Moment I started thinking of this was last year's Tour de Pologne. Because of the rain and poor weather conditions cyclists decided not to finish one stage. The explanation was: streets are slippery and it is too dangerous. Sure it was dangerous, but as an only person who puts his road bike on the snowdrift on our school's parking in winter, I can say it is possible. Especially, that the streets of Lublin were full of spectators who wanted to watch cyclists struggle with rain.
Here you can see the whole situation:
And now, let's see the ending of one of the most famous races: Giro di Italia in 1988 (Passo Gavia uphill). Due to the fact it was captured from VHS it's quality is poor, but still, it's worth seeing.
As we can see, it looked like a middle of winter, but the race had to continue anyway. Many of competitors developed serious injuries. Some of them could not get off the bike by themselves.
I wonder, what do you think of it? For me, the old quote: "crowd wants the blood" is still present, and the most popular query in youtube connected with bike is "crashes" :)
Who doesn't risk, doesn't win.
The next situation I want to mention is also visible for everyone who watches any pro race. Every team passing you by, is assisted with their own support car. Adding to this some safety cars, tv scooters, organizers it looks pretty funny. Years ago, when you got a flat tire during the race, you had to stop and change it by yourself. Now, team car immediately comes to you and gives you another bike. The same comes with every other failure. This is great, makes the competition fair. There is nothing more annoying than breaking your bike near the finish line, after 200km of hard riding. However, it kills some funny situations like the one from over 15 years ago, when a cyclist broke his fork (element that holds the front wheel). He found a village with a welder and finished the race :) Sure, he got penalty for external help, but the situation became legendary. Also the moments, when you could see fastest tube changing during the race, were nice :)
Do you think such team support should be forbidden?
As a bonus, two interesting facts about the current weight of bikes. Although, UCI allows only bikes that are over 7,8kg , there are some people how try to build lightest, riding bikes possible. Imagine 2 bottles of 1,5l Coca-Cola, this is a weight of the lightest fully equiped road bike I found :) For a MTB bike (suspension, stronger construcion...) it is about 5kg. I have no idea why such light bikes are not allowed to race. For me, it stops the technology development.
Why is weight so important? Here are some interesting calculations:
For -5 kg on 5km road:
road inclination [%] | distance gain [m] | time gain [sec] |
0 (v=40.32 km/h) | 16.1 | 1.44 |
5 | 235.7 | 44.1 |
25 | 311.3 | 248.4 |
For -0.1 kg on 5km road:
road inclination [%] | distance gain [m] | time gain [sec] |
0 (v=40.32 km/h) | 0.06 (6 cm) | 0.01 |
24 | 6.23 | 5 |
Notice, that before steep uphills cyclists put off their helmets, glasses, drinks. Every gram counts :)
I don't think that the fact that bikes are equipped in some magical devices to measure power, GPS influences their time. They are mainly used to increase the bike weight or to help with training.
I hope you answer my questions in comments section. On Friday I will write something about illegal ways of improving performance, because remember, PERFORMANCE: it's the name of a game:
To make cycling a real sport some changes must be made. First of all every competitor should get the same bike with one bladder and bicycle pump. Everything should be checked by committee. And that is all. Holding to such rules would leave bikers on their own. In my opinion if it is problem of someone to change wheel on his own or get a little wet he should stay at home and watch tv. Sport should be sport, not a cheap show with faint and comfort-loving fops as main characters.
ReplyDeleteRegarding to bad weather conditions during races- I can't understand why the competitors quit from race...maybe situation was really dangerous? If it wasn't, then I just don't know why they call themselves a professional cyclists :P I know people riding a bike all the year round, and I don't remember any of them complaining about weather even in winter.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of any serious injuries that might have happened in the history of bike racing. Maybe this is the reason why some races are just called off. Bad weather conditions are in fact dangerous so maybe there were some lethal accidents. I just don't know, I'm thinking of any reason for this situation. As for the whole crew and equipment provided, I think that money, sponsors and media should be taken into consideration here. Each year everything is more about money and less about real values, spirit, competition and goal (not only in cycling of course). Am I right? Hope not ;>
ReplyDeleteThe only lethal accidents during pro tours, I remember, included spectators. They were usually hit by escort/security cars.
ReplyDeleteIn the 60s/70s some cyclists died of taking too much drugs, but health controls developed a lot since then.
In my opinion sports like downhill, mtb and such are more "injury-friendly" than cycling.
ReplyDeleteSpectacular as downhill is, I think you can't really compare it to cycling. Guys from downhill have protectors and pads all over their bodies, so even a dangerously looking spill might not be as harmful as a fall during a 70 km/h run without any protectors... Correct if I'm wrong though :)
ReplyDeleteHa, I found the most lightweight bike:
ReplyDeletehttp://velonews.competitor.com/2008/03/bikes-tech/the-7-pound-road-bike_73034
7 Pounds (lbs.) = 3,18 Kilograms (kg)
It is almost equal weight of my laptop :)
According to accidents and technology - a few years ago there was a guy (I don't remember his name) who tried to become fastest cyclist. With help from scientist and their researches he had to be cycling just after vehicle so he could take advantage of wind tunnel... his arm got out of the tunnel at about 70 km/h (I cannot find the actual speed but that was it if I remember correctly), he fell and barely survive the accident.
ReplyDeleteFalls at high speed *can* be lethal and I don't see anything humiliating for cycler who drop off the run - it would be better to try next time. At least there would be next time.