Off-Topic for 07/08/2010 – 02:10

by schmalz

Welcome to the Tue, 07/08/2010 – 02:10 edition of Off Topic! You are looking at the next step in the evolution of VCN, the Off-Topic page. Have you ever been frustrated because you had a burning desire to call someone a sandbagger and could only hope to be timely by posting your comment to a photo gallery page or on a page describing a charity ride?

Well, your prayers have been answered! You can post your comment from the home page and it magically comes to rest here with the other orphans from the land of Misfit Comments. The page gets refreshed every day, but not to worry! Each day’s page will be archived and treasured, so you can look back on past pages with pride, shame or disgust-depending on how the day’s conversation went. So post away! We’ve got an internet to fill up.

4 Comments

schmalz

Quotes from Team Garmin-Transitions
Stage 5, 2010 Tour de France

Martijn Maaskant
It was a long, hot day. I tried to help the guys with the lead out. I got on the front at 3k to go, which was probably too far out. It seemed like Julian, Robbie and Tyler were in a good position, but Julian and Tyler are still coming back from injuries. We’re going to keep trying – we’re working well and one of these days at the Tour, I think its all going to come together.

Matt White
The boys rode great today. We’re continuing to look at our options in the sprints, since Tyler is far from 100 percent yet and Julian’s still fighting his injuries, too. The lead out worked great with what we’ve got at the moment, the guys just didn’t have the finish in them. We’ll keep trying — as we’ve said from day one, we’re here to race.

maven

“In 1996 when my friends learned that I was leaving to follow the Tour de France, they almost all asked me to check out the gears. It was the universal demand, the primordial concern: ‘What are they running?’

Pros have the reputation of using monster gears, noted with smugness by L’Equipe: 54×11, they say, for sprinting; 44×19 on the climbs. All this contributes to the magic aura of the riders.

So one morning before a mountain stage I went up to one of them to ask him about the gears he was using on the climbs. He gently mocked me: ‘Special gearing for the mountains is fine for you.’ (He gathered I was a cyclist from my stripy tan.) ‘I just use race gearing. If the race is in a big gear, so am I. If it’s in a small one, I’m in one too. Ask the race what gear it’ll be in on the climbs, and I’ll be in it.'”

– Paul Fournel, “Besoin de vélo” (Allan Stoekl, tr.)

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