Underhill

Could the sign have had anything to do with farmers protesting about the wolves killing their livestock?

Let's post to the current year's thread.

Gretchen, good for you finding this thread.

Rex, I did click on my name to try to find this and it didn't come up.

It's sad that the Discovery Team has lost Tricky Beltran. I hope he's OK. Maybe he had a concussion and just couldn't ride any more that day and so had to drop out.

I get quite anxious when the riders are going through spectators who are almost crowding them off the road. A couple of days ago, I heard part of something Lance was saying referring to spectators spitting at him. Did anyone else hear all of that?

Thank You OLN!!!!! Ive watched the tour since the 80s (remember Greg LeMond?) It is so much better now that Oln has it. GO LANCE!!!

Does anyone have any idea how I an watch any of this? I've never watched any part of the tour. I don't subscribe to any special TV channels, but I have standard cable TV service through ComcastTrenton. Are there re-runs in the evening of parts of the day's race? I can't watch during the daytime on weekdays when I'm at work. I could watch for about 1/2 hour in the morning before work, though.

I remember watching Greg Lemond win the time trial in Paris!!!! MY GOD. And I understood NOthing about the Tour. I have a bikey son and have learned a bit about the strategies, etc. I could never understand how Indurain was winning the Tour when he wasn't crossing the finish line until "tomorrow". Anyway, GO LANCE!! It is really far from over. Rasmussen is much too close.

<Author: kopp
Date: 07/13/2005, 03:05 pm
Did you catch that mechanic grabbing the transponder from the back of one of the rider's wheels as he was speeding down the hill? No, thank you.>

That was absolutely amazing. At 60kph, timing the car to the bike in speed and distance. The slightest tug would have pulled the bike sideways....and?

OLN is not offered in my area.

Does anyone have any idea how I an watch any of this in central NJ? I don't subscribe to any special TV channels, but I have standard cable TV service through ComcastTrenton.

Are there re-runs in the evening of parts of the day's race?

ESPN does cover it some...if you have any cable at all, you can find them.

I've been surprised to read a full page story every day -- and it's even been on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News (the other major newspaper in Denver). But Denver's a rabid sports town, so there are days I could swear the sports section is as big as the news section...lucky me.

Go Avs.

:)

Jules

Oh, in Denver it would be sacrilege not to give the Tour at least front page coverage!!
CBS has a weekly recap of the tour on its Sunday afternoon sports program.
On cyclingnews.com you can find a real time commentary of the race. Then there are numerous other coverages of it--maybe even some videos.

extended his lead today in the Pyrenees (sp)

Go Lance!!!

Just returned from eight days in France and saw stages 9, 10 and 11 with my 19 year old son. (Ballon d'Alsace, Courchevel and Galibier) Had a fantastic time and highly recommend doing it on your own. We brought our bikes and carried them in back of a VW Touran 5 passenger. Then we parked at the bottom and biked up to the cols.We stayed in La Chambre at the foot of the Col de la Madeleine. The Tour is like nothing I've ever experienced. Cheryl Crow compared it to a rock concert in an interview she gave to a French newspaper and I have to agree.
We saw so much of France that I haven't seen before and had dinner in Grenoble and Albertville and spent a day in Annecy (Bastille day as it turns out) before we flew home.
For those who are going later I'm happy to answer questions. My tips would be:
1)Leave early. The earlier you get to the route the easier time you will have with the gendarmes. They close the route 2 or 3 hours before the tour comes by to bikes, walkers can stay on longer. Also you can park closer. At the Ballon people were walking 10 km.
2)If you see a mountain stage bring lots of clothes. We froze on Galibier.
3)Be prepared for crowds and a long drive home. It turns out to be an entire day affair.
4)Bring food and water
5)Just do it. It's so fun, and such a great way to see France.
Oh and that reference to wolves was something about a protest that I gathered was by shepherds protesting the protection of wolves which are eating their sheep.
pluto

And a shepherd had killed a wolf that had been near his flock.

pluto, how thrilling! You must have hated to leave.

Barbara
I have some regrets that we didn't see the pyrenees stages but you have to make choices. Tomorrow is the big day. See it live if you can.

pluto, I only caught the last ten minutes live-VERY exciting. I'm on the West Coast in California, so it began here at 4:30am. I will be watching a replay later today.

I am so thrilled for George Hincape winning today's stage. Awesome performance and what a great and well-deserved reward for the years of loyalty to Lance. So happy!

go Lance!

Absolutely fabulous race today!

The Pyreness stages are always the most exciting. I think Lance OWNS the Pyrenees!

Amen for George. He has given his all for Lance every July and now he has his very own stage win in the last race!! I am SO thrilled. It can't get much better.

Loving the race, but have been disappointed the announcers don't always give us the names of the little towns they are flying over. Do the websites give more detailed maps? I missed Thursday's race and wondered if I'd seen part of the route.

On olntv.com, they have maps of each stage.

I'm also thrilled for George Hincapie. He seemed to be almost stunned that he had won!

I can't imagine how scary it must be, if they had time to think about it, to ride through those crowds of spectators.

We Tivo each day's coverage on OLN from 8 to 11, and so we have seen most of the race. One of the more exciting stages for us was Friday (I think) when Chris Horner from the US came very close to winning. If he had only had a few more seconds lead before the sprinters reached him...

In June 2004, Chris rode in the Wachovia bike race in Philadelphia. The morning before the race, a bike shop advertised a ride with him. Well, for some weird reason, my husband was the only person who showed up, so he rode for a few hours with Chris Horner (including going up the famous Manyunk wall where Chris nicely waited at the top for DH to catch up.) He was very nice, talked a lot about the life of a professional cyclist, and how hard it is if you have a wife and kids.

It was a fun experience for my DH and we continue to follow his career.

We've been watching OLN every morn. The last two days the spectators were very unruly. They acted like they were at the running of the bulls. One emptied a bottle of water on a racer's back, another gave a push on the rider's fanny, one ran in front waving a Columbian flag.

I think the actual picture comes from FranceTelecom, and this year they're not putting in the little banners with the names of towns and other things of interest--too bad. Also, the picture/audio quality hasn't been too good the last several days, even from the announcers' both--wonder why.

hopingtotravel,

I took me a while to find the good maps pm the olntv.com web site. You have to go to Current Stage,then click on About this Stage. That's what brings up the maps. You can also find them at

cyclingnews.com

I can't even imagine what it's like to ride through that sea of humanity; parting the waters, as it were. Frightening and dangerous!

Bravo George! What a well deserved accomplishment!

The crouds seem to be worse every year as more people come to see the tour. I guess its just part of the race to the riders. i have to admitt it was funny when some idiot running too close to a rider got run over by one of the camera motor bikes.

On OLN this morning, they said that there were supposed to have been something like 500,000 spectators in the last 15km on Sunday. After the stage it took the rest of the day and all night and part of Monday for them all to get down the mountain, with a constant line of traffic.

Thanks Jean. I think Thursday's stage (which I missed) may have been one I meant to see.

After watching the Pyrenees, my husband admits he would like to go back to France sometime!

A very impressive lead coming out of the Pyrenees - 2:46. Barring any major tragedy, he's going to be very tough to beat.

:)

I loved the ladies in Briançon (?) dressed in regional costumes. They looked just like live santons.

Today the spectators were so civilized (from the last two days)

Except for the one who gave one rider a bloody nose with those long clapper things!

The last 10 kilometers of Stage 17 provided us with some amazing cycling.

Bravo Team Discovery and all the competitors in the break-a-way.

What a great ride for Lance today!

And I felt so bad for Rasmussen. He has raced consistently well and today must have been his worst nightmare.

There is an editorial in the LA Times today, "Lance's Last Ride",wondering how many of us will watch next year. One phrase sticks in my mind,"Americans who wouldn't know a peloton if it ran over them knew Lance Armstrong". That was me until I started watching the Tour because of Lance. I grew up in Britain and knew about the Tour, but really never paid attention until Lance came along.

Not sure I can get up at 4:30am tomorrow, but I'll try. And I'll smile, laugh and cry.

Was that (Rasmussen's ride) not the most painful thing ever?

Still, he accomplished his goals; a stage win and King of the Mountain (provided he makes it to Paris tomorrow).

Congrats to Lance on win #7! I haven't been following it very much but I want to watch him ride in Paris tomorrow. Maybe I will see some places I recognize.

I can't believe tomorrow will be the last time to see Lance and his team riding into Paris drinking champagne. I'll be going through TdF withdrawl for about a week!

You can send Lance a note of thanks at [email protected]. I did, thanking him for his courage, his spirit and for being the kind of athlete my grandkids can look up to.

Does anyone know approximately, what time, Lance will be riding into Paris tomorrow? (L.A. time)