Kingston Wheelers' Saturday Gang as female pro-riders

In today’s ride The Pope suggested the idea of equating members of the Saturday Gang to female pro riders and we started playing with that concept.

Ed would be Annemiek van Vleuten (https://twitter.com/biciorejon/status/1553090679223492614)

I would be Elisa Longo Borghini (https://twitter.com/biciorejon/status/1552711115808858113)

Bidders would be Ellen van Dijk, that’s an obvious one.

I think we settled on GC Dennis being Kasia Niewiadoma because he is always there.

Willo suggested he would be Anna van der Breggen because she is retired but looking at how well he rode today I’m tempted to give that one to Luca.

I suggested Dai would be Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig but The Pope didn’t like that one and he suggested someone else. The problem is my after-ride siesta deleted any memory from my brain (that’s the reason why my ride reports are half invented) and I can’t remember who he was suggesting. Was it Lotte Kopecky or was it Elisa Balsamo?

The problem was I already hit the extent of my female pro-peloton knowledge (don’t tell my employers because they think I’m a walking cycling encyclopedia that can restart a computer).

My options were to either kick people out of the Saturday Gang (how the hell we got to such a big group) or I get educated on the topic rather quickly. The latter seems unlikely and the former a bit too rude, even for me. 

A third option occurred to me in a moment of lucid genius. I sent a similar version of the Saturday’s Gang WhatsApp group and the group continued the fun while I was taking notes. 

Let’s start saying that The Pope confirmed that Dai was Elisa Balsamo. Which has to mean that Rupert is Lotte Kopecky.

Bennett was quickly assigned to Victoria Pendleton. Not sure why. I actually had to google who she is (that shows that I’m not a walking cycling encyclopedia). Didn’t really matter, even after my search I couldn’t figure out why but I won’t challenge it. Bennett is Victoria Pendleton. Happy to hear your hypothesis of why?

He had hesitation with Leishman. We were looking for a “femme with sculptured calfs”. That was a relationship too hard to make so we went for making it a bit easier for ourselves and looked for an age relationship. Marianne Vos immediately was mentioned. Beryl Burton too (I knew who Beryl Burton was, in case you were wondering). I think we should settle for Vos though.

Finally T-Y was assigned to Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. “That balletic dance on the pedals” was the reason. But I kind of challenge that. 

I think I should be Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig!

Did you watch the Tour de France Femmes stage 7? Did you see how she sat in Kasia Niewiadoma’s wheel all the way up to Gand Ballon only to outsprint her to the line? If we all agree that Denis is Kasia Niewiadoma then I must be Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig.

But wait, wait. There is one more key reason why I must be Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. 

We share the same ride report telling style. Just watch her report of Ronde van Vlaanderen 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZmDwC6EJ7Q 

I rest my case.

You can follow me for more in-depth knowledge of pro-cycling, male or female.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7553018008/

Take care 

Javier Arias González