I've been obsessively watching the Tour these past few days ... I don't normally follow it more than passing highlights, but this year is different for two reasons:
1) I can't race so I'm living vicariously and
2) I recently got DVR capabilities from Comcast (thats another story).
Anyway, just a couple of quick observations for now - I can't use up all my material or my TGIF post will be pretty boring.
1. Love him or hate him - Lance's participation in the Tour is bringing media coverage and overall interest that professional cycling hasn't seen since ....well, since he raced the Tour.
2. In stage 2 (or was it stage 3?), the leader of Lampre's squad had a mishap right when the peloton was starting to chase the break ... the announcers said the peloton slowed to allow his team to get him back in the group. Is this analogous to honor among thieves? Note that our local racers will hear a wreck and use it to drop contenders that might have been tied up in the incident.
3. SPOILERS - argh !! I've received at least 4 different emails that contained info about that day's outcome. Please don't make me boycott email until I get to see the stage !
4. I hope to heck that none of the big-names get tagged for doping this year. While that doesn't mean they're not doing it (another discussion), it'd be super if we could get through one Tour without further disparaging the sport.
That's all for now - I'm off to Hains Pt to see how much shock value my new green cast has when I'm on the bike. Hey, if I'm stuck with the damn thing for another 6 weeks, I might as well have a little fun with it.
4 comments:
Last year at the Giro di Coppi, Ainhoa crashed and Melanie asked the pack to sit up and wait for her, which we all did. In hindsight, we should have left her laying there in the road as she went on to kick all of our asses.
Yesterday when Robert Gesink crashed, Astana drilled it and he never caught back on. Nobody waited there, so I don't think we need to wait in an industrial park crit. Staying upright on the bike is no less a requirement to win than staying hydrated or fuelled. If someone bonks, should we sit up and wait?
Anon- Astana was drilling it when he crashed, they didn't pick up the pace to drop him - and he never got up to pace as he was actually "injured", not just "hurt". As someone who recently had trouble staying upright (through no fault of my own), I'd appreciate if you waited for me.
Wendy, Wendy, Wendy, you are going to get me started on this. I haven't raced since my wreck at RSR (i.e., my first since getting back into this in 2007) and seeing the kid with 2 gashes on his face. I'm blaming the lack of racing since that on too much work and the need for family time with the newborn, but I am betting that subconsciously it has something to do with that race, seeing the cuts, and seeing the blood. I wrecked in pretty much the same manner as you did when you broke your wrist, but was fortunate enough to only have a pretty good black and blue mark on my forearm the next week. I'm still wondering how somebody could have hit me that hard from behind. I stopped to lend aid to the kid bleeding on the asphalt, and when I finally got to the pit for my free lap it was like I was being deposed by the ref about whether I was involved in the wreck because I was not bleeding profusely and my bike wasn't really mangled. Honestly, if I was bleeding everywhere and/or my bike was mangled, would I really want to get back into the race. Then, I finally get back into the pack and we are actually racing with the EMT's Ford Explorer parked right at turn 2 to shield the kid lying in the road while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. We were still racing balls to the wall with people attacking off the front, or maybe those guys attacking were just being smart so they could go through that corner solo. There is no compassion or camaraderie in these races. At Fulton I saw a Bike Rack guy smash into the guard rail right before the first turn of the race, and not a single person stopped to see if he was okay, me included. I thought about it, but then shrugged my shoulders and yelled man down to the road guard at the corner. On these blogs I read about guys bunny hopping riders on the ground. You have to wonder what happens when they don't quite make the hop. During the races I have seen wrecks in front of me that the guys next to me do not even start to brake for, and then I see these same guys sliding on the ground yelling. Why they don't brake I have no clue, but would guess that they are worried about being caught behind the wreck and not being able to bridge the gap. They probably don't think about what it feels like to get a front wheel to the ribs while you are on the ground. How they think they are going to safely make it through the downed riders at that speed, I have no clue either. I'll stop now and get back to work.
By the way, I hope you are back to racing soon.
Anon - would you wait for somebody that got a flat tire, or was that their fault too? Not everybody that ends up on the ground from a wreck is on the ground because of a lack of bike handling skills on their part. Sometimes, some of us end up on the ground because of a lack of bike handling skills on the part of others.
Post a Comment