Advocacy & Safety - Are you following the Tour de France?

I'm curious as to how much participants of Advocacy & Safety are following the Tour.

In addition to the poll questions, here are some bonus essay questions:


What websites, if any, do you read to keep informed about Tour news? What do you like about them?
How much of an influence has Lance Armstrong been on your riding? Other Tour personalities?
Will Ullrich get on the podium? Why or why not?
How many Americans do you think will be in the Top 10?
Do you believe Armstrong might rescind his retirement announcement? Why or why not?
Who do you think will be the leader for Team Discovery Channel in the 2006 Tour de France?
Who is your favorite TV announcer and/or live reporter? Why?
Did you catch Paul Sherwen's "does that make him a Great Dane" comment/joke this morning, that went right over Phil's head?

BBC Sports,Le Tour de France, (english version), OLN. LA has not influenced my riding but has made my riding more accessible to nonriders. Ullrich will be on the podium.
Levi and Floyd will be in the top 10. Armstrong will retire and run for governor of Texas.
Yaroslav Popovych will be the new Discovery leader. I like Phil, Paul and Bob equally
but despise Trautwig, heck I could do a better job then he does.

I've watched a couple of stages on TV, and it's odd... I don't usually watch TV, so the constant commercials bother the heck out of me. I go to Velonews sometimes during the mornings to get live updates if I feel so inclined. I added a section to my google news page that gives me tour news. I think it's pretty neat.

The guy who does the daily reports at dailypeloton.com is hilarious. He's the best.

Hey, even people around me, that know I cycle, have tuned in and in turn have asked questions.

My mother in law thought it was a one day event and had been won already (single stage win was "the tour").

I usually watch the last hour of the live broadcast daily. When I was traveling two weeks ago, I got updates on my PDA/Phone.

The guy who does the daily reports at dailypeloton.com is hilarious. He's the best.

And you wait until today to tell us about the web site. What a bud, Serge. :)

Dude, my mom is following the Tour this year. I'm pleased that many other non-cyclists are as well. If Lance wins again -- and heck, even if he doesn't -- it will be awesome to have witnessed. Really transcends cycling and sport in general, I think. I'm not sure I'd follow it if it weren't for Lance; I don't care for racing much.

I'm curious as to how much participants of Advocacy & Safety are following the Tour.

In addition to the poll questions, here are some bonus essay questions:


What websites, if any, do you read to keep informed about Tour news? What do you like about them?
How much of an influence has Lance Armstrong been on your riding? Other Tour personalities?
Will Ullrich get on the podium? Why or why not?
How many Americans do you think will be in the Top 10?
Do you believe Armstrong might rescind his retirement announcement? Why or why not?
Who do you think will be the leader for Team Discovery Channel in the 2006 Tour de France?
Who is your favorite TV announcer and/or live reporter? Why?
Did you catch Paul Sherwen's "does that make him a Great Dane" comment/joke this morning, that went right over Phil's head?



1.) Cyclingnews.com and sometimes Velonews.com
2.) Lance has had no influence on my riding, although when I was a kid I idolized Eddy Merckx. Nowadays, I'm a bike tourist and I tend to laugh at racers a bit unless they're actually racing.
3.) Ullrich will get on the podium with the final TT.
4.) 3
5.) No. Lance is done with it, I think. And a good thing too. Nothing against him, but TdF is getting boring because he's a machine.
6.) No idea. Hincapie? Savoldelli?
7.) Liggett, but I haven't watched him since...I don't even want to say.
8.) No. I don't own a TV and never will.

I don't watch the tour de france. With the possible exception of NASCAR itself, it is hard to find a sport more dependent upon the automobile during its execution than the tour de france. They avoid this embarassment by using narrow camera angles showing only the riders, but they are surrounded front, rear and sideways by a phalanx of team cars, advertising vehicles, police escorts, and repair vehicles.

Are Boston marathoners followed by vehicles carrying spare Nikes and Adidii (note plural ;) ) while they run their 26 miles? Do the throngs who follow Tiger Woods bring along a spare club or two just in case the ones in his bag turn out to be defective?

Hey dudes...if something goes wrong, do what we real cyclists do..pull over to the side of the road, get out your repair equipment, and fix the problem.

The TDF is an interesting spectacle, but to me it is not and never has been a sport.

roughstuff

^^ Yeah, those TdF guys are real wusses.

^^ Yeah, those TdF guys are real wusses.

Well, lets take away the drugs and see.

Also....my point was not so much that the riders were not very athletic, so much it was that the TDF was not really a sport. WWF (excuse me, WWE! ;) ) wrestlers aren't wusses, either; but i'd hardly consider their matches to be a sport.

roughstuff

Well, I guess baseball isn't a real sport either then. They do have extra equipment on hand. Perhaps, if a bat cracks, the second baseman should craft another one out of a tree limb or something.

They are athletes. They are able to do things few others can requiring physical strength, skill, and endurance. There is competion between these athletes. It is a sport.

As for the tour, I watch every stage on television, but don't always get up early enough to see it live. This year has been a bit boring in the sense that Lance is controlling the thing with great efficiency, but there is always drama within the context of the whole, with break aways, internal strife among teams, individual stories of personal achievement, etc.

The time trials tomorrow will be exciting.

sport: definition
n.

1.
1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
2. A particular form of this activity.

I've watched some of each stage on the dreaded TV and read the OLN website and the Bicycling magazine website. But I got a ride this weekend so will miss the time trial that I'd like to see.

Joe

Well, I guess baseball isn't a real sport either then. They do have extra equipment on hand. Perhaps, if a bat cracks, the second baseman should craft another one out of a tree limb or something.

They are athletes. They are able to do things few others can requiring physical strength, skill, and endurance. There is competion between these athletes. It is a sport.



Thats right! HE can reach into his back pocket and get a switchblade, run over to the wooden dashers that surround most dugouts, and whittle a new ash Louisville slugger! With the steroids baseball players take, it shouldn't be too much of a delay.

A better analogy would be to have a runner in front of him (to draft him) as he goes around the bases; and a guy on a motorbike to slip him a new pair of running shoes if infield conditions vary on a deep fly ball off the wall in left field.

Having different bats no more disrupts the flow than switching clubs does in golf. In golf carrying your own clubs used to be as much a part of the 'sport' as being able to pitch and putt.

My point was not so much that equipment changes are not part and parcel of any sport these days; but that these changes utilize the very technology (cars) that so many cyclists sniff at with disdain.

roughstuff

I don't watch the tour de france. With the possible exception of NASCAR itself, it is hard to find a sport more dependent upon the automobile during its execution than the tour de france. They avoid this embarassment by using narrow camera angles showing only the riders, but they are surrounded front, rear and sideways by a phalanx of team cars, advertising vehicles, police escorts, and repair vehicles.

Are Boston marathoners followed by vehicles carrying spare Nikes and Adidii (note plural ;) ) while they run their 26 miles? Do the throngs who follow Tiger Woods bring along a spare club or two just in case the ones in his bag turn out to be defective?

Hey dudes...if something goes wrong, do what we real cyclists do..pull over to the side of the road, get out your repair equipment, and fix the problem.

The TDF is an interesting spectacle, but to me it is not and never has been a sport.

roughstuff


The original TDF was just like the marathon and riders did their own flat fixes and the like... even took breaks in some small towns along the way. But sponsorship, TV and money have made into the spectacle that it is today.... While it is fully supported, these athletes are hardly NOT doing work, and they have certainly proven themselves in lesser challanges. RE Tiger... What, you don't think a whole set of clubs follows in a golf cart off camera?

Repairs were still important: http://www.experienceplus.com/images/email/tdf7.jpg

And one did have to eat: http://www.torelli.com/raceinfo/tdf/imageshist01/1903-feedzone.jpg

The original TDF was just like the marathon and riders did their own flat fixes and the like... even took breaks in some small towns along the way.

Yup! thanks for the great pictures! Were those the days when men were men and sheep were nervous? :)

Anyway, i'll stop carping about whether the TDF is really a sport, and get back to topic of this thread. I LOVE to READ, rather than watch on TV, lengthy accounts of the days competitions. It puts the whole thing in perspective, and you realize just how effective (not!?) various subtle changes in riding techniques are. After all...what is a 2 minute difference over the length/time of the entire race...less than 1/2 of 1%, I'll betcha.

roughstuff

Yup! thanks for the great pictures! Were those the days when men were men and sheep were nervous? :)

Anyway, i'll stop carping about whether the TDF is really a sport, and get back to topic of this thread. I LOVE to READ, rather than watch on TV, lengthy accounts of the days competitions. It puts the whole thing in perspective, and you realize just how effective (not!?) various subtle changes in riding techniques are. After all...what is a 2 minute difference over the length/time of the entire race...less than 1/2 of 1%, I'll betcha.

roughstuff

That 2 minute diff is only amough the top two riders, frankly I would expect the #1 and #2 to be close. There is over 4 hours between the first and last riders overall... though just under 15 minutes for the most recent stage.