The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige continues with its the final Grand Tour of the season, la Vuelta a España, on Saturday, August 28. This will be the final opportunity for contestants to rake in a load of points; and with the list of injuries, and non-starts together with riders using the race as preparation for the World Championships in October, it will make it all the more challenging to pull together some good picks.
This particular Grand Tour is simultaneously the most boring and most exciting; various sections of Spain features desert with dead-straight roads where little is to be seen aside from a colorful peloton gliding along a road for 6 hours. On the other hand, the mountains are steep and brutal, and the weather this time of year can be atrocious, so the mountain stages tend to showcase fireworks like we don’t see elsewhere during the season.
Having run the VSP Giro and Tour editions where we tested the ruleset for picks, and I think by this time we’ve managed to set up a scoring system that seems fair and helps to close down the competition to afford newcomers the ability to catch up with some good picks. There is a full overview of the rules and standing at the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page, but here is the ten-second overview:
Every contestant is to choose their top five General Classification picks of the race. The final podium of la Vuelta is worth 15 points to the winner, 10 points for second, 5 points for third, 3 points for fourth, and 2 point for fifth. Given the effect crashes can have on a tour, there are guidelines around making changes to your lineup during the race: you’re allowed to change your lineup if any rider in your pick list drops out for any reason without any penalty; rest days will allow contestants to make changes to their lineup, however those changes will come at a point penalty. (Visit the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page for a complete breakdown of these points.)
Every day, the leader in the points standings will have the honor of wearing the Golden Jersey when posting on the site; the overall winner will wear the Golden Jersey for the remainder of the season and will also earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker. All reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free Velominati Artisan’s Shroud. As always, if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings.
Continuing with our jersey picks from the Tour de France edition is the competition of naming the winner of the points and climber’s jersey winners. There will be no points awarded towards these two jerseys, but the leader of the competition will have the honor of commenting with associated jersey badge throughout the competition and the winner will earn the right to comment with that badge until next year’s race. The contestant who picks both the final points and climbers jersey winners correctly will win a Velominati Logo bumper sticker. Tie-breakers will go to the first contestant who posts their entire lineup (all 5 GC picks plus points and climbers jersey winners). Given that this sub-competition has no points, pick substitutions will only be granted under the DNF regulations of the VSP; no rest-day substitutions are allowed.
Sub-competitions will be conducted while the Vuelta is underway for specific stages. These stages will be chosen a few days prior to the stage being held and will be selected based on the current race conditions with the aim of choosing the most decisive and exciting stages of the race, so check back often to make sure you don’t miss out. Sub-competitions will be held in separate editions.
Good luck!
Rules and results are posted Velominati Super Prestige page.
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@all
Marcus takes the lead today in the three-way tie-breaker based on his entering the picks first. Ben takes over in the sprints competition, and Marcus also holds the lead in the spotted jumper comp, so that jersey still falls to Sgt.
1 Brett 15 points
2 Marcus 6 points
3 Ben 6 points
4 Cyclops 6 points
5 Roberto Marques 3 points
6 Jarvis 2 points
7 Geof 2 points
8 Steampunk 2 points
9 KitCarson 2 points
13 Andy 2 points
10 Hawkeye 2 points
11 Nathan Edwards 1 point
12 Frank 1 point
14 Marko 0 points
15 Minion 0 points
16 Sgt 0 points
17 John 0 points
You can double-check my math here.
UPDATED: @Jarvis, @Roberto Marques: I've gone ahead and given you your Grimplet swaps for free.
Ok, so I just woke up to the Schleck news...
Please substitute J-Rod for the pisshead.
And I expect NO penalty for this, as I hadn't changed him on the rest day, and was confident he would make up the 20 minutes in the mountains, or withdraw before rest day 2. Tactical nous, you see... the fact that he was removed is out of my hands, and therefore without penalty.
Thanks Stuey, the cheque is in the mail.
Well, since grimpito has gone a-boozing, I guess I'll also have to sub-in senor J Rod
At risk of invoking the wrath of the keepers and other velominati, I want to pick up where Michael left off and revisit compact cranksets. Please treat it as a learning experience for both myself and other younglings with similar doubts.
I confess, I run a 50/34 with a 12 - 27 rear cassette. 90% of the time my cadence is between 85 and 100, and - althought I teeter between being too fat to climb and being someone who climbs well for his weight - I ride for the challenge of doing big climbs, and like nothing better than seeking out the pain that comes when the road rears up and smacks me in the face for long periods of time and the sweet, sweet ecstasy of reaching that point just before my lungs just stop working and holding it there.
On flats / descents, I rarely top out in 50x12, and on long steep climbs, fully use my lower-end range at a cadence of 50 to 60-ish (Ventoux in 34x29, average heart rate 174; Tourmalet 34x27, average heart rate a little better at 165 albeit with another 9months of experience / training). If I were to switch out to, say, a 52/39 crankset... to get the equivalent gearing, I'd need like a 33 on the rear cassette (according to Sheldon Brown calculator)? which IMO just looks wrong (not to mention, a hazard in a crosswind). Yes, you'll all say, but just HTFU and get used to riding a bigger gear - why not do the Alpe on a 39x22 (fuck it, why not stay on the big ring all the way up?). Well.... yes and no. It would be great if I could. But I've been working at upping my power for 3 years now, and I'm getting stronger, but not the 20-30% stronger I'd need to be able to miss out on the bottom two gears I've currently got, and nowhere near what I'd need to do to carry off a 24 / 25 max chainring on rear cassette which I think is what the Velominati aesthetic would recommend.
I seem to recall Tyler H winning a great 100km+ breakaway in 2003 (04?)using a compact (average cadence 116 apparaently) - and yes, he's completely mad and a psycho to boot (and he was nursing a broken collarbone at the time, grinding 14 of his teeth down to stumps in the process), but I also believe that Bertie used an SRAM Compact on some of the mountain stages in 2009 (although can't confirm)... so whilst there is no historical pedigree, in more modern times, the pro-peloton are beginning to use them.
So educate me: a) what is it that so isn't stylish? (if you see a guy with a nice bike that is the wrong size for him, he looks like a douche... why not the same with gears - picture aforesaid cyclist, well turned out on a great looking bike (matching bars, saddle, tyres, frame; fully squared away; slammed-down headset, etc.) climbing a rather genteel slope at a cadence of, say, 9?) and b) how do I overcome the gearing difference on the lower end if I were to switch (on my path to true enlightenment)?
The 34 makes it look like a granny-ring as well as the ratio between the inner and outer rings being unsightly.
Bertie used a compact out of necessity. I live in a hilly area and when I was riding a borrowed bike with a compact I found that the only times I needed the inner ring was on really steep hills - say
I switched to a compact crank this year and it was the best thing I've ever done. My knees love me long time now. Also, I may be lighter (by ten pounds) and in better shape than I was last year but I'm doing the local 10km climb about six minutes faster than I was last year. I don't think that large of a time difference is solely based on fitness/weight.
This is the way I look at it. The top cyclists in the world that are at a level that is exponentially higher than me run a regular crankset. They also averaged over 46kph for three weeks over 3600km the last year that Lance Livewrong won the maillot jaune. Does running a regular crankset make this 49 year old Cat V a stud? Not when I probably average around 200 watts on the average ride and the pros are averaging 400 or better.
Besides, I can spin a 50x12 up to 72kph (but not for very long) when motor-pacing so I can go plenty fast on a compact.
Did I mention I actually don't run a compact crankset :P Anyhow, I think the compact crankset should be used only when necessary. "When necessary" can be defined as always for some. For me it's going to be on the winter bike / cyclocross bike / the bike I want to use when I want to go easy or do a recovery ride. I'm in Portland and we have some good 5-6km climbs here and when I raced I used a 39 or 42 x 24 for training. It was more than adequate 99% of the time. 13 years later, it's not cutting it, but neither am I.
I will install one in the next few weeks and if by June, I haven't lost 5 kilos and can handle the 34x21, I'll keep it. But ttytt, I actually looked at a 34x50 today and it does look lame. I think 34x44 on the cross bike looks just fine.
Here's the deal. Lets look at the facts.
1) FACT. Bigga look mo' bettah. 55T vs 50T? 55T every time.
2) FACT. The ratio between big and small ring should be as close to 75% as possible. That means 53/39T is sexy, 50x34T is not.
3) POSTULATE. Bigger rings offer a better mechanical advantage over smaller rings.
4) FACT. Being over-geared means you will go slower. Fabian put it in a gear less and went steady up with more speed than Boonen, who was overgeared.
5) RULE 10. It never gets easier, you just go faster. That means the harder you work at it, the better you get at avoiding the situation outlined in 4.
6) POSTULATE. When not riding a bloc, your body will fall into it's "natural rhythm". That means that if your body feels good at 60rpm, you will settle into that cadence on a long grinder. Thus, if you're in a smaller gear, you will go slower (you'll just settle into the same cadence, but at a lower speed.)
7) FACT. Deer flies can go up to 12kmph. You better ride faster than that or you will hate climbing in the Pyrenees.
8) CORRELATION. Being over geared and knee injuries tend to go hand-in-hand.
9) #1 priority is to ride your bike and enjoy it
I think that pretty much sums up why there's no Rule for this. We're not going to tell anyone to risk injury and not be able to ride their bikes. But, you better well realize that a compact will never look as good as a big boy crankset, fucktards.
@frank
or put another way, 10kph up a climb in your 39 still looks superior (or "less inferior"?)to 12kph in a 34?
@Marcus
No, no,no,no,no! Your bike leaning against the cafe wall post-ride will look better with a 53/39 than with a compact.