Taylor Phinney Article

In article <[email hidden]>,

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

I really hope he gets some good guidance. His parents seem to be doing things the
right way with respect to his participation.

--
tanx,
Howard

Now it's raining pitchforks and women,
But I've already got a pitchfork...

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

I'm sort of like that, neither slow-twitch nor fast-twitch. Except,
I'm no-twitch.

Howard Kveck said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

I really hope he gets some good guidance. His parents seem to be doing things the
right way with respect to his participation.

I just watched him at the recent World Cup track cycling meet in LA.

Davis Phinney was there, and obviously excited. When I first saw him,
he was in the infield as Taylor got ready to start his race. My first
impression was how rock hard Davis' forearm looked. He gave me a smile,
so I said "Hi." Then I noticed his seemingly involuntary movements.

He headed for the stairs that give access from the infield to the track
surface, and I was worried. He had his camera, so he obviously wanted
to get a picture. I kept an eye on him, and he negotiated the stairs
both directions without holding the railing, still shaking, but OK.

I wish the kid the best (he seems to have what it takes), and his
parents, too!

That Velo News article has already reached my house in print form....

MagillaGorilla said:

The velodrome is a gerbil wheel.  Not even Andy Hamster rode it and he's
a hamster, which is very close to a gerbil.

Magilla

Andy Hampsten rode the track at Junior Worlds. His event? The
pursuit. Let me know if you want the details, I just came across them
the other day when I was cleaning out my basement.

-rj

ronaldo_jeremiah said:

MagillaGorilla said:

The velodrome is a gerbil wheel. Not even Andy Hamster rode it and he's
a hamster, which is very close to a gerbil.

Magilla

Andy Hampsten rode the track at Junior Worlds. His event? The
pursuit. Let me know if you want the details, I just came across them
the other day when I was cleaning out my basement.

-rj

Everybody makes mistakes as a teenager, including The Hamster.

Magilla

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

So Allen Lim consider a guy who has been racing and riding a bike at
altitude for the past 12 years to be someone who is "off the couch."

Magilla

MagillaGorilla said:

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

Quoted message said:

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

So Allen Lim consider a guy who has been racing and riding a bike at
altitude for the past 12 years to be someone who is "off the couch."

Magilla

AFAIK, he was playing soccer in Italy until a few years ago when the
family returned to Boulder.

Bret said:

MagillaGorilla said:

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

Quoted message said:

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

So Allen Lim consider a guy who has been racing and riding a bike at
altitude for the past 12 years to be someone who is "off the couch."

Magilla

AFAIK, he was playing soccer in Italy until a few years ago when the
family returned to Boulder.

In other words, he's been racing and riding his bike since he was 5.

Thanks,

Magilla

"Bret" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

From what I've seen, most kids in Italy spend the day practicing
wheelies on their scooters.

Where are you living right now Bret? When I was visiting France a few years
ago the thing that really shocked me was that I never saw a single
recreational cyclist until a couple of days before the finish of the Tour de
France in Paris. In a little more than a week in Burgundy I saw one cyclist
and he was a farmer heading out to his fields pulling a cart load of tools.

MagillaGorilla said:

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

Quoted message said:

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

So Allen Lim consider a guy who has been racing and riding a bike at
altitude for the past 12 years to be someone who is "off the couch."

Magilla

Dumbass (hey, that felt good, I called him a dumbass)

If you knew anything at all about mini-Phinney, you'd know he'd been
riding very recreationally at best up until he started racing two
years ago. He's been kicking ass and taking names since stepping up
to the elite cats.

You can bring up Evanshine or whomever you want as an example of a
shining star that faded away, but none of the folks you bring up had
parents, or a support structure, like Taylor. All the difference in
the world.

Scott said:

MagillaGorilla said:

Bret said:

"That kid is on a whole other level at 17 years old. He's truly
gifted. He's doing things right now, today, off the couch, that 90
percent of the world's population would never attain no matter how
good the training. He's another species. He's neither slow-twitch nor
fast-twitch, he's 'all-twitch.'"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13945.0.html

Quoted message said:

So Allen Lim consider a guy who has been racing and riding a bike at
altitude for the past 12 years to be someone who is "off the couch."

Quoted message said:

Magilla

Dumbass (hey, that felt good, I called him a dumbass)

If you knew anything at all about mini-Phinney, you'd know he'd been
riding very recreationally at best up until he started racing two
years ago.  He's been kicking ass and taking names since stepping up
to the elite cats.

You can bring up Evanshine or whomever you want as an example of a
shining star that faded away, but none of the folks you bring up had
parents, or a support structure, like Taylor.  All the difference in
the world.

Dumbass -

It always warms my heart to see parents living vicariously through
their children.

<sarcasm off>

thanks,

K. Gringioni.

On Jan 26, 9:21 pm, MagillaGorilla <magi...@

Quoted message said:

That 4:24 was on an indoor velodrome with no wind and ideal temperature
and fast boards. A lot of guys in their young twenties could do a sub
4:20 over 4 years ago on an outdoor velodrome with wind.

ekimov also rode fast pursuits and people thought he would win the
tour.

but that said 4:24 is a fast time if you look at other times on that
track. when the worlds were in LA bartko won the gold with about a
4:25 and 4:45 would also have won the gold in barcelona (boardman rode
about a 4:25 in qualifying).

ekimov didn't win the tour, but he was a solid pro for two decades.

but the lesson here for all the dreamers: if you've been racing for
more than a year and can't drop the entire field at a local race you
will not ride in the protour.

ronaldo_jeremiah said:

MagillaGorilla said:

The velodrome is a gerbil wheel. Not even Andy Hamster rode it and he's
a hamster, which is very close to a gerbil.

Magilla

Andy Hampsten rode the track at Junior Worlds. His event? The
pursuit. Let me know if you want the details, I just came across them
the other day when I was cleaning out my basement.

-rj

You're thinking Lemond (silver medal, 1979). Hampsten also took a
silver at Junior Worlds (1980, TTT).

Bob Schwartz

MagillaGorilla said:

ronaldo_jeremiah said:

MagillaGorilla said:

The velodrome is a gerbil wheel. Not even Andy Hamster rode it and he's
a hamster, which is very close to a gerbil.

Magilla

Andy Hampsten rode the track at Junior Worlds. His event? The
pursuit. Let me know if you want the details, I just came across them
the other day when I was cleaning out my basement.

-rj

Everybody makes mistakes as a teenager, including The Hamster.

Magilla

It was Lemond. And it turned out OK. The key thing is to go
faster in the turns.

Bob Schwartz

Tom Kunich' cyclintom@yahoo. com said:

"Bret" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

From what I've seen, most kids in Italy spend the day practicing
wheelies on their scooters.

Where are you living right now Bret? When I was visiting France a few years
ago the thing that really shocked me was that I never saw a single
recreational cyclist until a couple of days before the finish of the Tour de
France in Paris. In a little more than a week in Burgundy I saw one cyclist
and he was a farmer heading out to his fields pulling a cart load of tools.

I've ridden in the French Alps, Pyrenees and Basque region and three
different areas of Provence. There were plenty of cyclists. Mont
Ventoux was teeming with cyclists when I was there. I can't say how
many of them were French. I kept running into people with full Postal
kits and riding Treks. A first I assumed they were Americans, but none
of them were. I spoke to a guy riding a Richard Sachs on top of the
Tourmalet. He was from Amsterdam.

Bret

On Jan 26, 10:25 pm, Bob Schwartz <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

You're thinking Lemond (silver medal, 1979). Hampsten also took a
silver at Junior Worlds (1980, TTT).

Bob Schwartz

No, I'm not. Hampsten rode the pursuit in 1980 at the Junior Worlds
in Mexico City. He rode 3:40 for 3K.

The pacing of his ride is reviewed in detail in a track training
manual written by Norman Sheil.

-rj

Quoted message said:

On Jan 26, 9:21 pm, MagillaGorilla <magi...@

Quoted message said:

That 4:24 was on an indoor velodrome with no wind and ideal temperature
and fast boards. A lot of guys in their young twenties could do a sub
4:20 over 4 years ago on an outdoor velodrome with wind.

ekimov also rode fast pursuits and people thought he would win the
tour.

but that said 4:24 is a fast time if you look at other times on that
track. when the worlds were in LA bartko won the gold with about a
4:25 and 4:45 would also have won the gold in barcelona (boardman rode
about a 4:25 in qualifying).

ekimov didn't win the tour, but he was a solid pro for two decades.

but the lesson here for all the dreamers: if you've been racing for
more than a year and can't drop the entire field at a local race you
will not ride in the protour.

They say the LA track is getting faster as the wood surface ages. I
just heard Roger Young (track director) say that to some visitors, but I
don't know whether it's true.

The Kilo record there is a 1:01.2; this year, the winner did a 1:02
point something.

"Colin Campbell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was a volunteer at the World Cup in LA. I worked the "morning" session
on Friday, which was originally scheduled to begin at 11:30AM. Due to the
unprecedented number of riders registered, that session was rescheduled to
begin at 9AM. I left the "morning" session with the last race still
running at 5:40PM, twenty minutes before spectators for the "evening"
session were scheduled to be admitted.

So I believe your rant about very few showing up, even fewer in an Olympic
year, can be discounted as the ravings of someone who doesn't check his
facts.

It is true that some of the British sprinters skipped this World Cup
event.

Colin,

Don't overlap quantity with quality. As you noted, not all of the top tier
riders participated in the event. That can be for a number of reasons:
riders may have a contractual obligation to be elsewhere, they may (as noted
by the emotionally track-conflicted MG) be in a training cycle that is not
conducive to travel or a particular training block (it was six weeks out
from Worlds), national teams may be trying to qualify additional spots for
Worlds, or teams may be sending riders for experience development.

Also, I tend to think that the world cups were designed partially with the
expectation that not all top tier riders would attend all of the world cups.

Carl Sundquist said:

"Colin Campbell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was a volunteer at the World Cup in LA.  I worked the "morning" session
on Friday, which was originally scheduled to begin at 11:30AM. Due to the
unprecedented number of riders registered, that session was rescheduled to
begin at 9AM.  I left the "morning" session with the last race still
running at 5:40PM, twenty minutes before spectators for the "evening"
session were scheduled to be admitted.

Quoted message said:

So I believe your rant about very few showing up, even fewer in an Olympic
year, can be discounted as the ravings of someone who doesn't check his
facts.

Quoted message said:

It is true that some of the British sprinters skipped this World Cup
event.

Colin,

Don't overlap quantity with quality. As you noted, not all of the top tier
riders participated in the event. That can be for a number of reasons:
riders may have a contractual obligation to be elsewhere, they may (as noted
by the emotionally track-conflicted MG) be in a training cycle that is not
conducive to travel or a particular training block (it was six weeks out
from Worlds), national teams may be trying to qualify additional spots for
Worlds, or teams may be sending riders for experience development.

Also, I tend to think that the world cups were designed partially with the
expectation that not all top tier riders would attend all of the world cups.

Have you ever ridden on a track before? From what I can gather, it
doesn't seem like you have.

thanks,

John Hansen