alpgirl wrote:This is slightly off track, but you should read, if you haven't already, David Millar's book about drugtaking in professional cycling. I found it really informative, and put a lot of things straight in my mind.
Good grief make him prime minister cos he'd probably do just as good a job at running the country
Don't you mean 'far better job'
I think he was comparing his ability at running a cycling team to that of running a country rather than the ability of the current bunch of incompetents we have in westminster.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way.No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse. There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Celebrate our successes. It is not so long ago we were a disgrace on the track; pursuit teams that were ragged and not able to ride together etc. Then came Manchester and suddenly we had an indoor world class training facility but more importantly funding for the riders and the attention to detail that other countries had the luxury of applying to their teams. Funding to buy coaching staff, managers and psychologists.
In particular I have folowed our women's cycling over the years; back in the 80's when I started racing the women's road riders were a disparate bunch. All riding for different clubs with different goals. They rode some of the domestic time trials esp the short distance ones as well as domestic road races. Occasionally a team would be put together to go to the continent to contest an event. When they did getinto international events they did not ride as a team but for themselves. They also would go off between events to do their own training programmes with their family friends from their local clubs. Many riders live in close proximity to the velodrome now, so they are training together and under the guidance of the coaching teams, it has to lead to a far more cohesive unit.
The expansion of pro teams on the continent that our girls can get recruited to and ride for has made a big difference along with the gelling together of the teams to ride together for a common aim... all these have contributed to our successes.
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
A pretty good illustration of the benefits of technical improvements is given by the hour record.
I think it's fair to say that this record attracts fewer attempts by top riders so it may not have progressed as far as it might have done but since the UCI decided that the record could only be broken on a traditional track bike, it's only increased by a couple of hundred yards in 40 years. Using only fairly basic streamlining - tri-bars, disc wheels etc - Chris Boardman added some 5 km. (And as others will be quick to point out if I don't, faired recumbents are on a higher level altogether.)
Listening to the head coach on BBC TV today I'd say it's down to meticulous preparation and attention to detail. He was even talking about how they wash their hands to reduce infection!
Well done them!
"I thought of that while riding my bike." -Albert Einstein, on the Theory of Relativity
the reason that they win is because of that new bloke that they have on the team that seems to be revolutionising their performance. haven't seen him interviewed yet but they all talk about him - Martin L. Gains. IGMC
Si wrote:the reason that they win is because of that new bloke that they have on the team that seems to be revolutionising their performance. haven't seen him interviewed yet but they all talk about him - Martin L. Gains. IGMC
I thought it it was woman who was doing it all over the telephone from France Marg in Le gains
whoops wrote:With all the sour grapes coming from France perhaps we had better not celebrate with Shampagne this year. It might leave a bitter taste.
Indeed, I also hear that some English 'sparkling wines' (Dont think they are allowed to call them Champagne) are rather damn good. Perhaps 'we' should support the UK wine industry and sample those.
I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. - Anne Frank
There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England. - Winston Churchill
Correct Champagne is a region in France which wrecked their wine. eventually English technology made strong enough glass..
And people decided it was a good thing...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way.No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse. There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
I think we should ask the question again in 5 years. Look back at the past - have there been any clean Tour Winners? Why did Sky employ dodgy doctors? Kimmage and others have been vindicated now Armstrong is exposed for what he is.
In 5 or 10 years I will celebrate Wiggin's Tour win.
Trev The Rev wrote:I think we should ask the question again in 5 years. Look back at the past - have there been any clean Tour Winners? Why did Sky employ dodgy doctors? Kimmage and others have been vindicated now Armstrong is exposed for what he is.
In 5 or 10 years I will celebrate Wiggin's Tour win.
Spot on Trev its a date then in 5 - 10 years time the lemonades will be on me.
Trev The Rev wrote:I think we should ask the question again in 5 years. Look back at the past - have there been any clean Tour Winners? Why did Sky employ dodgy doctors? Kimmage and others have been vindicated now Armstrong is exposed for what he is.
In 5 or 10 years I will celebrate Wiggin's Tour win.
Spot on Trev its a date then in 5 - 10 years time the lemonades will be on me.
"but we’ll continue to ensure that our team is 100% clean as defined by legal parameters contained in the WADA code, including ensuring our biological passports don’t look significantly strange,” continued Brailsford.
“Look, we’ve instituted a rule that says only one of our support staff can have dubious connections to potentially dubious characters who may or may not have supplied some sort of doping products in the past. Now we have two that I’m aware of, which is why we’re doing this investigation,” stated Brailsford.
Clean as defined by legal parameters - ensure biological passports don't look significantly strange. Now we have two support staff with dubious connections - this is all starting to sound dodgy to me.
I think that Kimmage is more concerned about Wiggin's 'lack of transparency' rather than any real concerns that the team is doping. Previously, Wiggo was more outspoken about doping and now he seems to have gone back in his shell about it. In reality Team Sky were the beneficiaries of a TDF parcour that was advantageous to them and their style, i.e. relatively flat with lots of time trial kms and also the fact that convicted dopers like Alberto Contador were not at the tour. When Contador and his special fuel returns next year with Andy Schleck then there there's is no way Wiggo will be winning again. There is a general acceptance (or was) in cycling that Wiggins and Evans were the 2 tour favourites that you could trust to be clean and I personally still think they both won the Tour clean.
I thought it it was woman who was doing it all over the telephone from France
