#1
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Can You Hang with a Pro Paceline?
Ran across this and thought it fun. Regular guys sit on the back of a couple of World Tour teams.....for a while. Nice that the Pros didn't discourage them from doing so. FYI; 55kph is 34mph and 63kph is 39mph.
In what sport can you ever experience being this close to the pros? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP1G...&frags=pl%2Cwn |
#2
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#3
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#4
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Cool!
I rode with a guy who was a top level masters CX racer (battled R Sachs and Paul Curley at one time) and he would happily take me out on 'training' rides to teach me basics of CX. I remember him pedalling up a STEEP muddy trail in a forest in Switzerland in a 39x25 while I walked it and when I commented on it, he just laughed and said he was doing some 'resistance training'. Pretty badass. Not a pro like these cats though. |
#5
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Good thing about having a small population, but seriously how the hell does this guy keep finding these pro groups? He also have an video of him riding with Sagan. Realized how nice Sagan really is from the way he pose with his fans.
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#6
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When the road world championships were held in Hamilton, Ontario in 2003, it was just too close to home (3 hour drive) to miss. A friend and I drove up on Wednesday of that week to watch the men's elite time trial. We arrived very early and hopped on our bikes to recon the course (the TT course used nearly all the elements of the road course). Coincidently, many of the elites were out training on the course. We tucked in behind Erik Zabel and the German team as they climbed the Claremont Access road. Erik and company were clearly at a conversational pace while my friend and I were suffering just to hang on to the back of the pack...
Greg |
#7
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When Team Highroad was doing winter training here, I had a chance to jump onto the back of their group during a training ride as they passed me. They were heading out for an "Easy 80 miles", as I was told. I was happy to turn off after about 5 miles with a HR of 150+. Can't remember avg speed, but 23-25mph seems about right.
Team VanderKitten used to train here as well and I had a chance to ride in that group...much more manageable and fun. Speeds 20-22mph. Other than speed, the biggest difference was more chatter in VdK, and less slowing up hills in THR. |
#8
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Quote:
I was in Montreal for the Pro Tour race a few years ago and was riding the course and came across team Movistar doing the same. Kept a respectful distance but did notice one of the riders was wearing a slightly different jersey. Turned out to be Rui Costa, who would win the WC a few weeks later in Florence. |
#9
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We have a young project engineer that tried to make it on the pro ski tour for a while. Pretty humble kid who’s YouTube exploits are quite impressive. Not good enough for the tour and too many broken bones and torn ligaments so he’s in the architecture business.
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#11
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Not no, but HELL no!
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#12
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Quote:
Now, group etiquette demands no obvious checking out, but we noticed quickly: a few of them wore national champion jerseys - dutch, belgian- and no fewer than two of them sported WC stripes. Ow! Funny thing was: I could neither identify one of those faces, nor the sponsor. We all were well informed about pro stuff back then, so that was very funny. Surely, there didn't exist a team with so many celebrities that we never had heard of? They might be tourists wearing bought honorary jerseys, as some deluded folks like to do, but some of those fellas looked suspiciously fit. They all had the same sponsor, but i couldn't identify it. "Spaar Select"?! Also, they rode the same bikes which sort of ruled out an amateur club team- and those brought the next mystery: Empella??!? Never had heard of it. So, long story short, we continued to ride together for a bit -those guys still were very loud, banter and laughter echoed far- then the road started to climb. Inevitably, the private race was on. I'm proud to say me and my buddy Manni managed to hold on to the leading group up to the summit, even though it cost a bit of sweat; The trick, i learned, was to look unconcerned whern the HRM passes the 200 mark (i was younger and way fitter then). We even dropped a few of the Empellas After the summit, the joint venture broke up and each group went their way. Only at night in the hotel i could use Google and found out "Spaar Select" was the top *Cross* pro team of the year, lining up, it think, 6 of the top 10 ranked cross riders of the year, so those jerseys and stripes were the real deal. I assume one of them was Bart Wellems. They obviously were on Mallorca for an "season's over; where is the Genever?" camp and weren't taking things all too serious. Still, we were proud
__________________
Jeremy Clarksons bike-riding cousin Last edited by martl; 02-08-2019 at 03:03 PM. |
#13
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^^^
You got my attention! |
#14
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Quote:
__________________
Cuero - Fine leather cycling gloves - GET SOME |
#15
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Easy, if they were all sleeping while riding. Ok, maybe not EASY, but I'd have a chance. Maybe.
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