July 3rd Tour de France on OLN - Questions...

Fabrizio Mazzoleni wrote:
"Veloise" wrote in message

What was she wearing

A black tee with straps.

You're slipping, Fabs. What was the *brand* name? g

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Fred wrote:

One of the major components of bicycle racing on the road
is the effect of aerodynamics.

I had just taken a sip of Bass Ale, then snorted it out my nose when I
heard either Phil Liggett or Paul Sherwen [I don't remember which] say
Lance's Trek is the most aerodynamic bike in production. I can only try
to imagine how hard it is to think "outside the box" for someone who has
never actually been outside the box.

--
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much
to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes,
it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)

LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0 m wrote:
Fred wrote:

One of the major components of bicycle racing on the road
is the effect of aerodynamics.


I had just taken a sip of Bass Ale, then snorted it out my nose when I
heard either Phil Liggett or Paul Sherwen [I don't remember which] say
Lance's Trek is the most aerodynamic bike in production. I can only try
to imagine how hard it is to think "outside the box" for someone who has
never actually been outside the box.


While Lances bike may be built by Trek, on a standard Trek road frame,
it's most likely that it has been so highly customized, that it really
has about as much resemblance to a production bike, as a Formula one
Honda race car does to the Civic in the showroom.

W

Fred wrote:
When a group of riders ride closely together, the riders behind the front
riders receive a 20 to 35% reduction in the power requirement to travel at
the same speed. By trading positions at the front, the riders alternate
between resting and working hard. On flat ground the group travels at a
constant 30mph for very long distances. Faster than any rider could do over
such long distances by themselves.

I never appreciated that difference until I got to ride in a
loosely-organized group of 25-30 riders led by some of the local
hotshots last summer. After an hour I started to get impatient since
we didn't seem to be doing any work. (Heck, aren't we out here for
exercise??) I looked down at my computer and it finally dawned on me
that we were doing over 25 MPH! I didn't have my HRM on, but I don't
think I was doing more than 100-110, which is a recovery rate for me.
Heck, half the time I was coasting. The draft in a large group is
simply amazing.

I notice with the HRM data they've been showing on OLN, the guys in the
peloton are in the 95-110 range on flat roads. Given that they're all
about 15-20 years younger than me, that's probably an easy recovery
pulse for them, too.


-JR

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In article ,
The Wogster wrote:
LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0 m wrote:
Fred wrote:

One of the major components of bicycle racing on the road
is the effect of aerodynamics.


I had just taken a sip of Bass Ale, then snorted it out my nose when I
heard either Phil Liggett or Paul Sherwen [I don't remember which] say
Lance's Trek is the most aerodynamic bike in production. I can only try
to imagine how hard it is to think "outside the box" for someone who has
never actually been outside the box.


While Lances bike may be built by Trek, on a standard Trek road frame,
it's most likely that it has been so highly customized, that it really
has about as much resemblance to a production bike, as a Formula one
Honda race car does to the Civic in the showroom.


_ This is not as true as you would think. For one it would be
against the UCI rules[1] and for two, those molds are pretty damn
expensive, even winning the tour is not enough to justify
building one or ten bikes. What Trek does is build the molds
to suit Lance and then pumps out ton's of copies. When you
buy a Madonna or whatever, you're a lot closer to what Lance
is riding than your civic is to a formula one car.

_ Booker C. Bense


[1]_ Racers are supposed to use "production bikes", i.e. a
bicycle that you can buy, maybe not right now, but eventually.
UCI rules forbid the use of one off bikes. The rules are an
attempt to limit the advantage of technology in bicycle racing.

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Booker C. Bense wrote:

When you
buy a Madonna or whatever, you're a lot closer to what Lance
is riding...

Sheryl is quite a bit younger.

FWIW, BS