Have you every watched a grand tour stage before? 90% of the stages are very predictable. It's been this way for like ummmm...how many years..:) Friday could have snow at Big Bear (I'll be there), and Mt. Baldy is going to suck if it's in the 40s and 50s (I'll be there). The Amgen ToC is as close as we get to a real Euro stage race. Please ask Andy Hampstein about "boring" stage races (ignoring most EPO fueled races after). Uphill finishes are exciting, but I still love sprints that come down to last 1K...I've been in too many races decided by a few inches.

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"Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps"
Blog = http://extrememomentum.com|Photos = http://wheelgoodphotos.com

Well the Phil and Paul coverage certainly doesn't help things. I'm honesty considering getting a legitimate VPN so I can stream coverage from Eurosport. If I have to listen to one more race by those two jackasses in going to kill someone. Catch phrase after catchphrase after catchphrase. Not to mention how many times they get the names wrong or say someone is on one team when they're on another.

Phil & Paul are well past their expiration date....hell, they passed that mark a decade ago. It has been years since they did anything to improve a broadcast.

I never bothered to check the route this year....just saw today that tomorrow's stage ends in Lodi. My uncle is the the current Mayor there. Just got off the phone with him and got a few interesting nuggets re: the negotiations, costs, etc.

Up until last week, they still didn't have a contract signed with the race organization as they were still negotiating what the city was going to provide re: hotels, etc.

Funds are coming primarily through fund raising and the city is providing the "soft" costs (road closures, OT for police, etc).

Lodi is pretty small town and hopefully it is a nice little boost to their economy.

Will interesting to see if he gets on any of the podium coverage after the race...told him to point and wink at the camera if he does.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

Isn't the the first day of any multi-stage race kind of boring? Seems like they always start off soft. That 20 minute TTT at the Giro wasn't all that either.

Don't worry, TdF is just around the corner for cycling fans. Unfortunately Lance isn't racing this year

It was a sprinter stage. The first climbing stage is in Mount Hamilton on Tuesday.

The website has free, streaming coverage of the race with additional streaming race data on the frames. It's hands down the best race coverage in the sport. I for one don't need the color commentators to tell me what I'm watching. They are seeing the same video we are seeing.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

A different perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5btlMxCpfSY

Pretty exciting for me - had a friend and local racer get run off the road and into the ditch ;-)

Too bad Ligget can't pronounce his name very well (Freter). They also kept saying it was his 1st race of 2015. Guess the wimpy local stuff he did for fun this spring don't count (as they shouldn't in any race I'm in!)

Grand tour bike racing is like baseball. You will learn to like it once you appreciate all the nuances. I guess you could always just go watch an Ironman then. Much more exciting ...

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

I live in Sac and have rode part of the course they did today. Definitely a flat course. Riding along the Garden Highway is great with the river at your side. It's more of a peaceful ride. IMO, the course this year in Sac was more boring than last years course here.

Look, I'm not a BAMF like you. Never have been, never will be. But I'm not a cycling virgin whose interests span the month of July. Before we had cycling on teevee or streaming net, I followed bike racing thru the print media (early-mid 80's) and then World Class Cycling (or whatever the name of the company was) VHS tapes and then DVD's. Today I watched the 2nd stage of the Giro before the ToC. It was far better racing. You can't honestly say that the break was working very hard for the majority of the televised portion of the ToC. They weren't and it was obvious. The announcers didn't know when it was their turn to say something and there was dead air as proof. They boasted of the 27 mph avg on a flat course with a tailwind. We've all seen moderate mountain stages in Europe that have had average speeds that fast. It was a poor effort all around and I was disappointed. Sorry I saw a different race than you.

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Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill
of hope
For a destination

Good lord, but you guys are full of assumptions today. In addition to my following of bike racing as I explained in my last post, I've also raced for 25 years - from 25 until I was 50. I did 1 or 2 tri's in the early 80's just for fun. I'm not bragging, because I wasn't gifted with talent like some people, but I've been there, done that. Your putdown and backdoor brag is not very becoming for a man of your station in life.

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Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill
of hope
For a destination

"Did anybody else come away with this perception, or am I off the mark? "

Didn't mean to offend, but you did ask ...

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

That was great (brought back some old memories), but did you know that was from a last years race? Not sure which stage.

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Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill
of hope
For a destination

Did the ToC get elevated to Grand Tour status?

/pink

The flat stages of the ToC are almost always a snoozefest.....I generally DVR it and fast forward through most of it and watch the last 5K (unless I see something interesting as I FF).

Given the all-but-inevitable outcome from today's stage, it was more boring than normal, IMO. They certainly don't need to devote 2 hours to it.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

It was from 2014.

Not sure why the stage came as a surprise. How was the Giro different? It also ended in a sprint finish. Same deal. The first few days of any stage race or GT are almost always that profile.

The ToC stage 1 sprint finale was a foregone conclusion and the route wasn't a day-long tailwind. They averaged 26mph until hitting the circuits and then ramped it up to almost 32mph for 5+miles, after 120 miles of racing. I'm not sure what mid mountain stsge you're referring to but that was impressive to me.

Spoiler alert: tomorrow will also be a sprint.

Trying to start trouble now, eh?


In all seriousness. Today was really borrringgg, with the exception of 99999999999999999999999999999 pot holes, half of which were big enough to swallow the quickstep sprint team. (BTW - HOLY SHIT - those dudes are huge.) There was also a long stretch of deep, unnecessary, gravel, which I actually enjoyed. It was also amusing to listen to Cav scream "fooking elll" at some of the stuff we road through. I did manage to get some TV time with a slight shunt and the chase back through the cars (It's kinda hard to catch a field like this in the 53x14 when your RD is f'ed.)

I'm going to eaten alive on here for posting a strava link on here but if you want to follow the race check this out. https://www.strava.com/pros/263443

Also enjoy this beauty ;) http://www.steephill.tv/...VU_ymokfTuI.facebook

Cheers and enjoy the next week of suffering.

LOL!

Get some sleep John - best of luck tomorrow!

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

thought end of second stage of Giro was excellent - carnage on run in to Genova, australian IAM couldn't stay on bike, very good

Yeah but ToC isn't a grand tour.

What caused the crash?

See the video - at approximately 10-12 seconds in, a spectator on a fixed gear bike casually rides off the side-walk and gets mixed with the left edge of the peloton after which carnage ensures.

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That was from the Giro, not the ToC

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____________________________________
Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

It was a typical flat stage race with the long break that gradually gets reeled in and then ends in a mass sprint. While ToC isn't a grand tour it's the same in the other stage races, the first week n the Tour de France is usually really boring except for the final kms where you see sprinters working their way to the front, or some losing position because of a bad turn, good or bad leadouts, etc.

Yesterday's group sprint was great to see the power and expertise of a team like Etix. They had Renshaw at the front with Cavendish on his wheel at the right moment, Cav looks behind him to see who's there and then outsprints everyone. Great performance by Cav but equally impressive by his team.

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Don't forget to attack!