Road Cycling
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@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
Rankings are often a bit of a waste of time, but for what it's worth (as per that article) George is ranked 26th overall for road cycling. After those good results mid-year he's 16th in one day races and 54th in stage races.
3rd overall in Oceania behind Porte and Jai Hindley - which perhaps doesn't give enough value to winning sprint stages in Grand Tours (Caleb Ewan) and maybe time trialing (Rohan Dennis).
Then again, I mainly like watching guys suffering up hills!
re: watching guys suffering up hills - that's why I wish they'd show more of the back of the race on those big mountain stages.. was reading a blog a while back and one of Ewans team mates was talking about how he'd farked up his TDF training and was getting dropped early doors on the climbs - him and another team mate just had to stay back with him and tow him around trying to make the time cut.. sounded bloody awful!
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@WillieTheWaiter Yeah - I think there's scope for those sorts of stories in the coverage.
What I really wish they'd do is make use of split screens in the coverage at the finish. I get that they want to show the stage winner having his moment of glory, but quite often it's at the expense of missing the crucial battles between the GC contenders.
And similarly split screen to watch the people who trail home a few minutes behind. Quite often they're straight into replays and I'm thinking, "Where's George, where's George...".
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@Snowy said in Road Cycling:
@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
"Where's George, where's George...".
He's not at your place after you met him the other day?
Yes. Standing directly in front of Chris, waiting for his ‘top tube’ to be polished
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@scribe said in Road Cycling:
I did 2.5 hrs on a turbo trainer once whilst training for an Ironman (pre Zwift days). Never again. That was after reading about a Female pro who used to do all of her Ironman training indoors. Crazy play.
I am trying to tick off all the route badges...longest one I've done so far was 4hrs. I find Zwift immersive enough I don't get too bored esp if have a podcast on.
The three route badges I have left will all be 4-6hr rides though, not looking forward to that. Will do them with mates and jump on a conf call to chat/suffer together at least.
Also a rocker plate makes long Zwifts much more comfortable.
@WillieTheWaiter love the FTP flex. I've actually found Zwift to be really accurate vs what I do on the road. What set up do you have? I find if you calibrate regularly the numbers/results I am getting at least are bang in line with what happens outside.
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@WillieTheWaiter said in Road Cycling:
@scribe said in Road Cycling:
I did 2.5 hrs on a turbo trainer once whilst training for an Ironman (pre Zwift days). Never again. That was after reading about a Female pro who used to do all of her Ironman training indoors. Crazy play.
yeh I think i've maxed out at about 2 hours. Surprising the amount of pros especially triathletes who do the majority of their training on the trainer. I'd be about 80%.. so much more efficient, impossible to do decent intervals in an hour session in central auckland!
that female pro you talk about - that wasn't the woman who swam like a frikkin spaz was it? I remember reading an article on a female pro in the uk about how she trained all on the trainer for ironman - a while back before it became the norm.. and it showed her swimming, breaststroke kick with freestyle swim - craziest thing I've seen.. funnily enough her swim coach could see she was going to be a great athlete when she was sorted out and she was!
I was thinking of Lucy Charles-Barclay. She does 6 hr bike sessions on Zwift, up to 36km on the treadmill and an hr or so in the endless pool (all in her garage).
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Yeah, he is a reasonably big unit with plenty of power. I used to work with him but he also has his own sub pro team he races with so pretty serious about it.
I have never actually ridden on Zwift myself before. All my riding is outdoors even now through the middle of winter.
Can be a bit chilly but I don't really mind as I just have to work a bit harder to keep warm. (Though the wet rides below 5 degrees are horrific)
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Also, I feel you on the hills!
I used to be 130kg before I started cycling seriously again (I now run at the low 80s) but he difference in hill climbing is quite noticeable!
For power tracking I use Garmin Vector 3 pedals which are pretty ace especially with both sides as I have so you can look at balance etc. I love data so it is always a treat to look at my various stats after a ride
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@Davesofthunder said in Road Cycling:
Also, I feel you on the hills!
I used to be 130kg before I started cycling seriously again (I now run at the low 80s) but he difference in hill climbing is quite noticeable!
For power tracking I use Garmin Vector 3 pedals which are pretty ace especially with both sides as I have so you can look at balance etc. I love data so it is always a treat to look at my various stats after a ride
50kg weight loss, thats amazing, congrats!!!
I also have the power meter on my pedals, can't remember the brand - but it shows I am consistently 55-45 in favour of my left leg. I'm right handed, so favour jumping off my left from years of Basketball, but still quite a difference.
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@voodoo said in Road Cycling:
@WillieTheWaiter said in Road Cycling:
@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
Saw a guy in TJV gear riding towards me the other day and thought, that looks a lot like George.
Sure enough...
George Bennett to return to racing in New Zealand
The top New Zealand cyclist George Bennett has confirmed he'll race two events in New Zealand in the New Year.
he was doing 6 hour rides on Zwift in the bathroom of his quarantine hotel. faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark that!
That's just disgusting. Nobody should have that level of mental capacity.
1hr on zwift and I'm mentally cooked.
Never tried zwift but have a mate whos on at me all the time about it, so much that I refuse to provide any kudos to his strava zwift efforts. I always smoke him out on the trails too but think its more about his inability to go full noise downhill and over drops and jumps (quickly becoming the way for me too).
So how does zwift actually work? (I dont wanna ask mate as he will think I've caved). There is a fat guy at work who always has rides of 30 odd km in about an hour. Can you set it so resistance is low or something?
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@JK said in Road Cycling:
@voodoo said in Road Cycling:
@WillieTheWaiter said in Road Cycling:
@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
Saw a guy in TJV gear riding towards me the other day and thought, that looks a lot like George.
Sure enough...
George Bennett to return to racing in New Zealand
The top New Zealand cyclist George Bennett has confirmed he'll race two events in New Zealand in the New Year.
he was doing 6 hour rides on Zwift in the bathroom of his quarantine hotel. faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark that!
That's just disgusting. Nobody should have that level of mental capacity.
1hr on zwift and I'm mentally cooked.
Never tried zwift but have a mate whos on at me all the time about it, so much that I refuse to provide any kudos to his strava zwift efforts. I always smoke him out on the trails too but think its more about his inability to go full noise downhill and over drops and jumps (quickly becoming the way for me too).
So how does zwift actually work? (I dont wanna ask mate as he will think I've caved). There is a fat guy at work who always has rides of 30 odd km in about an hour. Can you set it so resistance is low or something?
You can change the resistance, but that should recalculate and produce proper speed/distance estimates - its really only helpful so fatties like me can spin their way up mountains. The bigger effect is from your personal settings, and the route you choose, and the trainer you have. On a properly calibrated trainer, doing 30km's in an hour on a flat course is decent going but pretty achievable. And it becomes much easier if you:
- have a trainer that overestimates your power
- enter your weight "incorrectly" - loads of accusations fly around the races with people accused of telling Zwift they weigh 65kgs when they are really 105kgs...
- bunch ride to get some drafting benefit
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I get very suspicious looks now when asked if I used to play and I say I was a tight head prop!
It amuses me but also makes me a little sad as I loved being a prop
Funnily enough I switch dominant sides relatively frequently though it is never by a lot
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George Bennett claims long-awaited New Zealand road race title
'I was down and out a week ago and wrote myself off' says Jumbo-Visma rider
George finally wins a national championship!!!
Hopefully, we'll get to see him riding prominently in that national champion's jersey in some big races.
He certainly sounds thrilled at the prospect!
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Watched that live. George just ate up the other riders’ reserves then picked a moment to blast away. I know that road well and you’d hardly call those rises hills at all. They just couldn’t go with him that last time. From that point they didn’t bother and he rode away. Class above.
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@Crucial I didn't realise it was televised or I would have watched as well.
George makes his winning move at 1.03.15 – Mark Watson gets increasingly excited and emotional the closer he gets to home. Despite that the pictures are a bit shit it’s worth watching.
He also does a really nice interview at 1.26.35. A bit more eloquent than the average rugby interview.
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@Chris-B yeah I was searching to see what the coverage might be and there was a non obvious link to a live stream.
Comments guys were having a little whinge about how it should be the lead sports news story but that ain’t going to happen when any pictures look to be from somebody’s phone over a cell network.
