2016 MFP Giro d'Italia Challenge - Podium Ceremony

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TheBigYin
TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
edited June 2016 in Social Groups
Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome to the Prizegiving ceremony.

First Up, We have the Sprinters Jersey - The Maglia Rossa Passione (or the Red Jersey) - this is based on the highest average speed over the entire Giro duration.

This Jersey was won with an average of 31.01kph - a 1.25kph faster than his nearest rival... Our Jersey winner this year is...

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Congratulations Andrew, Excellent Riding.




Second Jersey is one that's not actually awarded anymore in the Giro, but as I'm a bit of a traditionalist, I wanted to still hand one out...

There's a bit of a history with the Giro d'Italia of competing for the "Maglia Nera" - the Black Jersey - pretty much the (more stylish) alternative to LeTour's "Lanterne Rouge"...

My Criteria for this jersey was that the rider needed to have made at least 6 entries, in at least 3 sections of the tour. That way, its not just going to someone who rode once then jacked in, or got injured...

So, and I hope she accepts it in the spirit it was intended, our winner of the Maglia Nera this year with 178.1km booked in 6 separate rides (and managed to get a "planned non-riding week" in there into the bargain!) is Cindy...

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(I must say, I think it's actually far more stylish looking than the other jerseys, and is probably the only one i'd actually purchase to wear myself...)

Third Jersey is the Maglia Azura - the "climbers jersey" - based on the GPS logged ascent as per Strava links. This years winner clocked up an amazing 13,388 metres of ascent - that's over 8 miles upwards folks!

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Well done Dave.

and so, to the big prize...

We don't have a stunning trophy like the real thing i'm afraid...

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This years winner, rode 20 of the 21 stages and clocked up 1,431.0km, a clear 161.0km in front of anyone else.

Ladies and Gentlemen - Our Maglia Rosa Winner this year is....

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Congratulations once again Dave.


Honourable mentions on the GC have to go to our second place rider, Karan, only 161km behind, and also the runner up in the climbers jersey competition. Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention Jason's efforts for third, especially as 892.4km of his 1,223.4km were clocked up in 3 rides... if only he could keep out of the Dentists Chair he could be a contender ;)


Also - I've been running an "all rounder" competition based on points for the three main jerseys - everyone gets points from 36 down to 1 point based on their position in the three jersey competitions. The "all rounder" is the person with the highest overall points combined... It's a bit complicated, but if you check the logging spreadsheet, it makes a little more sense.

Anyhow...

Our All-Rounders competition winner is rider #301 again - @dave2041 - in view of his top spots on the GC and KoM's and a creditable 7th in overall average speed.

As mentioned in the Discussion thread, the Giro is notorious for having all sorts of "mini-competitions" as well as the main Jerseys...

Here's my Take on those

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THE CIMA COPPI

In the real Giro, this is a prize awarded to the person who crosses the KoM line first, on the Highest point of the entire race... As this is about "speed of ascent", I've decided to award this prize to the person who has the highest "VAM" (Velocità Ascensionale Media - or Average Climbing Speed). As this is actually a "one off" prize, taken on a single day's ride, there's no requirement for "finishing" the challenge to pick up this prize, although i've actually awarded the prize to the person with the highest AVERAGE VAM over the whole 3 week challenge...

If you check the VAM tab of the logging spreadsheet - you'll see that the runaway winner is Aaron @lbchilds2001




PREMIO DELLA FUGA


This is the breakaway prize in the Giro - but, it's basically an award for the person who puts in the most work in the challenge - it's harder work out in the break than in the peloton. As a measure of that, I've decided to use one of the facilities of the CycLeagues app, based on it's "points system" that combines Distance, Time in the saddle and Ascent into a single score. Put simply, in CycLeagues, select the "Giro d'Italia" from the pulldown, and see who's top of the 1st Cat Riders. And, that honour goes to Karan @narak_lol

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FIGHTING SPIRIT


In the Giro, this is a measure of aggression and hands out points for competing for categorised climbs, intermediate sprints, and stage finishes. Well - in OUR challenge, it goes to the most dedicated rider - To win it, you have to have ridden all the Stages. If more than one person rides all the stages, then it's decided on total distance.

And that singular honour goes to Chris @KitTheRoadie - the only person this grand tour to ride every one of the 21 stages. Chapeau!


And Finally - the Team Competition...

Well, I have to say I'm afraid that the person (okay, ME) who tried to "seed" the teams to ensure an even balance really screwed up this time. Sorry, but my error in judgement meant that the top spot was pretty much a foregone conclusion by half way through the tour

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However, it has to be said, that the competiton between Team Pie and Twinkie Scoff was neck-and-neck. Also, as an interesting (if your a stat's geek like me) note - the average distance ridden taken over 4 teams was 4,786.51 km - the second and third teams were within 70km of that figure - so, basically, team Pastana had a couple of riders that should have been on Lotta Jumbo's and vice versa... At least that makes it less of a headache for me in trying to level the playing field a little for LeTour and LaVuelta.


So...

That's it folks for the Giro. All that remains is to thank everyone for their participation, and to remind you to keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of the Grand Tour Challenge - LeTour - commencing in Normandy on the 2nd of July, and running until the 24th July... I don't even get a rest-day on my birthday for this one (July 14th if anyone's interested, I prefer red wine to chocolates, flowers or cards...)

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  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Much congrats to everyone who bagged a trophy and all that rode, excellent work again by Mark and a job well done all round, it was very gratifying to see the automatic updates working nicely too, the future is here! :)

  • narak_lol
    narak_lol Posts: 855 Member
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    Congratulations to all the jersey winners! Huge thanks to Mark for once again putting together the competition, lots of hours and hard work... I have enjoyed every stage of the Giro (did I say I often checked out everyone's distances & elevations as soon as I got mine in :D )
  • Dave2041
    Dave2041 Posts: 257 Member
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    Thank you Mark, well done on running another successful challenge :smile:
  • m1xm0d3
    m1xm0d3 Posts: 1,576 Member
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    Nicely done, everyone!
  • nerdieprofessor
    nerdieprofessor Posts: 512 Member
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    Oh, Andrew loves red! He'll be so excited (whenever he actually wakes up).
  • BamaBoyScout
    BamaBoyScout Posts: 47 Member
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    I really like PIE!
    I never thought I would earn a sprinter's jersey!
    :o)
  • Spatialized
    Spatialized Posts: 623 Member
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    Well done to everyone! Awesome work. See y'all on the line in Utrecht on the 4th of July!
  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
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    Chapeau everyone for taking part & well done to all the Jersey winners!

    Sorry I had to sit this one out :( I'd much rather have ridden!

    Keep that red jersey warm ;)
  • butters1
    butters1 Posts: 1,540 Member
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    Oh dear, I look terrible in black lol. I'm going to have to work much harder :)

    Congrat's to all the real winners! And Thank you Mark.
  • ruthbardell
    ruthbardell Posts: 76 Member
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    Well done to all the winners, and a big thank you to Mark and Jason for the amount of work they have put in to this challenge and the auto magic logging.

    I'm really glad I stumbled across this group :)
  • anaconda469
    anaconda469 Posts: 3,461 Member
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    For a all girl team, Team Twinkie Scoff battled it out to the end. Congrats to us girls!
  • FitterBody
    FitterBody Posts: 367 Member
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    Congrats to the winners. Thanks to Mark & Jason. Good effort fellow Team Pie riders.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Thanks to everyone for joining in - even if you only rode 1 time more than you would have if the challenge hadn't been there, then it's all worth it - because that's REALLY what its all about - not winning some collection of pixels that look like a jersey, not "beating" some virtual person that you'll maybe never see in real life, and not about riding yourself into the ground for some "virtual team". It's about getting people to apply Chamois to Saddle and get out there and enjoy riding the bike.

    Its worked wonders for me - I rode all bar 1 of the stages myself, and it's had a great effect not only on my confidence in riding (I now know that I can ride more than 2 days in a row without completely ruining myself...) but it's had a brilliant effect on my overall fitness and endurance... I got an email today from the guy who's been tracking my rehab after the Cardio procedure I went through in september last year.

    Here we go - (brace yourselves, here comes the science bit)

    Overall "fitness" - as quantified via Coggan Chronic Training Load - up from 87.3 to 99.0 +13.4%

    Power Figures over the Duration of the Giro - based on a test FTP of 206W / CP of 218W

    5 sec Peak Power 1017 24 May 2016 (-15)
    1 min Peak Power 407 18 May 2016 (-3)
    3 min Peak Power 285 18 May 2016 (-3)
    5 min Peak Power 259 18 May 2016 (-3)
    20 min Peak Power 208 18 May 2016 (-3)
    60 min Peak Power 157 14 May 2016 (-7)

    Time in Power Zones
    Critical Power (watts): 218
    Zone  Description        Low (w) High (w)   	Time        %
    Z1      Active Recovery      0           119    15:33:26   44
    Z2      Endurance          119           163     5:02:50   14
    Z3      Tempo              163           196     4:05:24   12
    Z4      Threshold          196           228     3:29:25   10
    Z5      VO2Max             228           261     2:34:26    7
    Z6      Anaerobic          261           327	 2:49:50    8
    Z7      Neuromuscular      327           MAX     1:49:38    5
    

    which surprised me - that I was actually spending maybe 25% of my time over my CP, even though I felt like I was actually not really pushing myself... So, perhaps its time again for another FTP testing session - maybe in another week or so, after a gentle recovery week...

    The other interesting thing I was told from the Doc's was to "not worry about the Heart Rate figures anymore - just ride as you would normally, and let the meds take care of any "over-runs" in HR speed... so - no watching the clock on HR numbers. They also suggested that after comparing the "Kj" figures from my rides and the Calories calculation from the Garmin, I need to re-set my Heart Rate Zone parameters in the Garmin (and as a follow on, in Strava, GoldenCheetah et.al.) so that my zones actually reflect the "normal" 5 zone pattern...

    RHR 43, MHR 138

    Z1 Active Recovery 0 - 82
    Z2 Endurance 83 - 102
    Z3 Tempo 103 - 114
    Z4 Threshold 115 - 128
    Z5 VO2Max 129+

    When I say "normal" - I obviously mean "normal for me" at the moment, with the current meds in force.

    No sign on the horizon as to when those meds are going to be reduced though, but the next step is to have a relatively easy weeks riding, then a couple of weeks to sharpen up ready for LeTour...




  • Dave2041
    Dave2041 Posts: 257 Member
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    Wow your max heart rate is mid zone two for me currently!
  • narak_lol
    narak_lol Posts: 855 Member
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    "not worry about the Heart Rate figures anymore - just ride as you would normally" - what a delightful news!! So happy for you!
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    Dave2041 wrote: »
    Wow your max heart rate is mid zone two for me currently!

    yeah - think it was just about "base" figure for Tempo for me - I know I looked at it when they gave me the figure, and found at least 5 rides where I'd not dipped under that figure for 4 hours straight before they fitted the bits of steel mesh in my ticker and loaded me up on god only knows what medications...
    narak_lol wrote: »
    "not worry about the Heart Rate figures anymore - just ride as you would normally" - what a delightful news!! So happy for you!

    well, it's good to know that I don't have to keep one eye on the Garmin at all times... but basically, it's more about the fact that they now pretty much "Trust" the med's are capable of keeping my HR at a safe level even if I'm grunting my way up a 12% slope at 500w ... in short, the meds will keep me safe, even if I try too hard... I just "run out of steam" at around 136bpm no matter how hard I try. Feels a little bit like being at altitude - there's just not enough oxygen going around the muscles no matter how hard the heart beats, because its not allowed to "rev" - a bit like those Diesel Vans with a "limiter" fitted - they go fine until they hit the limiter, then no matter how hard you keep your foot to the floor, they stay at the same speed...



  • ntnunk
    ntnunk Posts: 936 Member
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    Congrats to Mark for the really encouraging news and data, and thanks for all the hard work running this whole thing. Thanks go out as well to Jas for all his hard work on the Cycleagues site. And of course, congrats to all the jersey winners!
  • KitTheRoadie
    KitTheRoadie Posts: 641 Member
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    Amazing, just what I was hoping for! :-D Thanks to Mark and Jase for excellent work with the administration side of things. Now to plod on with the summer challenge and prepare for Le Tour!

    Great news for you too Mark, it's so good to see cycling playing a part to your recovery, long may it continue.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Oh, and in case you all thought I'd forgotten (I had...) - theres the results of the Graham Watson thread...

    After checking with my "independent judge" and basing the judging on shots that tried to get the "italian spirit" in there somehow...

    the winner is

    @KitTheRoadie...

    sstltcbn8e74.jpg

    In the words of the Judge "Lovely Delicate Colours and rolling hills, squint a little, add in a few hilltop Farms, and you might just be in Tuscany..."


    Guess that's all folks now from the Giro - time to close-up the giro threads and start preparing a sign-up sheet etc. for LeTour.