It’s right around this time of year when the little voice in my head that spurs me on in cold, wet, Rule #9 conditions starts getting overpowered by all my other personalities who at this stage are gathering stones and crowbars and getting ready to enforce their will on him regarding their preference for riding in nice, warm, sunny conditions. I feel bad for the little guy, too, since he helps me a lot in a climate like the Pacific Northwest; but truth be told, my fingers still haven’t regained their feeling from last week’s ride and I admit it would be nice to arrive home after a ride triumphant and warm instead of frozen and soaked like a wet rat.
It appears I’m not the only one ready for some warmer weather, and Paris-Nice traditionally holds a place of honor as “The Race to the Sun” for its timing is such that the race often starts in the French interior with rain (and possibly snow), and arrives on the sunny Cote d’Azur in Nice in balmy conditions.
With that we start our first stage race of the season, along with an opportunity to expose more bugs and logical faults in the VSP software. But never mind that; the same basic rules apply as do with one-day races, expect the stakes are a bit higher with 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 7 for third, 5 for fourth, and 3 for fifth plus two bonus points per rider in the top five regardless of the rider’s placing. Should the race be exciting enough to merit its inclusion, The Keepers may elect to include a bonus round on the VSP for one of the stages along the way. Watch this space for news in that arena.
Check the start list and watch the countdown timer as picks close at 5am Pacific on Sunday; up for grabs is the personalized Velominati Shop Apron to the contestent who wins the season-long competition. Check the Main VSP page for scoring guidelines and rules. Seeing as this is the first stage race, I strongly encourage you to enter your picks early, knowing that you can make changes all the way up until the VSP closes. If you notice something behaving strangely, please let us know and we’ll have time to resolve the issue.
Good luck.
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@snoov
Quick guess would be that more mass at the same angle would produce more force in the vector parallel to the ground, so much easier to over come frictional force in that direction. There would be more force directed down as well, but the force to the side matters more if I am thinking right.
@Bill
The whole thing is probably oversimplified. Wiggo looks to have a steeper angle from saddle contact to BB, allowing for a much flatter back than Schleck's (is that Andy?) which has more curvature. Probably comes down to lack of flexibility.
@Netraam
I'd agree that Wiggins probably has more muscle and less fat which gives him much more definition and of course speed. His gun look quite a bit bigger to me.
What a disappointing showing by Martin so far. Yesterday could be explained by the rain, but today? He's got a vet like Levi on the team and should have been on his wheel. I could understand a mistake like that from Rein, but Martin should know better.
On the other hand great job by TJVG so far. Maybe this will be a bit of a coming out party for him?
Glad to see Boonen looking so good this early as well. So pumped for the classics, this spring is going to be amazing.
Good showing by Phinney keeping TJVG out of trouble, good to see him up front after his injuries last season - lets see if the young 'uns can keep it up.
Awesome showing by Wiggo and Geraint, and good to see Tommeke back on form...
@Tobin
Well, the picture shows the concept, although executed poorly. The line for Wiggins goes through his eyes, while Andy's goes ABOVE his ear. It also shows that low is not always better (a discussion that has been brought up here many times). Andy looks as if he's on a cruiser riding rails to trails in comparison.
Interesting that Wiggins has a less aero helmet - while I'm sure it not, at least visually it looks so.
Also, given the above, it's plainly obvious that Wiggins' Q-Ring is the real driving factor between their performance. Conceptually the Q-Ring makes sense, but it seems odd. Maybe the wind tunnel has shown that Wiggins can keep a more steady consistent position for longer with an ovoid ring vs a standard circular one.
Everyone bitching the lines aren't drawn correctly, could it perhaps be that the lines are meant to cross through the hips and shoulders? That the line also passes Wiggins' nose might be saying something about the position.
If the lines go through the hips and shoulders, they say something about the position of the body. Everyone here is talking about how the lines don't meet up at the mouths, but that's besides the point.
I don't even know if I'm making sense here.
@Gerard
Great points about Geraint and Phinney. I'm really excited to see what Tyler has for the Classics. He did a lot of training and racing in Belgium as part of the USA development team and knows those roads well.
Hmm, I'm pretty far from France but we had sustained 15-30mph wind today with gusts of 40-50. I thought it was bad heading out, until I turned back. I can never help but wondering what the cagers are thinking. "Gosh, that dude in Lycra is pedaling really hard to be going to damn slowly. What's his problem?"
Yeah, Martin is making a lot of us look pretty bad with our picks. Ugh, I had Ralph Wiggum slotted at #1 before an early morning switch. Oh well, I'm going to learn my lesson and make picks for the remained of the VSP and then leave well enough alone.
Either way, waking up for the third day in a row and watching bike racing is pretty damn awesome. Italy, France, France. Nice scenery, just a wee better than Oman!
@LA Dave
Wait, Tyler or Taylor? I'm confused.
And I'm very happy to see Boonen doing so well again. Just was reading about how he can't race well without radios and it cost him in Omloop. Ehh. I'm still learning a whole bunch about bike racing, but jeez, the guy is doing a pretty good job from how I see things. Off to a very strong start & at their level any sort of consistent winning impresses the heck out of me. There are so many things that can go wrong every day out there. Such as the dude who got his jacket caught in his RD today. Phew, glad to see he stayed upright!
Was watching Paris-Nice on a certain provider, when I came across this:
What the fucking fuck?