Post-Tour depression

paulcuthbert

How do we get our fix of bike racing after Sunday?

I'm gonna miss le Tour!

I love these days when riding a bike in the daytime is supplemented with watching pro racers make you feel like slow, fat, crap-on-a-bike in the evenings. Aaaah, self-loathing. How I shall miss thee!!

gethmetal

I'll be glad when it's over. This Tour has been a turgid trudge-fest.

I'm looking forward to getting out on my bike, as that has been hampered by some grim sense of obligation to watch 'racing' on the telly.

RichN95.

gethmetal wrote:

I'll be glad when it's over. This Tour has been a turgid trudge-fest.

I'm looking forward to getting out on my bike, as that has been hampered by some grim sense of obligation to watch 'racing' on the telly.

If you're watching out of some 'grim sense of obligation' rather than because you enjoy it, then you're an idiot. I have a brain and free will. If I don't like something, I don't watch it, regardless of what anyone else says. If I'd rather ride my bike, I'd ride my bike. My god, you must be a weak person

Personally I think it's been a good Tour so far with lots of incident and the three main jerseys all still held by the slimmest of margins.

CyclingBantam

I was talking about this the other day. I will really miss the Tour but I knew there would be people who would moan about it. If you have not enjoyed this years tour you can't have enjoyed one for years. Like has already been said, you must be really weak if you can't turn it off if you don't like it.

Why is it every year people moan about how rubbish the tour is and yet always watch it all?

jamlala

Not having Sky the coverage of cycling on Freeview isn't great the rest of the year. Surely its popular enough to justify going to one of the 'terrestrial' channels and being shown more often. I guess the clue is in the fact that Sky are sponsoring so much of it currently!

Kléber

Cheer up, the Vuelta a Burgos starts soon, not to mention the Tour of Denmark. The Tour of Poland's not far away too

iainf72

I'm in the "it's average" camp. I've not watched a stage since Sunday aside from a minute here and there. I do follow the text coverage on CN and then decide whether to watch the coverage.

But I think I'm all raced out post-Giro as I didn't find anything to enjoy in the Dauphine / Suisse.

There have been some decent stages in the Tour but it's not really captured my imagination.

Kléber

I've enjoyed it and when the Tour goes every year there's a hole in the media. No TV, no internet. I've enjoyed a lot of the stages, it's been a good Tour so far.

But I've found the race dogged by silly controversies, endless replays of whether Cancellara was too bossy, controversy over the Renshaw headbutting and exclusion, whether Contador should have sat down and had an ice cream whilst Andy Schleck hooks his chain back on. Too much background noise if you like.

Homer J

i think it's better than last year

inseine

I've enjoyed it. It's pretty much the only cycling I watch since i don't have SKY and since the ITV+1 coverage starts at 9 here it fits in perfectly with a bike ride then sit down and watch it over dinner. Perfect!

iainf72

Homer J wrote:

i think it's better than last year

That wouldn't be hard. I think the Tour of Poland was better than last years Tour

Gazzaputt

The Eurosport HD coverage was spectacular yesterday. What scenery. Racing was ok.

Dgh

This has been the best tour in quite a long time. Cobbles worked well to spice things up in the first week much better than a team time trial. Competitive racing for the 3 jerserys, plenty of incident.

Of those who don;t think it's been a good tour, when was the last better one? Are you going back to 89? I thought 2003 was pretty good at the time.

So many French winners may suggest it's also a pretty clean tour - or is that hoping too much.

Can't get excited about the Vuelta, though. Can;t shake the thought of Valverde, and the Spanish cycling estabishment rallying to his support.

blazing_saddles

Aaaargh! The Tour may not be a patch on the Giro, for sheer racing excitement, but I'm going to have another bout of post GT depression, come Monday.
That might have something to do with the Tours of Poland and ENECO.

Pokerface

You never know. Something dramatic could still happen in the next 3 days (nothing dramatic happens on the last day).


And maybe the Vuelta will be stunning this year.

finchy

There's San Sebastian to look forward to.

northernneil

JamLala wrote:

Not having Sky the coverage of cycling on Freeview isn't great the rest of the year. Surely its popular enough to justify going to one of the 'terrestrial' channels and being shown more often. I guess the clue is in the fact that Sky are sponsoring so much of it currently!

I only have freeview but most of the cycling is live on the web you know ?

ms_tree

I'll have to go back to working full-time :shock:

Le Commentateur

johnfinch wrote:

There's San Sebastian to look forward to.

If they bother to show it.

takethehighroad

Ms Tree wrote:

I'll have to go back to working full-time :shock:

I'll have to go back to actually looking for a job!

prawny

iainf72 wrote:

Homer J wrote:

i think it's better than last year

That wouldn't be hard. I think the Tour of Poland was better than last years Tour

Last years tour of poland was way better than last years tour. The only thing that spoilt it was carlton and duffers

markmod

Treble whammy here... End of the tour, my chemo and radiotherapy starts monday... and no bike riding till Xmas... And you are depressed !!

paulcuthbert

markmod wrote:

Treble whammy here... End of the tour, my chemo and radiotherapy starts monday... and no bike riding till Xmas... And you are depressed !!

Woah, sorry to hear that man.

Good luck with the treatments!

markmod

Thanks for that.... Getting back to the tour, I think it's better than last year, and I have enjoyed the scenery greatly. The Morzine stage was really great Sunday before last... But there have been some disappointing days... I expected perhaps too much of today really, only to watch a bit of a followfest, but it was to be expected I suppose.

A win from Lance would have been good yesterday, but silly niggling telltales and should have done this or that rules have been boring, perhaps the chain shppage incident if it hadn't happened would have made for a more exciting race.

paulcuthbert

I disagree. I think there have been talking points and exceptional, commendable performances every day. And I really enjoyed today's stage. I thought it was a phenomenal performance by both Contador and Schleck. Agree with the Lance win thing though - but I like Fedrigo too, so no complaints.

Many of the events you mention, whilst maybe not race-changing, provide good talking points between Dad and Me at the dinner table (while my Mum and sister discuss novels - bleurgh!!) and good forum fodder.

simon_e

Kléber wrote:

I've found the race dogged by silly controversies, endless replays of whether Cancellara was too bossy, controversy over the Renshaw headbutting and exclusion, whether Contador should have sat down and had an ice cream whilst Andy Schleck hooks his chain back on. Too much background noise if you like.

But aren't the media always like that? Doesn't matter how the racing goes, they love controversy and making mountains out of molehills.

Barring the above, particularly the chain talk :roll: I thought it has been mostly pretty good. Last year got rather boring by comparison, but the parcours seemed to spice it up. Since it's probably the only proper top level road racing I get to see on TV I daren't miss much, though I have to admit to fast forwarding through large chunks of some of the flatter stages. I record the live coverage rather than watch the too-heavily edited highlights, even though this means endless repetition by P&P (not that I think I could do any better!).

It's good that people are still looking for time to move positions in (and beyond) the top 10. That I heard Saxo Bank's guys were putting 500w through the pedals lower down the climb today. That no-one thinks Andy can out-TT Alberto but we just won't know until Saturday afternoon. That even on the steep parts of the 18km climb the top guys can stll ride a bike up faster than those brainless pr1cks that run alongside. And of course the scenery is nearly always a great feature. I sometimes think people who follow the sport so intensely can get so 'into' it their expectations are never met. Can't see the wood for the trees, or something.

Good luck with the chemo/radio markmod.

paulcuthbert

Just done watching ITV4's review show. The depression has hit home hard now.

How is everyone else coping?

Abdoujaparov

Good luck markmod.

Paul, thoughts are already drifting to the vuelta and the prospect of the Schlecks double-teaming Nibali, Menchov (possibly) et al on the Bola del Mundo. Six summit finishes - niiiice.

ratsbeyfus

paulcuthbert wrote:

Just done watching ITV4's review show. The depression has hit home hard now.

How is everyone else coping?

I watched this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4IDCkcnnHg - the 1976 Paris-Roubaix documentary. Lovely stuff... now where will I get my next biking fix from???

paulcuthbert

Abdoujaparov wrote:

Good luck markmod.

Paul, thoughts are already drifting to the vuelta and the prospect of the Schlecks double-teaming Nibali, Menchov (possibly) et al on the Bola del Mundo. Six summit finishes - niiiice.

I'll possibly be too busy with my dissertation by then. It's been seriously on hold all Tour!

Eep.

jamlala

paulcuthbert wrote:

Just done watching ITV4's review show. The depression has hit home hard now.

How is everyone else coping?

Not good really, spent all day following it on Twitter - now seems remarkably quiet, actually have to do some work now. Whats next cycling on ITV4? Seeing as I can't afford Sky....