Watching Armstrong out of the saddle on the climbs for extended periods of time at those rpms is quite impressive. I don't seem to recall him spending so much time out of saddle in previous years on the hills at that cadence. Anyone have an idea if this observation is accurate, and if so, what prompted the change? What is his cadence in the hills (7-8% avg. grades), in and out of the saddle, the gearing and crank lengths he is using . I tried to compare Armstrong's cadence in and out of the saddle to Ullrich, and I would guestimate about 10-15 rpms faster, but its tough to be precise. Would he switch crank lengths for flat vs. hill stages?
Kudos to the OLN coverage this year - magnificent effort!! ( but get rid of Gum for '04)
In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...
Quoted message said:
Watching Armstrong out of the saddle on the climbs for extended periods of time at those rpms is quite impressive. I don't seem to recall him spending so much time out of saddle in previous years on the hills at that cadence. Anyone have an idea if this observation is accurate, and if so, what prompted the change?
I thought the opposite. I didn't think he spent as much time out of the saddle at high cadence this year as last.
Watching Armstrong out of the saddle on the climbs for extended periods of time at those rpms is quite impressive. I don't seem to recall him spending so much time out of saddle in previous years on the hills at that cadence. Anyone have an idea if this observation is accurate, and if so, what prompted the change? <gratuitous gum snip>
He says he had tendinitis from new cleats and shoes.
I did notice than Lance was out of the saddle an awful lot more than he was in years past, especially in 2001 and 2002. Lance would sit quite a bit, and only stand when he was attacking or off the front. Maybe he stood more because he was more gaunt this year...which was obvious in that he could pick a lock with his cheek bones!!!
But whatever...he won and now Greg Lemond must be hating life (he said last year that he won four tours because he allowed Hinault to beat him one year).
"GreatCube" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Watching Armstrong out of the saddle on the climbs for extended periods of time at those rpms is quite impressive. I don't seem to recall him spending so much time out of saddle in previous years on the hills at that cadence. Anyone have an idea if this observation is accurate, and if so, what prompted the change? What is his cadence in the hills (7-8% avg. grades), in and out of the saddle, the gearing and crank lengths he is using . I tried to compare Armstrong's cadence in and out of the saddle to Ullrich, and I would guestimate about 10-15 rpms faster, but its tough to be precise. Would he switch crank lengths for flat vs. hill stages?
Kudos to the OLN coverage this year - magnificent effort!! ( but get rid of Gum for '04)
Paul sherwin commented very often that Lance was out of the saddle more than usual. I think he was. One explanation is that lance just was in worse shape. In the past Lance got out of the saddle while attacking, i.e. when he was putting in maxiumum effort. In this tour, armstrongs maximum effort might have been more often when staying with the group. The other possibilty is that Lance had an injury from the fall in stage 1 or prior to the tour...If lance had a back injury or something he might be more comfortable out of the saddle.
