Cycling: Totally Dope Rides

[SnideAsides]

One of these years, I'm going to actually sit down and try to work out the physics of the velodrome's banked walls. This is not that year.

[Browncoat]

Mapping the cycling course to include a stretch of cobblestones was positively evil.

[legaleagle53]

Was the thread title a not-so-subtle dig at Lance Armstrong?

[chitowngirl]

Or Floyd Landis.

[Ohwell]

I've seen a few cyclists crashing.  Ouch!  One of them had to go to the hospital.  I think he was Australian, as if they hadn't had it bad enough already.

[emma675]

I saw those, too, ouch! It looked like at least one biker landed on the low stone wall next to the road. I'm amazed they weren't bloodier or had broken bones.

[holly4755]

part of the specially built bike path collapsed when a wave hit it - which seems odd, but that might be why the path goes through cobblestones. or not

[Sew Sumi]

5 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Mapping the cycling course to include a stretch of cobblestones was positively evil.

They said that the cobblestones will be paved over for the time trial, but hey, cobbles are part of road racing, so I have no problem with them. 

Congratulations to Van Amerent. He's had a stellar year so far. 

[Superpole2000]

It's amazing that we had no live views and no replays of any of the crashes. In all cases, we just saw the riders sitting on the pavement in the aftermath. I guess the motorcycle camera crews couldn't safely stay close to the riders on the descents. Nibali looked a certainty for a medal before he crashed, and I still haven't seen how it happened (I heard he was the first to go down in the two-person crash). Kind of disappointing to have no view of those crucial moments.

[galaxygirl76]

I'm happy for Belgium, it's their first gold medal won by a male in 20 years.

[Sew Sumi]

4 hours ago, Superpole2000 said:

It's amazing that we had no live views and no replays of any of the crashes. In all cases, we just saw the riders sitting on the pavement in the aftermath. I guess the motorcycle camera crews couldn't safely stay close to the riders on the descents. Nibali looked a certainty for a medal before he crashed, and I still haven't seen how it happened (I heard he was the first to go down in the two-person crash). Kind of disappointing to have no view of those crucial moments.

I watched the live feed (I'm on the west coast and all of NBC's coverage is tape-delayed), and they didn't get to the crash until after the fact, but did show it on replay while they were still trying to get sorted out. Nibali bailed on a corner, Fuglsang went up his back, and Majka, a little bit behind, picked his way through the carnage. 

I have no idea who controls the feeds, but the internet feed doesn't use the main announcers (which I missed having just gone through the Tour with them).

Edited August 7, 2016 by Sew Sumi

[chitowngirl]

The cyclists were going down at over 50 mph and the motorcycle/camera had a hard time keeping up. They were having a hard time around the turns and had to be careful to avoid fallen racers that they don't know are there.

[candall]

It's Sunday morning and I'm chilled back with some (real cream, yum) coffee and Women's Cycling.  They're talking about the Men's event yesterday:  Good Lord! Crashes, broken bones, only HALF the field even finished, because the course was so hard?!?  Cobblestones, crosswinds, some kind of long deadly downhill, hey watch out for those bottles lying on the road!

Is Rio bent on killing the cyclists or is the sport always this bloody and dangerous?

The only cycling I've ever watched had people popping along out in the wide open spaces, but these women are crushed into a little knot, trying to squeeze through bottlenecks under highway overpasses and dodging around support vehicles.  I'm agog.

[Superpole2000]

2 hours ago, candall said:

Is Rio bent on killing the cyclists or is the sport always this bloody and dangerous?

It's a high stakes, all or nothing, one-day event. Cyclists will gamble in this event more than in any other. So some riders blow their energy trying to keep pace in the hopes that they find lightning in a bottle, some riders literally crash out trying to get every last second on tricky descents, and some riders are team players who spend all of their energy acting as a windscreen for the better riders on their team. The course isn't too difficult...it's just a classic case of risk vs. reward where finishing the race isn't much consolation for not winning it.

My complaint with the course is that the windy sections are lined with so much foliage that you can't see the distance gaps between packs of riders. It doesn't make for the best viewing spectacle.

[Growsonwalls]

Wow. Horrible wipe out from the Dutch leader. 

[denbblbg]

That was awful to witness! Hope the Dutch Rider is o.k.

[Browncoat]

The last time they showed her, she still wasn't moving.  I hope she's okay, too, but that just looked terrible.

[Mittengirl]

It looked like she flipped over the handdlebars and landed on her head/neck.  Hopefully it was not as horrible as it looked.

[Arynm]

That was a terrible fall, I hope they have an update soon. The guy standing over her looked like he was filming her with his cell phone. I really hope I am wrong about that.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Frightening.  I also hope she's okay.

[galaxygirl76]

That was awful and I hope she's ok. The Dutch radio doesn't have any updates yet. I'm upset and can't care much about the race anymore.

[festivus]

I'm really worried about that lady but I can't find any updates so far.

[ExplainItAgain]

Oh my gosh. She went down like a rag doll. I hope she is OK :(

[Browncoat]

I guess I get that the announcers need to keep announcing the rest of the race, but I do wish someone would update them on that crash so they could update us.

[MyAimIsTrue]

1 minute ago, galaxygirl76 said:

That was awful and I hope she's ok. The Dutch radio doesn't have any updates yet. I'm upset and can't care much about the race anymore.

Same here.  I don't care about the outcome anymore, I just want to know that the Dutch rider is okay.

[galaxygirl76]

Our radio doesn't have any updates either and are kinda lackluster reporting the rest of the race because they are clearly not in the right mindset to do so. 

 

Apparently Gazzeta della sport just tweeted that she's ok and being treated by doctors...take that as you want to because no idea how reliable that is.

Well, that's an interesting turn of events for us...wow.

Edited August 7, 2016 by galaxygirl76

[galaxygirl76]

ok, so our chef de mission said she's awake and sitting in the ambulance, the Belgian camera crew that's in charge of the camera work of the race said she was awake but in shock. So it seems things are ok-ish. Radio is talking about a rollercoaster of emotions with the other girl winning the race quite unexpectedly becaus she's not known to be a fast finisher.

 

ETA, we're very carefully starting to be happy about the gold

Edited August 7, 2016 by galaxygirl76

[festivus]

Good, good glad to hear it. That crash looked so bad.

[emma675]

This is why I quit watching the cycling--one second they are on the bikes, the next second they are bloody and motionless on the ground. It was too stressful.

[Browncoat]

I'm glad she's going to be okay.

[KenyaJ]

I'm glad the Dutch rider is okay. That fall was terrifying. Also, my heart hurts for Maura Abbot. You could see that coming for the last few minutes of the race, but that didn't make me any less sad for her when it happened.

ETA: I loved seeing the interview with Maura. Her attitude was so great. She definitely has a new fan in me.

Edited August 7, 2016 by KenyaJ

[galaxygirl76]

Update: Annemiek Van Vleuten has a heavy concussion and three tears in her spine, she'll be in the IC for the next 24 hours, she's awake, speaking, and aware of her surroundings.

[Browncoat]

She is lucky that that's the total of her injuries.  And I'm pretty astounded that that's all, too.  But I'm glad.  I was so worried when she wasn't moving!

[galaxygirl76]

I immediately had flashbacks to Fabio Casartelli back in the 1995 Tour de France. Which is one of the most awful things I've seen happen live.

Edited August 7, 2016 by galaxygirl76

[Muffyn]

Damn.  That was such a dramatic finish.  If NBC has any sense, they'll replay that in primetime.   

[Browncoat]

Key phrase being "If NBC has any sense".

[galaxygirl76]

Annemiek van Vleuten tweets about how she's doing.

[ElDosEquis]

Wait until the match sprints and pursuits on the track, that's racing.

Go look at CycloCross is you like biking, that has EVERYTHING for everyone.

[photo fox]

Wow, I just finally watched the women's road race.  What a finish!  It seems like it never pays to pull out in front.

The announcer said, "the Netherlands can thank Italy for that gold."  Absolutely.  Borghini was incredible running Mara Abbott down.

[candall]

I'm watching the Women's Road Race Time Trials now.  Through my fingers.

WTF?!  The rowing event was canceled due to weather but these women are still expected to go blazing over wet cobblestones in the downpour and the 20-40 mph winds???

[galaxygirl76]

Happy for Kristin Armstrong(what a story!!) but very, very unenthused about the Russian lady even being allowed to be there after being suspended for a year and a half in 2014 after failing a drug test and getting the silver. I thought the IOC said no Russians athletes with a dirty past were allowed period. Added to that bitterness is the fact that a Dutch rider got fourth, happy about the bronze for Anna though.

[Good Queen Jane]

Kristin Armstrong (NOT related to Lance) wins her third Olympic Gold medal. http://io-2016/2016/08/10/american-cyclist-kristin-armstrong-wins-gold-time-trial/88508610/

Edited August 10, 2016 by Good Queen Jane

[galaxygirl76]

Cancellara is a beast, good for him in his last year. Too bad my fellow Dutchman (and Olympics boyfriend) Tom Dumoulin couldn't win but a few weeks ago he didn't even think he would be able to go to Rio at all after a nasty fall in the Tour de France, which resulted in a broken bone in his arm and now he wins the silver. I'm sure he's disappointed now but will realize in a bit that he did a great job.

Edited August 10, 2016 by galaxygirl76

[ElDosEquis]

What I don't understand is all the whining about the road courses.

The fucking Tour is 2k of all kinds of different challenges - What does a flat course with nothing to challenge a rider prove ? The Men's RR was one of the best races I had seen in a long time - there were a whole Tour's worth of obstacles to ride thru on that circuit.

I thought it was a ball buster and rightly so, It is the Olympics.

[candall]

Wow, rough day for Dennis Rohan.  Lost ~20 secs. [announcer estimate] switching out a broken bike, then the clock didn't stop when he crossed the finish line, then a fifth place finish--eight seconds out of the medals.

[Danny Franks]

Laura Trott is magnificent. A 24 year old woman who has just retained the two Olympic titles she won four years ago in London. And she looked leagues ahead of the rest of the field. 

Now let's see if her fiance, Jason Kenny can win his third gold of the Games.

[galaxygirl76]

Happy with the keirin silver, but there really should have been three riders DQ'd. Guess it helps to be from a big country.

[Danny Franks]

Crazy stuff in the Keirin race. Seems like a combination of cyclists being over eager and the derny rider being a little slower than expected. Chris Hoy said on commentary that the derny rider usually accelerates down that back straight to ensure there's no chance of overlap. He also said that, crazily, the rules are not clear on how to determine if an overlap has occurred.

Half the field would probably have been disqualified, if the judges had started eliminating people. But without level cameras, they didn't really have the proof to disqualify anyone.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Danny Franks

[Superpole2000]

In theory, I could love velodrome cycling...especially the head to head sprints. But I feel like they could be hyped and organized much better. I watched an hour of coverage this week, and sometimes there would be one on one races, sometimes team events, sometimes six riders at a time, sometimes more than a dozen riders, sometimes some omnium stuff...it was all very confusing. Either there are too many events, or they need to keep them separated better. They just seem to randomly rotate between them.

Also, they should show a bracket with the cyclist matchups. Show us the seedings. Show us where each cyclist ranks in the world so we know who the favourites are. Give us the context needed to appreciate the competition. I want to love you, velodrome cycling, but I have to know what the hell I'm watching!

[Danny Franks]

10 hours ago, Superpole2000 said:

In theory, I could love velodrome cycling...especially the head to head sprints. But I feel like they could be hyped and organized much better. I watched an hour of coverage this week, and sometimes there would be one on one races, sometimes team events, sometimes six riders at a time, sometimes more than a dozen riders, sometimes some omnium stuff...it was all very confusing. Either there are too many events, or they need to keep them separated better. They just seem to randomly rotate between them.

Also, they should show a bracket with the cyclist matchups. Show us the seedings. Show us where each cyclist ranks in the world so we know who the favourites are. Give us the context needed to appreciate the competition. I want to love you, velodrome cycling, but I have to know what the hell I'm watching!

I think velodrome cycling has all the ingredients to be a compulsive spectator sport. The tension of the sprints, the chaos of the keirin, the excitement of the elimination race... the utter confusion of the points race. It takes place in an arena where everyone can see everything that's going on, it has interesting personalities and rivalries. There are other, even crazier, events that aren't included in the Olympics, as well.

But I agree that it could be more organised, and they could present the events more clearly. It's a shame, because the UK is so good at velodrome cycling, but no one (including me, in my hypocrisy) pays it any attention outside of the Olympics. We're all too invested in the football monoculture to care about niche sports.

I guess this is why the British team talks about this four year cycle, where they aim to peak at the Olympics. They know few people care about cycling world championships, and the nation's eyes will only be on them when they compete under those five rings.