Mountain Stages TDF

On 2005-07-14, Ben (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

Magic, primarily. Also: snakes.

--
TimC
An Emacs reference mug is what I want. It would hold ten gallons of coffee.
-- Steve VanDevender

"Ben" wrote

Quoted message said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

More to do with many years of consistent training and competing, and
incredible determination.

BruceA

BruceA said:

"Ben" wrote

Quoted message said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

More to do with many years of consistent training and competing, and
incredible determination.

BruceA

to quote the late Ken Kiffer at www.kenkifer.com
(and to add it is a spiritual, painful experience and because they darn well can, as we mere mortals can only dream)

Is there anything more exulting than to be cycling in the clouds in the high mountains and to see the patches of green and the toy houses below?

Is there anything more powerful than to realize after building up all summer that you can cycle all day and climb any mountain without getting tired?

BruceA said:

"Ben" wrote

Quoted message said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

More to do with many years of consistent training and competing, and
incredible determination.

BruceA

I llike TimC's answer better 😄

altho he did forget the magical power of Guiness!
works for me!!!

OK, so maybe 'works' is a strong word, but it helps me forget that hills are EVIL

as for Bruce's Question. lack of weight (ie these guys are all sub 65kg) and riding up hills/down-dale is what they gets paid to do. not to say that a plodder like me could do so if i chucked in the day job and went riding full-time (oh, but perchance to dream...). explaining LA's, Pantani's, Virenque's ability uphill is why these lads are gods.

F"full-time-plodder"Dutch

Ben said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

...and from what 'they' say, if you need a bigger cog than a 21T, you aint a hillclimber!

F"39x26 is gettin me up anything currently"Dutch

flyingdutch said:

I llike TimC's answer better 😄

altho he did forget the magical power of Guiness!
works for me!!!

OK, so maybe 'works' is a strong word, but it helps me forget that hills are EVIL

as for Bruce's Question. lack of weight (ie these guys are all sub 65kg) and riding up hills/down-dale is what they gets paid to do. not to say that a plodder like me could do so if i chucked in the day job and went riding full-time (oh, but perchance to dream...). explaining LA's, Pantani's, Virenque's ability uphill is why these lads are gods.

F"full-time-plodder"Dutch

Bäckstedt is 95kg! Don't forget the big guys! (Okay so it's all muscle unlike some of us.. but still..)

Also, while TimC is basically correct, it is MAGIC SNAKES that provide the true power for climbing the Cols..

hippy
- I knew Col.. he was a top bloke..

TimC said:

Magic, primarily. Also: snakes.

Oh [censored], we thought it was jellybeans. Or a secret combination to hide the EPO?

hippy said:

Also, while TimC is basically correct, it is MAGIC SNAKES that provide the true power for climbing the Cols..

Ben was right in the first place, its the gears. If you only have small rear cogs you HAVE to fly up the mountain. Of course, you have to be able to keep pedalling and not collapse from the strain. To do that you need MAGIC SNAKES as hippy says.

Guiness + gelatin --> snake mould = MAGIC SNAKES.

flyingdutch said:

Ben said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

...and from what 'they' say, if you need a bigger cog than a 21T, you
aint a hillclimber!

so is that 21T on the front or the rear?

kim

quote='Kim'flyingdutch said:

Ben said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

...and from what 'they' say, if you need a bigger cog than a 21T, you
aint a hillclimber!

so is that 21T on the front or the rear?

kim[/QUOTE]

As discussed on cyclinginsight podcasts, Vino runs big gears, he runs the chain around the front wheel and runs it on the skewer at the back! 🙂

flyingdutch said:

Ben said:

How do those guys fly up those very steep hills ?
Is it the gears ??

...and from what 'they' say, if you need a bigger cog than a 21T, you
aint a hillclimber!

F"39x26 is gettin me up anything currently"Dutch

Slightly OT but talking of gearing, in
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2005/jun05/RAAM05/RAAM054
it talks about a competitor in Race Across America, a small cut and paste:
'He rides 180 Rotor cranks with 46/63 chainrings and an 11-24 rear
cluster. He seldom shifts so the 63x11 gets most of the wear. He hasn't
used smaller than a 60 chainring in over 12 years.'
I am guessing this is not in mountainous terrain, but awesome in any case.

jh