OT: The Tour!

OwenInAZ

OwenInAZ

New member
Stage 4 today! Crazy race so far, lots of excitement.

Just wanted to give those who follow cycling:celeb2: a heads up, if you started a fantasy team on Versus I have a group going. So far it's just my wife and I, but the more the merrier :) It's called OwenJustForFun.
 
Im no cyclist, but my homie in NY is...

Not to put a damper on things but...

A good High School friend Named Chris Scherer got killed serving our country over in Iraq.... Bill Sweeney(my cycling buddy) and I were close friends with Chris.... Bill was EXTREMELY close to Chris so when this happened it was hard on everyone who got the privilage to know Chris, But especially Bill...

Before Chris' passing, Bill was a partier, as we all were(haha) ..... He quit drinking alot and quit smoking all together...

I got a call from Bill a couple of months ago saying he was planning on riding his bike across the country.... I thought he was nuts....

Well Bill and a couple of his buddies have been on the road for about 2 weeks now.... They started at Chris' house on Long Island and they are now somewhere in IL.....

They are riding in a big circle around the whole country, and will be comming through PHX.... When they are in town I plan to pick up the ride with them for the ride through the valley....


Their journey is being called "The ride to remeber" ... If anyone wants to tag along for the ride in order to show support to our troops, that would be great!!

I for one wont make it far(too hot for the kidd), But anyone who can actually ride, these guys are the crew for ya...

If people are interested, I'll start a thread when the time is getting closer...

Hope to see some of you there!!


Sorry for the hijack Owen! :)
 
I can't believe they ran that stage yesterday...What a joke. The organizers are idiots for running on cobblestones, Chavenel blows 3 tires and loses the jersey, Lance blows a tire an loses huge time. I still haven't heard what happened to Frank Schlek, but looked like he might be done for the Tour. I could go on....That stage didn't belong in this race.
 
Ever watched Paris-Roubaix threes a reason it's called the he'll of the north. You have to be hard man to win that race. I for was glad to see such important sections of it in the Tour. These same guys race those same cobbles in April. Or at least the strong men do. More of it. More often.
 
kirkaz said:
I can't believe they ran that stage yesterday...What a joke. The organizers are idiots for running on cobblestones, Chavenel blows 3 tires and loses the jersey, Lance blows a tire an loses huge time. I still haven't heard what happened to Frank Schlek, but looked like he might be done for the Tour. I could go on....That stage didn't belong in this race.
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Cobbles are half the fun. Paris-Roubaix runs through those every year. Every rider says they're crazy and a madhouse, but I haven't heard any of them complain that they didn't belong.

And Frank is out with a busted shoulder. Needs surgery. Good thing I picked Andy to win it :)
 
jerryz said:
Ever watched Paris-Roubaix threes a reason it's called the he'll of the north. You have to be hard man to win that race. I for was glad to see such important sections of it in the Tour. These same guys race those same cobbles in April. Or at least the strong men do. More of it. More often.
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I believe it was the same course yesterday...I have no problem with them racing on it in individual races, and Lance even likes to. But the mountain stages are supposed to decide the Tour, not blown tires and crashes, even Contador blew a tire late in the race costing him time.
 
Three weeks of racing is supposed to decide it. One of Lemonds victories was decided by a TT on the final day in Paris by 2 seconds. Coming from almost 30 seconds down. For the closes victory in TDF history. No mountains just the race of truth.
 
jerryz said:
Three weeks of racing is supposed to decide it. One of Lemonds victories was decided by a TT on the final day in Paris by 2 seconds. Coming from almost 30 seconds down. For the closes victory in TDF history. No mountains just the race of truth.
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TT's have always been a huge factor in the Tour...It will be very hard for Lance to make up for this blown tire, I don't think it's very fair that he should have to. There is a reason they don't do cobblestones in the tour, and I wager after this debacle, they won't do them again for a very very very long time. The mountains always are the biggest factor though, otherwise the best timetrialist (drawing a blank on his name) would win.

If Lance were to lose by 30 seconds (which I doubt he will) it will be a great injustice.

I think when the mountains start Contador blows everyone's doors off, particularly now that Andy doesn't have Frank.
 
Don't be surprised if some guy named Evans suddenly looks real good. Oh and don't forget that three years ago he had a flat on a stage just as the decisive move was made and it cost him over five minutes. At the time he was sitting in second place. His Tour was over. Oh wait, that a mountain stage so having the flat and everyone hitting the gas was ok by your logic.
 
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jerryz said:
Don't be surprised if some guy named Evans suddenly looks real good. Oh and don't forget that three years ago he had a flat on a stage just as the decisive move was made and it cost him over five minutes. At the time he was sitting in second place. His Tour was over. Oh wait, that a mountain stage so having the flat and everyone hitting the gas was ok by your logic.
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I can't say that I remember that one to be honest, was that the year Sastre won it? I also have never thought Cadel was a TRUE THREAT to win the tour, and I don't think he is this year either. He just can't quite hang with the elite's in the mountains, he may prove me wrong this year, then you can say "I told you so".

But, cmon Jerry, are going to compare falling asleep at the wheel and not paying attention to an important breakaway with a flat tire on a road with jagged edges everywhere and not having your team car anywhere near. Nobody loses 5 minutes from a flat in a normal stage, particularly the team leader, calling BS on that one.
 
That's the year Sastre won and Evans lost all that time because the road was so narrow that no support cars could get up to him and there were only the contendors left. So he stood there for two or three minutes waiting. His race was over.

Evans problem has always been team/support not individual ability. He can climb and time trial well enough. He's needed one or two more good men on his squad but has been budget constrained.

But as for the calling BS. Racing is racing. If you've ever raced bikes you know weird 'stuff' happens all the time. To everyone in the race. Perhaps more than other sports weird things happen. Because you're out in an open environment for long periods of time.
 
jerryz said:
That's the year Sastre won and Evans lost all that time because the road was so narrow that no support cars could get up to him and there were only the contendors left. So he stood there for two or three minutes waiting. His race was over.

Evans problem has always been team/support not individual ability. He can climb and time trial well enough. He's needed one or two more good men on his squad but has been budget constrained.

But as for the calling BS. Racing is racing. If you've ever raced bikes you know weird 'stuff' happens all the time. To everyone in the race. Perhaps more than other sports weird things happen. Because you're out in an open environment for long periods of time.
Click to expand...

I will take the BS comment back then, but 5 minutes sounds a bit much.

vanillagorila said:
man, this thread is getting heated...

Kirk do you ride?
Click to expand...

Most sports threads I take part in get that way...my bad.:o

Haven't ridden in a long time


OwenInAZ said:
All I wanted was to broadcast my fantasy team :) oh well
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All I wanted was to broadcast my man-crush on Lance and feeling that he got a very bad break in le tour.
 
kirkaz said:
I will take the BS comment back then, but 5 minutes sounds a bit much.



Most sports threads I take part in get that way...my bad.:o

Haven't ridden in a long time




All I wanted was to broadcast my man-crush on Lance and feeling that he got a very bad break in le tour.
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too bad, I need someone to ride with out in Surprise. :(
 
Kirk- he did get a bad break. But that's still racing. Just like the dog that ran onto the course and caused one rider to retire. Open roads make for strange things. Once in a 24 hour Mtn. Bike race had a team mate repair his axle with duct tape and try to ride five mile in the dark with duct tape holding his wheel together and on the the bike. Cost mucho time. Still podiumed that year? I guess we should have won? ;)
 
jerryz said:
Kirk- he did get a bad break. But that's still racing. Just like the dog that ran onto the course and caused one rider to retire. Open roads make for strange things. Once in a 24 hour Mtn. Bike race had a team mate repair his axle with duct tape and try to ride five mile in the dark with duct tape holding his wheel together and on the the bike. Cost mucho time. Still podiumed that year? I guess we should have won? ;)
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That's why you wear running shoes for the start instead of cleats. Have to ensure the podium somehow ;)
 
At least no one walked their lap.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's stage. Net loss in elevation, essentially a series of big rollers. As long as it doesn't rain we should be in good shape.
 
vanillagorila said:
too bad, I need someone to ride with out in Surprise. :(
Click to expand...

There are some nice possibilities here, I would love to hop on Bell Rd. and head West past Sun City Festival down to I 10....Also, what is Northern or Olive that you can take all the way up into the White Tanks? That would be a good one as well. I would imagine some great Mountain biking up there as well.

Alas, no bike anymore:sad1: Maybe when the kids get a little older.
 
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