Winter Olympics notes

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  • February 9, 2014 at 1:18 am #914875
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    Cycling is not a part of the Winter Games, unlike the Summer Games. But there is a connection between cycling and speed skating. The leg movements are similar, as are the demands on the quads. Ice skating is sometimes recommended as a good winter cross-training activity for cycling enthusiasts. Olympic legend Eric Heiden (one of the greatest athletes in Winter Olympics history and maybe the best speed skater ever) later became a professional road cyclist. He was an original member of the 7-Eleven Cycling Team. He completed the Giro d’Italia once but crashed out of his only appearance at the Tour de France. He is now an orthopedic surgeon, team physician for the U.S. speed skating Olympic team and a team doctor for the BMC Racing Team (pro cycling), as of 2013. He continues to ride his bike for exercise and for fun.

    http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303442704579363350818771122?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303442704579363350818771122.html

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    Stage road cycling is a daredevil sport, at least in the downhills of the mountain stages. The cyclists can reach speeds of 60 to 70 mph. Not many people have the nerves to be riding that fast on a bicycle.

    The Winter Olympics includes other daredevil sports, like the downhill in Alpine skiing. The skiers exceed 80 mph in some stretches. In this year’s Olympic course, one of the downhill jumps takes skiers 20 feet off the snow, while another jump shoots them forward 90 yards in the air, nearly the length of a football field. You definitely need some… nerves to ski through that at top speed. Even some pro skiers are afraid to compete in the downhill, preferring the more technical and slower slalom event. (The commentators have mentioned this in the past.)

    Then there’s luge, skeleton and ski jumping. Even the speed skaters are moving at 30 mph on the ice. The Winter Olympics are sometimes described as speed, and more speed. (The popular Summer Olympic sports require strength, skill, endurance and speed. But they tend not to involve speeds of 30, 70 or 80 mph, the way that some of the winter sports do.)

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  • February 9, 2014 at 1:31 am #993330
    Rod Smith
    Participant

    Slalom probably requires more skill and definitely more quickness than downhill so describing as slower maybe misleading but yes winter sports > summer sports. :D

    February 9, 2014 at 3:41 pm #993334
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    The skaters do seem to like bikes

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]4721[/ATTACH]

    (US short track and speed skaters in Sochi)

    NBCSN showed several shots of speedskaters riding around the Olympic Village to the arena on bikes.

    German speed skater Claudia Pechstein (42 yrs old, with 9 previous Olympic medals) skates 2,500 miles a year on the ice, rides over 1,200 miles on inline skates in preseason training, and bikes another 2,500 miles a year. While pro cyclists ride much more than that, it’s still a significant total for an athlete who doesn’t compete in cycling.

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    A picture of some guy’s original bike, which he rode around Beijing in 2008

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]4722[/ATTACH]

    February 9, 2014 at 9:05 pm #993342
    DaveK
    Participant

    Speed skating and cycling have a lot of crossover athletes. Taylor Phinney’s mom was an Olympian in both.

    February 12, 2014 at 12:37 am #993506
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303874504579373202050332172

    Cycling is a key to success for the dominant Dutch speed skaters.

    February 13, 2014 at 8:51 am #993613
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    The Dutch have won 10 of the 15 total medals awarded so far in speed skating. They swept all three medals at two of the finals.

    February 18, 2014 at 9:56 pm #994004
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    The Dutch took the top four spots in one of the women’s speedskating events. They have swept the medals at four speedskating events. They have won 19 medals in speedskating (and zero medals in all of the other Olympic sports). They have set the record for the most medals won by a country in a single sport at a single Winter Olympics. The old record was 14 medals, by Austria in Alpine skiing.

    On the other hand, the U.S. speedskating performance has been one big flop. Some complained about the new Under Armour skin suits, but even when they changed back to the old suits, they still lost. Others say that the U.S. team shouldn’t have trained at Salt Lake City, at altitude, for a sea level competition like Sochi. The glide on each push is not as long at sea level, according to past gold medalist Dan Jansen. Maybe it’s like training only on flat roads for a hilly bike or run race. World-class athletes and coaches should know better than that.

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    There was a lot of press about the U.S. shootout victory over Russia in ice hockey. But I thought one of the best performances was by Charlotte Kalla, a member of the Swedish women’s cross-country team in the 4 x 5km relay. She started her leg far behind two other countries. She charged ahead relentlessly. She caught up just as they approached the stadium area. I never watched cross-country skiing that much when I was younger. But now when I watch it, I can’t help but compare it to run and triathlon races that I’ve done (albeit at much slower speeds). They are going faster than me, but the feeling of your lungs about to burst and your legs screaming at the end of a race — that might be similar.

    February 19, 2014 at 12:25 am #994016
    dkel
    Participant

    @PotomacCyclist 77667 wrote:

    I thought one of the best performances was by Charlotte Kalla, a member of the Swedish women’s cross-country team in the 4 x 5km relay.

    Do you think she trains on the W&OD? I hear they have awesome cross-country skiing all winter! :rolleyes:

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