Frenchfighter's farewell

frenchfighter

With my 30,000th post I am bidding farewell to the Bikeradar Pro Race forum. Over the last seven years the time I have spent on and related to this forum, reading, contributing, learning and enjoying has been pretty significant to say the least and I think it is time that I should move on and employ my time elsewhere. Although I will be keeping up to date with all the cycling news, watching the races and still continuing to cycle myself, I will not be contributing further to this forum via my user or via a new user. For the record, I have never created another user on this forum.

I have stayed so long on this forum, never joined another forum and been willing to contribute as much as I have, because essentially it is a great place on many levels. I have learnt so much on this forum about the sport I love, the riders, the history, the finances, the drugs, the races, the tactics and much more. You also learn a fair amount about human nature as well which has been particularly interesting.

Over the last couple of years however there has been a marked increase in the negativity and a decrease in the ratio of useful and interesting contributions to the bad ones, which has certainly lessened my enjoyment, making it a an easier decision to leave after I have seen that aesthetically pleasing 30,000. Although I haven’t had too much dealing with the mods over the years, it hasn’t really been a positive one. I hope the site has enjoyed the benefit I brought them with generating a huge amount of site traffic.

There are some very good contributors to this forum, old and new, are and were, and they should be proud of their contribution. I thank you for your part in making my experience on the forum enjoyable and informative.

I cannot name all but here are the thoughts that came to me:
Poster I’d be most interested in having a beer with: RichN95
Posters I’ve most enjoyed having beers with: The Loyal Lieutenant, dish_dash, TheBigBean
Posters I’d like to post more often: knedlicky and disquieting_museeuws
Poster that is the master thread starter: SpecialGueststar
Poster whose passion for the cobbles drew me in: Rick Chasey
Poster I’ve had the most memorable arguments with: disgruntledgoat
Poster with the most original posts: OCDuPalais
Poster with the strangest posts: macaloon
Poster who is the master of gifs: adr82
Poster with the most equilibrium in their posts: iainf72 (apart from when talking about Contador!)
Poster most impervious to disagreement: dennisn
Posters whose posts I generally most agree with: DeVlaeminck and Crampeur

There are also those who have been thoroughly annoying, abusive, baiting and childish which is sad to behold but they were in the minority thankfully (although many more in the last 2-3 years) and never succeeded in ruffling my feathers, rather I looked on them with pity. To those posters, try being nice and positive once in a while and try adding some value to the forum, you will find life more rewarding.

The final block list is as follows:
Andyrr, Dabber, Dorset Boy, dougzz, feltkuota, FleshTuxedo, Gweeds, jezzpalmer, Joelsim, keef_zip, lostboysaint, meagain, mfin, mike6, Moray Gub, NorvernRob, nweststeyn, okgo, oneof1982, oscarbudgie, pat1cp, Rollemynot, sjmclean, Squaggles, The Truth, ThomThom, type:epyt, Walter White, ddraver, Daz555

There have been more than that over the time, many on permablock, some come on and off depending on how their posts annoy or bait me. There are some in that list whose majority of posts were in useless reply to me which is quite a sad incitement of their contribution to this forum.

A lot of the local press, tv, websites etc in non English speaking countries produces a lot of worth, yet for most of us on this forum we cannot benefit from it due to the language barrier. I have always appreciated when people post that sort of information, along with ‘domestic knowledge’, but it would be great to see it more often (DG’s translations for the first example that comes to mind).

For the vast amount of you who read the pro race threads but do not post – give it a go! Your contributions will most likely make it a better and more interesting place and you will get better enjoyment from it yourself (try not to take it too seriously or get hooked though!). Forum characters adds to the enjoyment as well.

If any of you would like to keep in touch socially or would like to go for some rides or would like some information or photos just send me a PM. If anyone that asks down the line where I’ve gone, if one of you could just post a link to this thread I’d appreciate that.

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Photographers who I think are simply outstanding: Gered Gruber and Kåre Dehlie Thorstad. Respect to Bettini, Tim De Waele and Graham Watson for their longevity and generally excellent quality of photos.

Respect to steephill.tv for being an invaluable resource for watching and getting information about the races as well as photos and videos after the races. Those guys have been doing a formidable job for a very long time.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the photos I’ve posted over the years; I currently have over 14,000 saved (just pro cycling related). There are lots of places to find photos and often the gems are lurking in less travelled places, yet for those of you who draw enjoyment from looking at photos of this wonderful sport I would recommend the following links as worth bookmarking:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/media/?taglist=pelo-pics-media#.Vfpu3_lVhBc
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/gallery
http://pelotonmagazine.com/category/shutter/
http://pcwt.tumblr.com/
http://cyclingtips.com.au/category/photo-galleries/
http://velonews.competitor.com/category/gallery
http://stories.strava.com/
Often the team websites have some very good photos which you rarely see on other sites, like TinkoffSaxo at the moment.

Lots of ‘light’ sites/tumblrs/blogs have come and gone and there definitely seem to be fewer than before, but here are a few which are good for passing the time:
http://www.ciclismo-espresso.com/
http://thismachinekillscobbles.tumblr.com
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=129612

The best resource bar none for doping in pro cycling:
http://www.dopeology.org/

Post stats:
Number of occurrences in my posts of (includes variants):
Heavyweight (222), Lightweight (110), True Champion (56), Contador (2839), Froome (1314), Greatest (300), Sky (1866), Panache (115), Wheel sucking (63), Certified (39), Legend (64), Dope (850), Racer (232), Pure (295)
Number of posts on the forum that include Frenchie: 2697

My men (second version of signature list win tally):
If I had to select my men going forward, I would have the following in the older bunch: Contador, Nibali, Tiralongo, Tony Martin, Dan Martin, Boonen, Cancellara, Valverde, Gilbert
And the younger bunch: Dunbar, Meintjes, Aru, Alaphilippe, Kwiatkowski, Chaves, Yates x 2, Formolo, Barguil, Quintana, Latour

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Farewell BikeRadar ProRace Forum!

specialgueststar

1. I thought he would have gone directly after the world champs rr elite men had been announced (hopefully one of his mans)

2. I didn't think he would go on a dreary Thursday afternoon

3. Good luck. I enjoyed your posts

4. Master thread starter ....moi??

5. A Frenchfighter trophy should be established for up and coming posters

craigus89

This would be a much more positive thread if you didn't include your block list.

Evidently your spats with people have been a big part of your time here, and evidently you relished that. That is a shame. Maybe you should take a leaf out of your own book and try to be more positive.

spaceman147

All the best, will miss your posts.

Take care.

seanoconn

Sorry to see you go

This is all RideOnTime's fault!

Richj

As a long time "lurker" but regular reader I think its a shame you feel the need to "retire" but agree with you the forum on a whole is a lot more negative than a few years ago although that's more of a social media thing than just BR.

Enjoyed a lot of your photos and thanks for taking the time to put them up.

philwint

So long and thanks for all the pics

adr82

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19704992#p19704992]SpecialGuestStar[/url] wrote:

1. I thought he would have gone directly after the world champs rr elite men had been announced (hopefully one of his mans)

I thought so too - I'm also slightly shocked to see his final "my men" list contains a mere 21 riders, I thought there would be 40+ on it!

I know he really annoyed some people with his opinions (I felt the same when I started posting here), but if you don't take it too seriously it's more amusing than anything else... and it often kept things interesting when there wasn't much to talk about on the road.

fleshtuxedo

I liked FFs contributions some of the time, but at other times I found his need to divide pro cycling into good guys and bad guys childish and disrespectful. There's a parallel here with the change to PMQs now that Corbyn is in place. There will be less squabbling over polarised opinions and point scoring, and more balanced debate. I'm honestly not sure if that will be as interesting as it was for a lot of people on here, but we will see.

Or maybe a new divisive character will emerge to assume the mantle. Is there anyone with the energy, time, and sheer bloody mindedness to step up?

timoid.

Good luck Frenchie. I've not always agreed with you, but you've been good value.

philbar72

Your photography specials will be Missed FF as will you. enjoy life away from Bikeradar.

disgruntledgoat

2 shout outs... Aw shucks.

All the best fella, may you always have a tailwind.

And to think that Rideontime killed him off, there's no justice.

timoid.

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705041#p19705041]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:

2 shout outs... Aw shucks.

All the best fella, may you always have a tailwind.

And to think that Rideontime killed him off, there's no justice.

What the heck did Rideontime do?

disgruntledgoat

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705046#p19705046]Timoid.[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705041#p19705041]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:

2 shout outs... Aw shucks.

All the best fella, may you always have a tailwind.

And to think that Rideontime killed him off, there's no justice.

What the heck did Rideontime do?

In one of the few threads he started that wasn't a cut and paste from his terrible blog, he noted that FF was coming up 30,000 posts and mooted that retirement may be an appropriate celebration.

gweeds

Proud to make the block list

disgruntledgoat

I'm also glad that we both managed to keep our disagreements respectful. Makes for a more civilised place. I think I must be the man who argued with FF the most without ever making the block list

timoid.

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705051#p19705051]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705046#p19705046]Timoid.[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705041#p19705041]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:

2 shout outs... Aw shucks.

All the best fella, may you always have a tailwind.

And to think that Rideontime killed him off, there's no justice.

What the heck did Rideontime do?

In one of the few threads he started that wasn't a cut and paste from his terrible blog, he noted that FF was coming up 30,000 posts and mooted that retirement may be an appropriate celebration.

And that made him retire? Ok.

I can think of a few more around here that I'd like start similar threads for...

the article don

Appreciated the contrarian viewpoints and obvious passion. See ya!

PS: I am in your line of work, albeit a back office minion

Yellow Peril

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705059#p19705059]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:

I'm also glad that we both managed to keep our disagreements respectful. Makes for a more civilised place. I think I must be the man who argued with FF the most without ever making the block list[/quote]

So never tested positive with FF? #Armstrong

timoid.

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705059#p19705059]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:

I'm also glad that we both managed to keep our disagreements respectful. Makes for a more civilised place. I think I must be the man who argued with FF the most without ever making the block list

Not Normal

flasher

Self-indulgent nonsense, it's just a bike forum.

mike6

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705056#p19705056]Gweeds[/url] wrote:

Proud to make the block list

+1.

"Thouroughly annoying, abusive, baiting and childish"(Quote) Huge pot calling the kettle, but I am not in the least surprised.

FF, probably the only poster with the ego to write himself an obit, and its longer than the Gettysberg Address.

joelsim

Well I hope you'll have more time to spend on deliberating your poor attitude to gay rights now.

Vino'sGhost

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705096#p19705096]Joelsim[/url] wrote:

Well I hope you'll have more time to spend on deliberating your poor attitude to gay rights now.

BAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHHH

disgruntledgoat

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705094#p19705094]mike6[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705056#p19705056]Gweeds[/url] wrote:

Proud to make the block list

+1.

"Thouroughly annoying, abusive, baiting and childish"(Quote) Huge pot calling the kettle, but I am not in the least surprised.

FF, probably the only poster with the ego to write himself an obit, and its longer than the Gettysberg Address.

Four score and seven posts ago Frenchfighter brought forth on this forum a new notion, conceived in panache, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, except Alberto Contador, who is better.

Latterly he engaged in a great amount of mostly civil discourse, testing whether that notion, or any notion so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that discourse. We have come to dedicate a portion of this forum, as a final resting place for he who here gave many their avatars that that forum might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave man, living now dead to us, who struggled here, has consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what he did here (mores the pity). It is for us the still posting, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which he who posted here have has far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from French Fighter we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of panache—and that pointless and doomed attacking of the peloton, by the peloton, for the peloton, shall not perish from the World Tour.

kleinstroker

Strange! I joined before you and have kept my involvement and post count at a minimum, I think you just burned too bright mate!

Richmond Racer 2

Touching and moving, DG

*stiffens resolve*

Dorset_Boy

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705094#p19705094]mike6[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705056#p19705056]Gweeds[/url] wrote:

Proud to make the block list

+1.

"Thoroughly annoying, abusive, baiting and childish"(Quote) Huge pot calling the kettle, but I am not in the least surprised.

FF, probably the only poster with the ego to write himself an obit, and its longer than the Gettysberg Address.

+2
The complete lack of self awareness and the arrogance in staggering.

It's such a shame you couldn't cut the baiting and deliberate trolling out because you clearly have a great passion for the sport, have posted some good 'race commentary' on the spoiler threads, and have linked to some epic photos.

I am pretty certain that you are a lot more mature and humble in real life, and hope that if and when you come back you show that.

Your arrognace will mean you won't read half this thread, but none the less Keep pedaling!

schlepcycling

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705090#p19705090]Flasher[/url] wrote:

Self-indulgent nonsense, it's just a bike forum.

+1

mfin

I don’t know or care to know what he (or anyone else on here for that matter) is like in person. But, a vast amount of his posts are loaded with snipes at riders and teams he doesn’t like, or at ones he knows other people do like to serve no positive purpose at all but just to wind people up.

To try to paint a picture where others have made this forum a more negative place when it is clear he does more of the above than anyone else by an absolute mile I think shows a staggering lack of self-awareness or is a joke.

I knew I was on some kind of block list of his and I don’t suffer fools gladly so I guess I said stuff he didn’t like. Hauling him up on his ridiculousness is something people did on pretty much every day he posted, simply because of the unrelentingly daft, antagonistic and ignorant content of what he wrote. All of that is a negative reflection on him, not on others.

This forum will be better without FF, there are some great posters on here which have got more and more lost in the noise and volume of his self-obsessed rubbish. We can do without his photos and his opinions added nothing.

To FF, no hard feelings, in fact no feelings at all. All the best.

Can someone pull the flush now please

dabber

A drama queen and self-obsessed to the last.

FF you achieved two things as far as I'm concerned...

1. You succeeded in annoying me sufficiently that I actually responded to some of your drivel... my bad, I guess I should have just ignored you and kept my fingers off the keyboard as it's pointless reacting to someone you have no respect for.

2. You changed my feelings about your hero, Contador, from being fairly neutral and at times quite enjoying him to one of negativity with your constant childish postings about the man.

Goodbye (I hope).