Rohdesign Weblog: Cycling

Here you'll find all posts file under the Cycling category.

June 22, 2010

Tour de France 2010 Resources

Since 2003, I've maintained an updated collection of Tour de France information, here is that list for 2010.

I'm currently checking through the links below, so if you find a bad link or have one to suggest, please send me an email with "TDF" in the subject line.

Thanks!

Mike

Podcasts

Books

Tour Fever by J.P. Partland
Tour de France Quiz Book by John DT White (For trivia lovers!)

Web & Mobile Apps

Versus Live TDF Tracker iPhone App (US & Canada) Live video and more. $14.99 LeTour 2010 (Palm) Free
Ubilabs RdF Live Tracker
NOS TdF Twitter Feed Aggregator
NOS TdF Gadgets
BlueFlavor Leaflets: Le Tour de France

Widgets

NOS - Tour de France (Mac OS X)
Team Garmin Tour Guide (Adobe Air)

Photos

Graham Watson's Tour Photos
Sean Jawn's Tour Photos
Team Garmin Flickr Photostream
Flickr Photos Tagged "tourdefrance"

Miscellaneous

Topographic maps of Tour de France stages

SUGGESTIONS?

If you have resources to share: websites, blogs. etc., please let me know, so I can keep this list updated. Send me an email with "TDF" in the subject line.

Enjoy!

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July 6, 2009

Since 2003, I've maintained an updated collection of Tour de France information, here is that list for 2009. I'm currently checking through the links below, so if you find a bad link or have one to suggest, send me an email with "TDF" in the subject line.

Streaming Audio & Video

Versus Live Tracker (US) Video, maps, stats.
Yahoo! Eurosport Audio (UK) Audio coverage from Eurosport.
VelonewsTV
CyclingNewsTV
ITV Sport
Official TdF Channel (YouTube)
SBS Tour de France (Australia)

Tour Websites

Tour de France Official Website
Tour 2009 General Classification
Tour 2009 Stages
Tour 2009 Route
Versus: Tour de France
Wired: Follow The Tour De France Online
Versus: Tour TV Schedule (US)
OLN: Tour TV (Canada)
ITV: Tour Coverage (UK)
Eurosport Tour Coverage (UK)
BBC Tour Coverage (UK)
The Guardian Tour Coverage (UK)
The Daily Peleton
VeloNews
VeloNews Mobile
TdF CoverItLive Mobile
Active.com
Bicycling.com
NY Times
ESPN
Cycling News
SBS Tour de France 2008 (Australia)
Steephill Live Dashboard
Cycling.Alltop.com

Tour Bloggers

TDFBlog
Martin Dugard (Paper Kenyan)
Active.com Tour Blogs
Christian Vande Velde (NYTimes)
Bruce Hildenbrand
Chris Carmichael
Ronan Pensec
Wannabe Bike Girl
TDF For the Rest of Us
Velochimp
Podium Cafe
Cyclocosm

Team Sites

Team Garmin Official Site
Team Garmin Blog

Twitter

TdF Blog: Twitter Master List
Tour de France
TdFUpdates
TDFblog on Twitter
DailyTour on Twitter
VeloNews
CyclingFans
Lance Armstrong (Astana)
Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto)
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream)
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream)
George Hincapie (Columbia-High Road)
Johan Bruyneel (Astana Team Manager)
Team Garmin-Slipstream
Team Astana

Podcasts

Books

Tour Fever by J.P. Partland
Tour de France Quiz Book by John DT White (For trivia lovers!)

Web & Mobile Apps

Ubilabs RdF Live Tracker
NOS TdF Twitter Feed Aggregator
NOS TdF Gadgets
BlueFlavor Leaflets: Le Tour de France
DeepWeb's LeTour2009 (Palm OS)

Widgets

NOS - Tour de France (Mac OS X)
Team Garmin Tour Guide (Adobe Air)

Photos

Graham Watson's Tour Photos
Sean Jawn's Tour Photos
Team Garmin Flickr Photostream
Flickr Photos Tagged "tourdefrance"

SUGGESTIONS?

If you have resources to share: websites, blogs. etc., please let me know, so I can keep this list updated. Send me an email with "TDF" in the subject line.

Enjoy!

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July 5, 2008

Tour de France 2008 Info List

Ah, the 95th running of the Tour de France is on again! As I've done each year since 2003, here's an updated collection of Tour de France 2008 information:

Streaming Audio & Video

Eurosport (Windows Media Audio)
ITV
Zattoo
Sporza Tour (Belgian)
Official TdF Channel (YouTube)
Cyclism Sundays (Hulu.com)

Tour Websites

Tour de France Official Website
Tour 2008 General Classification
Tour 2008 Stages
Tour 2008 Route
Versus: Tour de France 2008
Versus: Tour TV Schedule (US)
OLN: Tour TV Schedule (Canada)
ITV: Tour Coverage (UK)
Eurosport Tour Coverage (UK)
BBC Tour Coverage (UK)
The Guardian Tour Coverage (UK)
The Daily Peleton
VeloNews
Active.com
Bicycling.com
NY Times
ESPN
Cycling News
SBS Tour de France 2008 (Australia)
Steephill Live Dashboard
Cycling.Alltop.com
Team Garmin Official Site
TDFwiki

Tour Bloggers

TDFBlog
Martin Dugard (Paper Kenyan)
Active.com Tour Blogs
Bobby Julich
Bruce Hildenbrand
Chris Carmichael
Ronan Pensec
Peleton Blog
Wannabe Bike Girl
Velogal's Race Blog
TDF For the Rest of Us
Velochimp
Podium Cafe
Cyclocosm
SBS Blogs (Australia)
Rodney Olson
Team Garmin Blog

Twitter

TDFblog on Twitter
DailyTour on Twitter
Tour de France
Team Slipstream
Team Garmin

Podcasts

Books

Tour Fever by J.P. Partland
Tour de France Quiz Book by John DT White (For trivia lovers!)

Web Apps

Le Grande Boucle (Combo of text and other Tour infos)
NOS Tour de France Gadgets
Le Tour de France with Google Maps

iPhone Apps

BlueFlavor Leaflets: Le Tour de France
Pro Cycling 2008 Season

Widgets

NOS - Tour de France (Mac OS X)
Team Garmin Tour Guide (Adobe Air)

Palm Apps

DeepWeb's LeTour2008 (English, with Datebook support & Wireless features)
Ullrich Riepert's TdF 2008 (French & German, elevation charts, jersey winner DB)

Calendars & Schedules

Keep and Share: Tour de France 2008 Printable Schedule

Photos

Graham Watson's Tour Photos Team Garmin Flickr Photostream

SUGGESTIONS?

If you have resources to share: websites, blogs. etc., please let me know, so I can keep this list updated. Send me an email with "TDF" in the subject line.

Enjoy!

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October 3, 2007

Steel Frame Bikes & The Joy of Cycling

Through the early 1980s, steel alloy was the material of choice for bicycle frames, until manufacturers replaced steel with lightweight aluminum, titanium and carbon-fiber composites.

In the early 90s, I found a used, steel frame Manta road bike at a local bike shop. The shop owner explained how durable, smooth and flexible the bike's steel tubing was. I bought the Manta because of the steel frame, and the $125 price tag, then spent a few more dollars restoring and retrofitting the bike. It's been a wonderful bike!

Resurgence of Steel Frames
Yesterday, I read Eli Milchman's Cycling Purists Rejoice: Steel Is Back at Wired, about the resurgence of steel framed bikes. It's fascinating to see steel making a comeback as a new, cool material of choice.

For more background on why steel is a great choice for a bike frame, I highly recommend Rivendell Bicycle Works' article on Frame Materials:

It has been said many times that engineering matters more than materials. But it's not as simple as that. Yes, you can make a strong bridge out of styrofoam, or bike frame out of almost anything, but certain materials have inherent qualities that plain make them more desirable. Steel has been around a long time, and that makes it a hard sell these days. But as a strong, safe, repairable, beautiful, practical, and rugged frame material, it is still the best. The fact that it's not trendy only adds to its appeal.

Amen brutha!

The Joy of Cycling
A few years ago I came across Rivendell Bicycles, through my buddy Michael Ashby. These guys are into cycling for pure joy and practicality. The Rivendell crew rejects pseudo race-ready day-glo lycra, featherweight titanium bottle holders and the manufactured bike racing peer-pressure, for seersucker shirts and cargo shorts, steel frame bikes, leather seats and riding bikes because it's fun to do and good for you.

I've really resonated with the Rivendell ethos the past few years. Now I leave my lycra stuff in the drawer and ride my bike for fun and to get places, wearing regular 'ol clothes. I've replaced my Shimano clipless pedals on the Manta with old-style toe clips and straps. I still enjoy Tour de France bike racing, but I also realize I'm not a racer and don't need to pretend I'm one when I ride.

I ride for the joy of it. :-)

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August 16, 2007

Revived Manta Photos

Two days ago I mentioned taking my Manta road bike in for a complete overhaul, and today I got the call that the Manta was ready.

I picked up the newly revived bike, and it's great. Smooth as silk on my short test run at home. Iniitlally I wasn't sure how I felt about the bright aqua bar wrap color (thought it would be darker), but it's growing on me. :-)

Tomorrow morning I'm taking the Manta for a long test ride — I can't wait!

As promised, here are photos of the bike with the new bar wrap in place:

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August 13, 2007

Reviving My Road Mike

My Manta Road Bike Now that we've settled in a little more in the new house, I've had a desire to get back into a good exercise routine, since everything was thrown into chaos with our trip to Belize, our house sale and the big move to Menomonee Falls.

My biking routine has fallen by the wayside this year, especially road biking on my steel-frame Manta road bike.

I've had a few short rides on my mountain bike and it feels good to get out and ride, but there's something special about hitting a quiet country road on a well-tuned road bike.

I enjoy the smoothness of the road, the feeling of the wind in my face, the hum of the wheels and the freedom of riding. It's therapy for my body and soul.

Today I brought my bike to Emery's, the local bike shop in town, for a complete overhaul. They're going to strip it down to the frame, cleaning and re-lubing the crank, replacing the chain and all of the shift and brake cables, tuning the index shifting, truing the wheels and covering the handlebars in coral blue-green gel wrap.

I need some black enamel touch up paint for a few nicks and marks on the frame, and then a little wax ought to shine the frame up nicely. The paint work was done back in 1993 and has held up quite well through 13 years on the road.

I'm excited to see how the bike feels and handles after a much-needed revival. I'll be sure to take photos and post them on Flickr and link to them here on the blog.

Now I need to plan my first ride on the revived Manta. I can't wait! :-)

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July 18, 2007

Cycling Tidbits

Before I left for Belize, I wondered after last year if I'd still be up for following the Tour in 2007. With so much focus on doping and cheating, courtrooms and headlines, I wasn't sure.

My love for cycling, the complex the tactics and competition between cyclists has sucked me back in. I find watching these crazy guys race each other across France quite enjoyable.

So, here are a few cycling tidbits to share with readers who are also TDF fans.

Toiur de France 2007 Info
I've now posted my Tour de France 2007 info page, which I've done for several years now. New this year is a section for iPhone apps, and updated streaming info. If you have any good links to add, please email me with "TDF" in the subject of your email.

Google Interview with Floyd Landis
Here's an interesting and very recent interview with Floyd Landis about his book, cycling, and more. Floyd seems relaxed and answers a wide variety of questions for almost an hour at the Google campus:

International Cycling Week in Milwaukee
Since 1969, pro cyclists have been coming to the Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin area for "Superweek" now known as the International Cycling Classic. If you're in this area and enjoy cycle racing, check out the schedule. It's a blast taking in a bike race on a warm summer evening or over a lunchbreak. You can even host a cyclist for a future event. This year Time-Warner Cable is also delay-broadcasting each race.

Enjoy!

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July 15, 2007

Tour de France 2007 Info List

Here's an updated collection of Tour 2007 info:

Tour Websites
Tour de France Official Website
Tour 2007 General Classification
Tour 2007 Stages
Tour 2007 Route
Versus: Tour de France 2007
Versus: Tour TV Schedule (US)
OLN: Tour TV Schedule (Canada)
ITV: Tour Live Coverage (UK)
Eurosport Tour Coverage
The Daily Peleton
VeloNews
Active.com
TDF Teams (Active.com)
Bicycling.com
NY Times
ESPN
Steephill Live Dashboard

TDFwiki

Tour Bloggers
TDFBlog
Martin Dugard (Paper Kenyan)
Martin Dugard (Active.com)
Freddie Rodriquez
Bobby Julich
Bruce Hildenbrand
Chris Carmichael
Ronan Pensec
Peleton Blog
Cycloblog
Wannabe Bike Girl
Velogal's Race Blog
TDF For the Rest of Us
Velochimp
Podium Cafe
Cyclocosm
TDFblog on Twitter
DailyTour on Twitter

Streaming & Video
Eurosport (Windows Media Audio)
Le Grande Boucle (Combo of text and other Tour infos)
Sporza Tour (Belgian)
CyclingFans.com guide to Live Streaming & Info
Official TdF Channel (YouTube)

Books
Tour Fever by J.P. Partland
Tour de France Quiz Book by John DT White (For trivia lovers!)

iPhone Apps
BlueFlavor Leaflets: Le Tour de France

Tour Palm OS Apps
DeepWeb's LeTour2007 (English, with Datebook support & Wireless features)
Ullrich Riepert's TdF 2007 (French & German, elevation charts, jersey winner DB)

Photos
Graham Watson's Tour Photos

If you have additional resources to share: websites, blogs. etc., please let me know, so I can keep this list updated. Send me an email with "TDF" in the subject line.

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June 6, 2007

Tour Fever Mini Review

Every year since 2003, I've been compiling online resources for Tour de France fans, and every year the list grows longer (2004, 2005, 2006).

Last year, I found the book Tour Fever: The Armchair Cyclist's Guide to the Tour de France by J.P. Partland, made a mention in the Tour 2006 list, and got a nice email from J.P. offering a review copy from the publisher.

This spring, with cycling thawing from a cold winter, I took J.P. up on his offer, and received a review copy a few weeks ago.

Darn! I wish I'd asked for this book sooner! :-)

This compact book offers a comprehensive yet brief overview of the Tour de France, from its history and early days, to the current Tours of Armstrong and Landis.

“Tour Fever is an insightful look at the world's greatest bike race, the Tour de France. It educates the novice while providing cutting edge information and reference for the seasoned professional.
—Tom Danielson, Discovery Channel Professional Cycling Team

I especially enjoyed the historical overview of the race, and being reminded that the Tour is rooted in a publicity stunt by a newspaper publisher to save his paper. Yet at the same time, a stunt borne of PR, can also offer a space where cyclists can still prove their endurance and tougness.

What's Inside
Tour Fever covers the basics of how the Tour works and why, and provides a sense of how complex of a beast it is. The book also provides newcomers a good overview of how and why teams are structured, how they operate, the different kinds of racers, the goals of each team and so on.

I've learned many these tidbits through years of following the Tour, listening to Paul Sherwen and Phil Ligget make the call year after year, reading blogs and articles on the web and talking over the details with cycling friends.

But having all of this information in a compact, concise book is so nice. This is an ideal guide for anyone interested in Tour de France and bicycle racing, who doesn't want to wade through bike-speak. In fact, J.P. is very good at writing like a regular person, as he explains the intricacies of the Tour.

If you're interested in checking out the 2008 Tour and want more background on the race, then I reccomend Tour Fever by J.P. Partland.

It's good stuff.

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July 23, 2006

Floyd Landis: Tour de France Champion

Today was the day, Floyd rolled into Paris and claimed his rightful place as the Tour de France champion for 2006.

I've been reflecting on the tour, and Floyd's comeback, trying to capture a sense of a feeling for the past 3 weeks.

Amazing is the one word answer to that reflection.

To me, it is indeed amazing that Floyd could lead, crack, then attack and win back the Tour within 4 days time. Amazing that he could come back from his monumental cracking on Alpine stage 2 and drive so hard that nobody could stay with him in the very next stage.

I think the fact that Landis' chances of winning an attack on Stage 17 were so utterly impossible was part of why his audacious move worked. Once ideas were planted in the heads of other riders, like "nobody can overcome 8 minutes" or "he can't stay away long enough before he's caught" the chance of Floyd doing just those things could work.

The impossible seems to have worked in two ways from my perspective: first, the peleton was lulled into believing that Floyd's attack was full of folly, doomed and impossible. But secondly, these thoughts by his peers likely gave Floyd the drive to prove them wrong and that he could do the impossible. A dangerous combo, once you see Floyd's history of pulling off the impossible. Today, I also found myself utterly pleased for Floyd.

This year's Tour was indeed wild, unpredictable and emotionally challenging, but I've come to see how wonderful this is. After 7 years of Lance predictability, a Tour where anything can and seemed to happen, has made cycling exciting again.

Along with this, I will miss the daily flow of events from Europe: Phil and Paul on OLN, stats from the Daily Peleton and daily fixes of Martin Dugard's excellent road trip Tour blog. I do hope some of these wonderful resources will return in 2007.

Fellow Tour fans, thanks for the comments and emails. I hope you enjoyed this wild Tour as much as I have and are pleased at Floyd's improbable win. I'm so very happy for him and wish him the best as he heads toward hip surgery and recovery for 2007.

Until 2007, au revoir, Tour de France!

Photo: AFP

Updates: After some contemplation shortly after the original posting, I felt my comparison between Landis and Armstrong seemed a unfair to Lance. I still admire both Floyd Landis and Lance Amrstrong — what I realize is that knowing neither man personally I've decieded to step back a bit — each man is different while in some ways the same.

Also: shortly after winning the Tour this year, Floyd Landis has been accused of having an abnormally high testosterone level. At this point we're awaiting results of a B sample from Floyd, and there are some questions about the change in ratios from 6:1 to 4:1, connections between the Tour organization and L'Equipe and other confusing details. So now we wait for the results and Landis' defense.

"Dick Pound's recent defamatory and absurd public comments - in the midst of a process where the highest ethical standards should support a fair and just outcome - highlight the dramatic and systematic problems with global anti-doping enforcement and adjudication,"
"Absolute testosterone levels are not even part of the allegations. The LNDD (Laboratoire National Depistage de Dopage - the French lab that tested Landis's sample) tested a clearly contaminated sample of my urine, against WADA rules, and even then my testosterone levels fell into the normal to low range."

Link: Landis hits back at Pound

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July 20, 2006

Floyd Attacks!

Turned on OLN this morning and WOW! Landis jumped off the front and is attacking like an angry, angry man today.

Seems that Chris Carmichael's words from yesterday have come true:

Relieved of the pressure of carrying the yellow jersey, and perhaps even the expectation of being a podium contender, Floyd Landis might well be reborn tomorrow during Stage 17. He's still a strong rider who has shown himself capable of climbing away from everyone in this year's race. Given a night to eat, drink, rest, and reflect, he can recover from today's bad day and have a great ride to Morzine tomorrow.

At this very moment Landis is snapping the pedals over and climbing to and past that 8:08 deficit he amassed in yesterday's stage!

The Yellow Jersey group of Pereiro and the main rivals are not gaining ground as Floyd prepares to descend and then climb Côte de Châtillon and the killer: Col de Joux-Plane. They cannot seem to rally to reel Floyd in.

Just heard on OLN a quote Landis told Bernard Hinault:

"I was bad yesterday, I'm going to be great today and prove it to you all..."
— Floyd Landis

Will Landis pull this off? I think he could! I'm certainly rooting for him and am incredibly inspired by his attack.

Be careful of that rebellious former Mennonite boy...

WOW!

What an inspirational, incredible ride by Floyd Landis!

"I came here to win the tour. That's what I still want to do, and I'm not done fighting yet."
"I told everybody last night that if somebody wants to win this race they're going to have to earn it."

— Floyd Landis

Floyd nearly destroys his 8:08 deficit, now sitting in 3rd position only 30 seconds behind Pereiro! Amazing. It seems nobody else thought Floyd could pull this off, but I sense he has that killer instinct of the greats. He wants not only this stage but the win in Paris and I believe he can do it.

Wow.

The time trial is not to be missed fans of the Tour... it's going to come down to the time trial.

GO FLOYD GO!

Photo: Eurosport

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July 19, 2006

Tour de France 2006: Landis' Terrible Day

I was stunned to hear that Landis was floating around the back of the lead group in today's stage in the Alps, which turned to disbelief when Phil and Paul called out the attack and Landis fading further and further back... cracking!

Landis cracks? Wha?!

By the end of the day Floyd had lost 10 minutes to the stage winner, 8 minutes to his former rivals. I would never have envisioned this for today.

Today was a tough day for Floyd. I can't imagine how disheartening it must have been as Floyd watched his rivals ride away, while he lacked the power to even maintain contact. It must have been sheer mental and physical torture.

As I reflect tonight on the Tour, the pattern seems clearer — most of team Phonak seemed to disappear on the mountain stages, leaving Floyd either alone or with only a single teammate.

Landis allowed Pereiro to gain 30 minutes in a "controlled fumble" to take pressure of his tired team, and ends up looking at Periero, his former teammate in 1st place, while he sits in 11th. But really, if Floyd and Phonak hadn't given up the Yellow Jersey, would he have even survived yesterday's climb?

Now we are seeing just how tired out they were, including Floyd. It makes me wonder if Phonak had really been built for the mountains, as both T-Mobile and CSC seemed quite strong in comparison.

The best writing today on the Landis collapse is at Martin Dugard's blog:

Landis ...

Landis looked tired and hopeless, incapable of turning the pedals a single bit faster. In those moments, the yellow jersey was lifted from his back. The collective gasp that shot around this ski resort as fans watched the collapse on a jumbotron was unparalleled. It was Landis's race to lose and, more than likely, he did.

Now it will be interesting with Floyd "out of it" how he will react (if he can) tomorrow. Will he aim to just finish, or like Levi Leipheimer, attack like a wild man, even though there may seem no point? Or will he do it for pride? Chris Carmichael has some excellent points to consider about Floyd in todays post, Bad Days Happen:

Relieved of the pressure of carrying the yellow jersey, and perhaps even the expectation of being a podium contender, Floyd Landis might well be reborn tomorrow during Stage 17. He's still a strong rider who has shown himself capable of climbing away from everyone in this year's race. Given a night to eat, drink, rest, and reflect, he can recover from today's bad day and have a great ride to Morzine tomorrow.

Whatever happens, this is the most exciting, gut-wrenching, confusing, unpredictable, crazy Tour de France I've seen. Even wilder than Lance's challenging 2003 Tour — and I'm loving (nearly) every moment of it.

Photo: Eurosport

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July 13, 2006

Wild & Crazy Tour de France '06

Wow, what a wild Tour de France we have on our hands. I had an inkling that this year would be a wild one, but nowhere near as wild as it's turned out.

Operation Puerto eliminates several contenders, including Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso. One of my favorites to win, Alejandro Valverde was knocked out with a broken collarbone. Iban Mayo, so strong in 2003, abandons the Tour on today's mountain stage. Bobby Julich wipes out in the time trial, breaks his wrist. Floyd Landis reveals a hip ailment on rest day. George Hincapie gets dropped on today's killer mountain stage and loses 23 (TWENTY-THREE?) minutes to the leaders!

What the heck is going on?!

I certainly won't complain that the Tour isn't exciting this year, but this is something else. I think it's due in part to the sudden change from the relative stability of Lance's 7 wins to the free-for-all we're seeing this year. But this year is just freaky... weird.

Some Clarity, Finally!
Today finally provided a relative level of clarity, with the contenders for the Yellow Jersey separating themselves on the last climb of stage 11. I about fell out of my chair when I saw today's route profile —what a set of killer climbs. Maybe it's no wonder guys were falling like apples from a tree. :-)

Impressed and Dissapointed
I was impressed today with the race leaders: Floyd Landis and his control of the situation, Menchov staying with the lead group to sprint for the stage, Levi Leipheimer for hanging in and fighting right to the top of the mountain stage. Even Cadel Evans and Carlos Sastre, who each lost a a few seconds to the leaders, are still considerable threats for the Yellow Jersey.

It would seem T-Mobile may have burnt themselves out over the past several days. Klöden was dropped a bit at the end of the day, and his teammates were left hanging after hammering a good way through the stage. Will Klöden be able to recover for the Alps? I think he still has a shot.

Discovery seems to have imploded, with the exception of Azevedo, who at least kept close. Hincapie and Savoldelli lost over 20 minutes each today — how the heck does that happen? George is now so far back he'll need half the tour to ride off of a mountain pass to have a shot at 3rd place! It would seem the loss of a strong leader has hurt Discovery more than anyone had realized.

Hincapie pulls a Houdini
What was most odd today was the lack of comment about Hincapie from the OLN crew — its as though once he was dropped he ceased to exist. The invisible man. He wasn't mentioned at all in the final stage or GC wrap-up today on OLN, almost as if he wasn't in the race. Now I know why — 23 minutes lost on a single stage! Ouch!!

I actually feel quite bad for George, because I know how much he wants to win, and how hard he worked to get Lance his 7 Tours. He also seems a genuinely good guy. Its difficult to see George struggling so suddenly, especially on a stage where it would seem he's able to at least maintain contact. I hope he hangs in there.

Just found an interview with George on VeloNews: Down but not out: Discovery moves forward. Sounds like George's body and mind just failed him. Check out this quote:

"I was really tired and finished empty," said Hincapie. "I don't think I bonked. I just didn't have it. I don't have an excuse for what happened, it just wasn't there. I don't think [it was the crash at Paris-Roubaix]. I arrived [at the Tour] better than ever. I almost won the prologue and I grabbed the yellow jersey, so the crash is already in the past. I just couldn't change rhythm. Once I saw I couldn't go, I didn't see the point to keep going. Yesterday was maybe one of the toughest days of my career, just because I had a lot of hope to do well. Once I saw that wasn't going to happen it was really hard."

That's too bad. Maybe the pressure for George to change into the Lance replacement was just too much to expect of him, or any of the Disco boys right now.

I'm actually enjoying the Tour, but am never sure what to expect from day to day. Maybe that's not a bad thing. It sure has been exciting! :-)

Must-Visit Tour Resources
I've already created a page with all sorts of resources on the Tour, however of those, I'm finding 4 to be must-visits for my daily dose of the Tour:

OLN TV — I listen (and sometimes watch) to the live coverage of the Tour with PHil Ligget and Paul Sherwin each day on OLN. If you can't get these guys covering live, there is an online viewer with highlights from each day. In the evenings the stage is re-run, though with Bob Roll and Al Trautwig's overdubbing of the action (not even in the same league as Phil & Paul in my opinion). If you can't get near a TV, Eurosport's streamed coverage is also quite good.

The Daily Peleton — Here you can read live coverage of each stage, standings and the Jambon Report, with perspectives on the "Golden Hams" and "Ham Gazers" of the day's stage. Great info and analysis.

Martin Dugard's Weblog —Martin is a best selling author of several books, including his most recent about Lance Armstrong, Chasing Lance. I love Martin's reports from the Tour, because he provides description of his experience outside of the stats and action, adding depth, color and analysis from someone on the ground. Check out Martin's blog for some excellent daily posts.

TDFBlog — Frank Steele's most excellent resource for news and analysis. Every year I make this blog one of my stops and am never disappointed. Frank always seems to find the best stories on the Tour, saving me lots of effort. :-)

Enjoy the Tour!

Photo: AFP/Franck Fife

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June 30, 2006

Tour de France 2006: Ullrich, Basso, Mancebo, Beloki Out!

Looks like recent scandals related to the Spanish report "Operation Puerto" have now knocked out Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo and more...

Operation Puerto: The list (Eurosport)
UCI add names to official list (Eurosport)
Spirit of '98? Surely not (Eurosport)
Basso and Mancebo out of Tour (ProCycling)
Ullrich out of the Tour de France (ProCycling)
More riders suspended: Basso and Mancebo out (Cycling News)
Operation Puerto: Yet Another Doping Scandal (Centripedal Blog)
Black Friday: Basso, Mancebo, Ullrich all withdraw from Tour (TDFBlog)
Doping Scandals Throw Tour de France Into Chaos (NY Times)

Updated Rider Listing (Tour de France site)

One final quote from the Ullrich story to give you an idea how serious this is:

"The only thing I can tell you is that the information is clear enough and didn't leave any doubt." — T-Mobile PR Luuc Eisenga

I guess this year will be quite interesting indeed.

Looking for the latest Tour 2006 info?
Visit my entry for Tour de France 2006

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June 15, 2006

Tour de France 2006

Here's an updated collection of Tour 2006 info:

Tour Websites
Le Tour de France Official Website
Le Tour 2006 Stages
Le Tour 2006 Interactive Map
Le Tour 2006 Route
Outdoor Life Network (OLN) US Cable TV Coverage
Eurosport Tour Coverage
The Daily Peleton
VeloNews
Capure The Peleton (Photography)
Le Grande Boucle (Cool combo of text and other Tour infos)
NPR: Tour de France 2006 Coverage
NY Times Tour de France 2006 Interactive Reference

Tour Bloggers
TDFBlog
Martin Dugard
Fred Rodriquez
James Raia
Chris Carmichael
Rob Klingensmith
Peleton Blog
Cycloblog
Wannabe Bike Girl
Velogal's Race Blog
Frank Steele's Tour Guide for Beginners
TDF For the Rest of Us
YellowJersey.net
VinoVelo
Velochimp
Podium Cafe
Cyclocosm
Mike Papageorge
LOGOS Tourblog

Streaming
Eurosport (Audio)
CyclingFans.com guide to Live Streaming & Info
OLN's The Player (Online Video Clips)

Podcasts
Bicycling Magazine Tour 2006 Podcast (iTunes)
SimplyStu Tour de France Podcast
Discovery Channel Team Podcast
Velogal's Cycling Podcast

Tour Palm OS Tools
DeepWeb's LeTour2006 (English, with Datebook support & Wireless features)
Ullrich Riepert's LeTour2006 (French & German, elevation charts, jersey winner DB)

Books
Tour de France Quiz Book by John DT White (For trivia lovers!)
Tour Fever by J.P. Partland

If you have additional resources to share: websites, blogs. etc., please let me know, so I can keep this list updated.

UPDATE 2006-06-30 Looks like recent scandals and a Spanish report "Operation Puerto" have now knocked out Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo and more. Full details in my dedicated post, Tour de France 2006: Ullrich, Basso, Mancebo, Beloki Out!

Oh man, it's only 2 weeks away...

July 1, 2006 is the start of Tour de France 2006!

Last night I had my Tour fire lit — now I can't shake it.

Here's how it happened.

Late last night, I visited Centripedal, the blog of fellow 9rules member Mike Papageorge. His post, Video from Hautacam, TDF 2000 has a YouTube video of the 2004 Tour, where Lance Armstrong shreds the field on a climb in stage 10, Lourdes-Hautacam. Lance reduces a 10:35 deficit the breakaway leader, Javier Ochoa had, down to just 41 seconds at the finish. Wow.

Then I hit YouTube to search for Tour videos, including the classic moment from the 2001 Tour, where Lance gives Ullrich "the look" before kicking in the afterburners to take the stage at L'Alpe D'Huez, eventually winning his 3rd Tour:

Next, the 2003 Tour, where Joseba Beloki crashes out on a sticky tar road (still makes me sick to see that crash), forcing Lance to take it off-road, barely evading the oncoming racers to join the peleton:

Or the scene on Luz-Ardiden, where Armstrong's brake lever caught on a spectator's bag, dropping him, his chain and pedals causing problems, and the attack that followed in his the 5th Tour win:

2003 is still my favorite Tour, because Lance had to fight for that 5th win, getting it by a minute or so, unlike most of his other multiple-minute Tour wins.

The Legend of Lance is a nice retrospective on Lance Armstrong's career at CyclingNews.com.

I have a feeling Tour de France 2006 will be much more like 2003. There is such a wide field of competitors this year, so the battles will be close until a leader emerges. Who will that leader be? Basso? Ullrich? Hincapie? Who knows! But it sure will be a blast finding out. :-)

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October 25, 2005

An Autumn Ride

“Ready to ride?” Michael asks, as we sat in the warm sunlit front seat. “Yep. let's load up and get rolling” I reply, as we roll out of the car to unhook the bikes for an autumn Saturday ride.

Autumn Ride on Natchez Trace

My friend Michael has me on one of his favorite routes, following parts of the Old Natchez Trace in Nashville Tennessee. Our destination: historic Franklin, Tennessee to meet our wives for a bit of lunch.

After some stretching and final preparations, we're off, hugging the white lines of a beautiful winding band of asphalt through the Nashville countryside. The air is clear and crisp, leaves changing to hues of gold, tangerine and persimmon. I can smell a blend of asphalt, burning leaves and cool fall air as we make our way South. There's no place better to be on an autumn day than outside, riding.

The first few minutes of the ride challenge me, as they always do. My body is taking a little time to adapt to the aerobic level — particularly on this ride. I've not been on a bike much this year, so my concern is how I'll stack up to Michael. He's been a riding machine with many miles on his wheels. Only one way to find out: ride.

We're stopped now, checking out a stone bridge erected in 1800 for the Old Natchez Trace, 400 yards beyond, an old roadside home of the same vintage still stands. History seems woven into the fabric here in Nashville, in the shadows everywhere. Back home this is also the case — but when you live in a certain history, it seems to become part of the white noise.

Riding on now, catching glimpses of ancient hand-built stone fences, plantation homes and gorgeous views of the rolling mid-Tenessee countryside. As we pedal on, talking and enjoying the afternoon, I'm reminded that cycling for me is not about the destination so much as the experience of being on the road, in the fresh air, appreciating the ride.

Now we're in Franklin, locking up the bikes as our wives stroll up. Lunch at McCreary's: fish n' chips remind me of the fish n' chips at Heathrow with Andy. I'm enjoying the fellowship of good friends, tasty food and a view of shoppers on main street through the front window.

Fulller n' full of fish n' chips, Michael and I mount our bikes for the ride back to the car. We're carbo-loaded and ready for the curves and climbs ahead... we think.

We're doing well, approaching 75% of the way back to the car, when Michael tells me about the steep hill coming soon. The facts register in my brain, but reality is a sharp crack to the calves and lungs.

Fighting the sudden, steep rise, I'm cranking while trying to drop to the small sprocket. No such luck. High stress and a lube-starved front derailleur cable keeps me in the middle ring — no choice but to fight it out now. I dig in, talking myself into accepting the pain. It won't last long, just keep fighting!

I'm over the rise and happy to be past it, though the shock of the hill sucks my energy level down several notches. I'm glad to know we're nearly home, because my legs are starting to solidify like cooling carmel on a cold carmel apple.

Final slow-burn incline to the car comes up slow, but I feel good. I can see the red rooftop of the Cherokee Chief ahead as Michael climbs toward it. Now we're at the car, feeling the endorphin buzz setting in after a good hard ride.

I can see the level of my legs and lungs now, after 28 miles on the road. Michael's training base was clear to see as he walked away from me on the final climbs of the day. However, I feel good about my strength on this very off year for cycling.

We load up the bikes and head for Harpeth Bikes, the one local shop in town that carries Rivendell bikes and gear, hoping to make it before they close. We arrive at 5:59, sneaking in just before the doors are locked. There are 2 Rivendell Ramboulliet models on display — they are gorgeous bikes. So clean, classic, and functional.

We take time to talk with one of the owners who happens to be a Rivendell bike fan, who has met Grant (the owner of the company). We're talking steel frames, practical bikes and the joy of cycling. What great fun to meet someone who knows and loves the idea behind Rivendell.

On the way home Michael and I talk about cycling: how I'm now fired up to get my old Manta steel-framed bike back rolling and ready for spring... and maybe even get in a few cold autumn rides back home.

Our discussion veers to what cycling is all about and what it isn't about. Why do I as a cyclist buy into the idea that I need to dress like a pro rider wannabeee fanboy, with my fancy jersey, clipless pedals? Why when I ride at home do I often think about speed and distance, when I truly enjoy the ride and the experience of getting there?

Have I lost sight of what cycling is about? For me it's about fully experiencing the joy of being free, cruising through rushing wind, smelling the air and seeing the world from a different perspective.

I've lost sight of what cycling is about.

I've been caught in the simulated idea that cycling is about how I look to others, rather than how I feel when I'm out riding. I've traded impressing others for the knowledge that I can feel God's pleasure through my cycling.

I choose to experience joy in riding a bike, letting the moment unfold, rather than worrying what image I'm projecting to others.

I want to have it back: the joy of the riding that I felt on Saturday.

Technorati Tags: cycling, happiness, joy, simplicity

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July 13, 2005

Le Tour Heats Up!

Wow, what a wild couple of days it's been in the Tour. I've been enjoying the action, as this year feels much more like the wild year of 2003 than last year's less intense rivalry. From the individual time trial and Zabriske's win until now, I'm very much enjoying the 2005 Tour.

Starting in stage 9, things got interesting as Lance got caught alone, and had to fight off attack after attack on the mountain. Then came stage 10, where The Discovery channel boys hammered the field with an amazing pace, shedding riders off the back, until only Lance and Valdeverde remained to battle for the win.

Then today's stage 11, VInokourov takes flight for most of the day, beating out only Botero at the line, after cracking spectacularly in yesterday's stage 10. It was amazing to see the DIsco Boys hammering today, to reduce Vino's 3-some minute gap all the way down to 1:15!

I've been impressed with Rasmussen and Valverde, as they seem able to match Armstrong so far. I suppose that the real test is, how long can they stay with him through the Alps and Pyrenees? But that's the fun of it all — seeing guys like Vinokourov dropped one day, only to rise and attack the next. I expect the fireworks and attacks will continue tomorrow.

I don't have any idea what might happen over the next few weeks, but judging by the first week and a half, it ought to be quite exciting.

I'm always amazed how much I learn each time I follow the Tour, especially hearing Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen making the call on OLN TV. I love their background information and insights, because it's an opportunity to discover even more depth about cycle racing, what each attack or move really means in the scheme of things.

I've also been enjoying The TDF For The Rest of Us blog, by John Hay, Jr. who also does a nice job of explaining what the moves of the day meant, and how they play into the overall picture of the Tour. Great stuff!

I stumbled across a good interview with Eddie Merckx at SpIegel (in English) I wanted to share here (via TDF blog). Eddie talks quite a bit about Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich, and what he sees as differences in their attitudes. Merckx seems convinced that Lance is destined for the overall 7th win. It's a good interview, worthy of a read.

Finally, if you haven't yet checked out Eurosport's live streaming, do so. While I truly relish hearing Phil and Paul each stage, the Eurosport team of David Duffield and Sean Kelly do a very nice job. Here are the links for WIndows IE and a direct link for Windows Media (including Mac users).

Eurosport's Live Le Tour Audio Stream (IE Win Only Webpage)
Eurosport's Live Le Tour Audio Stream (Direct WinMedia Link)

Enloy the next few weeks cycling fans! :-)

Technorati Tags: tour de france

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June 27, 2005

Tour de France 2005

Looking for the latest Tour 2006 info?
Visit my updated entry for Tour de France 2006

It's that time of year again — time for Tour de France 2005! In preparation for the 92nd Tour, which begins on July 2nd and runs through July 24th, I've gathered a few tidbits for fellow cycling fans, including websites, blogs and Palm applications.

If you have any additional resources to share: websites, blogs or apps for mobile devices, please let me know, so I can keep this list updated.

Tour Websites
Le Tour de France Official Website
Le Tour 2005 Flash Map
Outdoor Life Network (OLN) US Cable TV Coverage
Outside Magazine's Tour 2005 Coverage
The Daily Peleton
VeloNews
Capure The Peleton (Photography)
New York Times Le Tour 2005 Coverage
International Herald Tribune Le Tour Coverage
Fox Sports Tour Coverage

Le Grande Boucle (Cool combo of text and other Tour infos)

Streaming Audio
Eurosport's Live Le Tour Audio Stream (IE Win Only Webpage)
Eurosport's Live Le Tour Audio Stream (Direct WinMedia Link) thanks Matt G!

Tour Bloggers
TDFBlog
Maillot Jaune
LOGos Tourblog
Le Tour Delicieux
Peleton Blog
Cycloblog
Wannabe Bike Girl
Velogal's Race Blog
Frank Steele's Tour Guide for Beginners
TDF For the Rest of Us
YellowJersey.net
VinoVelo
Velochimp
Digital Peloton

Martin Dugard
Alex Trautwig
Kevin Livingston
John Robson
Phil White

Tour Palm OS Tools
DeepWeb's LeTour2005 (English, with Datebook support & Wireless features)
Ullrich Riepert's LeTour2005 (French & German, elevation charts, jersey winner DB)
Bike Races TV Calendar

Books
Tour de France Quiz Book by John DT White (For trivia lovers!)

UPDATE 2005-07-07: Matt G has kindly left a direct link to the Eurosport's Live Le Tour Audio Stream (in Windows Media) in the comments, which I've added to the Streaming Audio section. I'm testing it now on OS X and it seems to be a replay of today's stage — it works! :-)

Jon in the comments left the OLN TV contact info phone number: (203) 406-2500 if you want to call and request OLN bring back web streaming.

UPDATE 2005-07-06: I've added a link above for Eurosport's streaming audio of the TDF in English, however it seems only to work properly in IE on Windows. If someone can sort out the direct URL for the stream, please leave a comment with the link!

UPDATE 2005-06-28: The DeepWeb folks and Jean-Paul Horn, chairman of the Dutch Palm User Group informed me that DeepWeb's LeTour2005 application is also available. I'd mentioned the app last year and really liked how well it worked for me. Both Ullrich Riepert and DeepWeb's Palm OS apps seem good, so be sure to check them both out.

As in years past I may post about things as I get more into the Tour. Generally I mention the wilder stages or interesting turn of events, though I'm certainly no Tour expert — simply a fan of the Tour.

I can't wait to hear Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen calling each stage live! I'm hoping OLN will provide audio streams the stages this year, though it seems we have OLN on our low-end cable package, so I might just fire up the TV in the next room and listen while I work... we'll see.

Just think, in a little more than a week it's Le Tour time again! Whoo hoo! :-)

Go Lance!

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August 19, 2004

Stingrays and Typhoons

Stingray Drag races. Chase on bikes. Motocross racing. Transportation. Street credibility. Freedom.

These were the things a bike meant to every kid in my neighborhood. For us, bikes were something we lived on, especially during long summer breaks from school. You might say that our lives revolved around our bikes, though at the time we really didn't realize it.

On any given summer day in our neighborhood, you could find our crew of boys having a drag race, or playing bike chase (where one person is deemed "it" and the rest get a minute lead to try and evade that person within the chase boundaries) or maybe having a dirt bike race wherever we could scratch out a route in our cement jungle.

Now, all of my neighborhood friends all had the Corvette of kid bikes — the Schwinn Stingray. The Stingray was a very, very cool bike to have. Combine a 20" rear slick, coaster brakes, a banana seat and sissy bar handlebars, and you had a stylin' kid-ride. Interestingly enough, the Schwinn Stingray is enjoying a comeback.

I nor my family had the money to buy a new or even a used Stingray, but early in my kid-life, I was fortunate to land cousin's old, blue Schwinn Typhoon, which needed a bit of work. The Typhoon's frame and structure was nearly identical to the Stingray, except that the crank gear was about 15-20% smaller.

With my dad's help, wasn't hard to turn my Typhoon into a very respectable street bike that looked just like a Stingray. In fact, over its lifetime, my Typhoon was also turned into a cool BMX bike (for the time) with knobby tires, BMX handlebars and an off-road seat.

What I came to love most about the Typhoon was its smaller crank. Initially, I thought it a disadvantage, since Stingray riders were able to ride with less cranking. However, as I adapted to my smaller gear, I began to build more leg muscle and developed a high cadence. In drag races, I was the quickest off the line and generally smoked Stingray riders at the finish.

On longer tours, races and chases my improved muscle tone kept me riding easily with the Stingray boys and allowed me the ability to launch an attack even at full spin on a hill, while my Stingray riding pals were left pumping for dear life.

The Typhoon's small gear has even impacted my road and mountain bike riding today, since I can maintain a good cadence on various terrains, and can still kick in the afterburners when they're needed.

Unfortunately, my Typhoon has been lost, and I don't know where it is. Could be buried in my parent's garage somewhere, wheelless and rusting. Once I moved to a 10 speed and mountain bikes, I apparently lost interest. I'll have to do some searching at mom & dad's place next weekend and see if it's still there.

My post here really has no point other than to share fond memories, inspired by the renewal of the Stingray. I suppose the new Stingrays will be bought by guys in my age range, trying to relive the good old Stingray days. I have to admit I'm tempted. Still, I hope some young kids manage to get a few and experience the fun of riding one too. Maybe I should start thinking about a bike for Nathan? ;-)

So what are your memories of biking as a kid? Did you have any fond experiences of "living" on your bike? If so, I'd love to hear about them.

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July 6, 2004

Le Tour 2004 for Palm

The Tour de France is in full swing, and I've found a real gem of a tool for my Tungsten E: Le Tour 2004. After some review of the app this weekend, I've decided to share more of my thoughts with Cycling fans that are also Palm users.

The Dutch firm Deepweb has done nice work on their little Tour de France info tool. Le Tour 2004 offers a small map of the Tour, city by city listings and distances for each Etape (stage) with relevant stage info (categories of climbs, sprints, elevation maps, etc.), as well as team rosters and rider names.

You can use it freely (with a splash screen) but the $4 price tag seems like a deal to me, considering all of the information provided.

My wish list for the application includes:

Space for notes, so users can add notes about stages, teams or riders.
More detailed rider information (with black & white photo?).
Close up maps of each stage with elevations, so users can see the details. Links to the stage info from this detailed stage map would also be nice.

Mind you I'm not complaining — just imagining what features I'd love to see added to this great little tool. Le Tour 2004 app is already very handy and I expect it to receive lots of use over the next few weeks. ;-)

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July 3, 2004

Le Tour de France 2004!

Just a quickie this Saturday morning... Le tour Fever is here again! Can Lance pull of a 6th straight Tour win? What exciting moments will there be this year? We'll all see as the drama unfolds for 2004.

If you're a fan of cycling and are looking for a way to hear the Tour each day live, check out the official audio stream from Outdoor Life Magazine (Windows Media). I found this resource last year and quite enjoyed hearing the call of Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin each morning. Made for a nice way to start each work day. :-)

Selected Le Tour Resources:
Tour de France Official Site
Oskar van Rijswijk's LOGos Tourblog
Frank Steele's Tourblog
Frank Steele's Beginner's Guide to the Tour
Graham Watson's Tour Photos
Tour Palm ($4 Shareware Info-app)

Enjoy! :-)

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May 24, 2004

Cold Riding

The first ride of the season was a cold one, but a good one. I spent a little time Sunday afternoon, prepping my old steel framed bike. I added a new cyclometer and checked over the mechanics. During lunch today, I tuned my new road shoes to the bike's clipless pedals, then bought new cycling tights a local bike shop. This evening, I loaded the car and headed West for my first ride of the season.

It was a crisp evening to say the least — about 52 degrees as we prepared our bikes in a church parking lot. Sporting my new cycling pants, I was ready for the chill, yet was amazed to see three of the seven riders in our crew wearing only biking shorts. I felt cold just looking at them.

We departed at 6:10pm, aiming East for hills, which was probably good for warming up our bodies. Some of the leaders stayed back with one mountain bike rider, as he couldn't keep pace. Two faster riders headed off the front and out of sight, while we middle riders chugged along in the cool evening air.

Besides a bit of a misadjusted left pedal, I did decently, especially considering I've not been training for 3 weeks. On a few of the hills I was in my lowest granny gear, churning those pedals, making slow progress. But, it was progress nonetheless. I never stopped on a hill even if my speed was turtle-slow.

For a first time out, and a cold outing at that, I felt good about my performance. I rode 19.88 miles in 1:38 minutes (an 11-point-something MPH average). That time even includes stopping for left pedal adjustments and other group members. Not great, but not terrible, all things considered.

Sometimes it's just starting that's the hardest thing to do. :-)

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April 27, 2004

Cycling Season is Almost Here...

Cycling I can feel it coming. Cycling season is coming closer by the day. It's a matter of hours now.

I love the feeling of warmer weather, sunny skies and long rides on fresh blacktop. I can't wait to feel the warm wind gushing over my face as I descend off of a long hill, hearing the bearings race, the tire hum on the road, the flash of greenery around me and the roar in my ears as I cruise, completely still... down, down, down...

I want to experience the jolt of adrenaline, when my biking buddy leaps past me and I jump on the pedals to haul him back in. Hearing my friend challenging me to catch him and the laughs and back slaps when I do.

I'm waiting for the satisfaction I feel after climbing a killer hill, fighting the incline with every muscle. Pounding down to the the last gear on my ring, then, when I know I'm at the last gear, pounding the bike, myself and the road, fighting and pushing for the crest of the hill.

Most of all, I want to feel the morning greet me. The cool misty air waiting to embrace me. Feeling myself almost cutting through the thick morning air, like knife. Crisp, yellow-orange mornings where the day is waiting to greet me as I wheel out onto the road.

Cycling season is so close now... I can feel it coming.

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August 11, 2003

On The Road (Bike) Again...

My Manta Road Bike Ahhhh... today was my first ride back on my good old road bike (my Manta) after it had been in for a tune up and I was away for vacation. It was high time to get the bike in for service and now my old steel frame bike is working like a dream.

It was hard switching to my mountain bike for rides, which is like switching to a Jeep 4x4 after driving a Porsche, but my few weeks on the mountain bike have resulted in some great workouts (due to the heavier bike and more frictiony tires).

Today's ride with my regular cycling friends Brian and Kathy felt so good. Riding the Manta felt like riding on a rail instead of a four-wheel-drive tank! I should probably know the difference between the two bikes by now, but I'm always amazed after extended time on one or the other, how they feel.

Anyway, it will take a while to get back into rhythm on the Manta, but I'm glad to be back, flying on the old road bike. :-)

BTW, American road riders take heart! I was in a local bike shop over the weekend and had a chance to speak with the owner for a while. He said that this year's Tour has excited many other old roadies about riding, so he's seeing many cyclist coming in the store and getting out to ride again.

For my European friends who live where road cycling is enjoying a strong following, you have to understand that road cycling in the US, while still alive, has lost alot to the recent mountain bike craze 10-15 years ago. You can get roadie stuff, but it's just not as common as mountain bike gear, though that is changing, particularly with Lance being such a strong performer the past 5 years of the Tour.

I don't have anything against mountain biking -- I love that too -- but there is something special about road biking which I love and want to share with others. :-)

Oh, one last tidbit on cycling -- we rented and saw the cycling movie Breaking Away last night and enjoyed it immensely. This is the story of a kid who loves cycling and his townie (non-college attending local kid) friends in Bloomington Indiana, home of Indiana University.

The townies are in a running battle with college kids, which intensifies when Dave (the cyclist) falls in love with a university girl. It's a funny movie with some great cycling moments, including an epic race between the townie kids (Cutters) and college kids in a criterium race. I highly recommend this movie!

Okay roadies -- get out there and ride!! :-)

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July 21, 2003

Le Tour Tidbits: Wild Action, Crashes & Sportsmanship

Incredible! Today's tour stage 15 was another wild one, with Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and Alexander Vinokourov all within mere seconds of each other at the start of the race. Well, it didn't stay that way very long. Ullrich attacked on the climb up Col du Tourmalet, which was much earlier than expected. But it would seem Jan played his hand a bit too soon, and was caught by a cool, calm Armstrong.

On the last climb up Luz-Ardiden, the leaders made another break, separating from Vinokourov who struggled to keep up. By the end of the day, Vino's 18 second gap would widen to over 2 minutes. I was surprised to see Vino fall so far behind in one stage, but these are the killer mountains that separate the champions from everyone else.

In the midst of the climb up Luz-Ardiden, Armstrong was involved in an accident with a fan and his bag, which wrapped onto Lance's handlebar and threw him to the ground, along with Iban Mayo. Ullrich managed to avoid the spill but amazingly stopped and waited with the group of riders, while Armstrong and Mayo got back up.

Lance was pumped with adrenaline after the spill and once the small lead group started out again, he attacked and separated from Ullrich on the climb. Wow!

"After the crash, I had a big rush of adrenaline. I told myself 'Come on Lance, you must win the Tour today,"'

The gap widened as Lance passed the lone breakaway rider and finished the stage with a win, while Jan pounded the pedals to keep the gap as slim as possible. All told, Ullrich's 15 second gap behind Armstrong has now been lengthened to 1:07.

For a detailed account of the stage, I recommend the live blog coverage of stage 15 by Locutus over at Daily Peleton... you can really can feel the excitement just reading his breathless, moment-by-moment account!

I was amazed me at todays stage not only for the wild racing action, but because of Ullrich's sportsmanship. Lance had extended the same courtesy to Ullrich in a previous Tour, where Ullrich had gone off the side of the road and Armstrong waited to make sure he was OK and safely back on the road with him before continuing the race.

I love Ullrich's quote about the incident today:

"I have never in my life attacked someone who had crashed. That's not the way I race,"

Very classy. It's not hard to see that these two respect each other very highly and can separate fierce competition from real life. It's not often you see this kind of respect and sportsmanship in modern sports. I'm glad it's still alive and well in cycling.

I'm pulling for Lance to win his 5th Tour and I think he may just pull it off, but my respect for Ullrich is very high. Besides I wouldn't count him out until the last seconds of the last individual time trial stage of this wonderful Tour de France.

Hang on tight, it's gonna be a wild ride! :-)

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July 19, 2003

La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar

On Friday I finally got around to trying the La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar which was mentioned in a comment on a previous Le Tour post. Hey this thing is quite nice! Essentially it's a webpage that combines Danish live TV coverage of the Tour (in Windows Media), official minute-by-minute coverage from the official Le Tour website and now, buttons to launch audio coverage in English, German, French, Spanish and Dutch (which load in external audio players).

Here are the site's instructions for English visitors:

The WEBlock presents 'La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar' - a sidebar for your browser. This sidebar provides you with a minute-by-minute report of the race AND a live TV stream of the Tour de France! To use 'La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar' you can follow this link or drag the La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar link to the linksbar in your browser. A version for Netscape and Mozilla is available here.

If you use Internet Explorer on Windows, you can get the Boucle Bar to load into a sidebar, or if you prefer Netscape browsers, you can use an alternate link to just load the Boucle bar into a regular page (maybe in a separate tab you can check regularly).

Pretty slick! I'm especially glad to see that the audio feed feature was added this week, since this is the part I'm enjoying the most. :-)

Have a great weekend!

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July 10, 2003

Le Tour Memories

I'm actually not the biggest cycling fan out there, but I do really enjoy the Tour de France and keeping up with race coverage across the big pond.

Today, I was thinking of all the fond memories of past Tours, and how they have inspired me to get out and ride. Some of my oldest memories were from the 70s and 80s, when as a kid, I loved watching Tour highlights on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I still remember how just one hour of Tour highlights on a Saturday afternoon excited my friends and I about cycling for the rest of the summer.

After college, in 1992, I happened to have cable TV and ESPN carried coverage of the Tour daily (well, it was at 3am). I felt fortunate, since I could tape that day's stage and watch in the evening after work. Wow, what a great Tour! Miguel Indurain, Greg LeMond, Laurent Fignon, and all the other greats, battling it out for the win. That year I was challenged to buy and refurbish an old steel frame racing bike and retrofit it with new components. I had a great time building my ride, which I still ride to this day.

I also recall a nice service AOL offered in 1995, where an on-location cycling reporter followed the Tour and sent out email updates to the subscribers of the list. I still recall dialing in by modem to download the latest descriptive post while I was visiting friends in Germany, as the Tour was taking place in nearby France.

And of course, this year I find myself enjoying Tour coverage offered by websites, weblogs and particularly by Outdoor Life TV in the form of live and archived audio feeds. I feel honored to hear Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen making the call on race day, while I work. In fact it brings back fond memories of 1992 when Phil and Paul made the call for ESPN.

After writing this post, I can't wait to get out on my road bike tomorrow morning! I can't wait to smell the fresh air and feel the wind in my face. I'm looking so forward to seeing the green of the fields and woods flash past, feeling the rumble of blacktop under my wheels, sensing the rush of flying full speed downhill and the challenge of spinning my way up hills. And of course there's that wonderful feeling of endorphins being released and the tension you feel in your legs after a nice morning ride.

Man, it's great to be a cyclist in July! :-)

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July 9, 2003

Le Tour Fever

I'm a fan of cycling riding and following cycle racing, so this time of year is always a great one for me because of the Tour de France. This year in particular it's more exciting, because I and two friends have been training indoors since January and riding our road bikes outside since May, so I've been in much more of a cycling state of mind this summer.

I knew that the Tour began this Saturday, but today (Wednesday) I think I've caught the fever big time, learning of US Postal's Team's huge team time trial win today in stage 4. Lance Armstrong heads the US Postal Team (afectionately known as the Posties or the Blue Train) and is going for a 5th consecutive win of the Tour, to match the great Miguel Indurain.

So, with my thoughts turning to cycling and Tour de France results, I thought it might be nice to share some of the bits I've been collecting since the weekend for readers interested in the Tour. Enjoy!

First, there's of course the Tour de France Official Site, with all sorts of news, information and goodies in many languages.

Outdoor Life TV is showing 2 hour blocks of coverage on US cable TV and has an Official Tour website featuring live and archived audio feeds (Windows Media Player required), which are great for listening to in the background while working.

VeloNews, is covering the Tour as well, and includes rider diaries and excellent interactive flash-based Tour coverage.

Eurosport has a nice cylcling section covering the Tour, CyclingNews.com has good info but a confusing site and Graham Watson's Photo Website has some excellent photos of the riders in action.

The USPS has a Postal Team site up as well, for Lance and Postie fans.

I've found only one weblog completely focused on the Tour: Le Blog de France, but I'm sure there must be more. If you come across a good one, please let me know.

Lastly, the weblog Nicest of the Damned has a nice beginner's guide on the Tour for those new to cycle racing and the Tour itself.

Oh yes -- a Dutch company called Deepweb has release a neat little Palm OS Tour de France reference application called Le Tour 03 (thanks PDANews24!) which shows details on the stages, teams and riders. It's free to check out, though a small $3 donation to Deepweb is certainly in order if you like it and use it.

Cheers too all the road cycling fans out there -- enjoy the next month! :-)

UPDATE: 2003-07-10
I had to add two new Tour Blogs I've learned of via the comments on this post:

Frank Steele from Nicest of the Damned has a great Tour de France 2003 blog site up and running with the latest news (thanks Frank!).

Meanwhile, Dutchman Oskar van Rijswijk has his own LOGos Tour Blog with excellent coverage and a ton of great Tour-related links (thanks Oskar!).

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