I haven’t looked at ST for a while. I was half expecting to see a separate Lance forum alongside the Lavender Room and the Women’s fora.
But most of all I was surprised not to see a whole lot of mea culpas from those who dissed LeMond over the years. Let’s face it. LeMond was right – about everything. LeMond was the first Jens.
This should have been obvious at the time. I just dug up an old email where I estimated VO2maxs on the Alpe d’Huez . My rough estimate was that LA would have needed a 95 VO2max to get the time he did.
Jens Heycke wrote:
Interesting. If we assume:
bike+rider weight = 82 kg
distance = 13.2 km
slope =8.112%
temp= 65 deg.
barometer: 29.9inch
air density= 1.117 kg/m-3
crr = .026 (the number for Dugast Speed Silk tubulars)
cDa = 0.31 (from a glimpse at the wind tunnel numbers in the Lance chronicles I know even his TT cDA is pretty high -- .26ish)
Armstrong's 36:37 time would take power of 449.5 watts. If his power curve is like mine, his functional threshold power (FTP) would be at least 441 watts or 6.125 watts/kg.
So what's the implication? A relatively conservative VO2Max estimate is:
VO2 Max in ml/kg/min = 12*(FTP*1.25) + 3.5 where FTP is defined in w/kg
That would estimate his VO2Max at 95.375.
As for Indurain...... At a weight of 80 Kg., his 38:14 took an unbelievable 477 watts. (He could almost power my wife's hair dryer).
I don't think 1995 was a time-trial like 2004, so that's probably close to Indurain's FTP. So he had 5.99 watts/kg which equates to a VO2max of 93.35. Despite the weight difference, there's some consistency here....
For some more fun, suppose Armstrong had clinchers and switched from a butyl tube to an undersized (20c) latex tube. It would have saved him 12 seconds.
- Jens Heycke
Karlgaard, Rich wrote:
Interesting list. All of the top 45 times occurred between 1991 and 2008. http://www.fillarifoorumi.fi/…=1908053#post1908053
I second that, I always liked lemond. He is in my opinion the most naturally talented cyclist in history, and he always knew what he was talking about and held firm when constantly attacked, there’s a true champion.
Related to the post Lemond era where the likes of Indurain and Lance flourished, think about another rider. Chris Boardman could only compete where you curled himself up in the smallest ball possible, pushed the least wind with his watts…and was able to compete in short timed races like TT’s and Prologues where holding his position was possible. As soon as the road went up and watts per kilo rules, Boardman was off the back. Boardman was able to set world hour records in a standard TT aerobar (non superman) position and beat Indurain, but could never compete in the mountains. It’s not like his watts per kilo were that bad…they just were not as good as some guys who were enhanced.
Wasn’t boardman under a suspicious eye at times though? As far as I understand it, boardman also just had a no ability to recover and just got more and more beat up and exhausted as the race went on.
Relatively speaking, if he was clean, then he would have a disadvantage in terms of recovery. I just remember the old documentaries where he’s attempting to break the hour record, he and his coaches just stated it as a matter of fact, he cant recover, it was funny, they made him sound like a sickly, temperamental Brit. I’m not sure of the physiological reasons, I guess some guys just don’t possess the ability go go hard consecutive days at that level.
Well, maybe not an apology as some of us never maligned him. I’d venture to say that many of the LA supporters didn’t even bash Lemond. Rather, it’s the likes of Trek that should eat humble pie and apologize.
Way to go Lemond. Perhaps there’s some poetic justice that Lemond is now America’s only World Champ and TdF champ, not to mention he’s also the last man to take off the rainbow jersey and swap it for the yellow jersey and wore the latter all the way to Paris.
Wasn’t boardman under a suspicious eye at times though? As far as I understand it, boardman also just had a no ability to recover and just got more and more beat up and exhausted as the race went on.
no, Boardman wasn’t under suspicion. He had low-T (alas the horrible recovery in stage races). It was so low that he was at risk for osteoporosis, and his doctor recommended T treatment, but he refused as it would be considered doping
Some here were always supportive of LeMond, but it’s hard for many to admit when they are mistaken. Too many here fawning over false idols. When Armstrong wanted to incinerate LeMond in the press and his business with Trek, he did… and too many of LA’s blind followers, followed LA, like a flock to their shepherd. I started a post about LeMond and defended him 6 years ago. Plenty of LeMond hate… too bad, as he was and is the real deal- maybe not the most polished speaker, but a passionate individual and a genetic freak.
Some here were always supportive of LeMond, but it’s hard for many to admit when they are mistaken. Too many here fawning over false idols. When Armstrong wanted to incinerate LeMond in the press and his business with Trek, he did… and too many of LA’s blind followers, followed LA, like a flock to their shepherd. I started a post about LeMond and defended him 6 years ago. Plenty of LeMond hate… too bad, as he was and is the real deal- maybe not the most polished speaker, but a passionate individual and a genetic freak.
Relatively speaking, if he was clean, then he would have a disadvantage in terms of recovery. I just remember the old documentaries where he’s attempting to break the hour record, he and his coaches just stated it as a matter of fact, he cant recover, it was funny, they made him sound like a sickly, temperamental Brit. I’m not sure of the physiological reasons, I guess some guys just don’t possess the ability go go hard consecutive days at that level.
Boardman had some sort of testosterone problem. He also had osteoporosis in his twenties.
Some here were always supportive of LeMond, but it’s hard for many to admit when they are mistaken. Too many here fawning over false idols. When Armstrong wanted to incinerate LeMond in the press and his business with Trek, he did… and too many of LA’s blind followers, followed LA, like a flock to their shepherd. I started a post about LeMond and defended him 6 years ago. Plenty of LeMond hate… too bad, as he was and is the real deal- maybe not the most polished speaker, but a passionate individual and a genetic freak.
I always liked his unfiltered talk, you get a lot of PC talk from athletes and dodging questions in terms of their real thoughts. I never really thought of him as arrogant, just confident and secure in his abilities, which were substantial. He always gave you a blunt answer, and rarely hedged his performances by downplaying his abilities.
Some here were always supportive of LeMond, but it’s hard for many to admit when they are mistaken. Too many here fawning over false idols. When Armstrong wanted to incinerate LeMond in the press and his business with Trek, he did… and too many of LA’s blind followers, followed LA, like a flock to their shepherd. I started a post about LeMond and defended him 6 years ago. Plenty of LeMond hate… too bad, as he was and is the real deal- maybe not the most polished speaker, but a passionate individual and a genetic freak.
I should add, Lemond has always spoken from the heart, unfiltered, at times, almost always without a personal agenda. Here is a video montage of the exact opposite, classic Lance.
