water bottles,helmets

While watching the TdF, the riders are constantly throwing their empty water
bottles to the side of the road. I am just curious, what happens to them? Is
there a massive clean up effort by the tour organizers ( are they recycled?)
or does the local citizenry get to keep them? Also, when the Tour gets to
the mountains, the rider are permitted to remove their helmets, last year I
saw a guy just throw it to the side of the road. Would the team car come and
get them or are they just an expendable item?
You can tell that I have too much time on my hands, but any intelligent
answers would be appreciated.

At Fri, 08 Jul 2005 16:56:44 GMT, message
was posted by "Mark"
, including some, all or none of the following:

While watching the TdF, the riders are constantly throwing their empty water
bottles to the side of the road. I am just curious, what happens to them?

They are snaffled by souvenir-hungry fans.

Also, when the Tour gets to
the mountains, the rider are permitted to remove their helmets,

Not any more.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Just curious - when the tour is over do they throw thier bikes over to
the side of the road?!? I'd like to catch one of them!

Ken

On Fri, 08 Jul 2005 16:56:44 +0000, Mark wrote:

Also, when the
Tour gets to the mountains, the rider are permitted to remove their
helmets, last year I saw a guy just throw it to the side of the road.

from dummies.com

To reduce or eliminate deaths from crashes, every rider in the Tour must
now wear a helmet during every stage of the race, including time trials.
At their own risk, cyclists may remove their helmets during the final
climb to the summit if the climb is at least 5 kilometers (3.1 miles)
long. A Tour course marker designates the point on the course where
cyclists can remove their helmets. Removal of helmets on mountain stages
is never allowed before the start of a climb.

I'm sure a team member makes sure the helmet makes it home.

At Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:47:22 GMT, message
ain was posted by
maxo , including some, all or none of the
following:

To reduce or eliminate deaths from crashes, every rider in the Tour must
now wear a helmet during every stage of the race, including time trials.

You gotta love that! There have already been more deaths in the pro
cadre in the first five years of this decade than in any previous
decade on record!

Of course, a fall onto a flat surface from 1.5m with your head
disconnected from your body is always going to be fatal...

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
You gotta love that! There have already been more deaths in the pro
cadre in the first five years of this decade than in any previous
decade on record!

I'm not sure where you're going with that, and I certainly don't want
to start a helmet/no helmet debate; but the reason they instituted the
rule was that Andrei Kivilev was not wearing a helmet when he died from
head injuries during the 2003 Paris-Nice. They changed the rules for
time-trial helmets later that same year.

Anyone remember the T-Mobile rider (I think it was Matthias Kessler)
who crashed into a fence post during a descent in last year's tour?
That was frightening. The pros go so freaking fast and take so many
amazing risks that I'm not qualified to draw conclusions about what
constitutes a reasonable precaution in their world.


-JR

What's funny: for years TdF photos have depicted bare heads. But this
year, go to the official site...their motif photo is a rainbow of
h*lmets.

--Karen M.
left my TdF bottle in my sister's car

SlowRider wrote:
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
You gotta love that! There have already been more deaths in the pro
cadre in the first five years of this decade than in any previous
decade on record!

I'm not sure where you're going with that, and I certainly don't want
to start a helmet/no helmet debate; but the reason they instituted the
rule was that Andrei Kivilev was not wearing a helmet when he died from
head injuries during the 2003 Paris-Nice. They changed the rules for
time-trial helmets later that same year.

Anyone remember the T-Mobile rider (I think it was Matthias Kessler)
who crashed into a fence post during a descent in last year's tour?
That was frightening. The pros go so freaking fast and take so many
amazing risks that I'm not qualified to draw conclusions about what
constitutes a reasonable precaution in their world.

The tour has been raced for nearly 100 years. In all that time and in
all those millions of miles, there have been something like three
deaths from _any_ cause, including amphetamine-induced heart failure.

And there's great doubt that Kivilev's death would have been prevented
by a helmet. A high speed mountain descent ending with an impact with
a pillar sounds far worse than the 14 mph that bike helmets are
certified for.

The helmet rule sounds to me like more backdoor politicking by helmet
manufacturers. "My gosh, we can't let people think you can survive
without a foam hat! It will hurt sales!"

- Frank Krygowski

On Fri, 08 Jul 2005 16:56:44 +0000, Mark wrote:

While watching the TdF, the riders are constantly throwing their empty
water bottles to the side of the road. I am just curious, what happens to
them?

The spectators fight over them.


Also, when the Tour gets to the mountains, the rider are permitted to
remove their helmets,

Not this year. The riders train specifically for hot conditions which
is what saves them from the heat exhaustion that helmets would bring on
in the normal rider.


Mike

I don't wear a helmet, so I don't know about the tech, the "best" is
only rated for 14 mph?!? Thats hardly riding. I do more than that on
just a steady cruise. Seems like they need to design some better
helmets for those who wear them.

Ken