The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread
#4276
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Early 2020 looks busy. Crit 01Feb and 08Feb, TT 02Feb, RR 29th
These are close enough I'll have to make the early season my road season stuff. After this stuff is further out usually. I'll probably do the entire TT series, it's a lot closer this time and I have a rental house in the city they're doing the TT's in anyway so can go check on that when I head out there.
These are close enough I'll have to make the early season my road season stuff. After this stuff is further out usually. I'll probably do the entire TT series, it's a lot closer this time and I have a rental house in the city they're doing the TT's in anyway so can go check on that when I head out there.
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#4277
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Supposed to do 3 hours tomorrow with SS stuff thrown in there. We are currently in an "atmospheric river" so...Zwift?
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#4278
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There is a partially paved fire road that starts a couple blocks from home and climbs up to 4000 feet with a lot of 10%. Once on top of the ridge there is a 2 mile section where it gets cold, well, cold for SoCal. It was in the 30s up there Wednesday, chilly while descending when you are sweaty.
Anyway today I was coming home from a short ride and a young couple was getting ready to head up that climb and they flagged me down to ask if I knew about it. The guy saw it on a map and wanted to try it. He had an old mtb but he girlfriend had a mixte type mtb with a tractor type saddle. They had 1 bottle each and shorts with no extra layers. I suggested they ride around the park but they started up the climb. Hope their brakes work.
Anyway today I was coming home from a short ride and a young couple was getting ready to head up that climb and they flagged me down to ask if I knew about it. The guy saw it on a map and wanted to try it. He had an old mtb but he girlfriend had a mixte type mtb with a tractor type saddle. They had 1 bottle each and shorts with no extra layers. I suggested they ride around the park but they started up the climb. Hope their brakes work.
#4279
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There is a partially paved fire road that starts a couple blocks from home and climbs up to 4000 feet with a lot of 10%. Once on top of the ridge there is a 2 mile section where it gets cold, well, cold for SoCal. It was in the 30s up there Wednesday, chilly while descending when you are sweaty.
Anyway today I was coming home from a short ride and a young couple was getting ready to head up that climb and they flagged me down to ask if I knew about it. The guy saw it on a map and wanted to try it. He had an old mtb but he girlfriend had a mixte type mtb with a tractor type saddle. They had 1 bottle each and shorts with no extra layers. I suggested they ride around the park but they started up the climb. Hope their brakes work.
Anyway today I was coming home from a short ride and a young couple was getting ready to head up that climb and they flagged me down to ask if I knew about it. The guy saw it on a map and wanted to try it. He had an old mtb but he girlfriend had a mixte type mtb with a tractor type saddle. They had 1 bottle each and shorts with no extra layers. I suggested they ride around the park but they started up the climb. Hope their brakes work.
#4280
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#4281
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I saw in a FB post that the Amgen Tour of California, Chico Stage Race, Tucson Bicycle Classic and San Dimas Stage Race were canceled in 2020 with Zwift eSports, gravel events, and high school MTB increasing. Amgen ToC cancelled? WTF. No explanation was given other than challenges and looking for a business model that works.
The world go around
The world go around
Money makes the world go around
It makes the world go 'round
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
Is all that makes the world go around
That clinking, clanking sound
Can make the world go 'round
Money, money, money, money
Money, money, money, money
Money money money...
Chico promoter is still doing races, just not a stage race. Madera is still on, so is Bloom and several others in that corner of the world. And the Reno Wheelmen still have their Twilight stage race
#4282
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Money makes the world go around
The world go around
The world go around
Money makes the world go around
It makes the world go 'round
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
Is all that makes the world go around
That clinking, clanking sound
Can make the world go 'round
Money, money, money, money
Money, money, money, money
Money money money...
Chico promoter is still doing races, just not a stage race. Madera is still on, so is Bloom and several others in that corner of the world. And the Reno Wheelmen still have their Twilight stage race
The world go around
The world go around
Money makes the world go around
It makes the world go 'round
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
Is all that makes the world go around
That clinking, clanking sound
Can make the world go 'round
Money, money, money, money
Money, money, money, money
Money money money...
Chico promoter is still doing races, just not a stage race. Madera is still on, so is Bloom and several others in that corner of the world. And the Reno Wheelmen still have their Twilight stage race
#4283
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Finally drove up the hill and did the Boca race this year. Enjoyed it and will try to get up there again next year. Fun course, but helps to know it though.
#4284
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Happy holidays everyone. I hope you're spending them however you prefer (with family, without family, just nuclear family, alone on your bike, whatever).
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#4288
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KOMs ain’t ****, but if you get mine while paceline working you damn better take it by more than a single lousy second lazy slob. Pshhhh.
Lol.
Lol.
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#4289
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Doubly delicious when I take segments held by E-bikes.
I had a conversation with a group of guys in the place I used to live about Strava (I hold hundreds of KOM's in that area). I told them there are only 5 KOM's that I hold dear out of everything I own, and I only value them because of how many grouprides specifically targeted them and (luckily) narrowly missed.
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#4290
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So 3-4 years off having a junior, I still think Strava is better than the USAC race winning when USAC handicaps juniors with gear restrictions. I know I'm a broken record on this but a Strava KOM on a significant segment is more "real" and lasts longer than any domestic race that handicaps the kids. If you win a Cat1 / Pro race with a junior, on junior gears while you raced on the big gears - I don't think you really won.
But not like there are many races these days, just Strava is less burdened with baggage and just reports the facts. I'm rather a fan of that.
But not like there are many races these days, just Strava is less burdened with baggage and just reports the facts. I'm rather a fan of that.
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#4292
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Happy New Year.
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#4293
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Koms are cool if you think cycling is only about who can exercise the hardest.
How about strategy and skill?
How about strategy and skill?
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Happy new year.
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I'd argue that a fair amount of the KOM's I hold took a good bit of strategy and skill. Just like racing, you gotta know where to apply power to optimize your advantages while also knowing/using your strengths to gain time over others.
When I hit group rides in the areas that I've "gone hunting" in, I always have people picking my brain over how I got the crown and how they can ride it faster. Not only is it a great ice-breaker for riders that don't know each other, it's game theory, which gives cycling more depth as a sport. As racers, we are constantly looking for spare seconds. Bringing a massive social group together to chat about how to find those spare seconds both on and off the bike has ZERO downsides.
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#4298
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At least in a time trial all competitors have to face roughly the same conditions. Even the most finely tuned KOM pacing strategy can be beat by waiting for a really favorable wind. I wouldn't call that a more pure form of racing. Time trials are fun, but I still consider mass start racing much more interesting in the sense that winning depends on both strategy and fitness, and the strongest rider isnt always the most likely to win. Maybe I'm biased because I'm very rarely the strongest rider in any given field.
#4299
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At least in a time trial all competitors have to face roughly the same conditions. Even the most finely tuned KOM pacing strategy can be beat by waiting for a really favorable wind. I wouldn't call that a more pure form of racing. Time trials are fun, but I still consider mass start racing much more interesting in the sense that winning depends on both strategy and fitness, and the strongest rider isnt always the most likely to win. Maybe I'm biased because I'm very rarely the strongest rider in any given field.
Now, if that rider earnestly started rubbing it in my face...I'd do everything in my power (wattage joke lol) to go out in "perfect" conditions to make the time absolutely unreasonable. That hasn't happened yet though. It seems like almost nobody wants an invisible asterisk next to their name at the top.
Every back-and-forth I've had in Strava has been lighthearted and fun. Even with riders I've never met. Just a group of people all looking for those precious seconds.
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