I agree. I found the Lance Chronicles to be very enjoyable. It is exactly the kind of "off-the-bike" thing I wanted to see. In context, I don't think the "I don't have a wife" comment was in any way offensive.

No kidding.

If it was somehow insensitive to correct someone in telling them that he is divorced, then how is it not insensitive for someone to wrongfully assume he was married?

It wasn't even disrespectful, and I wouldn't even judge him if he did say something disrespectful, because I don't know all of the details of the relationship they had and the divorce they had.

In the early 90s, he was far more harsh.

I wonder when that ride was, that they taped, in Girona. "4000 meters of climbing". Wow! Especially considering that it was probably done in Febuary or so.

And what's with the cheesy sound effects when they show him riding?

I wish I had cheesy sound effects when I was riding, maybe one of you guys could chase me with a boombox playing eye of the tiger

Didn´t someone here say that he found the lance chronicles on some Kazaa thing?

Re: Lance's "I have no wife" comment...

I agree that it sounded cold BUT if I remember correctly, he was speaking to someone with a limited command of English. That women sounded like she was only speaking on a redimentary level. The more nuanced word of "divorced" may have made no sense to her and, instead of taking the extra time to explain it when she said "What does 'divorce' mean?" he went with the direct, linguistically simple answer. That may very well have been a comment that meant nothing but when played over the air it comes off as incredibly callous. With the exception of the characteristic "Ahhhh" after ANY ride :P Lance seems to be a "conserver of words". Long explanations don't seem to be his thing. I think he just took the direct approach and wasn't even thinking of the cameras.

Does anyone know any solid details of the divorce? Is it possible Kik started it? Has it been coming for a while? It may be that the lvoe went out a long time ago and Lance's hooking up w/ CC kind of comes after a few years of emotional detachment as opposed to shortly after a emotional divorce for so many others...

Did anyone notice that the last episode only had about 15 minutes of new footage? They replayed the footage of that guy putting together his new bike, plus the beginning recap... Just didn't seem like a lot of new stuff. I know they're trying to add drama because Lance ins't riding the new bike, but the guy is particular about things (I wouldn't say an a$$). If he doesn't feel comfortable on it, then he won't ride it. After all its his butt that has to sit on those things for hours at a time, not the designers.

CarlJStoneham - In his second book he addresses the divorce. Not the details of it, just that the love kind of died down and they both had neglected things. After reading the first book, I was kind of shocked when I heard the news.

Kik - I am getting married in Oct, so you better hurry up and call me.

Does anyone else wonder when OLN's LC will catch up with currect events? Otherwise they will be covering the start of the race in August...

Did anyone see last night's episode? When was that Today show interviewed aired? I never heard about it. Ann Curry always interviews him (last year in New York when book came out, down in Washington DC as MC of Tour of Hope).

They do not talk enough about his training. It is too much crazy fans and Sheryl Crow. There should be some of that but not the majority of the show.

No clue on the Today Show, but you have it right about "crazy fans". Holy crap! That girl needed to be shot! Her life is too sad if she has to resort to that pitiful display. :P She just needs to be put out of her misery. Ug

"I'm gonna tie the long hair on your head to the short hair on your @$$ and kick ya down the street!"

Thant's what I'm talking about!

heh heh :D

how many people here criticizing lance's 'i have no wife ' comment have ever been divorced?
how many of those were divorced and had kids?

how many of those were men and lost custody because they were men?

sometimes flippant comments minimizing the situation are the only way to survive.

it's hard. it SUCKS . here's lance having to head off the europe for months who knows how long without seeing his kids and you people are pissing and moaning because he said ' i have no wife' and laughed.

he has to laugh.

believe me, it's the only way he can survive it.

the only thing i don't like about the 'lance chronicles' is that the music is so loud I can't hear the dialog.

There's dialog?

Personally I would like it if it dealt a bit more with actual cycling related content
than Lance as rock star.
For example, why didn't lance like the black bike? (new TT frame) I'd like to
see discussions between him and trainer/mechanic etc.
Sure it was nice that LA signed that poor girls photo, but did we have to cut
to her begging and whinning every 10 minutes or so? I don't think so.
The segments about him and his relationship to cancer (both his and others) is
really good, I especially liked the guy with the phone message.

Say what you want, but at the end of his career he will be a good spokesman
for cycling, and he is taking care of that eventuality now.
I for one look forward to seeing Lance and Bobke on OLN doing the TdF.

Marty

Marty

Can we have more of "College"? He seems so mellow.

As for that girl, we don't know if lance really signed the pic. She said she just saw his hand. I wonder if Lance told a mechanic to sign it for him to make her go away.

Agree, although it's interesting to see how it is to live for someone in his position.

With regards to the new bike: somewhere in the show (I think, it could have been on OTR to the Tour), Carmichael mentioned that Lance was not comfortable on the bike, and said something like, "He seems more comfortable with a standard-width bottom bracket".

So evidently, one of the aero tricks of the new bike was a narrower BB, and he doesn't like it. I think that would be a big thing to change, so I'm not surprised....

I saw that on road to the tour about the BB and the new bike, I just think
it might be interesting to be in on the discussions about it and other
technical preparations for the tour.
All in all I think its a little bit too MTV for my taste, too much 60 second
sound bites. I'd like to see a bit more substance.

Marty

The show is really for true biking/Lance fans (it is on OLN for gods sake, which almost nobody gets). It should be mostly what he does to train and about his equipment. Team meetings, discussions with Johan and Carmichael. The wind tunnel was by far the best segment. They could sprinkle in the house in Spain, commercials and Sheryl Crow but the bulk of the show should be hard core bike stuff.

Lenny, I see you're on LI too. Have you got a satellite for OLN, or is Cablevision holding out on me? I've called them and asked for OLN, but...

While I agree, I'm so hungry for ANY cycling coverage, that I'll take anything I can get! :D

I switched to DirectTV several years ago. I just could not stand Cablevision. As a bonus I got OLN.

I would have to agree and say that the show is mainly about a day in the life of Lance Armstrong. I mean it's for hard core roadies who love cycling. They are not going to air his actual training secrets and preparations, etc etc etc. Everything is going to be generalized......but hey its fun to watch.

As for the "I don't have a wife" comment, I am divorced and didn't see any problem with what he said. I don't believe that he made it sound insulting or horrible. Who knows how much of that conversation was actually edited out to begin with. It was all said in a joking manner and I agree that sometimes you have to make light of some of your worst experiences.

Glad to see that last nights show was pretty technical. No
"rock star" stuff (well considering). I was impressed with the
discussion of the aero bars and Lance asking about the stuff he
used 2 years ago. I particularly liked the part where he says
(paraphrased) "the stuff won the Tour de France 2 years ago
and isn't available..."
I bet Deda, would "Find" some for him . . .

Marty

i noticed the music wasn't so loud this week ...are they paying attention here???

good deal.

I love this show.

just be glad it's on guys.

I 44 and when i was a kid we had 3 channels, 5 if you counted the uhf that looked like a snow storm


we're lucky we can watch this stuff you know....