Chris Boardman talk about obsessive marginal gains on MTB's.

[t-stoff]

Well here in PT that was the exact problem, the guy was several times road portuguese champion from 76 to 90's... Course I remember seeing him on some XC races running on the veterans class, still he showed no "deep" knowledge about riders and sport to make it good watching. It felt lame when he talked about things like "this is the fat tire version of the road bike, it has suspension forks".
It would have been a better job if they got someone from MTB world rather then a former road champ, its not that hard I think.

 

[mass199]

Boardman knows what he is on about and he is prepared to try new things to get a marginal advantage

 

[02gf74]

Re: Chris Boardman talk about obsessive marginal gains on MT

Being asked about track cycling result's being due to marginal gains:

"I think personally mountain biking is where marginal gains started. They are obsessed with their equipment, suspension, large wheels, particularly weight. Power to weight is everything in mountain biking. Frames that we've seen here arriving without paint to save literally 60 or 70 grams."

Being asked about the previous day when he said red paint was the heaviest :

"I do suffer from terminal sarcasm I'm afraid. No, red paint is not heavier, though yellow is lighter."

That's us lot he's talking about back in the early 90's when we were getting bikes as light as we could!

blue paintis the lightest whereas green is the heaviest due the different metallic compounds making the dyes. These occur in nature, just look outside and you see that grass is not up there in the sky and vice versa.

shaving paint in itself, 60 g or so isn't going to make a huge amount but when you reach that stage, you will have already fitted the lightest components you can find whicih can result in a couple of Kg.

I went out yesterday on my weenied cannondale and that flies compared to my daily ride, 8.5 kg vs 12.33 kg so it does make a difference.

No doubt the naysayer will disagree and sooner or later someone will pip up to say that taking a dump before a ride is the best and cheapest way to save weight, well maybe, but sorry, I cannot shit on demand. :twisted:

 

[gerryattrick]

It was on national TV so they naturally want a famous name who's also knowledgeable as main commentator - Boardman ticks all the boxes. I doubt whether many of the audience could name any MTB champions.

FWIW I think he did a good job on the MTB and other cycling coverage.

I would have liked more info on the lost saddle as I wondered what it was when I saw the incident, but obviously none of the production team noticed it to point it out to the commentary team

 

[rc200ti]

I have no problem with, and much respect for, Boardman, and I think the commentary on the cycling in the Olympics, and on the Tour has been fantastic. I was picking up on the issue of strength v weight which was raised during the commentary. The early nineties, 93/94, saw weightsaving taken to a level where components started to fail.
I would have liked comment on the seatpost as it clearly ruined the chances of a 3 way fight, and to suggest that the Italian couldn't sustain the pace from a physical point of view seems unfair.

 

[NeilM]

I saw something fall off the Italians bike; I thought it was just before one of the last rocky descents, but did not spot that it was the saddle, as I was concentrating on the two leaders.

Regarding Chris Boardman; I think he's a sound guy, and as he is intimately involved in the R&D of all his bikes, I fancy he probaly knows a couple of things about MTB's, as well as road and TT bikes.

 

[Russell]

I would offer that as head of R&D for British Cycling, Boardman probably knows a fair bit more than he's being given credit for here.

 

[mass199]

I would offer that as head of R&D for British Cycling, Boardman probably knows a fair bit more than he's being given credit for here.

Your right....but he wouldn't admit to it.

 

[Drewson]

Road cyclists would be the first to admit that weight is everything, especially on the climbs....this is why they don't carry fluids but pick them up along the route in order to keep the weight down....

Watch the doumentary on Wiggins and the Sky team talk about how important the weight issue is....

 

[Barneyballbags]

On another note - did anyone notice which tyres the GB Women's rider was running. They looked as if they had white sidewalls.

Me likey!

The tyres weren't bad either