Tour De France

[Rapier Racer]

Are any of you interested in the worlds greatest bike race? The top man and 5 time champion is an American guy called Lance funnily enough...oo those guys are super fit, especially when it comes to king of the moutains, do we have any cyclists here?

[Set]

Although I'm not much of a biker, I do admire Lance Armstrong and his level of fitness. (not to mention all the other bikers!)

I've heard the term "Tour de Lance" more this year than the other five.

[Asayyeah]

Honestly the tour de France is like a postcard of France for those who don't live in my country they can see all the various lovely landscapes and also what i call the deepest of our country : the regions which aren't very wellknown from the tourists but are lovely place to visit.

2000 miles ( 3400 kms) running a bicycle during 3 weeks in a average of 25 mph ( 40 km/h), just to say congratulations to those who finnish it!! And of course for Lance A. with his probably sixth time champion.

I must declare that our Lance from WZ is far more faster than the Armstrong one, and if i have to choose i rather prefer to watch Wipeout races from our Lance than his little boringclone from the bicycle's universe.... :) :D

[infoxicated]

I used to love watching the tour when I was heavily into road biking - I'd go out and do a 40 mile round-trip of an afternoon, making sure I'd be back in time for the coverage of that days' stage on tv. :)

I caught a few stages last year - best was the one where Armstrong fell after catching his handlebars on some spectator woman's bag. The sportsmanship shown by his rivals as they slowed and waited for him to catch up, and then power on up the mountain for the win was something you rarely see in other sports. (...waits for Paul of Auricom to go find links to other sports where this has happened..:roll: )

This year it's not on the terrestrial channel 4 that it has traditionally been on in the UK, and I miss the commentary of Phil Liggett - the guy on the satellite channel just rambles on, talking for the sake of it and failing to convey the excitement and the tactical analysis of the former.

Le Tour is still one of my favourite sporting events of the year - like the Superbowl and the Indy 500, even casual fans can enjoy the occasion. :)

[Lance]

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i've always enjoyed Ligget's commentary. i hope he's still being used here in american network shows as he has been in past years. we generally only get weekend coverage instead of dailies, though

Lance and Lance: well, i've done a bit of bike riding, but never raced. except against the occasional local teenager. [we were dead even][but i'm out of shape now] i used to ride about 10 or 12 miles per day every day, but that was long ago. i should do it again
.

edit: have now corrected grievous error: had left off the second 't' in Phil Liggett's name.

[G'Kyl]

Me too! ;) I also did a lot of biking when I was younger (gosh, how I hate it when I hear myself talking like this! ;-) ) and back then was so excited watching what would translate as something like "Tour of Peace" - the greatest cycling event in the former Eastern Block Countries (not that I miss it, but I'm from what was once called the GDR ;) ). I even had a specially built racing bike that outshined about any other non-professional bike in my country - only to see the Berlin Wall fall shortly after I got it and then watch everyone else buy much better bikes right from the assembly line we now had access to. ;-)
This is, by the way, were I first let out my addiction to racing - by challenging my brother, who rode on far inferior material, again and again just for the sake of it. *g*

Back to this year's tour. They have SO been praising Lars Ulrich all year for being Germany's hope for winning the Tour that I was beginning to wonder about how blindfolded people with healthy eyesight could get... I mean Ulrich doesn't even post the slightest thread to Armstrong's ambitions - in case nothing unusual happens anyway.

And just one more thing. Is it me or are these contemporary years somewhat special in regard to racing sports. I am talking about having drivers in the F1, the MotoGP and in Cycling who are able to dominate about every event they take part in...

[Rapier Racer]

Honestly the tour de France is like a postcard of France for those who don't live in my country they can see all the various lovely landscapes and also what i call the deepest of our country : the regions which aren't very wellknown from the tourists but are lovely place to visit.

Yeah it is nice to see all the scenery as the riders pass through the small French villages and towns, Eurosprort also like to show us live pictures of French bulls, cows and a pig, and infox if your taking about that mike what’s his name from Eurosport then I agree he does ramble on a load of rubbish, the French will be happy with today’s result a Frenchman winning on Bass Steel Day :D I feel all motivated after watching a sage of the tour and tend to jump on the racer myself. I wonder what it would be like to ride that stage that’s open to the public…

[science]

This is very strange. I have never had much interest in any sport. I'll watch soccer or hockey from time to time; perhaps some F1, touring car, or especially the rallies when it comes to racing. But I have never sat down and watched a bike race.
However, I sat down a little over a week ago and watched the first day of the Tour- the prologue. I have not missed a day since.
I cannot stop watching this race. The endurance of these guys is astounding. The technology they use to hone these bikes in on perfection is fascinating. The strategy involved with each team can be, at times, nothing short of brilliant. The rules and regulations of the Tour are complex and sometimes maybe even a little bizarre. I'm absolutely hooked, and I can't wait for the first real mountain stage today. The only things I ever stay tuned into like this are the summer and winter Olympics.

To throw in my bit about my experience in cycling: I too haven't had any since I was a teenager. However, I will soon be getting back into it for purely utilitarian reasons- a university parking pass is $300-$400 for a grand total of parking spaces equal to about that of a large fast food joint. I live 3 or 4 miles from school, so... :)

[Lance]

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''...praising Lars Ulrich all year for being Germany's hope for winning the Tour''
man, that Lars is such a turncoat; last time i paid attention to him, he was Denmark's hope for ''Drummer of the Year''.

the GDR/DDR used to be a major power in sports, the old bad gov't made it a goal for propaganda reasons

wishing i had satellite so i could see a bunch of the Tour.

heh, my bicycle is a Schwinn LeTour

they may have to throw Armstrong in the Bastille to stop the streak
.

[Set]

Is it me or are these contemporary years somewhat special in regard to racing sports. I am talking about having drivers in the F1, the MotoGP and in Cycling who are able to dominate about every event they take part in...

NASCAR has become one of the top sports in America. Not to mention the rise in popularity of international venues like F-1 and cycling. From what I've seen, the popularity of a sport seems to be directly related to the talent of the players in the sport. It's only natural that racing sports then would aquire more talent, and by extention, more dominance by single players...

edit: Thought about it as I sat down for lunch, maybe it's the other way around. Did basketball have a popularity spurt after Wilt Chamberlain, the Indy 500 after Mario Andretti, or NASCAR after Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon?

[G'Kyl]

Lance. Darn it, I ALWAYS mix Jan and Lars Ulrich up! Only this time I thought about it and thought I got them right... ;)

Set: I think you are right about the latter, the popularity of one athlete usually helps increase public recognition of his/her sport. I don't know about the other three, but Dale Earnhardt definitily pushed the popularity of NASCAR. The same holds true for Schumacher, Armstrong and Rossi. I don't think it makes too much sense the other way around, since more talents entering any sports event usually gives all of them stronger competetion. It doesn't mean one of them will be as dominating as one of the above is. :)

[Rapier Racer]

The rules and regulations of the Tour are complex and sometimes maybe even a little bizarre.

Yeah the time trial rules where all changed this year and in my opinion are really screwed up, Since you watch it you already know but I mean it just seems weird, it used to be that if a team finished in first place with a time of say 30 mins and the last team came in at 45 mins that would be a 15 min difference, but now if a team were to finish 15 mins behind the leading team the maximum they lose is about 8 mins confused??? Must be in order to give the smaller teams a chance.


I'm absolutely hooked, and I can't wait for the first real mountain stage today.

Wait till Friday I think it is, you'll see a real mountian stage then, it's that one with the funny name and then the alps, these stages are of course where Lance Armstrong will capitalise.

[Set]

I don't think it makes too much sense the other way around, since more talents entering any sports event usually gives all of them stronger competetion.

My first thought was based on basic economics...take basketball for instance. If more people like what they see, and the sport grows in popularity, then more money flows in (more people buying tickets to games, merchandise, etc). The more money in the sport, the more room there is for teams to hire big talents, such as Chamerlain, Jordan, Bryant, etc.
But of course, the other way around is much simpler, and probably more correct. :wink:

And yes, mountain stages in Le Tour are the COOLEST. :D

[science]

Yep, my bad, they're not in the mountains quite yet, but they're in stages where the climbs are steep enough for the break-aways to actually win. Stage 9 (i believe it was) was heartbreaking- the rider in the lead was swallowed up literally within 10 meters of the finish line after leading for so much of the race. Once they get up in the mountains and wind drag is no longer an issue, taking it easy back in the peloton until the last 50k won't be an option anymore. Stage 10 was a good race, good for the French to get a stage win on their independence day.
As an aside, for anyone who watched stage 10 last night, you may have noticed two huge penises painted on the road somewhere within the last bit of the race. There are some young French kids somewhere that are still laughing and exchanging high-fives over those moments of publicity for their artwork. :lol:

[infoxicated]

Lance takes the yellow jersey, as expected.

It's almost a shame that most of the media coverage has called it a given that Armstrong will take this tour. It sort of under-plays the achievement of it - his is the kind of brilliance that wont be appreciated until his career is over, probably - like Indurain, I think.

What must be worrying for his rivals, watching him sprint for the stage win today, is that he shows no signs of slowing down, either, and has powered into the lead with a weaker US Postal line-up beside him this year.

Wow... you have to just admire somebody who's at that level. :) 8)

[science]

I recently broke out my old 12 speed ( :oops: ) roadbike in hopes of improving my all around endurance, and to 'train' for my upcoming commute to school each day :D . It's absolutely amazing how much of a challenge a few degrees of gradient can become when you have to get up it under your own power. What's more amazing is that these guys do what they do day after day, pulling well over 100 miles each day, and the better part of it is up *mountains*, not the little hills that I climb.
I used to think that soccer was the most physically demanding sport on the planet, but I'm beginning to change my mind.