Cycling

don_quixote

Trent End
the tactic (if it was indeed a tactic) of leopard trek having two men in the breakaway, one to help schleck up the mountain and one to do all the work in the valley was breathtaking in it's audacity.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Back to the participatory side of things - where are the good places in London to buy cycling gear? Specifically somewhere with a big range of clothing - I'm in town tomorrow and would quite like to pick up some baggies with a bit of padding...
 

jenks

thread death
the tactic (if it was indeed a tactic) of leopard trek having two men in the breakaway, one to help schleck up the mountain and one to do all the work in the valley was breathtaking in it's audacity.

It's an old Armstrong tactic - Schleks tried it last year with Jens on Col de la Madeleine, worked for a while, look at what happens at the end of this clip:
 

jenks

thread death
Back to the participatory side of things - where are the good places in London to buy cycling gear? Specifically somewhere with a big range of clothing - I'm in town tomorrow and would quite like to pick up some baggies with a bit of padding...

Not really sure, dunno if Condor do that kind of thing and places like Evans and Cycle Surgery can be a bit hit and miss. Howies?

On the participatory tip - on monday I am setting off on this:http://www.cycle-n-sleep.co.uk/rinfo/map hull-harwich.htm
doing it with a mate over four days, including getting to Hull. We're going to take everything with us and camp. It will be a bit of an adventure I think. From Harwch to home is about another 70 odd miles so we think it'll be just under 400miles in all.
 

connect_icut

Well-known member
A real heartbreaker for Alberto today. Now can Cadel get enough time back from Andy in the ITT? Probably not. But maybe.
 

run_time

Well-known member
tumblr_loqwi9rNWI1qacyk6o1_r1_500.jpg
 

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
I don't think Andy has quite enough of a time gap to hold off Cadel today, but would be happy to be proved wrong.
Yesterday was another top stage, even though yeah Contador's attack didn't quite work out like he hoped. Even though he was taking the piss with Sanchez near the end there I'm glad Pierre Rolland got a stage win, he's been great in the mountains all tour and one upshot of Voekler finally cracking was that Rolland could ride away himself.
Had forgotten just how mad the crowds were on Alpe d'Huez as well. :D
 

connect_icut

Well-known member
If you'd told me before the tour that Cadel would win and that I'd think he deserved it... well! But he did. Of all the GC contenders, he seemed the most positive, in every sense. Sure, he didn't really attack in the mountains but I'm beginning to understand that his personal pedalling style and the gear he favours simply don't allow for that. And that doesn't mean he didn't take control of the race when he had to.

Also, as far as I know, he didn't threaten to cut anyone's head off this year.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
does anyone ride those big bouncy mountain bike things?

I did a 60 mile London to Cambridge charidee thing today with a bunch of people from work, and one girl and her boyfriend had turned up with full sus mountain bikes with knobbly tyres on. Madness.

I've also been thinking further about eg vintage Molteni jerseys, and have concluded that they're fine if you're out on your own or with your partner, and are riding a tourer, fixed wheel or vintage racer, but not if you're on a modern road bike and particularly not if you're with a bunch of other roadies. In other words, they're fine provided it's clear from context that you're wearing them because you like retro stuff and think they look nice, not because you think they make you look like a proper roadie.

BTW, I ended up at the massive Evans north of Oxford Street and got some baggies with clip-in padded undershorts, which is pretty much exactly what I was after and half price.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Ace ride by Evans, obviously.

But does anyone else find the tour being won on a time trial just slightly underwhelming? I know it's the earlier stages that do the groundwork, but I kind of want to see the moment when the guy who comes second realizing on the attack that he's got nothing to give that the guy in front of him in the GC can't match, or that the guy behind him in the GC has ridden off the front of him and there's nothing he can do about it...
 

connect_icut

Well-known member
Ace ride by Evans, obviously.

But does anyone else find the tour being won on a time trial just slightly underwhelming? I know it's the earlier stages that do the groundwork, but I kind of want to see the moment when the guy who comes second realizing on the attack that he's got nothing to give that the guy in front of him in the GC can't match, or that the guy behind him in the GC has ridden off the front of him and there's nothing he can do about it...

Yeah, how old is this tradition of having an ITT on the penultimate day? Would the organizers ever consider, for example, putting the final time trial right before the alps and having a mountain stage be the decider?
 

luka

Well-known member
you dont need to be always attacking to win tdf. armstrong was famous for only ever attacking once per tour. evans victory was verey predicatable as evidenced by my predicting it. i would like a pat on th back.
 
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