Road Bike Racing - Vs

Okay, I hate to start yet another "VS/OLN Sucks Monkey Balls" thread, but I have to. :eek: With the Tour of Georgia, and Amstel Gold both racing on Sunday, what did VS choose to cover Yup, about 6, or 7 hours straight of bull riding - with not 1 split second of cycling coverage the entire day.

Yes, VS is our ONLY choice, but they NEED to quit calling themselves the cycling network. With less than 1% of their airtime spend covering cycling, it's not even funny enough for a joke anymore. :(

... Brad

+1

Thanks for reminding me to record the Amstel Gold race today at 4 p.m. on Vs....

Well I saw a bunch of hockey listed rather than bull riding but didn't even turn it on to find out if the listings were correct. I thought someone said the TdG was going to be on on both Sat and Sun but I couldn't find it anywhere. Damn shame.

TdG will be on Versus next weekend Saturday and Sunday. It could be worse....

Yep, TdG is next Saturday and Sunday. Way lame

Yep, TdG is next Saturday and Sunday. Way lame

+1

I'll probably still watch it, but it's just not nearly as interesting when you know how each stage is going to end. At least with the same day tape delayed coverage you could avoid the message boards for a few hours and watch it without knowing the winner, but when it's a week later forget it!

Has anyone had trouble w reception? I DVR the stuff w Tivo thru RCN cable and the last 2 weeks, there has been tons of breakup in the signal. No problems with other stations. No problems with other programs on Versus. Extremely irritating.

i thought the coverage i was watching sunday wasn't that bad ;)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/470429890_bf9aad1e25.jpghttp://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/470440258_ade5628c87.jpg

You realize, don't you, that VS isn't sending crews out to shoot these events. instead, these events are putting the programs together and buying time on VS. Therefore, you buy what you can afford to buy. And you produce what you can afford to produce. The expense is in the production, not the air-time.

i just hope they keep showing as much of the tdf as they showed these last few years.

bac, your gripe isn't that these races aren't on, it's that they're not live.

All I can say is, "Boo-hoo".

bac,

To correct you bull riding was only 2 hours and was followed by hockey for the rest of the night. I agree Vs. coverage of everything has sucked lately. It has way too much fluff and not enough real coverage. This is occuring with cycling as well as bull riding (I haven't been following hockey that close this year, so I can't weigh in on that).

You have another choice. THIS is the way to go if you want "real" coverage of the big Euro races.....

http://www.cycling.tv/

I've been a subscriber for 2 years and it rocks, even if the feed is a bit grainy at times. The other plus is I don't have to listen to Bob Roll and Paul Sherwin say the same things over and over again ("he's a beast of man" - barf) and hear Ligget give me incorrect info about who's in the breakaway!

If you need your fix this is the way to go. In fact you can go back and watch the Amstel Gold, Paris Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, et al, and I'm not talking 10 minutes of coverage per hour. I'm talking the last 30-40 minutes of most races with the direct Euro feed and two English blokes handling the commentary.

zenjoy!

gene r

As much as I'd like to see 4 hours of race coverage for each event this is still a whole lot better than what we used to get. Remember last year everyone was complaining about ESPN's coverage of the ToC so just remember how bad it can be. Besides they did a nice job with Amstel.

I watched Ronde live

I watched Paris-Roubaix live

I watched Gent Wevelgem recorded off the live broadcast

I watched pieces of ToG live

I watched Amstel live

I am, currently, watching Fleche Wallone live

I will watch Liege live this Sunday.

ToG was separate and not great with interruptions...

The rest on cycling tv. If you can't watch it live hook up a recording device to your computer and pay a little bit to get races live.

VS is our ONLY choice

^^^^^^^
incorrect

I watched Ronde live

I watched Paris-Roubaix live

I watched Gent Wevelgem recorded off the live broadcast

I watched pieces of ToG live

I watched Amstel live

I am, currently, watching Fleche Wallone live

I will watch Liege live this Sunday.

ToG was separate and not great with interruptions...

The rest on cycling tv. If you can't watch it live hook up a recording device to your computer and pay a little bit to get races live.

Giro will be live. Versus channel you can access via Cycling tv every day except for Sunday which is when the highlight show will be on.

bac,

To correct you bull riding was only 2 hours and was followed by hockey for the rest of the night. I agree Vs. coverage of everything has sucked lately. It has way too much fluff and not enough real coverage. This is occuring with cycling as well as bull riding (I haven't been following hockey that close this year, so I can't weigh in on that).

On my OLN, there was bull fighting from 2-9, followed by hockey. I'm greatful for what VS does show becasue they are the only show in town. However, at the very least they should have SOMETHING on cyclism Sundays. Right?

... Brad

bac, your gripe isn't that these races aren't on, it's that they're not live.

All I can say is, "Boo-hoo".

Live? I don't need live, but timely would be nice. For example, last year's Vuelta was compressed into 1 one hour show - 1 MONTH after the 3 week stage race was over. I don't mind if it's not live, but come on now! I'm pretty sure we all knew who won by then. :eek:

... Brad

I hear all of you....I have the same issues...I would love to see a few hours of racing a week.....a news show...Show coverage...pretty much what Cycling.tv does. Maybe it is my wireless that is mucking up the cycling.tv feed. I bought a sub last year and on race day it was not good.....

Maybe I should try it again and just run a cable to the room....I guess it couldn't get worse...

Live? I don't need live, but timely would be nice. For example, last year's Vuelta was compressed into 1 one hour show - 1 MONTH after the 3 week stage race was over. I don't mind if it's not live, but come on now! I'm pretty sure we all knew who won by then. :eek:

... Brad

I watched the last 1/2 hour of Fleche Wallone live this morning. Great finish! The live feeds are typically grainy because the transmit rate is low, but I could watch the race from the archives later today at a higher speed and it looks just fine. It's not up to the standard of regualr TV (picture quality wise), but in 2-3 years it will be just as good as the average non-HDTV experience, and in the mean time I get the race coverage I've always wanted.

For $ 50, if you are a die hard cycling fan, this is a no brainer.

gene r

its clear to me that bull riding is where the money is at. so we get bull riding! :)

later.

its clear to me that bull riding is where the money is at. so we get bull riding! :)

later.

Anybody remember a few years ago when they were doing reports from Pamplona of the running of the Bulls? That was a hoot!!

Now if Apple would add cycling to there downloadable content....

That would be cool...I would be buying an Apple TV box for that!!!!

For example, last year's Vuelta was compressed into 1 one hour show - 1 MONTH after the 3 week stage race was over. I don't mind if it's not live, but come on now! I'm pretty sure we all knew who won by then. :eek:
Then by all means complain about the Vuelta coverage. (It did suck.)

Re-read your OP. It complained that the Amstel coverage was delayed by one day and the TdG by one week. Hardly the same thing.

As long as America is a red neck nation, bull riding will win out over cycling.

Fat kids can better relate to bull riding anyways.

(A) They like to eat lots of red meat
(B) Bull Riding demands no actual movement on the part of the bull rider (yes they need to hang on), but the exertion is short, and fat Americans can better relate to short exercise. The reason we have 1-minute workout videos now.

VT Biker, you have no clue about bull riding. Those riders have a core strength most of us riders would kill for, not to mention a sense of balance. There is a hell of a lot more to bull riding then just sitting there hanging on.

I watched the last 1/2 hour of Fleche Wallone live this morning. Great finish! The live feeds are typically grainy because the transmit rate is low, but I could watch the race from the archives later today at a higher speed and it looks just fine. It's not up to the standard of regualr TV (picture quality wise), but in 2-3 years it will be just as good as the average non-HDTV experience, and in the mean time I get the race coverage I've always wanted.

For $ 50, if you are a die hard cycling fan, this is a no brainer.

gene r

Gene, I ran mine at 800 and it was perfect. High speed net connection. Just as good as my cable tv pickup.
There are three speeds you can pick. Maybe that's the issue?

The normal breakup from trees and the like from the cycles to the helo was all I experienced.

VT Biker, I'm sorry for the tone of my comment. It just amazes me that we cyclists are the quickest to complain that other sports aren't "real sports" or don't require any fitness or skill, when most of the US says that about our chosen sport.

I guess what I'm saying is "Can't we all just get along" :D :beer:

(B) Bull Riding demands no actual movement on the part of the bull rider (yes they need to hang on), but the exertion is short, and fat Americans can better relate to short exercise. The reason we have 1-minute workout videos now.

This reminds me of the time that a person tried to tell me that driving a nitro Top Fuel or Funny Car in a straight line harnessing 8,000hp, going from zero to 300+mph in about four seconds was easy. Don't have to turn it. Just hold it straight.

I LMAO at that, too.

Like a bike race that lasts 30-45 minutes riding around in circles (using that miniscule experience as a way to evalute professional racing), with all due respect you can also put your above comment in the "don't know what I am talking about" category.

As long as America is a red neck nation, bull riding will win out over cycling.

Fat kids can better relate to bull riding anyways.

(A) They like to eat lots of red meat
(B) Bull Riding demands no actual movement on the part of the bull rider (yes they need to hang on), but the exertion is short, and fat Americans can better relate to short exercise. The reason we have 1-minute workout videos now.

I love satire.

Gene, I ran mine at 800 and it was perfect. High speed net connection. Just as good as my cable tv pickup.
There are three speeds you can pick. Maybe that's the issue?

The normal breakup from trees and the like from the cycles to the helo was all I experienced.

Thanks for the tip. I'm having trouble connecting at 800, and I think the issue is with Verizon, my DSL provider. I seem to get the 100 connection for all the live feeds. I'm considering moving to cable for internet access.

In the end I can't/won't complain because I love having the coverage. In fact I bought a 24" monitor so I can have a race open in one window and work on documents at the same time!

gene r

Thanks for the tip. I'm having trouble connecting at 800, and I think the issue is with Verizon, my DSL provider. I seem to get the 100 connection for all the live feeds. I'm considering moving to cable for internet access.

In the end I can't/won't complain because I love having the coverage. In fact I bought a 24" monitor so I can have a race open in one window and work on documents at the same time!

gene r

I have Comcast. I've never had a problem with the feeds. FWIW...