Lance in Glasgow

paulcuthbert

on Twitter he said next time. My prayers have been answered!

symo

RichN95 wrote:

I remember seeing him in the flesh at the Tour de France in Portsmouth (easy to spot in the rainbow jersey)

Was he cruising certain bars in it?

shinyhelmut

IanLD wrote:

But he's not in charge of the ride- says on Twitter that he's following.

He got quite a lot of practice doing just that in France recently

NervexProf

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 800521.ece

RichN95.

So he's there to watch U2. If Bono and his chums had had a slightly different schedule it could been Cardiff instead (U2 are here on Saturday). It's nice cycling weather here too.

Bhima

Lance isn't my favourite cyclist, although I think this is quite cool. Great publicity for the sport. Riders should do this kind of thing more often!

I imagine that the amount of people phoning in sick for work today was immense!

crankitup_gear_glencoe

The negativity against LA from some folk is amazing. Cancer kiils folk and he offers some consolation that it is survivable. Whatever he did or didn't do doping wise is past history and not conclusive. So moving on, it's a big plus that he's here. O'bree turned up so if your calling LA names your also dissing him and 300 others.

I volunteer for Livestrong so maybe feel defensive, but I see a non cycling side that has a massive impact on struggling folk that just would not be there without him. So how about cutting out the wise cracks about Contador and banners.

Fastlad

Well, i was there!! Not riding, i just shook the guy's hand and took loads of photos!! I followed the bunch and eventually drew up alongside him as he was talking to a friend of mine. I had the passenger window down trying to take picture and Lance shouted in the van to me....."Hey, you're driving on the wrong side of the road" (yep, the man spoke to me with some of his usual humour) 8) I'm a happy man tonight

paulcuthbert

Fastlad wrote:

Well, i was there!! Not riding, i just shook the guy's hand and took loads of photos!! I followed the bunch and eventually drew up alongside him as he was talking to a friend of mine. I had the passenger window down trying to take picture and Lance shouted in the van to me....."Hey, you're driving on the wrong side of the road" (yep, the man spoke to me with some of his usual humour) 8) I'm a happy man tonight

Any chance we could see some of your pictures?

mikeq

I'm still on a high from cycling with him.

Brilliant thing to do, how glad am I that I chose to work in glasgow today (5 miles from paisley). Didn't see his twitter post till I was in glasgow, am so happy I did.

Tusher

CranKitUp Gear Glencoe wrote:

The negativity against LA from some folk is amazing. Cancer kiils folk and he offers some consolation that it is survivable. Whatever he did or didn't do doping wise is past history and not conclusive. So moving on, it's a big plus that he's here. O'bree turned up so if your calling LA names your also dissing him and 300 others.

I volunteer for Livestrong so maybe feel defensive, but I see a non cycling side that has a massive impact on struggling folk that just would not be there without him. So how about cutting out the wise cracks about Contador and banners.

OK, CranKitUp, I admire him for bringing the traffic to a halt in Paisley, and yes, if I'd known in advance I would probably have gone along, and yes, he's done a tremendous amount of good work, and yes, I admire the fact that he went for a ride and was eager for others to join in. What other sport allows that........but I just can't warm to him, or trust him. Of course, that's my problem, and so I do keep well out of any pro or anti Lance threads.

Still, he turned up and thrilled over 300 folk in Paisley which is a good thing. And hopefully Paul will get a chance to meet him next time.


As my punishment, I had to suffer an entire day of Death by Powerpoint in a stuffy room.

iainf72

As I said earlier, I think it was a nice thing to do. And it looks like Lance enjoyed it and the fans enjoyed it. So everyone wins.

Doesn't change my opinion of him but I've never thought he was an a-hole all the time. Like me he's just one most of the time.

gazza_d1

If I'd not been shockingly unfit, and thought I'd have had a chance of keeping with the group for more than 1/2 mile, I would have driven up from Newcastle without a thought.

I do respect what the man has achieved. Doing something like this is realy cool and great, and gets people buzzing. We were talking about it at work this afternoon, and everyone, including (especially) non-cyclists thought this was really great.

Icing on the cake would have been the great Graeme Obree - As Lance said " A Legend"

Richrd2205

If I'd known that Obree was going to be there, I'd definitely have gone.

I'm no Armstrong fan, but this was very cool & got lots of positive cycling comment in the local press, which was excellent. It was kinda weird watching the video of him riding 200m from where I used to stay.

I was given an early enough finish from work today, but decided, having taken my recumbent trike to work today given the amount of oil on the roads, that it might be better to go home. I sort of regret missing the chance to meet Obree though

afx237vi

CranKitUp Gear Glencoe wrote:

The negativity against LA from some folk is amazing. Cancer kiils folk and he offers some consolation that it is survivable. Whatever he did or didn't do doping wise is past history and not conclusive. So moving on, it's a big plus that he's here. O'bree turned up so if your calling LA names your also dissing him and 300 others.

I volunteer for Livestrong so maybe feel defensive, but I see a non cycling side that has a massive impact on struggling folk that just would not be there without him. So how about cutting out the wise cracks about Contador and banners.

It's a pro cycling forum. His rivalry with Contador has been the biggest story in pro cycling for years. If a wisecrack about a banner has got you riled up, then you're probably not going to like this forum if you plan to stick around.

PS, my respect for Armstrong went up a tiny fraction for doing the group ride, but then plummeted again when I heard he was there to see U2. Some things are just unforgivable, I'm afraid.

andrewgturnbull

Hi folks.



I was on contract at Renfrewshire council in Paisley today and wandered over at lunchtime - unfortuantely I didn't have a bike with me :-(

There may have been 300 riders at the start (inc a local lad by the name of Obree), but by the time the Glasgow Couriers had taken the bunch over a couple of the wee local climbs towards Lochwinnoch the bunch was apparently down to 30 or 40.

There was a crash at the end that wiped out Claire Thomas and broke her bike in two (I'm sure she British champion at something this year), but no a-list celebrities were injured.

Cheers, Andy

paulcuthbert

Tusher wrote:

CranKitUp Gear Glencoe wrote:

The negativity against LA from some folk is amazing. Cancer kiils folk and he offers some consolation that it is survivable. Whatever he did or didn't do doping wise is past history and not conclusive. So moving on, it's a big plus that he's here. O'bree turned up so if your calling LA names your also dissing him and 300 others.

I volunteer for Livestrong so maybe feel defensive, but I see a non cycling side that has a massive impact on struggling folk that just would not be there without him. So how about cutting out the wise cracks about Contador and banners.

And hopefully Paul will get a chance to meet him next time.

That's such a nice thing to say- thankyou! I hope so too

ps. That barbers is where I get my haircut!! Awesome

iainf72

afx237vi wrote:

PS, my respect for Armstrong went up a tiny fraction for doing the group ride, but then plummeted again when I heard he was there to see U2. Some things are just unforgivable, I'm afraid.

You've never had a friend in a crap band who invites you to see them play then?

http://img198.yfrog.com/img198/2267/p6km.jpg

afx237vi

iainf72 wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

PS, my respect for Armstrong went up a tiny fraction for doing the group ride, but then plummeted again when I heard he was there to see U2. Some things are just unforgivable, I'm afraid.

You've never had a friend in a crap band who invites you to see them play then?

http://img198.yfrog.com/img198/2267/p6km.jpg

Ugh. Cringeworthy. You know that uncool uncle that everyone has got? Bono is the uncoolest uncool uncle in the entire world.

paulcuthbert

What's the difference between God and Bono?










































































God doesn't walk round Africa thinking he's Bono

BrianS

Born and bred in Paisley....

today i feel happy

1987 was the last time....St Mirren won the Scottish Cup....

Ex-Teamate bring my town to a halt!

Classic!

Tusher

St Mirren once won the Scottish Cup?

The things I learn here........

andrewgturnbull

BrianS wrote:

Classic!

Agreed - whatever your opinion of LA, today's personal gesture to his fans showed a lot of class.

stagehopper

I think someone summed it up earlier - regardless of your feelings on Lance himself (Vive Le Contador!), there's very few sports (or arts) where such incredible access can be gained to those at the very pinnacle of achievement.

Nice gesture which probably caused more hassle than it was worth. Wonder what the Paisley connection was - did Mr Cyclevox hook LA up with a local cycling club or has he other links there? Nice to see Graham Obree there - someone suggested to Lance on twitter last night that he should contact him. Good gesture from both sides.

paulcuthbert

Paisley is as good a base as any for a ride. So many ways you can go for good riding- Lochwinnoch direction, over the Glennifer Braes towards Irvine/Ayr, or head East towards East Kilbride where there's more great riding. I love living in Paisley- it's a great place to ride.

And it's a lot closer to Glasgow Airport than Glasgow, strangely enough. Paisley makes a lot of sense when you look at it like that. I also think that there would have been less of a melée in Paisley town than if it had been the centre of Glasgow. Plus, Paisley is closer to good riding country than the centre of Glasgow.

That's what I think

paulcuthbert

andrewgturnbull wrote:

BrianS wrote:

Classic!

Agreed - whatever your opinion of LA, today's personal gesture to his fans showed a lot of class.

Imagine how impressed you'd be if you were a fan of Lance
I know I am- just really disappointed that I wasn't in Paisley to... well, be there!

alan_a

I'm a regular lurker but I thought I'd share this because yesterday was a little bit special.

---

When was the last time someone called you up and asked you if you wanted to have a kick about with David Beckham, play a round of pitch ’n’ putt with Tiger Woods or go for a drive with Michael Schumacher?

When I was ten I wrote to Jimmy Saville asking him to fix it for me to ski with Franz Klammer. Two Saturday evening’s later I watched an English public school girl doing just that. Gutted.

Six years later at a trials evening at Bellahouston ski centre I won a race and got presented with my prize by none other than Franz Klammer. He subsequently did a head to head slalom against me and two other age group winners. I was leading until the last pole which I clipped and then fell. For twenty years I have never thought that that day could be equalled never mind bettered. Well that’s pretty much what happened to me this morning.

August for me means spending every evening driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh and back to perform at the Fringe, typically getting home exhausted and hungry at two in the morning. Getting on the bike or going for a swim is something I want to do but simply just don’t have the time or energy for. Not that it matters because I’ll loose about a stone in weight over the month. Mornings are spent either sleeping, reading the papers over breakfast at a coffee shop or watching 30 Rock.

Well having literally just woken up that’s how the day was panning out when I got a text asking if I wanted to go for a ride with Lance Armstrong… in an hour… in Paisley. Aye right. Lance Armstrong doing the Tour de Renfrewshire. Bullsh*t.

Immediately I called the texter (Ian Ramage a renowned prankster) to confirm the facts. A brief check on Twitter and the cogs were set in motion before instantly grinding to a halt because the wife had the car at work, wasn’t answering her phone and I knew that I didn’t have the time for a 16 mile warm up cycle to the start. I’d had no breakfast, little sleep and lots of work to do. Who gives a feck I’m getting ready & I’ll get myself there cos I’m not going to miss this opportunity.


I called my neighbour & cycling buddie Mark to see if he could make it… stuck looking after the shop whilst his mrs was delivering flowers. Like me he wasn’t missing out, he’d get to Paisley as quick as he could.

Cycling shorts on – check

Kraftwerk Tdf top on - check

Tyres pumped up – check

Energy gels packed (one instantly ingested) – check

Breakfast eaten – no that’s what the gels are for.

I jumped on the bike and rode like the clappers to Katie’s work to steal the car, threw the bike in the back, turned on the iPod, and horsed it to Paisley.

Going past the Hurlet Mark called to say he was coming but would be about an hour and I had to keep him posted on our whereabouts. Soon I passed a group of EK road club boys. I rolled down the window and shouted out “Are you going for a ride with Lance?” They cheered. I passed a few other roadies all heading in the same direction. Dumping the car in Morrisons car park with 10 minutes til the off I peddled furiously into the town centre. Ahead of me was a solo cyclist. As I drew near I asked

“Do you know where we were supposed to go?”

“Eh… I’m just out for a ride.”

“Oh right, Do you fancy coming for a ride with Lance Armstrong?”

He looked at me as if I was a cheeky Bstard.

“seriously Lance Armstrong is going for a group ride at noon from a hotel in Paisley”

“You taking the piss?”

“No… He twittered it last night”

“Aye right”

Fetching my mobile out my pocket

“Look at the text I got”

Cautiously he did

“You’re on the wind up”

“Well if I am it’s only 5 minutes out of your day”

“Fine”

50yds along the road we had past two different cars with boots open and cyclists building bikes, then at the lights more joined us asking if we knew where to go. Doubting Thomas’ jaw hit the ground then he smiled the biggest smile I’ve seen in ages.

Wending through the back streets of Paisley we suddenly found ourselves in a throng of about 200 cyclists on a narrow cobbled lane. Mingling amongst them were athletic looking men in suits on their lunch hours, looking jealously at those in lycra, a gaggle of photographers, journalists and 3 very confused police officers.

The patter was flowing as people exchanged stories of how and when they had found out that it was happening, how they had sneaked off work or discussed friends who were gutted that they couldn’t make it. Karen was there, Graham, Jo E, Morag, Peter S, Jo Pm & Rich PM, Ricky T and lots of other faces I recognised… all of whom were acting like little kids waiting for Santa.

The rain was slowly falling earth and we were getting wetter and colder and hungry. A sudden flurry of excitement at the foot of the hill, cameras flashing “he’s here” but no it wasn’t Armstrong. Even better, it was Graeme Obree resplendent in his retro 1980s fluro top, chatting with old pals and giving interviews to the media. News filtered through that Lance had twittered that he was held up at the airport. No doubt the customs officers getting autographs and checking he wasn’t bucking the trend and bringing drugs into Paisley.

After about 45 minutes of waiting hunger kicked in. I went into the local corner shop hoping to buy a banana (in Paisley not likely) and guess what, Lance arrived. His car was swamped by paparazzi and lycra who were surrounded by Strathclyde’s finest who had swelled from 3 to about 20 including 3 coppers on MTB. Yes the Paisley Polis had sent Lance a Police escort – they wouldn’t have lasted about 30m before we swamped them and took over the road.

As I stood watching from the cover of a local boozers doorway one of the regulars piped up “ Who’s that oer there? Chris Hoy? ” “Nah it’s Lance Armstrong” “The baw cancer guy?”

It took Lance about 15 minutes to build his bike, do interviews and get ready for the off. You could smell the testosterone in the air as cyclists jostled for position on the road hoping to get on the big mans wheel. But which route would he take, how far was he going, what speed, who’s leading the way? Then it all made sense as the boys from Glasgow Couriers took the big man under their wings like loyal knights protecting their king when charging into battle. They charged west down high street towards Johnstone. Police motorcycle outriders tried to get to the front but they were ambushed by 300 mounted cavalry on their carbon steads. The road was flooded with bikes faster than Boscastle in the rain. Ten deep they took to the road. It was like the kids exiting Shawlands Academy at lunchtime.


That's my wee head with grey helmet and shades poking out of Lance's back

The speed picked up as did the patter and the chances people were taking going the wrong side of traffic islands in order to advance up the peleton toward our leader. At roundabouts car drivers were baffled about who had right of way as this huge mass of cyclists sped through. Traffic lights changed from green to red mid peleton but the leviathan just kept going, leaving other road users in its wake.

Never before have I seen such a large group of cyclists. The general consensus was one of “this is great and would be so even if lance wasn’t here”. It was like a critical mass protest except at speed. After about a mile you could sense the peleton stretching out, guys on MTB or hybrids were being reeled in and spat out the back. Kids coming out of schools for lunch looked in awe as we sped past. The rain kept falling and the spray kept blinding.

More traffic lights, more junctions, a cheeky slippery downhill right hander under a railway bridge. Mark called “where are we?” Heading for Howwood on the A760” someone shouted out turning onto B767 “Head for kilbarchan” And true enough that’s what we did. But crap taking that call had cost me about 30 bike lengths and there’s a bloody hill. I could see the group stretch up out n front of me. Time to dig in. Graeme & Ricky had disappeared ahead, lots of riders realise thatthey are not going to keep up and turn around heading for home, pleasantries exchane but many continue onwards and upwards. Top of the hill about 30 -40 secs off the leaders but it’s a down hill and I’ve got space so I blasted it into Lochwinnoch. I almost catch the group when I see Mark’s van. He jumps out, I wait, he gets his bike. Off we go… but we’ve lost about another 30 secs and when we get to the junction… which way?

We make our way onto the main Paisley – Irvine road. Cars are going at a snails pace unaware and unamused by what’s going on. We snake our way through them as quick as possible getting to the Bowhill turn off about 30 secs behind the main pack, but crucially we miss the sharp right hander up to Greenacres. 200m along from the missed junction at a tight right hander we see a bike in a hedge and aman on the other side looking the worse for wear. Games a bogie.

It takes about 2 minutes ot help him out the hedge, the barbed wire and the cow crap.

Never mind let’s see how far we can get. Answer the top of the brae past the ice rink. The wind was howling and with only 2 of us left we’d never catch up again so we decided to call it a day. But what a day.

alan_a

The police burd had trouble keeping up on her MTB



[/quote]

moray_gub

Great story and pix there Alan looks like you has some day though i reckon you could have got back on on the road to Lochwinnoch :-), i live about 40 miles North East of Paisley but choose yesterday to go mountain biking at Glentress :-( Yet i was warned by my daughter on Mon night as she follows him on twitter as usual i scoffed and merrily went down to Peebles. Maybe next time

Monty Dog

As someone who lived in Glasgow for nearly 20 years and spending my formative cycling years in those parts, I must say that Paisley was never a high-spot on any ride, and particularly if the route went anywhere near Fergusly Park. I remember one winter where we had persistent north-westerlies and every week the Sunday run went to Gourock and came back via Paisley and we'd have to look out for flying bottles from the locals. Obviously things have changed, but the weather remains the same!