GB Track Team

[red_death]

Boardman doped as did Yates, Millar and the late Tom Simpson. The UCI grants free passes to certain countries. Hilariously, the Americans were convinced that there was a conspiracy against Armstrong because of rumours. They blamed the French for their "jealousy" but in the end it was his own people who dumped him. Bizarrely, the British continue to hold Tom "put me back on my bike" Simpson as a sports icon. Even if a mole emerged, the British would continue to believe their own publicity as the tragic and pathetic Simpson case demonstrates.

No one in the UK hides from the fact that Simpson doped - you can be iconic for the wrong reasons, though I would argue in Simpson's case it is more tragic than iconic.

The irony of accusing Boardman is precisely that he needed to take PEDs for his osteo but didn't. Either that or he was doping from a very young age (check out his UK TT or hill climb records when he was a kid).

Noone here is denying that. But the manner in which they won the pursuit is pretty unbelievable. Noone would have been surprised by Team GB winning the pursuit, but winning it 5 seconds ahead of Australia and beating their world record on each single ride is suspect

Ah yes Australia who didn't even match their best times and whose idea of preparation seemed to be getting p*ssed in Spain.

Beating their own world record - who would have thought it? If the team that sets the record is judged as suspicious for beating their own record then heaven help anyone else beating it...

Most countries abide by the rules. GB is cheating.

The shady performance of Wiggins, Froome, Porte, and Rogers on a team run by Brailsford casts suspicion on the whole GB track program. It might not be fair but it is what it is. GB cheating with illegal equipment does not help.

Blah blah blah...magic round wheels, unavailable bikes etc and the Aussies call us whingeing Poms...seems we have a lot to learn from others on the whingeing front

 

[lemoogle]

I swear every argument in defence of Team GB in this thread starts with some sarcastic comment about "magic wheels", brailsford has taught you well.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

It's all much simpler than you might think...

As is all over the UK sports pages today, young Master Kenny and young Miss Trott are powered by the oldest force of all - young love. They have been together since June apparently.

Bauge and Hammer had no chance in retrospect!

 

[King Boonen]

It's all much simpler than you might think...

As is all over the UK sports pages today, young Master Kenny and young Miss Trott are powered by the oldest force of all - young love. They have been together since June apparently.

Bauge and Hammer had no chance in retrospect!

Not in the Guardian so it can't be true!

 

[B_Ugli]

The thing that bothers me about this aggregated marginal gains is that it is very rarely elaborated on other than Brailsford claiming improvment one percent in all areas. I know they dont want to reveal trade secrets but when you think about it how could they practically organise this?

Assuming they have to make an assessment of all the areas necessary to make a 1% marginal gain how obsessive do you go? You would effectively have excel checklists for every athlete in your team going into 10's, 100's if not 1000's of rows of details. Being responsible for carrying out each of these things for each athlete would take quite a few hours involving a lot of people with clipboards checking, double checking and triple checking.

Dont get me wrong you see a few clipboards and laptops amongst the support staff but this level of detail would have any sane individual pulling there hair out spending hours each day "checking" that everything has been done. On the face of it the logistics and planning would be immense.

 

[JimmyFingers]

This thread is highlighting everything that seems to go wrong with threads in the Clinic.

This. Some sensible discussion hampered by trolls like Brodeal and worse all too aften used as a platform for xenophobic, prejudiced statements about a country and sportsman they are only dimly aware of, of have become aware of since July.

It is like Beijing never happened for the Track team

 

[terribleone]

It's all much simpler than you might think...

As is all over the UK sports pages today, young Master Kenny and young Miss Trott are powered by the oldest force of all - young love. They have been together since June apparently.

Bauge and Hammer had no chance in retrospect!

Miss Trott confirmed it this morning on Twitter.

 

[King Boonen]

The thing that bothers me about this aggregated marginal gains is that it is very rarely elaborated on other than Brailsford claiming improvment one percent in all areas. I know they dont want to reveal trade secrets but when you think about it how could they practically organise this?

Assuming they have to make an assessment of all the areas necessary to make a 1% marginal gain how obsessive do you go? You would effectively have excel checklists for every athlete in your team going into 10's, 100's if not 1000's of rows of details. Being responsible for carrying out each of these things for each athlete would take quite a few hours involving a lot of people with clipboards checking, double checking and triple checking.

Dont get me wrong you see a few clipboards and laptops amongst the support staff but this level of detail would have any sane individual pulling there hair out spending hours each day "checking" that everything has been done. On the face of it the logistics and planning would be immense.

apparently this is what is done though. I think someone posted about observing the paralympic cycling team in this thread, although it is lost in the mire, and how everything was taken care of. Riders literally don't think for themselves. They warm up when they are told to, eat and drink when they are told to etc. All they do is think about winning.

Put it this way, they keep their wheels in bags to keep them clean. No-one else does this. Does that give them a 1% improvement? If they think of things like this I can see them thinking of a fair few things to get marginal improvements out of many small changes.

 

[B_Ugli]

Assistant Temporary Executive Professional Chief Wheel Checker!

 

[Hawkwood]

Not in the Guardian so it can't be true!

Don't you mean the Gruniad?

 

[Hawkwood]

Miss Trott confirmed it this morning on Twitter.

Wow, was that another `marginal gain'? Can engaging in certain activities result in hormone boosts?

 

[King Boonen]

Assistant Temporary Executive Professional Chief Wheel Checker!

Just don't mess it up!

 

[King Boonen]

Don't you mean the Gruniad?

Manchester Guardian. Red through and through.

Also, were you being ironic?

 

[Catwhoorg]

Miss Trott confirmed it this morning on Twitter.

Just saw that. Good for them!

 

[Hawkwood]

apparently this is what is done though. I think someone posted about observing the paralympic cycling team in this thread, although it is lost in the mire, and how everything was taken care of. Riders literally don't think for themselves. They warm up when they are told to, eat and drink when they are told to etc. All they do is think about winning.

Put it this way, they keep their wheels in bags to keep them clean. No-one else does this. Does that give them a 1% improvement? If they think of things like this I can see them thinking of a fair few things to get marginal improvements out of many small changes.

+1, I read an article years ago about Brailsford and the BC approach and it was suggested it was both obsessive and ruthless. They had one guy checking out hotels to ensure the athletes knew exactly what their rooms looked like before they even checked in. This was all before Beijing.

 

[Hawkwood]

Manchester Guardian. Red through and through.

Also, were you being ironic?

Just an old rather tired joke relating to how bad the spelling used to be in the Guardian. Have to respect the paper for getting stuck into News Corp and the phone-hacking scandal.

 

[King Boonen]

+1, I read an article years ago about Brailsford and the BC approach and it was suggested it was both obsessive and ruthless. They had one guy checking out hotels to ensure the athletes knew exactly what their rooms looked like before they even checked in. This was all before Beijing.

Sky take bedding with them and memory foam mattresses to ensure a good nights sleep even if allocated hotels are rubbish so I assume GB do too.

They just seem to put so much more effort into things like this than other teams. Maybe someone can prove otherwise, and other teams just don't shout about it, but I've not seem anything.

 

[King Boonen]

Just an old rather tired joke relating to how bad the spelling used to be in the Guardian. Have to respect the paper for getting stuck into News Corp and the phone-hacking scandal.

Yeah, but you miss-spelled Grauniad...

 

[Hawkwood]

Yeah, but you miss-spelled Grauniad...

lol, could have been an editor for the paper then!

 

[Catwhoorg]

Sky take bedding with them and memory foam mattresses to ensure a good nights sleep even if allocated hotels are rubbish so I assume GB do too.

They just seem to put so much more effort into things like this than other teams. Maybe someone can prove otherwise, and other teams just don't shout about it, but I've not seem anything.

Judging from Millar's light hearting *****ing on twitter from time to time, its certainly NOT something Garmin do.

 

[Hawkwood]

Sky take bedding with them and memory foam mattresses to ensure a good nights sleep even if allocated hotels are rubbish so I assume GB do too.

They just seem to put so much more effort into things like this than other teams. Maybe someone can prove otherwise, and other teams just don't shout about it, but I've not seem anything.

During the Tour I watched something on the French daily Tour round-up show in which a film crew spent the day with Europcar. I was a bit surprised at how amateur the set-up appeared to be.

 

[AcademyCC]

Sky take bedding with them and memory foam mattresses to ensure a good nights sleep even if allocated hotels are rubbish so I assume GB do too.

They just seem to put so much more effort into things like this than other teams. Maybe someone can prove otherwise, and other teams just don't shout about it, but I've not seem anything.

According to Jamie staff - Brailsford made 13 trips to Beijing before 2008 Olympics doing prep work. You could pretty much guarantee no other team did that or anywhere near that. Again the big budget helps

 

[Benotti69]

According to Jamie staff - Brailsford made 13 trips to Beijing before 2008 Olympics doing prep work. You could pretty much guarantee no other team did that or anywhere near that. Again the big budget helps

Of course

 

[King Boonen]

Of course

What are you replying to? The number of trips? Or the fact other teams may not have made them? Please try and be constructive.

 

[AcademyCC]

Of course

A quote from Brailsford himself re visits to Beijing.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...h-reveals-secrets-to-gbs-success-8005870.html

I'll try to get a scan of his flight tickets, hotel reference and a photos of him standing in front of the great wall with a dated newspaper each time he went.