Mountain Bru

Sorry to disappoint ????

Any specific bike you'd recommend? I like the idea of running wide 650b tyres. Do you think that'll negate the need for suspension on the bumpy stuff?

This isn't super effective when going on holiday and you need an N+1 bike rack ????

Ahaaaaaa... I'm guessing thats why the chain sometimes "sticks" to the cassette and rotates with it after it should. I thought that was a chain tension problem.

Froome suffering at the back of the pelo... The commentators talking about these climbs being unchartered territory for Froome obviously forgot that he's been racing since Jan/Feb last year and did the Dauphine last year.

Must. avoid. baiting..... Say what you want about him, but the 2019 Amstel Gold was the best finish to a race I've ever seen.

I think I heard in one of his videos a while ago (or maybe when he did watchalong commentary a few years ago) that he was banned from sports betting in Oz after doing a little too well.... Apparently objective analysis and an understanding of the sport can make you unpopular with the bookies.

Nope not joking at all. I have no idea how to look at a cassette and see if it's toast. I just wait for a new chain to slip. Are you referring to the "bulge" of aluminum on the top of the tooth? Is that the sign that it's time to replace it?

For some eye candy, here's a pic of my Farr bike before I sold it. On a smooth gravel road, it was a wonderful machine.

A few years ago I tried to replace my mountain bike with a gravel bike (one of those steel frame Farr jobbies)... The hope was that it would be an awesome "do it all bike" that's fun to ride on gravel roads, decent to ride on the road, and capable of doing some light single track. But I hated it. I stay in Pretoria, so there aren't miles and miles of perfectly smooth gravel roads on my door step. So what I ended up with was a bike that I liked, but that made me wish I was on something else every time I rode it. On the road, I wished I was on my road bike, on gravel roads, I wished I was on a mountain bike, and on anything remotely technical, I wished I was sipping coffee on the couch. Not sure if it was just my setup, or the geometry, or the steel frame, or that I needed to pump the tyres quite hard to prevent dinging the rims, but it was unforgiving on anything bumpy or rocky. It felt like I was always too heavy on the front wheel, and always missed not having any suspension in the front. So now I'm wondering.... does the perfect "do it all bike" exist? I'm also wondering if it's not a better approach to replace my hardcore road racing machine with a carbon endurance bike like a Spez Diverge or Roubaix, and then have a gravel wheelset with wide tyres, and a road wheelset. That way I'll have a decent road bike that can do some gravel, rather than a bike thats kind of average at everything but leaves you always wishing you were on something else.

Was that a climb? Seems Van Moer and Mohoric mistook it for an intermediate sprint.

Can you draw another picture? I'm struggling to understand what I'm looking for? ????‍♂️

I think they'll try harder to close things up when things go uphill. If you give WVA a 10 minute advantage, I reckon he'll win the tour.

Cape Union must have seen this and put their cycling shoes on sale: https://www.capeunionmart.co.za/products/caterpillar-mens-hilton-pak-sandal/100110035-C01.html

Yes, but even in rugby you have to stay in your lane when running back, and it's a penalty if you change direction to get in the way of the kick chaser ????. Blocking is one thing, deviating across the road to pinch someone into the barriers and obstruct them isn't quite the same

The problem is that he clearly breached the UCI rules of sprinting. They discuss it a bit in the Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast if you want to hear more, but there isn't really too much doubt that he deviated from the lane he started his sprint in, and that he endangered Merlier (yes, Merlier) who had to check his sprint to prevent a crash. But for whatever reason, the UCI won't enforce those rules. And because they don't enforce their rules consistently, those rules are broken repeatedly, and that makes sprinting more dangerous.

Man I love his analysis. If anyone has been living under a rock and doesn't know him, here's a link.

But if it floats your boat, here's another gpx file: It'll probably give a completely different workout though activity_4631625476 (1).gpx

Interesting idea... But a terrible way to train. This is the workout of a madman:

Exactly this. I would venture to say that all of the stage 3 crashes were caused by rider error and the way the peloton raced sections of the route, and not solely the UCI's fault, yet they still protested (although more technical routes obviously increase the risk of crashes). If you want to protest safety issues, protest all safety issues, not just the one's that you're not causing.

Intermediate sprint: Morkov on the right of the bunch, Sagan on the left: Sagan has clear road in front of him, so does Morkov. Moving towards LHS barrier, Sagan trying to come around him: Morkov now in front of Sagan on LHS barrier: Sagan checking sprint due to Morkov moving closer to barrier: I would feel a bit pissed if I was Sagan. Maybe Cav would still have been quicker than him, but that doesn't make it okay for Morkov to move across the entire road and pinch him towards the barrier

I would say they should both be relegated then. Phillipson is probably "less guilty" seen as they were drifting from left to right, and he kind of carried on doing that rather than changing direction towards contact with other riders. My issue is actually more with the protests and complaints about rider safety. If the pelo wants to bitch and complain about safety issues regarding the route, they should bitch and complain about safety issues in sprints too and force the UCI to enforce their rules.

All three drifting from left to right: Left to right drift continues. At this point, they've all launched their sprint and should stay in their "lane". (Even though Merlier is about to finish his leadout and fade, he still needs to stay in his lane) Cav starts moving from right to left across the Alpecin riders who are still drifting: Cav back to middle of road, Phillipson has to either bump him or check his sprint: Cav finishes to the left of the white line, Phillipson lost momentum and is now middle of left lane of road: Clearly Merlier is the only one that sprinted straight as he's still on the white line. But Cav clearly cut back against the drift and across Merlier. You can see them both having to bump shoulders or lean over to prevent a crash in the one pic. Even though there was no crash, I think Cav deviated from his line once he started sprinting, and according the to rules, that should mean relegation.

Didn't watch the whole stage so maybe I missed something, but Morkov definitely cut in front of Sagan at the intermediate sprint and forced him into the barrier- probably nothing will come of it because there wasn't a crash. Cav definitely cut in front of the Alpecin boys too - probably nothing will come of it because there wasn't a crash. If these guys are so serious about safety, and want to protest having to ride on straight roads if they're too narrow, why aren't they more up in arms about guys chopping each other in sprints? Is deviating only an issue if the guy you chop crashes? Seems like it's easier to throw stones at the UCI than at each other. (I'm not saying that the course on stage 3 didn't have problems, just that there's clearly inconsistencies in when people throw their toys out the cot)

It's a lot easier to win if you cut in front of the other riders and force them to stop sprinting