I have been cleaning up a bit of old video, so here are a couple or four bits for ya. My small camera has been out of action for a while, so I have been suffering with the loss of it. I am trying to save the money for a nice new HD quality Sony camera just been released. So in the meantime, have a look at some this older stuff, it can only get better from here.
No it's not a jet engine warming up, but George Hincapie warming up before the TT in Terrino-Adriatica back in March. He did pretty well from memory.
One of the many stops while servicing the Flanders race this year. Here was stop 3 of about 10 for the day. There was a bunch away, here is the chasing group. See if you can spot any of the team.
Another stop on the Flanders tour here a small group is away. With George Hincapie and roger Hammond from us, things were looking good. But there was still about 60km to go.
6 comments:
Hi there - Thanks for posting. I appreciate the insight to some of the behind the scenes stuff.
Why does a rider warm up with their disc wheel on the trainer? I am thinking that you don't want the excessive wear and tear on that type of specialized equipment so you would use a more normal rear wheel.
Thanks,
RB
Good question, but it really depends on the type of tyre and trainer you use. The Elite trainers we use have very little pressure on the wheel itself. Not like a normal trainer where you screw the roller up to the wheel to provide tension, this uses just the riders weight to keep contact. No actual wear on the tyre is visible, the only worry would be the build up of heat on the glue that holds both the tyre together and it on the rim. But this is pretty rare. Some of the teams use other wheels in the trainer, but it's touch and go when a rider leaves for the race. You may only have a matter of a minute, and if there is a problem with the disc wheel tuning, watch out. And with a team time-trail, 9 riders leave at once, what a mess.
Thanks - so would it be better for the riders to warm up on a seperate bike (say their road bike) so the TT bike is pristine and ready to go? Or do the riders feel better warming up on the bike they will be racing on shortly?
RB
Yeah some like to warm up on the road bike, just personal choice most of the time. Often if they want the use of the SRM data, the TT bike may not have it, so road bike it is. Most of them don't get much time on the TT bike, so it's a good way to get used to it again. Another thing is most of the time we don't take the truck to the TT, so a whole lot of wheels to fit in to the cars of buses can be a nightmare. And if the start is different to the finish, it can add another problem to get the stuff home as well. Warming up on TT is easier for all, as the road bike is often on the follow car, and that can be some way from the warmup area, waiting at the start for the rider. Yeah can be a nightmare, but when it all falls into place, and you are following the last rider, you feel a sense of calm. But this could be confused for exhaustion as well.
Thanks Benny - I appreciate your itme to answer and the blog. Hope the Tour goes well for you and Team Columbia!
RB
Thank for you questions, any time. benny
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