Photo Contest Entry 1 - Young Women Harassed at Public Parks

Remember last week we announced a photo contest? Readers, send us your photos of you wearing your You Got Dropped tee shirt. We don't care what you are doing, but posing with some chick in a bikini that you meet in the park is a good start. Lance, you are eligible to win. We can only think of what you are going to send us. Yougotdropped@gmail.com

Get Yo Ass Upgraded

We'd like to introduce a new feature here at You Got Dropped. Get Yo Ass Upgraded has been developed for riders who a) think they should get upgraded but can't wait to hear back from the upgrade coordinator or b) other riders who think their brethren (i.e. sandbaggers) need to submit a request.

This was a hot topic last summer as a few Cat 3s wanted to stay put in their category to win a jersey. We thought this should be addressed before sandbagging becomes an epidemic in the Mid Atlantic this year.

Our first case: Andrew Bridges - Haymarket Bicycles. Something must be in the water out in Haymarket, Virginny. Joe Dombroski slays the first couple races. The elite team are down south representing at Speedweek, and Andrew Bridges podiums in every Cat 3 race he enters.

Andrew Bridges: Get Yo Ass Upgraded

First at Carl Dolan

2nd at Chantilly

1st at Tysons

2nd at Vint Hill (teammate off the front with win)

Andrew, we hope that YGD will help you Get Yo Ass Upgraded.

And for all you sandbaggers out there, we are open for business.

Why Mark Cavendish is the Shiznat and MABRA Doesn't Like Racing in May

He has the best victory salutes. After journalists had written him off throughout the spring because of an abscess in one of those pearly whites, our boy wins stage 2 of Tour de Romandie and comes up with this salute. Baller. Better than the DZ Nuts or HTC Salute? Possibly.

We, at YGD, enjoy this confidence.

Meanwhile, American ProTour teams are at Tour of the Gila beating up on each other, USA Cycling is talking about CX Time Trials for qualifiers, and all kinds of fast is going on down south during speedweek.

Perhaps the biggest news of the week is that two local races, Murad Road Race and Bunny Hop have a combined 54 entries for the 'elite' races. Are we missing something? What else is going on this weekend? Is there a Lilith Festival going on that we don't know about? We know there are a handful of guys doing speedweek. Slower people, this is your chance to POUNCE LIKE A NINJA!!

Even the Cat 4 race at Murad still has room in it. This year, Jefferson Cup filled up in 1 minute. It's a wonderful race but it is over 2 hours away. Weather can be iffy at best in late March. Anybody remember the year it got cancelled because of snow? Murad is just down the street for most of MABRA, at least the DC based contingent. It's very similar race as Jeff Cup and the weather is going to be in the 80 degree range. Chances of getting dropped are low. Bunny Hop is well run, you probably won't get dropped, and it's right off the beltway.

MABRA MABRA MABRA...we'll never understand you. Bill 'Lucky' Lueke, send us your graphical analysis of why this is so.

Fashion Police

Coming to America...To Get Dropped!!

Every so often a gem pops into the email basket here at YGD HQ. Frequent EuroNeoPro/MABRA visitor Sim Green has done guest stints for Haymarket, NCVC, and others for local MABRA races normally sporting his euro pro shorts and tall skinny pale frame.

Many of us quiver at the thought of going up against somebody who has been competing across the pond all season long. The truth is he's hates racing in the states, particularly crits. Sim is humble enough to send us his own 'I got dropped' photo along with a laundry list of excuses with his British twang. So, Sim, your wish has been granted. You Got Dropped!

I got dropped!

I think this blog is a load of fun! Although this droppage pic of me getting dropped good and proper is a little old, I’m sending it in in the hope of making YouGotDropped headlines for my 2 seconds of fame! I love the light hearted approach of YouGotDropped, and I love taking the piss out of situations and people. I figure, if you can’t take the piss out of yourself; 1) you can’t justify taking the piss out of others, and 2) where’s the fun in life?

So I thought I’d send in this pic of last year’s Tour of Ephrata Crit with my own caption/explanation.

As anyone who knows me knows, I can’t ride a crit to save my life. I hate them with a vengeance. Luckily for me, stage races are not allowed to include crits in most countries but the US.

At the 2009 Tour of Ephrata I was guest riding for NCVC. I was dangling off the back of the crit all day long (well not really all day, it was only about an hour long in total anyway). I was suffering like a dog, hanging on for dear life, picking bar tape out of my teeth. Thankfully someone was there to take photographic evidence of my talented crit suckage!

My excuse is this. I didn’t know I was going to be doing Ephrata until a couple days before the start. I had raced the Tour of the Battenkill the previous weekend and had kept riding with some fairly big miles all week. So I showed up to Ephrata pretty buggered. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Of course the truth is that I just plain suck!

Apologies to NCVC for the disgrace of their jersey, and at the same time, thank you to NCVC for having me for Ephrata!

Sim

Douchebag of the Week - Vino

Vino..for his Liège-Bastogne-Liège win. Normally, a win doesn't get you a 'Douchebag of the Week' award. You Got Dropped is among the thousands of fans booing this win. Usually, when this stuff is about to go down, other teams figure out a way to put a guy like this in the gutter, just coming off a 2 year ban for doping and all. It's been a great classics season..until now. We hope he is clean and not on supersonic radioactive Kazak goat milk. Only time will tell.

By the way, socks will be here in about 3-4 weeks. Just in time for your mid summer burn out. Save up. 4 inch and 5 inch cuffs. Black and white. We can all get along.

Tell Tale Signs

Usually, if you are smiling for the camera, you are off the back.

Professional photographer, Anthony Skorochod, has been taking cycling pics in the Mid-Atlantic and New England areas for years. He does the best job of capturing the mood of the race, especially for those not in it anymore. Here are a few gems from The Lower Providence Spring Classic Criterium. Why are all these people so happy?

"OMG!! My AVG Watts > than NP and my IF is too high. I bet my FTP is set too low. Oh shit, where did everybody go?"