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[Other Sport] Cycling geeks







Glanders

Active member
Mar 12, 2012
202
That is a wonderful photo! Must be great to have raced at that level and have that connection with what's going on now.

Thanks for the big up Moto, but at the wrong side of 40, I fear that reports of my dual carriageway 'exploits' will forever be restricted to Strava and the Sussex Express! I was seriously chuffed with my 100 the other day and it's got me dreaming of a decent 12hr and 50 to go with it, but it's really just nice to have some decent form after training pretty hard for a while. Goes without saying that it's all at a very different level from what IL was up to in his misspent youth!
 


Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
That is a wonderful photo! Must be great to have raced at that level and have that connection with what's going on now.

Thanks for the big up Moto, but at the wrong side of 40, I fear that reports of my dual carriageway 'exploits' will forever be restricted to Strava and the Sussex Express! I was seriously chuffed with my 100 the other day and it's got me dreaming of a decent 12hr and 50 to go with it, but it's really just nice to have some decent form after training pretty hard for a while. Goes without saying that it's all at a very different level from what IL was up to in his misspent youth!
He isn't going to tell you himself, as i seem to remember getting IL's palmares out of him was akind to pulling teeth, I will!!

Its not just youth cycling, the boy Indurains Lungs has GB representation right through to under 23 level.
But unfortunately for him this was at the very point when our cyclist federation was the jokeist of very bad jokes.
The fact that Brad succeeded at that time is a well documented miracle, unlike all the success since.
 


Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
Hey [MENTION=12656]Pantani[/MENTION] I didn't realise this was a joint cinema and DVD release:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=458932227&pf_rd_i=283926

51QvzJiRwfL._SS40_.jpg
 






Indurain's Lungs

Legend of Garry Nelson
Jun 22, 2010
2,260
Dorset
He isn't going to tell you himself, as i seem to remember getting IL's palmares out of him was akind to pulling teeth, I will!!

Its not just youth cycling, the boy Indurains Lungs has GB representation right through to under 23 level.
But unfortunately for him this was at the very point when our cyclist federation was the jokeist of very bad jokes.
The fact that Brad succeeded at that time is a well documented miracle, unlike all the success since.

Rode up to Junior level with GB on road and track but not at U23 level - international races I did at that level were for SE regional teams over in Belgium.

It was right at the start of the World Class Performance Plan so I think things were a little better than they had been a few years before (not the kit colour of course!!). There wasn't a lot of organisation but Mike Taylor was enthusiastic on limited resources (if you've read David Millar's book you'll see how supportive he was to him). Millar is quite right about him, he was very old school but very encouraging - I remember him telling us to go out for a 4 hour ride the day before the Tour of Austria (even our longest races didn't last that long!).

At the end of my Junior year there was a bit of a shake up and a selection was made for the levels of support in the WCPP - I went for testing in Manchester but it was January and raw numbers were never my strength so was overlooked. The selection was based on a watts/kg at the end of a ramp test so I'd been trying to lose weight over the winter and got down to 62kg (5% body fat) and felt like shit. The only feedback from the test was that I should lose a bit more weight!!! I continued racing off my own back but had no contact from British Cycling ever again.

It is probably that lack of contact that has improved most over the years. I was picked up for the track squad and the Junior track coach was Marshall Thomas; he was the only guy who ever really took an interest and helped with training advice etc. It wasn't until I won the first National series race the following year that the road team took notice and even then I had no contact until August of that year. At no time did anyone ask what we were doing in training, what our racing plan was and there was no input about how to target the international races.

In some ways, I'm glad it worked out how it did - nowadays I might have wasted several years trying to make it through the British system and then being stuck somewhere in my mid-20s having not gone to University. However, I'm sure the lack of guidance in my first senior year is the reason I didn't ride a bike again for 10 years - its a miserable existence when you're slogging away in Premier Calendars without any support or encouragement from a team/coach.
 


Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
Hey, this has probably been discussed tirelessly on this thread, but 750 pages is too much for my poor fuddled brain to search through. Basically I'd like to know if any of you guys would recommend a particular camera, that balances value with battery life, sound quality, and clarity of picture. Is the GoPro camera the go-to model to buy, or does anyone know of another make that offers a reasonable compromise between cost and performance?

Up til now I've used a crappy 20 quid mini DV camera mounted on the handlebars, but as summer is approaching and I have more free time after uni, I'm starting to look more seriously at better options. Budget-wise, I'd rather not fork out more than £80. Amazon is OK for reviews, but there never seems to be much consistency from one review to the next. Thanks one and all.
This popped up on the geek twitter feed:-
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/shimano-sport-camera-cm-1000-just-in-41193/

Somewhat out of your price range, but there's some links, that might interest, at the bottom of the article.
 








Glanders

Active member
Mar 12, 2012
202
Thanks for that resume IL - I feel like I'm properly up to speed now! Seems like your only mistake was being born a few years too early? That said, given the farce that pro cycling was descending into at that point, maybe you had a lucky escape? Either way, it sounds like you gave it a really good go and that must be a source of immense satisfaction. NSC geek royalty!
 


Indurain's Lungs

Legend of Garry Nelson
Jun 22, 2010
2,260
Dorset
Thanks for that resume IL - I feel like I'm properly up to speed now! Seems like your only mistake was being born a few years too early? That said, given the farce that pro cycling was descending into at that point, maybe you had a lucky escape? Either way, it sounds like you gave it a really good go and that must be a source of immense satisfaction. NSC geek royalty!

Yes, it could have got messy!!

It is very satisfying, though it means I feel fat, slow and unfit every time I get on a bike these days!!!!
 






1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,216
Ooh, very strong break getting away so far. All the usual suspects among them - Arredondo, Cataldo, Duarte, Deignan, Wellens etc. But also Pellizotti and Sir Thomas of De Gendt too.

So, De Gendt in the break as well yesterday - does this mean OPQS have admitted defeat and no longer need him to work for Uran?
 


1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,216
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Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
I am currently convincing myself that this Giro and today's stage in particular is amazingly clean.

The yo-yoing on the front with nobody being able to make any attack stick is classic 'normal' racing.
The fact that 2 'typical' Colombians finally pull out the win, underlines that.
Plus the riders who looked dead and buried weren't ridden away from.


Tell me I'm wrong, so my hopes can be dashed before the media storm!!
 


Indurain's Lungs

Legend of Garry Nelson
Jun 22, 2010
2,260
Dorset
I am currently convincing myself that this Giro and today's stage in particular is amazingly clean.

The yo-yoing on the front with nobody being able to make any attack stick is classic 'normal' racing.
The fact that 2 'typical' Colombians finally pull out the win, underlines that.
Plus the riders who looked dead and buried weren't ridden away from.


Tell me I'm wrong, so my hopes can be dashed before the media storm!!

You may be right. Aru's data showed him at 5.8w/kg for the 40 minute final climb - very physiological.
 




1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,216
So assuming things really are as clean as they've ever been, does this mean the gaps are likely to be smaller tomorrow than they usually would on this kind of MTT?
 




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