SFGP: neutral support bike

Ryan Cousineau said:

http://www.steephill.tv/galleries/2005/sf-grand-prix/pictures/fast%20fred
die%20looking%2316b83.html

Quoted message said:

So, did anyone see what happened? I'm guessing they gave [Fred Rod] a neutral
bike, put his pedals on another neutral bike, and then swapped him the
Quattro'd, and otherwise adjusted second bicycle when it was convenient.

Anyone see or hear?

I saw this, but from a bit of a distance... 50-100 meters. Anyone
please correct me if I get this wrong (as if I need to say that on
RBR). So Fred appears to get a front flat and steps off his bike. A
race motorcycle (I don't think it was a cop) comes around the corner
and runs right into Fred's bike, smashing it into the ground. Luckily,
the bike doesn't appear to thwak Fred's body. Fred's bummed, but
luckily a Mavic guy is already on his way over with a front
wheel...only now a flat tire is the least of his mechanical
problems...so Fred and the support guy head over to the Mavic support
car parked across the street (this is what happened about 100 meters
from me).

They take a support bike, adjust the seatpost, and send Fred on his
way. This all took at least a minute. I didn't time it, though.

Back in the neolithic era when I ended up on support bikes in the
middle of a couple races, getting the seat height mostly-right wasn't
too tough. I knew how high I wanted it (in cm), and they had marks on
their seat posts....this was with Campy (white bike) and then Mavic
(yellow bike) support, if I'm remembering correctly. As for pedals, I
couldn't see what they did in Fred's case, but perhaps they had sets of
spare pedals ready to install on a bike as needed. But even if they
were just installing the pedals, that was pretty fast wrenching...maybe
a custom rig that reaches around a pedal and lets them use an electric
drill to screw in the pedals in seconds? Wild guess here, anyone know?

The most amazing thing about all this was that Fred got back into his
group really quickly...I think like in 4 miles or so (at least, it was
no more than one lap, as I recall). And this was all fairly late in the
race, so I don't think his chase group was just ambling.

Anyone know how he got back on to his group so fast? Extra wind support
from Mavic? Slightly shorter lap for him (perhaps officials cut him a
little slack because their screw up crushed his bike)? Or just a super
effort by a strong rider?

Jim

Saunders got one of these bikes. Because of the toe-clips and straps
thing, he just rode the bike to the feedzone and quit. It really
doesn't take that long to wrench on a friggin pedal. or at least keep
a few different sizes of shoes in th back of the car.

Quoted message said:

Saunders got one of these bikes. Because of the toe-clips and straps
thing, he just rode the bike to the feedzone and quit.

Bummer. But check out this picture of FR:

<http://www.steephill.tv/galleries/2005/sf-grand-prix/pictures/fast%20freddie%20looking%2316b83.html>

I'm not up on all the latest pedals, but I don't see any clips or
straps...

Anyone else see what the Mavic guys were doing to get their bike ready
for Rodriguez?

Jim

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Saunders got one of these bikes. Because of the toe-clips and straps
thing, he just rode the bike to the feedzone and quit.

Bummer. But check out this picture of FR:

<http://www.steephill.tv/galleries/2005/sf-grand-prix/pictures/fast%20freddie%20looking%2316b83.html>

I'm not up on all the latest pedals, but I don't see any clips or
straps...

Anyone else see what the Mavic guys were doing to get their bike ready
for Rodriguez?

from what i've seen the rider will get on a neutral bike wih clips and
straps while the mech will fit the proper pedals (or the rider's
pedals) to another neutral bike that the rider can switch to.

I guess Suanders pretty much wanted out then.

Quoted message said:

I guess Suanders pretty much wanted out then.

well i don't know what his exact circumstances were, but if he wasn't
in contention at that point it's not likely that he would get all the
help possible from neutral service.

amit said:

Quoted message said:

I guess Suanders pretty much wanted out then.

well i don't know what his exact circumstances were, but if he wasn't
in contention at that point it's not likely that he would get all the
help possible from neutral service.

I was there when Rodriguez got the bike, and it was a relatively quick change,
no pedal change, so the bike already had the correct pedals.

Lotto, AFAIK, uses Look pedals:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/tech/?id=mcewen_ridley/IMG_0362

Dan

I'm more curious, what's the deal w/ the jersey he's wearing???

Scott said:

I'm more curious, what's the deal w/ the jersey he's wearing???

He was riding for a provisional USA team.

Scott said:

I'm more curious, what's the deal w/ the jersey he's wearing???

Channel 7 did a pre-race show on Saturday night. In the first segment
they interviewed Dionne, Hincapie, and Horner. In the second segment
they did a piece on local racer Jim Miller who works for Barclay's
(BGI). They said that Jim Miller is the guy who convinced BGI to
sponsor the race, and then he also convinced them to sponsor a one-race
team (US National Team) so that he could race in it. Then Jim Miller
put together the team including FredRod who was released for one race by
his team since D-L wasn't coming anyway. The fine print on the white
stripe of his jersey says "BARCLAY'S GLOBAL INVESTORS".

I saw the pre-race piece by ABC channel 7 as well.

I wonder how Jim Miller did? Was he shelled after just one lap? (he
was DNF, but how quickly?) Next to me on Fillmore were six of his
Barclay's buddies from L.A. One of them (a woman) was rude to me for
no reason whatsoever. I think my camera bag intimidated her. They had
a "GO JIM!" sign they would wave as the peloton went by. The gal's
husband was cool but she was clueless. Barclay's had their own people
working crowd control but some of them on FIllmore did not belong.

Barclay's is cool though. My first new auto loan was through Barclay's
20-some years ago.

-Ken

In article <1126047848.9403eba75a33f81cd71701bff77b6a67@teranews>,

Diablo Scott said:

Scott said:

I'm more curious, what's the deal w/ the jersey he's wearing???

Channel 7 did a pre-race show on Saturday night. In the first segment
they interviewed Dionne, Hincapie, and Horner. In the second segment
they did a piece on local racer Jim Miller who works for Barclay's
(BGI). They said that Jim Miller is the guy who convinced BGI to
sponsor the race, and then he also convinced them to sponsor a one-race
team (US National Team) so that he could race in it. Then Jim Miller
put together the team including FredRod who was released for one race by
his team since D-L wasn't coming anyway. The fine print on the white
stripe of his jersey says "BARCLAY'S GLOBAL INVESTORS".

Cool. I assumed that was Fred's US championship jersey, and never gave
it a thought.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dan Connelly d_j_c_o_n_n_e_l@i_e_e_e.o_r_g said:

amit said:

Quoted message said:

I guess Suanders pretty much wanted out then.

well i don't know what his exact circumstances were, but if he wasn't
in contention at that point it's not likely that he would get all the
help possible from neutral service.

I was there when Rodriguez got the bike, and it was a relatively quick change,
no pedal change, so the bike already had the correct pedals.

Lotto, AFAIK, uses Look pedals:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/tech/?id=mcewen_ridley/IMG_0362

Dan

I think that pedals are frequently sponsored on an individual-rider
basis, and besides Rodriguez' site (which lists Quattros as his pedal of
choice) Crank Brothers make the Quattros in both Lotto team colours and
in a special "Fast Freddie" livery:

http://www.crankbrothers.com/quattro_pro.php#

Back to this photo:

http://www.steephill.tv/galleries/2005/sf-grand-prix/pictures/fast%20fred
die%20looking%2316b83.html

Those pedals look a lot like Quattros to me, and very little like Looks.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

Ryan,

Quoted message said:

http://www.steephill.tv/galler ies/2005/sf-grand-prix/picture s/fast%20...
die%20looking%2316b83.html

Sorry, my photo gallery generator spits out ugly, long urls which can
get mangled in postings. Let me help you out with a shorter url to the
same photo: http://tinyurl.com/83rvy

Steve
http://www.steephill.tv

Ryan,

Quoted message said:

http://www.steephill.tv/galler ies/2005/sf-grand-prix/picture s/fast%20...
die%20looking%2316b83.html

Sorry, my photo gallery generator spits out ugly, long urls which can
get mangled in postings. Let me help you out with a shorter url to the
same photo: http://tinyurl.com/83rvy

Steve
http://www.steephill.tv

Quoted message said:

Ryan,

Quoted message said:

http://www.steephill.tv/galler ies/2005/sf-grand-prix/picture s/fast%20...
die%20looking%2316b83.html

Sorry, my photo gallery generator spits out ugly, long urls which can
get mangled in postings. Let me help you out with a shorter url to the
same photo: http://tinyurl.com/83rvy

We have a rule on this in RBR. If you expect Ewoud to read your posts,
use tinyurl. If not, just encase the long URL between angle brackets < >

Stu Fleming said:

We have a rule on this in RBR. If you expect Ewoud to read your posts,
use tinyurl. If not, just encase the long URL between angle brackets < >

Hrmph.

--
E. Dronkert

Stu Fleming said:

Quoted message said:

We have a rule on this in RBR. If you expect Ewoud to read your posts,
use tinyurl. If not, just encase the long URL between angle brackets < >

Ewoud Dronkert said:

Hrmph.

You meant lik mijn reet ?

Ryan Cousineau said:

-Looks like Campy drivetrain, presumably Record aluminum,

It's not Record or Chorus. Record and Chorus aluminium cranks have one
of the five chainring bolts behind the crankarm, so these are either
Centaur or cheaper. The brifters are definitely Centaur if they are this
year's model, because they have aluminium levers with a hole in the
shifting lever, which the otherwise identical Veloce brifters do not
have. The rear derailer is not visible, but the front derailer is
Centaur or cheaper, so I'm guessing that this is a complete Centaur
groupset.

I saw some photographs of Mavic neutral bikes (probably on cyclingnews.com)
earlier this season, and they definitely had Centaur parts.

Quoted message said:

and the black brakes look like Mavic bits (do they still make brakes?).

Those are Mavic SSC calipers. I bought a pair for my new bike earlier
this year, and they are definitely still being made. They are good
brakes, cheaper but about the same weight as Record or Dura-Ace,
dual-pivot front and rear unlike Record or Chorus. Their pad holders
take the same kind of pads as Dura-Ace brakes, so you can use Koolstop
salmon shoes with them for the best performance.

Quoted message said:

Ksyriums, of course. Maybe someone else can identify the particular version?

The spokes look like the fat aluminium spokes of Ksyrium SSC SL - The
lightest version.

-as