Shoud Techy stuff be banned?

Richrd2205

Can I play Devil's Advocate?

Cycling is the stupidest sport ever when it comes to chasing sociology's mythical "golden age."
FFS, it never happened. It just allows us to be luddite & project our unhappiness onto technology rather than people.....
& we, as fans, are dumb enough to do exactly what we're told.
The Velocar
The Lotus Bike
87mph on the flat under human power....

We don't want these things, we want to watch folk riding inefficient machines & suffering for the inefficiencies.

& damn you if you dare to use technology to gain 2% when you've been banned from gaining 30%!!!!!

[serious bit]Is this not all a bit bloody stupid anyway since technology was banned in 1934? I love the sport, but to pretend it has any direct relevance is bloody stupid. [/serious bit]
So, should we ban dérailleur gears next? Or freewheel hubs? Or support vehicles? Or anyone called Eugene being near a furnace?

jerry3571

The article which Team Columbia state that they rely on Power Meters for catching breaks was in Procycling a few months ago.
I have a mate who does TTs a lot and for a 10 mile TT he found that he goes faster when his heart rate is lower in the first half and then raises it in the second half. The wattage then remains the roughly the same and he gets a quicker time.
I used to ride a 10 with a HRM and go between 180-185bpm all the way through and I thought that was the best method but alas I was wrong (this heart rate was when I was in my twenties; a long time ago now).
My problem is that this knowledge can greatly effect racing and doesn't allow the drama of a rider for having a bad day in the head.
As far as breakaways; the over extension of a Team chasing causes big changes in results. Certain chasing riders without Power Meters may easily panic and over extend and cause a break to succeed but instead they are now mind numbingly drawn back by a Team knowing that their riders won't crack if they keep their wattage within tight parameters.
Cycling should be a sport in the head as well as the legs and these devices take away the head.

-Jerry

Wheelspinner

Interesting discussion, and makes me feel sorry for pro bike riders in some ways. Makes them sound like no more than lab rats on a treadmill.

attica

I've often wondered how interesting a stage would be if they banned gears for a day (being realistic I'd allow freewheels otherwise there could be carnage)
.
Throw in a couple of modest climbs and let the riders chose their ratios.

Luddite, moi?

Pross

Make race radios one way so that riders can report a problem but nothing can be transmitted in response. I do think all the modern aids are taking the 'risk' away and may be contributing to riding becoming less aggressive.

Tom Butcher

Attica wrote:

I've often wondered how interesting a stage would be if they banned gears for a day (being realistic I'd allow freewheels otherwise there could be carnage)
.
Throw in a couple of modest climbs and let the riders chose their ratios.

Luddite, moi?

You aren't the only one. Modern gears especially take away the skill of climbing in a big gear and to an extent having the leg speed to sprint. It somehow takes away from the steep climbs to see people twiddling up them at their standard cadence with a dinner plate on the back.

It sounds like a joke but then so does sticking the Giro over the strade bianche and that produced one of the most memorable stages of recent times.

frenchfighter

Some guys use the SRM and can't even go to the bakery without it. I do it in periods. I feel that if I do my homework and train at home, then for me, the test is in the races. I use the races to get information. I get a little crazy if I have to look at the SRM all the time. It's a balance.

-Breschel

mididoctors

Ban the lot

but perhaps


allow radio for race radio info for safety but no 2 way to team managers riders can only talk to race radio

afx237vi

Does techy stuff include Power Balance wristbands?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11805616

(Can't be bothered to search for the old thread.)

mroli

OK - I reckon - allow the lot. What's the problem? Race Directors control the race, but cyclists still have to go out there and do it. Powermeter might need to say that you need to churn out xWatts to catch the break, but the rider still has to do it and presumably the break's rider can have his team saying "you need to increase your wattage by %" as well.

I like the powermeters on the climbs - you saw Wiggins this year not wanting to go too far into the red and losing places like billy-oh this year. Perhaps if he rode more on feel, he could have done better. His choice.

Its Cav that said that his figures and his numbers are nothing special, but they don't explain why he wins so much.

Riders still have bad days in the head - didn't Sky "crack" Armstrong to their own detriment? What about Roche's teammate refusing to give him his wheel? Radios and powermeters didn't help too much on the cobbles or on the "neutralised" stage of the TDF this year.

All these things do is gauge performance, they don't make the performance for you.

Let them ride away - just remove Cancellera's motor first!

Coach H

ozzzyosborn206 wrote:

I am pretty sure Cav would win a bunch kick on any teams bike....

You are joking though. Cav couldnt win on his own teams bike and had to go back to the old one

No_Ta_Doctor

afx237vi wrote:

Does techy stuff include Power Balance wristbands?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11805616

(Can't be bothered to search for the old thread.)

No. Magic hocus-pocus aids are allowed. Their main use is actually in decreasing a riders weight by substantially decreasing the contents of his wallet.

phearnde

No - Allow all technology which is available

The rest us benefit in our work & private lives from all sorts of technology.

The only time when perhaps a line should be drawn is if the technology in question is particularly expensive and so its use would disadvantage a less well financed team.

Only problem then, is you get into questions of what is a fair budget for a team.

RichN95.

phearnde wrote:

No - Allow all technology which is available

I'm not sure about ALL technology.

I mean, I don't what to see anyone turning up for a time trial in one of these

mididoctors

RichN95 wrote:

phearnde wrote:

No - Allow all technology which is available

I'm not sure about ALL technology.

I mean, I don't what to see anyone turning up for a time trial in one of these

+1

this is the real point

i would ban tri bars etc in the TT!

the cut off point for technology is totally arbitrary always has been

if the argument is that technological innovation is stifled by such rulings why are recumbents disallowed.

I believe in a arbitrary and somewhat conservative opinion on what should be allowed

I really like the idea behind the new hour record rules

mroli

Nah - let them have that - put a technical turn in and pray for cross winds!

mercsport

An off the cuff remark -or two- here : I would ban TT's in road races/tours. They bestow upon cyclists a very poor image. To a man, they all look utterly preposterous in their skin suits and aero-helmets and bikes of quite extraordinary ugliness. Additionally, TT's relationship to RR is akin to that of the track. Distant, remote, at best.

A complete mystery to me how TT's got to be such a feature of the GT's. It's akin to -in the middle of a tour - 'let's all go for a swim today!'. Oh, I nearly forgot, they're also stupefyingly boring to boot.

Er,...IMHO.

rick_chasey

I have always figured it would be a little more sensible for the TTs in GTs to be done on just standard road bikes rather than all this fancy TT gear.

Then again, money has to be made...

zippypablo

Rick Chasey wrote:

I have always figured it would be a little more sensible for the TTs in GTs to be done on just standard road bikes rather than all this fancy TT gear.

Then again, money has to be made...

they did this in the Tour of Qatar this year. It looked a bit strange to see a team time trial on road bikes. It was done to save teams transporting too much kit.

danieljgreen

Would one answer be to broadcast team radio, like F1?
That way it would be more interesting for a viewer as you could watch when moves were developing and the role of the director sportive.

As long as there are teams there will be team orders and therefore communication between riders and their support.

mididoctors

danieljgreen wrote:

Would one answer be to broadcast team radio, like F1?
That way it would be more interesting for a viewer as you could watch when moves were developing and the role of the director sportive.

As long as there are teams there will be team orders and therefore communication between riders and their support.

interesting idea