Thanks Spazz...just can't get enough info. The more the better.
~ JoAnn
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Thanks Spazz...just can't get enough info. The more the better.
~ JoAnn
I really really hope Lance will pull this off - but I agree with Spazz... it isn't gonna be easy with so many gunning for him, and the course itself has some very very tough legs in it.
Lance's character may be a bit prickly, and like any supreme athelete he has to be self-focused... but what an inspiration. What odds he has overcome.
Methinks Basso has become so popular because he has something rare in top cyclists who carry so little body fat and can look quite gaunt ... Basso is good looking
I'd really like Ulrich to come somewhere significant... if he is ok to start after popping his head into his training cars rear window!!!
I forgot who said it on the page, but critiqued Ulrich for not rising to the challenge of Armstrong and changing the way he rode. This is perhaps unfair on Ulrich - he rides the way he rides, and he has one a Tour... the truth is, sometimes there is someone a little bit better than you... and that someone for Ulrich is Armstrong.
Hello ladies. I've been so busy lately and I've missed all the initial TdF talk, but I did so enjoy reading through all of your predictions and favorites. Since the time is HERE (YAY! This will be my 2nd year watching the Tour.), I thought I'd go ahead and put in my favorites.
I'll seriously be watching the following very closely:
Basso, Hincapie, Landis, Voeckler, and ARMSTRONG (of course)
As for my prediction of the overall winner, I am going to root for Lance. I feel, like some others of you, that he will pull off a seventh win - but not without a battle.
This is only my 2nd year watching racing but I am with you! I would like Hincapie to at least place in the top 3. I hope Armstrong wins but I am not sure if he can.
I take it that noone is Sheryl Crow fans here huh?? :cool:
OK... I'm parked in my favorite chair, my VeloNews TdF Official Guide to my right, my laptop with my excel spreadsheet for tracking stats to my left (with all TdF sites up on explorer) and the TV tuned to OLN.
I'm ready...
spazzdog
3:17 Paris time and it looks like the OLN server has crashed... whoops! :eek:
move over spazz, I'm heading over to your place.
My Dishnetwork DVR recieiver's hard drive crashed yesterday. They are sending me a new one and looks like that'll arrive on Tuesday. Tuesday?!!
Even the nice customer service rep in Texas sympathised "Oh nooooo, you have to be able to watch my boy, Lance put the record away".
That's ok, after work today I'll head to the local bike shop and catch up on their big screen TV (the other shop, Spazz, or maybe Chris's). I'll keep up on the web at work today so if you're calling da' phone company and get put on hold I'm watching OLN
;) :rolleyes: :cool:
Bobke has shaved the mutton chops! Hallelujah!!! :)
Okay, what's up with telling us that coverage will start at 5:30 a.m. PDT and it's 7:16 and we're still watching pre-game???? :mad: Blaine got up at 5:30. I slept 'til 6:30, thank heavens.
Gotta go to OLNtv.com and vote for my top 5 Lance moments. I already know which ones I'm voting for.
The olntv.com server is still down... idiots! 4:21 PM in Paris.
I wish trautwig and the gang would shut the heck up and show the TT. I love lance and all, but I'd like to see the other riders too.
Yeah, this really is kind of insane. There are many, many riders I'd like to see take their shot. How much build up can we endure?
spazzdog is "parked in my favorite chair, my VeloNews TdF Official Guide to my right, my laptop with my excel spreadsheet for tracking stats to my left (with all TdF sites up on explorer) and the TV tuned to OLN."
uh spazz, thought we were both training.
As soon as my reciever is back I'll watch the tube from the Cycleops.
yeah right, that'll happen.
Hey, I read that Lance took a fall too recently. Doesn't seem to have hurt him much or maybe less than Jan's.
The day is young, my friend... the day is young.
OLN's TdF site is still down BTW... so much for "OLN's new look". Their new look currently sucks!
And if Trautwig & Friends don't shut up and show the TT I'm gonna shoot the TV.
spazz... getting irritated.
WOW! Did Lance just deliver the major blow to Jan Ullrich or what? I have to admit that I'm a little afraid of Lance going after yellow in the first week. It sure puts a lot of pressure on his team to defend the maillot jaune for the majority of the Tour.
But I must say that Lance continues to amaze me.
I don't know that he was going after yellow... that almost feels secondary. If he'd gotten it, great but I doubt he's gonna sweat the 2 seonds for long.
He WAS however, going after Ullrich... and I'd say he made a statement there :cool:
You know that hurt Ullrich at least as much as the blow to that rear window...
Bugger! As an Ullrich fan that's not what I wanted to see today. If it's going to be the Armstrong Show all the way to Paris like it has been for the last 6 year you might need to wake me up every so often. ;)
Very good ride by Armstrong but you could see how fresh he looked when he came over the line. It must have been a delicate balance to make sure he didn't get that yellow jersey today and be under pressure to defend it right from day one. Hats off the the American CSC rider though - don't know him but what a great ride. :)
What an exciting race and what a great start to TdF 2005!! :) :)
I don't know if Lance was gunning for yellow today... but if the Blue Train (now light blue) makes another statement in the TTT, Lance will most likely be in yellow in a couple of days.
Watch out for those CSC boys - rumour has it they're pretty hot in the TTT, as are Phonak. Looking forward to it. :)
Whew, it was quite exciting seeing Lance catch Jan - he's never been caught in a TT before. I don't dislike Ullrich (and I love all his pink! :p ), but I have to root for Lance to get his lucky #7 before retiring. I'd love to see George H. on the podium with him, and aside from that, anyone else is fine with me. This tour is definitely Lance's to lose. Livestrong!
Emily
hahaha wow looks like lance pulled a fast one on me.
i thought he was in poor shape.
RIGHT!
also---how awesome is it that an unknown american kid won the stage? hooray for the usa. take that, frogs. :P
LMAO!Quote:
Originally Posted by abarensfeld7
No, not a lot of Crow fans on this board, I'm afraid. She's been around more than Lance's wheels. I'd be afraid of catching something, if I were him...
I wouldn't say Dave Zabriskie is unknown.
He won a stage in last years' Vuelta a España ... but granted, he was riding for an obscure team called the US Postal Service at the time. ;)
This year, riding for CSC, he won a stage at the Giro d'Italia.
I think it was mentioned on OLN that he's the first American to ever have won stages in 3 consecutive Grand Tours. Bravo Dave!
I'm a bit offended by that - can we do without the name calling ? Thanks.Quote:
take that, frogs. :P
- Jo.
Zabriskie's not that unknown. He's had a couple of major stage wins and his face was all over the TV last year. You know that really fun USPS commercial where the boys are delivering mail by bike? When Floyd pops a wheelie Dave Z is the one who gets the close-up as he makes a wry face over Floyd's antics (I mean how many people can pop a wheelie on a road bike?).
Really great start to the tour. George, Bobby and Levi were right there in the thick of things. I'm rooting for Jan to make a come back. I'm sure hoping that his performance was due to the crash yesterday and he'll recover quickly. I'd love to see him and Basso really put up a fight. Tom Boonen and McGee also. I'd never seen McGee ride and boy do I wish I had his incredibly smooth form. Beautiful to watch. This tour should be fun.
Wow! - Lance amazed me again today...I don't find it boring at all, sorry to those who disagree. It's a known and talked-about fact that Lance's planning and training is arduous and ongoing - he puts the work in and has fought for each win each year - some much tougher than others - and that's not even including his lil ol' bout with cancer and a 30% chance of surviving...but I give him huge credit for that. Nothing about the TdF is a given for him or anyone else and to see him overcome adversity time over time is damned impressive - to me anyway. I hope that his cycling rivals and soon-to-be successors rise up to the challenge and keep pushing to reach his level after he's off the road. Until then, they better be in the best shape that they can be and be willing to fight just as hard as he, in order to have any chance of taking it.
And...what's up with the officials "randomly" selecting ol' #1 for a surprise drug test yesterday afternoon, after each and every rider - including Armstrong - had been poked, prodded and tested already? They can test him all they want but, to me, they just keep getting increasingly more ridiculous, no?
What do you all think?
No - I don't think the Tour will be boring. That was me just b!tching yesterday because Ullrich didn't do very well. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by MM_QFC!
OK - TdF resolution.... I'm not an Armstrong fan, never have been and never will, however, I certainly admire his dedication and committment. Afterall, no one could win 6 Tours without being a bit special.
I've watched the TdF every year since 1997 and I s'pose it's kinda demoralizing to see just one person wipe the floor with everyone for 6 years in a row. Armstrong is so strong that some years it's made it look like no one else is even trying!
So... this is Lances last year and I'll do my best to not to slag him off- even if he does make mince meat out of my favourite riders. :p And I'll try to keep my posts positive. If I do feel I need to criticise him I hope it'll be balanced and fair and you'll let me know if you think it's not! :p
Anyway - here's to a great Tour and lets hope the rest of the peleton make Armstrong work for it. I'm sure he won't disappoint. :) :) :)
I'm with you MightyMitre with my opinion of Lance. I respect him as a truly great cyclist who has overcome such huge odds. But his personality is well, somewhat to be desired I guess. He's got a chip on his shoulder (self-admittedly if you read his first book). And while cancer changed him while he went through it, I'm not sure how much of the underlying personality was changed over the long run. I do agree with the drug testing BS. He's gone through a lot of doubt and other crap about his comeback, which is still reflected to this day with the scrutiny he goes under. I don't agree with that. When I was watching him yesterday it was like watching that angry young rider in his pre-cancer days. I hope he wins the 7th, but am sorta looking forward to a new face to wow us. I'm also a bit turned off by all the Lance fever in the US because I have to wonder if after he retires the enthusiasm for the sport will go back to what it was 10 years ago. Americans have short attention spans :D Then again, do you REALLY think he's going to retire? I have my doubts. He may not race in the Tour again, but I suspect he'll show up in some places.
With that being said I'm not rooting for Jan either. I'd like to see Ivan Basso give Lance a run for his money. And Zabriskie winning the stage is what's so great about watching the tour. I love to see the young guys on the podium almost not knowing what to do with themselves because it's such a huge thing for them to be there.
Just my 2 bits :)
Cool cool - I just turned the tV on - just in time to see the peloton catch the 3 off the front. Nothing like an exciting sprint finish!
During the Giro, Dave Zabriskie was doing his own 1-question, on the bike, "interviews" with fellow cyclists that are hilarious. Check out davezabriskie.com.
That made my day. Now I know what Liquigas is. :eek:
Yeah, me too. made my day...ruined my lunch. :o
"The interview of the day with Trent Wilson of Selle Italia:
DZ: Trent if you could make a rubber band bracelet what would it stand for?
TW: Something to do with beer."
:D :D :D
A couple of things (who knows, maybe more):
1) What's the deal with the Sheryl Crow bashing? If you wanna, that's OK and all, I guess, but I don't get it. They seem very happy with one another and in the end, isn't that the important thing? Yeah, I know... his ex-wife was there thru the recovery and had his children, etc, but people break up. It's life. Would you want to stay with your partner when the flame was... well, out or there was no common interest except the kids? how healthy is that?
2) Are there any French folks on TE? Why do the French hate Lance? This is not meant to incite French bashing, so be nice! He's an amazing athlete... is it because he's American and the U.S. and France aren't exactly huggy buddies these days? Opinions....
spazzdog - diving into the "controversial pool" once again...
(and does it irritate anyone else that you can't do spell check on your posts :eek: )
I'm not so sure they hate him. When he first popped onto the scene, I don't think he was especially respectful to the more senior riders or the traditions of the tour. That irked them. And, it's their race. They want a French cyclist to do well.Quote:
Originally Posted by spazzdog
I suppose the only thing that bugs me about the Sheryl Crow stuff is that they NEVER interview any other cyclists' wives, girlfriends, etc. I don't think they ever interviewed his wife when they were married. It just seems crass to me. I'd rather hear how some of the "regular" wives deal with their husbands funky schedules, weird dietary needs, obsessions with gear, etc.
V.
That's painting with a mighty broad brush, don't you think?Quote:
Why do the French hate Lance?
Odds are the average Frenchman likes Lance I heckuva lot more than I do. :D
I tend to find questions like that an open invitation for French-bashing, which I find unfair - be it by GW Bush or by some Lance fan.
There's almost a Bush-like attitude amongst some Lance fans - if you don't basically worship the freakin' ground he walks on, there's something wrong with you - "if you're not with him you're against him". Which is the reason why I don't belong to the Cult of Lance - I refuse to be told who I must root for, and I'm tired of him and his yellow bracelets and his endless self-promotion and his superstar girlfriend shoved down my throat.
And as for Ms. Crow, V. hits the nail on the head IMO.
- Jo.
I think Lance is an amazing athlete and I admire him for his tenacity & hope he wins his 7th. I also know that he has lots of warts, he's difficult, childish and petulant. I don't own a yellow rubber band bracelet. Switch to my other favorite sport - pro basketball. Yup, they're amazing athletes with lots of warts too.Quote:
Originally Posted by jobob
I don't particularly care about an athlete's persona. I admire them for their accomplishments, their passion for their sport and their willingness to endure hardship & pain to succeed. I like sports where I can see them sweat, see the determination on their faces. Maybe that's why golf never appealed to me :D
Double bump on V's comments on Ms. Crow. I'd love to hear from "normal" rider's wives/girlfriends. Ms. Crow is too cute for me. Her interview last night was so fake, "Oh, I'm still learning..." Well, honey, if you haven't learned by now ("1 year and 8 months...tee hee..") as they said in the movie Birdcage:
"Try more gum"
I used to be a major Lance fan, but I guess I got kinda bored. I really wanted him to do some of the other races this year, and not concentrate on the Tour. I suspect his contract with Disco had something to do with the decision though. I admire the work he's done with the cancer community, and I think he's an amazing athelete.
I do wear the yellow band, more in memory of my best friend, who died two Christmases ago, than as a Lance fan.
Ms Crow - never liked her music, don't care for her. I do think it's silly to have the OLN boys fawning over her.
Spazz,
I saw your comment about Comcast at the beginning of this thread. When we got Comcast 2 years ago, it was right before the Tour. They lied and told us my town had OLN, which we didn't. After we called and complained and got lots of others to call Comcast, they put OLN on and it has remained. I read about this happening in other places, where cyclists annoyed the hell out of them and they put OLN on just to quiet them down. You could try this tactic, if you know others in Medford who want to keep the channel all year long.
Robyn
jobob, you're right... that was a pretty (stupidly) general statement. Apologies...
I'll revise that to be the French sporting authority... it just seems kinda like harrassment.
As to Sheryl... she's a big name that's all. I mean they usually get Robin Williams up there as well. Celebrity privilege and all that.
spazz
Yabbut - Robin Williams is funny, in a manic, bipolar sort of way........ :D Oh, he's also a kick-azz cyclist.Quote:
Originally Posted by spazzdog
I've read that Williams has a bike stable to die for. There's a picture of him in one of my local bike shops where he went to get an Orbea, just one of a garage or two full of bikes.
There's "form" and then there's sportsmanship -- he lost his third place to O'Grady today for "headbutting" him on the way in... I admire the fact that he can scuffle while riding at 45 or so mph, but really..