The Climb (Froome's first autobiography)

[kingjr]

Is that you Jason?

I have no idea who that is, but I'm not some previously banned returned user of this forum if that's what you think.

 

[peloton]

Froome accusing Contador of cheating the bike weight limits and using a "special lube" !

Risking life AND limb??

 

[Benotti69]

Seems Walsh is the real one 'reducing fiction'........

 

[the sceptic]

Risking life AND limb??

Contador is just a poor amigo that doesnt know what he is doing. Attacking downhill? Madness.

He needs to slow down on the coffee intake and learn some proper tactics.

 

[manafana]

it is interesting on bike weight limits something simple could easily get your bike over limit, maybe bikes going on cars could be weighed.

 

[peloton]

Seems Walsh is the real one 'reducing fiction'........

Truly embarrassing.

 

[peloton]

Contador is just a poor amigo that doesnt know what he is doing. Attacking downhill? Madness.

He needs to slow down on the coffee intake and learn some proper tactics.

That.
And spin faster than the most famous doper.
While seated.
On a climb.

 

[red_flanders]

So you see my problem, then. I quite like Valverde, oddly, much as his past disgusts me - no rhyme or reason to it, just warm to his racing - but I simply can't support him. Sorry. So if i have to look elsewhere, I will.

What I find impossible to comprehend is someone who is a fan of cycling, watching the biggest race in the world and not rooting for one of the contenders on some level. You can't possibly watch the whole race and not develop a preference of one rider over another. It might even change year to year and race to race, but you'll always find yourself rooting for someone.

I found myself rooting for San Antonio even though at a high level I don't care about either team.

I call BS. But I guess you're more concerned for the purposes of the discussion for rooting to mean, publicly.

 

[thehog]

That.
And spin faster than the most famous doper.
While seated.
On a climb.

Contador is a dirty bike switching, coffee drinking, chain lubing, downhill attacker!

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Interesting to consider the whole "projection" aspect of what Froome writes. Contador is a good descender, Froome not so much.

 

[hfer07]

The more I think of all the Contador references on The Alien's book, the more I believe Froome is deeply Obsessed & jealous of his success, in a way that he's annoyed by how much people still love & support the Spaniard, even in times where he wasn't at his best & during his ban.

The problem of course is The Alien being so blinded by his imaginary delirium of grandeur not to realize that, like anything in life-is not about winning by "smashing" & "blasting"--- it's simply about the "panache" - the "how"- that's what will remain in people's minds-- There always be praised the "Verbier" stage win, the "monte Etna" stage win, the "fuente de" stage win, and recently the "Tirreno Adriatico" stage whereas "Froome's Mont Ventoux" will be remained as the biggest joke ever along with the LA's victories, because of the ridiculous & intoxicating imagery produced in those occasions...

 

[martinvickers]

What I find impossible to comprehend is someone who is a fan of cycling, watching the biggest race in the world and not rooting for one of the contenders on some level. You can't possibly watch the whole race and not develop a preference of one rider over another. It might even change year to year and race to race, but you'll always find yourself rooting for someone.

I found myself rooting for San Antonio even though at a high level I don't care about either team.

I call BS. But I guess you're more concerned for the purposes of the discussion for rooting to mean, publicly.

Call what you like. I know myself rather better than you do.

I remember watching Roche on La Plagne; I was always more a Kelly man, but I remember bursting with happiness when he almost caught Delgado. Jesus I wanted him to win that. An Irishman winning a tour AND a Giro. Seriously! And i the context of La Plagne, heroically.

And he was a cheating b******d. As was Delgado. As frankly was Kelly, albeit on a more mundane scale.

It knocks idol worship out of you in a hurry. And I don't know about you, but my father brought me up to hate dopers, cheats, for what they did to the sport, any sport, to the 'gift'. He loathed doping. Even when he thought the wrong people were at it (He was convinced LeMond was on the juice, and kelly was 'more or less' clean - he stopped following cycling after the Roche stuff)

Easy lessons they were. You win, or you lose, and if you can't take that, you get out of the sport. But you don't cheat. Not for money, not for glory, not for pride, not for fear.

Yet still, on came the Tour - on Channel 4 only now, RTÉ didn't bother so much with the irishmen gone - every summer, and I just enjoyed it, almost addictively, the chance to watch cycling on mainstream tv. But root for somebody - no, not so much. I enjoyed chaos. I disliked the Indurain domination long before I was sure he doped. I enjoyed the dance, just didn't worry to much about the dancers.

I still enjoy it - oddly, I probably enjoy cycling as much now as I ever have. I have some small hope progress is being made, slowly but generally, on the doping side. I think Cookson isn't by any stretch perfect, but he's an improvement on McQuaid, who was in turn an improvement on Verbruggen. I even follow the odd rider, Martin, Bennett. I like watching some of the new Colombians.

Last year, I found myself in a bind. I loved the Martin stage, as much for the narrative as the Martin win. But I actually started enjoying the Clinic losing its collective mind as entertainment in its own right - but this only happened when Froome dominated, and I wanted Chaos not domination. I'd have been quite happy with a quintana win, sad with a valverde or berti one, and, frankly, reserving judgement on a Froome one; much as I would on a Nibili one actually.

But rooting for a rider, even NQ? In the current climate, what's the point? If the only choice is dopers. I choose not to choose.

 

[Race Radio]

What I find impossible to comprehend is someone who is a fan of cycling, watching the biggest race in the world and not rooting for one of the contenders on some level. You can't possibly watch the whole race and not develop a preference of one rider over another. It might even change year to year and race to race, but you'll always find yourself rooting for someone.

While I certainly will cheer for Dan Martin or Taylor Phinney I can think of a rider I would cheer for who might finish on the podium....or even close to it. The last time I cheered for a rider to win the Tour was 1990. My interest is more the strategic aspects of the race. I enjoy watching the race unfold and all the various elements the contribute to the race. The terrain, the weather, the attacks, the chaos......and the Tour in HD is amazing to view. Some pretty pictures.

 

[red_flanders]

I find it hard to "cheer" for anyone in the Tour as well. But I certainly have a preference from race to race. I very much still enjoy watching GT's despite the doping. Hell I enjoyed watching Wiggins in Roubaix this year. He was strong, stylish and rode like hell. He might even have done it low octane.

For me there might never be a time again like watching GT's in the 80's, but I'm sure glad I can see it on TV now instead of watching World Cycling videos 6 months later.

I enjoyed the Dauphine and liked watching Kelderman and Talansky, as well as all the tactics play out including Contador's ride.

Not going to stop watching because most of those guys are probably doping. Going to root for someone. "Cheering" is pretty different for me.

 

[thehog]

The more I think of all the Contador references on The Alien's book, the more I believe Froome is deeply Obsessed & jealous of his success, in a way that he's annoyed by how much people still love & support the Spaniard, even in times where he wasn't at his best & during his ban.

The problem of course is The Alien being so blinded by his imaginary delirium of grandeur not to realize that, like anything in life-is not about winning by "smashing" & "blasting"--- it's simply about the "panache" - the "how"- that's what will remain in people's minds-- There always be praised the "Verbier" stage win, the "monte Etna" stage win, the "fuente de" stage win, and recently the "Tirreno Adriatico" stage whereas "Froome's Mont Ventoux" will be remained as the biggest joke ever along with the LA's victories, because of the ridiculous & intoxicating imagery produced in those occasions...

Agree.

Watching Comtador destroy Shleck on a descent was one of my favourite scenes from the Tour.

Also watching Contador attack Froome between road furniture at the Dauphine was impressive.

Froome can't stand Contador's unpredictability. He thinks it's all watts. The Nibali comment stung him as well from TA last year. In the book he has a dig at him as well.

 

[Afrank]

Agree.

Watching Comtador destroy Shleck on a descent was one of my favourite scenes from the Tour.

Also watching Contador attack Froome between road furniture at the Dauphine was impressive.

Froome can't stand Contador's unpredictability. He thinks it's all watts. The Nibali comment stung him as well from TA last year. In the book he has a dig at him as well.

Which comments were those? The comments about powermeters and riders riding according to them instead of their heart?

Can you post that passage of the book?

 

[The Hitch]

Overkill, yet Froome feels the need to draw attention to it.

Flo.

Ain't you been reading the thread?

You have blood on your hands.


BLOOOOOOOOOOOODDD

 

[Granville57]

"I'm tired of all these doping accusations and innuendo... Oh by the way, see that spanish amigo over there? There's gossip that he's using a lighter bike than is allowed and using a special lube...... but anyway, enough of these innuendos about doping, I'm sick of them, its unfair"

You left out the super genuine caveat at the end:
"I'm sure he just had bike problems."

Thanks for the clarification, Chris. One wouldn't want to be led to believe that you just planted a seed of doubt & suspicion about Contador to your noob followers. Great to see you set the record straight like that. Very charitable of you.

 

[thehog]

Which comments were those? The comments about powermeters and riders riding according to them instead of their heart?

Can you post that passage of the book?

Yes that comment. No problems. See here; "SRM slave".

 

[Granville57]

Yes that comment.

I was hoping for the other comment about Froome's rivals supposedly sneaking a look at his SRM. Not that he's obsessed with his power meter or anything...

"Little did he know."

Ya, OK.

 

[Afrank]

Yes that comment. No problems. See here; "SRM slave".

Thanks, a little presumptuous of Michelle. Glad Nibali took the trident away from him by racing by his heart.

 

[Granville57]

Here's what I was looking for. OK, it was heart rate and not power, but still...

...

"Sometimes we can be riding a decent tempo up a climb and I will look across and see another rider’s figures hovering around the 180 beats per minute mark. They glance back at mine and see my rate is under 150."

“In the morning when I’ve checked it, or when I’m resting, I’ve seen my heart rate down as low 29. It’s a little odd and I’m sure it could be reason for gossip. I mean I’ll often do my threshold efforts for example between 145 and 150. That’s quite a hard workout, but it’s funny sometimes because there have been a few occasions in a race, on a climb, when someone has looked across at my power meter and almost looked twice at me just to check that I was still breathing.”


Great. Such emotion. Such passion. Deeply moving.


And this:

...

“...After about 15 seconds my power started dipping a little, wanting to head towards 600 watts. ‘Stop. I have done this before. Keep pushing a little bit more. Get it back up to 700. Yes.’”

Yes. Indeed.

Did Froome even read his own friggin' book?!?!

“Nibali threw a punch of salt into the wounds with some comments about how we at Team Sky race by numbers and spend our days huddled over our SRM meters trying to work out our next move.”

Yet, "little did he know."

Unbelievable.

H u m a n s _ i n t e r a c t i n g.

T h e _ s h a k i n g _ o f _ t h e _ h a n d s.

M u s t _ s t o r e _ i n _ m e m o r y _ b a n k.

 

[thehog]

Here's what I was looking for. OK, it was heart rate and not power, but still...


"Sometimes we can be riding a decent tempo up a climb and I will look across and see another rider’s figures hovering around the 180 beats per minute mark. They glance back at mine and see my rate is under 150."

“In the morning when I’ve checked it, or when I’m resting, I’ve seen my heart rate down as low 29. It’s a little odd and I’m sure it could be reason for gossip. I mean I’ll often do my threshold efforts for example between 145 and 150. That’s quite a hard workout, but it’s funny sometimes because there have been a few occasions in a race, on a climb, when someone has looked across at my power meter and almost looked twice at me just to check that I was still breathing.”


Great. Such emotion. Such passion. Deeply moving.


And this:

“...After about 15 seconds my power started dipping a little, wanting to head towards 600 watts. ‘Stop. I have done this before. Keep pushing a little bit more. Get it back up to 700. Yes.’”

Yes. Indeed.

Did Froome even read his own friggin' book?!?!

“Nibali threw a punch of salt into the wounds with some comments about how we at Team Sky race by numbers and spend our days huddled over our SRM meters trying to work out our next move.”

Yet, "little did he know."

Unbelievable.

H u m a n s _ i n t e r a c t i n g.

T h e _ s h a k i n g _ o f _ t h e _ h a n d s.

M u s t _ s t o r e _ i n _ m e m o r y _ b a n k.

The entire book is full of watts.

I'm fact he dances to the numbers appearing on the screen

 

[Granville57]

The entire book is full of watts.

In fact he dances to the numbers appearing on the screen

I swear to god, I'm half waiting to discover that all these quote are purely of your own creation, hog.

The line between parody and reality no longer exists.

 

[Merckx index]

Someone please explain to me how Froome can provide all that information about his power output during training now, but can't provide power information about races that occurred three years ago and longer? Like making public his power output before the 2011 Vuelta would give his competitors an advantage, but telling them what he does in training now or up the Madone, no problem at all?