Your Kona Picks - 2019

General
41

As always, it will come down to “bike for show, run for dough”. IM Wales will play out like that too.

42

Skipper must be feeling bullish. Posted on Instagram earlier saying the bike course at Wales isn’t quite as rough as it’s made out to be. The constant up and down and 3-4 minute climbs suiting his riding style. Presume he’s planning #smashing the bike then.

1 Like
43

Thoughts on Terrenzo? He was flying before his accident and seems to be hitting the heights again. He’s been in Kona for a week or 2 already.

I’d love for him to be up there, maybe a top 10 this year.

44

And Will Clarke, who must be due a decent Kona soon?

45

Yeah would like to see him go well.

And of course don’t forget the Don (pinkish font)

46

I think Clarke will be in a different Time Zone after the bike.

47

Not sure AB has his fueling right yet. In Nice I noticed that he only had one bottle (I assume he had a hydration system in his frame), but the bottle was less than half full at the start, I assume he was trying to keep weight right down for the climb

My picks
Men

  1. Frodo
  2. AB
  3. Kienle

Women

  1. Ryf
  2. LCB - will be super motivated by disaster in Nice
  3. Sarah True - was in a class of her own in Frankfurt until she collapsed, I think that she can deal with the heat in Kona
48

Would be great to see AB on the podium, but I think it’s a long shot this year.

49

Was speaking with someone in Nice who knows Andy Blow (from precision hydration). Apparently he thinks she’s seriously compromised her body with her couple of serious breakdowns, such that it shuts down too early the second it gets heat stressed now. And it will take a long period of time to recondition her body out of that pattern

50

Yeah, True will either finish well down after a sensible race or end-up in an ambulance trying to podium.

AB looks like he’s in a class of his own until km2 of the run at the moment :rofl:

1 Like
51

Yep. “Let’s see if I can blow this field apart”
12 minutes later “Oh no I can’t, but I’ve just burned 19 matches”

2 Likes
52

I also think he needs to realise that that mindset can only really work in a draft-legal format. If you give it a try, and a break doesnt form, you can just sit in the pack and recover for a bit. And it’s also not much different to the energy expenditure of riding in the pack anyway, given the crit style city centre courses they ride on the World Series.

In long course with no drafting, there arent those opportunities for easy recovery if you over-exert at a given point in time. “Blowing the field apart” needs to be a commitment to maintain a particular effort level for the next couple of hours and slowly build a gap.

53

I thought it was reasonably smooth. Not euro smooth but a hell of a lot better than SE UK
(sorry, off topic).

I think AB will do well if he races with his head. If he races with his heart it could go rather wrong.

54

Sorry meant tough!!

55

I read that Gustav Iden chucked his bottle away at the bottom of the climb #gainz

56

Yep. Rode it like a bike race.

57

…beware the Hun in the sun :wink:

58

When Gustav Iden climbs, he doesn’t go up, the world goes down.

2 Likes
59
  1. Joe Skipper
  2. what does your dog say? Wurf
  3. AB

Heard it here first

60

Now you know why self-diagnosis on the Internet has become popular.

1 Like