Le Tour de France 2009!!!

[Nude_not_rude]

Well it starts today in Monaco and I can't believe no-one has mentioned it yet.....I'm rooting for Aussie Cadel Evans (runner up for the past 2 years) and also the return of legendary American Lance Armstrong (7x champion 1999-2005) !!! Can't wait. I love watching it for the scenery too, beautiful countryside. Makes me want to go there.


http://www.letour.com/

or

http://www.letour.com/us/homepage_courseTDF.html for the English version....

Who here is going to watch this over the next three weeks? A brilliant bonus for us in Sydney is that this year we can watch it live on a free to air channel SBS 2.

This year they are even going to start stage 5 on 8th July in Le Cap d'Adge . I wonder if they will mention the naturist quarter in the coverage?

[MERRD]

My God, Tod... Am I going to watch this? DAMN SURE!
I'm invited by the Astana Team (Lance's Crew) to come and visit a few stages!

[MERRD]

So yeah, I'm glad to show your guys a small part of 'my worlds' biggest event. I don't know if y'all have been able to watch it (there's no footage on youtube yet, I'll post it when available).

It was a brilliant stage, and except from a fairly unsuprising winner there were enough things to tell about the opposition etc.  The most interesting thing (for me at least) is the usage of bikes in this Time Trial. As you know I'm combining my cycling with a study in Aerodynamics, which is a major part of the creation of the bike.

[MERRD]

It dissapoints me to see that incidents (as there are still incidents) change your view on cycling in general.

[Nude_not_rude]

Sorry, guys, but there were too many doping scandals in several past seasons that I really don't like to even know anything about the tour any more.
There are so many bad things done to a human body to achieve extreme results which it just cannot (sorry, we are not supermen!).

Yes I am dissapointed by the doping scandal which have occured in the past few years, and yes there may well be some more this year. why? It's a major event that people desperately want to win and some will do anything (rightly or wrongly) to help their cause. I think it's great that anyone who is caught is banned from the sport for a period of time for bringing the sport into disrepute.

It is just too far away from my image of nature and naturism that for me it almost doesn't have a right to be in this forum. Sports yes, chemicals no!

Well Herman, you may notice that we have a large section here called General Talk (primarily non-naturist) and this is posted in the subsection Breffni's Sports Bar! So I do think it has a right to be here. It's one beauty of this forum that not everything has to be related to nudity. The Tour de France is about sports, not chemicals. However you are welcome to talk about chemicals, heck if you want to talk about anything, even rock collecting, we can find a place for it.

[Nude_not_rude]

I'm invited by the Astana Team (Lance's Crew) to come and visit a few stages!

wow Martijn! Sounds exciting. I bet you can't wait to go check it out. Are you able to go?

So yeah, I'm glad to show your guys a small part of 'my worlds' biggest event. I don't know if y'all have been able to watch it (there's no footage on youtube yet, I'll post it when available).

If you go to the TDF website there is footage available. Also highlights and features can be seen on http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/#

It was a brilliant stage, and except from a fairly unsuprising winner there were enough things to tell about the opposition etc.  The most interesting thing (for me at least) is the usage of bikes in this Time Trial. As you know I'm combining my cycling with a study in Aerodynamics, which is a major part of the creation of the bike.

Yeah it was a good stage. Interesting how they use carbon instead of the normal spokes to reduce drag. I'm guessing it would be a problem in a cross-wind though? Have you experience with this Martijn?

My picks to follow Cadel (5th) and Armstrong (10th) had a fair day. Should be a good 3 weeks.

[Danee]

It is just too far away from my image of nature and naturism that for me it almost doesn't have a right to be in this forum. Sports yes, chemicals no!

Well Herman, you may notice that we have a large section here called General Talk (primarily non-naturist) and this is posted in the subsection Breffni's Sports Bar! So I do think it has a right to be here. It's one beauty of this forum that not everything has to be related to nudity. The Tour de France is about sports, not chemicals. However you are welcome to talk about chemicals, heck if you want to talk about anything, even rock collecting, we can find a place for it.

By chemicals I mean doping. So it HAS to do with this topic.

Herman, he was saying, it is ok to talk about anything. It does not have to do with N or anything like that. 

[MERRD]

Yeah it was a good stage. Interesting how they use carbon instead of the normal spokes to reduce drag. I'm guessing it would be a problem in a cross-wind though? Have you experience with this Martijn?

My picks to follow Cadel (5th) and Armstrong (10th) had a fair day. Should be a good 3 weeks.

He asks if I have exerpience with this? I have spent 12 hours in a wind tunnel the other day! Yes!
The thing is, you need to reduce wind resistence, you can do this by reducing the total area of everything that contacts with the wind. The tire is one thing. If you take a regular tire (with spokes) these are fairly low, but thick. The wind will confront you when using these tires (okay, when you are a non-professional that second doesn't matter, but check the race results of the first stage if you wanne see how close it can get)... therefore they are using these special TT tires, who have a very high carbon frame so that they can make the tires less thick (=less resistence)

Now your question - in cross wind, it doesn't really matter.
http://www.bikerumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/bontrager-aeolus-90-wheel1.jpg

As you can see in that picture the inside carbon is slightly curved like the wing of a plane - so the resistence in cross wind is close to normal.   

PS. I will get some funky footage of my wind tunnel testing!

[Nude_not_rude]

It is just too far away from my image of nature and naturism that for me it almost doesn't have a right to be in this forum. Sports yes, chemicals no!

Well Herman, you may notice that we have a large section here called General Talk (primarily non-naturist) and this is posted in the subsection Breffni's Sports Bar! So I do think it has a right to be here. It's one beauty of this forum that not everything has to be related to nudity. The Tour de France is about sports, not chemicals. However you are welcome to talk about chemicals, heck if you want to talk about anything, even rock collecting, we can find a place for it.

By chemicals I mean doping. So it HAS to do with this topic.

Yes it is unfortunate that cycling has become synonymous with doping in recent years. Even worse, cycling is not the only sport to suffer the effects of it. To be honest I can't think of a competitive sport which doesn't have a doping problem, and that is sad. However there are a great many sportsmen and women who are drug free who are worth celebrating. I don't hold a sport responsible for the foolish, desperate actions of a few cheats. Therefore I still love watching the Tour de France and the feats of the athletes involved.

Martijn - Thank you for that explanation. I've learnt something today. Today is a good day! :)  I would love to see some footage of the wind tunnel is you can upload it somewhere.

So, Martijn if the Astana Team have invited you to check it out, does that mean they are interested in you joining them in future tours? I certainly hope so! Then I'd really have a reason to watch and cheer!

[joeyn]

Go Lance Armstrong!
 

[Stuart]

Go Lance Armstrong!
 

I know nothing about the sport of cycling other than the fact that Lance Armstrong is a god among men, if for no other reason than his appearance in Dodgeball.

For whenever you feel like quitting

[MERRD]

Euhm. I don't know if they're really interested. I know Dirk Demol (a belgian guy, directeur sportif of Astana, Lance's Crew) for a bit, and I know he watches me race etc. And well - at one point we were at a dinner where he was as well, and I game a little tactical explanation on the luxury problem that astana has at the moment (namely, 4 men who could all win the Tour de France in one team...)   and he was impressed and told me to come over.

So, today I got an e-mail saying that I was expected in Bourgoin-Jallieu on the 22th of july, and I can check out the 17th stage! :D

[joeyn]

Go Lance Armstrong!
 

I know nothing about the sport of cycling other than the fact that Lance Armstrong is a god among men, if for no other reason than his appearance in Dodgeball.

For whenever you feel like quitting

 
CLASSIC!!!
 

[Nude_not_rude]

Euhm. I don't know if they're really interested. I know Dirk Demol (a belgian guy, directeur sportif of Astana, Lance's Crew) for a bit, and I know he watches me race etc. And well - at one point we were at a dinner where he was as well, and I game a little tactical explanation on the luxury problem that astana has at the moment (namely, 4 men who could all win the Tour de France in one team...)   and he was impressed and told me to come over.

So, today I got an e-mail saying that I was expected in Bourgoin-Jallieu on the 24th of july, and I can check out the 19th stage! :D

Yeah well so they've got  Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Andréas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer in the top 10. Must suck to be the other members of the team. Trouble is they don't really have a leader, one guy who they would all sacrifice their tour for which is a problem. Though I don't think Kloden or Leipheimer are really in it for over-all winning, but they do win the odd stages here and there.

Let us know what it's like in Bourgoin-Jallieu! Perhaps some pics?

[Nude_not_rude]

O.k. so Stage 5 has been run and won and Team Astana have 5 of the top 7 riders in the over-all standings. Not having a leader is obviously causing huge problems in the team...not! Lance Armstrong is only 2nd by 22/100 second, after more than 15 hours of racing. They currently hold 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th. Pretty impressive!

Shame about Cadel Evans after the bad run in the team time trials yesterday...Still, it's only day 5 of a three week race, so there's still time. :)