ToC Chat Page

by Andy Shen

I’m not dead yet

Let’s get a little chatter going on the Tour of California. Some topics:

Thor smashed!

Cavendish avoids a Boner Zabeling by inches. Guess he had to sit up and display those abs.

Anyone excited by Levi dominating this race? Is he peaking for this thing while others are just getting the miles in?

Speaking of getting the miles in, will the big names keep doing this race if those miles are done in freezing rain?

I heard there was a devil wearing a LiveClean shirt and a pitchfork made of syringes. Anyone see this?

Whose idea was it to cover the last k in chalk?

What’s with this 3:1 rule? If they enforce it in ’10 triathletes will get all the cool stuff while we’re forced to ride Bontrager components.

And just how wrong was I with Rock Racing? (Really wrong.) Will they be able to secure a co-sponsor with their strong showing? Does Ball’s style scare away potential sponsors? And why does it say ‘Dead’ on their sugalumps?

And we just got this picture of Dave Perry delivering our roller party jersey to VDV.

And I just got this hilarious shot in my inbox:

 

87 Comments

Anonymous

Did they really vandalize the UCI headquarters building, or was it an Ecko-like tagging spoof on Air Force One (which was awesome, by the way)?

Anonymous

Hard to comment on the race when all I see and hear is Craig Hummer talking nonsense, a lot of broken picture and poor broadcasting technology, an NHL game during a sprint finish, some dumb comedian chick making an ass of herself and viewers dumber…will Versus please die and NBC Universal Sports please pick up the peices???

Andy

The online coverage is better. You get Frankie Andreu, picture in picture, gps tracking, and when Bob Roll is on camera there is no audio.

Anonymous

the online stream is free, and you have a choice of commentary, either the cycling tv dudes or frankie andreu….but there is a really creepy actress in the amgen commercial who plays a cancer patient…it just freaks me out to hear her voiceover selling the amgen cancer victim survival network stuff….who knows, she may be a real cancer patient, but my BS-meter flashes every time I hear that quiver in her voice

schmalz

You were wrong Andy! And I love the new kit design from the San Dimas High 9th grade Goth club. Anarchy! Cadillacs! Body spray!

Anonymous

Was the debate if whether or not Ivan Basso received the ‘Most Courageous’ jersey – speaking of which, what jerseys should we have in NYC: Most Snarkiest, Biggest Sandbagger (Richards), Most Expectorant in the Field, etc. – due to his mother’s death. The debate raged back and forth if whether or not she was truly dead and that when established that she had passed in 2005, he truly deserved the jersey.

It has the community college radio feel to it and we don’t have to hear all about Lance, all the time…..

Andy

Are you serious? They debated when Basso’s mother died??? My highlight was Frankie going off on Twitter, and journalists now quoting Twitter. Frankie: “That’s not journalism!”

Anonymous

kidding with the Giro Helment founder about how early helmets were just styrofoam covered in plastic and the guy started giving him sh!t for it. Frankie started panicking and tried to make up for it by saying Giro is all he rides in.

And really, what grown man calls himself ‘Frankie’ it’s like shortening Andrew to Andy or going by your last name in your posts.

sheesh.

Anonymous

I found it frustrating that the VS. messed up the timing of the race and it switched to hockey before the stage ended.

Anonymous

yeah that’s the most offensive part. they don’t show the attacks at beginning of the race, then they don’t show the sprint. so what we get is hummer blabbing for 3 hours about nothing.

Andy

The attacks that establish the break of the day are never shown, and are probably some of the more interesting parts of the race. Floyd and VDV were in the mix yesterday, would’ve loved to see that.

MQ

the lance Armstrong(VS) channel for the great coverage of the TOC. im sure they will get an EMMY
a little sarcasm in the morning
even if you read it on CN it much better then listening to greg hummer,phil,and paul repeat the same thing over and over and over and over again year after year after year

Cheers
MQ

alanatwood

The “Live Clean” guy who ran up the climb with a “syringed” pitchfork was at the last KOM in the Sierra’s; the section that may have been taken out except the ToC busted ass to clean the road. Nice job guys!!

The Cali DOT didn’t want spray paint on the downtown roads the race was finishing on. So the LiveStrong boys provided a shit load of chalk and let ’em loose. The only problem was that the finish yesterday was clouded in a haze of chalk; couldn’t see much until the last 100m.

Looks like with thanks to Jonathan Vaughters they won’t have to worry about it until 2010. Who knows what’s in the heads of the UCI; they’ve been banning disc brakes in cross for years, and seems like the US riders are proving them wrong again.

The only thing I didn’t like with Rock Racing is Tyler Hamilton’s jersey. You can’t even see Stars and Stripes; what’s up with that? Not like they couldn’t have the same designs in a blue jersey with stars going around the designs and some stripes separating the graphics. They should go check out Tim Johnson’s cross jersey last year; Cyclocrossworld got that one right.

Anonymous

He’s only 30sec back. Does he have to humility to sit back and allow Levi to take the victory? Come on…we all know that all Lance has to do is Decide to go and he can whoop Levi’s ass any day. But will he?

schmalz

I’ve always felt they should show replays of the early action during the race once the break has been established (but many times the TV feed doesn’t record the early action), and when things get boring do phone interviews and take calls from viewers. It would save us from the remedial cycling lessons we get during the lulls in action. All that, and I would get Bob Roll drunk, he couldn’t be any worse, could he?

Anonymous

Lance is the Decider. Some guys just need to be that way. He’s never ever going to be inconspicuous, and if he has the legs you can bet he’ll be as highly placed as possible without actually stealing it from Levi, and of course the latest is that he’s resplendent in his yellow everything, no matter what place he’s in. I agree that it’s obnoxious as hell. But really, it’s a perfect set-up for Astana… why would he back off when he’s in position to take the race if something happens to the pocket rocket.

Anonymous

Levi def peaks sort-a for this race, and Lance is barely into his high intesity phase at all, so Lance cant just decide to win it – Levi is the man for Feb, plain and simple. I do think some of the other guys in the race are pretty fit too, but just not as strong as Levi at this point. I also think Lance would not try to take the race from his leader, though he isnt going to go slow on TT either. Im not looking for him to try to drop Levi on some climb – doubt he could do it anyway in Feb.

Andy, I dont know what a 3:1 rule is…but sounds kinda juicy!

Chris M

Andy

And let me quote Woody Allen on the 3:1 ratio: Two? Actually I prefer three, but let’s face it, one is hard enough to get.

Anonymous

here’s a query: if lance is racing for free, meaning no salary, and he is in it to promote his anti-cancer stuff at livestrong, then does that mean the foundation is paying for his expenses? meanine the personal photographer, the jet, the entourage? and if so, then does that mean he is living in luxury paid for by donations?

athlete foundations, as a rule, are a way for highly-paid sports stars to funnel their cash into tax havens that employee their friends and relatives.

Anonymous

wait, ok, i haven’t been paying attention, admittedly. lance and horner on the same team? that has to be a little awkward, no?

Anonymous

considering he is cancer, it is fitting that the money go to him

but honestly, he doesn’t need the money from the foundation to support this fun he’s having, dude is fucking loaded

Andy

Is nicknaming someone ‘Redneck’ a passive aggressive way of putting someone in their place? W was real good at nicknames.

Anonymous

I’m talking… G5! That’s how you can roll. No more frequent flyer bitch miles for my boy! Oh yeah! Playa… playa! Big dick playa!

Anonymous

Sort of. Naming symbolizes your dominion over the named. G-d named Adam, for example, but Adam named the animals. Adam is obviously subservient to G-d, and the animals are subservient to Adam. (Although I will steer clear of discussing Gen. 2:23 and its implications, “And the man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.’)

People who are more controlling are more likely to nickname people. Most often this is not done intentionally to subjugate them, or even negatively. It’s simply their way of reshaping the world as they prefer; in their own image, if you will. People who strive for control are more likely to ascribe names, meanings, or interpretations to objects/situations as they see fit rather than accept the status quo, or someone else’s name, meaning or interpretation.

Lance seems like a perfect example of this. We all know others in the NYC cycling scene, as well.

Anonymous

wasn’t saying that lance will actively take the race from levi, just suggesting that he wouldn’t exactly be crushed if he had leadership for astana foisted on him, if levi crashed or bonked or something. having several strong guys near the top of GC is great for astana and for levi. it’s just sort of, i don’t know… grating? tiresome? old?… to see big tex up at the front of a race again. i wonder if the yellow jersey for AToC would be yellow enough for him. there’s a bit of blue on the sleeves.

Anonymous

I can’t believe Lance purposely thrusted his back wheel into Leipheimer, knocking the poor little fellow to the ground. I though Lance and Levi were friends. WTF?

Anonymous

Actually, I think some of call people names just because its appropriate: Eg. Eric = Crazy Man because he’s, um, crazy.

Anonymous

what the hell? eric’s probably sitting at work, just minding his own business and bam! gets a random noogie like that.

Anonymous

Hummer’s actually half-decent at announcing UFC fights. I was watching one the other night and did a double take when I saw him on there. Yep, it was him.

A UFC & cycling announcer: interesting day job.

“9:27: Hard to comment on the race when all I see and hear is Craig Hummer talking nonsense, a lot of broken picture and poor broadcasting technology, an NHL game during a sprint finish, some dumb comedian chick making an ass of herself and viewers dumber…will Versus please die and NBC Universal Sports please pick up the peices???”

Anonymous

Who is this comedian Indian Chick, she is NOT funny, lame interview with Shimano guy even lamer with Bissell guy day before does Versus realize that. She is not even hot….Cali Podium girls look hot ..

Anonymous

Did i just imagine that late last year the guy behind the corporation that makes Encite “natural male enhancement” got slammed by FTC or FDA for false claims and sued for fraud and was shut down or something… now Bob is back making commercials again? someone help!

Anonymous

Yeah cycling coverage sucks! Booooo Versus! I can’t wait until they take it off the air and replace it with Ultimate Chair-Fighting or Brazilian Horse Neutering!

And I agree — rather than focusing on Lordstrong (who’s the only reason you’re getting sixteen million hours of TOC coverage), or using some comedian to try to drop even a tiny bit of a layperson angle in there, I think the TV coverage should be super inside and snarky — maybe do the whole telecast in Dutch/Flemish

The logistics/minimal payback of televising a cycling event — the fact that any American network is crazy enough to care about our fringe sport, we should be sending them bouquets….

Anonymous

Sherwen: “David Zabriskie is the most aerodynamic man in the world”

Sherwen: “My mathematical calculations tell me that the peleton gains 10km per hour over the escapees.”

Liggett: “As the attacks have begun more than a few riders are in a spot of bother”

Hummer: Can you two tell me what these riders are doing right now?”

Anonymous

Lose the Indian Chick. At least Kirsten Gum rode a bike (for 5 min. with NYVC) and knew the sport. Too bad she’s now on tv searching for precious minerals with old toothless prospectors. Oh and she a nice rack!

Armstrong should eat his words about Horner (calling him “Red Neck”) Horner single handedly saved the TOC for Levi & Astana by disregarding Johan “Dr. Evil” Bruyneel’s advice and pulling the team back to Mancebo. How embarrassing if Rock Racing won the AToC.

Btw. Bruyneel and Armstrong have feared and loathed and respected Horner for a while. Read chapter 12 of Daniel Coyle’s book “Lance Armstrong’s War” The chapter is titled “HOA-NOA” which is how Bruyneel pronounces Horner and he’s telling Lance to watch him at the Tour of Georgia, “Do not let “Hoa-Noa” get away” Respect!

Anonymous

nyvc Horner interview?

Strikes me as our kind of guy – hardworker, plainspoken, bit of a journeyman, not the most genetically gifted guy but brings a lot to the team – and would fit right in.

I also think that guys like him scare Lance. They don’t bow to him and could probably kick the living shyte out of him in a fight. Didn’t he give a guy with a busted frame a ride in following a race last year?

I bet Big George hates him…..

Anonymous

OR somebody who really has a sense of humor to make this race coverage something any non-racer/cyclist would care to watch. That comedienne dope has NO CLUE and it’s downright embarrassing to watch her.

Anonymous

really wish cancellara were still in it so someone would give levi a run for it. hope dave z. or someone will pull out a good ride and tighten the race up a bit but not holding my breath.

weird to see rabobank on bikes that don’t suck.

Anonymous

1. Liquigas has seriously-hot-yet-trashy “soigneurs” (fluffers?) following their riders around before the start shielding them from the sun with parasols.
2. The pros have really nice bikes and they’re all really clean (the bikes that is).
3. Some Garmin guys (non racers) who were staying in our hotel were really kind to my kids, giving them lots of schwag without my kids even asking.
4. I made sure my kids said thank you then took the good stuff away from them and kept it for myself.
5. VdV is very cool. Some jackass interrupted him with a pointless question at a critical moment just before he left for the start and he patiently answered it.
6. The finish of the stage was very exciting in person. Lots of suspense and the announcer did a good job keeping everyone interested.
7. We met Thor. Afterwards, my wife remarked that that he was very handsome. I offered to wear my Credit Agricole kit to bed tonight but she politely declined.
8. Cervelo Test Team rode P3’s, not P4’s.
9. There were essentially two crowds. The leg-shaving bunch who knew all the players without a scorecard, and the Legions of Lance, who RAN like the Great Yellow River from his warm-up spot to the start house, then from the start house to the finish line as the Great One went about his race.
10. An “Ableskeiver” tastes way better than it sounds. (Deep fried batter baseballs covered in fruit preserves and powdered sugar.)
11. Pros are smaller and thinner in person.
12. There are many nice new bikes on the market. I do not need a new bike, but I found myself trying to come up with a reason to need one.
13. The cult of the “perfect Euro-Pro cyclist look” is particularly large and intense in California.
14. The pros go thru VERY intense warm-ups for the TT. Some were out in the sun dripping with sweat. The Slipstream guys were all shaded and iced down and Dr. Lim was watching over all the preparations like a mother hen.
15. Some teams were much more organized and prepared than others. Just around the warm-up area for example. The way the trainers were laid out, with spare trainer wheels leaning up against the trainer, trainer skewers laid out on the ground next to the trainer, always on the same side, TT bikes on the rack in order of start time. Food table set up within reach, off times posted, all other times back-calculated, i.e. leave for start, stop warm-up, start-warm-up, etc. I don’t know if there’s a connection between this kind of prep work and how well the team does, but it seems like a good idea. If you’re gonna be bothered doing it, you might as well try to do it as perfectly as you possibly can.

ccc

Slam Boom

“Leipheimer Pedals Furiously to Inch Closer to Title”

That’s the title of the NYTimes story on Leipheimer’s ITT win at the ToC. I get the impression that the headline writer doesn’t think much of cycling as a sport. “Furiously” comes from the writer’s lede paragraph but it’s followed by “churned” which, other than thoughts of butter, implies strength and endurance – and the rest of the sentence completes the image. But the combination of “furiously” and “inch closer” reminds me of the very old Benny Hill shows where Hill, in a fisherman’s rain coat and hat, would pedal around in circles on a kid’s tricycle, usually chasing women in provocative outfits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/sports/cycling/21cycling.html

Anonymous

Did anyone take a look at Frank Schlek’s bike while he was in the break? It looked awfully like a Cervelo? Or did I have too much to drink.

Anonymous

1. Horner moved to Bend Oregon, but grew up on San Diego, Lemon Grove area (way east of downtown), supposedly he’s back living in San Diego, that’s just a rumor the last part, no proof.

2. The Legions of Lance are out of control, the Antana bus had a crowd 10 deep outside of it with cops directly to the front of the bus, approx. 5 armed official cops, not the rent-a-cops. I have a picture I’ll post a link like Jarrett soon.

3. Its babe central around the whole start/end arena its hard to look at bikes at times, cleavage/rears reins supreme!

4. I have only seen this many fans at a race in Europe, its was Tour/Giro/Vuelta/Classic type crowds and crazy.

5. Could do without the road side pigs (dudes in costumes), at this point its Versus fault as they keep showing those dufus’s. On the last day’s coverage what they did show! Another road side pig was toss by an Astana rider, most likely Lance.

6. Best road side pig, Syringe Boy! Getting Lance tossed will guarantees he will be web moralized.

7. Benefits of Legions of Lance is you get to hang out at the other team buses with more face time with the riders, if you can speak their language.

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