Good Lord, where does the time go? It seems only yesterday that The Cyclist Who Shall Not Be Named was curled up in Soaprah’s expansive lap, singin’ the blues. And now here it is time for that race he was so fond of.
This isn’t just any old dash around Frogland, mind you. It’s the 100th Tour; the defending champion, Brave, Brave, Brave Sir Wiggo’, has bravely run away; and our old friend Andrew Hood says that while everyone has his eye on the final week, that first week could be a doozy.
So, naturally, Charles “Live Update Guy” Pelkey will be covering the bugger from stem to stern, starting at dark-thirty on Saturday morning. As usual, I’ll be playing Ed to his Johnny, which is to say I will be slouched on the couch, belching besotted witticisms such as, “Hey-yo!” and “You are correct, sir.”
So mark your calendars. And in comments, give us your picks for the final yellow jersey in Paris. Here, I’ll get the ball rolling. Now me, I think Zoom-Zoom Froome has peaked too early. …
Mad Blog Media 
Contador in a runaway – unless of course, he doesn’t… But, well, really, does anyone actually even care anymore? I used to freakin’ live for this time of year. But now at (somewhat more than) 60 years on in life, and what it’s all turned into, I just can’t get excited about it anymore. As usual, Mr. Dylan has it covered: “I used to care, but, things have changed.”
I hear you, David. I used to tape it every year, go to work or to race my own little races, then dash home and glue myself to the tube. Now, not so much. We haven’t had cable since the Flandis fiasco.
I don’t care who wins anymore. I do like looking for those little moments when someone does something insane that rewrites the script, if only for a stage. But they’re harder to come by these days.
I do like helping Charles with Live Update Guy. He’s developed himself quite a following over the years, and it’s fun to banter with the audience, which is amazingly diverse and contributes mightily to the coverage. The best part is the NRRBBB® (Non-Race-Related Blah Blah Blah), which can be anything from limericks to haiku, Monty Python to film noir.
What David said.
I feel the same as David and Khal. But, we will go watch the double Alpe d Huez stage with friends since we do not have the 150 channel package just to watch one. One hundred seven miles and climb the Alpe twice, and they wonder why you can’t win on bread and water.
My prediction – which I will guarantee to be 100% accurate – is that some guy on a road type bicycle will win!
And unless Jeanne Longo or Juli Furtado (circa ’93) shows up, I figure that ‘bet’ to be pretty darn safe.
Oh, and chances are that whomever it might be, he won’t be French!!
That’s what I usually say. “Dude on a bike, take it to the bank.” Then all you have to do is wait 10 or 20 years to find out what he was on.
Juli is bringing back the Juliana line of bikes with Santa Cruz based on a 650B wheel.
Seems there has been little coverage of RAAM. A good friend of mine gave it her best shot, but didn’t make the time cutoff at Cumberland and DNFed. I didn’t see coverage at Red Kite or VeloSnooze. Maybe I missed it.
Getting 2700 miles across the country and then DNFing has to be painful.
K, I didn’t see word one either. RAAM was never high on the VN hit parade, as most of us considered it more of an exercise in sleep deprivation than anything else. Euro’ road racing is what that audience wants, and damn little else. Tour über alles, of course.
I never followed it either, but I never had a good friend racing it. Fortunately you can follow it on the RAAM web site, but nothing about why Lisa didn’t make the cutoff. Will find out when they get home to BombTown, I suspect.
Best RAAM article, and a top five bike racing article, ever:
Crazy that the NYT pulled the plug on Play but still keeps the articles archived.
I’m very glad to hear you guys will be covering Le Tour! I was just wondering about that this morning.
As for who will win, I think Contador will rise to the occasion and blow everyone else out of the water. Froome will not live up to the hype. I kind of expect him to crack in the mountains and fall out of the top ten. But who knows – maybe he’ll kick butt. It’s going to be fun watching and seeing what happens!
Of course, we might have to wait six months or more to find out who the official “winner” turns out to be.
There was actually really good live tracking via the RAAM website this year, along with evening video updates.
“Mainstream” bicycling media will never pay much attention to RAAM.
I will miss most of the frog jog as I will be on my own extended pain cycle. Everett WA to Williamsburg VA. July 7 to Aug 7. Wish me luck! http://www.pactour.com/northern.html
Hey, MD, sounds like fun. (Well, actually, it sounds like a really long ride, is what.)
You taking pix? Drop a few to the DogHaus along with a note or two and we’ll let the gang crash your party.
I ping pong between being excited and scared shiftless (haha) about the ride. But I’ve done the training miles, will control what I can and leave the rest to fate. PAC Tour is A#1 in my book for the level of their support.
As far as pix, will have camera but not a computer. And (as my kids say) I have a “dumb phone” so no iUploads or whatever. But if I have energy left enough to type I may pop in here with an update to two via my Nook.
Have a great ride MD!
Damn…I wanna do that! Have fun and be safe!
I am now officially entering my vote for Voeckler, not that he has an iceballs chance in Colorado. He has the heart and a dedicated team I just don’t think that will be enough. He has my vote though because the Mrs. was reading over my shoulder and if I don’t vote for Tommy V. I don’t get to watch or read about no Tour, see.
How about Costa?
Huzzah for LUG and POG glad I can “tune in” to you guys as I ride the bus to work and get my tour fix. I agree that with all the dopes on dope and TCWSNBN fiasco that the grand boucle has lost some luster, However, there is still something about watching a group of 20 guys get whittled down to 5 on a major Col and then watch the drama of the last 5k to the summit. Oh and to hear the commentators (gleefully?) talk about who just got shelled of the back. “He’s Cracked!”
Ryder in the ride of his life by 12 seconds.,,,,or a broken clavicle in stage 7
Ryan