Welcome to the Sun, 04/26/2009 edition of Off Topic! You are looking at the next step in the evolution of VCN, the Off-Topic page. Have you ever been frustrated because you had a burning desire to call someone a sandbagger and could only hope to be timely by posting your comment to a photo gallery page or on a page describing a charity ride?
Well, your prayers have been answered! You can post your comment from the home page and it magically comes to rest here with the other orphans from the land of Misfit Comments. The page gets refreshed every day, but not to worry! Each day’s page will be archived and treasured, so you can look back on past pages with pride, shame or disgust-depending on how the day’s conversation went. So post away! We’ve got an internet to fill up.
Levi’s dog takes a bite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw8O8h9H2xY&feature=related
Comment of the day, April 25, 2009:
The fields in Cal are
By: Wheelsucker
Sat, 04/25/2009 – 21:02The fields in Cal are faster, for reasons specific to the region, but there’s nothing special about riders from over here that makes them superior talents to the rest of the U.S.A.
Facts: The weather here is better and people race year round. People don’t take the long offseason that training books talk about unless they are pros. Honestly, should anybody who trains / races limited amateur hours and works a job really have a need for a prolonged offseason?
There are more young riders in Cal with real speed as opposed to over-the-hill 30+ geezers like me. I don’t remember any significant presence of high school teams when I lived in NYC, but there are high school cycling leagues here.
The Cal P1 talent is higher because people who are chasing the dream and willing to forgo “real†careers are more likely to move here for the weather, terrain and higher level of competition.
Hills are always a consideration. 3 minutes from my house, there’s a 1,000 footer that I have to climb just to get to my flat training routes. This is typical for everyone in NorCal with no longer than a 20 minute ride to get to a 1,000 footer. From most places in the bay area, you can incorporate a 2,000+ footer into your training within less than an hour of ride time.
If you ride with faster people, you also get faster. Take an NYC pack fodder racer in any category, move them to Cal and they will struggle at first, but in time they will become faster, though still pack fodder. Take someone who wins in NYC, send them to Cal, they will struggle, adapt, then begin winning again.
I think the reverse is also true. Take someone from Cal, put them in NYC and they will initially be stronger than their NYC counterpart (pack fodder or winner) but they will eventually slow down to the NYC level.
If you take someone from Cal or Boulder and put them in NYC, their fitness advantage won’t allow them to ride the field off of their back wheel. Anyone who knows anything about bike racing understands the dramatic power differential necessary to do this. I do think their fitness will allow them to consistently place higher than their east coast counterpart until they slow down to the local level.
It took my entire summer as a cat 4 when I first moved to NorCal from NYC to become a consistent threat for the top 10. When I upgraded to cat 3, I followed the stupid off-season advice of taking time off. I DNF’d several races and was stomped in the early season by guys who had raced cross and did early bird races in January. Eventually I adapted and got faster, as would you.
pouncy
move to Belgium, there are hills, cobbles, wind, competition. everything you need, plus no categories!
Liggett
Parkin
say so