Saturday, February 23, 2008

ATOC - Stage Six








15 comments:

jas said...

Props to my man Vince Gee, the BMC mech, formerly Discovery, Postal, Saturn and Mavic.

Keep it coming

sma said...

whats with the dura ace srm covered with an fsa sticker? why not just use the fsa model?

Anonymous said...

What do the numbers on the stem mean?

Anonymous said...

"What do the numbers on the stem mean?"

While I don't ride myself, I have a friend who almost completed a century ride once, so I'm pretty sure those are cadence targets for different portions of the route.

For example, on the really steep parts, this rider is probably looking to be grinding away at about 16rpm -- slow and steady to avoid blowing up (like my friend did) -- while on the downhill portions, he's aiming for 166rpms, spinning fast and keeping the engine burning clean.

It's all about physics. Cycling rules that way.

Fletcher

jas said...

RE: SMA - sponsor is currently out of stock>mech makes due with decal

Anon1: KMs along the route when events are sure to happen, hills, feeds, sprints, wind - compare it to a course profile from cycling news or the official race site. this system is arbitrary - whatever they agree on. it is not however 'cadence targets' ... uphill at 16 rpms? downhill at 166 rpms? nice try but no. Maybe thats why he almost but didn't complete a century.

Anonymous said...

@ sma & Jason,
I think the likeliest scenario is that the DA SRM is being used because it is available in lengths longer than 175mm, where as FSA cranks are not.

The "friend who almost completed a century" thing? I hope that's a joke. If so, funny. If not, sad.

What I don't get about the numbers on the stem though is the complete lack of order to them. I guess it's just one of those things that only makes sense to the person who has wrote it. Sorta like my tax records.

Anonymous said...

Numbers on stem are General Classification contenders? So Astana know who to chase? Just a guess. could account for the random order

Radio Freddy said...

The numbers on the stem are a mystery. It was the only of the Astana bikes with the note.

The SRM was a cool find because it was a carry over from 2005 when FSA was the sponsor of CSC but Jens wanted an SRM. The crank is a DA, wrapped in a carbon skin. It debuted at the Tour that year and the aspect which caught my eye is that it is still in service.

- RF

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 3:52 appears to be correct. Numbers appear to be top 14 non-Astana riders after stage 5:

91 - David Millar
93 - Christian Vandevelde
42 - Fabian Cancellara
45 - Gustav Larsson
92 - David Zabriskie
28 - Jurgen Vandewalle
53 - Robert Gesink
101 - Alexandre Moos
94 - Thomas Peterson
166 - Victor Hugo Pena Grisales
74 - Bernhard Kohl
25 - Kevin Seeldraeyers
16 - Iker Camano Ortuzar
141 - Benjamin Jacques-Maynes

- judd

Anonymous said...

"I hope that's a joke."

OK, I'll come clean. The "cadence target" thing was a joke. Anyone who has a friend who's almost completed a century will recognize those figures as what is known in European as "heart-rate targets."

Fletcher

Anonymous said...

what the hell are you talking about ? ... If you haven't been on a bike, please stay on the side lines. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

"what the hell are you talking about ? ... If you haven't been on a bike, please stay on the side lines."

Lordy! I can't tell whether you're being mock-angry about my mock-ignorance. But it pains me to see such consternation, real or otherwise, on my beloved BKW, so I will stop posting frustratingly idiotic comments lest I upset our kind hosts.

Fletcher

P.S. Caloric intake targets?

Anonymous said...

Judd has the right idea about the numbers. You can even see how they've organized the list - assuming this was taken going into the final stage, the 5 in the left column are all less than 2 minutes behind Levi, and the 9 on the right are all within 4 minutes. This way it's easier for them to figure out how long a leash they can allow a breakaway.

Anonymous said...

Fletcher- are you BSNYC?

jje

Anonymous said...

"Fletcher- are you BSNYC?"

No, more like CCSTKO -- canned coffee snob Tokyo.

Fletcher