https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/in-tokyo-coryn-rivera-will-ride-for-her-father-wally/

I'm not crying, you're crying

The scenes on the finish line after the women’s race were amazing 

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/olympics-van-vleuten-celebrates-but-mistakes-silver-for-gold/

watched the race this morning, after the fact, but not knowing the results...

At some point, I just couldn't understand why they wouldn't work together.

Americans were willing to put Dygert on the front and ride for Rivera, but then the Dutch wouldn't help... Cecilie was shaking her head in disbelief... I wondered why wasn't Vos all boss: "yo' Kopecky, yo' Vollering we need to close this" -- one other rider helps Dygert and then that motivates others to also join, etc... 

It felt like a terrible testament on how much riders rely on the radios... little did we know the extent. 

Cecilie put it well after the race: 
That said, what Kiesenhofer did is literally the dream, from kilometer zero.

THIS IS WHAT SHARP LOOKS LIKE. FULL BLAST:

Agree so hard; the best in the world rode like… like what the hell? Meanwhile… the actual amateur (and mom) goes wire to wire…!

I love the guy , but he can be a such a cry baby, He got the drop so wrong ,even before he "landed" it .
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mathieu-van-der-poel-blames-removal-of-plank-for-tokyo-olympics-mountain-bike-crash/
Fantastic ride by Pidcock , Ride of the day was Serrano , who came from way back ,
Felt bad for Cink who is riding so well this year and looked good for bronze only to flat late on 

ultimately he is the only that got it wrong. the ramp looks significant, if you were actually expecting it, there’s no way you don’t crash — again, seems like the dutch are surprisingly bad at recon & communication 
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/mathieu-van-der-poel-crashes-out-of-contention-in-olympic-mtb-race/

hope the injuries are minor and easy to recover from.

The course looked way challenging, the elevation was insane but all the climbs were short and technical punctuated by crazy rock gardens, and dust dust dust. Kudos to Pidders who by the end was surfing and flowing mega pro. Well deserved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOZYrfrRuk4

I don't think he would of hit the ramp if it was there , the picture i saw the ramp was super short and steep 

I think the ramp had the potential to grab his front wheel.

MVdP Noticeably doesn't raise his front as much as the other riders, which does suggest maybe he was expecting something there.



Still, as you suggest, he literally is the only that messes the jump. Vader (also Dutch) is second wheel in the video above, navigates it, but his front is also a bit lower. Suggesting maybe they were unaware of, you know, a rather important change from recon or demo events a few days ago.

Videos with the ramp, also suggest that the best way to get thru was to jump as if the ramp was not there.

https://instagram.com/p/CRwVk8_FdWX/embed/

Regardless, this has stayed with me a little bit. This jump in particular (and a couple of others spots in the course) are crazy town challenging. I can't even image what that looks like in person. Or that I even know anyone that would be able to ride it.

Using this thread as is where the olympics convo seems to be happening...

today also also had this mess up.

Luckily the person driving the boat had the smarts to reverse and get the engine away from the swimmers. How did the person in charge of the start, well, start?!? wtf?!?

The "LOST IN TRANSLATION" Olympics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu44xfAIHVE

Beating this to death ,

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CRs-n0ID3k_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Eloy, watched the triathlon highlights last night and yeah, holy crap, wife and I were in disbelief on how that happened.

And then they showed the winner upchucking a few times after the finish, which by the 3rd time seemed a tad bit gratuitous. 😬😬😬

Kiesenhofer has a PhD in Mathematics I think. I’m not sure if telling my students about that would make them more or less interested in my class.

I agree that that mountain bike course looked NUTS. There were some wild drops and crazy off camber spots on that course but apart from MVDP, it doesn’t seem to have taken many casualties. Also, obv disappointing for him to finish off the podium today, but its pretty amazing that Nino has been in the top 4 in four different Olympic xc races. 

I read that the women’s race may be wet and windy

judging from the weather in the women’s tri, the Women’s MTB race is gonna be a muddy crazy affair 

@eloy
this is what I was talking with you about on Saturday 
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/whats-going-on-with-jolanda-neffs-down-tube/

Mark Taylor said:

@eloy
this is what I was talking with you about on Saturday 
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/whats-going-on-with-jolanda-neffs-down-tube/

awesome!

So the Women's MTB has come and gone, the Women's triathlon turning out to be the more epic event.

As the rain had gone, the MTB course looked like it was more tacky with none of the dust the men got. As they rode the first lap it became obvious that mud and slipping would still play a significant role. As we were getting ready for a Yolanda vs Pauline race showdown, PFP slipped on an super steep uphill rock, it was less the mistake that the forever time it took her to get thru that section without momentum. She would never recover.

Still not sure what happened to Kate Courtney but she went front row to full back by the first hole shot feature, and also never recovered.

Kudos to the Swiss, maybe it was the down tube thingies?

Oh, important, forgot to mention, even tho they removed about a kilometer of the course, the infamous MVdP ramp was back in place for the Women's race. Neff even rode it a time or two.

And then this new gem:
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/anna-van-der-breggen-pulled-off-her-bike-by-race-officials-preparing-for-olympic-time-trial/

eloy said:

Oh, important, forgot to mention, even tho they removed about a kilometer of the course, the infamous MVdP ramp was back in place for the Women's race. Neff even rode it a time or two.

And id say if the men's race had been wet MVDP may of been the winner 

I love that Trek has given all its Olympic athletes the same bike color scheme

Mark Taylor said:

eloy said:

Oh, important, forgot to mention, even tho they removed about a kilometer of the course, the infamous MVdP ramp was back in place for the Women's race. Neff even rode it a time or two.

And id say if the men's race had been wet MVDP may of been the winner 

…and if a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass a-hoppin’

Mark Taylor said:

I love that Trek has given all its Olympic athletes the same bike color scheme

The Olympic edition bikes are always so cool. Spec had these red bikes that didn’t quite stand out as much, but they look rad. 

Dang, screw aerodynamics, giant tubes = awesome paint/wraps. Can deep section wheels catch up please?

That scar…!

She may be a truly terrible human being, but I got to give her kudos for wearing short shorts; few have rocked this look since Sean Yates in his Motorola days.  I assume she's cultivating tan-lines for the apres bike life.