Cycling in the 2012 Olympics (spoilers allowed)

[lovelygamer]

Once again I am really annoyed that only certain U.S. time zones get the live feed from NBC and others get tape delay. Saw the women's cycling results posted on FB by my east coast friends before I saw the action on TV.

In today's electronic age I find it impossible not to know ahead of time. London is five hours ahead of us in the east and all of my phone news apps, twitter and facebook always have the results immediately when they happen.

[tulip]

In today's electronic age I find it impossible not to know ahead of time. London is five hours ahead of us in the east and all of my phone news apps, twitter and facebook always have that results immediately when they happen.

One more reason I'm so glad not to be in the social media loop!!

[BikeDutchess]

@lovelygamer - yes but NBC had been boasting about carrying the Olympic action "live" - if that had been true for all time zones, on-line news feeds etc wouldn't have mattered.

(I'll stop whining now! )

[ny biker]

In today's electronic age I find it impossible not to know ahead of time. London is five hours ahead of us in the east and all of my phone news apps, twitter and facebook always have the results immediately when they happen.

I set up lists in twitter, including one for bike-related people, one for Formula 1 and one for "no spoilers." If I want to avoid knowing the outcome of a bike or F1 race, I only check the no spoilers list. (Cyclists and F1 drivers tend to be fans of each others' sports, so I have to avoid both for either type of race.)

And I just don't check facebook until I've seen the race.

It's not foolproof, but it generally works for me.

I really don't understand why there is no audience for women's cycling -- there's really no difference from the men's racing, so I would think anyone interested in one would also follow the other.

One thing I noticed in both races was that teammates wore the same jersey and shorts but did not necessarily use the same helmet and bike brands. I wonder how that worked. Maybe they're allowed to choose, and they tend to choose their pro sponsors?

[pll]

I really don't understand why there is no audience for women's cycling -- there's really no difference from the men's racing, so I would think anyone interested in one would also follow the other.

One thing I noticed in both races was that teammates wore the same jersey and shorts but did not necessarily use the same helmet and bike brands. I wonder how that worked. Maybe they're allowed to choose, and they tend to choose their pro sponsors?

They tend to use the bike and helmet of their pro teams. I believe it might be a sponsoring requirement, but I'm not 100% sure.

The women's race was exciting. Since the races are less than 150km, they are more aggressive and keep attacking. That's why Sean Kelly advocates for 120km stages in the grand tours, as opposed to stages with over 200km.