July 3rd Tour de France on OLN - Questions...

HOLY COW.

Frickin' awesome coverage of the tour on OLN.

One thing that struck me: EVERYONE finished within seconds of each other.
Even the stragglers were within sight of the podium crowd.

What this suggests to me is the riders must train within *extremely close*
conditions to each other.

I mean, if some team doctor screws up two weeks before a tour and says
"here, take this new vitamin" and it turns out to be a bad choice, I would
think TINY changes like that could be enough to cost someone a win.

Know what I mean?

Chris - *awe-struck*

On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 11:05:25 -0400, C.J.Patten wrote:

One thing that struck me: EVERYONE finished within seconds of each other.
Even the stragglers were within sight of the podium crowd.

What this suggests to me is the riders must train within *extremely close*
conditions to each other.

Just wait for the mountain stages!


I guess that this might be the first TdF you've followed? If so get
to a newsstand and buy a copy of the Tour special edition of one of the
cycling mags. That will explain the tactics and the likely outcome of the
different stages. For example Cycling Weekly wrote about today's stage
"Tradition has it that the first road stage of the Tour features a long
fruitless break, several big crashes and a bunch sprint, and this long
loop through western France is unlikely to provide anything out of the
ordinary." Well, the crashes were small, but apart from that they were
spot on.


Mike

It's a stage race. Except for crashes which might put a rider out of the
running, not too much happens in any one stage. Watching the TdF is kind of
like watching paint dry (yes, I'm a longtime cycling fan, but let's face it,
bike races aren't exactly made-for-TV events), except for a few moments,
like end of stage sprints, and even these aren't very relevant to the
outcome of the race. Only a baseball game on TV is less exciting :-)

It's a different thing if you're actually there though. In that case, it's
the atmosphere and the party of the thing, not the actual race, since you
only see a few fleeting seconds of it anyway.

I don't know about vitamins, but slight mismanagement of the EPO could be
disastrous for any rider.






"C.J.Patten" wrote in message
...
HOLY COW.

Frickin' awesome coverage of the tour on OLN.

One thing that struck me: EVERYONE finished within seconds of each other.
Even the stragglers were within sight of the podium crowd.

What this suggests to me is the riders must train within *extremely close*
conditions to each other.

I mean, if some team doctor screws up two weeks before a tour and says
"here, take this new vitamin" and it turns out to be a bad choice, I would
think TINY changes like that could be enough to cost someone a win.

Know what I mean?

Chris - *awe-struck*

"Pete" wrote in message
...
It's a stage race. Except for crashes which might put a rider out of the
running, not too much happens in any one stage. Watching the TdF is kind
of like watching paint dry (yes, I'm a longtime cycling fan, but let's
face it, bike races aren't exactly made-for-TV events), except for a few
moments, like end of stage sprints, and even these aren't very relevant to
the outcome of the race. Only a baseball game on TV is less exciting :-)

It's a different thing if you're actually there though. In that case, it's
the atmosphere and the party of the thing, not the actual race, since you
only see a few fleeting seconds of it anyway.

I don't know about vitamins, but slight mismanagement of the EPO could be
disastrous for any rider.


I've gotta pretty much agree with you Pete. I've been a serious cycling
addict for a long time, but when I set my VCR to record the TdF, for most
stages I only bother to catch the last 1/2 hour. The rest of the time there
just isn't much going on and, even if there is, OLN will show it six more
time throughout the day. The mountain stages are a bit more interesting, be
even there, if it's not an uphill finish it'll be rather blah. Now, I will
say that when there's excitement, it can be spectacularly exciting. Take,
for instance, back in 2003 when Beloki crashed in front of Armstrong and
Lance cut across that field. That was simply awesome. I know OLN is doing
some "top 25 Lance moments" thing. I haven't seen how that's going, but to
me, nothing he's done will top that moment of luck or brilliance or whatever
it was.

But yep ... it can often be like watching paint dry. Today's highlight was
Thomas Vockler winning the sprint to the top of a Cat. 4 climb to claim the
first KOM jersey. YYYAAAAAAWWWWNNNN. Actually, today's highlight was the
interview with Sheryl Crow afterward. She's pretty sharp.
--
Bob C.

"Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts."
T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

"psycholist" wrote in message
...
"Pete" wrote in message
...
It's a stage race. Except for crashes which might put a rider out of the
running, not too much happens in any one stage. Watching the TdF is kind
of like watching paint dry (yes, I'm a longtime cycling fan, but let's
face it, bike races aren't exactly made-for-TV events), except for a few
moments, like end of stage sprints, and even these aren't very relevant
to the outcome of the race. Only a baseball game on TV is less exciting
:-)

It's a different thing if you're actually there though. In that case,
it's the atmosphere and the party of the thing, not the actual race,
since you only see a few fleeting seconds of it anyway.

I don't know about vitamins, but slight mismanagement of the EPO could be
disastrous for any rider.


I've gotta pretty much agree with you Pete. I've been a serious cycling
addict for a long time, but when I set my VCR to record the TdF, for most
stages I only bother to catch the last 1/2 hour. The rest of the time
there just isn't much going on and, even if there is, OLN will show it six
more time throughout the day. The mountain stages are a bit more
interesting, be even there, if it's not an uphill finish it'll be rather
blah. Now, I will say that when there's excitement, it can be
spectacularly exciting. Take, for instance, back in 2003 when Beloki
crashed in front of Armstrong and Lance cut across that field. That was
simply awesome. I know OLN is doing some "top 25 Lance moments" thing. I
haven't seen how that's going, but to me, nothing he's done will top that
moment of luck or brilliance or whatever it was.

But yep ... it can often be like watching paint dry. Today's highlight
was Thomas Vockler winning the sprint to the top of a Cat. 4 climb to
claim the first KOM jersey. YYYAAAAAAWWWWNNNN. Actually, today's
highlight was the interview with Sheryl Crow afterward. She's pretty
sharp.
--
Bob C.

"Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts."
T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)


My most exciting moment of watching a Tour was in 1998 when Pantani took the
lead, I forget on which mountain - no matter what happened with Pantani
afterwards. There aren't too many before that time, for me, because the only
television of it in North America was a short one hour package of highlights
on ABC, if that. I've only ever been a road cyclist, but for me, the
absolute most exciting cycling to watch happens on the track. If someone
could revive six days trials, that would be something!

Pete

"psycholist" wrote in message ...
"Pete" wrote in message
I've gotta pretty much agree with you Pete. I've been a serious cycling
addict for a long time, but when I set my VCR to record the TdF, for most
stages I only bother to catch the last 1/2 hour. The rest of the time there
just isn't much going on and, even if there is,

You guys need to take up some other sport, cycling isn't for you.

You're not a cyclist.

psycholist wrote:
...I've been a serious cycling
addict for a long time, but when I set my VCR to record the TdF, for most
stages I only bother to catch the last 1/2 hour. The rest of the time there
just isn't much going on and, even if there is, OLN will show it six more
time throughout the day...

You mean, you don't care to play Spot the Devil or enjoy the
landscaping (the round haybales as bike wheels...now that was art) or
turning your head upside down to read the vugarity painted on the road
or guessing that the Bull Horn Guy will impale his flag or admiring the
the high BMI of yer typical polka-dotted fan at the crest of a hill?

And then there's the commercials!

But yep ... it can often be like watching paint dry. Today's highlight was
Thomas Vockler winning the sprint to the top of a Cat. 4 climb to claim the
first KOM jersey. YYYAAAAAAWWWWNNNN. Actually, today's highlight was the
interview with Sheryl Crow afterward. She's pretty sharp.

What was she wearing?

--Karen M.
needs to find a smoke-free sports bar or break down & get cable for a
couple weeks

"C.J.Patten" wrote in message
...
HOLY COW.

Frickin' awesome coverage of the tour on OLN.

One thing that struck me: EVERYONE finished within seconds of each other.
Even the stragglers were within sight of the podium crowd.

What this suggests to me is the riders must train within *extremely close*
conditions to each other.

I mean, if some team doctor screws up two weeks before a tour and says
"here, take this new vitamin" and it turns out to be a bad choice, I would
think TINY changes like that could be enough to cost someone a win.

Know what I mean?

Chris - *awe-struck*



One of the major components of bicycle racing on the road is the effect of
aerodynamics. The play of aerodynamics is what makes cycling strategies
complex and hard to understand to the uninitiated. It is also why the sport
has a paradoxical combination of both individual and team capability.

When a group of riders ride closely together, the riders behind the front
riders receive a 20 to 35% reduction in the power requirement to travel at
the same speed. By trading positions at the front, the riders alternate
between resting and working hard. On flat ground the group travels at a
constant 30mph for very long distances. Faster than any rider could do over
such long distances by themselves.

When the road tilts up, gravity becomes predominate over aerodynamics and
things change. Now individuals with high power and low weight can travel
faster than many others in the group.

Because the stage you watched was flat, no one in the group could challenge
the group alone and they all stayed in the same proximity. As the route
gets more hilly you'll see more differentiation.

There's a lot more to it but this is a start.

Cool. Thanks for that Fred.

I remember seeing bits of the TdF in the Miguel Indrain and Greg Lemond
days. I was biking seriously back then but fell out of the sport for a
decade and didn't watch the tour during that time.

I find it a happy coincidence that I'm enjoying cycling again and have
access to OLN with it's total TdF coverage.

I was listening to some of the commentary this evening - I think one of the
sportscasters rode in the tour years ago? He mentioned the aerodynamic
issues too. You see the speeds on the screen but they seem ridiculously high
for such long durations until you take the drafting into account...

*********

I find it compelling to watch not for any single reason.

Partly it's the technical aspects - I'm a gear geek and like all sorts of
gizmos.

Partly it's identifying with how it must feel to do that kind of riding -
I'm sure everyone here can imagine the wind in their hair and sore thighs.

For me, it's a bit of nostalga as I used to live in Europe and can almost
smell the air as they zip through towns reminiscent of the one I lived in.

If I weren't biking again, I might not be following it, but now that I am,
watching the tour is very appealing to me.





"Fred" wrote in message
.. .
One of the major components of bicycle racing on the road is the effect of
aerodynamics. The play of aerodynamics is what makes cycling strategies
complex and hard to understand to the uninitiated. It is also why the
sport
has a paradoxical combination of both individual and team capability.

When a group of riders ride closely together, the riders behind the front
riders receive a 20 to 35% reduction in the power requirement to travel at
the same speed. By trading positions at the front, the riders alternate
between resting and working hard. On flat ground the group travels at a
constant 30mph for very long distances. Faster than any rider could do
over
such long distances by themselves.

When the road tilts up, gravity becomes predominate over aerodynamics and
things change. Now individuals with high power and low weight can travel
faster than many others in the group.

Because the stage you watched was flat, no one in the group could
challenge
the group alone and they all stayed in the same proximity. As the route
gets more hilly you'll see more differentiation.

There's a lot more to it but this is a start.

"Veloise" wrote in message

What was she wearing

A black tee with straps.