Pro-cycling thread

You waited for somebody like Sepp Kuss did for Roglic?

Carthy rode the Tour, and did the Worlds and Flèche Wallone before the Vuelta. He could be equally fatigued. In fact, all of the current top five did the Tour.

Update: only Vlasov of the current top ten didn’t race the Tour.

Cheers for posting. What a great interview. It’s basically the same chat we all have at any finish line.
‘It was the toughest thing, stopped for a pee, couldn’t turn the pedals’.

'could only push 320 watts'

does that mean too spinny or not spinny enough? i could live to 100 and still not get high/low big/small in terms of gears.

You waited for somebody like Sepp Kuss did for Roglic?

If only. Did the whole thing solo and didn't see another living soul during the whole climb. No-one else was daft enough to be out in that weather.

Xavier Disley reckons we’ll see bike changes for most riders tomorrow.

I will tune in hoping to see some comedy.

I'd read "too big" as too big in terms of gear inches, so not spinny enough

Not spinny enough, usually. Conventionally

big=high=not spinny enough
small=low=well spinny

I'd guess not spinny enough. That sort of ratio is getting close to it being quicker/easier to get off & push though for the likes of us.

Fwiw: They're at about 28 gear inches. I rode hardknott/wrynose without dabbing on 32 inches (30x25) on a plumbers pipe frame with my pencil legs, so I reckon these pro's just need to toughen up a bit. ;)

thanks. but it's confusing because "downshifting" means going "down" the cassette towards the smaller cogs, which gives you a bigger gear. and it's the opposite on the front.

cycling’s a stupid hobby

Not spinny enough!

I've found some 'lovely' 20% Devon walls recently and on a 36-28 it's 350w and 45rpm just to keep moving. Sod ever doing the Angliru.

A certain British symmetry to yesterday’s stage with Hugh Carthy first over the line and Harry Tanfield last over nearly 39 minutes later.

A bit like Tao being maglia rosa and Jon Dibben being maglia nera.

I've found some 'lovely' 20% Devon walls recently and on a 36-28 it's 350w and 45rpm just to keep moving. Sod ever doing the Angliru.

My cadence dropped to 54rpm on Angliru. That was with a 34/30 bottom gear though.

Edit. Reading error. 54rpm was the average. Lowest figure was 29rpm.

Hugh Carthy pulling his tripe out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1N-Br8UFSI

I like his vibe.

Did you see the interview with Daniel Friebe last week? The one where he asked him about Preston having the largest bus station in the world? Carthy just took it on his stride. Was very amusing.

Yes, he’s great in interviews. Especially after the stage yesterday. Comes across with an almost rock star level of reserve/arrogance/distance. Casquette peak down with max lüft.

Is he – I acknowledge this may be sacrilege to say, and I’m being slightly facetious in saying it – but is he the thinking man’s Tao Geoghegan Hart?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tfT54i1Krg

Is this going to be BritPop 2.0? North vs south? Blur Oasis? Tao Carthy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfqdCpMfLG0

Edit: OK, that’s not max lüft but he’s got an earring.

Did you have to turn around and descend back down the way you came? Or is there a easier way down?

Did you have to turn around and descend back down the way you came? Or is there a easier way down?

Yep, back pretty much the same way - it's a dead end road. RwGPS did divert me down an 'interesting' detour on the descent though. Pic below. It probably isn't visible in the photo, but it was about 20/25 degrees gradient. Slightly sketchy on slick 23mm tyres in the rain.

The bloke in the digger completely blocking the track at the bottom seemed slightly surprised to see me. Still, he and his workmates very kindly helped me clamber over the digger treads holding my bike in cleated disco slippers.

1 Attachment

CT stahp

An interviewer asked him straight after "you jumped at 1.5km to go, was that the right moment?" and he flatly answered "well I won, so yeah" brilliant.

is he the thinking man’s Tao Geoghegan Hart?

Sacrilege indeed! It's liked comparing apples and pears - they're both great and have both taken slightly unconventional approaches to get where they are now but just about everything about them is different, from riding style to the teams they've chosen and where they're from. I think they're quite friendly btw.

I've been following Carthy since 2013 because as a little project I decided to pick a bunch of Rapha Condor riders (Carthy, Mike Cuming, Elliot Porter and Felix English) and follow their progress through social media/the media/procyclingstats etc. in a slightly stalky way.

It's been a pretty up and down journey and has really brought home how most don't make it, which is what I thought would happen.

Carthy is the only one properly racing at the moment - Porter stopped in 2017, Cuming doesn't seem to have a ride for this year and English is focused on the Olympics for Ireland but also riding for Tekkerz although I'm not sure in what capacity.

It's really worth reading up on when Carthy moved to Caja Rural (which was definitely an unconventional choice). He spoke no Spanish and instead of taking the easier option of moving to Girona (lots of English-speaking pros to hang out with/go riding with) he moved to Pamplona (where nobody really speaks English) and just immersed himself and got a Colombian as a flatmate to help him with his Spanish:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/hugh-carthy-an-underdog-free-from-distractions/

Him and Tao are pretty much my two favourite British riders so if he did manage to get that 32 seconds back (I think it's possible) it would be a mad year...

If you're in a place like Girona and out shopping in the supermarket
and your season is not going very well, and then you run into another
pro who's having the best year of their lives, then you'll be most
likely thinking to yourself: 'Ach, f***ing dick.'

haha yes I live for this level of petty bitterness