Lance gets 6

[MightyMitre]

Hey Girls - just got back from Europe and kinda suprised there's no posts on here celebrating Lance's 6 Tour wins! Or are you all still celebrating, along with everyone else on the Champs Elysee.

Lance has finally proved he's best at winning the Tour de France.

[caligurl]

do mean just got back.. as in you were at the TdF?????

[MightyMitre]

I've been in Europe for the last 3 weeks and saw the Tour a few times.

Standing in the rain for 3 hours watching the TTT was crazy! I don't know who was more crazy the riders or the specators who happily got soaked to the skin! It was a laugh.

Also saw the Tour on the cobbles near Roubaix during the first week. It was amazing - they were totally flying.

Didn't go to Paris this time - but maybe next year...

[caligurl]

WOW! i'm so jealous! every year we watch.. hubby always says he wants to go over there..

this year... as a new rider... i now have aspirations to ride the.. uhm... don't know how to spell it... the alpe dhuez... !

[MightyMitre]

Go for it! There were loads of Americans over there this year, especially as Lance has been so successful.

I have a friend in Italy who works for a company who runs cycling holidays for Americans. She does guided rides in the Dolomites and it's getting pretty popular.

Another friend from my cycling club rode up Alp D'Huez earlier in the year and although it took her a while she did it.

PS- I heard Sheryl Crow's done the climb in 90mins. I guess she's finding new ways to Have some Fun...

[ACG]

I watched it all. I taped it all. Some stages were boring, but I always found something I didn't know. I tried to listen when they were talking about mechanical issues or better ways to ride.

I completed manipulated the only TV in the house with Cable. I'm usually watching my familys shows: Football, baseball, golf, or MTV, some teen drama or SNL. My family knows July is my TV month.

After a while all my friends knew too. So now I'm loaning out the tapes with the different stages.

I also wore my TDF hat, t-shirt and livestrong band during the event.

I'm saving up for a new bike, so I'll have to postphone the trip to France for a while....

[jobob]

MightyMitre, welcome back! I hope you can share your impressions once you've had a chance to unpack and settle back in.

I was afraid to talk too much about the Tour while it was still going on since if I rooted for one more person who subsequently crashed and burned I would be in a million (more) depressions.

I was up every single morning watching the OLN live feed on the West Coast. We also TiVo'd the 'expanded' coverage and zipped through that in the evening to catch any interviews or special segments that didn't show up in the early live broadcast. ( I got very adept at fast-forwarding whenever Al Trautwig opened his mouth, and stopping in time to hear Bobke's reply )

Favorite Lance moment: When he sprinted past Klöden to take the win on Stage 17. That was other-worldy.

Favorite non-Lance moments: Ah, there are many ...

But my absolute fave moment had to be (of course!) Bobby Julich's splendid performance in the stage 19 ITT, after it looked as though he was going to be limping his way through the rest of the tour after his crash on Stage 13. I had noticed during stage 17 that he was starting to look mighty sprightly again and that maybe he might do something special for the TT but I dared not hope. On Saturday morning had to leave the house right after we saw his run (to meet up with snapdragen - to whom I gave a little Happy Dance of Joy) but when I returned home I picked up right where I left off on the broadcast. Then - horrors - it looked like Floyd was beating him. Oh, the angst !! How could I not root for Floyd? Well, as it turned out, Floyd finished 4th on the stage, Bobby finished 5th (yes!), and a happy camper was I.

Honorable mention #1: Ivan Basso (heretofore referred to as "bleep bleep" for fear that my wretched karma would bring him down too) sticking like gum on the soles of LA's shoes through most of the mountain stages. Bravissimo! I'm thrilled he hung on to a podium spot.

Honorable mention #2: Jan Ullrich on l'Alpe d'Huez. How gutsy. We got to see probably the first glimmer all tour of the competitor he is.

Sweetest moment: Thomas Voeckler laughing in delight with the 'club cyclists' keeping pace with the very relaxed peleton on stage 8, just before the rest day. He looked like he was having fun.


This morning was the first morning sans Tour in three weeks. Whatever will I do with myself?

- Jo (Olympics are in August .. whee)

[Veronica]

Well if you're looking for something to do - I still have 4 weeks of vacation. We could get together and ride.

V.

[aka_kim]

Welcome back, MM, I'm green with envy.

I'm still celebrating -- Lance's win and the whole amazing event. Say what you will about the guy, but winning 6 tours in a row is an amazing achievement. Every rider on the tour is an incredible athlete (and many have very cute legs and rears too ). Basso, Kloden and Voeckler were all thrilling -- it's great to see new young stars. Ullrich, despite his initial problems, really showed what a great competitor and sportsman he is. Floyd, and Bobby and George -- wow. I even started liking McEwen by the end (he usually seems overly aggressive to me).

So, will Lance go for seven? Personally I think he should retire at the top, and let the next generation of riders break through.

[snapdragen]

I hoping he'll skip Le Tour next year and do the Giro and the Vuelta. Maybe throw in some other lesser known (at least to me) races.

Has anyone heard if the Posties will be at the San Francisco Grand Prix? (I know, it's called something different now, but I'm stubbon......) Georgie is lookin' so slim and fast, I'd love to see him ride it again.

Originally posted by aka_kim
So, will Lance go for seven? Personally I think he should retire at the top, and let the next generation of riders break through.

[jobob]

I do hope so .... can anyone say ROAD TRIP?

I think the SF race (I'm pulling a blank on the new name) conflicts with the Vuelta , which is probably why George wasn't at SF last year. But this year, with the Olympics, perhaps he won't be put on the Vuelta team....?

[jobob]

I even started liking McEwen by the end (he usually seems overly aggressive to me).

LOL, I felt the same way. Any so-called "non-climber" who suffers his way up Alpe d'Huez but can still manage to pop a wheelie at the top gets brownie points with me. And reading some of his interviews gives me the impression that he's just a regular guy... with, um, aggressive elbows.

But naming his son Ewen? Oy

[MightyMitre]

It's great to visit the Tour - you can get some of the flavour from the TV, but in the flesh it really is a fantastic day out and the party atmosphere is great - even in the smallest of villages who proudly spruse up their main streets as the Tour thunders by in a split second.

I have to say I'm disappointed Armstrong won. Firstly I was really rooting for Jan or even A.N. Other to appear and make a big impression and secondly because the legend of no one ever being able to beat 5 tour wins was kinda cool.

Still, I suppose records are made to be broken and I can't begruge Armstrong for the way in which he's totally dedicated his life for the last 6 years for 3 weeks in July each year.

Hope he does decide to step aside now - it'll be great to see what people like Kloden and Basso can do.

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by MightyMitre
It's great to visit the Tour - you can get some of the flavour from the TV, but in the flesh it really is a fantastic day out and the party atmosphere

Hey, Mighty, what was your impression on how the crowd treats Lance. I know you didn't see or talk to every person watching, but what kinds of things did you observe? Were there more people cheering or booing him? Through the media, I heard both sides. What was it like first hand?

[jobob]

Originally posted by MightyMitre
I have to say I'm disappointed Armstrong won. Firstly I was really rooting for Jan or even A.N. Other to appear and make a big impression and secondly because the legend of no one ever being able to beat 5 tour wins was kinda cool.

I have mixed feelings. I'm very disappointed that Armstrong had such little competition - last year was absolutely thrilling and I was looking forward to more of the same. Of course, one could hardly blame Armstrong for showing up completely prepared, while many of his main rivals were either woefully underprepared (or, perhaps in some cases overtrained, burned out or psyched out?) or prone to bad luck (Tyler, I have two words: bubble wrap).

On the other hand, I figured Armstrong winning six titles would raise the visibility of cycling in the US, which would be a Very Good Thing.

But now I'm wondering if all it's done is to raise the visibility of Lance Armstrong in the US. The evening 'expanded' coverage of the tour in the US on OLN was absolutely hysterical (or nauseating) in it's "All Lance All The Time" approach. I did get a chuckle whenever the Official Homeboy, Al Trautwig, would say something particularly moronic and you could see Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin blink, pause, take a breath, and patiently explain how no, this isn't quite all about Lance, and this is why ... and then Trauwig would interrupt them in mid-stream (as if to say, oh don't bother us with the facts )

Glancing at other message boards it seems to me that all this tunnel-vision emphasis on Armstrong has produced a fresh crop of rabid LanceFans, not cycling fans, who would just as soon tune out if Their Man Lance wasn't in a particular race. And when Armstrong inevitably retires, if there isn't another rah-rah Americ'un "hero" (tranlation: winner) to occupy the hearts and minds and souls of the fairweather fan base, cycling will return to the ranks of obscurity.

[edited to add] ... or, to end on a more hopeful note, maybe many people attracted by Lance's Quest for Six will see what a cool sport this is. Were it not for Armstong, we'd have only a fraction of the coverage in the US that we enjoy now (assuming you can get OLN), here's hoping that interest gains momentum here in the states.

Just MHO, of course.