We need a space on QGL to discuss the most brutal and epic sporting event of all time. If you've never watched the Tour de France before, definetely give it a go, you might be suprised.

http://tdf.sbs.com.au/

SBS is covering the entire event, with the Prologue starting 11:50pm Saturday, very exciting race to start the Tour.

isn't it just some c***s in bike shorts riding their pushies?

hows that brutal? i had some pretty huge stacks on my mongoose as a kid and a bit of mercurochrome and i was all good again.

i mean these c***s don't even jump s***.

I think I am evil for laughing at bike crashes:

fyi, this event is ruined by drug cheats

fyi, this event is ruined by drug cheats

That... or at least the reputation of drug cheats in the sport. It's likely that there are other sports that are just as bad in that respect, but cycling has the reputation whether it's true or not.

That... or at least the reputation of drug cheats in the sport. It's likely that there are other sports that are just as bad in that respect, but cycling has the reputation whether it's true or not.

So does Counter-Strike, and every other online game thanks to Counter-Strike.

Someone's better than me? Must be cheating. What other POSSIBLE explanation is there?

isn't it just some c***s in bike shorts riding their pushies?

hows that brutal?

It's roughly 200km a day, for 3 weeks against the top riders on some of the hardest roads and mountains... that's what makes it difficult.

Yeah the drug cheats do ruin it a bit, but hopefully we won't have too many problems this year.

ill be there sat! :D

Yeah, the tour is getting some seriously bad coverage of late. Nick was going through a list of riders who had won before Lance was around, and of them from one year the top 12 have all since been banned for use of banned substances. And frankly with all the meds Lance would have been on, they'd have found something to give him an edge.

Edit: That video is proof that SPD-R pedals suck.

last edited by Raven at 20:07:43 04/Jul/07

those guys need some motors :D

fkna

those guys need some motors :D

Believe me, they don't. Sustained they can produce well into and above 330 Watts. Track cyclists often come close to producing 600 Watts. The best I can produce 300+ Watts (per hour) for, from memory, is about 2 minutes.

hehe watts

woot i'm gonna go see it somewhere along the route

raven, clearly you know nothing about bikes, they need motors. :D one human power is too boring to watch... 170+ bhp plz. :D

this is nearly as interesting as watching a marathon "race".

Road racing has a lot more dynamics then running a marathon. There's a lot more tactics and exciting moments during the races.

I actually got into it a bit last year, and will try and watch as much as I can (I will need some late night sporting relief after wimbledon finishes) this year. Some of the middle stages are pretty boring, but watching the lead group chop and change positions, the peleton chasing down the lead group towards the end and the final sprint are always awesome to watch.

Ride4Research is the biggest ride I've done. I think the biggest leg was 140Km in a day. That killed me, nothing compared to what these bastards do in the tour though....averaging 50km+ on a flat for hours without a break. I do about 40km a day during the week, sometimes on weekends if I'm up for a ride maybe a 50k or so round trip...I don't know how long I'd be able to last on the tour though at the pace they do :)

Any way.....I'm always a fan of watching someone push themselves to the limits whether its a triathlon, cycling, running, a rally or even 3 or 4 moto gp riders dicing for the lead

fyi, this event is ruined by drug cheats

fyi, the leader of the tour de france for this year (Michael Rasmussen) has just been booted for being a drug cheat (and a liar)

cadel evans up to 2nd

this event has been ruined, probably for evar

Quoting yourself is so 2006.

And also Team Cofidis is gawn. Rasmussen out means Cadel is into 2nd with about 2mins behinds Contador with no mountains left, he could do it in the Time Trial!# Go aussie!!!@$$#5

it's a bit rich to say the most brutal ever, i'm not saying i could do it, but calm down there jimmy.

The tour has is very much like F1, if you can find interest in watching times and distance changes, then this is for you.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Rasmussen, as far anybody knows... he hasn't tested positive to EPO or any blood doping before/DURING the TDF... he just broke team rules earlier on in the year/last year (which probably means he was doping).

Vivonkurov though, he tested positive for blood doping :( Which is no good :(

this event has been ruined, probably for evar

I heard on JJJ that a couple of big euro TV stations (I think german) refused to carry the event this year because of the drug problem. Pretty amazing that its lost so much validity.

It's sort of like Mr Olympia, I don't find it any less enjoyable to watch because everyone is drugged up to the max.

It's a pity though :(

Why not just take it on the chin and have a Drug Tour, were people are allowed to pump themselves with all sorts of gear. Then almost all the people who want to use drugs can go nuts in that and leave the other race alone. Of course, who would want to watch the non-drug comp when the drug-comp would be so much better! :D

It's sort of like Mr Olympia, I don't find it any less enjoyable to watch because everyone is drugged up to the max.

What a silly statement, so you don't mind turning the event from a test of physical stamina and mental toughness to train all year for one event, into, who can inject the most roids in a short period of time?

Why not just take it on the chin and have a Drug Tour, were people are allowed to pump themselves with all sorts of gear.

Queue Futurama "Before the time of mandatory steroid use" quote :)

I heard about Vinokourov yesterday morning before I went to work - got the news about Rasumssen just before I got on the train. WTF is going on!?

Now all of a sudden it looks like the Maillot Blanc (Contador) might become the Maillot Jaune winner overall! That or an Aussie (Cadel Evans) could win overall.

What a silly statement, so you don't mind turning the event from a test of physical stamina and mental toughness to train all year for one event, into, who can inject the most roids in a short period of time?

i'm pretty sure they would have to still do all of that stuff still

What a silly statement, so you don't mind turning the event from a test of physical stamina and mental toughness to train all year for one event, into, who can inject the most roids in a short period of time?

you are such an illinformed f***ing moron. Every comment you have made in this thread has been wrong.

Straight off, performance enhancing drugs are called that for a reason. They ENHANCE your performance. They cant turn s*** into gold. They cant make somone more mentally tough, they dont take away pain either, so a drug that allows somone to push even harder but still feel the strain adds importance to the mental part of it. They also still have to do just as much training as somone that doesnt use drugs, it just allows their body to be trained to a higher degree or recover that tiny bit faster so they can continue to push at a harder rate. Secondly, its not just a test of physical stamina and mental toughness, its hugely tactical - the amount of trickyness they pull during races is crazy, its hard to see and its a pretty obscure sport in Australia since its mostly a euro thing but the dynamics of having a whole team being used to essentially propel one rider means that its actually a team sport rather than just 'which rider is best'. You gotta watch a bit to see it, but the dynamics of breakaway groups vs the stupid euro named pellaton (however its spelt) is pretty interesting and that is probably the most fundamental aspect of the race. There is much much more going on, not that I can name any of it, I have a family member heavily into it so I hear a bit about it.

Sometimes it can be very boring, especially if you are watching 'a bunch of bikes rolling along a black line' rather than really looking and seeing what is happening. When they are just in cruise mode trying to eat up kays, waiting to make moves its boring. But if you think about what they are doing, hundreds of guy - shoulder to shoulder - travalling at 50KM/H + weaving and ducking inside of this massive rolling pack, its pretty amazing that they can do what they do. 100+ KM/H down hills is also ridiculous and if nothing else, you can at least watch a bunch of poncy fags in lycra take massive stacks and domino people and laugh.

edit: As for the brutal comment. In terms of physical exertion, not violent brutality, but the toll on ones body, this race has to be one of the worst.

Its not like these guys are just magically going this fast on the flat for protracted distances at a 'cruise' like if you were on a bike and just rolling along pedalling easy. They are going virtually flat the f*** out ALL THE TIME. Part of that is tactics though, the faster an object moves, the more resistance exerted on it by air, streamlining and changing the lead is part of what allows them to do it and is another aspect to the sport which makes it interesting, its virtually impossible to do anything on your own, which is why people like armstrong get called into repute because some of the things these guys do on bikes - even to people in the sport - make them seem like mutants. To maintain the exertion levels they do is an amazing feat in itself, let alone doing it day after day.

last edited by qmass at 13:08:19 26/Jul/07

Straight off, performance enhancing drugs are called that for a reason. They ENHANCE your performance.

OH thats ok then, so they still have to train and don't gain an advantage over someone who trained harder with out drugs, i'm glad you dispelled that rumour.

Maybe you should take your a****** off that very high bike seat pole jammed up it and think before posting.

i was thinking what qmass said, but couldn't be f***ed making a post like that

OH thats ok then, so they still have to train and don't gain an advantage over someone who trained harder with out drugs, i'm glad you dispelled that rumour.

thats right, somone who trained more and harder than somone using drugs, at this level, would be faster. Two people who did the same extreme levels of training, one of which uses drugs, would absolutely be faster. However, that does not in any way negate the level of work that the drug user still has to put in....

Of course its an unfair advantage, and just plain unfair on people who respect the rules, but you cant even begin to say that drug users do less work than non-drug-users. In fact I would say that most drug 'cheats' in this sport would be the kind of people who put in the MOST work. Half of the s*** allows people to train even harder and develop an increased fitness level, so they possibly worked even harder leading up to the race than others.

last edited by qmass at 13:12:42 26/Jul/07

you're an idiot qmass (and paveway)

are you saying that its ok to take drugs because you still work hard?

i think when teams are ditching riders before they even fail a doping test, its a pretty clear indicator what the rest of the nonretarted world thinks about drug users in sport

f*** it, i dont even really care about ben cousins and what he did, he had no advantage on the footy field, probably a disadvantage, and for that reason i dont care

these losers who are making the decision to cheat, to take drugs to beat other competitors who DONT take drugs, kick them the f*** out of the sport forever

i dont care how hard they have trained, they are cheats and deserve to not ever get the chance to compete again

you're an idiot qmass (and paveway)

are you saying that its ok to take drugs because you still work hard?

no, i even said that its totally unfair on people who dont cheat. Try reading :O I was merely trying to explain that its not like the people doing it are lazy, if anything by risking their health in the pursuit of the sport they are even more devoted to it. But its still breaking the rules, just as pills are ilegal, spook.

no spook we're not saying that, but from what giri said it's like they sit around all year then hit up some roids 2 weeks before the race starts and they are ready to go... wrong

Pfftt paveway, everyone knows you can be an fat tard and shove a needle in your ass, then ride 3500km no problem.

I didn't say that at all, if you want to interpret it that way you're welcome too, because i could care less what stereotyping you apply to a cheat.

Yes, they are so devoted to their sport that they act to destroy its entire ethos. GG

I've been watching the Tour since it started 3 weeks ago, and it was awesome watching Rasmussun go head to head with Contador last night...but after this I don't think I can be bothered with it anymore