Spugsy

So you consider yourself British then?

commander

absolutely, scottish and british

commander

he is a sprinter, he is not good at time trials (hence his current overall position) and also he will struggle when he hits the alps..

he is there for the sprint stages only..if he wins more and continues to pick up points for sprint stages within a stage, he will pick up the green jersey.

the malliot jaune is for the overall general classification..the all round cyclist

lionheart

...so what's he doing in the Tour de France then? Don't the cycling fraternity have special sprinting competitions for the likes of him?...oh, and what's a peleton beakaway when it's at home?

Inselaffen

as long as he makes it to the end

commander

Very true Inse, he pulled out last year after 4 stage wins, I really can't see the same happening this year..

Today was absolutely immense. I don't think I've seen such an exciting team time trial. It had everything. In the end Lance Armstrong missed out on the malliot Jaune by hundredths of a second..

He will be happy to have missed out though I'd bet..I really think he has a chance overall..the real tour begins next week though..

Fantastic stuff...

Lionheart, if you want a breakdown of the tactics of bike racing, ill send you a link..a peleton breakaway is when I group of riders break away from the peleton for a number of reasons, based on their objectives..could be to put time between themselves and others, could be to force other riders to chase them down thus disrupting their tactics..could by many other reasons..

Unless you know what is going on, cycling is almost as boring as Formula 1. When you understand what is going on and what these amazing athletes put their bodies through, its amazingly addictive...like EPO

Spugsy

the thing is, these lads are just machines themselves almost, the way they go up those massive mountains and just decided now is the time and really go for it, for me they beat marathon runners and all the others hands down, I think they are immense.

Is there a lot of drugs in it though?

commander

there is always speculation and there will be testing galore, but there are always riders who get caught....this year will be no different.

Interesting your point about marathons etc. Lance Armstrong after he retired ran the NY marathon and said it was the hardest thing he had ever done. I guess its all about conditioning..

I am doing an Ironman 70.3 next year, again i could do all the aspects easily, its doing them one after the other thats the problem, but you practice changing from one to another and the body adapts..

Spugsy

really? I guess it's different muscles as well though riding and running?

what the spec for the Ironman then? run, swim, cycle? how far? where?

954RR

Commander, Have you ever done one of the organised mountain stages of the tour?
A friend of mine did it, I think it is a week or to before the actual tour. It was like an actual stage but with trucks and coaches to pick up the stragglers.
From what he told me if the coach catches you up you have to get on.
He started from Pau and did the Col du Tormalet via the col d'Aspin.
He loved it

commander

Ironman 70.3: Swim 1.9K, bike 90K, run 21K
Ironman: Swim 3,8K, Bike 180K, run 42K

they are all over, im pre-registered for the UK 70.3..

commander

they are called the Etape's and no i have never been lucky enough to go on one..I bet they are hard as ****!!!Maybe next year we will holiday in France..me and my bike that is..

Spugsy

my mate has started running with the mirdif milers, and some are pretty serious runners, some do marathons and suchlike, but they were telling him about one race in south africa or someplace hot, its a double marathon, and you have 11 hours to do it,

it's a biggy so you have to run some and walk some, but get this - you finish in a stadium and once it gets to the 11 hour mark they turn their backs on you, then people leave and they close the stadium and if you aren;t back you get no medal or nowt,

heh, mental.

954RR

He said it was Bl**dy hard but managed to finish ahead of the coach so was well chuffed. One of the hardest parts he mentioned was the descent from the top of Tourmalet because you have a good sweat on by the time you get to the top and then freeze your pods off on the way down. They handed out newspapers to stuff inside your kit at the top to help.

commander

yea they do that on the tour also, the riders get handed the daily sport to throw down their tops to keep them warm on the descent. They hit some scary speeds...