Armstrong: "The brake was rubbing" (!)

link?

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

Quoted message said:

In the OLN interview with Frankie Andreu, Lance said he was having trouble holding the wheel in
front on the Galibier climb: "I thought I was coming off on the [ascent of the] Galibier," heard
some noise from his rear wheel on the subsequent descent, and realized his rear brake had been
rubbing -- "for 200k."

I feel like I would notice this right away, especially if I were as familiar with the climb as
Armstrong undoubtedly is--granted, I'm much much weaker than he is, so a fixed power drain would
be more noticable! Is there precedent? Didn't LeMond have some similar weird brake issues in time
trials? Comments?--Shayana Kadidal

All the brake has to do it barely touch the rim. If you can't hear it you can't feel it. And MAN!
does it wear you out. It is almost unbelievable. One year when I was climbing way better than most
of the people I ride with I had this day where it was all I could do to keep everyone in sight.
Finally I thought that I was having some serious physical problems and was sitting on a curb and
happened to lift the bike and spin the rear wheel and the brake was just hitting a little on a
slight misalignment of the rim. I was shot for the day but after fixing that I was back on form.

If Lance really did have a dragging brake he must be superman himself.

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

Quoted message said:

In the OLN interview with Frankie Andreu, Lance said he was having trouble holding the wheel in
front on the Galibier climb: "I thought

I

Quoted message said:

was coming off on the [ascent of the] Galibier," heard some noise

from

Quoted message said:

his rear wheel on the subsequent descent, and realized his rear

brake

Quoted message said:

had been rubbing -- "for 200k."

I feel like I would notice this right away, especially if I were as familiar with the climb as
Armstrong undoubtedly is--granted, I'm

much

Quoted message said:

much weaker than he is, so a fixed power drain would be more noticable! Is there precedent? Didn't
LeMond have some similar weird brake issues in time trials? Comments?--Shayana Kadidal

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tom Kunich
[B]All the brake has to do it barely touch the rim. If you can't hear it you can't feel it. And MAN!
does it wear you out. It is almost unbelievable. One year when I was climbing way better than most
of the people I ride with I had this day where it was all I could do to keep everyone in sight.
Finally I thought that I was having some serious physical problems and was sitting on a curb and
happened to lift the bike and spin the rear wheel and the brake was just hitting a little on a
slight misalignment of the rim. I was shot for the day but after fixing that I was back on form.

If Lance really did have a dragging brake he must be superman himself.

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

Quoted message said:

In the OLN interview with Frankie Andreu, Lance said he was having trouble holding the wheel in
front on the Galibier climb: "I thought

Quoted message said:

was coming off on the [ascent of the] Galibier," heard some noise

Quoted message said:

his rear wheel on the subsequent descent, and realized his rear

Quoted message said:

had been rubbing -- "for 200k."

I feel like I would notice this right away, especially if I were as familiar with the climb as
Armstrong undoubtedly is--granted, I'm

Quoted message said:

much weaker than he is, so a fixed power drain would be more noticable! Is there precedent? Didn't
LeMond have some similar weird brake issues in time trials? Comments?--Shayana Kadidal [/B]

In article said:

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

Quoted message said:

In the OLN interview with Frankie Andreu, Lance said he was having trouble holding the wheel in
front on the Galibier climb: "I thought I was coming off on the [ascent of the] Galibier," heard
some noise from his rear wheel on the subsequent descent, and realized his rear brake had been
rubbing -- "for 200k."

link?

It was during the post-stage interview, on OLN. It might eventually show up at
olntv.com03tdfvideo.htmlOpen ↗ , but it's not there yet.

My guess, regarding the original question, is that he (Armstrong) just didn't feel like he was
having a good day to begin with (despite his comments in the pre-race interview), and chalked up his
problems to being tired/sore/whatever until he noticed he needed to loosen the back brake.

I'm curious, though, if anyone has yet seen a picture of Armstrong's rear brake (specifically,
whether it was opened by then or not) when he was climbing Alpe d'Huez -- I'd like to know if the
story was attempting to cover his "fatigue" (wish I could chase down attacks time and time again
when I'm "showing signs of weakness"😉 or if it was indeed the case that he had mechanical
difficulties.

-Joe

Quoted message said:

I feel like I would notice this right away, especially if I were as familiar with the climb as
Armstrong undoubtedly is--granted, I'm much much weaker than he is, so a fixed power drain would
be more noticable! Is there precedent? Didn't LeMond have some similar weird brake issues in time
trials? Comments?--Shayana Kadidal

Back in the day (when LeMond raced), a rubbing brake was a much bigger deal, since you were dealing
with single-pivot brakes that you couldn't easily re-center without the use of tools. Modern
dual-pivot brakes are much easier to deal with and much less likely to drift (unless something has
come into contact with them).

It's very common these days for pro riders to open their brake quick releases when climbing, since
many of the wheels currently in use flex a bit laterally. In that case, you'd think he would have
noticed the rubbing as soon as he closed them back up for the descent.

But the other side of this is that Lance is, after all, human... and was simply having a bad (for
*him*) day. The brake was just one more source of frustration, even if it really didn't contribute
to much (if any) loss of power to the rear wheel.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

If you're not feeling 100% physically, you figure that's the reason you're having a slow day. If
it's true that LA rode with a rubbing brake for hours without figuring it out, that's near proof
he's not feeling great.

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

Quoted message said:

In the OLN interview with Frankie Andreu, Lance said he was having trouble holding the wheel in
front on the Galibier climb: "I thought I was coming off on the [ascent of the] Galibier," heard
some noise from his rear wheel on the subsequent descent, and realized his rear brake had been
rubbing -- "for 200k."

I feel like I would notice this right away, especially if I were as familiar with the climb as
Armstrong undoubtedly is--granted, I'm much much weaker than he is, so a fixed power drain would
be more noticable! Is there precedent? Didn't LeMond have some similar weird brake issues in time
trials? Comments?--Shayana Kadidal

He changed bikes after his excursion into the gutter with Heras.

lazysegall said:

It may be the brake, but could this just be a bluff...If lance is not in great form wouldn't it
make sense to pretend that a technical problem held him back? Lance seems to have a new attitude
this year. I personally wonder if Lance just doesn't have it.

I seriously think that he just hasn't got it this year.

The brake was just another excuse in the Loser's Lexicon

Thanks Stewart. Since the pictures on OLNTV weren't very good when the mishap with Heras happen .
Nobody will truely know whether this cause the brake problem or something else. Their was some doubt
as whether this was lance or not . The rider kept on going after the mishap. Phil confirm this a
little later. This is the first time that I can remember when lance didn't have at least one team
mate helping him. Hint: too bad it wasn't tyler. I believe the ratio was 4:1 or 5:1 against lance at
the end . Who of the five could give lance trouble in the TT ?

Tom-<< All the brake has to do it barely touch the rim. If you can't hear it you can't feel it. And
MAN! does it wear you out. It is almost unbelievable. >><BR><BR>

Thought it was common for these guys to open their brakes on climbs, obvious with Campag, cuz you
can see the lever, ala Indurain, but thought it was common. Tri-geeks do it all the time.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

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

Quoted message said:

He changed bikes after his excursion into the gutter with Heras.

Then why did he claim to have the problem for over 200 kilometers? Where did that happen?

It is just a lame excuse.

I do some sprint training on the indoor trainer. So I can increase the resistance and get my max
cadence down on max resistance I adjust the rear brake on to the rim.

It barely touches but can reduce my max rpm from 150 to 135.

I can also recall a rear carbon fiber wheel, Spinergy, going out of true (permanent!) during a TTT.
Without my knowledge one part of the rim was brushing the brake rubber and I went backwards very
fast. I could not hold the wheel in front.

Imagine doing this for 200km!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Armstrong had a bike change. So it happened on both bikes?

I heard either Phil or Paul say that he may have changed bikes, but I really doubt it. The
helicopter camera showed one Postal rider (Heras) go down and another (Armstrong) who looked to have
been in front of the crashing rider, went barely off the road, and then took right back off after
the bunch.

It didn't seem like the kind of mishap that would cause any serious problems requiring a bike
change.--Shayana Kadidal

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

Quoted message said:

lazysegall said:

It may be the brake, but could this just be a bluff...If lance is not in great form wouldn't it
make sense to pretend that a technical problem held him back? Lance seems to have a new attitude
this year. I personally wonder if Lance just doesn't have it.

I seriously think that he just hasn't got it this year.

The brake was just another excuse in the Loser's Lexicon

I am having some difficulty making sense of the sentence above. This is obviously not a reference to
the present yellow jersey holder, yet this thread was about a possible equipment failure reported by
him. Please clarify... Mike

Andrew McDonald said:

It is just a lame excuse.

I do some sprint training on the indoor trainer. So I can increase the resistance and get my max
cadence down on max resistance I adjust the rear brake on to the rim.

It barely touches but can reduce my max rpm from 150 to 135.

I can also recall a rear carbon fiber wheel, Spinergy, going out of true (permanent!) during a
TTT. Without my knowledge one part of the rim was brushing the brake rubber and I went backwards
very fast. I could not hold the wheel in front.

Imagine doing this for 200km!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Armstrong had a bike change. So it happened on both bikes?

As I heard Lance's statement, the rubbing brake was discovered on the earlier climb. The Galibier
IIRC. Presumably, it was tuned or adjusted forthwith. The mishap with Heras was later.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

"Michael McMurray" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"Lantern Rouge" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

lazysegall said:

It may be the brake, but could this just be a bluff...If lance is not

in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

great form wouldn't it make sense to pretend that a technical problem held him back? Lance
seems to have a new attitude this year. I personally wonder if Lance just doesn't have it.

I seriously think that he just hasn't got it this year.

The brake was just another excuse in the Loser's Lexicon

I am having some difficulty making sense of the sentence above. This is obviously not a reference
to the present yellow jersey holder, yet this thread was about a possible equipment failure
reported by him. Please clarify... Mike

Put him in your kill file, he's the loser and he trolling for attention!

Dashii

Knowing what a techie, weight weenie lance is, I betg he use the older DuraAce single pivot brakes
on his climbing bike.

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tom-<< All the brake has to do it barely touch the rim. If you can't hear

it

Quoted message said:

you can't feel it. And MAN! does it wear you out. It is almost unbelievable. >><BR><BR>

Thought it was common for these guys to open their brakes on climbs,

obvious

Quoted message said:

with Campag, cuz you can see the lever, ala Indurain, but thought it was common. Tri-geeks do it
all the time.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

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

Quoted message said:

Knowing what a techie, weight weenie lance is, I betg he use the older DuraAce single pivot brakes
on his climbing bike.

I was thinking that the newest bike should be close enough to the UCI weight minimum that would
discourage him from doing that or from leaving of the front STI.

Quoted message said:

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tom-<< All the brake has to do it barely touch the rim. If you can't

hear

Quoted message said:

it

Quoted message said:

you can't feel it. And MAN! does it wear you out. It is almost unbelievable. >><BR><BR>

Thought it was common for these guys to open their brakes on climbs,

obvious

Quoted message said:

with Campag, cuz you can see the lever, ala Indurain, but thought it was common. Tri-geeks do it
all the time.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"