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Tour De France Showcases Multitude Of Tech
whoda writes "When you think of a bicycle, you most likely think of 2 tires, a chain, some gearing of some sort, and other assorted mechanical bits. However, when Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, and over 180 other riders get together to compete at the Tour de France every year, there is a lot of technology that comes along for the ride too. From Lance's Sunglass'/MP3 Player to the advanced use of composites seen on Tyler Hamilton's
time trial bike, there are many examples of
high technology making the racers faster through better training, materials and
aerodynamics."
Sunglasses with MP3 playback built in? I'd hate to see what this guy comes up with.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
I'm assuming that you probably have both... And I'll also assume that his one-nutted ass could also kick your ass.
The HPV world speed championships!
http://www.recumbents.com/whpsc2004.htm
Too bad there's not enough interest to really get some money into the development of these things.
Check out my website...
Look at Lance's amazing biochemistry! He wouldn't have made it to any of these races if it weren't for his body and iron will!
The part that connects the cranks together is called the bottom bracket. Its a cylindrical piece which screws into the bottom of the frame (junction of the down tube, seat tube, and chainstays) which contains an axle that the crank arms friction fit to.
;)
Its also a mother to put in correctly
Tyler Hamilton has a website too. I don't know why his wasn't included along with Armstrong's and Ullrich's. Personally, Tyler is my pick for the winner of the TDF this year. Riding with a broken collarbone last year (finishing 4th, and winning a stage!), and riding with a broken shoulder blade in the Tour of Italy the year before (finishing 2nd!), he has more tenacity than even Lance. And this year, Tyler has the form. Watch out Lance!
"My girlfriend's got sodium laureth sulfate hair."
They're not fast enough until you see spoilers fitted at the back of the bicycles!
Lance et al have spent a lot of time in wind tunnels reducing drag (see Trek). I watched a bunch of the Lance Chronicles on OLN. One significant source of drag they discovered- the race numbers on their backs. All riders have their number attached to their jersey on their lower back, on both sides (as seen here). They found that the number caused significant drag, and they were quite unhappy that there was no way to design a sharkskin suit or the like to include the number. Technology taken down by paper!
..."At what point is it no longer the same sport?" complaints.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
So, this proves that anyone using the latest cool tech stuff is just trying to make up for something missing in their pants. One day I'll throw out this type-writer and get a computer.
Actually, they do (allow recumbants). This was hashed out many times on rec.bicycles years ago. The fact is, recumbants aren't well suited to either climbing or sprinting. The specific UCI rules (at least in the early 90s when I was reading this stuff on rec.bicycles) only restricted wheelbase length, which would omit some longer recumbants, but not all.
Could be the rules changed when they decided that all hour record bikes after Mercx were not 'bikes', but even before that, pros weren't using recumbants.
No mention of the episode where Wild e Coyote strapped some ACME Rockets to a bicycle. But, I guess that would be considered cheating....
I know we're talking about the TDF and those guys are on a different plane of existence here but there's something I've got to say about some non-pro cyclists out there.
While I agree that the use of technology is important in cycling, there's only so much one can do without having to rely on natural talent and training. Spending $180 for a 13 cm piece of metal in order to save 50 grams, is a problem. I see it with the guys I ride with. They'll spend a shit load of cash on a Litespeed titanium bike or a Trek 5200 but will still mow down a pizza after a ride and not think about the fact that they can get over those hills a little faster if they weren't carrying a anchor on their gut.
What if all the competitors used some sort of internal combustion conveyance and tried to make it across the desert? Now, that sounds like something I could get behind.
Of course, with a bike that old, they would have had to replace, well, just about everything in order to put in a new derailer. In fact it would be only slightly more to simply buy a new bycycle!
So I started looking at bikes. I could get a nice road bike for $800 (US) that was far superior to my existing bike. Then I started looking at the carbon composite bikes, like the Roubaix series. I really didn't think I'd feel the difference until I test-rode one.
Holy S*it! If the $800 bike was an order of magnitude better then my existing one, the Roubaix Comp (at $2600) was an order of magnitude better then the $800 bike. All carbon-composite construction, vibration dampening... the works. Unbelievably light, I could lift the whole bike with my pinky pretty much! Smooth ride, ultra smooth shifting, huge gearing range. The technology is really amazing.
-Matt
So 35 songs for 22 days...how many times can you really listen to 'Eye of the Tiger'?
in bed.
I used to race (badly). The fact that numbers are a source of drag is pretty much common knowledge. I can't remember how the pros attach their numbers in big races, but for most USCF events, they are pinned on, and are pretty much sails on windy days.
(S(SKK)(SKK))(S(SKK)(SKK))
Hour record for a fully faired recumbant is over 100kph, solo, on the flats. Granted, the operative word is 'fully faired'. That's a shell around a rider.
The point is, bike racing is a lot more complicated than going faster than anyone else alone in a straight line on the flats. Sprints, climbinb, break aways, team strategy all play a roll.
F1 Racing Technologies
Tour de France Technologies, particularly Lance Armstrong
To be expected:
NASCAR Technologies
Soap-box Derby Technologies
Hmmm.
They're spending countless thousands on newfangled gadgets, while victory could be assured by adding nothing more than a $50 used lawn mower engine to their bikes.
Its also a mother to put in correctly ;)
Yeah. You have to screw it in. Into BOTH sides. It's tough.
Still hurts when 50 'nodes' of the pelaton decide to crash all at the same time, in a cascade, rather like nodes on a M$ network. I wonder what this stuff was designed on...
As an aside, these guys are the best athletes in any event the world over.
Crankarm Spindle (is the actual piece of metal that both crankarms attach to directly)
I don't know if they have a rule against strapping on an Acme(TM) rocket to the bike. If noone has tried it before, they may not have a rule against it. Or if someone tried it before, they fared was well as Wild E. Coyote, so it didn't effect the outcome for the people who finished -- without going into a brick wall or off of the cliff.
Fight Spammers!
Lest we forget:
www.fossilfool.com/down-low-glow.htm
'course, you can just take any two cold cathode kits, cut the molex pin and splice a 9V battery connector, a 8xAA battery holder from Radio Shack, and a seat-bag to get a similar look for your bicycle.
With one pack of 8 NiMH 1800mA AAs powering two CCs, I get over 4.5 hours of neon light.
This is probably not the safest bicycling accessory in existence. Trust me, when you're riding anywhere near traffic, being able to hear cars coming up from behind you is a good thing. Perhaps that's why they're not for sale just yet?
From the Sunglasses/MP3 Player link:
We have a little addendum to our Tech from the Tour de France feature from a couple of weeks ago: this special pair of Oakley sunglasses with a built-in MP3 player that Lance Armstrong was spotted wearing. No idea whether they're planning to ever sell these or not, but a little bit of research reveals that the sunglasses only have enough room on them for 35 songs, which makes us think that they probably have somewhere around 128MB of storage somwhere in there.
True, but that doesn't mean Lance plays only 35 songs for the entire Tour. Does anyone know if the Tour rules prohibit changing electronic media and so forth? He could play a new set of 35 songs every day. At least that would be interesting trivia, what songs did Armstrong listen to every day of the Tour..
Indeed. Road racing is about taking all the shelter you can get and saving your energy for when it counts.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
You could say the same thing about golf. But to say that you have to be in top condition to get any gain from these products is not true. It IS easier to ride a lighter bike, no matter how fit you are. Sure, your buddies could forego the pizza and shed pounds from the middle, and yeah, it would be easier to climb the next hill....or they can spend the cash and have an easier ride without the hassles of giving up pizza. This is a trend you see everywhere.
I'm not on a first-name basis with "Lance".
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Q: What's the cheapest way to shave 500g off your bike weight?
A: Lose 500g.
I would like to request that Slashdot drop it's discrimination/bias against unicyclists and tricyclists of the world. The poster assumes that everybody will think of two-wheeled "bicycles" when they think about cycles. This is not the case. I would also like to request all Girls to stop being biased against unicycle and tricycle riders. We are every bit as good as the so called "bicycle" riders.
Please join the fight against even-wheeled cycle fanatics.
Thank you.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
There are plenty other regulations for international competitive cycling:
-the entire bicycle must weigh at least 6.8 kg
-the frame must be of the 'double diamond' design (this rules out recumbents)
-no fairings
-all competitors are encouraged to use performance enhancing drugs (and their masking agents), as long as the team manager's girlfriend's doctor's cousin carries them.
I remember many years ago I used to have a 40 LB
Schwinn bicycle that I used to ride a lot. I put
toe clips on it but that was all. I used to ride
with other riders who had 20 to 25 LB bicycles that
were all Campy and expensive. I could keep up
with them as I was a stronger rider. It is not all Tech.
Tech might give you the edge if you are all equal but
if you do not practice and ride a lot it is not worth it.
They have made it so that the most you can lose is 3:00
It's true that this keeps a well-trained team like Team Postal from tearing up the General Classification, but that's all it's doing. Their goal was to keep so many teams from being out of it due to one team trial.
As Lance said, it's their race, their rules. They knew about the changes in advance, and the rules apply to everyone, so he just has to ride it.
Besides, it's the mountains that make the biggest difference in overall time, and is also where Lance excels at.
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
I seriously doubt that standard equipment will make it into the UCI rules. Mainly, there are too many variables for proper bike fit. Something minor, like pedal style, can make a big positive or negative impact on a rider. Other things, like leg to torso to arm proportions, make geometry standardization totally unfair.
(S(SKK)(SKK))(S(SKK)(SKK))
Are you serious? Every professional sport, and lots of higher-echelon amateur competitors, count things down to the gram and the millimeter. I still see massive amounts of passion at every turn and every finish line. It just takes discipline and planning to get there first, along with a heaping helping on talent and determination. On an F-1 car, nothing goes unmeasured or left to chance, and it's the same with a rider in the Tour.
As far as chemical enhancements go, that's of course rampant but it's part of the game. All of racing is full of cheats and enhancments outside of the rule book. Some get caught, some don't.
Michael Schumacher still gets excited on a podium, and professional cyclists still suffer through 23 days of racing to get to Paris. It's in their faces at the top of the Alpe D'Huez. That's not automation, man, that's passion.
If the cyclists are listening to mp3's, maybe their playlists look something like this:
10. "The Cougar Fight Song": Nothing is quite as stirring as hearing the band break into "Rise and Shout" at the beginning of a sporting event.
9. "Olé": No, this is not the Ricky Martin World Cup song. It's the chant soccer fans around the world have been singing far longer that consists of just that one word: "Olé, olé, olé, olé... olé, olé."
8. "SportsCenter Theme": Every true sports fanatic now recognizes the familiar intro to a full hour of the best of the day's sports action. Most of us watch it two or three times a day.
7. "Chariots of Fire" - Vangelis: This classic theme music has defined track songs for over twenty years. The Olympic team training on the beach idealizes the essences of pushing yourself to the limit.
6. "The Hey Song": Who can resist the compelling, "duh-dun duh-dun duh-dun duh-dun duh-dun-dun . . . HEY!" during a game? We all know it . . . and we all yell just as loud when it's played.
5. "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor: The most compelling sports stories come from the underdogs, the little guys (see March Madness and every sports movie ever made). This song epitomizes fighting against the odds.
4. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game": Any list on sports songs must include this classic. It conjures up images of lazy afternoons at the ballpark, of the seventh inning stretch, and of preserving the tradition and history of sports.
3. "You All Ready For This?": Sports action must be on tap whenever you hear this familiar opening music. It gets the blood boiling and the vocal cords limber for the excitement to follow.
2. "We Are the Champions" - Queen: Athletic competition means winners and losers, and no song better embodies that than this one. In extolling the journey, it honors the effort it takes to get to the top.
1. "We Will Rock You" - Queen: Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Everyone steps up to the challenge when the greatest sports song of all time is played. It's played at every level in every sport, making it easily #1.
Honorable Mention: "Sweet Georgia Brown" (Harlem Globetrotters theme), "Charge!", "Hey, Baby", "Jump Around."
John Kerry is a Joke!
You can do it -make it 6
...I work in distribution for a regional bicycle parts wholesaler in the Southeast. If it was last available on a bike OEM at any point before 1999 or 2000, chances are it hasn't been in production since, and god help you if you go to a shop that hasn't been open as long as your bike is old. Best that a bike wrench can do is substitute something new that may or may not work, and will certainly not look original. Planned obselescence is almost as bad as the hardware/software industries, if not worse. It sucks.
On the other hand, the new stuff really is as good as the grandparent post suggests, compared to the old stuff. Go ride a bike. It ain't what it was even ten years ago.
The pain was excruciating and the scarring is likely permanent, but that just means it's working.
Lances has only one thing on it: Cheryl Crow.
Cuz that is who is warming the bed after the race.
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
From what I understand they changed the course to have less hills which are Lances strong point.
is just trying to make up for something missing in their pants
Is this a reference to his testicular cancer?
Taping them down with clear packing tape works great and as far as I know is legal. Time trialist have been doing this since the seventies.. just like eliptical chainrings, it will come back, again..
Lisa: [showing off a tomato the size of a beach ball] I've grown a
futuristic tomato by fertilizing it with anabolic steroids.
Bart: The kind that help our Olympic athletes reach new peaks of
excellence?
Lisa: The very same.
...I've heard it called "bottom bricket," "bottom basket," "gearbox," and any number of other things. Every time one of these paragons of proper English pronouncia- err, customers left the store, everyone in the repair department would bust out laughing for a good long time.
"My gearbox is broke." "My gears is stripped." ahh, I miss DC.
The pain was excruciating and the scarring is likely permanent, but that just means it's working.
They also moved the long, solo time trial to near the end of the race where it's most likely going to be irrelevant, instead of before the mountains.
I recently biught a Trek 5200. I could have easily gone with a Trek 2300 or smaller, because I am no power rider. I ride about 10-20 miles in the morning. Every other day. That's it. Many of you could destroy probably cream me on a $99 Huffy.
But the bike is a joy to ride. I owned a crappy Schwinn most of my road bike riding days and so I splurged a bit and got some Sidi shoes and this bike. I enjoy riding it, esp. going up hills.
Maybe I overspent, but I enjoy the bike. The OLCV Carbon is damn light. And if I enjoy riding, I'll ride more. I had my fill of heavy steel bikes, this really is a whole different league. I've read a few responses that mock people for spending too much on the bike. Most of those people have a iPod and a $500 video card just to play counterstrike.
However, I'm sure there's plenty to make most of them cry :)
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
If the cyclists are listening to mp3's, maybe their playlists look something like this
johnsmith
I've got a 3 year old $400(CDN) Peugeot mountain bike I bought just for casual riding at the time. This year I've gotten quite a bit more serious and have taken part in a number of cross-country relay races. Up until about a month ago, I was constantly looking at the 'other guys' $4000+ machines and trying to plan how and when I would upgrade.
geckox
Euro 2004 anyone?
Casual Games/Downloads
Last year we watched Ullrich do nothing during the last few days. He 'knew' he couldn't make a difference, even though he really wasn't that far off. You know Lance would have made a breakaway attempt if he needed to... even on the last day.
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
Must...control...fist...of...death! OH my god, you're an idiot.
Considering that the main drug of choice for cyclists (EPO) still has no reliable test that can't be beat by a quick I.V. to water down the blood supply.
Nope, they do have a test for EPO now; granted you can still get beneficial effects and test clean, but a "quick IV" won't beat it. They also test hematocrit levels - if they're too high, you're suspended (this is actually not a positive test, since no drugs are detected, but you can't race for "health reasons"). This goes to the heart of how EPO helps performance.
Instead he went from being a sprinter who was a middle of the road time trialist and basically poor climber into a virtuoso. I don't buy it for a minute.
Is this why he was Junior National Time Trial champion? Is this why he road away from the field at World's (1993, and also as a junior (he didn't win as a junior, but he put the hurt on people)). Lance was never a sprinter - he was much more of a rolleur until he was able to reshape his body after chemotherapy (by losing the upper body mass from his triathalon days). THEN he became a good climber.
Check out the book LA Confidential:
Which is the subject of multiple lawsuits by Lance against the author. Also, Walsh (the author) even admits he doesn't prove anything. He merely "implies" that Lance used drugs; I'm guessing Walsh's defence in court will be along these lines.
People like you make me angry. Lance has been the most tested athlete over the last few years and has NEVER tested positive. The French judiciary had a mutli YEAR investigation into his alleged drug taking - the case was thrown out when they couldn't uncover ANY evidence that he had used performance enhancing substances. That investigation even subpeonaed his medical records, btw, so they had full access to all available information.
Go away.
jon
i mean, jesus christ, people are proud of someone for doing extremely well at something. What the fuck is that? Its like they're inspired by what he's done or something.
Bullshit.
Ride more. Your ass breaks in eventually.
why not get the numbers printed on cloth and sew them on? or air brush with a template? or iron on? or fabric markers? or those big fancy embrodary machnies? Or get 1000 shirts with numbers made and pick the right one. no way indeed.
I heard his collarbone wasn't broken, only had a hairline fracture or something. Having had a broken collarbone myself, I think I can safely say that you can't ride a bike that way (not unless you're drugged into insensibility, anyway).
--
One does wonder what other sorts of biochemistry are going on with riders(I've always thought it was kind of ironic that Lance was sponsored by a major pharmaceutical, and yes, I am deeply suspicious that Lance's chemo and related drugs somehow altered his body to make him much stronger; I don't think he would be stupid enough to be doping himself), seeing as how doping is rampant in virtually all other sports- and the message to little kids has been nothing of zero tolerance but instead "I'm a good guy, I couldn't have been doing drugs, even though my trainer was caught twice before doping his runners and I failed a drug test" etc etc.
Then there's the baseball players, who were TOLD AHEAD OF TIME they'd be tested. When they were tested- ONE QUARTER of them failed! Unbelievable! That's like telling everyone the answer to a one question quiz, and then having 25% fail!
I forget which bike race it was, but police did a raid on the rider's barracks one night, and it was like a scene from animal house- they had riders leaping out of windows in their underwear, hiding in the bushes, running off, etc. They found dozens upon dozens of drug vials, needles, pills, you name it. It was absolutely pathetic.
Please help metamoderate.
Need I say more?
"As a close follower of cycling, I have always doubted his cancer story and just assumed he made it up to cover his tracks and maybe make some publicity for one of his suppliers."
I now crown you Supreme Grand Poobah of the Tinfoil Hat Society. And that says a lot given what we read on Slashdot.
Dude, you're assuming the guy FAKED cancer? Because he recovered better/faster than you did? And you don't like it?
"I had similar surgery to Lance (had my left testicle removed)and there was no way I was getting back on a bike for over 9 months."
Well thank you for setting the limit of the human experience for us. Really, it's comforting to know you're the pinnacle of human endurance, pain tolerance and tissue healing.
I had similar surgery (hours of slicing and dicing, lots of fun recovering, I assure you) and was back on my bike in 7 WEEKS. And none of my riding friends were pointing at me and saying I must have faked it. I ride a lot, not huge amounts, but 100-125 miles/week typically. My body was used to it. And that's a mere pittance compared to any Tour rider's training schedule.
By your reasoning I must have faked my surgery. Or maybe there are people in this world who just deal with it. Hamilton rode most of the 2003 Tour with freakin' broken collarbone. He must've been faking it too.
"Instead he went from being a sprinter who was a middle of the road time trialist and basically poor climber into a virtuoso. I don't buy it for a minute."
I see. Or maybe it was because he:
Was already a damn good racer before.
Dropped a few dozen pounds during cancer treatment and kept it off (this greatly affects climbing efficiency - 10 lbs of extra mass is a LOT of weight to drag over several mountain passes each day)
Modified his training to use higher cadences (== less time above lactic threshold) to greatly improve his climbing efficiency.
The pain of cancer treatment recalibrated his sense of pain, suffering and misery.
Started actually scouting and RIDING key upcoming Tour stages during training.
Damn sad day when those who've never come close to attaining feel compelled to snipe at those who do.
I got sneered at when I actually insisted on weighing the mtn bikes I was shopping for. I carried my own scale in and eventually found a sub-$400 28-lb bike that's held up pretty well. I think the big price/quality breaks happen at about $500 and about $1500 - for $500 you get lightweight alloy wheels which are far stronger and lighter than the cheapo ones, for example. My mtn bike does not have a suspension - cheapo mtn bike suspensions can add several pounds.
My road bike is a cheapo 20-yr old Fuji and weighs about 24 lb.
I'll start worrying about shaving ounces off when I get my body fat down into the single digits. Like THAT's gonna happen anytime soon....
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
From what I understand they changed the course to have less hills which are Lances strong point.
Just the opposite. They have helped out the climbing specialists by increasing the importance of the mountain stages. For instance, the first individual TT is practically just L'Alpe d'Huez.
Armstrong doesn't really have a strong point; or rather, he has no weakness, being extremely good at both climbing and TT. However, he is not small enough to be quite as good as the very best of the pure climbers.
"The good reader is a rarer swan than the good writer."
What are you talking about. There are always two time trials, and always one of them is after the mountains and just a few days before the end.
. . . . . . .
may u!sh 2 sm!le at dz!z bad nn.!m!tat!ion
Yes we know the ammount of technology increases every year.
Just like computers get faster every year.
I used to be a semi serious rider until they figured out how to increase the price of bicycles from entry level of $400.00 to $1100.00 and add on equipment that is way out of the stratosphere in terms of price.
You need a full fledge sponsorship in order to participate and enjoy the sport.
About Jan Ullrich:
Last year, Jan wanted to make up time on the last time trial, but the sloppy weather did him in. He slid out on a turn and thus lost 8-10 seconds; there was no way he could make up enough time to win. (One of the OLN commentators said that Lance slowed to 5 MPH on the part where Jan slid out, and his rear wheel still skidded a bit. Dangerous! All Lance had to do was ride very carefully and not crash, to secure the win... he already had a time advantage.)
On flat road stages, there is no way for Lance to get a time advantage on Jan, or for Jan to get an advantage on Lance. If either of them gets in a breakaway, the peloton will reel them in immediately. They both know it. Jan didn't "do nothing" during the last few days; he did what he could, which wasn't enough to pull out the win.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Lance's team came in a full minute ahead of the second-place team. Under the old rules, Lance and his guys would all have picked up over a minute of advantage compared to Jan Ullrich and his team. Under the new rules, the second-place team was scored as having come in exactly 20 seconds behind Lance's team, thus wiping out about 40 seconds of advantage for Lance and his guys.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I used to race an old steel frame with downtube friction 7-speed. Everyone else was on Titanium/Carbon/Aluminum STI shifters, min 3K outlay. Give me my terrain (a short steep hill finish) and I'd still cream them.
The technology is great, and makes a difference, sure, but it's the engine that counts most. Any tour rider will cream any of us, no matter what kind of bike we're each riding (within reason, I can beat Lance if he's on a tricycle...)
Actually, Lance most likely use's 4 different frames. 1 made specifically for the individual time trials, 2 for normal stage riding (most likely the one you can pick up at the local bike shop) and one built specifically for the mountain stages. This is according to OLN's pre-race coverage that aired on 7/11.
Memories become legend, Legend fades to myth, and even myth is forgotten by the time that age comes again.-Robert Jordan
Did you actually read the book, or did you just hear about it.
If you are a reader, i would reccomend It's Not About the Bike.
True, some people with that cancer die, people with worse cancer live, and all people without cancer die eventually.
To quote Lance, "This is my body. And I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?"
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
"you would have to have gone down one of the longest steepest hills ever, or you've got one hell of a ring set."
FWIW, I've hit 57+mph (verified by my support vehicle - the navigator said I actually broke 60mph) and while it was my personal fastest, it's not something that raises eyebrows in racing circles. This was a stock off-the-shelf racing bike, down a steep mountainside on a good smooth highway.
Had it not been 2am I'd have even gone faster, but I was already taking a risk given the poor lighting involved. No pedalling, just a good tight tuck and racing tires at 120psi.
So 70 mph may not be entirely out of the ballpark.
And yes, it was FREAKIN' FUN! *8-)
Dude, did you see it when Lance blew Jan Ullrich off the mountain last year? When Lance looked back over his shoulder, stared into Ullrich's eyes, and then took off like he'd found a V8 between his legs?
If that's not sport, if that's not passion, I don't know what is. It doesn't get more human than that.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I am sure that in the early 90s there was no specific rule banning recumbants, according to Les Earnest (a UCI official and also a prof at Stanford- you out there Les?) always said there was nothing to specificly rule out a recumbant. Now, there were major changes in response to advances to beat the hour record. I think the 'double diamond' part came in then. I would think a recumbant would be far superior for a TT, and Les's only speculation as to why they were not used then is that it position is different enough from an upright, that it uses a different muscle set.
That is, at that level, one could train for one or the other, but not both.
Sam Whittingham is a (former?) HPPVA world record holder is a pretty mean upright sprinter as well, but he's not world class as a roadie.
I have to run, but google on 'les earnest rec.bicycles recumbant uci' might turn something up.
Has Lance started trying yet? Um, yes.
Lance and his guys have incredible focus on just one thing: Lance finishes the race with the fastest time. They have been doing an excellent job of tracking that goal.
They don't waste energy trying to win stages needlessly, but when riding hard will give them an advantage, they do it (e.g. stage 3, they rode hard and fast to stay ahead of the crashes expected on the cobblestones). When Lance got the yellow jersey after stage 4, they let everyone know he wouldn't work to defend it because he didn't need it that early, and they let it go.
Part of winning the Tour de France is simply enduring the abuse. If you burn yourself out on one stage, you may find yourself in trouble on the next stage. That's okay if all you care about is winning one stage, but Lance absolutely needs to avoid burning himself out. He needs to out-ride everyone, and part of that is not wasting energy. Use it when you need it, and when you don't need it, save it for later.
On flat road stages, it's basically impossible for any of the GC contenders (Lance, Jan, Tyler, etc.) to gain any significant time advantage. The peloton is faster than any single bicyclist. Since the race is structured this year with a whole bunch of flat road stages up front, we have been watching Lance and his guys spend their time riding mostly defensively. That's okay.
If you look at the race standings, Lance seems far from a win. But the guys ahead of him will lose big time in the mountains! And his real rivals, the guys he worries about (Jan, Tyler, etc.) are all behind him on time. Jan is almost a minute behind him.
Lance's big chances to gain a time advantage are time trial stages and mountain stages. When he hits those stages, expect him to really pour on the effort. But it's just not true that he's slacking now.
what the hell is the name of the thing that connects the crank arms?
The bottom bracket, which has a shell containing some bearings and a spindle. If that doesn't answer your question, try googling for "bottom bracket parts" or some such.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Who rode around the University of New Hampshire campus on a unicycle all the time.
He wore a t-shirt that said, "Unicycling is not a crime."
That guy was awesome.
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
Another requirement is a rather odd beard and an overall geeky/nerd appearance.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Those Oakley Thump MP3 sunglasses are pretty sleek, though I'd prefer a different color/pattern for my own dome. Where can I get the lenses upgraded to stereo VGA? And a 216Mbps wireless PAN? I'll carry the batteries in a trailer behind the bike.
--
make install -not war
The technology is neat, but the technology can't actually win the race. It's still about the riders.
Lance has a cool bike, but all the Tour de France riders have good bikes. There is a limit to how much benefit you can get with a better bike, and all the tour guys have bikes that are close to this limit.
The slowest of the Tour riders, on a bad day, could ride me into the ground on a 20-year-old piece-of-junk bike, even if I were on my good bike. Sure I could climb Alpe d'Huez, but it would take me at least a couple of hours, and the Tour guys race up it in 40 minutes or so, as just part of a 5 or 6 hour day of racing!
The most important tech to Lance is the tech he uses in training. He trains and trains. They measure his power output in Watts, how many Calories he burns, how much wind drag he has on his time trial bike. It's his training that will win the race, his training and good tactics (both his and his team director, Johan Bruyneel).
P.S. The Tour rules have a lower limit on how much a bike can weigh. I think this is a good idea. There is a point at which "light" becomes "stupid light"; where the too-light components aren't strong enough and things start to break. The minimum weight will keep the bikes from getting into a stupid-light arms race.
The Tour rules also now require helmets, and the helmets have to actually be able to protect the riders' heads. Last year riders wore lightweight helmets for the time trial stages, and the lightweight helmets were basically just streamlined shells that wouldn't protect them at all in a crash. This year even the time trial helmets are required to meet crash safety standards. I'm in favor of the idea.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I ride a Trek mountain bike with touring tires and straight bars and find my hands going numb during and after long rides - it just isn't easy to use that many different positions with your hands on straight bars.
Software piracy is victimless theft.
I'm actually most impressed by the technology involved in the television coverage. First, you've got about about 20 cameras on bicycles, showing images at race level (almost what the cyclists see themselves). They send the pictures to helicopters overhead, which in turn send the images to satellites. Let's also not forget the cameras on the helicopters themselves, and the beautiful display of flying and camera ability that brings gorgeous and rock-steady shots of 170 bicyclists zipping through fields of sunflowers.
Add to that GPS transmitters on every bike, which brings instant results at the end of the race to the 100th of a second, and (this year on OLN) up-to-the-second time gaps among the groups on the road (this'll really shine when they hit the mountains).
All this, plus entertaining commentary, live worldwide.
from the obvious recumbent fan in that interview: "uphill a little bit slower, where as on the flats they might go about a third faster."
/. people don't know what that is anyway...
you know how fast tour de france riders go downhill? ever seen footage from inside a team car trying to keep up with them, tires screaming around the corners? aerodynamics is not really the limiting factor when going down from l'alpe d'huez for example.
and besides, with the ratio between the aerodynamic disadvantage of cycling in the lead or solo and power needed for mountains etc changed so much, it would be a very different sport. like you would not put more people in a soccer game to get more goals - ah wait, this is
[i have an opinion and i am not afraid to use it]
Terry Fly
They are more comfortable, and allow you to have fun off the bike.
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
Nuff said.
US Postal
The Cyclysm
Wear Yellow
While a recumbant is really fast on straight flats, it is terrible with any sort of hills or technical terrain. Thus it would be one of those specialty bikes for certain time trials, or very flat road races. That would be terrible for the sport as it would once again make it such that one of the biggest components to winning is money. Clip on bars (which can be had for $50 are one thing), but basically requiring another bike is something entirely different. They have races for recumbants, if that is what you want to do then ride in those.
Sorry, but the lawsuits against LA Confidential are being thrown out of court.
Not that that proves anything either, but if you actually read the link, there is an exerpt from the book that details Lance's not passing a UCI drug test until the lawyers stepped in.
Cyclists don't test positive mostly because they do their steroids in the off season and they know how to cheat, or they have lawyers who do. Lance's long term relationship with Ferrari shows he has the ways and means to cheat.
And yes you can beat the EPO test with an IV. Here is an exerpt from a website appropriately called:
http://www.how-to-pass-a-drug-test.net/2004/drug-d etection-time-urine.htm
since you don't like to check out links, here is the meat of it:
Another team, Kelme of Spain, already has been prohibited from this year's Tour because of the charges leveled by Manzano, one of its former riders. In a five-part series in the Spanish newspaper AS (for which he was paid), Manzano described how team doctors pressured him to take banned drugs; how he collapsed and nearly died during last year's Tour after taking an unknown substance; and how it's like "an open bar" for cyclists to receive growth hormones and EPO.
Kelme officials and the Spanish cycling federation have denied Manzano's claims, much as Cofidis officials have with Gaumont's accusations.
Manzano even detailed how riders evade detection on the blood test that measures hematocrit levels, the proportion of blood consisting of red blood cells. When testing officials show up, Manzano said, team doctors first send down riders with low levels. That gives the other riders time to dilute their blood -- with blood plasma or saline solution, for example -- and lower their hematocrit level.
These blood tests are more common than the EPO test (which requires a urine sample) because they cost less. They can indicate high suspicion, though not absolute proof, of doping.
Most talk of drug use in cycling centers on EPO, because of the way it helps on those taxing rides up the mountain. EPO is a hormone produced naturally by the kidneys, but its recombinant form can increase the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and therefore boost endurance.
Still, even the EPO test has loopholes: It can reach back and detect the drug for only three or four days, according to Olivier Rabin, science director at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). But an athlete could reap benefits for as long as two weeks, Rabin and other experts said.
There is thus a lengthy period when users enjoy athletic advantage without risking detection. Rabin suspects some cyclists take a high dose of EPO and stop at least three days before the race begins, a strategy mirrored in other sports and a prime illustration of how the cheaters stay one step ahead of the testers.
Cycling union officials acknowledged the need to increase unannounced tests in the weeks preceding a major race. Most testing now occurs during the events; at the Tour de France, for instance, the stage winner, three leaders and three or four randomly chosen riders are tested each day.
Doping experts such as University of Texas professor John Hoberman still criticize the cycling union for being more interested in public relations than the athletes' health.
sorry I am not as much of a Lance fan as you apparantly are and I am not as sure as you are that the French courts received all of his records. There is just too much money involved and the people involved are professional cheaters who are cheating an institution that condones cheating. If it hadn't been for that little mishap with the customs agents, no one would be aware of the level of doping that goes on in races like the tour. Even a cynic like myself was shocked to learn they were shooting heroin, coke a and steroids!
That said, I think the doping part is cool. Those guys are insanely dedicated to what they do. I hate getting shots at the the doctors. Injecting myself with greasy
Except, the TdF never goes down L'alpe D'Huez only up, but I suspect you already knew that.
Its like a NASCAR season, 21 races in 23 days, speed climing, and sprinting all differant races, but on bicycles. 188 bicycles, with the best riders in the world. Rain, wind, potholes, and fans in the road. And the guy that dominates 5 years straight in "Le Tour de Fance" is a Texas cancer survivor who was dropped by his then French cycling team when he first was diagnosed.
Five Sport Illustrated covers (including Sportman of the Year) in a country that is barely conscious of the sport. Armstrong defines human spirit, courage and strength. It is entirely possible we are seeing the "Golden Age of Cycling". Like the NBA without Michael Jordan, it won't be the same without Armstrong.
LiveSTRONG, GO POSTAL !!!!!!!!!
US Postal
The Cyclysm
Wear Yellow
Not if you have a new Dura-Ace or XTR crank, it's part of the drive side crank arm... OOooooo, it's sooo sweet. Ever hear someone pronounce Dura-Ace derachy (I think they thought it was Italian)
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
admittedly.. not.
but when i think about it it truely makes some sense, since it is not "le col d'huez".
must have been me just picking a random famous example, and the one-way mountains are automatically better knows because they always become a finish whenever they are included in the course.
[i have an opinion and i am not afraid to use it]
I have a bud who just picked up the new XT cranks which have the same concept as XTR and Dura Ace, but go for $225 on sale. Dang, they are frickin stiff as hell and still pretty light.
I D= 21
The deal is that the bottom bracket spindle is greatly oversized, since they don't need to make room in the BB shell for the bearings. The bearings are outside the shell and also supersized.
If you wanna see freaky stupid light bleeding edge technology, check this out:
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/articles.php?
This dude built up a 9.19 pound bike without leaving major components off, like chainrings, or doing anything stupid like drilling out rims and tubing.
The cycling federation has a minimum weight (or at least they used to) of 15 lbs. Last year's TDF, the Canondale team showed up with 11 lb bikes, and the Federation would not let them race until they strapped some weight on the bikes, which is totally silly. The point of the rule was to keep the racers from doing stupid stuff like drilling out their bikes and making them unsafe.
He broke it clean in two. He had broken the same collarbone a year or two earlier, and it mended with a bit of a thin spot. When he broke it on TDF last year (in the first stange, IIRC) it broke the bone clean in two, and not splintered down the bone, which is really nasty. That said, the UCF still does not allow pain drugs apart from Tylonol or Advil or 'light' drugs like that. I read Tyler was in so much pain, he had to have all of his molars capped because he ground his teeth down to nothing while bearing so much pain for so long. That dude is seriously scary tough.
I'd like to know what tires Phonak was using in the TTT.
9 riders * 64.5 km / 5 flats = 116.1 km per flat.
No thanks!
"could of" and "would of". ARGH! Big pet peeves.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Well, the part that connect the cranks is called the crank spindle. It rides on the bottom bracket bearings, one fixed, one adjustable. In the old days, these were cup races, with the other half of the race being on the spindle, with loose ball bearings. Nowadays, the bearings are in cartridges, and the only adjustment needed is for centering.
The bottom bracket proper is the tube that the down tube, seat tube and chainstays connect to, and that the cranks revolve around. However, it has become common to also refer the bearing/spindle assembly that is installed into the bottom bracket as a bottom bracket, short for bottom bracket set -- similar to the bearings installed in the head tube, called the head set.
And they're much easier to put in nowadays.
Ceci n'est pas une sig.
F'iz:ik makes excellent saddles. Both the Arione and Aliante are used by many teams in the peloton.
-- n
Passoni has leading edge technology bikes.
All frames are custom made out of titanium and/or carbon fiber. These guys actually bend titanium sheets themselves to make the pipes for the frames.
I actually own one of their racing bikes.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
First up I am a massive Tour cycling fan, but the whole doping issue is a big problem in the sport.
And we are seeing a lot of cases now of people never failing a drugs test, but being implicated in doping offences. David Millar, the GB Rider, has just been booted from the Tour and Athens for admitting to using EPO. And he hadn't failed a test.
Personally, I believe that Armstrong is clean, he is a great rider with a very powerful team. Or at least I have a lot more confidence about him being clean than I do about other US atheletes / sportspeople.
>Test him for steroids? That'll stop him. Err no, Lance is already the most tested man on the planet.
all competitors are encouraged to use performance enhancing drugs
Yes, I noticed the topic header doesn't mention the massive amounts of "recreational pharmaceuticals" these fellas snork!
Without the drugs, the Tour de France would just be another Sunday bike ride!
Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
handmadehands.co.uk
Back when I was racing and a mechanic we used to say this to people who bought expensive bikes but didn't train hard.
I'm not sure if this was mentioned in all of the posts about the TDF; but, there is a site run by my company's European division that has a real-time tracking of the cyclists. From what I remember reading, it uses RFID technology to aid the scoring.
It's not the legs the seats kill...
And that's why the (old!) bicycles issued to conscripts by the Finnish Army have gained the nickname "ball breaker".
If I had several multi-million dollar advertising contracts, I'd drop $400 on a digital player, too.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
At 23 he won the world championship road race. Later, he won the first (only?) million dollar bicycle race prize (actually, three races... The sponsor decided that the chances of a single rider winning all three was infintesimal, heh). They didn't count on Lance's iron will. He wasn't as skilled or as well trained as today, and he was far younger than the prime age for a Tour de France racer. Lance was also the first American to ever win a European Classic. He won two. He also won (at least once) the Tour du Pont, an intermediate length stage race. Those lasted about 10 days, if I recall, and included some serious mountains.
Again, this was all well before his prime and before his cancer. There were some who considered him an undisciplined hothead back then, yet his talent and will showed through. Lance doesn't need doping to win, especially since his coaching has improved and he's reached his prime racing years.
Go Lance!
Geeky modern art T-shirts
While I agree with your overall point, that people should focus more on their own weight and less on the weight of their bike, I think there's more to it, particularly given your fork weight example. In mountain biking especially, the ability to shift one's weight over one's bike is essential (as you surely know). So, having a fork that weighs one pound less will not only shave weight off your bike/body meld, but also make your front that much easier to lift and make your front that much lighter when you lean back. This is less important in road riding, but still relevant.
Think about downhill rigs. Part of the reason that these bikes can have a Marzocchi Monster T that weights 10lbs is because that weight matches well with the rest of a bike, which probably has very high guage, not-butted tubing, not to mention rear suspension, hydraulic disc brakes and chainguides. (That's the reason they can be so heavy. The reason they are is that they have to be to be strong!)
You probably know this already, but the rest of /. might not.
"I've got to stop masturbating! It makes me too lazy! Stop it, Albert. Stop it." -- Albert Einstein
Am I the only one who thought that was pretty damn clever? :-)
Chris Knight is my hero.
It is not possible for Lance and his guys, by riding hard, to gain a significant advantage over other GC contenders on a flat road stage. It's also basically impossible for Lance to get a stage win on a flat road stage, because some random sprinter can out-accelerate him in the last 200 meters. (Those same guys who can out-accelerate Lance over a very short distance will lose many minutes in the mountains, which is why Lance doesn't worry about them.) Because of all this, Lance is not making any significant time against his GC contenders as the flat road stages continue.
Yes, it is possible for a GC contender to lose time on a flat road stage, due to a crash. Thus my comment on all the GC guys riding defensively in the flat road stages.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
though, i do admire lance, after all he is doing really great after recovering from cancer.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
The peleton is an amazing beast. However, I seem to remember a couple years ago, Lance winning the 2nd to last stage. I may have to go back and review, but it was more or less a flat stage that he was able to break away from.
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
Lance's big chances to gain a time advantage are time trial stages and mountain stages. When he hits those stages, expect him to really pour on the effort.
Told you so. In each mountain stage and time trial stage, he made up time compared to his competition. He finished the Tour over six minutes ahead of the second-place rider.
Six Tours won, the first time anyone has done that. In a row, too!
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely