Does anyone know when this year's Tour starts?

I've keep checking Versus but everytime I look it's the Cat 4 Kansas
State Championships.

Just a bunch of really flat boring scenery and guys riding under
20mph.

Did they condense the TdF into just a few days and are using all of
this Cat4 footage from Kansas to fill the void until the race
starts?

On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:32:30 -0700 (PDT), Bug
wrote:

I've keep checking Versus but everytime I look it's the Cat 4 Kansas
State Championships.

Just a bunch of really flat boring scenery and guys riding under
20mph.

Did they condense the TdF into just a few days and are using all of
this Cat4 footage from Kansas to fill the void until the race
starts?

The sunflowers gave it away, didn't they?

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

On Jul 15, 12:32 pm, Bug wrote:
I've keep checking Versus but everytime I look it's the Cat 4 Kansas
State Championships.

Just a bunch of really flat boring scenery and guys riding under
20mph.

Did they condense the TdF into just a few days and are using all of
this Cat4 footage from Kansas to fill the void until the race
starts?

The "Tour" was canceled in 2006, after the organizer was ****ed over
the 8th consecutive win by US riders. Now there is a memorial event of
the same name but diverse rules. Riders must now agree to abide by
retroactive blood chemistry parameters. Any arbitrary declaration can
now remove you from the race and the UCI "league". Sadly, the IOC is
also collaborating. In 2007, when a rider won on a US team, that rider
was precluded from starting in 2008. The 2008 "winner" is a top
climber and a "nice guy". Winning a stage during the reign of
Armstrong with a baby's (fake nipple toy) was the ideal image as far
as ASO deemed. Therefore for the first time since 2005, the defending
rider was actually allowed in the race. They would have DQ'ed
Armstrong long ago if they were not in fear of his lawyers. Their
plans required them to wait for LA to retire so that no other rider
would ever gain that much power. Him returning is a nightmare for
them. If he wins...it will have destroyed all of their gains…meaning
they destroyed the sport while gaining nothing.

Now is the time for Armstrong, Hamilton and Landis to initiate a new
league, not a new team in the “same old **** league”. Due to US
riders’ hard work, cycling has grown during the same 10 years (just
about to the day) of idiotic blame-games rather than effective
leadership after the disaster known as the "Festina Affair".

Blood chemistry manipulation has been difficult to regulate. When
policing caught riders who passed the proactive doping tests, rather
than "doing the right thing(s)”, poor leadership failed to explain
why. Instead they kept changing the rules till the number of defamed
riders seemed to roughly equal the perceived number of dopers. We
can't catch them all, and nobody expects to. However, a top US rider
caught is equal to 10 or more no-name losers who are in fact the
riders breaking the rules. (I mean to disrespect to the low
performers, but it is THOSE who are most likely cheating. Some doping
does yield marginal improvements but for the most part, it is the
placebo effect that has riders thinking "wow, I'm 15% stronger").
Therefore it was deemed wise to attack each of the top US riders,
especially if the real sin of threatening to result in another LA
style dominance. I was never a huge fan of LA…but it was poignant the
way he responded with and after his cancer. Only an idiot would fail
to see how surviving cancer in the peak of your sporting career would
fail to help you when the sport puts s premium on aerobic strength and
endurance. I admit I recall the day I read the press release in late
1996, there was a sting in my left eye, but the room had some dust, so…
whatever that means. While I was thrilled to follow his comeback
story, my heart at that time was behind Zulle. I believed that his
behavior above all others would be the ideal role model to learn the
only legitimate lesson of the Festina debacle. He proved that top
riders do not gain anything by doping. Only riders with a deficit gain
anything. It’s your legs that turn the pedals. While it is true that
virtually all athletes gain from more oxygen, the top riders are able
to deliver this oxygen…enough to win even against “cheaters”. I am
sorry that few believe this. I would never defend LA if there was even
a chance he was doping. He is not, he was not. The coincidence of
riders using drugs developed for cancer treatment, well it was just
too good to pass up for most of you fools. Armstrong would have to be
attacked by all of you losers. They attacked and he fought back off-
the-bike as he did on it. He fought to win, and he frightened the
“leadership” of ASO and the UCI as much or possibly more than his
brothers on the road were put off their game.


Anyhow, I don't care much about defending cheaters, but my point is
that the attitudes of the press and the fans is what led to the
pressure on the UCI, ASO and others to fail under pressure, and looked
for improved perceptions, since they believed they could not do any
better than they had when things went bad for them. If you look at the
evidence, it is possible that the leadership are causing far more
problems than the few dopers. What I “love” is that when an idiot is
caught, his testimony that “all the others” are doping is believed by
you IDIOTS! Dude was busted and the only thing you believe is the
thing you want to believe (his justification for lying and cheating in
the first place). Good job, you empowered the people that destroyed
this sport. Any of you who piled on doping threads are just as guilty
as the nominal leaders who failed. You represent the pulse of the
fans. Marketing people believe those who speak up represent roughly
the cross section of all the others who do not. In many cases, this is
valid and all they have to go by. However, cycling is unique in many
ways, and one way is that its hard-core fans see themselves as “Walter
Mitty” (that is British for “Wannabe”) racers. Therefore they DO NOT
represent the silent fans in this way. They instead represent the
idiots who use doping as a pretext to act violated. They use the
problems to convince their office-cube neighbors that they too would
be racing up and down the Loire Valley if they were not so full of
integrity that kept them from “doping like ALL the others”. What
fantastic lies and fantastic liars all of you are.

Each Post-Armstrong "Tour" has been de facto proof of their blatant
efforts to treat cycling like "Big Time Wrestling" is managed. The
ultimate irony is that it was this "sport" in the US that led these
Euro-fascists to believe they could control the sport in this way,
without repercussions. They were correct that the public is stupid
enough, but they are not smart enough to deceive...me (and…any others
that "get it"?).

Bug wrote:
I've keep checking Versus but everytime I look it's the Cat 4 Kansas
State Championships.

Just a bunch of really flat boring scenery and guys riding under
20mph.

Did they condense the TdF into just a few days and are using all of
this Cat4 footage from Kansas to fill the void until the race
starts?


I shouldn't be responding to a douchebag troll, but WTF.

I think that this year's Giro course spoiled us. The mixture of course
profiles and the early race mountains made for a very exciting race from
the early stages all the way through the end.

FWIW, I wish that could be the format for the future.

On Jul 15, 2:48*pm, z wrote:
Bug wrote:
I've keep checking Versus but everytime I look it's the Cat 4 Kansas
State Championships.

Just a bunch of really flat boring scenery and guys riding under
20mph.

Did they condense the TdF into just a few days and are using all of
this Cat4 footage from Kansas to fill the void until the race
starts?

I shouldn't be responding to a douchebag troll, but WTF.

I think that this year's Giro course spoiled us. The mixture of course
profiles and the early race mountains made for a very exciting race from
the early stages all the way through the end.

FWIW, I wish that could be the format for the future.

I'd like to see some real innovation in the structure of the stages.
Why not have double days, with contrasting events (e.g. 80 km morning
short RR with climb finish, followed by 35 km flat ITT in the
afternoon)?

Looks to me like the traditional Tour flat 200 km stage is more about
marketing and the economy of all the little towns on the route than it
is about racing. Maybe that's a reality that simply can't change, but
in a 3-week race, there have to be a couple of days that could break
the mold.

Brad Anders

On Jul 15, 3:08*pm, "Paul B. Anders" wrote:
On Jul 15, 2:48*pm, z wrote:





Bug wrote:
I've keep checking Versus but everytime I look it's the Cat 4 Kansas
State Championships.

Just a bunch of really flat boring scenery and guys riding under
20mph.

Did they condense the TdF into just a few days and are using all of
this Cat4 footage from Kansas to fill the void until the race
starts?

I shouldn't be responding to a douchebag troll, but WTF.

I think that this year's Giro course spoiled us. The mixture of course
profiles and the early race mountains made for a very exciting race from
the early stages all the way through the end.

FWIW, I wish that could be the format for the future.

I'd like to see some real innovation in the structure of the stages.
Why not have double days, with contrasting events (e.g. 80 km morning
short RR with climb finish, followed by 35 km flat ITT in the
afternoon)?

Looks to me like the traditional Tour flat 200 km stage is more about
marketing and the economy of all the little towns on the route than it
is about racing. Maybe that's a reality that simply can't change, but
in a 3-week race, there have to be a couple of days that could break
the mold.




Dumbass -

It'd be very entertaining if one of the stages was a triathlon.

thanks,

Kurgan. presented by Gringioni.

On 7/15/09 3:08 PM, in article
, "Paul B.
Anders" wrote:

On Jul 15, 2:48*pm, z wrote:
Bug wrote:
I've keep checking Versus but everytime I look it's the Cat 4 Kansas
State Championships.

Just a bunch of really flat boring scenery and guys riding under
20mph.

Did they condense the TdF into just a few days and are using all of
this Cat4 footage from Kansas to fill the void until the race
starts?

I shouldn't be responding to a douchebag troll, but WTF.

I think that this year's Giro course spoiled us. The mixture of course
profiles and the early race mountains made for a very exciting race from
the early stages all the way through the end.

FWIW, I wish that could be the format for the future.

I'd like to see some real innovation in the structure of the stages.
Why not have double days, with contrasting events (e.g. 80 km morning
short RR with climb finish, followed by 35 km flat ITT in the
afternoon)?

Sort of like in the 1986 TdF, with Alex Steida wearing the yellow jersey for
the afternoon, but with a climb and a longer TTT?

Looks to me like the traditional Tour flat 200 km stage is more about
marketing and the economy of all the little towns on the route than it
is about racing. Maybe that's a reality that simply can't change, but
in a 3-week race, there have to be a couple of days that could break
the mold.

Geez, I hope so. The sprints have been fun to watch, but I gotta agree that
the Giro was much more exciting that what we've seen so far in the TdF.


Jim

KG wrote:


It'd be very entertaining if one of the stages was a triathlon.


Followed by a hot dog eating contest.

--
Bill Asher

"Jim Feeley" wrote in message
...

Geez, I hope so. The sprints have been fun to watch, but I gotta agree
that
the Giro was much more exciting that what we've seen so far in the TdF.

The idea is to change the Tour around from year to year so that you can't
take for granted what sort of talent you need to win stages and the Tour.

This year it gave heavy advantage to ITT's and the final climb to Mt.
Ventoux probably because they were trying to put Contador at a disadvantage
and because they never thought that Armstrong would come back.

Day to day stages are interesting for the Green Jersey but this is going to
be a pretty amazing Tour after we get to the end.

Give the Tour management credit for knowing what the heck they're doing (now
that they've got a general manager who has more than a basic clue.)

Tom Kunich wrote:


Give the Tour management credit for knowing what the heck they're
doing (now that they've got a general manager who has more than a
basic clue.)


Precisely. This is why nearly everyone loves all the alpine stages this
year that end in a descent followed by 30 km of flat.

--
Bill Asher