We are back for another round of flat out XCC racing in Nove Mesto. Here are the results from the XCC Short Track Round 3.
Results:
Elite Women (9 Laps):
1st. Jolanda Neff: 21:01
2nd. Rebecca McConnell: +1
3rd. Jenny Rissveds: +1
4th. Sina Frei: +1
5th. Loana Lecomte: +1
Elite Men (11 Laps):
1st. Luca Schwarzbauer: 22:40
2nd. Thomas Pidcock: +2
3rd. Filippo Colombo: +2
4th. Vlad Dascalu: +2
5th. Christopher Blevins: +3
Full Results:
Elite Women
Elite Men
Must Read This Week
178 Comments
Do you know what a numerator and denominator are?
Do you understand ratios?
Do you understand the term Watts per kilogram?
If you do not understand these terms, you are excused from the conversation.
www.pinkbike.com/u/ambatt/blog/why-im-leaving-pinkbike.html
Nothing new.
I'm going to correct you though: you can call me toxic if it makes you feel better.
I don't talk crap about women racers; look at my comments here and in other world cup recaps.
I call it like I see it and if the racer happens to be a female I'm not going to pull my punches; that's called being sexist.
It seems like your time here has come to an end, replaced by beta and, ironically enough, sparkle.
Whatever I said here is extraordinarily mild compared to what you've written - don't censor me for that.
One last thing: on bike ability has nothing to do with what's between the ears. Exhibit a is the current topic of discussion.
You don't even know what you are writing about
This is called stalking and harassment of a private citizen, a misdemeanor.
Commenting on a public figure involved in the sport on the forum that represents that sport is fair game.
Just because you think she's a goddess doesn't negate my opinion nor those of many others.
People who resort to name calling without an @ are weak.
By your own criteria, Kate's behavioral and personality flaws make her as big of a "loser" as anyone criticizing her.
Besides, if you ain't first, you're last.
You yesterday: "Bagging on people that are doing their best to put out their best result."
Yo, you drink from that Kool aid DEEP and LONG!
Is Sunland CA a good place to live?
It's a fairly safe neighborhood, but scruffy. Neighbors are diverse, many are nice but there are a few bad apples. Some people keep their houses nice and tidy, but most let their houses and yards go, with no pride of neighborhood.
Yeah, sounds about right
Little wonder that there’s such a high dropout from sport amongst teenage girls, citing a fear of being judged as one of the key factors.
"Weight doesn't matter in Elite endurance events"
Hahaha!
Although i do wonder what Kate wrote on Jolanda's post
Comment was supposed to be under the thread, but it glitched
By doing so I will risk someone else coming at me like you came at me after someone else came at me. Do you understand how that works?
You'll never know and I will continue on, commenting as I please.
Thanks for your input laupe
Are you a teenager? I'll give you all the time you need to figure out what age you want to represent
Are you that desperate for attention laupe?
Did I take too much of the attention you wanted?
I don't know where you're from or what you are culture is but you do not ask someone for a piece of information after you've just told them to shut up publicly.
Nice comeback kid.. my estimated age for you just went down I think you are 12
She's suffered a string of concussions and seems much more crash prone than most other riders. The combination of the two means Kate is likely far more conservative and tentative on the bike than during her peak of success: late 2018 to mid 2019.
Power numbers and training regimen aside, it's very difficult to ride fearlessly after experiencing the setbacks Kate has.
This is not to mention how strong the top dozen or so riders are: Mona, Loana, Evie, Stigger, Sina as younger guns, PFP, Jenny, Neff, Terpstra, Rebecca, Keller and Indergand among the more experienced riders.
Kate had her heart set on Olympic Gold, and I don't think she has clear goals now in the midst of a third straight mediocre and frustrating season.
It is actually the fork offset on a short frame. Nino ran into a tree last year because of the change from 51 to 44mm and hit a few stumps, no less. Pidcock runs a 51mm as did Lecomte, when she was winning and Vanderpoel (even though he is tall). I don't know if it is an issue with long wheelbase bikes. No first hand experience there.
I have first hand experience with this as I was trying to solve pedal strike and get 10 more mm of travel in the front. Bought the SRAM 3 position SID in 110mm used. Pleasant rides became a curse fest. On a short wheelbase XC bike the steering is so unresponsive you hit everything. To get a 51mm offset I had to copy the guy who won the overall last year and use DT Swiss.
It was worth $1000 to me to wreck less and hit less stuff.
Pidcock, Lecomte, Mattais, Van der Poel, anyone running the SR Suntour fork, and most Fox forks are raced at 51mm offset. If you see more shimano on the podium it might be the fork offset.
If you put Kate on Lecomte's bike from last year (including tires), it is a different story.
As a case study, look at Ulloa who went form a Scott Spark to Massi. He finished in 69th overall last year. This year he is like 11th, so far.
The same thing could work for Kate.
I knew she had one but not multiples. Chicken or the egg I don't know but she definitely had a lot more flow in 2018-2019, rode more free and on a hardtail much of the time.
The last two years she was extremely stiff on her fully but has gotten more relaxed this year. Her sessions with Kintner have helped with that.
And just plain mean.
Makes you wonder what mother it refers to
Re-upped with Scott for 2 years recently. They don't care
KC 550K / JN 445K / LL 137K / JR 136K / RM 42K
Legit world champs don't do that. She does things like this regularly.
Yep, it's not just one generation but two now that have passed her by. They ALL are good.
Look where the best US riders went to school and trained:. Gwinnie in Western CO, Haley in Squamish, Savilia in Durango. A world cup course is normal to them. They all had a lot of time to learn to manage their efforts, sometimes training in the high mountains and figuring out how to descend without dying.
What does Courtney do? Gets somebody to film her doing road intervals, then films herself lying on a shoulder breathing hard. Last I looked there isn't a rest area on a wc course.
She never cut the umbilical cord, raised in Marin, school on the peninsula, lives on the peninsula. Hasn't grown up.
She actually has said good results aren't necessarily her goal way back in 2020, only no one notice.
A couple of days ago she said she was using these races as training.
The answer is obvious: she's already semi-retired as an Influencer.
Look at this race:. Doing the classic pro Tour breakaway thing, riding at the front to rep the sponsors, then blowing. Because she's now invisible she decided to throw a whip: look at me!!
Such a narcissist, now and then.
Sparkle has become more of an obnoxious influencer than Batty but, unlike Batty, pretends like she still holds some actual competitive relevancy in the UCI (which she doesn't).
Batty was actually a good, consistent rider over x years with a functioning brain while on the course, but I could do without two inches of foundation and a Pcar. She knows where she's at and doesn't try to bs her way through it.
Courtney says things like, I'm glad to be competitive??
Um..you know there is a term for that sort of delusion: gaslighting.
To you. She inched out Jolo a far, far better bike rider.
You might say the Goat.
She's an egomaniac, bordering on megalomaniac. She has no sense of humility and attempts to belittle and subordinate anyone and everyone around her.
She has the ego of an all time great and the results of a 2022 era Emily Batty.
Cav stated he was clumsy in traditional ball sports like soccer so she took that and ran with it.
"See, I'm clumsy too!"
Only difference is Cav is arguably the Goat, consistently materializing wins out of thin air with, in many cases, fewer watts.
Fer chrisakes he just won a stage at the bloody Giro at 36..
Just this last winter he had a very bad crash in a velodrome, puncturing a lung and breaking ribs. On top of that his home was invaded, his family terrorized and he was beaten..
And she has the monomania to attach herself to this guy
THAT is called rubbing people the wrong way.
Jolo did not respond and stiff arms her whenever she gets too close.
Check out J's Reddit AMA - says everything you need to know about what she thinks about her
I'm just talking to like-minded fellas, of which you are not.
Bugger off now
I came here to talk about the racing and attendant things that might come up.
Regard below, be humbled
Nice to see you bring back something old and tired - you in a small market or something?
Look for hi I'm jolanda Neff
Went across the bay to ride up olh.. ran into her.. meaning to say I love you Kate...
I blurted out You Suck Courtney!
Oopsie.
willikers is free to offer whatever take he wants as long as pink bike allows, but it's clear that his takes are often not based on reality.
"Tell all"? - go look at my comment moron. I did not say that.
If you can read between the lines you can get a general gist but you can't even find the effing comment. You didn't even look.
Such an implausibly dim switch you are.
It says nothing. There isn't a single comment even vaguely approaching what Jolanda Neff thinks about Kate Courtney. You're talking out of your arse
Maybe I’m just not seeing what it means to be a MTB team. Seems like they all race for themselves.
Hump
Hump
The panning camera on the front straight was great as were the long shots at the end of it.
Really could see the riders expressions well
1. PFP recovering from surgery
2. Langvad suddenly retiring
3. Rissveds still suffering from depression and chaotic circumstances with Swedish Cycling
4. Batty dropping from a top 3 rider in 2018 to back of the pack
She had just broken through with a surprise 2018 Worlds gold medal and was riding a tide of confidence.
She peaked during the first half of the season, but a combination of an extremely ambitious mountain training program mid season and her own tendency to overtrain marked the beginning of the end of her string of wins.
Since then, she's been surpassed by a wave of top younger riders and some vet riders returning to form.
It will be interesting to see how she spins one mediocre results after the next; so far, she's been blaming circumstances or bad luck. How long before her followers figure out she's not that good?
I 100% agree with you, but imagine how hard it is for Kate, being the "best" in one season and suddenly you can't even compete for a podium
Leave her to her career she’s hardly hurting anyone other than herself.
She had a good run and it was good to watch, now it’s time for some others to have their good runs.
Who knows
Would love to see Savilia there too..
US XC looking good right now!
"Instead, he says, lowering body fat percentage is the key, as it will increase your aerobic capacity because muscle has less competition from fat tissue for oxygen and fuel. (You can use widely available body fat scales)."
Anecdotally, Courtney said to Payson McLeeven, circa 2020 (search for his podcast if you don't believe me): "I'm getting heavier and heavier and faster and faster."
No. Absolutely not.
No doubt she is referring to her metrics, QOMs, etc.
Everyone knows that's not where racing is done. You fall in love with your power meter it's going to turn on you eventually.
THAT is what you call incredibly narrow.
True. I never speculated BMI.
"evertheless, watt/kilo is not so relevant on a flat track XCC race where total gross power and aerodynamics matter. It's primarily a metric for climbing, rarely used in the scope of flat and fast (track racing, time trials, etc). Mitterwallner probably is among the top three women of highest watt/kilo, but she struggles in XCC for the same reason scrawny hill climbers struggle in time trials while much heavier rouleurs excel"
True. Courtney during her prime was a good all-arounder.
"Trying to boil down a highly complex subject - that even science doesn't fully understand"
Absolutely true.
"Into a simple "gained weight" argument is an incredibly narrow view.""
That's your opinion, not necessarily true.
So tell me, Church of the Power Meter guy who puts words in my mouth, why exactly is Courtney so slow?
Without science speak, are you able to put in lay terms what you speculate her issue is. I mean I put my neck out there for you to take a hack at it after all..
She has the right people around her that she can subordinate, the wrong people around her if she wants to improve.
Kate took advantage of an opportunity that opened up in the first half of 2019 with rider absences, amassed an enormous insta following almost instantaneously (no pun intended), and rode a wave of popularity as everyone became social media addicted in the past 2 years.
She had every plausible excuse in the book in that period, but the excuses are running out as life and sports return to normal.
She's married, reached almost all of her goals (likely surpassed her own expectations) aside from the olympics, and has zero financial worries due to her multi millionaire family income. Life is good. Plus, she re-upped for 2 years as an influencer, good enough World Cup cyclist, and Nino's sidekick.
XC World Cup is ridiculously demanding and for better or worse, every gram counts. Loana looked dangerously thin last season and it appears she may have gained a few pounds also, assuming Kate did as well.
Every racer has to evaluate how low of a weight they can maintain vs quality of life and general health.
If her weight is up and she's going slower relative to the field it either means her power is down or the field is way way faster or both.
.
That's how asinine you are chump
She was f*cking anorexic hump boy
There is this thing called the law of diminishing returns - apparently you aren't familiar with it.
I now wouldn't say you're rebuttal is asinine..
You are simply slow.
So. Slow.
I said weight is up. That's published on the Scott site dumbass.
Ranked 25th in the world and falling. I'm positive you can coach her back into the top 24
Her neck tattoo: life is a joke
Indeed.
Nevertheless, watt/kilo is not so relevant on a flat track XCC race where total gross power and aerodynamics matter. It's primarily a metric for climbing, rarely used in the scope of flat and fast (track racing, time trials, etc). Mitterwallner probably is among the top three women of highest watt/kilo, but she struggles in XCC for the same reason scrawny hill climbers struggle in time trials while much heavier rouleurs excel. If aerodynamics/weight/power were plotted on a graph, the power figure would be far more exponential looking in nature than the other two for an XCC style event at Nove Mesto.
Trying to boil down a highly complex subject - that even science doesn't fully understand - into a simple "gained weight" argument is an incredibly narrow view.
Perhaps in your disgust with me you didn't read all of my comments ( don't blame you ). In one of them, without science speak, without graphs, without charts, without theory, I speculated (yes speculated; this is a conversation after all) her inability to recover during a race sufficiently to be at the head of it is part of her issue.
Throwing science aside (I know that's hard for you) she simply does not train in the mountains and replicate world cup course topography and enforced effort and adaptive recovery.
Simply put she is seeing cross-eyed after a climb or descent and cannot process potential course obstacles properly, resulting in numerous crashes over the years and several concussions.
"Perfection is about striving not necessarily attaining something specific."
She said this today.
When you don't have goals on the race course you fail on the race course.
What I wrote:. With total objectivity I write this: she is at least 5 lb heavier and has effectively trained out any leg speed he had.
She has the right people around her that she can subordinate, the wrong people around her if she wants to improve.
What you wrote:. Trying to boil down a highly complex subject - that even science doesn't fully understand - into a simple "gained weight" argument is an incredibly narrow view
I mentioned her team and leg speed. You chose the only one you think you understand fully.
Now tell me who's being narrow
Nutrition
How to reach your optimal cycling weight
Train clever, eat smart and avoid the common pitfalls
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By Cycling Plus
Published: January 7, 2018 at 11:00 am
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Combine long fat-burning rides with sessions focussed on hard efforts
Combine long fat-burning rides with sessions focussed on hard efforts Robert Smith / Immediate Media
Achieving your optimal cycling weight will make you faster and fitter. But what is it and how do you reach it?
How to lose belly fat by cycling
10 steps to becoming a fitter, faster, better cyclist
How to lose weight cycling
If you’re after a simple guide on how to lose weight through cycling, then check out our article for the 14 key things you need to do (don’t worry, they’re wonderfully simple!).
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What is optimal cycling weight?
“Excess body weight is the cyclist’s enemy,” says Matt Fitzgerald, author of Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance (available on Amazon). “It wastes energy, slows you down, affects performance and stresses joints.”
You can’t change your basic physiology, such as height, limb length and even potential for leanness but, says Fitzgerald, “you can reduce your weight to a level that is optimal for performance given those genetic constraints.”
You want to up your power-to-weight ratio by improving body composition through training and diet. Your optimal cycling weight is the weight at which you have the best power to weight ratio without compromising your health, performance or energy levels.