Tour de France

Post by **saturn** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 2:51 pm

reading will help you kracus, maybe even save your soul

btw, i'm 27. Merckx quit cycling in the year I was born.

Post by **saturn** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 2:53 pm

saturn wrote:Merckx won the Tour 5 times, Hinault achieved the same.

Damnit, I forgot Anquetil

Post by **Maiden** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 2:57 pm

Maiden wrote:big tex fucking owns all.

nuff said.

Post by **saturn** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 3:32 pm

Tom Boonen wins first full stage

Without Petacchi and Zabel, he and Robbie McEwen will decide most of the sprints.

Post by **Maiden** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 3:51 pm

wish i had trained for the tour a little better this year. gonna be a long 3 weeks getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to watch it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:04 pm

saturn wrote:reading will help you kracus, maybe even save your soul

btw, i'm 27. Merckx quit cycling in the year I was born.

Yeah well there's a difference between a quick online reference and a text book on advanced physics.

Post by **Dave** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:09 pm

Speaking of advanced physics, I noticed you're ignoring tnf's thread

Post by **-Replicant-** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:09 pm

Maiden wrote:wish i had trained for the tour a little better this year. gonna be a long 3 weeks getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to watch it.

they have full replays of the day's segments at 2 and 5pm as well, before their recap at 8, so you don't have to get up that early :P

i'll be watching the 5pm replay during the work week, so I just have to keep my fingers crossed that no one tells me anything about it during the day

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:13 pm

Dave wrote:Speaking of advanced physics, I noticed you're ignoring tnf's thread

Yes I have nothing to say on the subject being discussed because I've never thought about it and have little interest in it but you've just reminded me of a random thought thread I was going to post.

Post by **Dave** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:18 pm

convenient

Post by **Maiden** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:32 pm

-Replicant- wrote:
Maiden wrote:wish i had trained for the tour a little better this year. gonna be a long 3 weeks getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to watch it.
they have full replays of the day's segments at 2 and 5pm as well, before their recap at 8, so you don't have to get up that early :P

i'll be watching the 5pm replay during the work week, so I just have to keep my fingers crossed that no one tells me anything about it during the day

work kinda kills the replays for me on the west coast, so its either get up or just catch the recap and I dont like turning on the t.v. at night unless its a movie night.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:36 pm

Dave wrote:convenient

nice going :icon8:

Post by **-Replicant-** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 5:27 pm

Maiden wrote:
-Replicant- wrote:
Maiden wrote:wish i had trained for the tour a little better this year. gonna be a long 3 weeks getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to watch it.
they have full replays of the day's segments at 2 and 5pm as well, before their recap at 8, so you don't have to get up that early :P

i'll be watching the 5pm replay during the work week, so I just have to keep my fingers crossed that no one tells me anything about it during the day
work kinda kills the replays for me on the west coast, so its either get up or just catch the recap and I dont like turning on the t.v. at night unless its a movie night.

ah yeah, and the recap night show is never as good as the live action, IMO

Post by **Maiden** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 5:28 pm

well, discovery sure took a big shit today, they do that tomorrow and Lance may have some tough work ahead.

Post by **Big Kahuna Burger** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:00 pm

tnf wrote:Lance was also singled out for a second drug test - apparently the only competitor to have a second one, out of the blue.

Haters...

Post by **Chupacabra** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:49 pm

Kracus wrote:Yeah he did in the last years of indurains reign. Still a great cyclist though, both are, I just always liked Indurain. Just a simple farmer.

i was also a big fan of indurain. he kicked ass.

Post by **-Replicant-** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:15 pm

Maiden wrote:well, discovery sure took a big shit today, they do that tomorrow and Lance may have some tough work ahead.

i'm praying it was strategy to burn out tmobile, csc etc for tomorrow's long stage (especially considering monday is a day off). If Disco doesn't break out a huge lead tomorrow or at least show their dominance over the field, lance is going to have trouble

Post by **-Replicant-** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:44 pm

well, today certainly proved my theory right. GG lance and disco, you worked the field very, very well today

Post by **Freakaloin** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:48 pm

its over..he has won, unless he falls...

Post by **Chupacabra** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:14 pm

I find the whole Lance Armstrong thing pretty fascinating.

I've been following cycling since Indurain was winning the Tour over and over again. During that time, Lance Armstrong really wasnt that great (much less anywhere near "best cyclist ever")

He didnt come close to winning any Tour and he was very disappointing in the Olympics.

Then he had some cancer treatment and what not. Now, I dont know when he started to have cancer and how much it stopped him from winning the Tour back in the 90s, but I wonder how much his treatment helped him.

Maybe Geebs or Saturn can comment here but when youre getting cancer treatment, do they pump you with certain growth hermones and blah blah blah? Is that what helped him the past few years? Eddie Merckx seems to imply something like this.

I mean, why wasnt he even close to winning the race before? Could his cancer development have taken that many years and impeded him so? Could the drug treatment have boosted his system?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:28 pm

I'm pretty sure cancer doesn't help anyone

Post by **r3t** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:56 pm

Armstrong spends all his time on training for the Tour. On top of that, he's got the best cycling team on the planet backing him up. And I believe the cancer left him with an incredible strong will and determination. That alone could've rocketed him from being a very good cyclist like he was before to being a fantastic cyclist like he is now.
I saw a report on his training style some time ago, and he spends more hours riding mountains than anyone else. Also, the Discovery Channel team (and US postal before that) spends the winter months training in the gym, when all the other teams are having off time. Dedication like that goes a long way.

Post by **-Replicant-** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 9:13 pm

LA was born with some genetic things which help him out specifically in cycling. His lactate threshold is about 30% higher than most other pro cyclists and his heart and lungs are quite a bit larger than the average pro's as well. I don't think that was a byproduct of the cancer, but its possible.

in addition to what ret said, one way the cancer DID actually help him out was that he lost 15 lbs just from his upper body, vastly helping him to increase his power/weight ratio. 6.7 is the magic number and he has something close to a 6.9/7.0 I believe. so in a way, the cancer did help him- but not in the way that some people imply (the growth hormones etc).

remember, pre-cancer he was also very young and did show great promise. everyone always said how he just needed to mature and become more strong willed. Nothing like cancer to do that for you.

Post by **saturn** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:27 pm

I'm going to re-iterate a few points why Lance is the best Tour de France rider ever (not the best cyclist ever, that's Merckx imo)

He lost a lot of weight due to the cancer.
He had new treatment that spared his lungs
The cancer made him more determined for sure
His team is totally dedicated to him
He's an excellent strategist and he gives away stage victories so nobody hates him
He is totally dedicated to the Tour de France and the Tour de France only (he has set a new trend where you see many other pro's cycling the Tour only).

Post by **saturn** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:31 pm

Anyway, i'm looking forward to that young Michael Rasmussen from the Rabobank team. He's only 38 secs behind (after that marvelous escape two days ago where he gained 6+ minutes on Lance after 160 kilometers solo uphill).
The guy is so thin and he can follow Lance quite easily so far. i've heard he's totally obsessed about his weight. Shaves every hair off his body to minimize the drag and weight.