten will show why I rate that performance particularly. He stepped into Bah-Meh as a stagiare during a 2017 that was equally impressive but he wasn’t the highest-profile recruit of that season. In 2018, however, he showed his talents on the senior stage to great effect.


Getty Images

In both the Basque Country and the Alps, he showed himself as an impressive climber, winning the final stage of the latter solo after descending away from an elite group. He was active in a break in stage 12 of the Vuelta, in which he’d finish 3rd, and come the U23 worlds, my only surprise was that he didn’t take the win (he was 5th). It wasn’t a consistent year but the signs of promise were clear. As the picture shows, he even grabbed a win, in the Limburg Hammer. No, me neither.

Looking ahead, I see a very good climber and a decent allrounder (he’s not awful against the clock and he seems to be a clever race tactician and decent rouleur. Ultimately, however, he’ll go as far as his climbing takes him. 2019 will be the year when we know how high that will be. He could prove himself a genuine star and add to the sense of continuation in this squad, or he could establish that domestique is his talent ceiling. My money is on the former, but let’s watch him closely.

So, what happens next?

The headline act for 2018 will be Nibali once more, and I just don’t know what that cat is planning. He’s still (understandably, IMHO) talking about legal action against ASO over the Tour fiasco, and is unclear whether he’ll target the Giro or the Tour. He’s a threat in any monument or grand tour he turns up in and others will work around him. Yes, he turned 34 last week (happy birthday, Nibbles!) and is entering his 12th season of competing meaningfully in grand tours, but I am sticking to my plan to never underestimate him again. He could easily win another monument or grand tour.

Among those working around him will be Pozzovivo, still a climber who’ll rack up top tens and world tour points, Colbrelli, who is a threatening presence throughout the spring and autumn, and Dennis, who is competing only with Dumoulin for pre-eminence among the time triallists. Teuns, Williams and Bauhaus are joining Mohoric and Padun in a team that now looks far younger and with far greater upside than the previous iterations. Any of the five could go well and Mohoric in particular will be feared.

I can’t build a narrative for this squad. I don’t know what they’re aiming for or even what races their biggest star will target. I do know, though, that 2018 was far better than 2017, and that there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about 2019. This team are rocking the best jerseys in the peloton since Aqua Blue folded, and I think they’ll be more visible than ever.

Read more: podiumcafe.com

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: good, hersquos, more, season, stage, team, than, tour, year

World Championships: Evenepoel wins junior men’s time trial

October 15, 2018 By Will Robins Leave a Comment

Pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) delivered a comprehensive win in the junior time trial at the UCI Road World Championships, putting over a minute into his nearest rivals over the 27.7km course in Innsbruck, Austria.

The European road and time trial champion averaged 50kph over the rolling course and set a time off 33:15. The 18-year-old even had time to start his celebrations with over 50m to go before wheeling to a halt at the line and greeting his family.

Lucas Plapp (Australia) had set the provisional fastest time but had to settle for second place and a well-deserved silver medal, after finishing 1:23 down on Evenepoel, with Italy’s Andrea Piccolo securing the bronze medal, 1:37 down on the new world champion.

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Plapp, a world champion on the track, had blitzed through the course earlier, and set the fastest time by some 19 seconds at the 18km mark. Unlike many of the early pace setters, Plapp held his pace throughout the second half of the course, nudging Ilan Van Wilder (Belgium) and Joseph Laverick (Great Britain) down the standings.

Piccolo looked strong during his effort, while Michel Hessman (Germany) also threatened the medals but in truth the rest of the field were in a different race to Evenepoel, who will ride for Quick-Step Floors for the next two years after agreeing a contract with the Belgian team earlier in the summer. The 18-year-old was nearly a minute up at the first check, and only extended his advantage before the finish. 

“I’ve worked so hard for this and it really was my main goal. I want to take the double, and now I have one, so I’m very happy with that. This is the most important one for me, I think. Especially winning for Belgian. It’s so emotional for me,” Evenepoel said.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

Read more: feedproxy.google.com

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: champion, course, down, earlier, over, time, world, year

Rick Pitino, finally unhireable, retires from coaching

October 2, 2018 By Will Robins Leave a Comment

The two-time one-time national champion is hanging up his blazer.

Rick Pitino, a man finally so toxic he can no longer find a job, has decided to retire from college basketball. The prolific head coach told the world he was “finished coaching” during an interview on ESPN’s Get Up Wednesday morning.

Pitino had come under fire at Louisville last year in what proved to be the final round of scandals in a 46-year coaching career. He and former athletic director Tom Jurich were both implicated in a “pay to play” scandal regarding former five-star recruit Brian Bowen. The ensuing investigation brought down not only the wrath of the NCAA, but also the FBI, leading to his termination on Oct. 16.

It was an ignominious end to a storied and controversial career. Pitino won two national championships as a head coach; the 1996 title while at Kentucky and the 2013 title with Louisville, though the latter would later become the first national title ever vacated by the NCAA. During that span, he made it to the Final Four seven times — three times with the Wildcats, three times with the Cardinals, and once at Providence College.

But his career was marred by high-profile embarrassments both on and off the court. He parlayed his success at Kentucky into one of the NBA’s most storied head coaching jobs with the Boston Celtics, then proceeded to alienate players and fans alike while overseeing one of the league’s worst teams. He resigned in 2001 and immediately took over at Louisville, where a 2003 tryst with the wife of his team’s equipment manager led to a heavily publicized 2009 extortion trial that put the coach and his team under a media spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

And that wasn’t it. By 2014, sex workers were accusing Pitino’s program of spending thousands of dollars on escorts for players and recruits. In 2017, with the NCAA and law enforcement agencies closing in, the university decided it had had enough; Louisville’s board unanimously voted to fire him for cause.

Fewer than seven weeks later, Pitino sued the university for breach of contract.

What does this mean for college basketball?

Pitino was the coaching equivalent of a Superfund site after he:

a) messed up recruiting so badly the FBI got involved.b) was fired for cause after his third high-profile scandal at Louisville.c) decided to sue Louisville for (b).

But if college basketball has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t keep a shameless man down. With 351 programs in Division I alone, there was always the chance Pitino would be hired by a small-name program despite his history. Jim Harrick lied to NCAA investigators at UCLA and was hired at Rhode Island a year later. He got hit with a “show-cause” designation after creating fake classes for his players at Georgia, but still found his way onto Cal State Northridge’s staff for 2018.

Bruce Pearl got his own three-year show-cause penalty at Tennessee in 2011 and was coaching Auburn by 2014. Isiah Thomas ran the CBA and the Knicks into the ground while sexually harassing a coworker in New York and still got to coach Florida International for three excruciating years.

College basketball head coaching landscape is a world of second, third, fourth, and fifth acts. There’s a chance Pitino locked himself out of the game for good with Wednesday’s announcement. There’s also a very real chance he pops up as the newest head coach at some forgettable mid-major school in a big city come 2022.

Read more: sbnation.com

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: coach, coaching, college, head, ncaa, pitino, three, title, year

Therme Meran / Matteo Thun & Partners

September 24, 2018 By Will Robins Leave a Comment


© Gionata Xerra

© Gionata Xerra

Architects: Matteo Thun & Partners
Location: Merano, Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, Italy
Area: 56.3 m2
Project Year: 2005
Photographs: Gionata Xerra, Oskar Dariz

Architects: Matteo Thun & Partners
Location: Merano, Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, Italy
Client: Therme Meran AG
Area: 56.3 m2
Project Year: 2005
Photographs: Gionata Xerra, Oskar Dariz


© Oskar Dariz

© Oskar Dariz

Text description provided by the architects. A visual and physical continuum between indoors and outdoors, generating a perception that compounds an already complete wellness experience achieved by harnessing the spirit of place.


© Gionata Xerra

© Gionata Xerra

According to archaeological records, the springs in Meran have been in use for some 5.000 years. If those records are true, then the antecedents in the modern baths in this historical little town on the southern side of the Alps (which enjoys 300 days of sunshine every year) were already attracting users 1.000 years before the ancient Egyptians discovered the use of therapeutic baths were a staggering 3.000 years old when the Romans built their famous installation in Bath, in England. When the ancients took the plunge in the Meran springs, the view they could enjoy of the town’s magnificent location, set like the jewel in a crown of mountains, was unfettered by any surrounding manmade structure. And when today’s visitors to the town’s new state-of-the-art thermal baths take their plunge, Matteo Thun’s transparent design establishes a continuum between indoors and out, affording them a similar experience: the ulti- mate in the fitness is visual as well as physical.


© Oskar Dariz

© Oskar Dariz

The huge glass cube is illuminated by a flood of natural light in the daytime and large globes at night. These globes cast light that reflects off freely rotating coloured discs, sending ripples over the walls and the waters, with refractions that have been compared to the effect of a sunset. Bathers can swim directly through a water gate from the largest of the twelve indoor pools to its opposite number among the thirteen located outdoors. A fitness centre, eight saunas, a beauty centre, a café, a bistro and many other features contribute to make this public facility a showcase, set in a 50.000 square metre park.


Section A-A'

Section A-A'


Plan Level 1

Plan Level 1


Section B-B'

Section B-B'

As in other designs of his, Matteo Thun focuses on the spirit of place, quality, environmentalism and technology used unobtrusively: all water not intended for human consumption is drawn from wells sunk deep into the gardens and is perceived as a function of its flowing motion, not as a result of the infra- structure that makes it flow. Natural stone and wood materials forge continuity between the facilities, the pools, the fitness features and the relaxation beds indoors and comparable outdoor facilities, continuing seamlessly into the park and the wider surroundings.

Reviving the principle of the ancients’ belief in Mens sana in corporesano – a healthy mind in a healthy body – a visit to the Therme Meran is the complete wellness experience, catering not just for the body, but also for the soul.

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Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: between, fitness, gionata, matteo, meran, oskar, therme, thun, year

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  • Winning for a fallen friend: Impey’s emotional Tour Down Under stage victory
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