Originally Posted by
KiwiDallas
1. Watching a mountain stage that featured constant cold rain and 45 mph downhills: is there such a thing as rain tires for bicycles? Like car and motorcycle tires get, some rubber compound that grips better on wet surfaces?
No. No special tires. Many will just reduce the pressure they are running.
Originally Posted by
KiwiDallas
2. How come just about every cyclist out there is clean shaven? Athletes in other sports who are in their 20s and 30s have some hip-looking growth. Is it aero something? Or tradition?
Really it's about belonging. So chalk it up to tradition. Many will give you the response that it helps with massages and helps keep wounds clean if you wreck - both good points - but at the end of the day it's just what we do.
Originally Posted by
KiwiDallas
3. What is the point of "chasing down" a breakaway rider, especially uphill? So the pursuit riders catch up with him ... then what happens? They can't slash his tires.
It's a team sport. You chase down the break if the break isn't serving your team. Once chased down then your team can do what it needs to do to accomplish its goals.
Originally Posted by
KiwiDallas
4. After a big crash and pile-up .... how do they sort out or assign times to the riders caught in the pile-up, whether they are injured or not, or their bikes broken or not?
Sometimes - like the last 3k - if there is a wreck you get the same finish time as the group you were in when you wrecked. In general though - get your butt to the line. Your time is only the time you finished with. here are no time outs in cycling.
Originally Posted by
KiwiDallas
5. Mountain stages: what's a typical rear cassette gear pack? They have big gears for the brutal uphills but also tiny gears for downhills - I see them pedaling for more speed when they're already going 45+ mph. Related Q: Do riders ever use triple chainrings?
They won't use triples because of tradition essentially. I often theorize that will change in the future. In general triples aren't as clean shifting as doubles. Anyway - back in the day they would put a 27 tooth cog on the back with their 53/39. Then they used compact cranks. Then we widened out the cassettes. Today it's simply a combination of what is available to the rider through the team gear and what they want to use.