The Tour de France begins Saturday

And even faster during today's prologue.

Idaho, do you have the power to rename this thread? Let's just make it the "official" TdF thread.

 

the prologue is a different beast. It's only about five miles and even I might manage 30 mph for that short of a distance. Plus they're not in a peloton in the prologue. It's just you and the clock going against each other.

As for the comfortable pace ... he's got a point. In these grand tours which last three weeks, there is a good deal of staying in comfort zones.

I think the 7-8 stage races are more challenging in some ways because every second counts to a greater degree. It's kind of like baseball vs. football. One game in a baseball season means hardly anything compared to one game in a football season.

In a 8-stage race, you see racers actually race their butts off each day.

On a side note, I was in a short little hill climb this morning -- 15 miles, 3,800 feet of elevation gain. Lots of blown up legs at the top.

 

Heh, you said, "peloton."
Heh, heh, heh.

 

I always knew you were something of a Beavis. I suspected a Butthead, but Beavis is more fitting.

 

they're remarkable athletes and they ride their bicycles fast

but as a sport, it's a joke

kind of like writing "teeheehee"

 

?T n?etort

what, exactly, is your definition of a joke sport?

is track and field any more or less of a joke? is arena football a joke? How about triathlons, golf, hockey or (non professional) wrestling? All jokes?
is the nba a joke? After all, they put it in cruise control until the very end and then slug it out.

I said it earlier, it's a fringe sport - always has been, always will be. I expect nothing different and would never argue for frequent coverage of the sport in my daily newspaper outside of TdF coverage and infrequent features. I'm a cyclist and biased, I'll admit. I compete in bike races as well as train 100+ miles per week averaging 20 mph or so depending on the route.

But cycling is every bit and more a true sport (albeit tainted by a buttload of dopers at the highest level in recent years) as baseball, football or marathon running.

Is it a joke because the organization takes doping seriously enough to actually catch and suspend dirty athletes? Or is the NFL a joke sport because it seemingly doesn't take doping seriously?

Rather than posting a quick little barb, please explain why cycling is a joke of a sport. The doped athletes? Jokes, indeed. The sport? Methinks you're just whining for the sake of whining.

 

The Tour de FRANCE starts in ENGLAND. On what stage do they race through the Chunnel?

 

I know you're joking, but that would be sooo cool. No wind whatsoever and (I assume) a long straight line.

Speeds would get up to about 40-45 mph for an average.

We got some 50 mph speeds this morning coming down the canyon, but it was scary with traffic coming at us, behind us and little rocks on the road as we rounded corners. A long perfect staightaway would be a cyclist's dream in some ways.

 

Just follow the syringes

 

Ides, good point about the short stage races (for some reason, my quote function isn't working). Anyway, races like the Tour de Georgia and California, domestically do pack a little more punch on a consistent basis...Paris-Roubaix and Leige-Bastone-Leige even more so.
Even still, the TdF's length doesn't necessitate a mailed-in ride. Sure, Breaks rarely stick early on, and if they do, it's usually late in the race when the guys in it are 35 minutes back. I'm amazed every time the peloton reels in a substantial break just as they reach the final kilometer.
But any number of things can go wrong - stomach problems, bad weather when spending five+ hours in the saddle is the last thing a rider wants, some sketchy domestique taking out half the peloton while he's trying to take food out of his pockets.
While not exciting - the first few stages until the mountains are usually ho-hum - and the riders are admittedly bored or chatty, they're still exposed for all that time. Who was it a few years ago, or maybe last year, who had the yellow jersey for the first few stages, and totally washed out in the final few Kms - Zabriskie, maybe. It's not the greatest ratio of Invested Time vs. Payoff, but it's something.
Ok, I better shut up now before I type any more evidence contrary to my already weak point.

 

In a grand tour, the first week is disceptive. It sucks some of the energy out of the field and though all things appear somewhat equal after 4-5 stages, you see what those longs stages do to the field when they suddenly have to really work in the mountains -- the weaker riders fall apart and are lucky to stick around in the grupetto.

the studs, on the other hand, have much more left in the tank (or syringe, you clever witty ones) when it gets to go time.

Dave Z is the guy you were thinking. He's a time trial specialist and held the opening yellow jersey for a couple of days until he had to sprint -- not his specialty at all. He can go fast for short time, but for some reason hasn't developed the skill to turn it up two notches after going pretty hard for 120 miles.

I've got a 50-mile race in a couple of weeks and then a 111-mile team race two weeks after that. It'll be interesting to see how we handle each race a little differently knowing our time won't stop ticking until the last member of our 6-man team crosses the line.

 

Great effort by McEwen to get back into the thing and then win it.

Dave Z was involved in a crash and ended up 2:27 back which is terrible at this stage, but not too important in the big picture since he is there like a 150-pound offensive lineman -- doing the gruntwork for the team's leaders.