Cyclingtips article-'Marginal Gains'

[oldpotatoe]

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/02/alex-howes-diary-marginal-pains

"Nowadays, with all these marginal gains, it’s a sport full of weight weenies, power dorks, and flesh-and-blood robots."

Like oversized pulleys.:D

[stephenmarklay]

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/02/alex-howes-diary-marginal-pains

"Nowadays, with all these marginal gains, it’s a sport full of weight weenies, power dorks, and flesh-and-blood robots."

Like oversized pulleys.:D

Yep for must of us, not all, but most of us it's more about losing 25 pounds and getting a little more time on the bike.

[Black Dog]

This kind of sums up the crazy of marginal gains. From the article:

While Tony Martin’s sandpaper saddle may result in a marginal performance gain, it also results in marginal skin loss, on the butt cheek.

https://cdn-cyclingtips.pressidium.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Kramon_UCIworldsRichmond2015_MenTT_DSC4439-1024x607.jpg

[livingminimal]

Great article. Thanks OP!

[Anarchist]

Yep for must of us, not all, but most of us it's more about losing 25 pounds and getting a little more time on the bike.

What I always tell folks at my bike shop, or that I ride with, I will start to worry about the weight of individual components on my bikes when I hit 4% body fat.

In the meantime it's a fools errand.

[drewellison]

This kind of sums up the crazy of marginal gains. From the article:

While Tony Martin’s sandpaper saddle may result in a marginal performance gain, it also results in marginal skin loss, on the butt cheek.

https://cdn-cyclingtips.pressidium.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Kramon_UCIworldsRichmond2015_MenTT_DSC4439-1024x607.jpg

Arrrgghhh!! My eyes, my eyes!!!! I can't unsee that photo ... :eek:

[MattTuck]

This sentence sums it up.

In many ways, the habitual abuse of hand sanitizer in the pro peloton ... epitomizes pro cycling’s downward spiral into weeniedom.

Smaller teams and better course selection would probably make for more unpredictable racing. I have been a big proponent of more dynamic route selection for the grand tours. The more that I think about it, the less I think it will happen. Teams with sprinters want those stages so they can get the exposure. The grand tours, for better or worse, are set up like 12 round heavy weight boxing matches, where they bludgeon each other, round after round, until one is worn down.

It can still be entertaining, but certainly not like the one day races.

I'd like to see smaller time gaps between GC guys. I think the way you do that is less/fewer/smaller mountains and/or more TTs. When the ASO calls me up to design next year's TDF, I'll let you all know :)

[don'TreadOnMe]

At the top level, it's still a sport for bad mother f#ckers.
Don't kid yourself.

[nate2351]

Arrrgghhh!! My eyes, my eyes!!!! I can't unsee that photo ... :eek:

Oh it gets better...
http://i.imgur.com/b3PgTci.jpg

[FlashUNC]

Oh it gets better...
http://i.imgur.com/b3PgTci.jpg

And that's why wearing World Champ stripes on a jersey is dumb.

His gooch earned those by God.

[Ti Designs]

At the top level, it's still a sport for bad mother f#ckers.
Don't kid yourself.

And below the top level there's an industry built on selling marginal gains to those who kid themselves...

[Saint Vitus]

And below the top level there's an industry built on selling marginal gains to those who kid themselves...

Same with every endeavor it seems, though some are more restrained than others. Anything involving bravdo, chutzpah, balls what have you is going to rife with the also-rans. It's what sustains the industry.

[velofinds]

Good article! My new favorite pro rider.