Curious if anybody is following the Tour De Lance

_RaT_ · Jul 22, 2004

I really have to admire Lance Armstrong. He get's my vote for my favorite athelete. Rat...

TresCrows · Jul 22, 2004

I follow him. I have followed cycling for years. I used to do time trials in college and I also did some Triathlons and other distance riding.
Yes, he is amazing. I wish we had more people like him in athletics. I wish him well. J

Alan L. · Jul 22, 2004

Lance is a Texas boy who trains in the Texas Hill Country. Not exactly the alps, but I guess it works. Hopefully he won't bring too much French saliva home with him.

The guy is truly awesome.

BigDave · Jul 23, 2004

I've followed the Tour since the days of Bernard Thevenet: mid 70's. Although he's now admitted to drug use in the day, I had a poster in my room as an pre-teen dreaming of riding a pearl white Puegot while wearing the classic white & black checkerboard Team Puegot jersey. I became a racer as a teen, and was a year or two behind Lemond in age, but I would hear someone every now and then say Lemond was here two years ago and blew away the field. He was always great, even as a teen. It was great to see other Americans make their way in the Tour. Davis Phinney was a particular favorite of mine. He loved to sprint. When he was an ametuer, he won the U.S. National Criterium Championships, but he headed to the bar and forgot his three foot tall trophy. The announcer asked me to give the trophy to Davis. I went looking for him and ran into Steve Bauer, a Canadian who would year yellow for a couple of weeks himself, who he told me the trophy wasn't his, but I should be looking for Davis. Yeah, I know, the cyclists got to the bar pretty quickly back in the day. Finally found Davis, but that was only after someone stopped me and tried to accuse me of stealing the trophy. After that, I joined the Navy & became a pure spectator of the Tour. I never liked Fignon, and when he cried after losing to Lemond by 8 seconds, by feelings towards him were solidified. He was just too arogant, or maybe too French. Indurain had amazing physical abilities, like a resting heart rate of 28 bpm. He lacked Lance's determination, and that is what has made Lance the great champion he has been for the past six years. Will there be a seventh?

Egon · Jul 23, 2004

The Tour:

Always wondered what Lemond would have accomplished if he'd not had the hunting accident. He should actually have won one more but had to defer the French Team leader. Andy Hampstead did very well too.

Egon

RobS · Jul 23, 2004

Oh yeah, minute by minute coverage on Velonews . We don't get cable/satelite so no OLN. Network news coverage is poor at best.

Lance is amazing. I was going to do the Ride for the Roses this fall in Austin but had to back out. I have done some racing so I have a glimmer of what he's going through but it's still nearly un-human. There was a Chris Carmichael story on Lance's day for the L'alpe duez (sp?) climb. It was ONLY 9.3 miles at 7.5% grade. Total ride time was under 43 minutes but that morning he did a two hour training ride and did an hour warm up ride right before the race.

The elite cyclists amaze me in their dedication. During the tour every minute of their day is planned. Every ounce of food/drink is "prescribed" and monitored. Every muscle twitch is accounted for both on and off the bike.

My work and home-work schedule have seriously cut into my cycling the past couple years but I still ride when I can. No racing this year, I just live through Lance for that /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

chim · Jul 23, 2004

I enjoy Lance's spirit, and wish him well. He has had quite a life so far.

I really don't pay any attention to the tour (or most any organized sport) and I wish they hadn't made OLN into "The Lance Network".

The downside to Americans getting involved in the tour is we now have a bunch of Lance wannabes in our area. These yoyos INSIST on riding in groups and taking up at least 1/2 of the width of the 2-lane rural roads, and act insulted that the road tax-paying motor vehicle operator would have the audacity to use THEIR road.....................chim

PhilNH5 · Jul 23, 2004

I have seen some of this years race on OLN. Lance is impressive. I remember when he was a 15 year old triathlete giving the top name pros a serious run for their money. He was pretty cocky then - but I guess any 15 YO who is a world class athlete would be.

Does any one (TresCrows?) know why he quit tries to focus on cycling alone?

Phil

Yankee · Jul 23, 2004

I follow it day by day. I've followed cycling at some level for years. I'm no racer myself, but worked as a bike mechanic on the side in the 80's.

Lance is just amazing. He's got it nailed unless he goes down. I wonder if he'll make it 7???

Golfgar4 · Jul 23, 2004

I guess I'm kind of a fair weather fan. I occassionally turn it on to see what's happening. But I probably wouldn't even do that if Lance wasn't in it. I just want to see him get 6.

There is a big following in our area, though. That's because the bikes that the Postal Team are riding are built by Trek, which is right outside of Madison, Wisconsin.

Now the Olympics, that's a different story. I'll be parked in front of the tube every minute that I can. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif