3 ms·
I'm not familiar with that race specifically, but it's not unheard of for a young rider to have massive strength, but little technical skill. The ability to des
by mgberlin 10y ago
I'm not familiar with that race specifically, but it's not unheard of for a young rider to have massive strength, but little technical skill. The ability to descent and maneuver technically only comes with years in the saddle.
- mfoy_ 10y agoPresumably her competition wasn't significantly older...
- jschwartzi 10y agoThe article mentioned she's competing with people of similar age.
- Someone 10y agoThere is considerable variation in the ability to descent in the senior peloton, and I don't think it is correlated with age; some people just are better at the subtle work, such as recovering from a wheel slipping away, and some have more brute power. For example, the ability to bunny hop varies. http://www.cxmagazine.com/to-hop-or-not-bunny-hopping-cyclocross-barriers http://www.cxmagazine.com/to-hop-or-not-bunny-hopping-cycloc... claims that, in Sven Nijs's case, it is to do with his BMX experience. I couldn't find a good video from cycle-cross, but here is a nice example from road racing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPHnqI13vPk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPHnqI13vPk. Not everybody is as willing to take those risks and as good in recovering from (for him) minor mishaps as Vincenzo Nibali. Some cyclists are even known to take in a few bisons of water at tops of mountains because heavier bikes descend faster.