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The Giro! Picks?
Last Post 05/30/2021 08:57 AM by 79 pmooney. 78 Replies.
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longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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05/23/2021 08:47 PM
F'in radios!
You kids get off my lawn!!!
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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05/24/2021 04:35 PM
This, but I'll amend to be ok with hard sections-- HC climb, gravel section, pave... adds to the drama.


Agreed 100%.
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
mondonico

Posts:158

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05/24/2021 04:54 PM
Thats who I've become. Not sure how many here watch or play golf. My dad got me playing when I was eight. 1958 I grew up playing and watching him watch golf on Sundays Shells Wonderful World of Golf. Quiet, gentlemanly, honor. Fans never yelling. Heck announcers would whisper Just fell into the last two holes of PGA tourney on Sunday. Have not played or watched golf in ten years. Almost as rowdy as soccer. I guess one of the first tourneys that allowed full fan participation. Looked like a soccer match in England when the local team loses. OK maybe not that bad. Oh tried to watch the Giro today, just to bring it to cycling. Not much luck with that either.
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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05/24/2021 05:28 PM
Yeah, disappointing the golf crowds are nearly out of control. And the weather stymied the Giro video feed. I was hoping for a fixed camera at the summit.
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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05/24/2021 05:39 PM
They probably had a hardwire feed running up the Gavia back in 88.

I rolled out of bed at 7am normally good for an hour of live coverage, saw a recap of Bernal rolling across the line, went back to bed.

Not the most exciting of Giro editions even though Bernal does his very best to make a good show of it and major kudos to him - well deserved. The route is interesting enough. Even the lineup was reasonably promising but only one guy showed up ready to do battle until Milan. I liked Yates better when he entered the race red hot only to lose it in the end. Undercooked Yates was never in contention, and neither was anyone else. The weather hasn't helped and doused some of the potential good racing. It seems like a particularly miserable May in Italy this year.
79pmooney

Posts:3189

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05/24/2021 08:51 PM
Posted By Frederick Jones on 05/22/2021 10:34 PM
CK, I agree that what you wrote is true in the the current robot cyclist era. This is not "you kids get off my lawn" geezer nostalgia. Racing really was more interesting without radios and powermeters.

I had a thought and it's very simple.  Don't allow outside power.  For anything.  No batteries, no fuel cells.  Allow radios and power meters but require them to be powered by the rider's legs.  (Well, he can use his hands or whatever.)  Now the DSs can do all the overseeing they want but the rider's gotta pay in watts to listen!  Same with power meters.  (Now CK won't like this but the riders would have to go back to the old isometrics of compressing those derailleur springs.)

And back to the Zolocan (sp - I hate that when I'm typing a reply, I cannot refer to the thread!).  I wish I had seen the riders slog their way up the "Z".  That ever so slow, ever muscle you've got climbing is what I loved when I was young and fit.  Summit Road in Boston.  The pitch beside the ski slope on Blue Hill, 2 miles from my parent's house.  The final pitch of Mt Washington.  Following on the Cycling News site, I got to wait minutes for the next report, less than a kilo later!  Yup, my kind of racing.
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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05/24/2021 09:25 PM
Ben, I love your proposed calculus of "so you want radios, you gotta pay for it in watts"! Modern electronics are power efficient, but in the realm of physics there is no free lunch, and the conversion from legs to radio emanations has a built in energy inefficiency cost too.
If implemented, this would raise another doping equivalent angle, to cover or minimize the rider power loss using batteries or capacitors hidden here or there, like in Evenepoel's jersey pocket (do I need to explain?), or more discretely in better hidden spots such as imbedded in the bike or the helmet, or even inside the rider (I hope I don't need to explain).
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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05/24/2021 09:37 PM
Bahaha - retrogrouches.

Remove domestique access to top end training programs. Pay them a crap wage. That’ll make an impact. Ie basically go back to situation that women’s racing still has now. They have radios. And power meters.

:-)
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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05/25/2021 09:31 PM
GT organizers have put their fat thumbs on the route choice scales for decades, nothing new here. This year's Giro is tailor made for a skinny climber if he could survive some gravel. Bernal should send some thank you cards after he wins this thing.
79pmooney

Posts:3189

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05/25/2021 09:54 PM
lsd, was there a skinny Italian climber who was supposed to show up? (Tailoring events to benefit one's countrymen is an old practice. The Giro, the Tour. Over here, the America's Cup. The rules 150 years ago were that the boats had to arrive under their own sails. The English had to sail the Atlantic. The US boats had to navigate the length of Narragansett Bay.)
79pmooney

Posts:3189

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05/26/2021 10:33 AM
Another tough day in the mountains,another summit finish and not entirely boring.

Good to see Martin pull off the win. I was kinda hoping Almeida was going to pass him but I'm good as it stands. Bernal is not immortal. Several others had the blinders pulled down. (And again, the final kilos took a long time! NBA last two playoff minutes!)

Another crash. I hope for nothing broken or serious. That they all get to finish. Evenepoel is probably getting tired of these continuing lessons. He's going from 21 years of age to much older altogether too fast!
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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05/26/2021 11:07 AM
I don't think Evenepoel is all that bad of a descender but both Lombardy and today showed he is prone to over-reacting. In Lombardy he fast approached slower/poorer descenders in front of him and braked too hard. This time he had same over-reaction to a crash in front of him, in both cases with same outcome, over the railing.

Bernal - if it was an off-day then he can probably get over it and no big deal. If it is his back, things could quickly go from bad to worse. Surprisingly interesting day after it looked like a snooze fest for awhile. The three podium spots now look more set, the gap to fourth spot has grown substantially. Almeida would be in contention for podium had it not been for waiting for Evenepoel on gravel stage.
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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05/26/2021 07:42 PM
Drama level is up. Yes! Could be very entertaining the next few days.
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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05/28/2021 08:15 PM
Another entertaining day.
Tomorrow could be epic!
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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05/28/2021 08:40 PM
Smart play by Bernal today and good use of Martinez. Funny thing is Martinez got dropped by DQS on the flats and it took Ganna to pace him back to front.

That massive first climb could make it a good fight tomorrow. Could.
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