Latest comments
- If my memory serves me right, this ex-superdomestique of Keris Vroom used to follow Brexit news with great obsession.
- I hope Saunier Duval and US Postal will return to cycling too. Let's make cycling great again!
- If every rider would explain all the best tactics in public so everyone would be warned in advance, would that change anything? Will Pog even find out Caleb? Did you contact him or are you just telling everyone else? At least Mohoriç gave his advice in person, when it mattered.
- Gravel is great in itself BUT, firstly, not every place or region has gravel roads, cycling can be done just about everywhere. Secondly let’s wait and see if it stays viable, after all 100y ago cycling was basically gravel and it died a death when roads became commonplace, Bmx didn’t stay popular, Cyclocross is only having its moment because of a few names, ice skating has never taken off outside a few countries, rollerskating has been forgotten even if it was shortly reinvented as blading, etc.
The biggest problem of all with sport (and/or) splitting off in different directions is the risk of killing the little that was there. I’m not saying gravel will kill the TdF or Monuments or that boxing didn’t grow due to splitting but I’ve also seen the opposite. Cycling at the lower levels is a precarious thing. I’ve lived in a cycling country that got divided into 3 federations, the result, same number of riders (initially) but split into several races that compete for the same dates, ie race sizes which were often already sad have dropped to pathetic levels. In some categories you’re practically guaranteed a medal and points just by finishing and the number of medals has tripled, everyone’s a winner now but without merit. That was initially, now numbers are rock bottom because a whole bunch of enthusiasts just no longer enjoy the effort to go to a race not knowing if it will be one. So yes, fine if you can grow the overall user base significantly and sustainably but maybe someone should come with a backup plan? After all, we’re not doing that well and if we all quit the roads even more, drivers will lobby to never let us back on again.
- Oh, cool, didn’t know that was permitted. You know, if these forums weren’t meant for argument which is an effective form of spreading knowledge, they’d be even less useful. I certainly don’t need to hear hundreds of people’s opinions when they are copy-pastes of others’ and generally limited to black/white and if lucky max. 2 shades of grey. The devil and fun is in the detail which rarely come out in single sentence comments. I have nothing against HPV road racing but certainly not in peleton form and there are many safety issues to think about. RAAM is not closed to traffic afaik (imo but not opinion) but does allow accompanying which provides safety but otherwise by the nature of being ultra aerodynamic, they’re even less visible than bikes. Also, the more advanced are now completely closed without windows and I’d not trust cameras to be sufficient to properly observe road details and conditions so there might have to be restrictions on how much visibility a rider should have and whether they can lie facing backwards. Then there is the question of outside assistance in case of standstill or climbing in/out, that’s just for starters but for sure it could be an attraction in closed off city centre roads, a bit like ultra soap cars, great support for advertising too.
- Well, now I'm just seeming argumentative. :) But there's no reason HPV racing would have to be on the track. A team did RAAM in the late 80s or early 90s in a few of these, did the crossing in roughly 4 days, I think?
- 1. There is a better alternative. The US has chosen the gravel model.
2. What's with the obsession with oil?
3. I have voted with my wallet. I haven't done a UCI race in many years, and I race all the time.
- Well that was a pretty good way of putting things :-) Got back his freedom of speech after leaving?
- Totally agree! it's the most unpredictable Classic race because is very easy, then, paradoxically, is very difficult for the strongest rider like Pogacar because they can't do selection: anyone can win it. In my opinion, the final 15 minutes are the most electrifying of the entire season.
- Winning Roubaix and the TdF in the same year is another combo he'll absolutely wanna do to bring him closer to Eddy