"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Is it just me, or does ESPN bite?

Just finished watching my tape of Stage 2. It seems like they've edited the coverage to specifically remove all the exciting parts. How the hell did Discovery et al. regroup and catch up to Landis and Leipheimer? And the filming of the sprint communicated nothing - just a compressed mass of racers riding all over the place. Rent a blimp or a helicopter dammit.

No whining, or we'll be back to waiting for monthly magazines to arrive in the mailbox, telling us who won.

I agree – the coverage is very amateur. But coverage of pro cycling is so rare in America, I only expect the most low budget production values anyway. Looks to me like ESPN2 is producing it (or outsourcing it) on a barebones budget with no real editing or post-production. It wasn't until the third night when they actually showed some on-screen timing so viewers could tell what part of the race they were watching.

In the end, I'm just thrilled to see 1-hour of pro racing on a large cable network every night for a week. And the local news is actually covering it too, every night, which is a virtual miracle.

It's some of the worst camera work I've ever seen. I almost wonder if whomever is shooting some parts of the race know the images are going to be broadcast. And, the quality of the cameras is very inferior to what I've seen before. So much so that you can sort of tell Sherwin and Roll have to fill in time until they can figure out how a rider is or see a number.

"Well, that's either a Gerolsteiner rider or Discovery moving up to the breakaway group."

The only good thing is that it's on so late that I end up watching the tape with my boys the next day. My 5yr old can tell you 1) that I don't go that fast and 2) Levi is really happy because he lives where the race is.

yep... ESPN really is biting hard with this race. but, it appears that we've all been handed a sack of lemons...


and we all know what to do with those.

Well, the third day was better than the second, which mercifully, was better than the first. There may be a trend here.

Cycling coverage is fairly new to the US, so maybe it's just a learning curve. A steep learning curve.

I also think they are getting better each day. Be interesting to see the scenery as they ride down toward Big Sur. If you have never driven that road, make sure that you tape the coverage. The terrain will offer not only exciting racing, but stunning vistas. Looks like another day of perfect weather for the racers and the spectators.

I bet you it will suck again tonight (Stage 3) because of the ITT. We'll probably get see the Mexican squad's entire ride and only get a quick shot of Landis or Zabriskie coming down the home stretch. Probably also won't get to see any of the finishing times as they cross and it will be up to you, the viewer to remember you came in where! Also not to harp on Bob Roll, I understand that alot people like him but shouldn't Cancellara's name be pronounced Fawbian (aw sound like awesome) instead of Faabian (long a like Kate). Anyhoo just by two cents

Yep, it sucks. It's a quarter after and they still have ball sports on. I can't believe it, I don't think they like us.

Oh, for real suckage, go to the tour website's 'tour tracker' for stage 3 and click the video link entitled 'Ogrady Post Passing' if it's still tragically available. Listen to the tech guys discussing...'stuff'. Oh, how professional. Listen to the 60 cycle hum that even a rank amateur recordist like myself would notice and purge before releasing said video.

It's UNBELIEVABLY BAD. No. I'tz ungbileevablee bag. That's how bad it is. It's stunningly, tragically awful. I'm flabbergasted. Seriously, these guys never even rehearsed this thing once. I...I...I.......I'm rendered speechless. Well, not quite. It's a black eye for professional cycling, not to mention a ...

Ok. Speechless now. Wow. Maybe they think they're replacing placeholder audio with 'real audio', and failing to do so. Good God. It's just so...FLAGRANT.

Say, Rad, have YOU seen this? I'd LOVE to hear a pro's opinion on the fantastic advertisement for the Tour of California that their website ISN'T.

Wow. It's THAT BAD.

wow thanks for telling me basketball ran over. I have to set the TIVO to record an extra half hour so I don't lose the finish!

Oh, or 'enjoy' the footage of 'Fabian Wegmann of GST'. Listen to Paul Sherwen (?) clear his throat. "OOOH! Ouch!". hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Amateurs would at least take the time to do the best they could with what they had. This garbage is below amateurish. I can't help thinking...who's responsible for this?

Anyone else also annoyed by the score-ticker at the bottom of the screen? I really don't care about basketball scores while I'm trying to watch a bike race. Then again, I really don't care about basketball scores period.

BTW, where the heck is Phil?

Oh, for real suckage, go to the tour website's 'tour tracker' for stage 3 and click the video link entitled 'Ogrady Post Passing' if it's still tragically available. Listen to the tech guys discussing...'stuff'. Oh, how professional. Listen to the 60 cycle hum that even a rank amateur recordist like myself would notice and purge before releasing said video.

It's UNBELIEVABLY BAD. No. I'tz ungbileevablee bag. That's how bad it is. It's stunningly, tragically awful. I'm flabbergasted. Seriously, these guys never even rehearsed this thing once. I...I...I.......I'm rendered speechless. Well, not quite. It's a black eye for professional cycling, not to mention a ...

Ok. Speechless now. Wow. Maybe they think they're replacing placeholder audio with 'real audio', and failing to do so. Good God. It's just so...FLAGRANT.

Say, Rad, have YOU seen this? I'd LOVE to hear a pro's opinion on the fantastic advertisement for the Tour of California that their website ISN'T.

Wow. It's THAT BAD.

jeeze calm down. If you don't like it then don't watch it.

With all it's short commings it's still better then nothing.

With all it's short commings it's still better then nothing.

Very true. At least it's not as bad as it could have been tonight...they showed most of the big guns ride. As for the website I don't want to rip on them because they put up a live feed during the race which is pretty cool to watch even if the quality sucks.

jeeze calm down. If you don't like it then don't watch it.

Did you...uh...LOOK at it?

Really. It's TERRRIBLE. Easily worthy of the the 3 r's in terrible.

I'm totally calm. Are you hinting that YOU edit the audio and video for the Tour website?

Just asking.

Yes it has been god-awful. Luckily it has gotten a little better every day. If Paul and Bob were not comenting I'd have little idea what was going on becuase the production and editing were so terrible. Truly crap. And I can't stand the ticker tape of the hockey and golf and basketball. Who freakin cares?! Put up times of the other riders or something for pete's sake. And I had to set the Tivo a hlf hour ahead to get the ending.

I'm taking that bag of lemons and throwing them at the cameramen. Maybe if you pelt them enough they'll accidentally get things in focus.

My god roadies are a bunch of whiners! Im just glad I have something to watch while I'm on my trainer. It looks like I need to change my position on My TT bike again. Floyd was fast but he sure looks funny.

I can only add that the crew that is doing this production is the same "professional" crew that does ALL the cycling productions. Kent Gordis is at the helm as director.

Though I will say that a shooter named Nat isn't here this week. He's always shot the TdG. I can't imagine that one shooter would make that much difference here.

Rumor: they'll have a chopper on today's stage from Cannery Row to SLO.

well they need to fire that post race inteviewer..whatever her name is.. she reminds me of a High School reporter covering the big football game.. totally clueless.

For like the 15,000th time, ESPN isn't covering the race, they sold the airtime.

The crew is doing decent work considering they're trying to condense a days worth of footage into 50 minutes of airtime. The only thing I wish is that they wouldn't do the recap before the first break; everyone that's watching already knows whats going on, give us more footage!

well they need to fire that post race inteviewer..whatever her name is.. she reminds me of a High School reporter covering the big football game.. totally clueless.

Are you talking about Jessica Grieco... former Olympic track cyclist and reknowned women's road racer?

Former Junior World Champion?
Nicest girl in the world?
Her?

Former Junior World Champion?
Nicest girl in the world?
Her?

WORD!

girl who rode and trained with senior level men since her early teen years
comes from a family with long standing in cycling, including other olympians?

nah, he can't be talkin about her...

My first post was all cranky about the camera work. Now I don't care. I'll watch any road cycling races on t.v. Earlier today I was watching a short interview with someone important involved with the race and he was exicted about the great response. then he said he hopes lots of younger people will get into cycling from seeing what it's all about; I got chills a little, thinking of when I started riding everywhere when I was 12.

Also, I really only watch so I can see teen idol heart-throb Ricky Nelson commercials over and over.

Ok, watching now I do have another rant for the camera operators: WHITE BALANCE. Discovery jerseys are not turquiose. I do understand the budget needs to be realistic and as the race becomes more popular, so will coverage and quality.

Former Junior World Champion?
Nicest girl in the world?
Her?

I did a double take when I saw her doing an interview.

In one of the interviews she did she sounded really awkward, like she was repeating questions from an earpiece, and it was really loud where she was doing the interview, and she was maybe a bit nervous. A few minutes later they showed one where she was very relaxed and conversational with the rider-- very well done. She's already doing much better than Frankie Andreu did in his first few TV interviews, and he turned out ok.

It's nice when they use people with deep cycling experience like that and let them develop their on-camera style-- it's much more effective than taking a talking head and trying to teach it cycling.

It's nice when they use people with deep cycling experience like that and let them develop their on-camera style-- it's much more effective than taking a talking head and trying to teach it cycling.

I think Jessica Grieco is basically asking the questions that the broadcasters think the audience (most of whom they don't expect to be cyclists or know anything about cycling) want to know the answers to. She has been covering cycling for quite a number of years. She isn't new to TV journalism.