Originally Posted by
RChung
The example I always use is the 1996 Elite Men's NCNCA (that is, Northern California Nevada) District Championship 40km TT. NCNCA is pretty competitive.
PLACE TIME NAME
-- ------- -------------------
1 52:56.3 DAVID LELAND
2 52:57.1 ANTHONY CRUZ
3 52:57.8 DAVID BAILEY
4 52:58.1 TIM GRANSHAW
5 53:00.9 GRAHAM SIMPSON
Not only did Granshaw lose a podium spot by 0.3 seconds overall over 40km -- if he'd been .05 sec/km faster he'd've won the whole damn thing. That's 1/20th of a second per km, and 1/20th of a second is literally the blink of an eye. That was the difference between winning and not standing anywhere on the podium and a long quiet drive home.
ok, an almost 1 hour TT would be something I'll concede to the advantage of rolling resistance coming into play of final placement determination. But I'd also argue that an hour TT is a pretty specific discipline.
But how many guys in here who are emphasiszing the advantage of rolling resistance do one hour TTs and thinking at the level of "
1/20th of a second per km" when they're hammering with their possies or a crit around an industrial park?
And what about descending, taking fast corners, and tire feedback? The GP4000 was bunk at this as a front tire because it's got hard rubber and hard casing. I'll take Vit Corsa and Veloflex with latex for the front, easily no question asked, because those gives supreme road feedback while trail braking into a corner. This is important too if you're that type of rider!