Le Musette: Waiting For l'Agnel
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 6:14 PM EDT
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A few random, arguable statements for the Musette today...
These are some of the cruelest days of Cycling, those last transition phases before the Alps. IMHO the counterclockwise route which puts the Pyrenees first virtually guarantees a third-week climax to the race. Which means the first two weeks are largely prologue. Which means, at the end of that pre-Alps phase... I really, really can't wait any longer. Will Thursday, Friday and Saturday see some good racing? Sure, why not, the entire rest of the Tour has been surprisingly entertaining. But the waiting for Sunday still sucks, even worse than the day before Flanders.
More nonsense on the flip.
My nose doesn't detect a doped peloton. I have no evidence whatsoever for this, but the racing hasn't looked very machine-like. Evans has been mostly contained, if consistent; same for Menchov and Sastre. Valverde, Cunego, Sanchez, Zubeldia -- all proved their non-doped status by falling out the back Monday. Ricco says he paid the price for his Sunday attack by racing defensively (and precariously) Monday... and this was an attack on a cat-2 climb. Kirchen, VandeVelde, etc... the stars have all shown vulnerabilities. The only guys who looked super-human Monday were Cancellara and Voigt, and while we can rest assured that those two definitely aren't human, it has nothing to do with banned substances.
Cool piece at CN showing how things wouldn't be much different had the Tour retained the old time-bonus system. Me likes. What's wrong with using actual times? Bonuses are a solution in search of a problem.
I could say something about the UCI-ASO bloodbath, but I'm in too good a mood after our feisty 18-month-old finally relented and started walking this morning. I knew he could, but he seemed to refuse, especially if he got any indication that we wanted him to. Sure enough, I caught him hidden in a corner of the yard... walking.
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So... does this show a general approval of ...
... ditching the Prologue in favor of Drei Daagse de Bretagne?
Congrats on the walking… it can’t be that much longer to tri-cycle time…
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
Bikes
coming soon. He’s already obsessed with his older brother’s cycle.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 6:25 PM EDT up reply actions
for little kids
I think the best method to teach them how to ride is on a draisine. You can buy one special, or you can just pull the pedals off of a 12” bike & put the seat down super low so they can flat foot the ground.
That being said, I’m awfully opinionated about how to teach little ones how to ride a bike for someone who doesn’t have any of her own.
Learning to ride a bike when I was kid...
... resulted in my one and only Ricco’esque bike toss. Muy frustrating for Lil’ Dan.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
Is that like a Like-a-Bike?
My friend’s son had one of these, and learned to ride a real bicyle before he turned four. It’s unreal. I stole the bike, and my own 4-year-old can now tool around on it perfectly balanced. He could probably ride a real bike at this point, though I haven’t had a chance to give it a shot just yet. Amazing stuff.
Oh, and Chris? My 15-month-old just started walking two weeks ago. She was capable a long time ago, but refused. Then that day two weeks ago, she waved bye-bye to me, and took off, went to the door, and started pounding it. She thought that walking was her ticket to freedom. It was a tough lesson for her.
Had she known any better, she may have waited an extra three months like your son.
She’s going to be a terrible teenager.
Funny
I know he knows how to walk. I know he’s just refusing. He has that personality. Maybe we can send our kids to sleepaway camp together.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 17, 2008 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Col d'Agnel
Sunday’s border crossing.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Well
it’s at km 56, so it’s not getting a ton of attention…
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 6:52 PM EDT up reply actions
so your little one is stubborn and a bit of a contrarian
wonder where little bear got it from?
cool that he’s walking. Who’s his favorite rider?
me!
He has poor taste.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions
does this mean godot has already come and gone?
eh… sorry, slightly delirious.
gossip slouching toward bethlehem to be born.
by Jen See on Jul 16, 2008 8:02 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Valverde's hopes turning and turning in a widening gyre...
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
by crashdan on Jul 16, 2008 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
The best lack all conviction (Menchov)
while the worst are full of passionate intensity (SDV).
by Chilltown on Jul 16, 2008 8:16 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
The EPO dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned
... next…
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
by crashdan on Jul 16, 2008 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
This site has everything...
Oh, the race is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it…
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. - George Carlin
He that shall live this day, and see old age
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Contador:’
Then will he strip his skinsuit and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Contador’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Mercx the king, Hinault and Armstrong,
Jens! and Cancellara, Piepolli and Cobo,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
brilliant!
McQuaid: The time is out of joint, Oh, cursèd, cursèd spite, that ever I was born to put it right.
Next?
Does suffering scare me? O Mother,
Let me suffer in this world. Do I require more?
Suffering runs ahead of me and runs after me.
I carry it on my head and set up a stand
In the bazaar to peddle it.
I’m a poison worm, I thrive on poison.
I carry it wherever I go.
Prasad says: Mother, lift off my load.
I need a little rest. It’s amazing!
Others brag about their happiness,
I brag about my suffering.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
And what rough beast,
its hour come round at last, will arise to replace the ProTour?
by Susie Hartigan on Jul 16, 2008 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Best Yeats/cycling thread ever.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 8:19 PM EDT reply actions
Nope.
Didn’t his grandson Malcolm finish a couple Tours?
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 8:31 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm wondering what poets the other SBNation sports blogs are talking about today...?
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. - George Carlin
+1 for use of the word "Philistines" today
If you can use Phlegmatic, Pharos and Phlogiston today as well, you’ll be my God until July 23rd (I hold a raffle for a new God every Monday)
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
heh
early science, they were trying to figure out what made things burned. one of the theories was that fire resulted from the presence of phlogistan.
uh, that’s all i got.
phlogiston
flammable materials contain phlogiston, a substance without colour, odour, taste, or mass that is liberated in burning. Once burned, the “dephlogisticated” substance was held to be in its “true” form, the calx.
personally I loved the “dephlogisticated” substance…. a bit what happened to Valverde wouldn’t you say?
Phlogiston is what makes things burn...
Phlogistan is where the UCI is going to open their new offices.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
knaves.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 16, 2008 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions
all the tour's a stage
and all the riders, merely players
they have their entrances and exits
and one man in his time rides many stages
his acts being 21 stages, first the prologue
mashing and stomping as quickly as possible
then, the sprint stages, with their long breakaways,
and hard chases, creeping inexorably, the time gap shrinking,
across the fields of france. then, the middle mountains,
cutting into the legs, making new winners,
made for the men of the classics. then, the high mountains
filled with steep gradients and never-ending summits
harsh in their judgments, sudden and quick in their decisions
.....
phew. craqué!
As I once told Chris...
... we must accept that PdC is the haven for both the Divine as well as the Profane.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
bows head in shame
May the road rise to meet you,
may the wind be ever at your back,
may the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again may god hold you in the hollow of his hand.
May God twist the legs of your enemies...
... so you’ll know them by their limping.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
That sounds like a Johnny Carson line.
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
Carnac The Magnificent: dippity do
Ed McMahon: dippity do?
Carnac The Magnificent: What forms on your dippity early in the morning?
Apropos of current times…
After a hard day of watching a Tour stage, I like to unwind with Verbotene Liebe
Ed: Ovaltine.
Carnac: Describe Oprah Winfrey in High School
May your Perrier water be secretly bottled in Tijuana
I can't wait for Col Agnel
(no clue why it’s not Col d’Agnel or Col de l’Agnel)
This climb is savage and really high. It’s one of the very highest roads in France and it’s never been in the tour before.
Summit: 2,744 metres (9,005 feet)
The Climb: 25 kms (15.5 miles); Ascent: 1,450 metres (4,760 feet);
While place like Galibier and Hautacam are great, they are ALWAYS in the tour. Agnel will be a special day.
Remember the other side is Italy so at that point start calling it Colle dell’Agnello
by cyclingchallenge on Jul 17, 2008 2:56 AM EDT reply actions
If it was another month it would be Colle delle Agnello
Used in the Giro last year on the way to Briancon, no?
Peeps towed his captain (Simoni) almost all the way. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat performance.
Was just thinking
Yes… we saw this in the 2007 Giro, from the other side. They used to stop 2/3 of the way up, but for the first time they went over to Briancon.
"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 17, 2008 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh man
I giggled so much I aspirated coffee. This thread is brilliant. Other cycling forums descend rapidly into flaming and chest beating, and we get poetry.
I'm slowly catching up tonight
after being lost for the past 3 and this thread was awesome. You guys are good!
"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."
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