Help -- how to watch the Tour w/o Versus!

[emily_in_nc]

Okay Tour viewers/addicts, DH and I have been watching daily/nightly on Versus, but we just found out we need to go to Ohio to help the in-laws with a yard sale (we have a lot of stuff to sell too, so it's in our best interests) July 22-26 (including drive time), which will be some of the most exciting days of the Tour. They do not get Versus, just basic cable. They do have DSL, so we could watch a feed on their computer, but we won't be able to watch it live or even close to live since we'll be either driving, preparing for the sale, or conducting the sale during the days. So, we'd be limited to watching at night.

We're trying to figure out if there is a way to get feeds that we could watch not-live in the evening without getting spoilers (i.e., going to most cycling-related sites, it's going to be very hard not to see who won before we watch!) Is there any such thing? We would be willing to pay for a subscription so this does not even have to be a free site.

Our other alternatives are staying in a hotel that we would verify gets Versus before making reservations, or paying to upgrade the in-laws from basic cable. Can you get upgraded cable for a very short time, like a month, or do you have to commit to a full year? We are on satellite so are not familiar with how cable works these days. I believe they are with Time-Warner.

Thanks so much for any advice. Gotta have our tour!!!!!!! :D

[roguedog]

Hey emily,

I feel ya. I don't have cable but I've been following via veetle.com which has been great.

IF for some reason that doesn't work for ya, try http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/#live which will list a couple of sites to get it in the US. One of the links go to Versus so I've been going to the other links.

But really veetle has been the most reliable and the one that shows up the best for me.

[Triskeliongirl]

The steephill feeds are not so reliable and won't have good commentary.

What we have done when traveling is plan to watch it either at a local sports bar, or even some LBS show it. Just call ahead to try and figure it out.

[tulip]

The steephill feeds do tend to drop out from time to time. The commentary, however, is great. Eurosport UK is very good. If that one drops out, there are others, but it does help if you understand another language.

I agree with the sports bar idea, however, since you won't be able to watch it live.

[Mr. Bloom]

SilverSon has been watching live stream on www.versus.com/tdf (http://www.versus.com/tdf)

He found it on his own and swears he's (I mean "I'm") not paying for it...

[Possegal]

I think the bigger problem here is that Emily can't watch LIVE anything, as she'll be traveling. She's looking for a way to watch something like the edited versus version at night. Or does anyone store the live stream to watch later on replay, as it were.

I have to say, in all my looking around to find streaming video, I've yet to see any stored video. If you click on the live feeds like versus or steephill after the stage is over, you won't get anything. It would help if there was a way to watch the evening version of Versus online, I have not seen that but it doesn't mean it isn't out there.

I second the idea of a nice sports bar. :) Reminds me of the year my hockey team won their first Stanley Cup and I was living in Oxford Mississippi and no cable or regular TV stations were showing hockey. I went to a sports bar, explained my predicament and the kind bartender handed me the satellite book and said - find me a station. I gave him the local Pittsburgh sports station and there I sat, all by myself, watching hockey on the one big screen TV, while everyone else watched basketball on all the other TVs. :)

Good luck, I hope you find a way to watch. I was at my cousins a few years back on the final weekend of the Tour and I did email first to make sure his cable had at least one station I could watch for Tour coverage. So I understand your dilemma.

[Jo-n-NY]

Emily,

Can you call the cable co. and see if you can get an upgrade short term.

JoAnn

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Possegal is exactly right -- we can't watch anything live, which rules out all live feeds. We'd need stored video, and I kinda figured that wouldn't be available. :( We'll be either on the road or preparing for or participating in the two-day sale during the daylight hours on Wed-Sat.

We talked about trying to find a sports bar, but this is four nights in a row! I don't mind an occasional night out, but we're likely to be pretty tired in the evenings so not up for a lot of activity, and the in-laws don't actually live in sports-bar heaven, just a small town in Ohio. There are biker bars there, but not so sure about sports bars. ;) I don't even think there is a bike shop.

Staying in a hotel or paying for them to upgrade cable (they'd need digital cable, a new box, and it looks like a full year has to be ordered) would negate any $ we might make in the sale, so it wouldn't be worth our even going.

I think we've just about decided to just record the evening coverage here at home on Versus from Wed-Sat nights and try very hard to avoid spoilers. We have two DVD recorders so can actually get all four nights on DVD. If Lance wins it all, it will be impossible not to hear it somewhere, but if he doesn't, and we avoid sports and news websites and TV coverage, we might be able to make it home without it being spoiled. Even if we do hear who won, which we probably would no matter how careful we are, we'd still enjoy watching the coverage, even after the fact, and being able to zip through commercials would be nice.

If we do go this route, we just have to hope for no power outages while we're gone!!

[Possegal]

This year in general, due to Lance, it is hard to avoid. My local news has been known to comment, that doesn't usually happen.

In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open and see if there is any stored video of the days stages anywhere. Maybe it is out there but none of us have needed to find it before. :)

[Triskeliongirl]

Can't you just do the yard sale the following weekend? Its just too exciting a weekend to miss.

And don't discount sports bars without calling around. In woods hole, I would bike to what was more of a cafe, and watch the broadcast. You just need to find an establishment with a TV willing to turn it on to the braodcast, and maybe have a meal or snack there while you watch.

[emily_in_nc]

Can't you just do the yard sale the following weekend? Its just too exciting a weekend to miss.

No, they have company coming the following weekend, and the one after that doesn't work for us...then it starts pushing up against a couple of weeks I can't miss work for any reason (delivering a new software release to our lead customer). It's just too bad on the timing, but pushing it out til fall just delays the chance to get all the stuff out of our house we've been piling up, putting into boxes, and are ready to get rid of.

[tulip]

The TDF website has videos of each past stage.

The English version is here: http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/LIVE/us/900/videos.html

They provide a summary of the race, interview with the winner, analysis of the race, etc. It ought to be enough to get you through.

[withm]

Yard sales are way too much work for too little money especially when you factor in all the preparation and the value of your time on an hourly basis.

Box it all up and take it to Goodwill, Salavation Army, whatever, take the tax deduction, and go for a ride instead.

No headaches. No hassling. No dealing with irritating people who make fun of your onced prized possessions. No agonizing over pricing decisions.

This is a no brainer.

[tulip]

That all depends on the people doing the yard sale and what's being sold and who's doing the buying. It also depends on the tax status. Alot of people just do the standard deduction, so donations don't count for anything.

[emily_in_nc]

We are going to do the yard sale not only to unload some of our unneeded stuff but also to help my DH's parents (who are 79 and 80) unload some of theirs. They need help hauling stuff from the basement no matter what, even if it just gets donated. Everything that doesn't sell will be donated to charity after the sale. It's a family bonding thing too...if we can make enough to offset our trip, I'll be happy.

[TrekTheKaty]

Somebody had a link to youtube.com--maybe some recaps there?

[roguedog]

emily.. ok. being the geek that i am.. you could set up a sling box :)

http://www.slingmedia.com/go/help-me-choosehttp://www.slingmedia.com/go/help-me-choose

I like spending other folks' $

[emily_in_nc]

emily.. ok. being the geek that i am.. you could set up a sling box :)

http://www.slingmedia.com/go/help-me-choosehttp://www.slingmedia.com/go/help-me-choose

I like spending other folks' $

Too rich for my blood (my cell phone doesn't even have a camera, much less TV!), but neat idea!

[tulip]

Emily, did you try the TDF site for summary and interviews? How is it? I'm able to watch live streaming so I haven't watched the summaries, but I'd love a review of the TDF site's videos.

[aicabsolut]

for a fee, you can watch the versus videos from the morning feed (the broadcast w/ Phil and Paul) on-demand.

[emily_in_nc]

for a fee, you can watch the versus videos from the morning feed (the broadcast w/ Phil and Paul) on-demand.

Oh yeah? That is actually what I would be looking for... hard to get it without spoilers just by going to the site, but I would be willing to pay to get the feeds in the evenings. I will investigate, but I can only do so after I've watched the stage in the evening (i.e., I can't check it out now) to avoid spoilers from today!

Thanks for the information aicabsolut! :D

[emily_in_nc]

Emily, did you try the TDF site for summary and interviews? How is it? I'm able to watch live streaming so I haven't watched the summaries, but I'd love a review of the TDF site's videos.

No, I haven't checked it out b/c right now I'm home and have Versus, but I can't watch the day's stage til evening during the week since I work full-time, and I can't check the site in the evening without getting spoilers! I will investigate further this weekend. I am especially interested in getting the full feeds that aicabsolut mentioned instead of just summaries.

[aicabsolut]

I think it's a one-time subscription fee to get the full access on-demand (and more $ than more limited access to watch full stages live). It might not be worth it to you now, since it's so far into the race, but I believe that it gives you the option to watch it live or to go back and watch later. You'll see 3 video options on Versus. There's free access and then 2 levels of pay access, I think.

[Triskeliongirl]

Hey, I just noticed this guys offering online coverage. You might want to check it out. Not sure if its just live or if they stream replays:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dcb1t

[emily_in_nc]

for a fee, you can watch the versus videos from the morning feed (the broadcast w/ Phil and Paul) on-demand.

I could not find this -- I find Versus site kind of confusing. I could find all kinds of free videos, but no subscription service. Do you have a link?

Thanks!

[aicabsolut]

http://www.versus.com/tourdefrancelive

when you get there a popup will ask you which version (free, pay-per-stage (live), or all access)

[emily_in_nc]

http://www.versus.com/tourdefrancelive

when you get there a popup will ask you which version (free, pay-per-stage (live), or all access)

Thanks! I will definitely bookmark it and try it on the first night of our trip to see if it will work for us, and if my father-in-law's connection is fast enough to support it. Much appreciated! :)

[Jo-n-NY]

Emily,

I hope it works out for you.

Also, I hope the yard sale goes well!!!

~ JoAnn

[emily_in_nc]

Emily,

I hope it works out for you.

Also, I hope the yard sale goes well!!!

~ JoAnn

Thanks JoAnn! It's going to be a busy few days. We'll check my father-in-law's connection speed to determine if it's worth paying for the Versus on demand coverage. And if not, we'll be recording it here at home anyway. We won't be quite as obsessed assuming that Contador increases or keeps his lead tomorrow. We're Lance fans and were hoping he could pull off #8, but that's not looking too likely now.

[emily_in_nc]

for a fee, you can watch the versus videos from the morning feed (the broadcast w/ Phil and Paul) on-demand.

This ended up being just the ticket, aicabsolut, so thank you again! We were able to watch four stages (including the incredible Mont Ventoux) spoiler-free, each evening at my in-laws' house. It was a great deal since each payment allowed for 24-hour access, and so long as you started one of the stage videos before the 24 hours was up, you could watch the whole stage. So, we got to see four stages for just two $2.95 payments! :D

Here I am, hooked up and watching the Mont Ventoux stage in my father-in-law's office area:

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/HL/XUFhXtU/IMGP4523_resize_exposure.JPG

Thanks again -- you saved our trip! :)

[Jo-n-NY]

Wonderful Emily....it looks like you were really enjoying it.

I hope the yard sale went well also.

~JoAnn