Cycling thread


MTB world champs this weekend in Les Gets, in the French Alps. DH on the Sat, XC on the Sun.


Loads of UK riders going hard in both disciplines - Tom Pidcock is at a different level to the rest of the men's XC, but MTB can be unpredictable with modern courses having some gnarly tech features - he's odds-on if he has the measure of the course. Evie Richards is the reigning World Champ but has had an injury-hit season. She strolled the CW games but it was a weak field, if in form she will contest.
 

Pidcock had hard lines today - gridded miles back in a crowdscene he proceeds to pass 53 riders (!) in the first 3 laps. Goes to the front and you assume it's over as the WT rider takes charge, but no. He sits in and is evidently feeling the effort as he's yo-yoing a bit in the front group. Lap 5 gets properly distanced with an attack from Nino Schurter, gets tangled in a tree chasing back and that was it.
Wasn't a bad crash but he had to stop for a wheel change and ended up fourth - Nino the GoaT won his tenth world champs.


Not caught any post-race comments from him - he didn't look that comfy mid-race but it's hard to say, he might have been playing. Front row start he wins all day, but would have meant missing the TdF to race MTB world cups (to accrue points) so not realistic.
 
You'd think Remco has the Vuelta in the bag now. Nearly 3 minutes to Roglic in 2nd. That would take an almighty collapse to turn that around and the Jumbo team doesn't look likely to be able to offer much support at all.
 
Looks like Covid is the only thing that will stop Remco. Riders are dropping like flies at the moment and it looks set to see less than 100 make it to Madrid. I think more than that finished during the Festina scandal. Add in Alaphalippe crashing out with what looks like a collarbone and it's going to be last man standing.
 
You'd think Remco has the Vuelta in the bag now. Nearly 3 minutes to Roglic in 2nd. That would take an almighty collapse to turn that around and the Jumbo team doesn't look likely to be able to offer much support at all.
I'll believe it when he wins it.
Too bad Tom Pidcock prefers MTB to this. Obvious chance to go for a top 5 or even better.
 

Tour of Britain kicks off on Sunday. Prob be a bit more low key in terms of coverage as there aren't many big names riding, although Pidcock goes for Ineos. Richie Porte as well in what will be his farewell race.

Route is here - https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/
no NW stage and few city start/finishes. Concludes on the Isle of Wight - never been there myself but roadying is meant to be good. I guess it must be a bit like Anglesey where you get some good hilly routes and see a lot of the coast.
 
Tour of Britain kicks off on Sunday. Prob be a bit more low key in terms of coverage as there aren't many big names riding, although Pidcock goes for Ineos. Richie Porte as well in what will be his farewell race.

Route is here - https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/
no NW stage and few city start/finishes. Concludes on the Isle of Wight - never been there myself but roadying is meant to be good. I guess it must be a bit like Anglesey where you get some good hilly routes and see a lot of the coast.
It's a nice place to ride for sure, and I've ridden the roads the pros will do many times. I suppose any route is as hard as you make it, but I do wonder how selective it might be. I very rarely get out of the big ring, which perhaps highlights that while it is a bit rolling none of the climbs are that challenging. That will apply even more so for the pros. Lovely views along the military road though.
 
Anyone tapered before? I've never bothered, but I have a big ride planned in a couple of weeks and I've been thinking about experimenting.

Usually I feel I'll just lose fitness if I don't keep training, but maybe I'm doing it all wrong?
 
Anyone tapered before? I've never bothered, but I have a big ride planned in a couple of weeks and I've been thinking about experimenting.

Usually I feel I'll just lose fitness if I don't keep training, but maybe I'm doing it all wrong?
I wouldn't want to take my word for it, but I've always thought that tapering is a case of maintaining the intensity and dropping the volume. That way you rest a bit without losing fitness.
 
Anyone tapered before? I've never bothered, but I have a big ride planned in a couple of weeks and I've been thinking about experimenting.

Usually I feel I'll just lose fitness if I don't keep training, but maybe I'm doing it all wrong?
Worth trying - I think it's something that takes trial and error to work out how you personally respond. Like some people swear by a session of leg-openers the day before a race, for others it makes no difference and they're better off on the couch.

Do you use a training program to log your rides? All of them will have some variation of a three line graph that shows training stress, fitness, and form - typically for a targeted event you want your form on an upward trajectory (around the zero mark on the one I use). Any more and you're a bit off the boil, but less and you might be carrying fatigue - so it takes time to work out what is effective for you.

Saying all that I've been tapering for 10 months! - Had some fatigue issues last winter so resolved to just ride easy this year. Kept on the bike, mountain biking with the family etc but all z1/z2 - I've just this week got back on the turbo with a view to training again.
 

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