Silence-Lotto in Glasgow: why?

Captain Fagor
Captain Fagor Posts: 739
edited February 2009 in Pro race
Stumbling up towards a pub on Sauchiehall Street, I couldn't help but notice a german-plated Silence-Lotto team car, complete with two Ridley Damocles bikes inside. Can anyone think why they would be in the north of Britain at this time of year?

I'd post my camera phone photo if I wasn't half-cut. I may oblige after tomorrow's 4hr bike ride.
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Comments

  • emadden
    emadden Posts: 2,431
    I reckon that a member of management is married to a local or something like that... or some of the team are heading to some of the cobble streets in Glasgow or over to the Royal Mile in Edinburgh to get practice on the cobbles for next years classics season hehe

    happy Xmas!
    **************************************************
    www.dotcycling.com
    ***************************************************
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    Stumbling up towards a pub on Sauchiehall Street, I couldn't help but notice a german-plated Silence-Lotto team car, complete with two Ridley Damocles bikes inside. Can anyone think why they would be in the north of Britain at this time of year?

    I'd post my camera phone photo if I wasn't half-cut. I may oblige after tomorrow's 4hr bike ride.

    north Britain? ...Scotland pls :) Sounds very odd seeing that car there
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    Stumbling up towards a pub on Sauchiehall Street, I couldn't help but notice a german-plated Silence-Lotto team car, complete with two Ridley Damocles bikes inside. Can anyone think why they would be in the north of Britain at this time of year?

    I'd post my camera phone photo if I wasn't half-cut. I may oblige after tomorrow's 4hr bike ride.

    Youre saying Sauchiehall St but come on it was really Blytheswood Square wasnt it ? :wink:


    MG
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • Moray Gub wrote:
    Stumbling up towards a pub on Sauchiehall Street, I couldn't help but notice a german-plated Silence-Lotto team car, complete with two Ridley Damocles bikes inside. Can anyone think why they would be in the north of Britain at this time of year?

    I'd post my camera phone photo if I wasn't half-cut. I may oblige after tomorrow's 4hr bike ride.

    Youre saying Sauchiehall St but come on it was really Blytheswood Square wasnt it ? :wink:

    MG

    Hi there - Merry Xmas All!

    Blytheswood Square has been cleaned up these days - you want Anderston mate... I used to work night shifts at the all night garage down there when I was a student. The clientele was, er... disturbing.

    Blytheswood Sq is now full of couriers who hang about up there 'cos it's downhill in all directions.

    Cheers, Andy

    ps I'm sure Lotto were just looking to recce the reliability I'm organising in Feb...
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    EPO's out....Buckfasts in :D
  • GavH
    GavH Posts: 933
    There was a saying at my school - Buckfast makes you ride fast. Or it was something like that...

    Merry XMas all!
  • claudb
    claudb Posts: 212
    Maybe Dario Cioni is visiting friends - he used to go to Glasgow Uni I think.
  • Some of the roads around here are so crappy that the Paris-Roubaix training theory may not be so far off the mark!! Didn't bump into any Silence Lotto riders on today's ride. Hey-ho. Photo as promised....

    Photo-0001small2.jpg
  • On the subject of ropey roads, fumbling through my photo hosting site, I spotted this photo I took a while back near Fintry. Still makes me chuckle....

    Fintryroadsignsmall1.jpg
  • nwallace
    nwallace Posts: 1,465
    Have you checked with the polis, maybe it was reported stolen a few months ago, I'm sure I saw one of them going in the wrong direction somewhere near Sanquhar.
    .
    .
    .

    From Today's Herald:

    Strathclyde Polis are on the look out for a multi-coloured Belgian registered Skoda in connection with a raid on the Vicky Wine on Dundas Street.
    The shop manager reports a complete loss of stock of Mad Dog 20/20, Tennents, Buckfast and Drum Tobacco. Police enquiries at the shop have been completed and it has been reopened, however all stock of Islay and Speyside Malts has been taken for forensics investigation.
    Do Nellyphants count?

    Commuter: FCN 9
    Cheapo Roadie: FCN 5
    Off Road: FCN 11

    +1 when I don't get round to shaving for x days
  • Fat Head
    Fat Head Posts: 765
    fagor, very merry xmas to you I hope you are well :D

    this is so strange, i saw the SAME car a few weeks ago definitely, there can only be one in scotland eh? it was somewhere in the central belt i saw it, cant remember where exactly....i remember saying to the missus what the hell is that doing here, she didnt realise what all the fuss was about though of course
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    Maybe one of the team staff is Scottish? Isn't the Quick-Step bus driver from Scotland?
  • johny c
    johny c Posts: 256
    nwallace,

    naw, they only took the Buckie :lol:

    haddowsglz_NeboPekloatflickr14JAN07.jpg
    Johny
  • johny c wrote:
    nwallace,

    naw, they only took the Buckie :lol:

    Hi there.

    I'm going to pull you both up on anal points of correctness.... The offy in Dundas Street is Haddows, not Vicky Wine, and last time I went past it was one of those shops where all the drink and staff are protected behind plexiglass and you're served through a security hatch. Classy kinda place!

    Cheers, Andy
  • Fat Head wrote:
    fagor, very merry xmas to you I hope you are well :D

    this is so strange, i saw the SAME car a few weeks ago definitely, there can only be one in scotland eh? it was somewhere in the central belt i saw it, cant remember where exactly....i remember saying to the missus what the hell is that doing here, she didnt realise what all the fuss was about though of course

    Hi FH - merry Xmas to you too. Until yesterday I was fine, but I woke up at 2am this morning with a sandpaper-like sore throat. Very frustrated that I've stayed healthy for the past three weeks at work surrounded by folk coughing, and then two days into my holiday, bang I get sick. No biking for me for a few days - bummer.

    Interesting that you saw the same car about the place. It definitely stands out, doesn't it!?

    I enjoyed looking at the pictures of your Bormio holiday - inspirational stuff! If I'm feeling flush later on in the year, I might take a trip out myself.
  • Fat Head
    Fat Head Posts: 765
    fagor, bormio is a great base and i would deffo recommend the hotel geneziela (sp) that was SO catered towards giving everything anybody attempting the huge climbs nearby would need. the stelvio and gavia run out of bormio while the mortirolo is a nice ride down the valley.

    allan's great website is a great insight into how to plan a trip like this and what rides are possible. credit to richyboy who posts on here for planning it all if you have any questions i'm sure he will oblige

    hope the cough clears up soon. btw where in glasgow are you from? do you ever go out with the anniesland bunch?
  • Hey Fagor,

    Was your 'half-cut' condition responsible for you mistaking a german plate for a belgium one? :wink:
    To err is human, but to make a real balls up takes a super computer.
  • FH - yup, that website was great. I have travelled through europe lonewolf before, so a week long rent-a-car stint doesn't phase me. I would probably buy a pan-european gps though to make life easier - previously I had no fixed agenda or bookings, so getting lost wasn't an issue.

    I'm a southsider, and don't ever meet any chaingangs on the north side. I occasionally (and I mean occasionally) meet the Calderglen mob, which usually turns into a fair old tear up. Last time I rode with them I met Ray and Bud Johnston, both multiple age category world duathlon and triathlon world champs, apparently! Bit of a crappy route they ride though - a real wheelbreaker.

    Sirius631 - yes, it did indeed. Later on, I started confusing ugly birds (plentiful in this neck of the woods) for attractive ones too.
  • boyfriday
    boyfriday Posts: 103
    On the topic of the Silence Lotto car - i was out in the Campsies with a friend over the Christmas period and when heading through Lennoxtown, we noticed it parked down a side-street in a little housing estate, just off the main road.

    We were rather surprised and would have gone to investigate, but it was getting dark and it was very cold so we headed for home.

    How strange?!
  • Gazzetta67
    Gazzetta67 Posts: 1,890
    I think that Silence Lotto have asked big Alistair Gow at Wheelcraft to become their
    Chief Mechanic - part of the bargaining was that silence lotto find lots of crap surfaced roads so that big Al can charge them more for a new rim :D
  • If big Al Gow's their new wheel builder, I hope they like silver spokes!!
  • Harp
    Harp Posts: 79
    If big Al Gow's their new wheel builder, I hope they like silver spokes!!

    And strong black coffee !
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    Harp wrote:
    If big Al Gow's their new wheel builder, I hope they like silver spokes!!

    And strong black coffee !

    and having a good wee gossip (well ok 2 hours worth) while your wheel gets built !

    MG
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • Toonraid
    Toonraid Posts: 126
    Silence Lotto guys don't even ride Damocles - Most of them are on Heliums bar 2 who are on Noah's and one of them left Lotto for Katusha so my guess is that its one of the support team (mechanic or coach).
  • This beauty has had more sightings than Nessie by the sounds of it! :lol:

    It has been living round the corner from me for the past few months - no kidding! First saw it one morning when I took the dog for a walk and did a triple-take when I saw it across the street. It's a real head-turner, that's for sure! 8)

    I have it on good authority that it has, unfortunately, gone back whence it came...East Dunbarton to East Flanders (or thereabouts)- wonder if it will know the difference in the crap weather and crap roads :roll:


    It's not my place to say where it has been living (your secrets safe Cadel) but if anyone can tell me how to download a photo from Easyshare to here I can add to the gallery (my IT skills are on par with my ability to climb the Crow road).

    Cheers
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    fascinating thread...we must find out. I reckon Cadel has relatives in lennoxtown...would not surprise me
  • Hi All,

    I can put you all out of your misery, i have been driving this car for the past 4 months. I work for Ridley bikes in the uk and stay in Milton of campsie [near lennoxtown], it was parked in sauchiehall street i think in december while i went shopping for the wifes christmas pressie, couldnt believe my eyes when i bought pro-cycling [fame at last]. Unfortunatley the car is now back in the motherland.

    drew.
  • I am just happy to post in a thread that has been in the magazine :lol:
  • Drew

    Glad you set the record straight, I didn't want to say too much.

    Hey! I didn't get a chance to get my photie taken with it so do you think you could get it back? :roll:

    It fairly brightened up my mornings, beginning to miss it already! :cry:

    cheers

    Mick B
  • Hi Mick,

    You never know, one of these mornings when you are walking the dog you might catch a glimpse of a Katusha team car.......watch this space! [or my front door].


    drew