SB Nation User Blog: Softie

Paris-Roubaix: Mean Time Between Failures

Softie — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:12:05 -0000

An engineer once told me that bicycles are designed to withstand some enormous number of vibration cycles before failure, with each cycle being the equivalent of riding over a cobble. Something like a half million or a million cycles. The engineer then told me that the design spec amounted to about 25km of cobbles.

Paris-Roubaix has 53km of cobblestones.

Not surprising, then, that the Queen of the Classics played host to the strangest mechanical ever---Hincapie's broken steerer tube. And we can pretty much count on one contender being taken out by a mechanical Sunday. So I've created a poll so that the Cafe can weigh in on what will happen this year, with parenthetical examples of memorable mechanicals from the past.

Poll

What will be the memorable mechanical failure of Paris-Roubaix 2009?

Broken Steerer Tube (George)

12 votes

Broken Chain (Spartacus RVV)

6 votes

Frame Failure

6 votes

Broken Seat/Seatpost

17 votes

Wheel disaster, non-tire related

42 votes

A plague of punctures afflicting one individual or team (Phonak '04 TDF)

11 votes

Broken handlebars/stem

6 votes

Rear derailleur (Boonen/Hoste)

9 votes

Someone Else's Loose Bottle Cage (Kemmelberg)

6 votes

115 votes | Poll has closed

Phinney reaching for the rainbow

Softie — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:22:35 -0000

Phinney reaching for the rainbow

As reprted in today's live thread, Taylor Phinney posted a 4:15 individual pursuit and is now in the gold medal round later today, as reported in the CA live thread. His competitor will be an Australian named Jack Bobridge, who posted a time 2 seconds slower.

As a comparison, Wiggo won gold in Beijing last summer by posting two 4:16s within a couple of hours of each other.

Good luck Taylor.

Update! Not only reaches for rainbow, but wins it!

Cavendish Career Checklist

Softie — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:37:16 -0000

The Manx Terror just won MSR. He bagged 4 TdF stages last year among a bunch of other victories. He's not unbeatable, but no one seems faster than him when he has the correct launch---his finishing speed is excellent.

So . . . what else does he need to do to cement his place in the firmament of sprinters? The remaining items of hardware (as I see them) would be a rainbow jersey, another monument, and a points jersey at the Tour. All of these could prove elusive: Great Britain tends not to have a strong squad at the Worlds, the other monuments don't play to his strengths, and grand tours have not just hills, but mountains.

I think he needs to go after the green jersey next. His new Svengali, Ete, can tell him how it's done, and since apparently just talking to Zabel makes you a better climber, I think he'll have the legs this year.

Poll

What Should Cavendish Do Next To Become A Sprinting Legend?

Win Paris-Roubaix

7 votes

Win the Ronde (Really? You expect Cav to win the Ronde?)

3 votes

Take home the green jersey rather than borrow it

51 votes

Win the Worlds RR

5 votes

Amass more career victories than Cipollini

7 votes

Meh . . . can't get excited about sprinters

12 votes

85 votes | Poll has closed

Taylor Phinney Interview

Softie — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:13:04 -0000

Taylor Phinney Interview

Shorter Taylor Phinney: Lots more support with Trek-Livestrong than with Felt, but I didn't really race with Felt. Plus, you test better when you train more.

Hope to see great things from him in the future . . .

Retractionheimer

Softie — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:42:29 -0000

I'm the guy who posted the thread early this year attaching the tag "wheelsucking" to a thread about Levi's team protesting a loss of time for him.

And Levi has now won another GT time trial, this time attacking his own teammate on the penultimate day of the most important race for Astana this year.

I formally retract any accusation of wheelsucking at Levi, and I will order an Astana jersey later today. Despite my impending jersey order, my most fervent hope is that some team buys Levi's contract out and then lets him win whichever GT Contador doesn't enter next year. Because I think he could, and now, I hope he does.

BMX Olympic Coverage

Softie — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:14:55 -0000

So NBC aired, or re-aired, the BMX (supercross?) finals last night. For those who didn't see it, Latvia and France won gold, and crashes occured early and often.

The big question on everyone's mind, including Chris Hoy's, is whether adding BMX was worth cutting the 500m and kilo time trials from track. That was controversial because it apparently makes it much less interesting to be a female sprinter, due to a lack of events. (And no Tammy Thomas comments allowed, folks.)

What is the opinion of the cafe on BMX afterwards? Is it a sport worthy of a medal ceremony? Or is it, like chess or ballroom dancing, best performed without laurels, ribbons, and Bob Costas?

Poll

Would you rather watch the kilo/half-kilo or BMX at the Olympics?

BMX---cool!

6 votes

Kilo/Half-kilo---taking it away was unfair to the trackies

11 votes

Neither---cycling should be road and MTB only

1 votes

Don't care---events that short aren't really cycling to me

2 votes

20 votes | Poll has closed

Levi, Levi

Softie — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:43:15 -0000

Mr. Excitement plans to protest to race jury about his finish. He lost another 23 seconds today because of some snafu with a motorcycle, and Astana wants the race jury to correct the problem.

So, if Levi gets his 23 seconds---which is a lot, even in a Grand Tour---and he steps onto the podium based on that erased gap, would that represent yet another example of race jury kindness to Levi (ToC 2007) or a karmic return on the occasion when a race jury rudely extended its middle digit (TdF 2005)?

Support your local Hellingen

Softie — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:02:22 -0000

Not trying to Bogart the sidebar, but . . .

I'm going to do my annual Port Royal Avenue hillclimb this weekend in honor of De Ronde. For those unfamiliar with it, Port Royal Avenue is a cobbled berg in Philly just off the Schuykill River bike path.

It starts here:

View Larger Map

It is steep and rough, but not very long, very much in the spirit of Flanders--according to Google Maps, it climbs a bit over 300' in 1 mile, for an average of 5.6%, but is quite steep at the bottom (cobbled) end, about 12.6%. It is also in such poor condition that I no longer descend it, though I descend like ~:>, Sastre, or a little girl.

So who else is riding their Hellingen this weekend?

Poll

Cobbled climbs stink because

There might be a cobbled descent on the other side

3 votes

Only the expensive parts ever fall off the bike on them

2 votes

Each cobble feels like its own hill

2 votes

Only the steep parts have cobbles

0 votes

Flats

0 votes

7 votes | Poll has closed

Thor makes the Times

Softie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:03:17 -0000

"Anne Putz, Reebok's head of corporate public relations, said in a statement that the company does not prohibit its athletes from expressing personal opinions. Reebok sponsors the Norwegian cyclist Thor Hushovd, who announced last week that he may boycott the Olympic opening ceremony to protest the Chinese crackdown on Tibetans. 'We support our athletes 100 percent on the field, providing them with the best products to help them achieve their goals,' Ms. Putz said. 'Off the field, we never influence our athletes about their personal views.'"

---Today's NYT, article starting on A1.

Whether or not 'Anne Putz' is a real person or an April Fools' joke, it's nice to see lutfisk-eater and former green jersey Hushovd in the paper of record.

Poll

Should Thor boycott the opening ceremony?

No; No Tibetan or Darfurian has ever won the RVV

0 votes

Immaterial; I've seen the Beijing road route, and Thor should stay home

4 votes

Yes; Tibet and Darfur matter

15 votes

19 votes | Poll has closed

Commander in Chief training with power meter

Softie — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:42:20 -0000

http://www.slate.com/id/2180254/

Apparently the POTUS attached a power meter to his mountain bike. I, a non-racing randonneur who gauges his fitness with an occasional climb of Lyceum Ave in Philly, suddenly want one.