[Other Sport] Cycling geeks

[Stat Brother]

Lizzie, potential gold

Jess Varnish, for you young'uns, and potential 'girlie moment' with the future Mrs Stat:-

Talking of which:-

 

[Stat Brother]

More porn

I'm missing the Giro, today.
I've even worked out my transfers, just twiddling my thumbs now!

 

[Woodchip]

Today is such a slow day without following the Giro text commentary.

 

[Woodchip]

No Giro, and I'm reviewing documents. Jeez, how boring is my day, today!

 

[Stat Brother]

I've got in early for tomorrow.

For one day only I've gone a little left field, picking Flecha over Roman K, going for the stage win.

Adding Golas and Robbottini, as a nod to the rest of the week.

 

[Woodchip]

Changes made for tomorrow. Let's hope I have a better day than of late. Bloody SB is 200 points clear of me now. He was only about 30 clear at one point.

 

[Woodchip]

I've bought in Henao, Possivivo and Amador (as well as a 3.1m dom as I run out of cash).

Let's see how they fair.

 

[1066familyman]

The rest day couldn't have come soon enough for me having gone into free fall since hitting the mountains.

Now rest day wouldn't be rest day without a few silly questions from the viewers at home. So here's three for you all.

1) Seeing as golf has these electronic caddy things that can tell you your distance from the pin, and fishing has electronic sounders that can detect fish in a lake, does cycling have the same sort of silliness I wonder ? Whilst riding up the steepest hill today of the several I have to climb to go to work, it got me thinking as to whether you can get bike odometers that also tell you the gradient of the hill you're climbing up ?

2) Do any cyclists, pro's or amateur's, ever do something similar to Baseball players using bat doughnuts. In other words, some form of deceleration training by riding a crap heavy bike for some training so when they jump on their proper race bike it feels even lighter and faster still ?

3) Pro cycling being a team sport and doms riding for their leader, I always understood that prize money for GC and stage wins was shared out equally amongst all the team at the end of a stage race. I understand each rider will still have an individual contract, but if the sharing prize money is indeed the case, how does it work with team members who choose not to complete a stage race? ( sprinters being the obvious examples ). Do they get a percentage perhaps based on how many days they stayed in ?. Withdrawal through genuine injury being the exception.

So over to you NSC geeks. All answers, silly or sensible, greatly appreciated.

 

[Stat Brother]

The rest day couldn't have come soon enough for me having gone into free fall since hitting the mountains.

Now rest day wouldn't be rest day without a few silly questions from the viewers at home. So here's three for you all.

1) Seeing as golf has these electronic caddy things that can tell you your distance from the pin, and fishing has electronic sounders that can detect fish in a lake, does cycling have the same sort of silliness I wonder ? Whilst riding up the steepest hill today of the several I have to climb to go to work, it got me thinking as to whether you can get bike odometers that also tell you the gradient of the hill you're climbing up ?

Yes, I have a Garmin Edge, but most manufacturers do something.

2) Do any cyclists, pro's or amateur's, ever do something similar to Baseball players using bat doughnuts. In other words, some form of deceleration training by riding a crap heavy bike for some training so when they jump on their proper race bike it feels even lighter and faster still ?

[I]Hmm, as today's a rest day all the riders will still need to go for a spin, to stop their legs from seizing up.
Instead of doing 4 hours, they're likely to do 2 but very wrapped up, so they are sweating and working 'harder' for less.
[/I]
3) Pro cycling being a team sport and doms riding for their leader, I always understood that prize money for GC and stage wins was shared out equally amongst all the team at the end of a stage race. I understand each rider will still have an individual contract, but if the sharing prize money is indeed the case, how does it work with team members who choose not to complete a stage race? ( sprinters being the obvious examples ). Do they get a percentage perhaps based on how many days they stayed in ?. Withdrawal through genuine injury being the exception.

To my knowledge all the cash is pooled and then split, I guess it's a team matter.
The winner of Le Tour gets nothing. Traditionally he gives up all his prize money to the team,as he'll make more throughout August and then on going sponsorship.

So over to you NSC geeks. All answers, silly or sensible, greatly appreciated.

There you go, that's off the top of my head.
I'm sure others know more.

 

[Woodchip]

There you go, that's off the top of my head.
I'm sure others know more.

I concur, from memory. Although 2 depends on the team, as I believe some teams go out for a 30 minute spin, then do 30 minutes of interval training than another hour spin (or something like that).

1 - My Garmin Edge definitely does that. Well worth the money IMO.

 

[Woodchip]

By far the most useful tool on the bike, IMO, is the cadence meter and alarm. Coming from an MTB background I occasionally push too higher gear and let my cadence drop, so I have a subtle reminder to push a smaller gear quicker and pedal faster.

 

[1066familyman]

This really is geek central ! - quicker and more comprehensive answers then you'd ever get off Eurosport

Thanks.

 

[1066familyman]

By far the most useful tool on the bike, IMO, is the cadence meter and alarm. Coming from an MTB background I occasionally push too higher gear and let my cadence drop, so I have a subtle reminder to push a smaller gear quicker and pedal faster.

I tend to do that anyway without any meter telling me...mainly because my knees are shot to bits

 

[Stat Brother]

I really enjoy the Garmin.
Maps your route, split times, heart rate, cadence, max speed.
All nicely logged and laid out to paw over.

Plus if you want to take it to the next level, it's easy for setting training plans and physical limits.

 

[Stat Brother]

This really is geek central ! - quicker and more comprehensive answers then you'd ever get off Eurosport

Thanks.

Come on then, give us another!

 

[Woodchip]

I used this a few years back for logging training (2009) and it was pretty handy.

ProLog Cycling 2012

 

[1066familyman]

Come on then, give us another!

Any advice on getting back into time trialing after 10 years out?

 

[Woodchip]

Any advice on getting back into time trialing after 10 years out?

Where are you based? There is a cycling group near Eastbourne (Eastbourne Rovers) that used to do a Beachy Head Time Trial. No, not the fastest to the bottom.

Eastbourne Rovers Cycling Club

 

[Stat Brother]

woooosh

 

[Woodchip]

woooosh

What have I missed?