07 Tour de France

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DANSPANK

Guest
Did you guys see the stage 3 finish? Where a group of 4 riders couldn't decide if they wanted to get a stage victory to their name or not, so the yellow jersey screamed by to take it instead?

Can someone more informed than I please explain that? It seemed a bit of a mistake to me...
 

Maurice

New Member
Assuming you mean inside the last kilometer, then at that point they knew they wouldn't be able to make it. Staying in the bunch when the sprinters' teams are working is VERY hard work, let alone trying to stay ahead... Cancellara's feat was impressive, but then he's not TT world champ for nothing.

Maurice
 

jbogner

NYCMTB: President
JORBA.ORG
The cat and mouse game is always interesting at the end. Many breakaways have ended unsuccessfully when, after plugging away all day to keep their lead, riders in the break refuse to take the lead and set pace in the last few kilometers. No one wants to be the guy who worked all day for the break, then got beat by the other guy who tucked into his draft and was fresh for the sprint to the line.

So instead, the poor guys all usually screw around trying to get one of the others to take the lead, but instead get swallowed by the peloton, and have no results to show for all their work! ;)
 

lancerracer

Active Member
If the group went full out for the line instead of waiting for one of them to jump, the break would have held to the finish...However, once the cat and mouse game started the break was doomed...
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i find it amazing how many breaks get swallowed up in the last km, and even in the last 200mtrs
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
I've been catching up with the last 45km or so from 10-11pm on VS channel. It's bloody great isn't it! I'm well impressed with the speed these boys can carry through the turns and up hills. And their ability to ride so close together - that would frighten me, thinking about pedals clashing, handlebars locking together! But it's great TV!
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
I headed out with a few baby-step goals for my road ride today but am pretty pleased with the outcome. I headed out from home for a warm-up lap around Secaucus, then headed towards the Hudson. Turned into Liberty State Park and kept going towads Hoboken - up along the upper cliff road through West New York, then dropped down into Edgewater before taking the Palisades road under the GWB. Got to the end and kept going on towards Nyack. I found the coffee shop that I'd been reading about and munched on a couple of egg salad wraps and gatorade. Followed a couple of other riders through South Nyack - very nice with huge houses! Under the Tappan Zee and back on to 9W. Headed south back towards the Palisades. On the long downhill I bumped off a few things and ended up pinch-flatting. Got that fixed and got going again. I was getting pretty knackered so took the road right along the river back into Hoboken. It was pretty windy and really slowed me down but by that stage I was at about 70miles so thought about aiming for a hundred. I headed back into Jersey City, took a u-turn at the Colgate clock and headed back but hit another crappy lump in the road and pinch-flatted. I had to retire at 87miles. But it's my longest ride so far so I'm well pleased!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3296474

I don't believe the elevation gain data. I would say it was about 4500ft or so.

Great ride but now I'm knackered! I'm glad I didn't sign up to race at LMC tomorrow - just a mellow ride there for me tomorrow when the racing's done...
 

ArmyOfNone

Well-Known Member
Dan,

Thats a hell of a roll brotha! nice job!

Was it as scenic as it appears on the map? It looks like you were along the river for a good chunk of the time.
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
Welcome back buddy!

The section from the GW Bridge north is really nice, especially in Nyack. There are some pretty nice houses there that over look the bay just south of the Tappan Zee bridge. The riding along 9W is mainly tree lined, and the Palisades or Henry Hudson drive, whatever it is, is really nice as there's very little traffic and the river is right there...

Looking forward to breaking my legs and lungs at the Lebanon 52 this weekend!
 

Maurice

New Member
I headed out with a few baby-step goals for my road ride today but am pretty pleased with the outcome. I headed out from home for a warm-up lap around Secaucus, then headed towards the Hudson. Turned into Liberty State Park and kept going towads Hoboken - up along the upper cliff road through West New York, then dropped down into Edgewater before taking the Palisades road under the GWB. Got to the end and kept going on towards Nyack. I found the coffee shop that I'd been reading about and munched on a couple of egg salad wraps and gatorade. Followed a couple of other riders through South Nyack - very nice with huge houses! Under the Tappan Zee and back on to 9W. Headed south back towards the Palisades. On the long downhill I bumped off a few things and ended up pinch-flatting. Got that fixed and got going again. I was getting pretty knackered so took the road right along the river back into Hoboken. It was pretty windy and really slowed me down but by that stage I was at about 70miles so thought about aiming for a hundred. I headed back into Jersey City, took a u-turn at the Colgate clock and headed back but hit another crappy lump in the road and pinch-flatted. I had to retire at 87miles. But it's my longest ride so far so I'm well pleased!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3296474

I don't believe the elevation gain data. I would say it was about 4500ft or so.

Great ride but now I'm knackered! I'm glad I didn't sign up to race at LMC tomorrow - just a mellow ride there for me tomorrow when the racing's done...

Woah impressive. And you were hesitant on the Lebanon 52 ride? 51 mph top speed...
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
Woah impressive. And you were hesitant on the Lebanon 52 ride? 51 mph top speed...

I would love to claim all of those figures but I really don't trust the garmin figures so much. There was no where near 8000ft of climbing, more like 4000ft and I would say that I maxed-out at near 40mph and not 50. Sometimes the figures are just screwy. The miles are accurate though.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I would love to claim all of those figures but I really don't trust the garmin figures so much. There was no where near 8000ft of climbing, more like 4000ft and I would say that I maxed-out at near 40mph and not 50. Sometimes the figures are just screwy. The miles are accurate though.

I find that the more climbing you do, the more accurate it is. This weekend the ride will probably come in at 7000 on the Garmin unit (actual is 6600 apparently). But the more of a flat/roller ride it is those numbers seem to go through the roof.
 
Just another jaded fool...

HTML:
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-tourdefrance-vinokourov&prov=ap&type=lgns

C'mon, really? Is he going to claim "vanishing twin" or chimera syndrome as well?

The ghost of Diogenes haunts cycling most of all. No honest men to be found, it seems.
 

mergs

Spokompton's Finest
JORBA.ORG
HTML:
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-tourdefrance-vinokourov&prov=ap&type=lgns

C'mon, really? Is he going to claim "vanishing twin" or chimera syndrome as well?

The ghost of Diogenes haunts cycling most of all. No honest men to be found, it seems.

Wow, Vino's OUT!

I watched him in amazement last night come back (after a lousy stage 2 days ago) and crush the peloton on yesterday's climb. Perhaps a transfusion had something to do with that.

The late stage dual between Rasmussen and Contador was a great TDF moment.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I find it impossible to follow because I can't believe that a single one of these guys is clean. I'll go cheer all the MTBNJ racers at the next H2H event.
 

mergs

Spokompton's Finest
JORBA.ORG
I find it impossible to follow because I can't believe that a single one of these guys is clean. I'll go cheer all the MTBNJ racers at the next H2H event.

bah, Shaggz is "transfusing" all the time these days... we've been calling him epoSteve for years now. ;)
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
I watched the Tour last night and thought that Vino was amozing for coming back from such poor performances previously.

But I think all of the riders will suffer now, if any one of them pulls a good ride then they'll be accused of doping likely.

Quite frankly, considering these guys are real icons for a lot of young rides and kids, it's piss poor of them to even come under question. It really puts a downer on the Tour from now on.
 

ArmyOfNone

Well-Known Member
I have been watching the tour for a good week now. It really is cool to see what these guys do.

Im almost certain that gu, perpeteum, accelerade or cliff bars arent fueling the guys day in and day out.

Not that it makes it right, but i guess if you want to compete at that level, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I will say this...you still have to posses a high level of talent regardless of what you are putting in your body.

This is what kinda has me torn about steroids in baseball. Yea steriods help, but being able to hit a baseball is still one of the hardest things to do in sports.....
 
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