Monthly Archives: August 2013

Bradley Wiggins – Dimwitted?

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

“Even with all the problems cycling has had with the American guy, it is still growing all the time. People love it and that is fantastic,” he told The Daily Mail. This is Bradley talking about how well the sport is doing now.

I don’t know Bradley. Really, I don’t want to know Bradley. That being said, he must be clueless, a dim wit and/or naive. He is taking the problems of the sport of cycling the last couple years and saying it was the deal of “the American guy”? Wow. He pretty much simplified it all down to a neat little package. I think he must have missed all the other dozens of riders, mostly European riders, that have come out recently and said that they cheated and doped. He must have missed the results of the French senate inquiry too.

And he must have missed all the constant questions he received last year at the Tour, and his team mate, Chris Froome was bombarded with this year, about how riddled the sport is with doping. I don’t think Lance’s name had much to do with the on going crisis now. Lance is yesterday’s news now.

I think it is so strange that here we have all the American team mates of Lance’s, over the years, confessing and serving at least some suspension, when the majority of every Tour team that Lance rode on was foreign riders. I don’t quite get why none of those guys have served any time outs? It seems weird and unfair.

Well, Bradley, maybe you should just kept living in your little bubble and not watch your team mates race the Tour de France. And then you can not congratulation your team mate, Chris Froome, for winning the Tour this year.

I hear that Chris Froome is a really nice guy. Nice enough to not bash Bradley publicly. Not so for his fiance, Michelle Cound. She had no problem publicly stating her opinion about Bradley. Seems that she and Bradley’s wife, Catherine got into a little cat fight on twitter.

Anyway, maybe modern communication just doesn’t get up to the top of the mountain in Tenerife or Bradley’s self imposed media fast denies him access to the current happenings of the sport. That would explain his lack of understanding of how giant and broad the public’s perception of the issues of doping in the sport are currently and how it isn’t just “the American guy” deal.

Chris's public relations coordinator, which happens to be his fiance.

Chris’s public relations coordinator, which happens to be his fiance.

Lowest Wattage Winner

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling, Fun Stuff on by .

I’ve had this idea ever since it has become commonplace to use power meters on bicycles that there should be a competition during each event for the rider with the lowest average wattage when the event is finished. There would be some sort of formula that takes the rider’s weight, the finishing time/place into account, plus the average wattage the rider put out during the event, and there would be an award for it.

It would be really difficult to do this. It would probably only work for special races and would have to be sponsored by a power meter company with all the units matched. There really is a fair amount of fudge factor when it comes to recording power data.

I think it is strange when guys compare their wattage numbers after an event and brag about how high their wattage is. I want my average wattage to be low. As low as I can possible get it. It’s a bike race, not a training ride. Of course that isn’t the case for races that I’m using to try to get to a different level of fitness, but for a race that I’m keying on and trying to have a result, it is for sure my goal.

Another idea would be to have a battery and small electric motor on your bike and have your drive system connected to an alternator that allows you to store energy into that battery. At the start of the race, each rider would be given a completely discharged battery and then they could store up as much extra energy they could produce, in the battery, and use it whenever they needed.

This would be a strange event also. Guys pedaling like crazy on the downhills trying to store up a bunch of energy for the climbs. One rider could just be riding easy in the field at 25mph and the guy next to him could be producing 450 watts charging his battery. Maybe even have a display on each rider, the back of the seat or somewhere obvious, so the other riders would know exactly how much “charge” each rider has. The race tactics for this event would be wild.

Anyway, it’s just fun ideas. But seriously, if you consistently have a high average wattage at the end of a race and also a high number beside your name on the result sheet, you need to start trying to figure out what you’re doing wrong. There is a saying something like – “Strong like bull, dumb like bull (might be ox).” Try to avoid that description.

cow-on-bike1

Electric bike motor kit.

Electric bike motor kit.