Screw that noise

Jules said:

@mugwump winner-takes-all competitions incentivize go-for-broke strategies in sport and in business.

if Nike isn’t doing it the next guys (or gals) will, sadly

True.  

One hopes that by getting the person pushing the farthest and taking him out of the sport, the others might fear they're going to be caught, or don't see the need to push quite so far.  Call it a hope that some coaches have a conscience and are afraid of the bio-passport or some such catching them up.

@wump My high school gym teacher was George Shepherd. He said he was a 10k meter runner in college and he trained as hard as he could and got beat by a guy he knew wasn’t faster than him clean. So he trained his brains out for another year, lost and quit the sport. I only ever knew this story (and that he was an absolute animal - wore out the rowing machine) until I looked him up. 

what nonsense is this?

"Better science, nutrition, and technology, which helps any bike racer, only acts as an accelerant when applied to today’s über-talented youngsters. Lighter frames, aero helmets and skin-suits, calibrated diets and recovery, coupled with the granular attention to detail in training programs means young riders can advance their racing development at a staggering rate. If they have the motor, and the skills to back it up, they can expect to perform almost immediately."

https://www.velonews.com/2019/11/from-the-mag/inside-pro-cyclings-generational-shift-led-by-remco-evenepoel-egan-bernal-and-tadej-pogacar_502788

maybe it should go in the doping thread

"Finally, many insiders cite a cleaner peloton for helping to clear the path for young talent to shine. The fact that a 22-year-old can win the Tour is viewed by many as a sign that cycling has leveled the playing field dramatically since the days of a peloton at two speeds."

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/steve-cummings-the-last-of-the-mavericks/

Steve Cummings retires. Personal hero, all round interesting rider who never fitted the BC/Sky factory model and probably didn't receive the recognition he deserved from the British public. He lives in my parents home town and we went to the same secondary school. 

Even better , he's a Liverpool fan 

Dieter Drake, who created Tour of the BAttenkill, is taking over RAGBRAI

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2019/12/02/dieter-drake-become-director-ragbrai

thats REALLY interesting...i bet he will create an environment for some fondo-esque riding at Ragbrai. Theres already an unofficial following re a more spirited Ragbrai. I plan on doing Ragbrai again next year, but at a snails pace (with drinking and pancakes)

Very interesting indeed.

I think they'll still be able to compete as "Athletes from Russia" which is a little weird. I heard on the radio they'll have to prove that they are not involved with any of the doping corruption which seems like a tricky thing to do? 

Example of a Successful Vision Zero Effort

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a30433288/oslo-vision-zero-goal-2019/

Look who showed up on the radivist !

https://theradavist.com/2020/01/start-where-you-are-fundraising-through-fun-racing-with-leave-it-on-the-road/

Mark Taylor said:

Look who showed up on the radivist !

https://theradavist.com/2020/01/start-where-you-are-fundraising-through-fun-racing-with-leave-it-on-the-road/

Kayt! this is awesome!

Of course, Michael Tabtabai is too a Kissena Alumn, before he moved west and did his now famous ride. 

Speaking of KCC alum (Kate of course is one of the reigning Queens) check this out. Adam spent a few seasons as your generic Cat 3/4 KCC breakaway-artist wannabe before moving out west to ride full time and is now a legit leg shredding badass. 

http://kensingtoncycling.club/2019/12/29/operation-300-part-a/

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/01/why-egan-bernal-climbed-108000-feet-in-a-week-and-why-you-probably-shouldnt/

My knee jerk response when I read the headline of this article: "Because he's a professional/TdF winner and I'm not"

The way I see it for them 400 watts rider it's hard to do endurance ride at 300 watts without climbing. Cus he'll be going 25-30 mph on the flats and he couldn't do that for 5-6 hours at a time without alot of stopping. So it's be better to do 300 watts at 13mph in big mountains, people see it as a hard day in actual data it's just z2 low tempo for them. For us amateurs with low w/kg we have to dig into z3/z4 to climb this stuff with half the speed lol

That's my 2 cents. God vs mere mortals 😂

Kevin Man said:

The way I see it for them 400 watts rider it's hard to do endurance ride at 300 watts without climbing. Cus he'll be going 25-30 mph on the flats and he couldn't do that for 5-6 hours at a time without alot of stopping. So it's be better to do 300 watts at 13mph in big mountains, people see it as a hard day in actual data it's just z2 low tempo for them. For us amateurs with low w/kg we have to dig into z3/z4 to climb this stuff with half the speed lol

That's my 2 cents. God vs mere mortals 😂

this is basically correct, some pros are known to use this when doing intervals:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/01/airhub-cycling-resistance.html

I'll use this a chance to say, that there is some advantage, at least to our mortals, to know how a bicycle behaves when we are going all out. So some intervals outside are always a good idea

@eloy calling me out on my love for indoor training? 
Ill be back doing my tuesday and thursday intervals at the park when its warm!  

Also airhubs are sweet, and freaking expensive... plus no disc brake version. I can do the same with my CX bike with slow tires! I dont have to go 30mph+ doing anaerobic this summer at the park.

hahaha, was not calling you out.

on your note, I remember about a decade ago when what was his name broke the Masters 40+ hour record in TTown, talking about training in rollers because he couldn't realistically train outside for the speed/intervals he needed to do. What was his name?

eloy said:

hahaha, was not calling you out.

on your note, I remember about a decade ago when what was his name broke the Masters 40+ hour record in TTown, talking about training in rollers because he couldn't realistically train outside for the speed/intervals he needed to do. What was his name?

Ken Harris.

He could have spent more time riding outside.  Not good in the pack or cornering.

Ride with gps mobile route planner

https://youtu.be/LFxABw7KQsc

awesome, thanks for posting Mark, I'll have to check this update. I've gotten ok(ish) planning results using the rwgps site on an ipad, but never on the phone.

Not sure if I should post this here or in the doping thread: https://cyclingtips.com/2020/01/why-an-ethics-of-fairness-is-a-better-way-of-looking-at-doping/

It's an interest take on the issue, but unfortunately, I doubt any of the suggested steps for positive change will happen any time soon (if ever).

Matt Budofsky said:

Not sure if I should post this here or in the doping thread: https://cyclingtips.com/2020/01/why-an-ethics-of-fairness-is-a-better-way-of-looking-at-doping/

It's an interest take on the issue, but unfortunately, I doubt any of the suggested steps for positive change will happen any time soon (if ever).

doping thread.  

Agree with JP. That article proposes nothing new, perhaps a good reminder, but otherwise it is full of obvs, duh.

Is it just me or is Caleb Ewan the fasted 70rpm sprinter ever?

Jules said:

Is it just me or is Caleb Ewan the fasted 70rpm sprinter ever?

might just be you.

I didn't think he looked as low on his bike today as he has in the past.  Sometimes it looks like his chest is resting on his bars.  

JP man, Caleb is half Korean which means that he's 100% all Korean to us Koreans, which also means he's the greatest sprinter, nay, cyclist to have ever cycled in the history of cycling, the end.

I said, "The end!"