Any cycling enthusiasts here?

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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:10 pm

Are there any cycling enthusiasts here? I do not think that I have ever seen any conversations about it here.

I am primarily a swimmer, but love to do triathlons. So naturally, I have to do a fair amount a biking as part of my training and as a result, over the years I have become a huge fan of cycling.

Lately, I find myself watching every second of the Tour de France that I can. I love it. It drives my family crazy because I don't want to be bothered during any of the daily, 3 hour broadcasts.

Am I the only fan here? Or are there others here that love it as much as I do? I would think that with such an international base here at Eater, there would be lots of you that are fans like me.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:27 pm

Yes, I'm here. I' ve followed Le tour, the Giro, and many classics for years now. Paris - Roubaix is a personal favourite. I don't like what I'm currently seeing in the cycling world.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:41 pm

well... I used to watch the Tour a lot, but it seems that every year it's getting worse.. this year's a complete farce with Vinokourov, Rasmussen etc... I've given up...

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:42 pm

Yep, count me in. I used to time trial in my younger years for various teams, and I've always been a big follower of the tour.

Like tubthumper I've been very disheartened by all the doping scandal in the last few years. Hopefully we're now weeding out the last few and I'm very glad to see that certain teams have taken an extremely tough stance and pulled out of the tour.

There's quite an interesting debate raging here: http://tour.itv.com/

Look at the "forums" section, then the "General discussion" boards. http://community.itv.com/forumdisplay.php?f=167

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:48 pm

I don't follow the races, like Tour de France, or race myself in any group, but during the warmest summer days (and occasionally the coldest winter days and...well...any day in general, methinks Laughing

) there is nothing better than taking your bike out and making a trip of 80 - 100km around the countryside.
So I guess that makes me something like half-bred. I don't even dream of racing, just don't have what it takes, but I enjoy cycling and take it somewhat more seriously than your average person, to whom the cycle is a good way for getting 5km to work and back every day.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:01 pm

I quit following it a long time ago when it became clear to me that this commercial spectacle was run by the biggest sponsors and not necessarily by the best cyclists. Eddie Merxks, Jan Jansen and Joop Zoetemelk, some of the winners in those days. A team effort that puts one guy in the bright lights and forgets about the �little� man that does the actual work and suffering.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:19 pm

I'm a wannabe triathlete too (don't laugh). The swimming especially and the cycling is easy peasy. The running I HATE but, oh well.

In Australia, where competitive cycling is very popular, the most recent debacle over Tour de France drug drama isn't being met with a huge amount of surprise to be honest. There are some very respected sports commentators/analysts who gave up on this 'sport' a long time ago because of the endless drug scandals and openly say so.

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't believe that cyclists are put under any more scrutiny than any other elite interntional sportsmen as far as drug tests are concerned so I really don't understand why they continue to flaunt the rules and think they will get away with it.

Interesting to note that with the most recent drug busts a lot of media outlets are finally saying 'enough is enough' and I think that unless and until the people that govern international cycling crack down hard then the sport as a whole is going to be a joke.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:24 pm

I thought that if you make your living with it it's called work Laughing

And if too much money is involved it will attrackt "sharks" too Crying or Very sad

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:11 pm

Yep

I watch it every year. I've got TIVO going right now and will be watching it a little later in the day.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:21 pm

What�s the difference between the Tour de France and Amsterdam?

None....in both cases you see guys full of drugs riding bikes.... Laughing

*quickly heads out of thread* Wink

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:11 pm

I was crazy for cycling for about the 1st half of the '70's. Didn't really pay much heed to the sporting aspects, but loved to ride long distances and learned a lot about maintenance and customizing. To this day, I have some Campagnolo parts I bought and never used, still boxed and unmolested since 1973. I'm guessing Shimano blew Campy away quite awhile ago, so my stuff would only be of interest to a restorer.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

I used to do a lot of cycling im my younger days, aged about 10 - 16, nothing competetive, just very long rides, I had my last proper racing bike in about 1984/85, it was a great bike made by Bianchi, called the "Bianchi Sprint" in a light green colour, very lightweight bike, weighed practically nothing, all light alloy, cost me about �180 back then Shocked

, hate to think what they would cost now, I had mine stolen from outside a kebab shop down the Old Kent Road one evening Evil or Very Mad

, same with my previous bike, only had it about a week when it was stolen from outside a Chinese chipshop Evil or Very Mad

Not cycled for a long time now, not since my last bike was stolen, didn't bother getting another one, but I still enjoy watching anything to with cycling, such as the tour and velodrome racing.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:51 pm

Cycling is huge here in Melbourne. Every weekend there are tens of thousands of cyclists out and about, most of them on the Beach Road training run from the city centre and around the bay. There's one particular group who do the so-called Hell Ride on Saturday mornings and cause aggro by jumping red lights, disobeying the road rules and behaving like idiots. In fact a pedestrian was killed last year by a moron who overtook the main group (peleton?) and knocked the poor bloke down on a proper crossing. Looks like the cyclist will get a $250 for jumping a red light and that's it Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:03 pm

Australia could very well end up with their first Tour winner. Cadell Evans was looking good yesterday and now that Rasmussen has been booted, he has an even better chance.

Please no spoilers on today's leg. I've not yet watched it.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:08 pm

I've got a tenner on Cadel!

Should pip Contador in the Time Trial I hope. Then �80 will be mine!

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:02 pm

Big fan of the sport here but being in the states we don't get the type of coverage available elsewhere in the world. In my younger days did a lot of riding and even dabbled in very amateur local racing.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:33 pm

I'm in the USA Maya and am getting all the coverage of the Tour.

VERSUS TV (used to be called Outdoor Life Network) is a channel that carries only outdoor sports shows including heaps of cycling.

http://www.versus.com/findversus/

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:56 pm

Up until last week I hadnt ridden a bike since I quit my paper round when I was 16, but since then I've been going out on it just about every day, it's good fun! ...until white van man cuts you up anyway Rolling Eyes

I'm not an enthusiast though, my bike is a second hand piece of shit I've borrowed without consent from my dad, who's working in France Smile

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:04 am

I used to ride my bike to and from school every day... for about five or six years. It was pretty good exercise and quite exhilirating at times. I would probably ride more, except Auckland (the city I live in) is really unfriendly towards cyclists. Only just started to put in bike lanes on some of the busier roads.

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:48 am

Even though I understand that the poor Super Domestic is doing a lot of the work for "the team", I love watching the Tour.

In the 12 months before I got married, I put on over three thousand miles on my bike. I put off riding until recently. Its hard when you are raising kids. I bought a tandem with a kiddie seat in back and used it once or twice. I'm getting back into riding though. I've gone out three times in the last ten days for a total of a hundred miles. The shortest ride was yesterday with the military boy. He was on his all steel, full suspension mountain bike on the flat bike path that I chose. Suspension systems suck up the shocks nicely but also suck at efficiency of transmitting pedaling power. Its a fair deal when he's on his bike and I'm on my graphite and aluminum racing job. Last Christmas we went biking and running. He ran at 10 miles per hour for an hour and I rode the bike.

Campy is still around. Someone put a Campagnolo carbon fiber crown on my bike. The rest of the parts are Shimano DuraAce. Amazing components.

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:14 am

lotta wrote:

Australia could very well end up with their first Tour winner. Cadell Evans was looking good yesterday and now that Rasmussen has been booted, he has an even better chance...

That would make up for O'Grady's nasty accident Sad

Although the Tour Down Under is nowhere near as popular, it remains one of the must see sporting events where I live. Fun to watch and an excellent event to photograph. Oh, South Aussie wineries. Lots of them too Wink

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:39 pm

Lotta, thanks for the link. I'll look tonight to see if the station is part of my cable package. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:00 pm

The tour has descended into a chaotic mess this year. Let's hope it spurs on the organisers to get tough, once and for all on drug cheats.

The best bike I ever had was made by a man called Ernie Witcomb about 25 years ago.

Handmade, light weight to the point it was almost easier to carry, than ride. I sold it ages ago and got a mountain bike because the roads in London are so bad and covered in broken glass. It got to the point I had to repair a puncture at least once, but more like two or three times a week. Evil or Very Mad

Now I just ride it to Ally Pally and back at weekends.

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