flythebike
captain
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 272
Loc: N. Virginia, USA
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Re: Racing with Calfees, again
09/30/05 05:04 PM (66.7.29.142)
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I think not crashing is a skill, not luck. You have to know who to be near, when to be where, and so forth. You have to watch whats going on, and sense the mood of the riders. It also helps not to racing with Cat 4s, much less 5s. If you want to insist it is luck, well, that is just your perception. INHO, you choose who to follow. If you choose badly, you can fall down. In this race there were only 30-35 people so that was definitely true. If you are racing with 100 people or more, it can be harder to self-select your position. But, ask Lance Armstrong if his Tour de France record of not-crashing was luck or the result of a deliberate practice of riding near the front behind people he could trust. I avoided many serious mishaps this year simply from riding at the front.
The turns there are so wide that nobody touches their brakes, even people who normally would. The question is what is going to be the decisive factor in the race? In a race with three easy turns and no climbs, wheel choice is not determined by agility. The decisive factor in this race was simply maximum terminal velocity. And a disc is faster under those circumstances. Was I at a disadvantage in the corners? Yes. Was it decisive? No.
Read Bicycling Science to get an idea how important aerodynamics are. I think the author is Walker.
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