IBOHUNT

What Sara said TallOne. Heal well.

chasm54

Wiggins is a bit of a drama queen. He has always been volatile and he tends to speak first and think later.

It's understandable that he is disappointed at not being in the Sky team for the Tour. And I certainly don't blame him for disliking Froome or feeling that he hasn't been given much respect by Brailsford. But his rejection of the road for the track is just a slightly childish desire for comfort, like a teenager returning to an ex-girlfriend because he's been dumped by the current one.

AzTallRider

Best quotes from the tour:

Michael Rogers: "I'm not scared of the outcome anymore... <snip>... not afraid of failure. Once you aren't scared of the outcome, things become a lot clearer, and opportunities arise."

Christian Vande Velde: "I did dope, and I'm not proud of it." (an actual candid and reasonable discussion of doping and culture changes in today's broadcast)

AzTallRider

Women's race at the tour - radar on the sprint finish - 68.7kph. That's 42.7mph. Mad props.

Hermes

He may be all that but the training and physique required for the track is different from a grand tour and possibly a one day classic. Brailsford wants to work something out with Wiggans so that he can do both. Good luck with that. I think Brailsford mismanaged the selection of the team for the TdF and is now faced with losing a valuable asset.

chasm54

Wiggins is a wasting asset, he's past his best. It isn't just a question of age, but of motivation. He has, with the exception of the winter before his TDF-winning year, always tended to let himself get out of shape at the end of each season - he likes a drink - and with every passing year, it becomes harder to recover from that. If I were Brailsford I'd be thinking about letting him go and moving on.

AzTallRider

Plus there is the overarching fact that no grand tour team can realistically have more than one #1 guy.

Here is what happens when one of our Arizona "Haboobs" (sandstorm) hits a TT. Teammate of mine (the guy I refer to in posts as the Hulk). Photo courtesy of Clippinaz.com:

revchuck 

Ouch. At least it's apparently only road rash, hope it's nothing more!

Allegheny Jet

Harvested the garlic I planted last fall this AM. OMG, out of 125 plants I only planted 4 the correct side up. I'll look at the upside and say my success rate was 3.2%!

shovelhd

That's something I would do. Every plant I touch dies.

Racer Ex 

Tour thoughts:

Best all around bike racer won. Nibali is hugely underrated.

TJ has Schleck Neck, a syndrome that causes people to turn around and see who's following them when the race is in front of them.

Paul has managed to become worse than Phil. His math about how far behind a person is denies the laws of physics (15 seconds equal the same distance regardless of the velocity of the two objects in motion). I threw up when he claimed that if Richie Porte believed he could do something, he could do it. His unicorn babble and mind reading and endless repetition of "professional bike racer"...oy vay.

Despite the battle for the win being short lived, the sub plots made it one of the more entertaining Tours of late; the battle for the other podium spots and climbers jersey was epic.

Viva la France: those kids were racing. Bardet has some cajones. And the old guy snuck up on everyone, though almost lost it in a blink of a crosswalk.

Valverde's "sell by" date is past.

If Riis and Brailsford played strip poker, Brailsford et al would be naked after the first hand. Both teams lost their GC guy. Tinkoff takes 3 wins and a jersey. Sky gets a big goose egg. It's easy to look brilliant when you have the best talent. It's what you do when things blow up...love him or hate him, Bjarne is probably the best brain in cycling over the last three decades.

shovelhd

If Nibali had won "only" the 2014 Tour with many of the favorites crashing out, you could say that he got lucky. But he's done way more than that.

valygrl

Not to change the subject.

I am currently charging my bike for the very first time.

shovelhd

Once you go tron, you'll never go back.

You didn't get 9070, did you? If so, I officially hate you.

valygrl

Hate away.... 9070 electronics, 6800 chain and cassette. Already had the 9000 crank from earlier this year when I downsized crankarms. Left the 7900 brakes on there, they are great, I hope the work well with the new levers, didn't think to check about that.

Had a shop do the work - they drilled a couple holes in the frame to get the front wiring and battery inside, the derailleur wires are outside, they didn't want to drill the chainstay.

AzTallRider

I see what you did there.

revchuck 

I've got two races left before I pull the plug on my first season of racing, both of which will be done by the end of August. The question arises...now what? I'm a goal-oriented person, due not to being driven but rather to my having been ADHD before it was fashionable...if I don't have a goal, the virtual couch looks pretty good. I don't have the weather-based restrictions that many of you do.

It's a given that the final decision will be between my coach and me, but I'm interested in ideas. Loosely stated, I'm thinking about strength training in the fall, and then...more base? Work on FTP? Something else?

My first race is in mid-February, first A race is the second weekend in March (Rouge-Roubaix...decided to do it again). Focus for the rest of the season is still up in the air.

Allegheny Jet

My first year of racing made me hungry for the next season. I was able to see my pluses and failures and knew that a coach was needed to harness my overtraining and to put me on a periodization program using my goals and desires. You already have that part down revchuck and your 2nd year successes will be huge. After one year of being "on" you must have an idea of your strengths and weaknesses. During the off season you can work on either or both. In Ohio we do have some weather constraints but either go indoors or ride a bike that is suitable for conditions. Riding the cross bike in snow or mountain biking at night on frozen ground is special but not so for everyone. Riding and training in less than ideal conditions is just business.

I'm happy to see that you will have a "next year" of racing.

shovelhd

I usually cut my CTL way down and enjoy life. You don't need structure before base starts but I would encourage you to track your workload so you don't dig a hole for yourself.

tetonrider

oh, man...missed this. hope you get it under control soon.

AzTallRider

It's "interesting" right now. There is no pain, per se, but a constant state of mild inflammation, a few trouble spots in my calf muscle, and you can feel the irregularities in the tendon sheath. I'm getting ultrasound on the worst spot, targeted massage, and a combo of stretching and strength exercises. Riding doesn't seem to change things, but I'm still keeping the power down. Average 150 yesterday morning, for 33 minutes.

If I can't get past this quickly enough to have a solid next season, well, that would truly suck and lead me to reevaluate things.

revchuck 

I've always thought that there was no way I'd ever need an 11t cog. On yesterday's ride, though, there were two stoplights about 150-200 meters apart, and if you sprint from one when it turns green you can catch the other before it turns red. I was riding my Look with its compact crankset and a 12-25 cassette, and made it to not quite 29 mph when I passed under the second light...and I only had one cog left. This wasn't a balls-to-the-wall sprint, but close (for me), and I had no draft. Looks like it's time for that 11t cog! I've got an 11-25 that I dislike because there's no 16t cog, but it's going on the Look until I can order an 11-23. I'll use the 12-25 on the Allez, which has a standard crankset.

AzTallRider

With the 11sp, I use an 11-28 for training, and an 11-23 for racing. Standard crank.

Allegheny Jet

A 50/13 @ 110 RPM equals 33.56 mph. Turning a 50/12 @ 110 rpm equals 36.34 mph. Unless you are racing down hills an 11 tooth cog is taking up space. IMHO

chasm54

I agree, really. Can't remember ever spinning out in a race running a 50/12, let alone the 53/12...