Posted on 07/05/2019 10:35:59 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Yes! Le Tour is here. The 106th edition of the race begins Saturday, in next-door Brussels, a nod to the stern-faced Belgian cycling titan Eddy Merckx, who won five overall Tours and 34 stages beginning in 1969... Its got a case as the craziest and most beautiful event in sports, but its clearly an acquired taste.
Im really super-duper into it. You know this.
...the four-time Tour winner Chris Froome, was badly hurt in a crash, suffering a broken leg and other injuries. Froome would have been a favorite for this year.
One of the more intriguing newbies is Mike Rusty Woods, a Canadian who rides for the U.S. team EF Education First. The 32-year-old Woods is a late bloomer who came to the sport after a career as an elite runnerhe may be the only rider in this years Tour whos also run a sub-four minute mile.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
My wife says the spinbike is good.
Our son says to be careful and stay mostly on the closed courses. Yes, I was on an (almost)closed course when that evil car gave me twenty days hospital...
But being occasionally able to stay with some of the slower young ones always feels good!
Oh, this is important.
I agree with your wife. Lots of texting and drunk Mexicans on the road...
Sorry to hear of your accident and hope you’re recovery is going ok. It’s impossible to reduce risk to zero but consider dedicated bike trails or group tours. Cars behave better around groups of cyclists because they know there will be witnesses :-)
As long as they ride clean I don’t care who wins the Tour.
Oh, this is important.
Remember not every thing is about you Steely Tom.
FreeRepublic is made up of a diverse group. While we all share a similar conservative view of things, we also all have our own interest.
If not interested, do what I do when I see a thread about something that does not interest me, I skip over it.
Have a good day.
With that being said, I lost all interest in the TDF after the USADA went after him with the same intensity Robert Mueller went after Trump.
Virtually ever other European rider was exempt from any US investigation and they got off scott free........
If Armstrong was able to test negative on all the tests given to all the riders on the European cycling circuit , you know damn well all the other top riders had figured out the same system.
consider dedicated bike trails
I was riding on a bike trail, Busse Woods 7.2 miles, but it used to cross a four-lane with a light.
Not long after my accident, a woman rider was KIA the same location. They have since built a bicycle bridge over the four-lane.
Indeed it is a wonderful experience, being there is one of my wifes favorite childhood memories, for me the overhead shots of the villages, countryside and chateaux are very nice. A good sharing experience that goes hours a day and weeks with drama.
Sponsored by Amgen.
I worry about getting hit all the time. Also worried about crashing in the peloton. Dangerous business bike racing.
Only trained on open roads with the team.
Otherwise, we have a great policed metro park where cars take a back seat to training cyclists. 10 mile course without cross roads. Great place to train.
Every spring we traveled to Indiana just east of Bloomington for training camp. There is a State Park we left from for 60+ mile runs.
I raced road and criterium during my amateur career.
I got a late start. 4th in the state at my peak as a Cat 5. Made Cat 4, but those bastard 20 somethings ate my lunch. Race masters, but it’s been a few years now.
Ride a 14.5 lb Wilier. Campy Record 10spd compact all carbon. 12/25 for Crits or flat road. 13/27 for hill racing.
Nice! Ride man. I just spin anymore.
>>Sponsored by Amgen.<<
I see what you did there! (do people still say that?)
I got rid of my road bike as well. Now I just ride on trails.
I think people still say it.
I wondered if anyone would “see it”.
My wife got me to first watch it twenty two years ago. It grows on you.
Last few years I see about 75% of it and really enjoy it.
Oldest son and his wife are riders and I worry about them despite their very safety minded attitudes.
Let me guess ...
Taylor Phinney
Lawson Craddock
TeeJay van Garderen
Uh ...
Can't really race anymore, but that doesn't stop me from trying. Still want to knock 17 seconds off my TT time on the Tuesday Ten course ...
For the last few years, I have ridden my MTB on the local trail and a spin bike at my local gym in front the TV playing rides through France/Germany/Italy/Spain (youtube plays "Bike The World" vids--no sound--and the boom box blasts out a loud thumping bass).
Haven't actually watched the Tour since Lance got bounced (pretty discouraging that) but I am ready again for the climbs, cobbles, and flats.
Woohoo.
As for my "new" road bike, I am going to stick with the roads in the local state park until my bike handling skills return.
I don’t know very much about Road Cycling, but can someone tell me why there are always a small number of cyclists who get way ahead of everyone at the start? They never factor in the final results as they get chased down by the peloton. Is it to force the peloton to go faster?
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