Drizzly day. Cold at the start but ya know. That's how ya supposed to be, right?
it was 57 so i went with jersey and shorts... perfect.
Man i love the drizzle. LOVE IT.
Now i've been recently told that ALL of the PROs in EuroLand do the whole step through. But there are times when the step behind is better.
So, before KL got all Woosta and Toasta and summaville on us, it was kinda left that what ever works for you is best. And it is rattlin around in my head.
Is it?
Well... jury's out. I'm gonna make it a point to study film. Gotta study film. Man what i would give to have Henry J's video server sitting here off line on demand (so i can do that in the evenings or mornings).
There are somethings i know well. Somethings i just sound like i do, some stuff i know nothing about but express an opinion, even if that opinion sounds more than that. Observation. Paying attention to the little stuff. Dats the scientist in me.
I observe. I make notes. My opinion changes... and i openly and greatfully would love to have my opinion challenged, if it adds to the mental knowledge bank that's great. Challenging an opinion is good for both sides (if two or more points of view exist). Why? Well It helps understand how each side reached their opinions, it clarifies what set of facts the opinion is based on and it educates both sides. But both sides need to be open and willing for discussion, critique and all that other stuff. And ultimately willing to be wrong. Willing to say, hey, i wasn't right, and thank you for helping me understand and see the situation the way you do. If we don't express ourselves we won't understand, and if we understand we can live in harmony and peace, even if we are different, or have different opinions.
One thing in my head was dismounts this morning, and that lead to remounts... and the whole issue that dismounting is easy. Getting off the bike really isn't the big issue compared to getting back on the bike. There are a few ways to do both but it seems much more consistent in how the 'PRO' Pros get back on. And getting over the barriers and getting on the bike are really where lots of time 'can' be made up. Yes you can make up time getting off too.
Then i got to thinking about that 50 year old Clement mold that people are blowing their wads about. And then the whole "lower pressure is faster" coupled with the "holy crap those are big knobs don't use those on smooth fast courses"
That deserves a rumination all to it self. (yes, i've listened respectfully to all the opinions and 'empirical experience' that low pressure tubies are fastest) (what can i say, i obviously spent lots of time in the 90s with mt bike tire development and techincal knob shapes and all that stuff that current mtb riders and kids like colin have no clue about - for better mostlikely).
I'll finish off by noticing that Treefarm and i use the same damn pedals and saddle... pretty close to same height... maybe i can beg him to let me try a lap on his #3 or #4 bike... (i can dream right?)
Peace
G
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
30 comments:
At great risk of sounding like a stupid old fuck, I'll question whether or not maybe this new generation is too concerned with emulating the pros. Maybe it comes from growing up surrounded by video.
You won't hear too many football coaches teaching kids to palm the ball and run with it unprotected, or hotdog over the goal line, but you'll see lots of pros do it.
However, after studying the Whitmore video, as well as some from last year's Worlds, it looks to me like the top riders step behind for valid reasons. They usually do it when they are decelerating quite a bit. The "step behind" allows them to stay on the bike a bit longer, possibly facilitating some late braking. Then they are actually using the back foot plant to slow down to run speed. The whole setup keeps more weight to the rear. And of course, they are athletic enough to do this without tripping over their own feet, or the barrier. By contrast, the step through technique requires a slightly earlier start of the dismount, and IMHO works best with a slower glide into the barrier, one where your "run acceleration" starts with the first foot plant. For the less athletic among us, this is slightly less risky than dismounting above our foot speed threshold and trying to "brake" with our first foot plant. Now you can start arguing about setting up your brake levers all moto and shit, but I can't detect any brake levering by the pros in the video. If you are going to do it though, it's safer with the rear leg back and the rear wheel more weighted. I can't imagine meaningful braking on bumpy grass with the leg pulled through.
I'm not sure why you're even worried. It's not like back in the old days when there were 8-10 dismounts per lap...
ill throw in my 2 cents -
new gloucester was the first time i wished i was confident enough in my step through to do it in a race. i practice both behind and through, but behind is more natural for me and i end up doing it always in races. i like it for runups and its fine for most barriers, esp slower ones or where you are slowing down.
but ng was full on speed, long flat straight into them...i had to slow down while running, and i think step through woulda allowed me to carry more speed, which is the goal, right?
... Gotta study film. Man what i would give to have Henry J's video server sitting here off line on demand ...
My (Flash) video files are "progressive download". So, if you watch the whole video, the *.flv file is transferred to your computer, and you can use any Flash player (many are free) to play it again and again later. Or, if you use the corresponding *.html file, you can play the video in the browser. In the Windows world, these files can be found in the Temporary Internet Files folder.
Also, the approach to the barriers was VERY bumpy. In the Men 2-3 race a couple of guys (one of them in the lead group of two), crashed heavily before the barrier and remained on the ground for a long time. If I get a chance, I'll post the dismount of Pros (from the front and back of the barrier) in slow motion later today - the exclusive for the premium members of the coach Gewillie's club.
I've seen in the Euro vids that the pros step back pretty much all the time. Remember that 3 out of 4 of their dismounts are into stairs or run ups.
In general, the step through is best for high speed barriers and then step back for most everything else.
And like solobreak said, the pros step behind to kill some of their speed to get to a running pace anyway.
I think I touched on this in my Tonkin interview. Something I didn't mention is that he says the pros go into barriers pretty slow (fast for us) and then get out of them wicked fast. The idea is to take a brief rest setting up then hauling ass on the other side.
Since I got with this program, my barriers have gotten way better. I bring my right leg over much earlier than I used to and relax as I come in. Then it's off, run, on the bike, and stomp the pedals.
*sniff* *sniff*
I love you guys...
You ROCK!!!
First up...
Solo. I'll be a bit patronizing. Awesome comment. Brilliant.
Josh. Ya seem to offer valid and supporting evidence to the discussion. thanks
Henry. You are just a saint man, going around taking all these incredible videos. Everyone need to go buy his collection of stuff. It might not be the euro boys, but they aren't racing on our courses (much). Good watching.
Brooke. Thanks for chiming in. Esp with your inside to the most astute student of the sport (Tonkin).
It actually makes a hell uva lotta sense now. So simple.
Can we get a bit of James Brown: I FEEL GOOD!
Here is the video of the barriers on laps 1 and 2, slowed down to 33%. Now, if I was shooting it as a training video, I'd set the camera to a progressive mode, with the shutter speed of 10, 000 (on a bright sunny day). I'd pick a better angle also. This would result in 30 individual crystal clear frames per second.
In the race, Vervecken picked up the speed on lap 2 (most front-runners take 2 steps between the barriers, except Tim and the German National Champion, who stick to their tiny 4).
www.cyclocrossvideos.com/misc/barriers_slow-mo.html
Somebody here owes me a (big) muffin for my missed lunch!
Henry
Big Muffin, Stella Artois...
sheesh - this is gonna be a weekend loaded with delivering good stuff
that's wicked cool Henry...
wicked cool...
If I am going to step through, I make sure my left is first clipped out. My first race last year at Milford, I T-boned my second set of barriers, and first time I tried to step through. At least I know if my left is out, I know that my left is out.
Any other disaster dismount stories out there?
I find that if I step through at too high speed, I put a lot of impact on my right heel because it acts like a brake (like Solo said). Don't know if there has been any study of heel/achilles problems and stepping through, but might be something there to think about.
I surprised nobody (that I know of) has marketing a cross-specific shoe yet. One of the reasons I curtailed my participation was torn meniscus on both knees, to which speedy dismounts onto frozen tundra in crappy, plastic sole mountain bike shoes contributed significantly. I can run half marathons in running shoes with less pain than I can run 50 steps in MTB shoes.
Always, always, always unclip the left foot first. Not sure how that would work out if we all went to arch cleats...
Even unclipped, I caught a sole lug on the turf at Lowell, tripped and fell into the barriers back first, breaking the wooden stake marking the edges. I DNF'd with a wailed back and bashed shins. Not a graceful mofo, to say the least.
Now that was a well-formed first sentence...
Last year i bruised the ball of my foot running on a road (thought it would be good to use the street crossings on the bike path as "barriers")
finally now the foot has sort of recovered.
Some shoes are better than others. Sidi's seem to have a decent amount of "cush" compared to some rock hard plastic soles.
That said, put a touch of fancy foam between the techincal side of the shoe and the nice stiff sole...
5mm of the stuff...
i dunno...
something eh?
but, if all ya do is race in the mud it no matter...
Solo, There's your new business idea.
I was thinking of that yesterday when Steamboat had us running up hills (LONG 60+ second). I thought "I'd be a helluva lot faster if I had shoes which were more suitable for running"
Since you need a stiff sole in cycling for power transfer, and a flexible sole for running effectively, I'm not sure how one could design that kind of shoe. Regardless, it is a good idea and a niche opportunity as we marketers would say.
Somethign really interesting to note watching Henry's video slo-mo. There's a hopping off the left foot off of the bike. Some are clearly un-clipping in that hop, others are alreay unclipped, but that "hop" puts the left foot in front of the right so as to keep from losing too much momentum.
Amos Brumble used to take money in the A race every week wearing Converse All Stars (15+ years ago)
Actually it was every race, not every week. There were a few open weekends back then... And the first cross race was usually the last Saturday in October.
...snail mailing you grainy 16mm zapruder film of eric de vlaeminck doing step behind in '70's flandrian cross...
...solobreak, remember carefully dissecting photos in "international cycle sport" to learn how the pros set up their bikes, cuz there was nothin' else ???...or am i really dating myself ???...
Not really. I remember "Winning" and of course waiting for Velo News to come out to see if you got your name in print for making top 5. But I was late to the party. When I started, Super Record and Nuovo Record were in their final years, and clipless pedals were just appearing on the scene. But 42x18 was still your low gear on the 6 speed straight block... 21 for the hilly races like Putney.
I used to kick Amos' a$$ in the Monday night time trial. I think he was about 8 at the time.
All this stiff soles, 50% stiffer than last year frames, 20% stiffer cranks, bbs, stems, bar... How effin stiff you you racer monkeys want stuff???
ya think that 0.0001 less deflection is a road shoe sole is gonna updrade ya from phred to pro-poser???
Ya want faster? Oil your chain. Keep your wheels true. Keep your knees in and elbows bent.
Kids.
Come show us how it is done Il Gramps
Brucie, are you going to Gloucester? I just picked up a six pack of 'gansett. I need a ride...
...ya, "ics" out of england w/ great color pics, allowing us to see what was cool, predated all the local rags...
...recently our local paper ran an article about early 'velo club tamalpais' of which i was one of two founders in '72...i provided an early photo...long hair, huge sideburns, latest kit, garlotti w/ chrome cinelli fork, nuevo record...could hardly rub two dimes together but i did have my priorities...
Better be Tall Boys...
a sixer of Tall boys will get ya mellow for at least the drive up with a Rhody!
I don't do cans. Gotta draw the line somewhere. I was also pretty disappointed that Blanchard's in Westie didn't have much selection of 40's, no malt liquor. The good news is there's a great packy right on the road into the race. Either that or I'll have to take a ride over to Brockton.
If I get bored tonight I'll make some jello shots.
you don't do "cans"
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
so says the guy with the recent injury...
LMFAO...
you don't do cans...
AHAHAHAHAH
...shit, i always spell 'nuovo' wrong...& btw, gary fisher & joe breeze were roadies in our club who raced cross before the dawn of the mtb industry...joe ryan won a 'u.s.a. cross national championship' as a 'velo club tamalpais' rider...
...ancient history, i know, but don't lose the legacy
Remember one of those guys, at a cx nats near LA, had a road bike for the paved climb, and would switch bikes, then hand it off at the top, and the helper rode it back down? That was mid 80's, I think.
Prolly not going to glowchester. I think I'm going mountain biking then plinking.
I'll let you know though.
...solobreak, wow, i'm checkin' on that one, maybe know by tommorrow...bet that pissed off the field...
this may be the second time ever, but, i totally agree with foley.
shit.
ctOdd--i used to have two pairs of shoes--sidis for courses i had to run a lot (more flexie with tow spikes) and the garneaus for courses that had fast barriers and was more flat (stiffer w/o toe spikes to clip the barriers)
but i can't afford that on a mass teacher's salary--only on a maryland one. . .
xo
m
Post a Comment