Chainless Champ – updated
Neko Mulally broke his chain on one of his first few pedal strokes and yet he managed fourth place against the best in the world. Maybe pedalling has been slowing riders down?
You have to ask if riding chainless ended up improving Neko’s performance.
Comments
Mammal
9 years, 7 months ago
For the record, I believe he wasn't up until the second split, which is the first split time that they show on the stream. For other riders, Rob and Nigel were reporting the splits well before the nasty rock garden. Sorry to "split" hairs…
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uncle duke
9 years, 7 months ago
wow!
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giddyupPG
9 years, 7 months ago
Would venture a guess that he may have been fast because (beyond his innate talent):
a) he was very relaxed, having believed that he had no chance; or
b) he was carrying more speed through sections and using his brakes less, knowing that he had to carry speed through the flatter sections.
I can't imagine that the result would have been the same on other tracks, like Cairns with the massive pedal at the end.
Either way, it was pretty incredible to watch.
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Jerry Willows
9 years, 7 months ago
Ratboy doesn't pedal as much either… interesting.
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Derp
9 years, 7 months ago
and you watch Blenky who looks super fast and puts in probably too much effort, is off the pace slightly. Josh and Neko look slow in sections because they're so smooth and seemingly effortless. I love it!
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Poo Stance
9 years, 7 months ago
I agree with the Blenky comment, maybe nervousness? Rat and Gwinn don't seem to be going fast
There is something about Trek Sessions and #13…
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xanelx
9 years, 7 months ago
Video not available in your country, thank you guys!
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boomforeal
9 years, 7 months ago
this one works. love the commentary
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Cam McRae
9 years, 7 months ago
My apologies xanelx - and everyone else. I'm in the US now so I was able to see the video and didn't anticipate it being region locked. Sorry for the tease. It's fixed now.
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boomforeal
9 years, 7 months ago
that was totally unsane. watching all of the riders after him who had no mechanicals on their runs and still couldn't touch his time blew my mind
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Nouseforaname
9 years, 7 months ago
I saw some footage where it sounded like riders on the flat turns were just gasping as they tried to pedal. Being forced to coast probably saved him some energy?
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boomforeal
9 years, 7 months ago
interesting
what are the odds that someone or some team starts running a practice lap chainless next year on every track to see how things pan out/compare to their "max effort" runs. if racers know that you can have a great run on a given track with little/less/no pedaling because they're saving gas for other, more productive efforts, that has to impact their strategy.
hearkens back to that fabien barrel video last year on flow: "the main mistake of average riders is the belief that to ride fast, you have to pedal to accelerate"
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Mammal
9 years, 7 months ago
I'm sure riders do no-pedal laps quite frequently. Especially when scoping out a track for the first time. Now whether the ingrained habit to hammer in every opportunity during a race run might get the best of most racers where the course might permit economical pumping, that's another question.
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