Le Tour de France
Sunday, 06 June 2010 12:53
If you haven't heard of the Tour de France, maybe this is your first year on a bike, you never had a TV or you just never noticed it. The 97th edition is running from Saturday July 3rd to Sunday July 25th. For 2010 the 22 teams will be competing for the fastest total time of the 3600 kms.
Spanning from north France to the Alps then across the south of France through the Pyrenees then back up to finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The challenge is just to finish for some of the riders, others are in it for a stage victory and some the coloured jerseys.
Yellow - the leader in the general time classification. Very prestigious to wear this, even for just once.
Green - the leader in the points classification, also know as the sprinters jersey.
Polka-Dotted White and Red - Best hill climber classification. King of the Mountains.
White - the best young rider, he will be under 25.
Another common question is to how and why this is a team sport. Each team has one rider that they are focusing on to win the general classification or other prizes. In cycling working with others to conserve energy is important. Drafting behind others will reduce the amount of effort needed to do the same speed. Meaning when maximum effort is needed to climb a big mountain stage the key team member would have the most amount of energy to challenge the other teams. This also applies to the sprinters, who cross the finish line of the flat stages well in to 70 km/h.
Murphy’s Law Of Cycling
Saturday, 10 April 2010 07:03
Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. This reminds me that Paris-Roubaix is quickly approaching and if Big George has another race like we’ve seen in past years we’ll officially be renaming these to Hincapie’s Laws. Murphy is no stranger to cycling and is perpetually sucking Big George’s wheel. In fact, he’s lurking close behind all of us ready to attack when you’re least ready for it.
“Ride Lots” Is Only Half The Story
Saturday, 10 April 2010 07:02
Eddy Merckx, “The Cannibal”, remains arguably the most outstanding competitive road cyclist in the history of our sport. A reporter asked Merckx what advice he would give to aspiring riders. “Ride lots” was the reply.
Merckx was mostly right, but not totally right.
To really be great at something simply doing it “lots” is no guarantee that you’ll get there. Most of us engage in a given work activity 8 hours a day every day. That’s “lots”.
Mt Baw Baw Reconnaissance
Saturday, 10 April 2010 06:59
There’s never been a ride that’s haunted me like Mt Baw Baw has. I’ve never remotely considered riding the road to the top, nevermind racing it. I’ve heard horror stories of respected riders walking up sections of this climb. Mt Baw Baw is the only reason there’s a market for 29T cassettes in this country.
Local folklore says the hard part of Mt Baw Baw is the final 6km from the gatehouse to the summit which has an elevation gain of 780m. The average gradient is 11.3% with some parts reaching 20%.