What gear for 20% ? Why, 52x19 of course!

[Dr Luxurious]

The Boss of The Bosberg krushing The Kapelmuur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnX4uaDYyIU

"Spinning" 90's style. Back when we timed our cadence with a calendar.

[Anarchist]

The Boss of The Bosberg krushing The Kapelmuur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnX4uaDYyIU

"Spinning" 90's style. Back when we timed our cadence with a calendar.

" ... Back when ...."?

[Louis]

Surely he would have been faster in a lower gear.

[alexstar]

Just watching that makes my tendons hurt.

[numbskull]

Surely he would have been faster in a lower gear.

I doubt it although I'd like to hear TiD's take on this.

If you look at his position he is way back with his heels dropped over the top. As I understand it this maximizes his use of the quads over the top (as he pushes more forward than down) then the glutes coming down (where you can see him dropping his body weight into the stroke).

Supposedly the glutes can generate continuous maximal power at lower cadences while his far back position lets him still generate decent power with his quads over a shorter contraction cycle (hence slowing lactic build up) albeit while sacrificing some quad power (in favor of the glutes) because of the lower cadence.

I suspect he would go slower while on the hill with a higher more forward position and faster cadence although he likely would recover faster at the top and could well be faster over a total distance with a more "modern" position.

[Peter P.]

When the graphic on the screen indicated 20% at about 2:45, Johan was in the small ring.

Muscling it nevertheless, but I think his cadence was fine. It was beautiful to watch.

[rustychisel]

I doubt it although I'd like to hear TiD's take on this.

If you look at his position he is way back with his heels dropped over the top. As I understand it this maximizes his use of the quads over the top (as he pushes more forward than down) then the glutes coming down (where you can see him dropping his body weight into the stroke).

Supposedly the glutes can generate continuous maximal power at lower cadences while his far back position lets him still generate decent power with his quads over a shorter contraction cycle (hence slowing lactic build up) albeit while sacrificing some quad power (in favor of the glutes) because of the lower cadence.

I suspect he would go slower while on the hill with a higher more forward position and faster cadence although he likely would recover faster at the top and could well be faster over a total distance with a more "modern" position.

I suspect you're over analysing it. He monstered the climb. Years ago I recall watching Andreas Tafi doing big-ring repeats up Norton Summit in preparation for the Tour Downunder.

[fuzzalow]

Looked good to me. The higher gear works better in stability over some of the bumpier road surfaces, as is done a la Roubaix. That whole buzzing cadence on the climbs style like mythologized by -7 up L'alpe d'huez was a testament to his pharm and not to his form.

[peanutgallery]

Impressive...in a carnival sort of way

EPO, Pot Belge and what else? Doped up like a racehorse he was. Those were the days:)

[ultraman6970]

When the road sucks as that race, is faster going in the large chainring, the bike will bounce less.

Is like riding with the tubular flat or with a small leak... if you do small chainring the bike will start to bounce big time, not comfortable. Add to that cobbles and low air pressure and you can bust a rim big time. Thats IMO one of main reasons they do this race mainly in the big chainring, you have to minimize the bouncing of the bike

Besides those guys put a lot of power, not that 52x19 is a super hard to move gear if you are trained really good. I get that he is doing it uphill but under that circumstances is easier go with the 53 than with the 42 or 39.... besides 52x19 and 39x15 are really close.. IMO probably going uphill with 39x15 is harder than with the 19 just because the 19 has more torque. Contador style.

[nooneline]

the real story here is how much we all miss the Kapelmuur in de Ronde, though, right.

[FlashUNC]

As others mentioned, I'm sure road surface plays a role.

But he does seem to be using the body weight technique that TiD espouses as he rolls back and forth. Extreme, but if you're throwing down the watts and need to get up a 20% cobbled bastich where standing is impossible...

Either that or walk, really.

[Bstone]

Looks like he's going to rip the pedals off of the cranks.

His pain tolerance must have been off the charts.

[Dead Man]

If he's in his big/big (how can you tell?) 52:19, he's doing 13mph at 60rpm (and it looks like he bogs down even lower than that in a couple spots) then he'd need to be in his 34:17 at 85RPM to exceed the speed he had there. Spinning 34:17 up a 20% at 85RPM seems just as unlikely to me...

The whole thing defies the brain

[velomonkey]

That whole buzzing cadence on the climbs style like mythologized by -7 up L'alpe d'huez was a testament to his pharm and not to his form.

I see what you did there. . . . . . . and I like the cut of your jib, sir.

[Dr Luxurious]

I dunno.... maybe... freeze it at 2:41

https://youtu.be/lnX4uaDYyIU?t=2m38s

When the graphic on the screen indicated 20% at about 2:45, Johan was in the small ring.


Doped? Yeah, probably. But likely so were most of the guys he just dropped.

[zennmotion]

The Boss of The Bosberg krushing The Kapelmuur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnX4uaDYyIU

"Spinning" 90's style. Back when we timed our cadence with a calendar.

Of course, the next vid that autoloads shows a very different style on the same sections as we see Boonen standing dropped by Cancellara sitting with a relatively high cadence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6z7uUe0tVA

[Louis]

Of course, the next vid that autoloads shows a very different style on the same sections as we see Boonen standing dropped by Cancellara sitting with a relatively high cadence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6z7uUe0tVA

That was the one where he turned on the electric motor...

[Dead Man]

It would be very interesting to see who has the fastest ascent of the Muur... I've glanced around on the webbernutz but haven't found any record keeping

[gavingould]

the real story here is how much we all miss the Kapelmuur in de Ronde, though, right.exactly this.
though being on the Oude Kwaremont a couple years ago when RVV went by 3 times was pretty good.

[Ti Designs]

That whole buzzing cadence on the climbs style like mythologized by -7 up L'alpe d'huez was a testament to his pharm and not to his form.

Got that right. Specific doping can work on either the muscle strength or cardiovascular system, the cyclists who dope clearly pick the cardio end of things 'cause they can gear down and drive out moderate gears up hills at stupid cadences with seemingly no cardio response.

In the days before doping worked without the threat of killing you, racers learned how to produce torque by throwing their body weight at the pedals, taking the weight off their hands, and using their glutes to transfer that power to the pedals. The down side is that each pedal is limited to a 25% duty cycle as this only works when the pedal is going down (at least on this planet), so it always looks like they are struggling when the cranks are at the top/bottom.

Most threads here about climbing break down into discussions about power and gearing, I always respond (or at least think) "learn how to ride". This is what I'm talking about, this is much of what I teach. Hills require torque (not sure what the flemish word for torque is), the other muscles can't supply that kind of torque, so you have two options: 1) gear down and spin - you have to gear low enough to put the force below the tensile strength of the muscles (where the muscles start to tear), and seeing how low that is for some of the muscle groups, I can see why people are riding around in Florida with 1:1 gearing... 2) shut down all of the smaller muscle groups and use the big ones. There's a technique to that - It's not as natural as you think...

[wallymann]

fwiw...the true Boss of the Bosberg is Edwig van Hooydonck.

http://www.velominati.com/the-hardmen/awesome-belgian-guys-edwig-van-hooydonk/

The Boss of The Bosberg krushing The Kapelmuur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnX4uaDYyIU

"Spinning" 90's style. Back when we timed our cadence with a calendar.