GDR vs Tour de France

[RB1]

I have been watching the Tour de France since Greg Lemond won in 1989. But with all of the problems as of late it is getting more and more difficult to get excited about the Tour (or the Giro, etc.) I work at a bike store and have not heard anyone talk about the upcoming race. Even Pearl Izumi (or so I hear) is not going to carry a Tour Yellow Jersey this year.

But, how about the Great Divide Race (or Trans Iowa, etc.)! Is this the new wave? Grassroots epic bike rides / races. Local builders and racers. What say you?

[stevep]

i like the local scene better.
know the riders, enjoy the comraderie.

its beautiful riding over there though...thats for certain.

[Nick H.]

I'm in London, where the Tour will start in a week. I've been following it for about as long as you, used to work in the cycle trade, have ridden over many of the climbs, etc. I used to worship the Tour. But it's so devalued now that I find the RAAM and the PAC Tour more relevant. I don't even know if I'll bother to travel 3 miles to watch the Prologue. I'm really hoping some big names from dirty teams like Astana get withdrawn or barred in the next few days, leaving the field open for some riders we know to be clean. If that happens I might care who wins.

This article published today is great - it sums up how I feel. http://tinyurl.com/2qon2t

If only all the teams were following the same anti-doping regime as Slipstream and T-Mobile. Once again we have American cyclists trying to nudge Europe in the right direction.

[saab2000]

If only all the teams were following the same anti-doping regime as Slipstream and T-Mobile. Once again we have American cyclists trying to nudge Europe in the right direction.

You're not serious, are you? Yup, the good ol' wholesome, Ma 'n Pa, Apple Pie and Chevy American boys will show the world how to do it cleanly.

Americans have been on the dirty side of the fence since the 1984 Olympics. And for whatshisname at Slipstream to act all nice and clean is about like Bjarne Riis acting like his team leads the charge in the fight against aspirin and Ben Gay.

The sport is finally starting to head in the right direction as far as the walls of silence starting to crumble, but don't think for a second that the Americans are, or ever have been, the cleanest ones in the bunch.

:no:

[GoJavs]

I couldn't sit thru Versus' half-hour TDF preview today. I really couldn't. This will be my 15th year following the Tour and will probably be the year I watch the least. Vino (Ferrari), Valverde (Puerto)...how can I tell fact or fiction on any of it? Aargh...

By way of comparison, I just finished staying glued to my computer for 12 days watching updates of the RAAM race. :)

[saab2000]

BTW, I also find it very hard to give a crap about the TdF this year.

I hope Christoph Moreau wins. :banana:

[RB1]

Congrats to Jay Petervary (Orbea) 15 days - 2500 miles. Congrats to all of the riders. A number of 29ers were present. Cool equipment by Carousel Design Works. I was pulling for Rick Hunter. He was flying. Imagine the awesome bike David Kirk could build for the GDR!

[Moosedryvr]

I hope Christoph Moreau wins. :banana:[/QUOTE]

+1. I'd love to see a Frenchman win, having it be the current tricolor wearer would be the frosting on the cake. Why? Because I'm starting to believe that all this French "race at two speeds" thing we've heard for the last several years has been more than just Gallic whining, and that's hard for me to admit.
I've watched almost no racing this year with the exception of Paris-Roubaix, but I've always looked forward to the TdF. I rode alongside the Tour for a week in '04, an amazing experience and the race will always be special for me because of the wonderful French people I met that week, the riders be damned.
I'll watch this year too. But I may turn down the sound. Not sure I can take another year of Bob, Phil and Paul trying to convince me that this year is clean, although I dearly wish it was so. I think the sport is on it's way out of its dark hole, but I think this year they are still too close to the bottom. We'll see where it goes from here.

Oh, and by the way, I think the French have an ice cube's chance in hell of winning the Tour. I'm sticking with my earlier picks, Kascheshkin, Menchov, Liephiemer. Blood boosted to the gills? I hope not, but I wouldn't bet against it.

Shawn G

[gdw]

I've had no real interest in the Tour or pro road cycling the past couple years. The sport just turns me off. It's phoney and has a long and well documented history of corruption. The athletes, teams, and system are all part of the scam. The team with the best doctors and drugs wins. No thanks.

I prefer grassrooots ultra mtb racing anyday. The GDR, Grand Loop, KTR, etc are what racing should be. No money means no drugs. No support means the riders have to deal with whatever problems crop up. No cars and radios eliminate the phoney tough. Your bike breaks, fix it yourself. The weather turns bad, deal with it. You hurt yourself, deal with it. Riders like Petervary, Curiak, Juarez, and Stamstead are in a class way above the sellouts competing in Europe.

[3chordwonder]

Well, I'm still excited by the TdF coming up - I don't care whether the riders are juiced or what they're wearing under their lycra (other than feeling sorry for the guys being under pressure to dope or get out).

For me the joy is in watching a fullscale endurance ride around a beautiful country in summer while here at home in Australia it's mid winter, cold and raining, the shots of the landscape and the circus event surrounding the peleton, hearing Phil L. and Paul S. tell stories and get hyperexcited when something's happening in the race, watching these guys ride at speeds I could maintain for seconds at the most, the tactics, the bike gear involved, the podium girls - I even like the little 'local food and wine' segments we get on TV as the live coverage starts late in our evenings. It's a spectacle of many parts.

As far as the doping goes: if they ever manage to clean it up, for all the righteous indignation on display, I suspect there's going to be a lot of us lame civilians with our fancy fast bikes who will miss the days when we could excuse our own sub-par performances with a dismissive 'well, they're all doped up, you can't compare'.

[Nick H.]

don't think for a second that the Americans are, or ever have been, the cleanest ones in the bunch.

:no:

Don't worry, I'm sure American athletes are no cleaner than the rest - but the Slipstream/ACE approach is new thinking which solves the problem. This is what America is good at. Sometimes we Europeans get too bogged down in tradition. Especially cyclists, who can be far too conservative for their own good. Sometimes what you need is the Californian approach where you question a few holy grails, tear up the rule book and start afresh.

Oh, and there's nothing wrong with CSC riding clean now, however dirty their past. We need people to admit their mistakes and make a change. CSC and David Millar (I hope) have shown they can do this.

[Climb01742]

i'm psyched too. it ain't perfect but it's still an incredible spectacle/challenge.

[soulspinner]

BTW, I also find it very hard to give a crap about the TdF this year.

I hope Christoph Moreau wins. :banana:


Yes me too. I will miss Davide Moncoutie on july 14 trying to make a breakaway stick while they commemorate Bastille day! Too bad hes injured. A few years ago his stage win was so beautiful. Perfect form clipping every apex on the downhills. Moreau has more to ride for this year, a new baby,
hes certainly on form winning the French nat rr and off the stage race win.

[Elefantino]

If I can't get excited about the Tour then something's wrong.

Each year, for three weeks, I get very little done between the hours of 9-10:30 a.m. in my office because I have OLN/Versus on my TV. I pretend to do bookwork, but no one buys it.

I clean out the DVR before the Tour so I can fill it up with each stage.

I hate the dopers and the hypocrites. The taint to the sport makes me cringe. But I am pumped and wish I could go back to see it again this year.

It is, after all, the Tour. Doesn't get much better.

[darylb]

I join the ranks of those still looking forward to the tour. It is a different tour for sure but werent we complaining for 6 or 7 years that we hated how predictable it had become? Sometimes I think people just like to complain. Armstrong was suspected of doping the entire time he was winning the race but we all couldnt wait for the tour. Certainly we didnt think the he was doping and the rest werent. Only the most hardcore of even this group kept up with the tour with such passion before him. His accomplishments have drawn many of us in and driven the sport to a level where we get daily coverage. That level of attention has raised the stakes and especially for American riders.

I sincerly wish sports could be clean and free of doping but I also dont think we should feel so let down by our heros. In sports, especially pro sports, once the money gets big the stakes get high and boundaries get pushed and the line between what is cheating and good training gets blurry. I feel bad for them more than anything else. Imagine being a talented high school defensive end with hopes of going to a major university and possibly the NFL. Unless you are really fast and can move to the defensive backfield, you are going to use steroids or whatever is hip now to get there. If you dont, you will not get there. Will not.

I guess it just doesnt make sense to me that we are so suddenly disgusted with it all. There has always been cheating in sports and doping has been in cycling for a very long time.

At this point, applaud those who are coming clean and hope the sport is headed to a point were it is drug free. Dont count on it but be hopeful. But for now, like in the past and like the future will hopefully be, we get to watch guys race their bikes in one of the most physically demanding sporting events in the world.