Viktor Zyemtsev won ITU Long Course Championship in 5:41:40
Felipe Ospaly won ITU World Cup Hamburg in a photo finish
Aaron Thigpen won USA T&F Masters Championship in Honolulu in 100m dash in new record time of 10.73 for 40 year olds
and, Ivan Basso wins Tour of Denmark.
Frank…very cool.
OK, how often in his prep does Basso go with “exclusive use”. Clearly, he spends long stretches on FSA Carbon Cranks on his Soloist…
Frank…very cool.
OK, how often in his prep does Basso go with “exclusive use”. Clearly, he spends long stretches on FSA Carbon Cranks on his Soloist…
Basso got his this spring in his getting ready for the TDF point. And then there was a compatibility problem with their cranks (they needed 14 mm bolts). I would be surprised if he has more than a few hours on them total. Basso won that race because he was Basso. We only feel proud that someone like that would ask to train with the product. Next year we might do something to make him even better. However, the rest of the people have been on them at least one year.
Frank, thanks for your honest answer to this question. Much appreciated. Yes, he won cause he is Basso…that is for sure, but any fine tuning might be worth that extra 2-3 min over 3 weeks !
Not Basso.
Definitely not the runner, 'cause you can’t.
None of the photos of Viktor’s QR have PC’s on them.
Can’t find any photos of Ospaly on the bike…
It would appear they are 0 for 4 in race usage…
Frank…while Aaron Thigpen is truly fast at 10.71…did Linford Christie not run 9.85 at a 37 year old ?
Is Aaron using the PC’s at super high RPM for his 100 m acceleration phase. I’d be curious to know what type of sets he does. For example 10x30 seconds at 140-150 RPM with 2 min recovery ? The fastest I ever got my PC’s revved up on the rollers was 135 RPM.
Were any of those guys actually using them?
In the race, no. Your point?
Frank…while Aaron Thigpen is truly fast at 10.71…did Linford Christie not run 9.85 at a 37 year old ?
Is Aaron using the PC’s at super high RPM for his 100 m acceleration phase. I’d be curious to know what type of sets he does. For example 10x30 seconds at 140-150 RPM with 2 min recovery ? The fastest I ever got my PC’s revved up on the rollers was 135 RPM.
I am not sure how he uses them but I believe he is using them sort of like high speed intervals with some lower speed base work. I am sure he is way over 135 rpm on them for about 10 seconds. Recently had a fairly new track rider tell me he got to over 200 rpm on them briefly (he said he can get to like 270 on regular cranks). I have been as high as 170 rpm on them and can maintain 150 for a 30 seconds or so (when I am doing Wingate testing demo-ing).
Here is a link to some records and this years rankings.
http://www.mastersrankings.com/2005/MSPRINTS.HTM
Note Linford Christie holds the WR of the 35 category at 10.03!!! Not 9.87 but not bad (maybe the 9.87 was wind aided). And people here are bashing SL for racing age group.
Aaron is noted in this listing to have gone 10.68 earlier this year, 2nd fastest in the world after Willie Gault in the 40 age group.
Willie Gault, from Tennesee is still running track after all those years of getting bashed up in the NFL ? That is so cool. I wonder if he raced Vineman if dudes would complain if he raced age group…
Willie Gault, from Tennesee is still running track after all those years of getting bashed up in the NFL ? That is so cool. I wonder if he raced Vineman if dudes would complain if he raced age group…
Probably, but only if he took a Kona slot from one of them who is more deserving. If he didn’t it would be proof as to how superior triathletes are to those in other sports.
I’m sure Frank will disagree, but I think racing on PCs is a BAD idea. They are a training tool, and assuming they provide the claimed benefit, could have a real impact on race results even if they are not used for the race itself. Anyway they are way too delicate for race conditions IMO. Unless Frank haq found a way to make the clutches uber-strong.
I’m sure Frank will disagree, but I think racing on PCs is a BAD idea. They are a training tool, and assuming they provide the claimed benefit, could have a real impact on race results even if they are not used for the race itself. Anyway they are way too delicate for race conditions IMO. Unless Frank haq found a way to make the clutches uber-strong.
When I first developed these I never anticipated anyone would ever want to race on them. However, I came to believe that the best way to train with them is as if one intended to race with them. (If you can’t race on the PC’s then you can’t pedal on the PC fashion during the race on regular cranks either.) Of those who have trained on them in a manner that they could race on them some have actually chosen to race on them because they have found that when they go back to regular cranks they slow down from their training speed (but not to as slow as they were before). I can only explain that as the brain being inadeuately trained and regular cranks will allow the form to easily revert to bad. Those who have raced on them usually report very good results. Maybe those with bad results don’t report in. I don’t know. I only know what I am told.
Now, a clutch could break (just as a chain, or spoke, or wheel, seat post, deraileur, or anything else can) but they tend to be pretty reliable for most. So each person can make their own decision based upon their own caapabilities.
That being said, if the person is adequately trained on PC’s I would expect the race to go equally well on either set of cranks. The well trained PC’er should not be able to tell the difference in speed or feel (except when coasting). In that case, choose regular cranks for reliabiliity. If there is a difference, then one has a decision to make as to which they feel is better for them for that race. Most choose regular cranks but not all do.
“Of those who have trained on them in a manner that they could race on them some have actually chosen to race on them because they have found that when they go back to regular cranks they slow down from their training speed (but not to as slow as they were before). I can only explain that as the brain being inadeuately trained and regular cranks will allow the form to easily revert to bad.”
Really?
That’s the ONLY reason you can think of?
Honestly?
Really?
.
I raced on 190mm x-lite PCs all spring to pretty good results. Triathlon, of course, not any road racing. I did the Palm Springs tri, Devil Dog duathlon in CA, PM N.C. and duathlon nationals with nary a problem. I have yet to see anyone else use PCs in races though.
My personal opinion is this–when you race on PCs you are using your muscles exactly as you are training them. The up-pulling muscles know exactly how much they must pull, and no more, to get the pedal over the top. When you race on normal cranks you don’t have the same kind of feedback. My experience is that you overpull and overload the quads. I run much better off the bike when racing PCs than I do on normal cranks.
Just my .02 cents.
Chad
Coach, trainer, den-mother to “Fredly’s Kids,” and completely agnostic on the topic of Power Cranks,
So I guess you have a year or two of steady use on PCs so that you can make an informed decision.
“Of those who have trained on them in a manner that they could race on them some have actually chosen to race on them because they have found that when they go back to regular cranks they slow down from their training speed (but not to as slow as they were before). I can only explain that as the brain being inadeuately trained and regular cranks will allow the form to easily revert to bad.”
Really?
That’s the ONLY reason you can think of?
Honestly?
Really?
.
No, it is not the only reason. As I indicated, I mentioned “some have chosen”, at least that is what they have told me. Two have chosen to do IM races, at least in part, because we offered an incentive to do so (we were interested in proving it could be done - there may be another at IM Wisconsin, a many time age-group winner.)
We have reports of many people racing on them from triathlons to criteriums. Most have not reported to me their reasons.
I raced on 190mm x-lite PCs all spring to pretty good results. Triathlon, of course, not any road racing. I did the Palm Springs tri, Devil Dog duathlon in CA, PM N.C. and duathlon nationals with nary a problem. I have yet to see anyone else use PCs in races though.
My personal opinion is this–when you race on PCs you are using your muscles exactly as you are training them. The up-pulling muscles know exactly how much they must pull, and no more, to get the pedal over the top. When you race on normal cranks you don’t have the same kind of feedback. My experience is that you overpull and overload the quads. I run much better off the bike when racing PCs than I do on normal cranks.
Just my .02 cents.
Chad
Thanks for the feedback on this Chad. You offer another reason why people might be finding themselves “going slower” on regular cranks than the PC’s, that is trying to do too much and frying things, rather than falling back into old habits and now forcing the pushing muscles to do more than they have been trained for. It is the lack of feedback from regular cranks that leads to this problem.
Also, when I ask people why they don’t race on them, even though it is clear they could from their training, they almost always report that they are afraid of using the HF’s too much and hurting the run. However, you report is consistent with all the others I have received that the run is always very strong after racing on PC’s. It is like the HF’s are just being warmed up for the run. In one instance, Luke Dragstra went to a 1/2 IM last fall with only 6 weeks on his PC’s. Was on a new bike with a different BB and couldn’t change back to regular cranks before the race so said, “what the hay, lets see how i do”. Struggled somewhat on the bike, one legging it at the end (still had a pretty good bike split anyhow), etc. By this result you would expect his HF’s to be fried, and they were for biking, but he then got off the bike and had the fastest run split of the day.
People always fear the unknown and something new. In this instance it appears the actual result is the conmplete opposite of what people think it will be.
Frank