Friday, July 16, 2010

Friday News And Views

Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational Saturday: Looks like we'll have a small crew this go around. maybe five guys, but that's okay. I haven't heard from anybody else, so I won't be bringing any more than a few maps with me. Shout out early today if you want to come, 'cause I'm leavin' town early this afternoon. A report with pics will be up here on Monday, hopefully. If I live through this!

Shimano Comes Through: You might not like Shimano, but they were great to deal with recently in regards to the 10 speed front derailleur swap I needed. I mistakenly spec'ed a low mount instead of a high mount front changer, and the customer service women I dealt with was right on top of things. Very good service, and I thought it was worthy of mentioning. Ya know, 'cause we hear all too many times when someone "effs up", so I thought it would be nice to point out that things often do work out well in business transactions and customer service issues.

I Try To Look The Other Way, But.... When the subject of head butting and road racing are spoken of in the same sentence, well......I had to look into this!  Actually, I just read a short description, didn't even look at the video, but that was just downright goofy, or brilliant, depending upon your point of view. I mean, yes- it wasn't "fair play" or "good sportsmanship", I suppose. However; would any of us be talking about the Tour otherwise? I mean, another ho-hum stage finish turns into a spectacle worthy of being compared to roller girl action.  (Well, actually, the roller girls are tougher!) Look at it this way, the guys are doping, the sport is under investigation.....again......by the U.S. Gubbmint!, and this whole thing could be solved by adding in a few new features. I figure they ought to consider the following.......

- Protective gear for sprinters teams: Check it out- High speed action with high risk and riders wearing full DH gear to protect themselves in the ensuing melee's. Headbutting? Totally  legal! Arm checks, bouncing around. Think of the possibilities. Who wouldn't want to watch that carnage?

- Tour Derby Action: Who wouldn't be down for watching a derby at the finish of a mountain top stage? You make it to the top first, you then have to be the last man riding. Great test of endurance, skill, and toughness of bikes and parts. We all win!

-Tour de Cross: Yeah, yeah, yeah......high speed chasing and posturing on baby-butt smooth roads. Blah! Let's get dirty folks! I'm talking about barriers, mud bogs, and grassy hills mid-stage. Water carriers? Ha! We're talking beer hand ups that must be chugged by each rider before continuing. We're talking about throwing some off road into the on road action. Heck, its gotta be a great idea. Who doesn't remember Lance's off road excursion in Le Tour? Let's have more of it!

-The Doping Lottery: Look, they are not going to stop the doping as long as the stakes are so high for the riders, teams, and sponsors, so if you can't beat them, run the show! The Tour should have a "doping lottery" at the beginning of each Tour. Riders all sign in, grab the needle and inject. Is it "the real thing", or a placebo? Nobody knows! It's all a lottery chance that you'll get the dope advantage. It could be televised live. Look! He cried when he stuck it in! Oooo! He took it like a man! Then later on, maybe someone pulls an incredible stage out of the blue, they test him, and he wins the Dopers Jersey. Cool!

Sound absurd? Maybe, but the Tour couldn't be closer to absurd than it is now anyway, so why not? Doping, head butting, he said-she said finger pointing, I mean, c'mon!

Have A Great Weekend! Lots of big rides, races, and cycling fun is going on, (and I'm not talking about that nutty event in France either), so I hope you are finding something to do on two wheels and having fun!

6 comments:

Captain Bob said...

Great stuff Ted! Thanks for the post. Have a great ride this weekend.

Tim said...

Ted, gotta say you are a guru and a class act with mountain bikes. You might want to take road racing off your radar, however. ;-)

Guitar Ted said...

@slocaus: That's just it. I have. But as I wrote, when head butting and cycling are mentioned in the same sentence, in Le Tour no less, you have to wonder at that. And my post was written with heavy doses of sarcasm and hyperbole, just in case you didn't grasp that.

To my mind, the Tour de France *could* be a beautiful thing, but time and time again for the last ten to twelve years, it's been something of a joke. That's my opinion of it anyway.

Tim said...

@GT- agreed on the joke for many years. This year IS different. It is exciting like I have never seen before. I am watching a European feed on the Internet direct (steephill.tv) without the recent American hype and trying to get the deer hunting and football crowd interested. This is exciting racing by some incredible athletes; try to filter the circus, and it is an edge of the chair suspense event. Really good stuff!

Metro said...

Doping Lottery...YES brilliant!

Have a great ride this weekend.

Peace,
Metro

paxtoncoyote said...

the joke to me is the Tour Divide is more miles than the Tour de France, probably more climbing, done self-supported without the help of team cars, 5 star chefs, massuese's, domestique's & quaint little inns to spend the night in AND it's done in a little more than 2 weeks by some individuals with NO rest days.

Yeah, I've pretty much give up on le Tour, the drama has somewhat over-rode the actual race this year. Viva le Tour...DIVIDE that is!