In light of Tony Martin's comments following the Dauphine stage on Saturday, I thought I'd shoot the following to give an idea of the surface following "preparations" for Le Tour. This is pretty much racing speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVLY9y3uGKE&feature=youtu.be

With all due respect, your 'racing speed' is a tad different to the Pros.

Thanks for the vid though. Not exactly a 'billiard table' like surface, is it.

With all due respect Mark, that ride was recorded on Strava. It's currently 4th out of 750 on the leaderboard and just 20s slower than Ben King And Ten Dam who are above me and did it on Saturday in the Dauphine Peloton - at the same time as Martin.

So to all intents and purposes it IS the speed of the pros sorry.

No Bart, you are 31s off King and 44 off Ten Dam

http://app.strava.com/segments/1629085

But that ride was 12 months ago? So maybe you're not Bart, in which case up the ride and show us

Must say I thought the surface was still fine for climbing. But definitely wouldn't want to race down it!

Thanks for posting.

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http://climbinglama.blogspot.com.au

Yeah, have a look at their HR's.

If they were 'racing' and pushing it as hard as you were (and as hard as they'll go in the Tour) that'll be 50+ easily.

Still, thanks for sharing.

For heaven's sake Mark - just admit it when you are wrong. I hate people on internet forums trying to wriggle like this.

It's a descent. have a look at riders SRM files from Tours past and present to see what the average pro shows on any Alpine downhill. My HR was high because I was having to power out of the hairpins as they were strewn with gravel (not swept as they would be for the pros). Also I wasn't sitting in the middle of a one hundred strong peloton being pulled along.

If you really think they race downhill much quicker than that then I'm afraid you have a fair bit to learn.

Ten Dam's heart rate is fairly low as well. 109 bpm for him is easily around 130 bpm for others.

I forgot, Stava is the real racing

You're certainly on par with a Pro. My mistake.

Thanks for sharing.

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Exp001

Nice video, thanks. Did they do anything to these shallow troughs that used to cross the road (for rainwater)? that could be dangerous.

(And Mark, I don't see airwise claiming that he can race with the pros, only that the speed was similar. If he lost 20 sec on 12-15 minutes, that is close enough, <3%, maybe 1 mph or less.)

What camera set up did you use?

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Exp001

Seriously speedy!

Nice one airwise! Thx for sharing

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Official cafe stop tester