[notfastenough]

Dunno, I suppose his brain
Dunno, I suppose his brain has adjusted to compensate for that over the years. Amazing stuff really.

[notfastenough]

the guy on the website looks
the guy on the website looks freaky…

[notfastenough]

Paul J wrote:notfastenough:

Paul J wrote:

notfastenough: Broken bones don’t incapacitate you? I literally could not move after I broke and pulled apart my collarbone. The smallest movements (including breathing) were difficult for the next *2* days. That’s a longer incapacitation than a *severe* concussion. And that was with a bone that isn’t even that important! (One option for really badly broken collar bones is to simply remove them completely).

Are you really arguing that the head is the only part of your body that matters?

I already asked you not to twist my words.

[notfastenough]

@Paulj
Please don’t twist my
@Paulj
Please don’t twist my words – I think we both know what I’m getting at. Being knocked out incapacitates you completely, whereas a broken leg, for example, doesn’t. There’s a drastic difference in how much you could then react to secondary dangers.

@felixcat
Frank Bruno’s punches were measured and found to be comparable to being hit by an elephant at 30mph. How many orders of magnitude do you want?

@everyone
I provided my thoughts, but I’ve just realised that I can’t be arsed getting into an argument where no participants, or any persuasion, are going to be swayed to an alternative view. You will note that I haven’t suggested anyone else should (or should be made to) wear one. It’s your skull.

[notfastenough]

I was there – just in front
I was there – just in front of the South Grill takeaway or whatever it’s called (not just eating though!). Clancy was a class above – it hadn’t occurred to me that some of them wouldn’t bother racing, so I’m glad to see they put their backs into it.

How [censored] fast was Jody Cundy?! Missing a lower limb, yet only Clancy could beat him over 1km.

Girls were super-competitive as well – nice little rivalry between GB and the Netherlands.

The crash in the future stars boys racing was gut-wrenching though. Great to see the majority of them get back on replete with blood stains and ripped shorts.

[notfastenough]

I spent years doing martial
I spent years doing martial arts. Much of the training involves conditioning the body in particular ways, so that (gradually-increasing) impacts can be sustained without incapacitation. Toughening up of the torso and limbs, basically, combined with the mental focus to continue to operate under such duress.

However, you can’t toughen the brain or skull, so instead learn to keep your guard up, protecting the ‘knockout zone’. The idea is that, providing you retain full mental capacity and focus, the other injuries can be either withstood (since taking punches etc during combat is inevitable), or hopefully recovered from. If not, then hopefully you at least got away with your life. You wouldn’t believe how easy it is for a person to be knocked out by a well-placed, but not particularly forceful, impact.

Cyclists don’t routinely crash, so we don’t practice dealing with it. We don’t fall off dozens of times a day, learning to adopt the correct posture, muscle tension, and rolling with the impact. When it happens, it’s all aarggh-crunch-f*ck-hitthefloor. Some form of protection that doesn’t depend on you thinking and acting rapidly is a rather good idea.

Sure, helmets aren’t perfect, but if a boxer’s headgear (just foam, after all) can absorb some of the impacts from head shots, I see no reason to doubt at least SOME effectiveness from helmets.

[notfastenough]

@Whippet – you could always
@Whippet – you could always take out a fresh credit card with good online protection and make a test purchase….

[notfastenough]

Zipp 505 rim for £216! Erm,
Zipp 505 rim for £216! Erm, yeah ok.

The silhouette of the (naked?) reclining woman at the top seems a little random as well!

[notfastenough]

This makes me doubt Mig more
This makes me doubt Mig more rather than doubt Lance less.

[notfastenough]

I was thinking that they were
I was thinking that they were buckled during the ride-it-like-you-stole-it journey away from the cafe.

A clubmate had his nicked at half seven on Sunday morning! He’d nipped in the shop for flapjack before setting off. Talk about opportunist.

[notfastenough]

Raleigh wrote:Wouldn’t the

Raleigh wrote:

Wouldn’t the aeroness of the bike make up for you acclaimed unaeroness?

The R3 is an absolutely amazing bike.

Trouble is, every ride you do until you get one you’ll be slightly disappointed that you aren’t on it NOW.

Was exactly the same with me and ma cervelo.

Aero is the way forward.

Just ask Gerard.

Nope. Just think about the frontal area of a bike. Bars, stem, head tube, wheel, forks. Not a lot, even on a non-aero bike. So improving on that is a game of diminishing returns. Then take a nicely aero rider like Wiggo (I’d kill to be able to get my back that flat!). When on the hoods or drops, his frontal area is his head, shoulders, upper arms, hands. Greater air displacement than the bike, in other words. Then add the torso for a rider like me who sits at a 45 degree(ish) angle so can’t head their main body mass behind their head/shoulders.

To be honest, I started this thread when I was a bit pissed off that I hadn’t regained my fitness yet, but it is coming. I’m not going to race, I just want to crack along at a decent pace and enjoy myself. And yes, it’s my cash and I work hard for it. I may have to arrange a test ride or three.

[notfastenough]

Well I’ll be fit again by the
Well I’ll be fit again by the spring without a doubt. As it is I’m doing a long ride on a Sunday, an interval session (via a spinning class on the now darker evenings) on a Tuesday, and a 1 hour tempo ride on a Thursday, plus stretching and core conditioning. A turbo is tempting, but could only see myself fitting in maybe 1 extra ride a week, so not sure I can see the point really.

If I was to go for the bike, it would probably be the R3. Despite years of martial arts, I’ve never been flexible enough to get down over the bars for long periods, so an aero bike for a non-aero person would be daft.

[notfastenough]

I’m not suggesting it’s going
😀 I’m not suggesting it’s going to make me quicker, I was just wondering whether I’d be a spanner for doing it now!

Maybe I’ll set myself a goal – hit it and get rewarded!

[notfastenough]

Well since no owners are
Well since no owners are chipping in, my 2p’s worth is that 1. it’s going to be as stiff as p0rn star, and 2. there’s no point in an aero bike if you’re not aero yourself. So, how flexible are you?

“The other thing the S5 begs is rider commitment in terms of flexibility and suppleness – you just have to get down over the bars on this bike and spend good ride time on the drops. Effectively you have to meet the bike’s commitment to aero design half way.”

http://www.redkitecycles.co.uk/2012/05/cervelo-r3-s5-review-from-red-kite-cycles/

[notfastenough]

Can’t remember the S2 price.
Can’t remember the S2 price. Otherwise, I think it went:

R3: £2.5k
R5: £3.1k
S5: £3.5 or 4.k-ish

R both with SRAM Force and Ksyrium Equipes, S with (I think) Red and deep-section Mavics.

@zzgavin – you may have a point with the turbo etc. I know what you mean regarding muscle memory, I can still do my martial arts from some time ago, just because of the sheer time/effort put in over a few years. Maybe a pair of equipes (which is what’s on the R3 anyway), together with a turbo, a garmin and couple of sufferfest videos would be a better bet.

[Author]

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