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tour de france

aw man, stage one airs at 8am tomorrow morning, but the bars don't open til 11! how is one supposed to enjoy the drinking game that is watching the tour de france in the US if one cannot find a bar with cable tv at 8am on a sunday?


parvipica
2012-06-30 18:09:23

get a case saturday night and pre game until the bar opens?


cburch
2012-06-30 18:21:57

yeah, i can definitely drink whenever i please. it's the access to television and the hassling other daydrinkers to pretend to care about pro cycling that i'll be missing out on. for three hours. not a big deal i guess. ^___^ mostly just psyched that it's that time of year again that we get to see insane demi-gods circumnavigating a country with commercial breaks that mostly advertise beer and bicycles.


parvipica
2012-06-30 18:29:38

I started my morning this morning to the video of Phil Ligget narrating the prologue time trial from Liege, with bagels and strong coffee. Man I just love the whole spectacle. Except now I kind of want a Cannondale Six Six One. Maybe if I make a deal with myself to lose 40 lbs, I can get one...

Trek in Robinson is going to have Thursday evening rides with Tour watching at Mad Mex after, which is awesome for me! There's got to be someplace in town that will be having tour watching. OTB maybe?


edmonds59
2012-06-30 21:42:43

i watched the last few riders of the prologue this morning from a eurovision feed i found on steephill.tv. love sean kelly even if i can only understand about half of what he says.


hiddenvariable
2012-06-30 22:27:19

Check out cyclingfans.com too. They post livestreams as well.


mayhew
2012-06-30 22:27:57

Meh. UCI world cup is this weekend. Downhill is way more fun [to watch].


cburch
2012-06-30 22:49:11

@parvipica - this is one of my big Pittsburgh complaints, I am glad I am not alone. I spent a considerable amount of time last year calling bars and brunch places and feeling frustrated. I still wonder where the Pittsburgh area soccer fans rally on Sunday mornings...


@Everyone else: lying on the couch at 8 AM watching the tour is not the same as sitting in a bar drinking at 8 AM watching the tour. I know because I did the former yesterday.


poboy
2012-07-02 14:48:27

I thought NBC Sports, formerly Versus, had decent coverage. I was watching some last night but have not checked the full schedule.


orionz06
2012-07-02 14:56:57

soccer fans - they go to pipers.


benzo
2012-07-02 15:02:29

proud to report that i let my drinking/bike cycling event watching get grossly out of hand yesterday. glad i got that out of the way on the first stage of the tour, now i can sober up and watch the rest on the internet.


parvipica
2012-07-02 16:44:03

I am highly disappointed that bob roll is not one of the announcers. It makes me sad.


italianblend
2012-07-02 17:26:20

Bobke is part of the crew - just not the "play-by-play." He's on for the before and afters.


atleastmykidsloveme
2012-07-02 18:35:38

Yeah but I miss his commentating in real-time. I wonder why he was demoted. He Hs announced some of the recent races.


And they also changed the theme song! I can't take this.


italianblend
2012-07-03 11:10:15

I'm assuming the Tour is being shown at OTB and maybe Pipers. Anyone know of any other places showing it? In the East End?


scott
2012-07-05 23:34:55

tuesday and wednesday mornings i'll be showing it at Thunderbird Cafe. bar opens at 7, the tv's are big. ^___^


parvipica
2012-07-07 13:33:18

Holy crap, just read somewhere (can't re-find it, bah) that Wiggens was pulling a 56 tooth front ring on the Stage 9 time trial! And it wasn't a flat course either. Crushing. Again, holy crap.


edmonds59
2012-07-10 17:06:14

I may still have my 56t "engagement" ring lying around.


I was super impressed with the young frenchman, Pinot, and his coach Marc Madiot on sunday. I got chills from watching Madiot cheering is head off at the youngster.


sloaps
2012-07-10 18:01:52

I was super impressed with the young frenchman, Pinot, and his coach Marc Madiot on sunday. I got chills from watching Madiot cheering is head off at the youngster.


Yes. Reminded me a bit of Boonen's ride in the closing kilometers of Paris-Roubaix this year, though Madiot was a bit more animated than Boonen's DS.


bjanaszek
2012-07-10 18:09:02

Froome has been amazing, and Tejay Van Garderen was very exciting in the time trial. I hope those freaking crashes are over.


edmonds59
2012-07-10 18:16:03

sky is just crushing everyone. that ride on saturday made it seem like the rest of the tour will be boring.


and yeah, that ride from pinot was pretty brilliant. i always root for the break to win. watching madiot go nuts was really fun, to. it's hard not to have some of hits ecstasy rub off.


hiddenvariable
2012-07-10 19:11:49

In case you haven't seen the Madiot video, here it is.


Edited to add: Madiot was pretty excited because winning a stage in your home country's tour is a pretty big deal to your sponsor (the French national lottery). FDJ didn't win a stage during last year's TdF.


bjanaszek
2012-07-10 19:36:50

We haven't hit the high mountains yet. Nibali and Evans will be attacking for sure. Wiggins has had issues in the mountains before.


Froome is impressive.


johnwheffner
2012-07-10 21:20:46

Wiggins uses an Osymetric chainring. If he was using the 56 the company says it will "feel like a 53 over the top". Watch his crank if you see a side shot and you'll see the odd rotation of the elliptical ring. American Bobby Julich is a big proponent of these rings and I think he talked Wiggo into them originally.


jeffinpgh
2012-07-10 21:36:41

aren't the chain rings that are asymmetric in that way (i.e. easier to push when the cranks are perpendicular to the ground) really bad for your knees? and didn't asymmetry in the opposite direction (e.g. biopace) demonstrate a performance gain?


given that, it surprises me to hear that people are using and even advocating the use of the former.


hiddenvariable
2012-07-10 21:58:18

I did notice the chainring, just thought it was a bizarre return of Biopace!


edmonds59
2012-07-10 22:05:00

@quizbot anyone who says otherwise is a "fucking wanker."


sloaps
2012-07-11 01:18:56

Seems that he's been addressing a known weakness.


If only Andy Schleck followed the same advice! And didn't crash.


bjanaszek
2012-07-11 11:05:17

They need to invent an app that has Phil, bob, and paul calling your ride as you use your gps.


italianblend
2012-07-11 16:37:28

@ Italianblend - that could be a double-edged sword. Can you hear it now, "sew struggles on his nemesis local mountain as the neighborhood kids drop him on their tricycles, again...yes, phil, and they didn't even stop eating the popsicles they got at the corner feedstation" Ugh, the nightmares.


sew
2012-07-11 16:47:42

Wait - there's popsicles at a feed station? I'm in!


marko82
2012-07-11 18:28:20

Nice of wiggins to call a truce today.


italianblend
2012-07-15 17:30:22

I wound up catching a bit of the tour on sunday at pipers. First time watching.


benzo
2012-07-16 12:38:37

You saw a pretty bad stage then for your first time. With the tacks and all.


italianblend
2012-07-16 13:41:38

nice to see the yellow jersey doing work on the final day. props to bradley wiggins.


hiddenvariable
2012-07-22 15:27:00

Ah yes, now I see what you were talking about, that was no champagne ride, pretty awesome of Wiggo. I think it was a great tour.


edmonds59
2012-07-23 11:22:30

So what am I supposed to do this evening?


edmonds59
2012-07-23 23:12:16

^Go out and ride your bike! Such a silly question....


marko82
2012-07-23 23:27:45

I watched approximately zero of the tour this year. I don't really know why, for the past 2-3 years I'd say I watched almost all of it. Before that I at least paid some attention and watched the end of the 2004 tour in person.


I think it's like baseball, all the doping stuff has finally gotten to me and I just can't make myself care. All the LA crap beforehand, then hearing about Frank Schleck took away my desire to even watch the end stages... blah.


salty
2012-07-24 02:32:17

@ salty in person as in Paris? I think thats pretty cool. The Frank Schleck think took me by surprise also, I really enjoy watching the tour and probably will continue to watch but I agree the doping part takes away some of the excitement.


marvelousm3
2012-07-24 03:51:20

i can only watch a group of people ride on the road for so long before i get mind numbingly bored. i'd rather just look at the scenery.


cburch
2012-07-24 04:52:06

Doping aside, I miss the Armstrong / Ullrich sort of unscripted attacking on the climbs rivalry. Watching mountain stages used to be pretty exciting, just waiting for one of the leaders to crack and utterly fail. A winning overall strategy for the tour these days makes for a really boring and controlled event.


Course selection by the organizers could be a bit more harsh. Enough with the sprinter stages already. 9 stages of this tour were flat compared with 5 real mountain stages. There is no shortage of hills to climb in France... make these guys suffer a little bit.


quizbot
2012-07-24 05:04:09

when all the teams started to figure out how to play the percentages and got all defensive the tour got real damn dull. it seriously looks like the fastest group ride ever now. plus there was way too much c-douche and not nearly enough bobke. he's like the mike lange of cycling.


the doping doesn't bother me so much, its always been there and always will be. just like in every other top level sport. they'll just keep moving on to the next thing as testers play catch up.


none of these guys could touch merckx in his prime anyway. buncha sissies these days.


cburch
2012-07-24 05:30:04

Yes, I lost interest in the Tour this year, too. Sky completely controlled the race, and with so many miles against the clock, no one was going to overtake Wiggins (Inrng had an interesting stat--take away the chrono times, and Wiggins "won" by 23 seconds). Evans was probably the only person that could challenge Wiggins, and he had issues.


As for the days of yore, I dunno--Sky did a great impression of LA's Disco and Postal Service teams--absolutely controlling the race, and knowing exactly how much to exert themselves. Yeah, unlike Lance, Wiggins had no interest in truly twisting the knife in the mountains, but...he really didn't have to.


Sky will have their hands full next year. Froome is clearly capable of winning a grand tour, and Cavendish isn't likely to be a water carrier (particularly if he wins gold in London). If Brailsford and Yates can figure out how to make everyone happy, I'll be impressed.


bjanaszek
2012-07-24 11:41:45