Olympic RR/TT/TRACK Cycling.. (may contain spoilers)

aeon

the course passes within 50m of my house, so it'd be rude not to. a little bit dull perhaps, but still will be good to see the pain, the speed, the bikes and the body positions

i don't suppose there's any way for plebs to ride the course, is there?

clarkey cat

Watching TTs is pretty dull.

better than being at work

rick_chasey

clarkey cat wrote:

Watching TTs is pretty dull.

better than being at work

I can think of better things to do when I'm off work :P.

clarkey cat

Oh do share. I may change my plans.

rick_chasey

clarkey cat wrote:

Oh do share. I may change my plans.

Go for a ride!

Maybe you've seen them before and loved them.

I'm a big cycling fan, a proper nerd, and I wouldn't put much effort into seeing a TT. Prologues - sure, you see them go round loads and loads of times to recce the course - often without any of the kit so you can spot who is who. Ask nicely and they'll even have a chat with you.

TTs? You won't see much, unless you can get through to the warm up area.

el_presidente

Rick Chasey wrote:

Watching TTs is pretty dull.

God you're a miserable git aren't you. I would say it is a lot less dull than watching the road race - you get 3 or so hours of action as opposed to about 5 minutes. You can see world-class sportsman at their peak for free. Watch at a flat bit and astound yourself at the speeds they do. Then move along to a slow corner and get a close up view witha bit more time to look at the riders. I spent the day at the TdF prologue in london and it was brilliant.

clarkey cat

We're having a family BBQ as we live on the route and TBH pretty excited about seeing Wiggo and cheering him on.

bigmat

Dull on TV, great at the roadside in my experience. There's a lot to be said for seeing each athlete fly by one at a time. GB has a decent chance of a medal or two as well, which would be nice to see happen. Am taking the afternoon off, hopefully getthere in time for the ladies' event but realistically should catch most of the mens'.

veronese68

As I'll be at work in lovely Hanworth I shall pop down to Bushy Park during my lunch hour (and a bit) to watch some of the TT. Certainly beats working.
I'll watch from the straight, where the path joins the road, then go towards the gate to see them come in there. I don't know how well they've smoothed the bumps by the gate, could be exciting if it's wet.

veronese68

I've been searching the web looking for more idea about timings for the time trial. On the Go Surrey page there is a link giving you a guide to the olympic time trial, so I clicked the link and it gives you helpful information about what a breakaway is, what the peloton is and what a lead out is. Great, thanks for that.
All I know is that the men start at 2:15pm, don't know how long they go on for.

rick_chasey

Women start at 12:30, men at 14:15.

SteppenHerring

Would be great to have a start list - also a course code. Is it a G or an H?

rick_chasey

SteppenHerring wrote:

Would be great to have a start list - also a course code. Is it a G or an H?

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... -list.html

A few days old, so Evans has pulled out for example.

el_presidente

Veronese68 wrote:

All I know is that the men start at 2:15pm, don't know how long they go on for.

44 starters at 90 second intervals so they will all be away by about 15.25. Prob about 50 - 55 minutes to do 44km on a flat course so all finished by 16.30 at the latest I would estimate?

veronese68

el_presidente wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

All I know is that the men start at 2:15pm, don't know how long they go on for.

44 starters at 90 second intervals so they will all be away by about 15.25. Prob about 50 - 55 minutes to do 44km on a flat course so all finished by 16.30 at the latest I would estimate?

Excellent, ta. I think I'll head to Bushy Park for about 3.30 as that's virtualy at the end of the route. Unless the Brits get early starts. Must watch out for a running order.

il_principe

Just seen pics of Wiggins training on a TT version of that nasty bike. I'm a little confused as to why GB all opted to switch from bikes they have been riding (and winning on) all year. I'm sure Wiggins has ridden this one a bit, but surely not as often as his Graal. Seems odd to switch from bikes that they have spent hours racing on and are perfectly dialled in... especially for the TT where tiny differences c`n mean so much.

keyser__soze

Millar and Stannard didn't switch in the RR and Lizzie was on her S2 on Sunday so I guess the riders can choose which bike they use. Apart from the handlebars the contact points will be the same and they'll have exactly the geometry they want dialled in so there should be no discernible difference in terms of position.

spasypaddy

Keyser__Soze wrote:

Millar and Stannard didn't switch in the RR and Lizzie was on her S2 on Sunday so I guess the riders can choose which bike they use. Apart from the handlebars the contact points will be the same and they'll have exactly the geometry they want dialled in so there should be no discernible difference in terms of position.

stannard is a weird one as hes a team sky rider, but Lizzie and Millar are contracted to Cervelo bikes so had to ride them.

el_presidente

Chris Horner nearly got doored in the road race..... welcome to London cycling!

"At one point when my crank arm broke off, I changed my bike and chased back on, I'm doing 80k's an hour at the bottom of the circuit and there's a car on my left and a car on my right, and I'm getting ready to shoot the middle, and the two cars on the right pull over and stop, and I got just about enough room for me to get through ... and the mechanic opens the door on the road side, not on the grass side but on the road side! I was literally bike-going-sideways locked up and I missed the door by a few inches."
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/olympic-road-race-spectacle-or-disaster

rjsterry

el_presidente wrote:

Chris Horner nearly got doored in the road race..... welcome to London cycling!

"At one point when my crank arm broke off, I changed my bike and chased back on, I'm doing 80k's an hour at the bottom of the circuit and there's a car on my left and a car on my right, and I'm getting ready to shoot the middle, and the two cars on the right pull over and stop, and I got just about enough room for me to get through ... and the mechanic opens the door on the road side, not on the grass side but on the road side! I was literally bike-going-sideways locked up and I missed the door by a few inches."
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/olympic-road-race-spectacle-or-disaster

Saw that. Not sure why they made everyone drive on the left on closed roads. Also, why the hell is his crank breaking off?

il_principe

rjsterry wrote:

Saw that. Not sure why they made everyone drive on the left on closed roads. Also, why the hell is his crank breaking off?

Probably because it's ShimaNo.

bigmat

Il Principe wrote:

Just seen pics of Wiggins training on a TT version of that nasty bike. I'm a little confused as to why GB all opted to switch from bikes they have been riding (and winning on) all year. I'm sure Wiggins has ridden this one a bit, but surely not as often as his Graal. Seems odd to switch from bikes that they have spent hours racing on and are perfectly dialled in... especially for the TT where tiny differences c`n mean so much.

They probably are of the view that they have been winning in spite of the bikes, rather than because of them. I think the bikes Froome and Wiggins will do the TT on are the exact same frames as for the road race. Wiggins' handlebar set up is likely the exact same set up he used in the tour. It will all be familiar stuff.

rick_chasey

Also, it seems to be the consensus that the pinarellos are some of the weaker bikes in the pro-peloton.

rick_chasey

Cav will be the co-presenter with Jake Humphreys for the track cycling.

Ha!

veronese68

Found the running order for the TT.
I think I'll head to Bushy Park for 3.30 to watch the faster guys.

rick_chasey

Lizzie Armitstead off at 12:52, Emma Pooley at 12:57, Chris Froome off at 1500, Bradley Wiggins at 1507

Sharkyssurfers

I can see me leaving late for work now, just so I can watch the bradders total them all, as I sit here in my wiggo on tour t shirt

phy2sll2

Where do we get live updates???

EDIT: cycling news has come to the rescue...

rick_chasey

phy2sll2 wrote:

Where do we get live updates???

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/201 ... o/p00w2yj1

DonDaddyD

Rick Chasey wrote:

Also, it seems to be the consensus that the pinarellos are some of the weaker bikes in the pro-peloton.

Why was my post, asking for the source of this consensus you mentioned, deleted?

I was generally asking because I'm interested in bikes, and at the moment, those chosen by the Pro peleton.