CR'rs,
Although I hesitate to bring up this thread again, there is a nice brief article on cycling news by contriversial Dr. Ferrari detailing the power generated by modern riders vs. a few past riders. The power generated by riders is bike independent. While there could have been more examples and comparisons, the take away point is that modern riders generate more power per weight than riders in past eras.
You can attribute that to what you want, but (insert
my opinion here, did I say not opinions? must have
been someone else) I believe that modern training
methods alone have made todays riders much faster than
riders of the 70's and before, this includes both
increased fitness and the ability to be frighteningly
skinny yet healthy and powerful. The power numbers
confirm it. As do the analogies to running where the
effect is completley transparent:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/
There are some not so subtle comments in the editors introduction to Dr. Ferrari's page: "Dr. Ferrari...has never been afraid to push the boundaries of sports science." Which probably is well deserved, however the journal is well worth the read for a different take on Off Topic stage racing.
For those who hate this thread and rue me for bringing
it up, there is also an interesting article on the
history of pinarello:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/
Including nice '57 and '81 pro bikes and the dubious claim of the "first modern triple".
Later potaters,
Tarik
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Tarik Saleh
PO Box 1326, Knoxville, TN 37901
tsaleh at rocketmail dot com
Bicycles, bicycles, bicycles:
http://www.engr.utk.edu/