Are younger folks allowed to post in this thread as well? i've always respected those riders in the older tour de france. From what I've heard, they also had to fix their own bikes and were disqualified if they received assistance like one racer who had the blacksmith pump the billows for him while he repaired his frame. I just find that to be greatly more respectable than these newer racers who just have a team car following them with spare bicycles and frames to just replace and they don't even know how to fix it themselves