The Cycle Way

Want a Strava KOM, get yourself the Strava Android app

February 18th, 2013 Mark Croonen

I have long suspected this and I’m sure others have to, but have you ever noticed the high proportion of Strava KOM and course records that are held by people who have recorded their ride using the Strava Android app. Furthermore it seems to be more prevalent when it comes to short downhill segment. Then the next question begs, why are the Android riders so good and yet the IPhone riders barely rate?

So in an effort to satisfy my curiosity I decided to take a short ride with both my Garmin 500 and Android app running. What follows are the results of a number of segment in my local area.

The rides with the lock symbol are the rides recorded on the Android Device.

Rides marked with a # indicate the current record is held a ride recorded on an Android device

Firstly Toshka’s Track # and I’ll admit this one caught me by surprise, despite the downhill section the Android app was slower, go figure.

Memorial Dirt Sprint # 5 seconds over 300 metres, that’s a big discrepancy

Ainslie Wall Downhill # This one was a draw

Down we go to Antill # Another 14 second win the Android app

I have more examples but I think you get the point.

Now I love Strava and I think it is a great way to get motivated to ride harder but I would also like to see a level playing field. When I have some more time I intend to pull apart some of the GPX files for these rides to see if there is anything strange occurring, I suspect the android device is not recording the data fast enough or accurately enough so it is possible the first data point captured for a segment is already a couple of seconds after the start and likewise the last data point captured is couple of seconds before the finish.

Besides making it impossible to beat some of these records, a real concern for Strava would be the posting the of erroneous data which could lead to a dangerous situation where riders start chasing down fake times in an effort to beat a record which really shouldn’t exist. Now I know riders need to take care when pursuing course records but I also believe the Strava Android App needs to record these times accurately. Having erroneous lower course records surely is increasing the risk by making riders think it is possible to ride faster than it really is.

So folks be safe out there, because that course record you are chasing, might not be possible.

I would also like to say, this only my opinion on this and I am happy to be corrected, so if anyone can explain why this happening I would like to hear from you.

Posted in Bike Equipment, Bike Saftey, General Bike News
Tags: Android app, Bike Safety, Strava
4 Comments

My tips for the Olympic Road Race

July 27th, 2012 Mark Croonen

Well the sceptic in me would suggest the follow

I believe the Adidas/British team are going to be hard to beat, as one of the primary sponsors to the games I’m pretty sure the win was written into the sponsorship agreement and the incredibly low prices at the Adidas store will surely give them the competitive edge.

Of course you can’t discount the Westfield/Australian team, the routing of the road race through the Westfield mall was a master stroke and should give the team some home ground advantage. I believe the team have been doing some high escalator training and this is sure to pay off in the later stages of the race.

Unfortunately I can’t see McDonalds/USA team figuring in the final standings, despite bringing the largest McDonalds team/store to the games, the lack of a drive through service is really going to slow the team down through the feed zone.

As for the Omega/Swiss team, I believe they will get their timing all wrong and miss the critical breaks.

The attacks from the Samsung/Korean team are largely going to be negated by Apple however this is somewhat controversial as Apple are not an official sponsor of the games and this will be seen as ambush (marketing) attack.

While Panasonic/Japanese team are not in medal contention, they will look great on the new Panasonic VIErA TVs which have been released just in time for the games.

And the Dow team, despite investing heavily in the games will come undone by the disastrous pre season training camp they had in Bhopal.

Posted in General Bike News
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Jerseys of the Pro Tour

July 4th, 2012 Mark Croonen

A collection of the Pro Tour team jerseys from 2006 onwards.

2012 Updates:

Additions:Australia’s first Pro Tour team, Orica Greenedge;The return FDJ to the Pro Tour
Deletions: The HTC team is no more;
Major Changes: Leopard Trek folded into the Radioshack team to become the Radioshack –Nissan team; Garmin picked up a new sponsor in Sharp;Omega-Pharma Lotto parted ways creating two separate teams with Omega-Pharma teaming up with Quickstep; Saxobank dropped Sunguard as sponsor and brought Tinkoff Bank

2011 Updates:
Additions: Hello to BMC, Vacansoleil-DCM ( both promoted from the continental tour), and Leopard Trek
Deletions: Goodbye to Francaise Des Jeux (relegated to the continental tour), Footon-Servetto and Milram
Major changes: Caisse D’Epargne are now the Movistar team

Leaving only 9 teams which can show a direct lineage to the inception of the Pro Tour in 2006.

2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
AG2R PREVOYANCE		AG2R LA MONDIALE

	Astana				Pro Team Astana
Liberty Seguros – Würth Team
Bouygues Telecom			BBOX Bouygues Telecom
				In 2010 this team was relegated to the Continental tour
					BMC Racing Team

Caisse D’Epargne-Illes Balears	Caisse D’Epargne				Movistar

COFIDIS, LE CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE			COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE

Credit Agricole

Discovery Channel

Euskaltel – Euskadi

FRANÇAISE DES JEUX						FDJ – Big Mat
				This jersey was introduced for the TDF
			GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM	GARMIN – TRANSITIONS	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	Garmin Sharp

GEROLSTEINER

T-MOBILE TEAM		High Road	TEAM COLUMBIA – HIGH ROAD	TEAM HTC – COLUMBIA	HTC-HIGHROAD

LAMPRE-FONDITAL		LAMPRE	LAMPRE – N.G.C	LAMPRE-FARNESE VINI	LAMPRE – ISD

LIQUIGAS				LIQUIGAS-DOIMO	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE

					LEOPARD TREK

DAVITAMON-LOTTO	PREDICTOR-LOTTO	SILENCE – LOTTO		OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO		Lotto Belisol team

PHONAK HEARING SYSTEMS

QUICK STEP – INNERGETIC		QUICK STEP			QUICKSTEP CYCLING TEAM	OMEGA PHARMA – QUICKSTEP

						Orica Greenedge

RABOBANK					RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM

SAUNIER DUVAL- PRODIR		SAUNIER DUVAL-SCOTT	FUJI-SERVETTO	FOOTON-SERVETTO

				SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM	SKY PROCYCLING

TEAM CSC			TEAM SAXO BANK		SAXO BANK SUNGARD	Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank

			TEAM KATUSHA

TEAM MILRAM

				TEAM RADIOSHACK		Radioshack – Nissan

	UNIBET.COM

					VACANSOLEIL-DCM

Posted in UCI Pro tour
Tags: Cycling history, Team jerseys, UCI Pro tour
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A visual look at the UCI World ProTour stats

January 23rd, 2012 Mark Croonen

Based on my hugely popular UCI Pro Tour Stats post Smile with tongue out I have now turned the data into an interactive set of graphs using some really cool software called Tableau. Once again this data was taken from the publically available UCI archives. The only thing I have done is to represent the raw point score as percentage of the yearly total to even out the differences between the total points scored each year.

With all these charts you can

Select and highlight individual countries.
Use the slider bar to select a specific year.
Using the magnifying tools in the top left corner you can zoom into areas of interest or where the data is “crowded”
Move the mouse over each data point reveal all the data for each point.
if you get stuck with the filters you can click the “Revert all” button at the bottom of each infographic

Points vs. Riders

This is a comparison of how many riders each country has and how many points they have scored, the size of the circle represents the country’s population. So countries with a small circle above the trend line are considered to be the high performing countries.

Population vs. Riders

This is a comparison of how many riders each country has compared to its population, the size of the circle represents how many points the country has scored. So countries with a large circle below the trend line are considered to be the high performing countries.

The next two are more just to show the features of the Tableau software which I thought looked interesting.

Geo location of the riders.

This shows the data overlaid on a world map, showing where the riders come, the size of the circle represents how many riders come from the country. Remember you can use the magnifying tools to zoom in over Europe.

Geo location of points scored.

Similar to the previous one, this shows which country has scored points and how many.

Posted in General Bike News, UCI Pro tour
Tags: data visulisation, Statistics, UCI Pro tour
No Comments

Australian Tour de France riders

January 11th, 2012 Mark Croonen

I had this come across my desk the other day which I thought was of interest. It is a complete list of Australians who have competed in the Tour de France since 1914.

Year	Rider	Team	Final Place	Started	Finished	Final Time*	Remarks
1914	Duncan "Don" Kirkham	Phebus-Dunlop	17th	145	54	at 11h 53′ 39"
1914	Ivor "Iddo" / "Snowy" Munro	Phebus-Dunlop	20th	145	54	at 12h 34′ 57"
1928	Hubert Opperman	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop	18th	162	41	at 8h 34′ 35"	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop was an Aus/NZ team raised by the Melbourne Herald. Plan to include experienced europeans fell through.
1928	Perry Osborne	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop	38th	162	41	at 22h 01′ 49"
1928	Ernest Bainbridge	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop	dnf	162	41	ab. Stage 15	was about 16 hours down when he retired
1931	Hubert Opperman	Australia-Switzerland	12th	81	35	at 1h 36′ 43"
1931	Richard-William Lamb	Australia-Switzerland	35th	81	35	at 6h 27′ 06"
1931	Oserick Bernard Nicholson	Australia-Switzerland	dnf	81	35	ab. Stage 4
1931	Frankie Thomas	Australia-Switzerland	dnf	81	35	ab. Stage 3
1952	John Beasley	Luxembourg	dnf	123	78	ab. Stage 2
1955	John Beasley	Internations	dnf	130	69	ab. Stage 3	"Internations" was a successor to the Luxembourg national team, and included Charly Gaul, who was 3rd overall
1955	Russell Mockridge	Internations	64th	130	69	at 4h 14′ 46"
1967	Bill Lawrie	Great Britain	dnf	130	88	hd. Stage 7	Team included Tom Simpson who died on Mont Ventoux (stage 13)
1974	Don Allan	Frisol-Flair Plastics	103rd	130	105	at 3h 16′ 53"
1975	Don Allan	Frisol-G.B.C.	85th	140	86	at 3h 25′ 38"
1981	Phil Anderson	Peugeot-Esso-Michelin	10th	150	121	at 27′ 00"	1st Yellow Jersey
1982	Phil Anderson	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	5th	170	125	at 12′ 16"	9 days in yellow, winner White Jersey, won stage 2, 3rd in points comp.
1983	Phil Anderson	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	9th	140	88	at 16′ 56"
1984	Phil Anderson	Panasonic-Raleigh	10th	170	124	at 29′ 16"
1984	Alan Peiper	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	95th	170	124	at 2h 31′ 28"
1985	Phil Anderson	Panasonic-Raleigh	5th	180	144	at 7′ 44"
1985	Alan Peiper	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	86th	180	144	at 1h 56′ 54"
1986	Phil Anderson	Panasonic	39th	210	132	at 1h 19′ 41"
1987	Phil Anderson	Panasonic-Isostar	27th	207	135	at 1h 20′ 43"
1987	Alan Peiper	Panasonic-Isostar	dnf	207	135	ab. Stage 21
1987	Shane Sutton	ANC-Halfords	dnf	207	135	ab. Stage 13
1988	Michael Wilson	Weinmann-La Suisse-SMM	50th	198	151	at 1h 09′ 31"
1989	Phil Anderson	TVM-Ragno	38th	198	138	at 1h 11′ 38"
1989	Michael Wilson	Helvetia-La Suisse	69th	198	138	at 1h 44′ 05"
1989	Stephen Hodge	Caja Rural-Paternina	83rd	198	138	at 1h 53′ 35"
1990	Phil Anderson	TVM	71st	198	156	at 1h 30′ 01"
1990	Alan Peiper	Panasonic-Sportlife	dnf	198	156	ab. Stage 8
1990	Stephen Hodge	O.N.C.E.	34th	198	156	at 44′ 22"
1991	Phil Anderson	Motorola	45th	198	158	at 1h 08′ 45"	Won stage 10
1991	Stephen Hodge	O.N.C.E.	67th	198	158	at 1h 32′ 52"
1992	Phil Anderson	Motorola	81st	198	130	at 2h 23′ 30"
1992	Alan Peiper	Tulip Computers	126th	198	130	at 3h 40′ 21"
1992	Stephen Hodge	O.N.C.E.	93rd	198	130	at 2h 45′ 55"
1992	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	74th	198	130	at 2h 15′ 42"
1993	Phil Anderson	Motorola	84th	180	136	at 2h 10′ 45"
1993	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	dnf	180	136	ab. Stage 13
1994	Phil Anderson	Motorola	69th	189	117	at 2h 01′ 13"
1994	Stephen Hodge	Festina-Andorra	83rd	189	117	at 2h 23′ 50"
1994	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	52nd	189	117	at 1h 47′ 59"
1994	Patrick Jonker	Novemail-Histor-Laser Computer	dnf	189	117	ab. Stage 14
1995	Stephen Hodge	Festina	64th	189	115	at 2h 16′ 01"
1995	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	60th	189	115	at 2h 28′ 17"
1996	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	49th	198	129	at 1h 42′ 13"
1996	Scott Sunderland	Lotto-Isoglass	101st	198	129	at 2h 32′ 54"
1996	Patrick Jonker	O.N.C.E.	12th	198	129	at 18′ 58"
1997	Neil Stephens	Festina	54th	198	139	at 2h 23′ 40"	Won stage 17
1997	Patrick Jonker	Rabobank	62nd	198	139	at 2h 33′ 38"
1997	Stuart O’Grady	Gan	109th	198	139	at 3h 35′ 56"
1997	Henk Vogels	Gan	99th	198	139	at 3h 26′ 46"
1997	Robbie McEwen	Rabobank	117th	198	139	at 3h 45′ 47"
1998	Neil Stephens	Festina	dnf	189	96	ab. Stage 7
1998	Patrick Jonker	Rabobank	34th	189	96	at 1h 16′ 49"
1998	Stuart O’Grady	Gan	54th	189	96	at 1h 46′ 04"	Won stage 14, 3 days in yellow, 2nd in points comp.
1998	Robbie McEwen	Rabobank	63rd	189	96	at 1h 57′ 30"
1999	Patrick Jonker	Rabobank	97th	180	141	at 2h 32′ 20"
1999	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	94th	180	141	at 2h 30′ 07"	2nd in points comp.
1999	Henk Vogels	Credit Agricole	121st	180	141	at 2h 49′ 17"
1999	Robbie McEwen	Rabobank	122nd	180	141	at 2h 49′ 23"	Won stage 20 (Paris)
1999	Jay Sweet	Big Mat-Auber 93	dnf	180	141	hd. Stage 15
2000	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	dnf	180	128	np. Stage 7
2000	Robbie McEwen	Farm Frites	113th	180	128	at 3h 04′ 28"	2nd in points comp.
2001	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	54th	189	144	at 1h 36′ 20"	6 days in yellow, 2nd in points comp
2001	Bradley McGee	Francaise Des Jeux	83rd	189	144	at 2h 17′ 54"
2002	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	77th	189	153	at 2h 07′ 02"	3rd in points comp
2002	Robbie McEwen	Lotto-Adecco	130th	189	153	at 3h 03′ 30"	Won stage 3 & stage 20 (Paris), won green jersey
2002	Bradley McGee	fdjeux.com	109th	189	153	at 2h 39′ 02"	Won stage 7
2002	Baden Cooke	fdjeux.com	127th	189	153	at 3h 00′ 01"
2003	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	90th	198	147	at 2h 41′ 24"
2003	Robbie McEwen	Lotto-Domo	143rd	198	147	at 4h 13′ 28"	2nd in points comp.
2003	Bradley McGee	fdjeux.com	133rd	198	147	at 3h 52′ 49"	2 days in yellow, won Prologue
2003	Baden Cooke	fdjeux.com	140th	198	147	at 4h 04′ 10"	Won stage 2, won green jersey
2003	Matt Wilson	fdjeux.com	dnf	198	147	hd. Stage 11
2003	Michael Rogers	Quick Step-Davitamon	42nd	198	147	at 1h 37′ 28"
2003	Nick Gates	Lotto-Domo	dnf	198	147	ab. Stage 1
2004	Scott Sunderland	Alessio-Bianchi	96th	188	147	at 2h 35′ 20"
2004	Stuart O’Grady	Cofidis	61st	188	147	at 1h 51′ 41"	Won stage 5
2004	Robbie McEwen	Lotto-Domo	122nd	188	147	at 2h 59′ 18"	One day in yellow, won stage 2 & stage 9, won green jersey
2004	Bradley McGee	fdjeux.com	dnf	188	147	ab. Stage 5
2004	Baden Cooke	fdjeux.com	139th	188	147	at 3h 15′ 45"
2004	Matt Wilson	fdjeux.com	144th	188	147	at 3h 36′ 31"
2004	Michael Rogers	Quick Step-Davitamon	22nd	188	147	at 41′ 39"
2004	Nick Gates	Lotto-Domo	dnf	188	147	ab. Stage 16
2004	Allan Davis	Liberty Seguros	98th	188	147	at 2h 36′ 16"
2005	Stuart O’Grady	Cofidis	77th	189	155	at 2h 27′ 19"	2nd in points comp.
2005	Robbie McEwen	Davitamon-Lotto	134th	189	155	at 3h 41′ 42"	Won stage 4, stage 6 & stage 12, 3rd in points comp
2005	Bradley McGee	Francaise Des Jeux	105th	189	155	at 2h 55′ 59"
2005	Baden Cooke	Francaise Des Jeux	142nd	189	155	at 3h 47′ 17"
2005	Michael Rogers	Quick Step-Innergetic	41st	189	155	at 1h 24′ 32"
2005	Allan Davis	Liberty Seguros-Wurth Team	84th	189	155	at 2h 34′ 40"
2005	Luke Roberts	Team CSC	102nd	189	155	at 2h 54′ 12"
2005	Cadel Evans	Davitamon-Lotto	8th	189	155	at 11′ 55"
2005	Matthew White	Cofidis	123rd	189	155	at 3h 23′ 41"
2005	Simon Gerrans	Ag2r Prevoyance	126th	189	155	at 3h 27′ 03"
2006	Stuart O’Grady	Team CSC	90th	176	138	at 2h 54′ 28"
2006	Robbie McEwen	Davitamon-Lotto	115th	176	138	at 3h 20′ 04"	Won stage 2, stage 4 & stage 6, won green jersey
2006	Michael Rogers	T-Mobile Team	9th	176	138	at 14′ 10"
2006	Cadel Evans	Davitamon-Lotto	4th	176	138	at 4′ 11"
2006	Simon Gerrans	Ag2r Prevoyance	78th	176	138	at 2h 45′ 36"
2007	Stuart O’Grady	Team CSC	dnf	189	141	ab. Stage 8
2007	Robbie McEwen	Predictor-Lotto	dnf	189	141	hd. Stage 8	Won stage 1
2007	Michael Rogers	T-Mobile Team	dnf	189	141	ab. Stage 8
2007	Cadel Evans	Predictor-Lotto	2nd	189	141	at 0′ 23"
2007	Simon Gerrans	Ag2r Prevoyance	94th	189	141	at 3h 09′ 19"
2007	Heinrich Haussler	Gerolsteiner	129th	189	141	at 3h 32′ 30"
2007	Brett Lancaster	Team Milram	dnf	189	141	ab. Stage 5
2008	Stuart O’Grady	Team CSC-Saxo Bank	109th	180	145	at 3h 07′ 46"
2008	Robbie McEwen	Silence-Lotto	122nd	180	145	at 3h 22′ 36"
2008	Baden Cooke	Barloworld	dnf	180	145	ab. Stage 12
2008	Cadel Evans	Silence-Lotto	2nd	180	145	at 0′ 58"	5 days in yellow
2008	Simon Gerrans	Credit Agricole	79th	180	145	at 2h 14′ 25"	Won stage 15
2008	Heinrich Haussler	Gerolsteiner	126th	180	145	at 3h 25′ 34"
2008	Brett Lancaster	Team Milram	129th	180	145	at 3h 27′ 29"
2008	Adam Hansen	Team Columbia	108th	180	145	at 3h 04′ 53"
2008	Mark Renshaw	Credit Agricole	dnf	180	145	ab. Stage 15
2008	Trent Lowe	Garmni Chipotle	77th	180	145	at 2h 13′ 41"
2009	Stuart O’Grady	Team Saxo Bank	124th	180	156	at 3h 08′ 39"
2009	Michael Rogers	Team Columbia-HTC	103rd	180	156	at 2h 42 57"
2009	Cadel Evans	Silence-Lotto	30th	180	156	at 45′ 24"
2009	Heinrich Haussler	Cervelo Test Team	97th	180	156	at 2h 28′ 35"	Won Stage 13
2009	Brett Lancaster	Cervelo Test Team	127th	180	156	at 3h 15′ 33"
2009	Mark Renshaw	Team Columbia-HTC	149th	180	156	at 3h 46′ 20"
2009	Matthew Lloyd	Silence-Lotto	46th	180	156	at 1h 09′ 05"
2010	Stuart O’Grady	Team Saxo Bank	149th	198	170	at 3h 42′ 39"
2010	Robbie McEwen	Katyusha	165th	198	170	at 4h 08′ 28"
2010	Michael Rogers	Team Columbia-HTC	37th	198	170	at 1h 10′ 11"
2010	Luke Roberts	Team Milram	103rd	198	170	at 3h 04′ 07"
2010	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	26th	198	170	at 50′ 27"	1 day in yellow
2010	Simon Gerrans	Team Sky	dnf	198	170	np. Stage 9
2010	Brett Lancaster	Cervelo Test Team	159th	198	170	at 3h 57′ 00"
2010	Adam Hansen	Team Columbia-HTC	dnf	198	170	np. Stage 2
2010	Mark Renshaw	Team Columbia-HTC	dnf	198	170	dq. Stage 11
2010	Matthew Lloyd	Omega Pharma – Lotto	47th	198	170	at 1h 30′ 02"
2010	Wesley Sulzberger	Francaise Des Jeux	152nd	198	170	at 3h 46′ 59"
2011	Stuart O’Grady	Team Leopard – Trek	78th	198	167	at 2h 17′ 58"
2011	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	1st	198	167	86h 12′ 22"	Won yellow jersey, 1 day in yellow, won stage 4
2011	Simon Gerrans	Team Sky	96th	198	167	at 2h 37′ 25"
2011	Mark Renshaw	HTC-Highroad	163rd	198	167	at 3h 44′ 00"
2011	Richie Porte	Saxo Bank-Sungard	72nd	198	167	at 2h 09′ 24"
2011	Matthew Goss	HTC-Highroad	142nd	198	167	at 3h 22′ 32"

*ab.	abandon
np.	non participant (did not start)
hd.	hors delai (outside time limit)
dq.	disqualified

Posted in General Bike News, UCI Pro tour
Tags: Australians, Riders, Tour de France
One Comment

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Want a Strava KOM, get yourself the Strava Android app

My tips for the Olympic Road Race

Jerseys of the Pro Tour

A visual look at the UCI World ProTour stats

Australian Tour de France riders