tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12029978.post3407652878032852259..comments2023-12-14T06:35:13.883-08:00Comments on Curtis Corlew in Bicycle Land: Fight! Fight!Curtis Corlewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06415639856823138391noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12029978.post-30658869873642959492012-03-10T17:18:56.941-08:002012-03-10T17:18:56.941-08:00Juan Jose Cobo won the 2011 Vuelta a Espana using ...Juan Jose Cobo won the 2011 Vuelta a Espana using a 50/34 crank and an 11-32 cassette during 3 back to back brutal day of climbing. Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome on Skye had harder gears and wilted on the decisive day of double digit grades.<br /><br />Proving once and for all the real men use low gears.<br /><br />Winning a Grand Tour is kind of a knock out blow.<br />Spin to Win!!!<br /><br />From Velonews.com <br />Tech Blunder of the Year: Sky’s gear choice on the Angliru<br /><br />On a climb famed for breaking legs with extremely steep, sustained pitches, Team Sky got it wrong when it came to gearing for the climb up the Angliru at the 2011 Vuelta a España.<br /><br />Part of this was due to a lack of preparation, and part of it was due to equipment choices by two of its top riders, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. The team’s use of Osymetric chainrings made it impossible to achieve gearing similar to stage (and eventual overall) winner Juanjo Cobo.<br /><br />Cobo rode a 34×32 (28.3 gear inches) setup, and while both Froome and Wiggins also rode a 32-tooth cog, they matched it with a 38-tooth chainring. The resulting 31.6 gear inches wasn’t quite low enough for the British pair.<br /><br />Because of the exaggerated shape of the Osymetric rings, the smallest size that will fit on a 110mm (compact) crank is 38. At top dead center, Osymetric claims its 38 feels like a 35, but between 1 and 5 o’clock it feels more like a 41-tooth ring.<br /><br />Froome said after the fact that “we could have used smaller gears yesterday. Even with different gearing, it’s never going to be easy when it’s 23 percent. We hadn’t seen the climb before, but all the guys were talking about it.”<br /><br />As it was, both Sky riders struggled the most on the steepest pitches of the Angrilu. On a day where seconds mattered in the overall, this small difference influenced the order of the final podium. Cobo finished the race 13 seconds ahead of Froome, which included the 20-second time bonus Cobo took atop the Angrilu.Lanceoldstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12366845159124740091noreply@blogger.com