I’m guessing that Hiro is watching. I am. Anyone else?
GO LANCE, GO!!! 
.
Trying to follow it. Does any TV Channel show it? I mostly get the results the next morning in the paper.
I surely am. Outdoor Life Channel carries all stages and repeats them in the afternoon. Between the two showings daily, I anticipate not missing a single stage.
Hi Folks,
I’ll be watching when possible, I’m curious about Jan Ullrich’s form though, not much being said, a dark horse perhaps? I suspect that if someone does beat Armstrong it’ll be one of the newer generation though.
Cheers, Mac
I like those bikes with engines mounted on a lot better 
.
No I’m not really the lacy type (not that much at least). I really enjoy adventure racing such as Echo Challange and stuff.
Tour de LANCE!! Tour de LANCE!!! Get it right man 
I don’t get to watch it on TV, but I’m reading the paper every day. Scary bit about the stage 1 crash, that could have been a catastrophe.
Loren
In North America the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) has a monopoly on showing the tour. We had to upgrade our Dish Network package to get the channel, but oh well…
If you go to Bicycling Magazine’s site you can get the latest news online:
http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance
Amazingly, all but 2 of the riders involved in the crash were back racing today. Some were racing with broken bones, many with serious road-rash. Sometimes these guys seem super human…
I’d like to see Jan Ullrich at least take a stage win. He deserves it!
Amazing sport. You know it might have been
transformed by recumbents, but they
have been banned from races. Best
But sad thing is that most of my favorite riders have retired. Life is very short in this sport. 
I am interested in whether Lance will become 5 times champion like Indurain, how close Beloki can get to Lance and what’s going on the son of Merckx!!
A recumbant on the Col du Galibier, that I’d like to see
Cheers, Mac
Heh…can you imagine watching a recumbent try to lean into a turn at 60+ mph coming down the backside? Or how about in the mud and muck of Paris-Roubaix? 
I saw the crash on OLN’s show…scary. The first guy just lost a toe clip, went down, slid..(OW! I’ve been there doing triathlons), kind of came to a sitting position, then the next cyclist plowed into his ribcage. 
owie.
How about Tyler Hamilton though? Still sitting, what, 8th? And racing with a broken collarbone. THAT has got to be painful.
Aodhan
I would watch if I could-- but it is only on the Outdoor Life Channel, which I do not get. Grrr!!!
Tres
I don’t know these places you’re mentioning,
but I don’t know why a recumbent couldn’t
do all that as well or better. Lower center
of gravity helps in cornering,
and they should handle rough terrain
and mud at least as well if not better than
a trad racing bike. Also they can
deal with somewhat thicker tires.
Also I suppose they would
be safer. Less distance to fall
and less likely to go head first.
As I understand it, the reason they’ve been
banned from races is that they’re
faster than the traditional bikes.
The riders can push harder on the
pedals by bracing on the seat;
also they’re more aerodynamic. So you can’t have mixed races
with em both; once they’re in the
races everybody must ride them to be competitive
and so bike racing is transformed
in a way people didn’t want it
to be. Best
Haven’t seen anybody with a bike and whistle yet.
I’ve never ridden a recumbent, but it is my impression from what I have read in bicycling magazines that recumbents are harder to ride up hills. Perhaps this is because you can’t stand on the pedals the way you can with a traditional bike.
Hi Eric,
quite right, you can’t stand for the sprint either. There might be an aerodynamic advantage on a flat time trial stage although I would say it’s minimal as TT bikes and riders are quite aerodynamic when viewed from the front. The indoor 1 hour distance record for Recumbants is better than for conventional cycles but the rider is laying almost flat. Not to say that recumbants don’t offer advantages in other cycling disciplines such as touring etc.
Aodhan,
Paris - Roubaix, quite a race, no wonder they call it “The Hell of the North”. I actually prefer the spring classics to the Giro, TDF or Vuelta.
May the best man win and hopefully no fatalities.
Cheers, Mac
Permit me to respectfully disagree.
The aerodynamics of recumbents is
an advantage of course, but the principal
advantage is that the rider is
braced against a seat. Ordinarily
a rider’s force on the pedals is
limited by his weight–push very hard
and the pedals don’t go down,
your body goes up, which limits
how hard you can peddle. But suppose
your body is braced against something
rigid and you can
push with triple or more the force it would
take to lift your body and all
of that force is transferred to the peddles.
Well then you could transfer a great
deal more force to the peddles than you
could if you were sitting or standing
on them without a brace to push against.
I have read that that’s why
recumbents are faster and have been
excluded, and it certainly seems to make sense
physically. Best
Hi Jim,
technically you don’t push down on pedals (as in straight down) you pedal in circles one foot pulling up and forward as the other goes down and round, it’s a circling motion as opposed to a pumping motion, ( if you get a chance to see Lance Armstrong during the time trial you’ll see that he spins quite quickly in a smaller gear than some of the others) Bracing yourself against something exagerates the pumping motion, when you do this there are effectivly 2 positions in every cycle where you stop generating power, the point when one leg is fully extended and the other fully contracted. I guess we’re not going to convince each other
Cheers, Mac
Right. I agree of course with what you’re saying
about spinning. The point is that this (spinning)
can be
done at a much greater level of force
and intensity if you’re braced against
something. I don’t understand why
having your body braced would
replace a spinning motion with
a pumping motion. Best
Hi Jim,
fair enough, I’ve seen some arguments between Recumbant riders and DF riders, not pretty. Maybe we should leave it as it is. I take it you ride a Recumbant yourself? if so, my apologies if you felt I was putting you down, just reiterating what I’d read, which was of course in books aimed more at DF cyclists, maybe I should broaden my horizons
Cheers, Mac