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Traditional 63%, Compact 37%
It's that time again. The votes are in and traditional has beaten compact as your frame geometry of choice. I know the relative merits of both styles and they been discussed at length in forums around the web, but I voted for traditional. My reasons? Well, I am tall rider and find the lower head tube and generally longer top tube on compact frames makes bike fit much more difficult. I think compact frames can look really goofy if you need to pack the steerer with spacers to get the correct bar height and use a two foot seatpost to get the correct saddle height. If you don't need to, great, compact might be for you.
Reviewing the votes that have been on the site over the past months I have been building the beginnings of a site visitor rider profile.
- Their ideal bike would be based around a traditional frame kitted out with Campagnolo components.
- They enjoy the pro races, but don't pay too much attention to the scandals.
- They are a Jan Ullrich fan but don't think that Ullrich can win the Tour again.
- They are not a fair-weather cyclist and continue to ride throughout the off-season.
- When heading out on a ride they reach for powerbars and sport drinks before the fruit basket.
Sound like you?
The vote this time is an effort to build on the profile. Do you climb uphill just for the downhill, or are downhills just a distraction from the real riding?
Springtime
Three signs of spring for me. 1) You get days like these more than once a month. 2) I can climb my favourite hills without bursting a lung. 3) Cycling comes back on the TV.
Two good rides in the sunshine this weekend and although the wind was pretty nasty everything is pointing to the start of better weather and longer hours in the saddle. Woohoo!
Not too much to write about today. It was good to watch the Paris-Nice prologue on the TV. Once again CSC have already shown they are the ones to beat this year. Boonean was looking super strong, his TT technique isn't particulary elegant but his sheer power got him a creditable 5th place. I would have liked to have seen Bradley Wiggins take the lead but it wasn't to be. To think that Julich was thinking of quitting a few years back, he has made an incredible comeback with Bjarne Riis.
I have managed to get hold of a copy of the 'The Climb', Boukreev and DeWalt's account of the 1996 Everest tradegy and so far it's a really good read [more on this when I finish].
That and a couple of Everest DVDs lent to me by a colleague had me thinking about what truly original feats there are left for 'explorers' to acheive. It strikes me that the new challenges people set themselves are becoming more and more contrived in an effort to do something original. Not wishing to take anything away from the truly accomplished explorers but before long a solo attempt to the poles will have to be done with one trouser leg rolled up to distinguish it from all the others. I put this to a friend over a beer last night and he proposed that the deep oceans would be the next zone for measuring human accomplishment. Although, this is really more about the progress of technology rather than man's limits, there's not many land-based challenges that don't require advanced technology to achieve either.
Can anyone think of a great natural feat/challenge that has yet to be achieved?
Archives
09/14/03, 09/21/03, 09/28/03, 10/05/03, 10/12/03, 12/07/03, 12/14/03, 12/21/03, 12/28/03, 01/04/04, 01/11/04, 01/18/04, 02/15/04, 04/25/04, 05/09/04, 07/25/04, 08/01/04, 09/12/04, 10/03/04, 10/31/04, 11/21/04, 12/12/04, 01/09/05, 01/16/05, 01/23/05, 01/30/05, 02/13/05, 03/13/05, 03/27/05, 04/03/05, 04/10/05, 04/17/05, 04/24/05, 05/01/05, 05/15/05, 05/22/05, 05/29/05, 06/05/05, 06/12/05, 08/07/05, 09/04/05, 09/18/05, 10/30/05, 11/20/05, 11/27/05, 12/04/05, 12/11/05, 12/18/05, 12/25/05, 01/01/06, 01/08/06, 01/15/06, 01/29/06, 02/05/06, 02/12/06, 02/19/06, 02/26/06, 03/05/06, 03/12/06, 03/19/06, 03/26/06, 04/09/06, 04/16/06, 04/30/06, 05/21/06, 05/28/06, 07/09/06, 07/23/06, 08/06/06, 08/13/06, 09/03/06, 09/10/06, 10/15/06, 10/29/06, 11/05/06, 11/12/06, 11/19/06, 11/26/06, 12/10/06, 12/17/06, 12/24/06, 12/31/06, 01/07/07, 01/14/07, 01/21/07, 01/28/07, 02/04/07, 02/11/07, 02/18/07, 02/25/07, 03/04/07, 03/25/07, 04/01/07, 04/15/07, 04/22/07, 04/29/07, 07/15/07, 07/22/07, 07/29/07, 09/16/07, 12/23/07, 12/30/07, 01/06/08, 01/13/08, 01/20/08, 03/23/08, 03/30/08, 04/27/08,
