The pain of riding with a broken collar bone must be unimaginable. Definitely T-Man material. I don’t know what will happen when they hit the mountains, if he’ll be able to climb out of the saddle or not. I’d think that would just aggrevate the injury.
Patricia: Yes, physically Armstrong can get his 5th in a row. A lot can happen over the next 17 stages, though. Being in the wrong place last Sunday has cost several riders a chance of winning. Bad food, a stomach virus, a crash at the wrong time… So far he’s been very lucky, and I hope that luck continues.
Bike racing is all about pain, the guy who can swallow the most pain and turn it up another notch wins. Like brider said, nobody else can take the pain better than Armstrong.
“Cycling is so hard, the suffering is so intense, that it’s absolutely cleansing. The pain is so deep and strong that a curtain descends over your brain… Once, someone asked me what pleasure I took in riding for so long. ‘Pleasure?’ I said. ‘I don’t understand the question.’ I didn’t do it for pleasure. I did it for pain.” - from “It’s Not About the Bike”
Brider, yup that’s me on the RoadBikeReview site. I also go on MTBR a lot. I just got my first road bike yesterday, a Giant TCR2. I’m an avid Mtn Biker, but with all of the rain this year in MD, the trials are pretty much unridable. So, I got the road bike.
Guess I’m going off topic here, so let me say Go Lance!
If you started the climbing contenders together (without their teams) on a climbing stage, Lance wouldn’t necessarily win a mano-a-mano shootout. There are other climbers that are better than Lance. But these guys usually can’t TT all that well (compared to other more powerful riders) so they don’t end up as overall team leaders. Botero was in this position just a couple years ago. His TTing has come up, so now he’s in the position of team leader for this race (as is Lance on USPS). Beloki – same story. But without a strong team to offer support until the key moments, the climbers strength ends up getting sapped before those key moments. This is why Lance can dance away from a lot of more gifted climbers when the road turns vertical.
Also, Lance has become a much more patient rider over the years. He doesn’t try to go for every stage or a lot of other races, as many of the “greats” of long ago did (Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx). The European fans are looking for another “great rider” to take the Tour as these guys did, dominating everything with overwhelming strength. But the way the European racing calendar is set up now, no one could do it and still win the Tour. The sharpness would be drained form the rider just getting to the race (the Giro, or Tour of Italy, is just a few weeks before TdF, and that’s another “grand tour” of 2+ weeks). I think Stephen Roche was the last rider to take both the Giro and the Tour in the same year (late '80s, I think).
Okay, so I’ve gone off on a tangent here. In any case, USPS has done very well keeping all its riders in the race over the years, and I don’t see this year as any exception. George Hincappie has the legs to go for stage wins in he flat stages (sprinters showcase), but he bides his time until the last week, offering team support until then. He’s becoming a much better all-rounder over the years as well. Just an example of the depth that is supporting Lance.
Well, as of today, I’ve become a cyclist. I told my grandfather (who has been cycling for about 20 years) a while back that I wanted to start cycling to stay in cardiovascular shape during the summer for speedskating. Well, lo and behold, a couple months later, I have about $1,900 of cycling equipment in my garage right now.
I went for my first ride today (solo). Went for 20 miles and I am beat. Average speed of 16.6 MPH, and did the whole 20 miles in 1:13:00. I’m pretty proud.
I love that quote from Lance “I do it for the pain.” That’s why I started long distance running.
Hincappie is great too. When he lost a race a few months ago in America he was supposed to win, a reporter said “you could go for a stage win in the Tour” and George said “No, that’s Lance’s race, we ride for him.”
To be fair to the French, it’s really the French press that hates him more than the fans. Italian fans also have thrown tacks in the road, etc. It is nuts how you can actually touch the riders if you want.
Maybe I am gullible, but I actually believe Lance and Paula Radcliffe when they say they’ve never doped.
I saw on “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” That At a university in Texas Lance maintained a speed of 29 mph for and hour. The closest anyone else got was an aerobics instructor who maintained 29mph for 45 seconds before puking in a trashcan.
I don’t want to post a “spoiler” in case anyone is waiting till they get home tonight to watch the replay.
Did anyone else either watch the TTT stage, or follow it online? I watched via the Velonews.com live updates, and all I can say is Holy Shit! Can’t wait to get home and watch tonight.
Brad: I remember reading about something similar at a New York Nike store a few years ago, I think after the 2000 or 2001 TdF.
Armstrong’s average speed over the entire 2200 some miles was 28.5mph or something. The store had a bike set up on a trainer and was giving away free stuff to anyone who could maintain that speed for 3 minutes. No one even got close.
I saw something interesting yesterday on the TDF. One rider was by himself and his team car gave him a crapload of bottles. BUt they weren’t for him, they were for his teammates. What was that all about?
I also went for my first road ride today! I went for an hour, but only averaged 24.3 mph. Ok, maybe not. I didn’t have a computer on the bike, so I don’t know how far/how fast I went. It’s definately different than Mtn Biking.
The guy carrying the water is called a “domestique.” A workhorse whose role is to do things like drop back to the team car and get stuff, carry it up to the other riders, set pace at the front of the pack to chase down breaks, etc. Definitely not a glorious life. But in the world of TdF racing, it’s necessary. These roles do change depending on the terrain and the particular race.
I’ve just read where USPS won a time trial. Their first. And this has pushed Lance into 2nd place - right before the Alps.
Last night, I watched that “Rome” show on ESPN. The consensus was that Lance is probably one of the most underapreciated athletes in the states. I agree.
I think the heart of the problem lies in the fact that we generally take his abilities for granted. Well, the general population does. I don’t think other athletes do since we all know and understand the type of training a athlete like Armstrong puts himself through.
But, my god. This man is, more than likely, going to win his FIFTH Tour in a row. That just blows my mind. And for the record, I don’t believe he’s ever “doped” either. He’s just a tremendous athlete.
I think one problem about Lance’s underappreciation is the fact that we Americans think of bike riding as a leisurely activity.
Also, not many people understand just how tough it is to do that much cycling. Most people think that if you just hop on a bike and ride for a couple hours then you’d have easily traveled 30-40 miles without breaking a sweat. Football on the other hand, many people participate in football and understand what it takes and the pain that football players go through, so they can relate.
I dunno, I guess my take on it is when people think of cycling they don’t think of ball-busting, gnashing of teeth. They think of “a ride in the park.” (Or is it “a walk in the park?”
Lance is a God in France and most other European countries. It’s not so much Lance that is under appreciated in the U.S. as it is the sport of Cycling that is under appreciated. Even with U.S. Postal and Lance, you’d think the Americans would get into it, but I guess it comes down to history, of which American cycling has little to none. I can’t wait to watch these guys in person at the World Championships which are being held in October in Hamilton, which is only about a 40-minute drive from where I live. To get an idea of the kind of guy Lance is and his workmanship, here’s a quote from his autobiography when asked what pleasure he could possibly get from being on his bike for 6-8 HOURS per day, “I don’t understand what you are asking?..it’s not about the pleasure. That’s not why I do it. I do it for the pain!” That, my friends, is a true T-Man.
I first rode a bike as an adult three years ago. I upgraded every year to a better model. I can say it was probably the best decision I have made in the last five years. Bike riding is just plain fun. the only downside here are the hills. It’s hard to get a log ride in because you’ll find at longest a two to three mile straight away.
This makes it a little hard to do various tempo rides. You’re gonna have to bust your ass on every ride.
I think my best time was about 18 mph for ten miles, with a hilly ride. some of the climbs here are 3/4 to 2 1/2 miles. Makes me wish I had a triple chain ring.
Every day I watch the TDF, I see something else that completely confuses me. Will it eventually start to make sense? I’m tring to understand!
So there are actually a wide variety of races that they may be doing on any given day? So far, I have seen “regular” racing, time trials, sprinting, and team time trials. I’m guessing there’s moe to come!
So why don’t they ride the time trial type bikes all the time?
good to see some appreciation for Lance…he is the man. he’s the toughest person I can think of. I agree with what has been said about Americans and how most of us think of biking. get out and ride a century averaging over 20mph and you’ll now the meaning of pain. there guys avg 30-40 over the same distance. they are definitely t-men.
the time trial bikes are not allowed on the mass start days. I think there would be too many wipeouts. I’ve got a tri/time trial bike, and hitting a corner at 30-40mph in the aero position is pretty hairy. I saw a guy wipeout pretty hard a couple years ago in a half iron man…it wasn’t pretty. not sure what he broke, as I kept going…but he definitely broke something.
how about Tyler Hamilton, he grew up a couple towns over from me…what a tough sob.