Now, let's talk some TOUR de FRANCE

Holy cow! And here I thought the engineering involved in high perforamnce race cars was a techno-marvel.http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/bike.gif

 

Lance Armstrong,is fantastic.i hear is auto-biography is pretty inspirational too(overcoming cancer etc)plus he just won today.only one other could stay with him

 

just read your link,i see you saw he won too

 

got to the end and it said I would love to see Lance win his 5th.
its last year.he may have a different coach now.but,i dont know.i still think The Tour is great.

 

well i was thinking of taking his advice,and maybe entering next year.but i wouldnt want Lance to have info that i dont.that might mean he'd beat me.

 

Lance Armstrong is a man made out of steel. And that's why he will always beat Jan Ullrich and anyone else. (Btw. ... I am German ;-)

 

(Hmm..let's fuel this thread a bit and give it some bite : )

...Let's not fool ourselves and stay naiv, or over-romanticize the great achievements made in this event...imho Lance (or for that matter many more cyclists) is/are, apart from being a man of steel (I'll give him that credit...), also a man of EPO.

No man from earth can achieve these fabulous physical things for three weeks in a row (in average 200 km a day, mostly in heavy conditions-heat/climbs) without any kind of help/medicin.

It's just a matter of judgement: what to assign as (healthy?) medicin; what as (unhealthy?) drugs....

One way or the other he (and all other competitors) has/have won my deepest respect; for it takes one psychological aspect you can't get out of any bottle.... C H A R A C T E R.


Regards,
slammer

 

Posted: slammer JvA

The essential thing is not the triumph, but the struggle~not to have conquered, but to have fought...
I'm with you on that slammer!

 

The guy is amazing; a Super-Human; the "Michael Jordan" of bicycling.

Having said that, how much does the selection of one's teammates have to do with winning the "Tour"? Some TV shows I've seen give me the impression the "Tour" is more of a team event, and then others make it seem more of an individual effort. Just curious since I don't know that much about the sport...

 

I second the sentiments about Armstrong. Most of us simply have no idea what the physical demands of the Tour are like. It's like 3 weeks of marathoning....only far worse. The mountain stages are beyond torture, with climbs that avg 7-8+% grades in some cases....for miles & miles. If you've ever pulled so much as a 3-4% grade on a bike for a mile or so, you have just an inkling of what a killer feat it is. The legs & lungs want to explode; then you have to pedal HARDER!

I'm no expert either, but it's my understanding that even a Lance Armstrong would have no chance to win without a very good team. One of the 21 stages is actually a team time trial. The team members are recruited & selected very carefully, knowing full well that each will serve as part of an elaborate 2,200-mile "escort service" (no, not THAT kind) dedicated to protecting & encouraging their star rider.

 

It's like this, a good team is setup to "PULL" the top rider along, a sort of pace element. A good team also "PROTECTS", meaning an interference barrier. And riders sorted for a given effort are the rabbits of the "Dog Race".

 

Well, they're pulling him right to the front. I see he took the yellow jersey today!

 

I know most people have a real life & probably don't have cable TV available during the day, but if you're going to watch any single day of Le Tour, try taking in Stage #16 tomorrow (Wednesday, July 21st). Live coverage starts on the Outdoor Life Network @ 8:30 AM Eastern (5:30 AM Pacific), with pre-race coverage beginning a half hour earlier.

This stage is a gut-buster time trial (each individual cyclist against just the clock & his endurance limits) that totals approximately 9.5 miles, 8.5 of which average a 7.9% grade that reaches L'ALPE D'HUEZ (just under 6,000' elevation), one of the most famous finish lines along Le Tour. This could be the stage where Armstrong runs everyone into the ground.

 

Posted by D & C

It's not so important to have the yellow jersey, but any competitor must remain in striking distance, gearing himself to "PEAK" at the proper time. True, Lance has shown tremendous strength in the hills, though he won't spend himself quite yet. Remember, the solo aspect of the sport is how well a rider knows himself.

 

A phenomenal ride. I think that works out to about 14.5 mph up the side of a mountain. Try riding on flat terrain sometime and see if you can maintain 14-15 mph for any appreciable distance.

Le Tour officials need to do something about crowd control. They're gonna get a rider or fan seriously injured or killed some day.

One more killer stage in the Alps tomorrow, and then it should be pretty much the Lance Appreciation Tour the last 3 days.

 

Probably doesn't hurt Lance's motivation to have HER waitin' @ the finish line each day, too....

 

Would be a pain for me walking,

 

Hmm... now this thread is starting to confuse me... now what are we talking about here? I thought Lance was already taking care of CROW(d)-control?

(Looking at those legs beats all the epo in the world when it comes to squeezing the extra stamina and motivation out of his body, I guess! )

"Have some fun", Lance..you've well deserved it.

slammer