You beat me to it. I was cheering hard for him today. That's one big mamma jamma. It's great to see a man of stature in the Tour!

The next person here who assumes all Clydedales are overweight slobs should have to do on a long ride with this guy.

Big people rule!

Definitely my kind of man.

They reported on OLN a few days ago that big Magnus could generate 2080 watts during a short sprint. I don't know if I'm buying that.

-mike

Magnus Backstedt... Thor Husveldt... sound like a couple of guys I'd want with me if I ever invaded northern England in the 10th century.

We have the yellow for the GC, the green for the sprinters, the polka dot for the mountains, and the white for the young guy. How about a jersey for the top guy over 200 pounds? Any ideas on color/design?

Yes... clydesdales in the TdF.

ah, but notice he's racing everyone without special consideration to size. On the flats he'll crush the little guys in orange. In the hills he'll be hauling that mighty carcass over the slopes long after Euskatel has showered. One catagory. One race. No special division.

Does anyone have any data to back up the idea that cyclists fit anything other than a normal distribution with regard to height or weight?

I think you're missing the spirit of my comment ;)

Although, if "one race, one category, no special division" were true in practice, would there be points champions for the mountains and sprints, and/or an under 24 champion?

It'll be a normal distribution curve- just centered around 145 lbs [for weight] and 5'9" [for height].

2080 sounds reasonable to me. If Cipo and other super sprinters can do 1800, somebody of Backstedts size has to be well above that just to be in the same area code.

In fact, for him to sprint with the super sprinters he'd need even more than 2080.

Well, perhaps all the riders should carry weights to make them almost equal to the big boys. Say, 1 lb for every 3 pounds differential between them and the biggest man in the peloton. So, Oscar Sevilla would weigh about 150 lbs. and still look like a 4th grader!

Sounds good on the mountain stages. :)

Oh, Dan, would you be so kind as to take this issue up with USAT? I'd like to see some of these waifs carrying my 185 lbs of lard, er solidly packed muscle, up some of the hills. :)

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

  
"We have the yellow for the GC, the green for the sprinters, the polka dot for the mountains, and the white for the young guy. How about a jersey for the top guy over 200 pounds? Any ideas on color/design?" How about something chocolate or pasta sauce colored with red and white checkered tablecloth-type panels?[/reply]

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Have you hugged Your Mom today?

Even better jersey for the clydesdale leader jersey....a Team Jelly Belly jersey, the one with all the jelly beans all over it.

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Have you hugged Your Mom today?

> On the flats he'll crush the little guys in orange. In the hills
> he'll be hauling that mighty carcass over the slopes long after
> Euskatel has showered.

Sorry, but as a big (tall) guy, let me tell you something. On the
flats riding solo, you may have a chance of claiming superiority
(though I would say it is more equality); but in a pack, no way! When
a big guy rides behind a little guy, the draft he receives is small.
Especially when facing a headwind (as yesterday's stage was), he had
a disadvantage over the others. I believe his legs will be too fried
to do anything else this tour. So I agree with the latter statement
quoted above, but not the former.

To those who believe the rider size distribution is normal: I'd like
to see some facts. You'd have a hard time convincing me the average
American is 5'9" (maybe in Europe), and yet, what is the average size
of the USPS team? Being a big guy, I have taken notice of these
things, but in an unscientific way, so my perceptions may be wrong.

But I stand by the perceptions I've acquired in the paceline. On the
flats in a paceline, big does not equal faster.

Hi, I don't think that "normal" in this thread must be understood the standard way, I mean it isn't a reference to the norm or to the mean size of the US cyclist, or citizen, or whatever...

The correct meaning is the statistical one, implying a distribution of weights drawing a "bell curve" ... but I'm not sure the weight of the TDF cyclists is a normal variable ... could be more complicated.

HTH

I was thinking it would be red with black horseshoes all over it.

The horseshoes representing not only the lead "horse" of the field, but how "lucky" the guy is to have the big muscles that the babes go for.

Hard data, no common sense, yes. If you mean normal human population - well they are thinner for the same height distribution. If you mean normal athletic population they are thinner for the same height compared to most team sports, and shorter also. Typically bike riders skew to light.

Yeah, I assumed that would be the case... but relative to other bike racers we'd likely see a pretty close to normal distribution, making the 216lb guy little more than a statistical outlier in the overall human population, and not some kind of bizzare genetic freak.

Zinc was asking if cyclists fit a normal distribution curve (the statistical term), not if cyclists have normal (compared with the rest of the world) heights and weights. Obviously cyclists aren't normal, but I agree that it would interesting to see what the distribution is and whereabouts from the distribution some of the winners come from.

There was a post last week about the results of the pre-Tour physicals. I believe the average (mean I suppose, since we're getting all technical here) height was 5'10 and 3/4" and weight was 154 lbs. I'm going from memory and had to convert the units, so I might be off. Someone with more time can probably just dig up the post. I would speculate that height is in fact very close to average for US males. One trip around the mall would of course confirm that the weight is below average.

Beckstadt is a God - not least because of how much he put into that ride. See picture taken just afterwards (at http://www.cyclingnews.com/...age5/JD_tdf04_stg5_7 if it doesn't attach correctly below).

G.

I don't mean to ask a stupid question, but is this a look of emotional pain or physical pain? Maybe both?

Either way, he justified. A great 5-way duel coming to the line in that stage. Sorry the big Viking couldn't put it away.

I think Ligget ought to come up with a better nickname for him than "Maggie," though.

I took offense to Ligget and Sherwin calling Magnus, "Maggie." It runs counter to the whole notion of having a name like MAGNUS. I presume his Norse parents knew what they were doing when they named him. There are no "Maggies" in Valhalla.

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No sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter!

This is the look of someone who just realized that

a) if he had taken up football instead of cycling he'd be making a lot more money as a tight end in the NFL and he could eat all the wanted whenever he wanted and get up to his natural weight of 270; or

b) next week they hit the mountains.