Don't ride triples, win triples.
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and disrespectful neo-pro, he’s blossomed into one of the most exciting and charismatic racers in the bunch. A sort of modern-day Mario Cipollini.
And, as much as I dislike seeing riders dominate and take the excitement out of the sport, I love watching Peter race and I expect that if he manages to pull off his third straight worlds title, it was be a spectacular feat. Besides, he looks great in his black bibs with the bands, and I’ve gotten quite used to seeing him in those colors, so I don’t want to have to adjust to seeing another rider in them.
And, everybody knows you don’t ride triples; win triples.
Check the start list and good luck!
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@Rick
Musettes at dawn?
Just done an interesting comparison. Normally I ride my Steel bike on the rollers Athena Gruppo, Mavic Pro rims, conventional spoked wheels. I've just run the same 1hr rolling routine as I did on Friday but used #1 Bike Gruppo SR, Shamal wheels. In 1hr I "covered" 15% further on #1. Now, I've always known that #1 was faster (thankfully) but put that down mainly to weight and overall aero. However on rollers weight and aero of the frame are zero issues so most of the difference I guess is down to the wheels and I assume aero relating to the spokes (not many and bladed vs a forest and round). So tomorrow I'll swap wheels to the steel bike and see what components make most difference. At least it's good to know that all that money does have a measurable benefit! (PS It's not a binding brake on the steel bike - I checked that!).
@wiscot
Bidons at high noon.
@Teocalli
very interesting! i have two virtually identical bikes, and the one with the heavier wheels is the faster of the two. weird how that can be! i am very interested in what you learn from this wheel swap experiment.
So #1 wheels on Steel Pina and I get near as damn it, the same distance in 1 hr. So there would appear to be minimal loss to an Gruppo Athena group set vs Gruppo SR on a Roller setup and it is down to the wheels. So next is to service the semi vintage hubs as they are old Chorus (practically vintage) and check out that they are not worn before putting it all down down to the extra resistance from the spokes.
@Teocalli
What about the tyres?
@RobSandy
I did discount that as a difference but #1 has Vittoria G+ Graphene Open Corsa and the trad wheels have Vittoria Corsa pre Graphene. Both are 25mm. I am also using the same Garmin hub speed sensor for both wheels so the electronics should be the same.
@Teocalli
Just seems like a LOT of difference to be down to hub friction.
@RobSandy
Yeah - I'm thinking spokes rather than hub but it does seem a lot. Kinda adds some interest to winter miles on the rollers though. I had expected that the Athena would account for some of the difference vs SR but anything there is not significant so it does seem to be the wheels/spokes unless there was something generating resistance I did not spot with the older wheels in place.
Adds a certain piquant to riding with my buddy when I trash him on the Steel bike. "Hey But, you realise I'm 15% slower on the bike I just trashed you on........".
I have a suspicion though that while there will be a difference some of it is down to something I did not spot and may simply go away. Anyway may as well service the hubs before the next cross check out of interest.
@Teocalli
The G+ is supposed to have less rolling resistance, I've seen a study showing 5-6% difference compared to the Corsa CXIII. This could explain some of your differences on the rollers.
I recently glued on a set of G+, but I only have ridden them 60km or so. It was a couple of months since I had the CXIII's on, so I couldn't do a direct comparison. My initial impressions are the G+ rolls just fine, but they don't seem as compliant in ride quality compared to the older Corsas. More testing/riding to come...