Team BKool CycleChat

[Whorty]

That's good news. Personally I don't like Quintana or Nibili after not stopping/slowing in the Giro 'dumpgate' saga....

I'm with you there DP. Not a big fan of Quintana or Nibali. Sky team looked on fire today and really set out their stall

 

[Brusgaard]

Might need some approving too. I re-rode CG4 today and bettered my time. Then followed that up in DP style and re-rode CG3 and bettered my time on that too (although lost to @bugno by 1 second!!!)

I think we all re-rode some stages today, and bettered our times. :-) My "old" 50-something is still listed for CG5.

 

[Whorty]

Gotta hand it to you @Whorty, you are doing well at the moment. Within 5 secs in CG4 and same time as me on the CG5. We should do a live race soon, instead of chasing ghosts..

Your ghost jumped me with a few hundred metres to go! Gutted. I was ahead of you probably 70% of the way but just couldn't break the elastic. Once you went into sprint mode I had nothing left to chase you with. The irony is, that sprint was triggered by me telling you on your ride your time to beat .... had I not said that you may not have sprinted

In a live race you will beat me as you will break me down on the ride. You are stronger than me, and can sprint and recover better than me. I have to try and stay at a level pace and power. Was good racing your ghost today - a real battle for me

 

[AAAC 76C]

I'm with you there DP. Not a big fan of Quintana or Nibali. Sky team looked on fire today and really set out their stall

For me Nibali is up his own. Gets upset at the slightest thing, especially losing.
Quinatana seems like an honourable chap so I have no beef with him at all.
The Giro dump thing was not really about doing over big TD whilst he emptied himself is was more about there being a podium threat being up the road already.

 

[Whorty]

The other advantage of course is that you have a good idea in advance of the effort needed to beat your rivals!

But also your test shows that drafting works well which is a very good thing in general I think.

But personally I'll always take more from 'live' victories than those vs other people's ghosts. I think most of us feel the same to be honest.

Speak for yourself - I'l take any victory

Drafting does help, but it's still hard work staying on someones wheel. Plenty of sprint and rest rather than a controlled pace that you would do on your own.

I use ghosts to guage my speed against others but try not to draft unless I really need to. But even then I do try to stay ahead of the ghost and only use it if it jumps me and I need the help to get back in front. Ghosts are more fun than a lonely ride, so it feels like a live race. It's nice sending people emails of shame too

 

[Whorty]

I think we all re-rode some stages today, and bettered our times. :-) My "old" 50-something is still listed for CG5.

Looks like your new time is exactly the same as my time. Spooky

 

[Brusgaard]

Your ghost jumped me with a few hundred metres to go! Gutted. I was ahead of you probably 70% of the way but just couldn't break the elastic. Once you went into sprint mode I had nothing left to chase you with. The irony is, that sprint was triggered by me telling you on your ride your time to beat .... had I not said that you may not have sprinted

In a live race you will beat me as you will break me down on the ride. You are stronger than me, and can sprint and recover better than me. I have to try and stay at a level pace and power. Was good racing your ghost today - a real battle for me

Well, as you know i re-did CG5 as well, and was in front (sans Jacob) most of the race, but did let you come too close at the end. At 2km I still had like a 5 seconds lead, at 1km that was down to 3 seconds. From 500m to the finish we were at 0 seconds, but me in front. Literally 2-3m before the finish line, you came storming past me to take the victory. At that time I was at 119 RPM and 177 BPM! We were so close, that we both finished at 49:42, thus no e-mail for you, "sorry".

 

[bridgy]

We didn't go out for a meal as expected so I rode Stage 5 today.
Why I didn't beat you I don't know (well I do).
I wheel sucked both you and Jacob for all I was worth.
I actually got away faster than both of you so I dropped my tempo and let you both slide by and jumped on the train being towed by Jacob the Danish Juggernaut.
At first I thought, this is easy almost too easy, cruising along on your wheels at 360 watts with an HR below 150.
I had a couple of moments where I was backing of to keep in the wheels on the climbs so I hit the crest with low watts on and you both pulled away quite quickly.
After a couple of efforts to get back on I realised that it's worth sticking your nose in the wind when you crest just to get the watts on as it appears to effect your acceleration even if you are on someones wheel.
As the stage went on my HR was creeping up and the legs were beginning to feel all of the little accelerations and changes of pace.
I watched a couple of your digs to try and get off of the front knowing that you only really got away near the end.
9 km from the end I was beginning to doubt that I could go with any big accelerations so I struck out on my own with 6 km or so to go to to either try and TT may way home or jump on your wheel as you came by.
Came by you did and my HR was ringing out at 168 and I feared pushing any harder plus my legs were doing a Jens Voigt.
As a result I just could not get on your wheel and watched you take 8 or so seconds out of me and I was almost caught by Jacob.

I can only blame it on the 2 litres of Red last night, or just being a bit old.
In the first quarter of the stage I felt that good that I had and idea that I could go straight on to do a re-run of an earlier stage to try and get some of the other 4 minutes you have on me however getting another 8 on Jacob was well out of any possibility.

Blimming good selection of rides though Bill. These flatter stages are a real blast as there is not rest from the get go.

Know what you mean about it almost feeling too easy in the draft at times - same in real life though!

I have enjoyed these league stages too, but I think the longish flat stages do particularly lend themselves to the drafting of ghosts we've been talking about (and I've been guilty of!) On hillier routes it can be much harder to just stick to someone else's wheel the whole way

 

[bugno]

For me Nibali is up his own. Gets upset at the slightest thing, especially losing.
Quinatana seems like an honourable chap so I have no beef with him at all.
The Giro dump thing was not really about doing over big TD whilst he emptied himself is was more about there being a podium threat being up the road already.

I'm hoping for Nibali, Quintana, Aru. Fuglsang is but a dream - just hope he can finally win a stage.

The thing with Doumolin (spellchck) taking a dump in the Giro ... can't wait for every little thing. It's a bike race and not Spanish football where they roll around when the wind blows. The more impressive thing is that Doumolin still won the race. Chapeau to that.

It's like when mini-Schleck screwed up his gear change in 2011 (I think) and people thought Contador should've waited. To that I can only say ... don't screw up when you change gears uphill.

What's next ... if someone forgets to eat and drink and hits the wall uphill everyone waits because they feel sorry for the guy ?

<end hardo rant ... I hit the wall uphill all the time btw>

 

[bugno]

Might need some approving too. I re-rode CG4 today and bettered my time. Then followed that up in DP style and re-rode CG3 and bettered my time on that too (although lost to @bugno by 1 second!!!)

So you are calling me a winner ?

 

[Daddy Pig]

I'm hoping for Nibali, Quintana, Aru. Fuglsang is but a dream - just hope he can finally win a stage.

The thing with Doumolin (spellchck) taking a dump in the Giro ... can't wait for every little thing. It's a bike race and not Spanish football where they roll around when the wind blows. The more impressive thing is that Doumolin still won the race. Chapeau to that.

It's like when mini-Schleck screwed up his gear change in 2011 (I think) and people thought Contador should've waited. To that I can only say ... don't screw up when you change gears uphill.

What's next ... if someone forgets to eat and drink and hits the wall uphill everyone waits because they feel sorry for the guy ?

<end hardo rant>

You forget that it is good sportsmanship that would lead you to wait for the leader in cycling events, either through a technical or biological issue. Don't forget they were still 30km from the finish including a hard uphill and they actually attacked rather than stop/slow up. It's For that reason Nibali and Quintana can sod off IMO. There is no sportsmanship in professional football...

 

[<Tommy>]

Speak for yourself - I'l take any victory

Drafting does help, but it's still hard work staying on someones wheel. Plenty of sprint and rest rather than a controlled pace that you would do on your own.

I use ghosts to guage my speed against others but try not to draft unless I really need to. But even then I do try to stay ahead of the ghost and only use it if it jumps me and I need the help to get back in front. Ghosts are more fun than a lonely ride, so it feels like a live race. It's nice sending people emails of shame too

I've got no problem with drafting ghosts at all to be honest. It's not an ethical dilemma. It's just not the same as winning a battle with live opponents as the dynamics are totally different.

 

[Daddy Pig]

I've got no problem with drafting ghosts at all to be honest. It's not an ethical dilemma. It's just not the same as winning a battle with live opponents as the dynamics are totally different.

The buzz of a live ride sprint finish is rather good though!

 

[<Tommy>]

I'm hoping for Nibali, Quintana, Aru. Fuglsang is but a dream - just hope he can finally win a stage.

The thing with Doumolin (spellchck) taking a dump in the Giro ... can't wait for every little thing. It's a bike race and not Spanish football where they roll around when the wind blows. The more impressive thing is that Doumolin still won the race. Chapeau to that.

It's like when mini-Schleck screwed up his gear change in 2011 (I think) and people thought Contador should've waited. To that I can only say ... don't screw up when you change gears uphill.

What's next ... if someone forgets to eat and drink and hits the wall uphill everyone waits because they feel sorry for the guy ?

<end hardo rant ... I hit the wall uphill all the time btw>

There is a bit of a code in cycling and contador broke it that day vs schleck. Probably why he claimed he didn't see him having a mechanical.

 

[<Tommy>]

The buzz of a live ride sprint finish is rather good though!

100% agree. Its much more satisfying knowing the other guy is burying himself vs you!