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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 27, 2018 - 12:48pm PT
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Damn: didn't Lawson Craddock describe The Tour as a horror show?
At least Taylor made the time cut.
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Mill Valley, Ca
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Jul 27, 2018 - 12:52pm PT
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^^ Hardman!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 27, 2018 - 02:35pm PT
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Meanwhile, even Sagan, man of steel, after getting beat up by the guerrilla that is The Tour, is presently reduced to a crawl toward the Champs Élysées.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 27, 2018 - 02:46pm PT
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I have to disagree about the so-called “drafting.”
From my experience you have to be way closer than 20 feet to feel a draft off another rider or a motorcycle.
The footage I saw (several times) never showed him sucking wheel.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 27, 2018 - 03:04pm PT
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I've watched the shootout going up and over the col d’Aubisque several times now.
Damn, that is some scintillating sports action, with too much detail for me to try to digest and describe. Except that despite Majka taking the crest ahead of everyone by 5 or 6 seconds, the whole time the others were fighting for position behind him, Roglic displayed some high quality turnover in his legs and good stillness in his upper body; in a word, showing that he had the right stuff.
It was telling that on the descent, at one point Chris Froome was actually working for G Thomas. When it was all over, during the first interview, Roglic's overall physical and mental constitution appeared remarkably solid, which was perhaps not so surprising given how well he handled his attack.
This was very exciting to see how all the bridging and change of positions occurred. I'll be watching it all over again in a couple of hours!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 27, 2018 - 03:24pm PT
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Yes that is an interesting article, Bruce, especially this:
A lower tire pressure with more surface contact translates to lower rolling resistance To me that's counterintuitive. But I'm not an engineer. Maybe smoother, more complete contact, up to a point, equals lower rolling resistance?
What isn't counterintuitive, is this part, which is probably a corollary or antecedent to the first quote:
And the bikes are much stiffer these days, with the carbon-fiber frames, especially the aero frames , and the aero rims — like when you're running like a 50mm-section rim, which is quite deep — all that stuff is stiff, so the lower pressure helps provide more comfort for the rider Sometimes comfort and compliance equals speed, because the rider is being bounced around less and is therefore, perhaps due to less tentativeness in the rider/bicycle/road interface, freer to apply musculature to the task more forcefully and confidently. Plus, increased comfort equals less cumulative fatigue over the long haul.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Jul 27, 2018 - 06:31pm PT
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schedule a septic pump for next june roy ... we're all coming to your place for TdF '19
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 27, 2018 - 08:15pm PT
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Ha ha. Yeah, head on over! I dig company!
… and instead of "Ask Bobke", we'll set up a Skype pipeline with Bruce Hildenbrand and brand it: "Ask Hilde".
Here, I'll go first:
Say, Bruce, where is Bernard Hinault a.k.a. The Badger this year?
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mynameismud
climber
backseat
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Jul 27, 2018 - 09:06pm PT
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Took a tree to the face And, rode on...
I started to ride 25c tubular and like it. So smooth.
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Jul 27, 2018 - 11:07pm PT
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Tar,
I always enjoyed spending time with Bernard at the Tour having lived with Andy Hampsten in Switzerland when he was on La Vie Claire with Bernard and Greg. Hinault would ask always ask me how Andy was doing and seemed pleased that things were going well.
Andy took the leader's jersey on the first stage of the 1986 Tour of Switzerland. The next day's stage was pouring rain, but and Andy refused to wear a rain jacket during the stage because you couldn't see that he was wearing the leader's jersey.
With 25 miles to go Andy was going hypothermic and in danger of getting dropped when Hinault came up, pointed to his rear wheel and towed Andy to the finish to save the jersey and, ultimately, the race.
Bernard, much like another 5-time Tour winner Miguel Indurain, is a private person who likes to spend as much time as possible on his farm in Brittany.
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Jul 27, 2018 - 11:17pm PT
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Tar,
In 2005, Austin's NPR radio station, KUT, contacted me before the Tour and asked if I could come on the air with them once a week, live from the race, and give an update on how Lance and his team was doing. So, I drove up to KQED studios in San Francisco just before I left and did my first live piece.
A couple of days into the race I called in from France and the people at KUT said that they had gotten very good reviews from my first piece and instead of once a week, could I come on air every three days. After my second piece they asked if I could do it every day(that was some good $$$). So, everyday after the stage would end, I would call into KUT and give them an update.
In the third week, I took a day off to go ride Mont Ventoux. I came down to breakfast that morning and saw a father and son who were clearly American. I introduced myself and asked them if they were following the Tour. They said that they were mostly on vacation, but they were from Austin, Texas and what they missed most was this guy who came on KUT every day and gave an update on Lance and his team.
Boy, were they surprised!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 28, 2018 - 05:47am PT
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Thanks for the anecdotes, Bruce!
At previous TDFs, Bernard has been first in line to shake the hand of the jersey winners at the podium.
But not this year, and he's been missed. Any idea why not?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 28, 2018 - 08:19am PT
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Good stable performances in the time trial by the top three, not so for Roglic.
TD first place. (Gave a much better interview today than yesterday!)
Froome 2nd. (+<1 sec!)
G 3rd. (He can finally believe he's won the whole enchilada!)
Dumoulin not taking in onboard time updates, just riding the damn thing like the champion he is.
Seems like competitive justice, if there is such a thing, (or let's just say consistent with his overall performance) for Chris to knock Roglic off the podium given that Roglic had bumped him just in the recent stage, while Froome had held a higher position throughout Le Tour.
G Thomas did get a bit out of shape on the difficult right-hander: yikes!
A relief to see Phinney get back on his bike and finish!
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Jul 28, 2018 - 11:59am PT
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Tar,
Hinault retired from working with ASO last year. He's 63 and it's probably time. It looked like Thomas Voeckler was going to replace him, but I am not sure if that is going to happen.
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Trump
climber
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Jul 28, 2018 - 09:13pm PT
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What a great tour! I haven’t enjoyed the race that much in years.
I think I’m now a fan of all those guys. Egan Bernal - the youngest rider - what??! That guy’s a stud. He wasn’t just one of the handful of guys left at the end of the hardest stages while working for his leader - he was working for two of them!
Hope it’s this good next year.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 28, 2018 - 11:09pm PT
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WRT the winner:
(The reference is obvious, right?)
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Jul 29, 2018 - 11:01am PT
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G!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 29, 2018 - 11:11am PT
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So, Bruce, will a Frenchman ever win again?
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SuperTopo on the Web
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Let us know!