Tour de Celeb: Louie’s cycling safety demo

[Dogtrousers]

This was an interesting discussion of the show and has now become an argument about cables.

Good, innit?

What's more, it's a pedantic argument about cables. I don't think anyone thinks that steel cables actually literally get stretched by the forces of a shifter and a derailleur spring. But the term is used as shorthand for a bit of slack coming into the system as things bed in.

As @steve292 says, once set up right an indexed system doesn't need to be touched at all for many thousands of km, and the chain should never come unshipped (barring accidents).

But one of the riders dropped her chain repeatedly, and this can only be due to her bike being wrongly set up. That must have been really frustrating for her. They had a lot to learn in that short period, and dealing with bikes set up cack-handedly shouldn't need to be on the list..

My gut feel is that maybe a bit of mechanical sympathy on the part of the rider might reduce the chances of the chain coming off. Possibly changing rings while cross chained, or changing rings without backing off the effort might make it more likely to lose your chain. But really, you should be able to do both those things (even if they aren't an ideal way to ride) and not lose your chain.

The other thing that surprised me about the program was how generous the cutoff on the Étape was. The only people I know who've entered things like this are hardcore speedsters, and I assumed that hill trundling and walking would leave you doomed to being swept up. Makes me think even I could do it. (Not that I'm about to try).

 

[Racing roadkill]

Good, innit?

What's more, it's a pedantic argument about cables. I don't think anyone thinks that steel cables actually literally get stretched by the forces of a shifter and a derailleur spring. But the term is used as shorthand for a bit of slack coming into the system as things bed in.

As @steve292 says, once set up right an indexed system doesn't need to be touched at all for many thousands of km, and the chain should never come unshipped (barring accidents).

But one of the riders dropped her chain repeatedly, and this can only be due to her bike being wrongly set up. That must have been really frustrating for her. They had a lot to learn in that short period, and dealing with bikes set up cack-handedly shouldn't need to be on the list..

My gut feel is that maybe a bit of mechanical sympathy on the part of the rider might reduce the chances of the chain coming off. Possibly changing rings while cross chained, or changing rings without backing off the effort might make it more likely to lose your chain. But really, you should be able to do both those things (even if they aren't an ideal way to ride) and not lose your chain.

The other thing that surprised me about the program was how generous the cutoff on the etape was. The only people I know who've entered things like this are hardcore speedsters, and I assumed that hill trundling and walking would leave you doomed to being swept up. Makes me think even I could do it. (Not that I'm about to try).

I think my mum could probably do it, she's 73 and she's got a gammy hip as well.

 

[nickyboy]

Good, innit?

What's more, it's a pedantic argument about cables. I don't think anyone thinks that steel cables actually literally get stretched by the forces of a shifter and a derailleur spring. But the term is used as shorthand for a bit of slack coming into the system as things bed in.

As @steve292 says, once set up right an indexed system doesn't need to be touched at all for many thousands of km, and the chain should never come unshipped (barring accidents).

But one of the riders dropped her chain repeatedly, and this can only be due to her bike being wrongly set up. That must have been really frustrating for her. They had a lot to learn in that short period, and dealing with bikes set up cack-handedly shouldn't need to be on the list..

My gut feel is that maybe a bit of mechanical sympathy on the part of the rider might reduce the chances of the chain coming off. Possibly changing rings while cross chained, or changing rings without backing off the effort might make it more likely to lose your chain. But really, you should be able to do both those things (even if they aren't an ideal way to ride) and not lose your chain.

The other thing that surprised me about the program was how generous the cutoff on the Étape was. The only people I know who've entered things like this are hardcore speedsters, and I assumed that hill trundling and walking would leave you doomed to being swept up. Makes me think even I could do it. (Not that I'm about to try).

Yeah I saw Louie on some practice ride in Episode 4; small ring at the front, smallest cog at the back...ouch. But if nobody teaches you otherwise then why wouldn't you? Maybe Jodie Kidd was doing similar

I too was surprised by the cutoff. The route was shortened from (I think) 145km to 122km so maybe that had something to do with it? Presumably the cutoff is related to the road closures which would have been agreed well in advance of the shortening of the route. No point reducing the cutoff, just to sweep up those back markers. I suspect making the cutoff in a "normal" Etape would be rather more challenging.

As it was...I couldn't see any info on DNFs. I heard that 15,000 entered and the official results show 11,000+ finishing. So if the 15k is correct then there were a lot of DNS (seems a bit unlikely as it isn't cheap and is a major event) and DNFs

 

[Deleted member 26715]

snip snip snip

I really do think you are taking this WAY too seriously, it was a bit of light entertainment, bit of reality TV with a slightly different slant, you're getting far too upset about such trivial things.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I too was surprised by the cutoff. The route was shortened from (I think) 145km to 122km so maybe that had something to do with it? Presumably the cutoff is related to the road closures which would have been agreed well in advance of the shortening of the route. No point reducing the cutoff, just to sweep up those back markers. I suspect making the cutoff in a "normal" Etape would be rather more challenging.

Yes, I doubt that they would have reduced the cutoff time just because the route got shortened. It would make sense to ensure that the maximum number of happy punters finish, and your broom wagon staff have minimum work to do. Must be a bit of a nightmare planning these things. I don't imagine the cutoff is there in order to make the event challenging, more to ensure that they can re-open the roads on time.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I don't imagine the cutoff is there in order to make the event challenging, more to ensure that they can re-open the roads on time.

That to me seems the most logical reason, then it can be publised to everybody the road will be closed between a & b from
x till y, not x till some time in the future.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I really do think you are taking this WAY too seriously, it was a bit of light entertainment, bit of reality TV with a slightly different slant, you're getting far too upset about such trivial things.

No, it was life and death important stuff. It was a SPORTIVE. There's nothing more important than a programme following a load of Z listers, in a SPORTIVE. I thought everyone knew that.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

No, it was life and death important stuff. It was a SPORTIVE. There's nothing more important than a programme following a load of Z listers, in a SPORTIVE. I thought everyone knew that.

Not quite got this sarcasm stuff right yet have you?

 

[mjr]

But one of the riders dropped her chain repeatedly, and this can only be due to her bike being wrongly set up. That must have been really frustrating for her. They had a lot to learn in that short period, and dealing with bikes set up cack-handedly shouldn't need to be on the list..

When chatting about this last night, someone asked if the bike could have been damaged in transit to the event. Anyone know how easy it is to knock a front mech on a modern bike?

My gut feel is that maybe a bit of mechanical sympathy on the part of the rider might reduce the chances of the chain coming off.

Surely if people felt mechanical sympathy was worthwhile, we wouldn't see almost everyone using indexed shoot and losing the ability to do stuff like overshift when useful or nurse a malfunctioning derailleur without stopping and getting a screwdriver out?

About the "should Austen have been more of a road captain than a GC hope" discussion: did anyone capture or note the times on the end result screen?

 

[Andrew_P]

I enjoyed the programme taking it at face value and for his size and the sport he did* I think Darren Gough did fantastic, in fact they all did really. Not my personal idea of a fun day out, but I understand that the aim is that finish line euphoria which they all clearly had. Jodie Kid dropping her chain was weird just a bad setup or stitch up are just for TV not sure.


*Never really played cricket nor a fast bowler but I assume it wasn't as taxing as other sports.

 

[Dogtrousers]

About the "should Austen have been more of a road captain than a GC hope" discussion: did anyone capture or note the times on the end result screen?

Continuing the theme of taking this far too seriously:

06:28:20 Amy Williams
07:24:13 Darren Gough
08:00:06 Jodie Kidd
09:16:59 Louie Spence
31:09:38 Team total

04:44:42 Austin Healey
08:12:38 Lucy Mecklenburgh
09:05:32 Angellica Bell
09:16:17 Hugo Taylor
31:19:09 Team total

Austin clearly did the right thing for the team by going ahead. If he'd stayed behind and helped, he'd have needed to squeeze over three and a half hours extra out of his teammates.

And Kudos to the coaches for doing a fine job in picking two well matched teams.

 

[blazed]

Austin clearly did the right thing for the team by going ahead. If he'd stayed behind and helped, he'd have needed to squeeze over three and a half hours extra out of his teammates.

I notice nobody had a go at Amy for going all out. I guess some are just offended by strong, competitive people like Austin. I know about this myself.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Continuing the theme of taking this far too seriously:

06:28:20 Amy Williams
07:24:13 Darren Gough
08:00:06 Jodie Kidd
09:16:59 Louie Spence
31:09:38 Team total

04:44:42 Austin Healey
08:12:38 Lucy Mecklenburgh
09:05:32 Angellica Bell
09:16:17 Hugo Taylor
31:19:09 Team total

Austin clearly did the right thing for the team by going ahead. If he'd stayed behind and helped, he'd have needed to squeeze over three and a half hours extra out of his teammates.

And Kudos to the coaches for doing a fine job in picking two well matched teams.

Austin clearly didn't do the right thing, his 'team' lost. The way these things are supposed to work is that the strongest rider stays with the group, keeps a close eye on what's going on, and keeps the time gaps in the team down, by getting any riders who are struggling, and being dropped, back onto the group by letting the dropee draught back ( to the group ). It's also far easier to keep people together, if you keep the group bunched, as the weaker team members don't lose concentration / morale, and end up completely fed up and their concentration doesn't drift, so they tend to hold a better / more consistent pace.
/serious.

 

[blazed]

Austin clearly didn't do the right thing, his 'team' lost. The way these things are supposed to work is that the strongest rider stays with the group, keeps a close eye on what's going on, and keeps the time gaps in the team down, by getting any riders who are struggling, and being dropped, back onto the group by letting the dropee draught back ( to the group ). It's also far easier to keep people together, if you keep the group bunched, as the weaker team members don't lose concentration / morale, and end up completely fed up and their concentration doesn't drift, so they tend to hold a better / more consistent pace.
/serious.

Them losing does not mean he did the wrong thing. He's only one man. If Hugo had learnt to change a puncture they would have won.

There's nothing Austin could have done to make up more overall time than he did by flying off. Which is the same reason Amy shot off. Simple.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Austin clearly didn't do the right thing, his 'team' lost. The way these things are supposed to work is that the strongest rider stays with the group, keeps a close eye on what's going on, and keeps the time gaps in the team down, by getting any riders who are struggling, and being dropped, back onto the group by letting the dropee draught back ( to the group ). It's also far easier to keep people together, if you keep the group bunched, as the weaker team members don't lose concentration / morale, and end up completely fed up and their concentration doesn't drift, so they tend to hold a better / more consistent pace.
/serious.

Continuing to be far too serious ...

That would only work if either: the team are not of such hugely different levels of ability or the overall time doesn't matter and the aim is to have a good time for all.

By going ahead he put about 3.5 hours into the opponents. That was the best way he could contribute to the team. Any improvements he might have been able to make to the cumulative time of the others would be tiny in comparison. Maybe he could have coached Lucy to have finished a bit quicker. Maybe he could have sorted Hugo's puncture. But Angelica had committed to her own (highly effective) survival strategy and would be unlikely to have improved on that. They would all have ended up going marginally faster than Angelica.

On a real group ride, in the real world, I'd agree with you. But in this silly setup, he could best contribute by going flat out.