Only At the Cafe… – Podium Cafe

I have no idea how to structure this post so I’m just gonna get into it. Things got kind of strange at times, probably a function of American fans in our Editors’ circle. When your favorite sport delivers the best it has before lunch, you have all sorts of time to indulge the ideas knocking around your head. Keep in mind that the online cycling content alternatives consisted of CyclingNews and VeloNews, not known for weird humor (stupid editorial standards!). A lot of our ideas seemed to get ripped off over the years, or maybe they weren’t so original such that the similarities were inevitable. I don’t even need to cite the FSA Directeur Sportif, our fantasy cycling game that Clydesdale and I dreamt up and SuperTed Supercharged into the current staple it has become. Anyway, stuff we got up to, you can find elsewhere now.

But some items, nobody was going there but us.

The Grisly Death of Girbecco

The 2009 Giro d’Italia was a memorable affair, as the organizers threw themselves a 100th birthday party, full of special events. The race switched its general orientation, starting in Venice and staying up north before finishing in Rome. It included a Milan criterium, a Coppi stage from Cuneo to Pinerolo, the resurrectioin of the Block Haus, a climb of Vesuvio, and a concluding time trial ending at the Roman Colosseum. To spice it up further, the Giro brought on a mascot, Girbecco, and… I don’t know why we became so obsessed with him(?) but we did.

After several posts seeking commentary from the cartoon goat of the Apennines, where Girbecco was given space to chirp our coverage, we then decided that the whole thing was a huge success and began lobbying the Tour de France to come up with its own mascot. Hearing nothing, we did the job for them. And I present…Tourbecco.

Then, well, things got dark. First, Girbecco was reported missing the night of the Rome stage, with little information to go on. Tragically, his murdered body was found a couple days later, under bizarre circumstances. The following week, Tourbecco was introduced to the media in France, and displayed his own brand of edgy commentary not unlike his cousin. He then participated in covering the 2009 Tour de France, but shortly after he too went missing. Rumors started flying about who was or was not a zombie, and whether Tourbecco’s death…