How do the pros hit those top speeds?



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"warren" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:050620032241570053%[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, Raptor <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > >>I don't think they do hit those speeds -- the commentators are exaggerating.
> > >>
> > >>JT
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I remember a few times during last years Tour when the peleton was on the flats and the camera
> > > shoed the motorcycles speedo and it indicated 70-80 km/h while it was beside the group.
> > >
> > > That seems pretty fast for flats.
> >
> > During last year's Vuelta, the camera motos showed 80 kph by the Aqua Sapone train before the
> > sprint, but the conventional wisdom is that the motos weren't truly keeping pace with the bikes.
> >
> > I'd buy 40 mph for a pro peloton on flats, but not 45 without harder info. I'm not a pro, but it
> > was all I could do to touch 40mph on flats with a very strong tailwind last year. (Though a trip
> > to analyticcycling.com now makes me doubt it. I've calculated 220W from me in a time-trialish
> > situation, assuming a pro puts out 400W, they only get to low 30's.)
>
> I do 400-500+ watts during the finale of 35+ 1,2,3 criteriums so I'd assume the pros are alot
> higher than that.
>
> -WG

Seems low Warren . Do you mean on the last few laps or in a sprint?

Danny Callen
 
"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> "Nick Burns" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >You have that backwards. I wish everyone would use the metric system but that certainly does not
> >make the Americans and Brits any less civilized.
I
> >love Italy, but there it is far less civilized than any country using the imperial system of
> >measurement.
>
> Where in Italy have you been? If you talk about anything south of Rome, you are more than right.
> If you are talking about Lombardy or any other Padan region, that must be
a
> joke.

Nah, those Padan's aren't that civilized , though from what I have heard the Padan women were "very"
friendly to the Japanese troops stationed in Lombardy during WWII.

You may very well be Japanese, Mayla and Padane nationalities all rolled up into one. <G>

Dashii
 
"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> "Nick Burns" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >You have that backwards. I wish everyone would use the metric system but that certainly does not
> >make the Americans and Brits any less civilized.
I
> >love Italy, but there it is far less civilized than any country using the imperial system of
> >measurement.
>
> And BTW, Italy is not the only country using the metric system.

True, Japan, China, Korea and most of Asia use the metric system.

And of course they are all more civilized than are the Padan's. <G>

Dashi
 
In article <[email protected]>, Danny Callen <[email protected]> wrote:

> "warren" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:050620032241570053%[email protected]...
> > In article <[email protected]>, Raptor <[email protected]> wrote:

> > > I'd buy 40 mph for a pro peloton on flats, but not 45 without harder info. I'm not a pro, but
> > > it was all I could do to touch 40mph on flats with a very strong tailwind last year. (Though a
> > > trip to analyticcycling.com now makes me doubt it. I've calculated 220W from me in a
> > > time-trialish situation, assuming a pro puts out 400W, they only get to low 30's.)
> >
> > I do 400-500+ watts during the finale of 35+ 1,2,3 criteriums so I'd assume the pros are alot
> > higher than that.
> >
> > -WG
>
> Seems low Warren . Do you mean on the last few laps or in a sprint?

500 watts isn't a sprint for me. My last few laps ("finale") show alot of surges at 400-650 watts.
In the crosswinds today with the pro 1,2,3's there were alot of 400-500 watts surges throughout the
race. This is why I implied that "Raptor's" comment about pros doing 400w is low. I'm sure the pros
doing a leadout can sustain well over 500 watts during the last few k's of a race.

-WG
 
On Sat, 7 Jun 2003, Davide Tosi wrote:
> "Nick Burns" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >You have that backwards. I wish everyone would use the metric system but that certainly does not
> >make the Americans and Brits any less civilized. I love Italy, but there it is far less civilized
> >than any country using the imperial system of measurement.
> Where in Italy have you been? If you talk about anything south of Rome, you are more than right.
> If you are talking about Lombardy or any other Padan region, that must be a joke.

How can somebody be so stupid, and still be from the North!

Sergio Pisa
 
Sergio SERVADIO <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Sat, 7 Jun 2003, Davide Tosi wrote:
>> "Nick Burns" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >You have that backwards. I wish everyone would use the metric system but that certainly does not
>> >make the Americans and Brits any less civilized. I love Italy, but there it is far less
>> >civilized than any country using the imperial system of measurement.
>> Where in Italy have you been? If you talk about anything south of Rome, you are more than right.
>> If you are talking about Lombardy or any other Padan region, that must be a joke.
>
>How can somebody be so stupid, and still be from the North!

Hey, professor, go back to play concertina, that fits you better than flaming on ngs.
 
On Sun, 8 Jun 2003, Davide Tosi wrote:
> >How can somebody be so stupid, and still be from the North!
> Hey, professor, go back to play concertina, that fits you better than flaming on ngs.

I did not make names. By any chance, did a bell ring in your ears?

Sergio Pisa
 
You can go really really really really really really really really really fast if you do the
superman position on your bike with your legs straight back so that your whole body is parallel to
the ground. You can see that demonstrated on the front page of the Orbea 2003 brochure by a Euskatel
rider. I also saw it in last year's TDF.

Then you basically have no frontal drag and you can go really fast.

Jiyang Chen

"Raptor" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I'm pretty sure this is a pseudo-faq, but a quick google didn't turn it
up.
>
> Best I've ever managed, in prime conditions (steep, straight road, tailwind, strong spin-out of
> the top gear, tuck) is 55-56 mph. Paul Sherwen said last year during one of the tours that Sean
> Kelly hit 72 mph once, and the pros are frequently claimed to be hitting 65 mph.
>
> Their gears aren't that much longer than mine, and the downhills over there aren't THAT much
> steeper than our are here. Are they? How can they go 15+mph faster than I can, trying my best?
> Every additional mph is so much harder to achieve.
>
> --
> --
> Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
> could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP
> in charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.
 
This is what upset me about the "Northern" snobs. That is why I was giving him a hard time.

I had 2 Italian girlfriends. To me, these two girls represented the differences between the northern
and southern Italians. Let me first say that I was totally aware of the fact that the North is far
more cosmopolitan. There is much easier access to other countries and people seem to value the
travel and diverse cultures. As you travel south, there is less and less of a tendency to travel.
The thing is, there are so many exceptions that it is ridiculous to talk as much about it as most
northerners do.

So, these two girls...The first girl from Milano was from a "wealthy, cultured" family. She would
mention at virtually every opportunity that the southerners were "non sofisticato".

The second girl was from Napoli. Perhaps when you talk about the south you are talking about
Sicilia, or somewhere further than Napoli. All of the northern Italians that I know say that is
"gets bad" past Roma. So...this girl from Napoli was every bit as sophisticated as the girlfriend
from Milano but never got in to the petty wise-cracks that the northerners do. It seems to me that
the northerners are exposed to a lot more people from other countries and get very defensive. The
people in the south that are educated are a lot more patriotic. When I here northerners making
remarks about the south, it reminds me of the people I know, and I don't like it. There is not much
I can do other than give you a hard time.

"Sergio SERVADIO" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:p[email protected]...
> On Sat, 7 Jun 2003, Davide Tosi wrote:
> > "Nick Burns" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >You have that backwards. I wish everyone would use the metric system
but
> > >that certainly does not make the Americans and Brits any less
civilized. I
> > >love Italy, but there it is far less civilized than any country using
the
> > >imperial system of measurement.
> > Where in Italy have you been? If you talk about anything south of Rome, you are more than right.
> > If you are talking about Lombardy or any other Padan region, that must
be a
> > joke.
>
> How can somebody be so stupid, and still be from the North!
>
> Sergio Pisa
 
Jiyang Chen wrote:
> You can go really really really really really really really really really fast if you do the
> superman position on your bike with your legs straight back so that your whole body is parallel to
> the ground. You can see that demonstrated on the front page of the Orbea 2003 brochure by a
> Euskatel rider. I also saw it in last year's TDF.
>
> Then you basically have no frontal drag and you can go really fast.
>
> Jiyang Chen

What's the WAG of the drag coefficient difference?

Will leaning back over the rear tire to remove the air scoop of my chest and waist help as much?

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.
 
60 is not far fetched at all, you can hit that down the Highway after the first climb in the San
Luis Rey road race (highway something or other) I had a rear sew up blowout on me at just about 50
there about 4 years ago (lucky no crash, very straigh road). You can hist 60 down parts of the
Palomar climb as well.

so I think high 60's are not far fetched or exaggerated at all.

Rope

"John Forrest Tomlinson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Wade Summers" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:VnGDa.1790$2A2.84@lakeread05...
>
> > I think Paul Sherwin's phrasing - the riders can touch speeds of 60
> mph - is
> > accurate, but not applicable to every descent. They aren't going to
> be
> > cruising at those speeds, but at some point, on one of the more wide
> open
> > descents, they could hit those speeds.
>
> I'd believe that. We've got a straight, well-paved descent at Harriman State Park where hitting
> the low 50s is no problem at all. I believe up to about 60mph is possible in the right place and
> conditions. Beyond that (mid 60s and up) I don't believe.
>
> JT
>
> --
> *******************************************
> NB: reply-to address is munged
>
> Visit http://www.jt10000.com
> *******************************************
 
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