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Showing posts from February, 2013

Film Revue: Hugo Koblet - Pédaleur de Charme

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Get out the Swiss chocolate milk old school cycling cafesupporters , and carve out a couple of winter evening hours for a nostalgic escape pro cycling's modern malaise - a trip go back to cycling's great old days. Here's a  vimeo link  to the full length version of that Swiss semi-documentary semi-dramatic film production about the life of Hugo Koblet I blogged about last year . Even if your German (or Schweizerdeutch) is non existent, it pretty easy to follow if you know the story of the 'pedaleur of charm'. While these types of historic re-enactments are often over-dramatized (RAI's 1990's Il Grande Fausto , which was panned by most in cycling being the reference point) - I thought this one was pretty true to the story. The attention to historical accuracy is top notch, going beyond period accurate jerseys and bikes extending to details like the lucky horseshoe on his Jeep during that '51 tour time trial.   The film cuts historical race foo

It was winter.

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Been a few weeks cafesupporters.   Been head down, flat out, earning a living.  Yesterday I realized I've worked morning-night for 3 straight weeks.   Barely a thought for cycling.  I know, sacrilege!  Only squeezing 4-6 hours training in.   A pain cave session is not really suffering. Last night, it was time to pay the piper.  The annual reality slap:  Group computrainer threshold test with my BikeWorks club at Todd Kenyon's Pain Cave in Warren.  Hard as you can go for 20 min, with your numbers up there in real time for all to see... so no slacking off! Pegged the HR at 170 over 20 min.  Maxed at 176, and that's as high as it goes. 90 rpm steady.  Exactly the same HR, and same flat out effort as last year…the last 5 minutes were torture. Faded a bit.  OK, maybe more than a bit.  I always start too hard... The numbers don't lie.  All of mine were bad.  From same time last year, body weight up 9 lbs., power down 16 watts, and w/kg down 16%.   The differe