Lance's offroad diversion and helping riders

Adam Bender wrote:
I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last year's
TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course (a sharp
turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going through the whole
course by doing something like this?

He lost both time and position in the process. He and Beloki were
trying to chase down Vinokourov who was well ahead when Beloki
crashed. Vino got further ahead during the incident and a few guys
that were behind him (including Ullrich) passed him before he could
get back on the bike and start moving again. Many forms of racing,
not just bicycles, will not penalize you further for going off
course if you lose time and position by doing so. Moreover, he did
it to avoid colliding with Beloki. It would be wrong to penalize
him for that.

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 15:08:27 +1000, byron27 wrote:

Adam Bender Wrote:
I had heard he'd also been training with some cyclocross, which could
have helped him, but overall I think it's just another small example of
why LA is the greatest athlete of all time.

What he did was pure reaction and anyone who spends a lot of time on a
bike would do similar.

I'm not sure how true that is (the "anyone who spends a lot of
time..." part) because I've riden with a bunch of folks who have the
years and a few who were racers and they can not handle off road on a
road bike.

Others who have spent time on mtn bikes (and off road) and ride road
bikes have much better handling skills. They handle 'going off road'
much better. This is especially true when an accident occurs and the
ride would have gone down.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ (SourceForge)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)

From: (Pete)
"Adam Bender"

Rules for the Tour
http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/reglement.html

If you look closely when the team car
hands out a waterbottle or food, you'll
see him give the rider a little pull along.

Pete

I like:

"Article 19: RAILROAD crossing
It is forbidden for riders to cross railroad crossings when the barrier
is down.
Any riders not complying with this requirement are disqualified from the
race by the commissaires."

...or the train! LOL

- -

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 23:37:56 -0700, Bill Davidson wrote:

Adam Bender wrote:
I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last year's
TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course (a sharp
turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going through the whole
course by doing something like this?

He lost both time and position in the process. He and Beloki were
trying to chase down Vinokourov who was well ahead when Beloki
crashed. Vino got further ahead during the incident and a few guys
that were behind him (including Ullrich) passed him before he could
get back on the bike and start moving again. Many forms of racing,
not just bicycles, will not penalize you further for going off
course if you lose time and position by doing so. Moreover, he did
it to avoid colliding with Beloki. It would be wrong to penalize
him for that.

This raises a question I've wanted to ask for awhile:

Beloki crashed when his rear tire separated from the wheel at
50ish miles per hour.

Given how light and how good clinchers are these days, why do top
riders still bother with the mess (and the risk) of tubulars?

--
Chris BeHanna
Software Engineer (Remove "allspammersmustdie" before responding.)

I was raised by a pack of wild corn dogs.

Chris BeHanna wrote:

This raises a question I've wanted to ask for awhile:

Beloki crashed when his rear tire separated from the wheel at
50ish miles per hour.

This has been discussed to death. The tire peeling off the rim was
the result of the bike getting sideways on a slick patch of tar, and
wasn't the cause of the accident in any way. Watch the tape and it's
obvious - he lost the rear end of the bike, the rear tire peeled off
the rim when it regained traction (albeit sideways), vaulting the rear
end of the bike up and over the opposite direction.

Ugly crash, but the problem was simply too much speed and too little
traction (something Lance - who was right behind Beloki - confirms).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame