Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Monday, February 14, 2011

The 2 Robbies deliver on flat tyres... didn't Sean Kelly specialise in this sort of rim-riding?

It's always disappointing to feel that softening tyre under you, more so when you've ridden through all but the last few kays of a race. So Hunter can be doubly pleased to still get the win.

I can recall Irish hard-man sprinter Sean Kelly doing something similar back in the 80's but can't remember which race that was. I think he won on the rim itself - but maybe not? As McEwen said, it's hard to control the fishtailing when you have bottomed out.

The ‘two Robbies’ deliver big weekend in India for RadioShack
“We actually both punctured. He won the race on a half-flat tire. When I was coming off the bridge with about a kilometer and half to go, I felt it was half-gone, but as I got across the bridge, my rim was hitting the road. I couldn’t pedal without my bike just fish-tailing,” McEwen said. “Just as I was about to tell Rob – I saw him bouncing on his (wheel) – he turned around and said, ‘I’ve got a flat!’ I said you have more air than I have, so go for it. Mine was totally gone, but it was too late to change a wheel and get back, it was never going to happen. We were coming down the bridge at full speed, so I told Robbie, you’ve got to sprint on yours because mine is gone.”



Sunday, October 10, 2010

I almost agree with Mark Cavendish. Am I going mad? A balanced view on India and the Commonwealth Games

Given the intensely critical and largely anti-Indian drivel written and broadcast prior (and during) the Commonwealth Games it's somewhat refreshing to read Mark Cavendish's honest and balanced opinion. Whilst I may not say it exactly the same way I tend to agree with the overall tone. The lead-up to the Beijing Olympics was similar with the old media focused on the delays, disease, displaced homeless and poor air quality rather than the opportunity. Yes, these are common problems in developing nations. And so it is with these games and the host, India. Of course it hasn't been plain sailing and there are problems, and it may all go pear-shaped from here. But for mine I think India is doing a great job - and for such an enormous time-critical project it appears to be going - if not perfectly - quite well.

I'm sure they'd do even better if they had the surfeit of public resources that the Western so-called "developed" nations have. Indeed what the Western nations - or at least their old guard media - haven't developed is a sense of decency and fair play in their reporting. That doesn't mean covering up, it means balance. Bravo to Mark C. for his remarks.     

Cavendish Frustrated By Lack Of New Contract Deal With HTC-Columbia | Cyclingnews.com
“We’re in India,” said Cavendish. “It’s not a Western country. “I think it's quite ignorant to assume we were going to going to be in a Western-style country. I've been to India before on holiday - I knew what it was going to be like."

“I think it's ignorant not to respect the way those countries are, it's how it is. The reason India's got the Commonwealth Games is because it's a developing country, so you can't expect it to be like going to Hong Kong or something."