V12man Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 He last won it 9 years ago. Ebike argument aside it just struck me as weird/awesome/stange watching a 42 year old man with a backpack on and a long travel bike happily pedalling off a slew of national champs following an attack by the world and euro champ at the head of the Epic. The contrast was about as extreme as it gets.Having ridden Stephans ebike I can say its an amazing bike to ride- can add up to 450w extra - makes keeping up easy. And he has crew keeping him in new batteries as well as being a skillled rider - makes for great visuals in the race.
scotty Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Start times are out https://www.cape-epic.com/riders/the-2019-race/stage-start-times
Gnarly Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 No Live streaming of the pros? Ok just started....
scotty Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 I was surprised that Kulhavy didn’t drop out of the top 10 starts now that he isn’t in a teamWas wondering about outcasts, not sure how it works with them.
tubed Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 footage from the course https://youtu.be/SqNAHVOFr1M?t=3639 it looks like they didn't have a tyre lever, so had to use fingers.can see Lars sukkeling with it, then tries what looks like a stick to get the tyre off even nino gives it the once over, see how he hands the tube over first and keeps it off the ground. rookie error? if they didn't have the tools to replace a tube then it really has cost them a bit of extra. But they took the decision not to struggle further and was quite smart to ride as far as they could and wait for the backup, that might end up being the difference in the final result. the backup team must have taken a while to get to the techpoint, Andri almost got overtaken by his old man (3mins) in the end.I think you are right here and its easy to comment from the sidelines, so take what I say with a pinch or salt. This could be the race defining event so its worth a closer look at. BUT to see these guys struggle to just get the tyre off the rim is not good. these are professionals and seeing how hard Nino trains and how much he makes of repeating his route knowledge as part of his advantage, that all said, it seems to me that they have failed in this instance to deal with an almost certain event at the Epic - a puncture or a slashed tyre. A slashed tyre can be catastrophic and lead you to have to ride on the rim as they did. But a puncture should be fixed in minutes. If we assume that plugs didn't work and they needed to put a tube in as appears to be the case, then you need to get the tyre unseated on one side only (they seemed intent on breaking the bead on both side), get the tubeless valve out, check for thorns and get the latex tube in, the tyre seated and bomb it.Sounds simple - but with the adrenaline and race mindset - simple becomes blurry and panic sets in - simple becomes complicated. Another point made is the right tools for the job - a tyre lever is just that 'a lever', its not a lightweight bendy plastic piece of crap that folds into a minute aerodynamic piece, it needs to be strong, long and fit for purpose - otherwise you piss around looking for burnt fynbos sticks. That tyre should have been off in seconds. Lastly, one of the great success factors of any of Sausers partnerships was that he can fix stuff confidently and he doesn't panic when doing so. (I saw him on a ride once insist a Songo rider fix his own puncture - Sauser's comment was that everyone should be able to do their own.) Long post - but when you train for months and have the best of everything - getting a tyre off a rim should not be what potentially costs you a race. * edit: looking at the footage again, I cant see the bright orange tube at the end of the clip, so maybe they did get it in and that failed too
Shebeen Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Oldest daughter of Tony Stark if I'm not mistaken?I would guess that she got the surname from her husband
Shebeen Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Trust me, the PROs have skills. The PRO roadies, well, that’s another matter, as they have support vehicles one arm wave away. Sometimes it takes some time (poetic) ????????⚙️Pro roadies do thousand of miles of training.They know how to keep a bike on the road
Shebeen Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 I think you are right here and its easy to comment from the sidelines, so take what I say with a pinch or salt. This could be the race defining event so its worth a closer look at. BUT to see these guys struggle to just get the tyre off the rim is not good. these are professionals and seeing how hard Nino trains and how much he makes of repeating his route knowledge as part of his advantage, that all said, it seems to me that they have failed in this instance to deal with an almost certain event at the Epic - a puncture or a slashed tyre. A slashed tyre can be catastrophic and lead you to have to ride on the rim as they did. But a puncture should be fixed in minutes. If we assume that plugs didn't work and they needed to put a tube in as appears to be the case, then you need to get the tyre unseated on one side only (they seemed intent on breaking the bead on both side), get the tubeless valve out, check for thorns and get the latex tube in, the tyre seated and bomb it.Sounds simple - but with the adrenaline and race mindset - simple becomes blurry and panic sets in - simple becomes complicated. Another point made is the right tools for the job - a tyre lever is just that 'a lever', its not a lightweight bendy plastic piece of crap that folds into a minute aerodynamic piece, it needs to be strong, long and fit for purpose - otherwise you piss around looking for burnt fynbos sticks. That tyre should have been off in seconds. Lastly, one of the great success factors of any of Sausers partnerships was that he can fix stuff confidently and he doesn't panic when doing so. (I saw him on a ride once insist a Songo rider fix his own puncture - Sauser's comment was that everyone should be able to do their own.) Long post - but when you train for months and have the best of everything - getting a tyre off a rim should not be what potentially costs you a race. * edit: looking at the footage again, I cant see the bright orange tube at the end of the clip, so maybe they did get it in and that failed tooIndeed. You can use the lever of your pump it even a qr lever as a backup tyre lever of you're stuck! The clip is edited, we don't know what happened, they might have got the tube in and it also punctured, might have deflated it for later use, might have chucked it. He does pick something up after looking for it at the end so they were thinking straight. Just heard on the live stream from Robbie McEwan that he went around the to ten looking at tyres being used. He said Scott SRAM had a custom tyre model with much thinner sidewalls than the rest of the contenders. If that is the case, then a puncture is not just a chance occurrence and part of the decision of tradeoffs that goes into gear choice.
dev null Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Yes Philip. We will go past the shop today at Helderberg and ask them exactly where we can get to with our bikes, and where they will stop us. Just want to not get stuck in car traffic trying to get there and then walk further.
River Rat Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 So how much time did El Niño claw back today?about 1,5 minutes
BaGearA Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Fumic crashed early and it broke his lockout system , forced him to ride basically the whole stage rigid I really hope cannondale put some serious hurt on Vorster tomorrow Scott winning this thing would've just been A snoozevest
DieselnDust Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Scott SRAM could'nt get the tyre off simply because they didn't have a tyre lever. Somehow it had been omitted from their prerace tool kit. Both Lars and by Nino then tried to get the tyre off by using the next standard method of pulling the top of the tyre down to get it over the lip. The rim bed is built up with rim tape to make inflating the tyre quick and efficient with a 25gr bomb. Not wasted Co2 trying to get the tyre to seat first. It pops up immediately. They won't make the mistake of omitting the tyre lever again. They were checking their tools before they rolled off to start their TT. Nothing uncommon there. The lighter tyre is typical Nino. It gives better feel of the trail. They don't like thicker sidewalled tyres because the thick side wall makes the tyre feel dead. More traction in theory but the rider doesn't know that till it lets go. Thinner sidewalls gives better feel and the trade off is that the risk of a puncture is higher. These guys don't choose tyres to plough through the trail. They want feel, something newbies don't develop because they're told to use thick walled tyres that mutes the trail feel.
Vetseun Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 I think you are right here and its easy to comment from the sidelines, so take what I say with a pinch or salt. This could be the race defining event so its worth a closer look at. BUT to see these guys struggle to just get the tyre off the rim is not good. these are professionals and seeing how hard Nino trains and how much he makes of repeating his route knowledge as part of his advantage, that all said, it seems to me that they have failed in this instance to deal with an almost certain event at the Epic - a puncture or a slashed tyre. A slashed tyre can be catastrophic and lead you to have to ride on the rim as they did. But a puncture should be fixed in minutes. If we assume that plugs didn't work and they needed to put a tube in as appears to be the case, then you need to get the tyre unseated on one side only (they seemed intent on breaking the bead on both side), get the tubeless valve out, check for thorns and get the latex tube in, the tyre seated and bomb it.Sounds simple - but with the adrenaline and race mindset - simple becomes blurry and panic sets in - simple becomes complicated. Another point made is the right tools for the job - a tyre lever is just that 'a lever', its not a lightweight bendy plastic piece of crap that folds into a minute aerodynamic piece, it needs to be strong, long and fit for purpose - otherwise you piss around looking for burnt fynbos sticks. That tyre should have been off in seconds. Lastly, one of the great success factors of any of Sausers partnerships was that he can fix stuff confidently and he doesn't panic when doing so. (I saw him on a ride once insist a Songo rider fix his own puncture - Sauser's comment was that everyone should be able to do their own.) Long post - but when you train for months and have the best of everything - getting a tyre off a rim should not be what potentially costs you a race. * edit: looking at the footage again, I cant see the bright orange tube at the end of the clip, so maybe they did get it in and that failed tooIsnt that why gentle Jesus made thru axles,and quick releases with handle on? Doubles,up as a tyre lever?Surely if a wannabe like me knows that, top class pros would too?
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