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Comments - Peter Pan meets Lou Reed
October 22, 2009
Sean Yates levers! WTF? How was that comfortable?
- jIM, Troy,NY
October 20, 2009
Best post in a while. I remember the travel journals from "back-in-the-day" when you were a fledgling LBS-sort-of. The cardboard story cracked me up. The mind of a born entrepreneur. Yoga rules. NO sport is solid on its own. The body needs variety. October 20 was Osteoporosis-day and Velonews pointed out how cycling is non-load bearing, and many top level cyclists have bone strength of a 70-year old. Cross training is required for overall health. Cycling-only might win races, but is not optimal for total fitness. Lance rules. How many other top athletes spend so much time and effort on a worthy cause? Sure, many support this'n'that, but NOBODY on the same level as Lance. I don't care if he gets rich in the process, or races with an ulterior agenda; he fights the good fight and should be commended for it.
- Anders Mard, Stockholm, Sweden
October 20, 2009
You are so right that balanced strength & flexibility from riding is an illusion. Repetitive stress is more like it. Requires constant attention to re-balance, especially if you are doing big miles. I'd be a wreck without Pilates.
VDB -- sad story, just like Pantani, etc, because it's big statement about the dark side of being a pro. But I remember some stage at some Vuelta where he made a brilliant move, more impressive than LBL, even if it was a lie.
- terry, Fredericksburg, TX
October 20, 2009
If you enjoyed the painful, unbalanced-cycling-body discoveries of yoga, try working out for an hour with a personal trainer. Very enlightening.
- Carson, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
October 20, 2009
mikael- The problem is I have been following too closely for too many years. And since the days of the toxic twins of PDM I have a hard time believing the truely heroic efforts of the pro racer anymore. I no longer trust day after day strong perfomances...Too fishy.
- Frenchy, NYC
October 20, 2009
Well, nobody ever claimed the TDF organizers (ASO) were fair minded reasonable people. Excluding Astana from a tour when it was an entirely different team than the one that had the doping problem is an example. And just ask Floyd Landis about their stance on ethical and impartial and most importantly competent labs doing their anti-doping tests and ignoring glaring inconsistencies and the fact that no other WADA lab would have even considered it a positive. But, on balance, I think the TTT definitely favors certain strong teams and we'll be better off with it not being in the tour this year - in the end the strongest rider will win barring any disasters. The ASO are arrogant dipshits. But it's still the most important race of the year I guess.
- Steve , Tucson, AZ
October 20, 2009
Frenchy, if you're not able to tell the difference between riders like Gilbert and Nuyens and the likes of Di Luca, Rebellin, and Boonen on the other, you're really not paying attention.
- Mikael, far north
October 19, 2009
Number of wins per team in 2009
Columbia-HTC - 85 wins
Saxo Bank - 43
Garmin-Slipstream - 29
Rabobank - 26
Katusha - 24
Quick Step - 24
Caisse d’Epargne - 23
Astana - 22
Française des Jeux - 18
Liquigas - 17
Cofidis - 15
Lampre - 15
Bouygues Telecom - 13
Silence-Lotto - 12
Milram - 8
Euskaltel-Euskadi - 6
AG2R - 5
Fuji-Servetto - 4
- jb, montreal
October 19, 2009
@ Psych Chicken - emailing an opted in list on health care reform is good no doubt. However, if Lance were to get out there and use his off season to go on Fox, CNN, PBS, Daily Show et al and say "look, I had a big scare with healthcare and thankfully Oakley stepped in and I got world class care and beat cancer into remission . . . I want everyone to have the same and we can do that so no one has to go through what I went through." Well now, that's what I'm talking about. Getting an email from an opt in list is like getting one from Ben and Jerry telling me to support tough environmental laws. Big difference, that's all - so, sorry, don't agree.
- Tom, DC
October 19, 2009
On saddle comfort...back in the day of wool tights over your shorts for the winter, we would chalk it up to the extra thickness and would lower the saddle. I always figured the discomfort came from not riding 4 hours a day and becoming soft. The saddle was more broken in, your leather chamois too. But, you were carbo loading with beer. Loose those 5 kilos
- Fausto, NJ
October 19, 2009
Yoga, right on. Lance/Contador thing, well, let's just say that the winner of the 2010 tour should have to attack at least once! If Lance had a 2 minute advantage from a TTT and sat on wheels the whole race, would that make anyone happy? Let's see if Lance can not only hold Contador's wheel but have to throw down an attack or two of his own to get an advantage. I think the last time we saw Lance attack in the Tour was before Contador took his training wheels off.
- Steve, Miama
October 19, 2009
Tom, I'm no Lance fan, quite the contrary. (I think he's as dirty as anybody in the peloton.) But Lance has been vocal on healthcare; I recently got an email from Livestrong signed by Lance urging me to support healthcare reform. Could he do more? Absolutely. But he's not hiding his position, and he is using Livestrong to try to advance a cause that is unpopular to a portion of the populace. (See this link: http://www.livestrongaction.org/campaigns/healthcare?tr=y&auid=5395431) That's not something most pitchmen would do, and for that he deserves some credit.
- Psycho Chicken, Oak Park
October 19, 2009
Re: TTT. Yes, absolutely. Wasn't that the reason they dropped it in 2005?
- Chris, Brooklyn
October 19, 2009
bonus points if you attempt hot power yoga - the room is heated to 40 celcius for the duration of the 90 minutes and is a very intense experience. it's like training for a climb up the Madeleine in 38 celcius heat in the middle of July!
ps - don't ever expect any of your cycling buddies to respect you for going to yoga...suckers
- michael, vancouver, bc
October 19, 2009
Yoga, yes. TTT against Lance, um, come on, do you recall how many years there was no TTT and then all of sudden it came back for multiple years. If onlyLance were to be out there front and center yelling about healthcare it might detract from the Livestrong thing as another Nike megalabel. I have yet to see the guy get out there in a big way.
- Tom, DC
October 19, 2009
The TTT would hurt GC riders other than Alberto Contador, and while it is fun to watch, I don't know if a three week tour should be decided on whether the number 8 guy on your team crashed or had a mechanical thus forcing you to slow down for him to latch back on the train.
- Johnwithanh, DC
October 19, 2009
"It's a pro-Contador move from the ASO, saving him what would otherwise be a 2 minute loss in the TTT." - I think it's a pro everybody else move. I love the TTT, but it sure skewed the results in 2009.
- Cathy, Colorado
October 19, 2009
Wii Fit Yoga; do it.
- erik, huntington
October 19, 2009
Good god, how many poorly-timed crashes has Rabobank had this season? They look like a bunch of cat 4s.
- AH, Indy
October 19, 2009
"Its been awhile since we have seen a winning streak like this..."
Hmm...DiLuca had one in the Ardennes a few years ago and Silence/Lotto is not exactly know for hiring the cleanest of riders (Kohl and Dekker...). Jaded- it kind of stinks that every great race achievement these days is met with my own disdain for the athletes.
- Frenchy, NYC
October 19, 2009
Another gem. I agree 100% on the yoga. Thanks!
- Kevin, Pleasant Hill, CA
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