Tripleshot Cycling

I forgot to hit start until blenkinsop.

Gavin managed to stay away today with a nice solo move at about the duck pond. We let the gap get too big to catch him. I hope my 180+ heartrate at the end will be enough to convince Lister that I was actually trying to reel Gavin back in on that last pull and wasn't running interference for him.


edit: the "A" coffee group managed to stay until just before 9am today, which is a PB for me!

Josh

Forgot the link too.

JT (enjoying these stats posts - I'll ask Santa for a bike GPS)

http://connect.garmin.com/player/15680989" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

whoops!

Josh.E wrote:I forgot to hit start until blenkinsop.

Gavin managed to stay away today with a nice solo move at about the duck pond. We let the gap get too big to catch him. I hope my 180+ heartrate at the end will be enough to convince Lister that I was actually trying to reel Gavin back in on that last pull and wasn't running interference for him.


edit: the "A" coffee group managed to stay until just before 9am today, which is a PB for me!

Josh

Hey Josh, my suggestion that you were blocking for Gavin was mostly because I couldn't come around you! It was like a wind tunnel on either side, so I stayed where it was comfy.

As a technical aside, even the fittest guys can go flat out for only so long; probably under 30 seconds, likely 15-20 seconds. Shorter, faster pulls might have reeled him in, and left something in your legs for the sprint.

On the same idea, I owe apologies to Galen for Tuesday where his heroic long pull got me almost onto the front group, which I repaid by dropping him as I jumped on, cuz he had nothing left.

Disclaimer: As an ex-team pursuiter, I might have a bias to the short turns; we only did one lap or even half lap pulls in races before swinging up and letting the following teammate through, about 15 to 30 seconds or less. The whole race is under 5 minutes.

I knew there had to be a good explanation. A tragic hard-wired consequence of a history in team pursuit. There should be a support group!

Hello. My name is Lister. I'm a short-puller.

JT

Is it just me, or in pro races do they not wait for the lead guy to peel off when doing short pulls in small groups and TTTs? It always seems more like the lead guy goes full out, and the guy behind comes around as soon as he feels the pace drop, so the rider on the first wheel dictates the length of the leaders's pull. Not sure if that's what they do or not, but it always looks more like that to me.

josh

You're probably right Josh, IF the guy behind has the legs to pass! In team pursuit, the leader often moves up the track a few inches so the second guy can overlap to the inside if the leader starts to die before the banking (which you use for the change). That way the second guy doesn't have to backpedal.

This Youtube vid of Cavendish and Columbia this year also suggests the follower, Cavendish, launches his own sprint, although the leadout guy pulls over just as he passes (1:35.), and it could be because his job is to go to the 200 m to go sign, for eg..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqcJ9cro75w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

At 2:06, however, the leadout guy definitely pulls over before Cavendish takes over.

I think a bigger part of this is the pace. If the leader isn't going full out for the 20-40 seconds he can maintain this, they won't get as far as if he was. Note Cav only comes off the wheel with 10-15 seconds to go in the sprint, suggesting max power is relatively short.

A 3:25, Cav passes again at 15 seconds to go.

At 3:42, the first leadout guy pulls over before next comes through.

The last one, the leadout guy keeps going for second!