bhilden@druxj.UUCP (HildenbrandBE) (07/18/85)
I'd like to address a couple of topics here: First, THE CORRECT DISTANCES for Eddy Merckx's and Frankie Moser's hour records are 49.46km(~30.6mi) and 51.15km(~31.7) respectively. Which brings me to my second point. If you look at the results of any world class athletic sport you will see that the difference between the top competitors is very small. In swimming for example, the top competitors are all within several tenths of a second for a 100 meter freestyle event that lasts 50 seconds(.5sec/50 sec = 1%). The same holds true for track and field where there is about a 1-2% difference in most events between the competitors. What this means is that the top athletes look for every advantage they can, wether it be a full body shave(swimming), a full body lycra suit(track) or aerodynamic wheels(cycling). In the sport of cycling there have been very few acknowledged superstars. Eddy Merckx is at the top of the list, not because he won 5 Tour de Frances or 5 Giro de Italias or 7 Milan San Remos but, how he won them. Eddy went to the front and literally rode his competition into the ground(one only has to see the movie "A Sunday in Hell" to see what I mean). In short, Eddy dominated his competitors and made them ride his race. To be sure, there have been other great riders. Jaques Anquetil and now(at least it looks like it)Bernard Hinault both won 5 Tour de Frances but, they conserved their energy and made calculated moves to win(i.e waited for the time trials, etc.). They were never seen at the front when they didn't have to be. It was not my intention to belittle Mr. Moser's efforts in setting the new, aerodynamic aided hour record but, rather to point out that in most experts opinion Frankie would not have done it without the aerodynamic wheels. The wheels reduced bike drag by 60% and since the bike drag is about 20% of the total wind drag resulted in about a 10% advantage, or about 1.5 mph at that altitude(NOTE: Moser broke the record by ~1.1 mile). If Francesco had been on the same bike as Eddy, he would have turned the second fastest distance in history which isn't too bad. Bruce Hildenbrand p.s. - Just as the Giro de Italia course was tailored to suit Frankie Moser's strengths and weaknesses likewise the Tour de France course emphasized Bernard Hinaults abilities. Who says nationalism is dead!