At the end of the Sector 16 video, you saw that I did a double-take when the National Champ of Belarus rolled by me. The little dude and a couple other FDJ guys sucked my wheel all the way across those cobbles but I was suffering so bad, I never heard them or even thought to look back and see if anyone was there. I recovered on the on the asphalt roads, absolutely giddy, trying to soak in as much of this experience as I could, and telling myself...."What every you do, do not crash and take any of these guys out". I have no doubt those guys liked the hole in the wind I make.... but I am also sure that they had not idea of my ability to wad it up on short notice. Being on my wheel in rough terrain is not necessarily the safest place to be. It appears that somehow they all knew this as the rest of the FDJ team
So, the next section (Sector 15) we hit at 18 mph. George Hincapie was on the front as none of the FDJ guys wanted to go around him. I settled in on the wheel of good ol' Yauheni and prepared to do another high output interval. Little did I know that I was about to discover that my Maximum Heart Rate seems to have dropped 3 beats per minute over the last 7 years.
Let go to the film, shall we?
I probably could have caught back on before the next section of cobbles... but it would have only resulted in another video of me getting shelled again. Still, this one of the funnest and yet painful experiences I have had. A whole lot like racing CX.
Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Riding Cobbles
We rode 50 miles of the Paris-Roubaix course with Rich Hincapie and his SoCar posse. We had learned earlier in the week the these guys wait for no one. Yet, there we were at the end of of riding the first section of cobbles..... waiting. I asked Rich H. why we were not rolling and he came back with "We are waiting on my little brother". I replied... "Oh, that guy, I guess we can wait on him". Soon enough George rolled up and we were off. George in the lead, Rich on his wheel, the SoCar posse and then us CO guys on the end. We were rolling at a pretty good clip through some the French countryside and small villages when I heard some gents behind me speaking French. During the Cyclosportive, I got used to locals latching on to my wheel and did not even bother to look back this time to see who was sucking up the draft on my big carcass. We hit the cobbles and well... I will let the video tell the rest.
We came off that section and I simply cannot believe I just rode a section of Paris-Roubaix cobbles with the pros. I had to go pretty deep into the red and run my heart rate up to about 90% of max, but shit man, I just stayed with the pros!!!!! Little did I know that George was just getting warmed up.
Tune in tomorrow to see what happens on the next section.
We came off that section and I simply cannot believe I just rode a section of Paris-Roubaix cobbles with the pros. I had to go pretty deep into the red and run my heart rate up to about 90% of max, but shit man, I just stayed with the pros!!!!! Little did I know that George was just getting warmed up.
Tune in tomorrow to see what happens on the next section.
More RRV Video
Here is some more video I shot on the Tour of Flanders.
This first one is a rolling on a flat section of cobbles. The way I was rolling compared to the local Belgians made me feel like I was a man of the cobbles and had a chance on the stones of Paris-Roubiax. In a few days I would learn that these cobbles are like a freshly paved parking lot compared to anything in PR.
This first one is a rolling on a flat section of cobbles. The way I was rolling compared to the local Belgians made me feel like I was a man of the cobbles and had a chance on the stones of Paris-Roubiax. In a few days I would learn that these cobbles are like a freshly paved parking lot compared to anything in PR.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Longest 5 Minutes of My Life
This was the first real video I shot with my GoPro HD Camera. It is my attempt at climbing the Koppenberg.
All the cycling geeks who read this blog know exactly what it is. For those who have a life outside cycling, the Koppenberg is a very famous climb in the Flanders region of Belgium. It is a major feature each year during the one-day classic race known as the Tour of Flanders. It is relatively short (600 meters) as are all climbs in the this race. However it is very steep (22% at the max) and made of cobble stones. Very rough cobble stones as you will see. When the stones get wet, they get very slick. It was raining the day I rode this with 15,000 others. The bottom had dried a bit but the steepest part is in the trees and that was wet.
The rough cobbles cause for considerable background noise. Probably a good thing because I was up against my max heart rate and gasping for air for the whole second half of the climb.....you probably don't want to hear all that. About 1/3 the way up, you hear me call out a number if you listen close... I thought for a split second that it would be cool to call out the grade as I went up. That thought went away as soon as my ability to get enough oxygen did.
As you can tell, I was pretty damn stoked when I actually pulled this off. We came back and rode it again a couple days later when it was dry. It is much, much easier to ride when it is dry.
All the cycling geeks who read this blog know exactly what it is. For those who have a life outside cycling, the Koppenberg is a very famous climb in the Flanders region of Belgium. It is a major feature each year during the one-day classic race known as the Tour of Flanders. It is relatively short (600 meters) as are all climbs in the this race. However it is very steep (22% at the max) and made of cobble stones. Very rough cobble stones as you will see. When the stones get wet, they get very slick. It was raining the day I rode this with 15,000 others. The bottom had dried a bit but the steepest part is in the trees and that was wet.
The rough cobbles cause for considerable background noise. Probably a good thing because I was up against my max heart rate and gasping for air for the whole second half of the climb.....you probably don't want to hear all that. About 1/3 the way up, you hear me call out a number if you listen close... I thought for a split second that it would be cool to call out the grade as I went up. That thought went away as soon as my ability to get enough oxygen did.
As you can tell, I was pretty damn stoked when I actually pulled this off. We came back and rode it again a couple days later when it was dry. It is much, much easier to ride when it is dry.
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