Mountain Bru

Ganna or Dennis.... I think the course is better suited to Dennis or WVA though.

Seems there's some drama about the MVDP crash... Apparently there were was a wooden ramp at that jump in training, but they removed it for the last practice session. MVDP was apparently expecting it and so wasn't prepared for the jump. If that's true, it's pretty poor from MVDP considering everyone seemed to know what was coming. Not been a good 2 days for Dutch cycling.

Was a joke... I assume you didn't watch the Womans road race?

With no race radios, how do these guys know that Pidcock is up the road?

Not sure who designed Cascades, but they said this course was designed by a dude from Maritzberg, so I assume so.

Hatherly 13s back

Apparently not But he didn't even attempt the jump before he bailed. Looked like he didn't realize there was a gap to jump and went nose heavy over the crest when everyone else was jumping the gap

He's back on the bike.... Queue the synth music for a sick comeback...

MVDP down.... Looks out

Saw he's sitting in 19th

The dude that won collapsed just after the line, and then was chundering all over the carpet there, and the worst thing I saw was still the white tri suites.

How do they decide who gets to stand in front at the start?

Highest placed guys that didn't ride the TDF were: A.Yates in 9th, Schachman in 10th, Almeida in 13th. Fuglsang I guess is the highest of the guys that pulled out of the tour in 12th, but he pulled out after stage 20, so I dunno if he really counts. Apart from MVDP, I'm not sure who else pulled out specifically to prep for the Olympics. Roglic and S. Yates abandoned mid race, but I don't think that was really to prep for the Olympics. It was more due to injury. If they hadn't crashed, there's no chance either of those guys would have abandoned the tdf.

I don't understand this Olympic triathlon story, or at least not the bike leg. Seems the whole field is together, cruising along. Why is anyone bothering to pace though? Then one dude literally just rolled off the front without any response from anyone, and it seems that no one is chasing at all, and he took a 15s lead on the bunch, but now they're chasing him on the run? Surely it's easier to chase on the bike with a drafting advantage. I don't really watch triathlon, but flip these tactics make no sense to me

In other news, you can buy these Farr frames on Takealot.... https://www.takealot.com/farr-out-gravel-framekit-medium-52cm-orange/PLID72740256 https://www.takealot.com/farr-out-gravel-framekit-medium-52cm-grey/PLID72740236 Well as long as you're a medium size.

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Saving moola on that extra cage (and the spez stickers). Noice!

Is that WADA approved? What does that taste like? Do you just mix it with water? Or do you add other stuff to the mix too?

So do guys ride in bunches and take turns on the front? While on the TT bars? Hectic stuff.

Is drafting now allowed in triathlons???? ????

Wouldn't quite put Alex Honnold in the same category. If risk is probability x consequence, his risk is probably much lower than you think. He said in an interview once that he thinks mountain bikers are nuts for doing what they do. For him, the consequence of it going wrong is massive, but the probability is small (by his standards) considering he spent 2 years learning every hold and maneuver on El Cap with a rope before he free soloed it. Like the equivalent of Atherton riding that line for 2 years except the entire mountain is made of foam and can't hurt him, and then doing it once on the real thing once he's nailed every section 100 times. In Honnold's eyes, mountain bikers have a higher probability of falling and hurting themselves, but the injuries are less severe than falling off a mountain. So in his eyes, mountain biking is a higher risk than free soloing EL Cap. (They're all a bit cooked upstairs in my opinion though)

Saw this the other day. Not sure if I'm sold on it though. On a normal drop bar with roadie levers, you can pull the brakes and shift from the hoods and the drops. From the looks of things you can only brake from the "ends" of these bars, which might make the other hand positions less useful, in which case you'd be better off with a shallow drop gravel bar and roadie type levers.

So that rules Pogacar out. (This thread made more sense when the road race was a separate discussion to the mtb race)

I don't gamble, but I like having a look at the odds sometimes. Seems Pog is the favorite as it stands. Fuglsang doesn't deserve to be on the board after his tour. Gaudu is another good option I think.

Who's your pick? ???? I wouldn't say A.Yates is my favorite rider, but if there isn't a big break up the road, you'd have to say Britain have on of the better climbing teams who have good chance of working well together with 3 of them being from Ineos, and the other being the brother of the possible leader. Adam didn't do the tour, is more consistent than Simon, and isn't terrible in the descents (although he did crash that one year at the tour when Alaphalippe was chasing him). In my mind, he must be one of the favourites.