Open Letter to Greg LeMond

Greg ,
When you speak with Stephano B. on Eurosport TV at the finish line of  " Le Tour " , most of what you impart is drowned out by the "EuroSport Translator "! They report their version of your words , but it does not carry the essence and Passion of your thoughts !  Both you and Stefano are trying to help the audience enjoy " Le Tour " , yet you come across as background noise to the Germaqn/ Italian / French translators .  Even the Racers that you Guest interview are reduced to this background noise . Most in Europe that have access to EuroSport TV are Bi Lingual , thus YOUR Voice should be dominant rather than
that of the stand in ?

Early in this Edition of Le Tour , i sent these " Placards " via Twitter , hoping that EuroSport would choose to remind the WorldWide audiences that Cyclists DESERVE Safety as vehicles pass them on the road . It matters little to me whether you choose to use Mine , or adapt them , to remind ALL that Cyclists are Vulnerable when being passed on the road .

When presenting the " Placard " adapted to the " Tirreno-Adriatico Event " , to Chris Horner at the start area in Mid March , he was jovial /amused at my efforts , yet weeks later he was the Victim of just this type of Traffic Violence . Tyler Farrer has a Father , a respected Surgeon , now in a Wheelchair due to Traffic Violence . Peter Stetina retired from a Grand Tour due to a relative being the Victim of Traffic Violence . You will have knowledge of so many ,Former Colleagues , Family & Friends , that have suffered in many ways from Traffic Violence .

Greg YOU are described as " EuroSport Cycling Ambassador " yet has there been ANY Occasion , where you have mentioned " Safe Cycling Pass " or the 3ft Rule that many US States have recently passed into their Traffic Laws ?

YES , Cycling Manufacturers do not want the " Downside of Cycling " to be highlighted , look at how much controversy was created when Contador hit a " Pothole / Road Surface defect . Now it is clearer that Racers are also subject to this common problem on the Roads . Most Motorists fail to understand that Cyclists need to avoid Road defects , so much easier to spot on the Bike , than from behind the wheel of a Vehicle . May i also remind you that the Founder of the " Willier Bike Co. " was the Victim , on a Sunday Ride , of Traffic Violence !

Vehicle Drivers these days , tend to think that they are allowed to drive above " Posted Speed Limits " , as close as metres to the Vehicle in  front of them and pass Cyclists within Millimetres , then plead " It's NOT My fault " when they send the Cyclist to Hospital , if not to the Morgue !

Should you wish to ASSIST " Cycling Safety " take a look at the following Websites :

 USA  https://www.facebook.com/LookSaveALifeArizona?ref=stream

 Aus    https://www.facebook.com/amygillettfoundation

 GB     https://www.facebook.com/groups/stopkillingcyclists/1464580850459489/?notif_t=group_comment_reply

So many others that could be included !

They All DESERVE recognition , since they are trying to remind ALL , that Cycling / Cyclists deserve better than Vehicle Driver IGNORANCE of Traffic Laws when they are trying to ride from point A to B , whether as Personal Transport , Sport or leisure !

YOU can do as some of the Personalities in the Photos , download the " Placard " and display it for the Media !

Sincerely

Skippy

Open Letter to Greg LeMond

CANCELLARA : Rampant ?

Favourities at the RVV , had different outcomes ! Easter Sunday was just another work day for the Racers as the Ronde VV ran through 100+miles in near freezing conditions .

Champion in a number of Editions , Tom Boonen , must have wondered if he should have stayed home and watched the race in bed ? 12 miles into the race , he was on the ground , awaiting an Ambulance , for the ride to the Hospital . Reports say there are no broken bones but i can't help thinking , that this will set his " Classics Season " back , somewhat ?

When we look at Individual Time Trials at the various Grand Tours , we see the winner cross the finish line at an average of just under 50 kph . Most of these events are over less tthan 10kms ? When the distances are 50 km + , the averages are around the 45+kph . In any event , these are the expected results and would not raise comment ?

Having run 250 km or so to the top of the Paterberg , yesterday , Cancellara , having shaken  Sagan loose , on this climb , decided that he would demonstrate why he was World ITT Champion & Olympic  ITT Champion . With a few seconds in hand at the top of the climb , he upped the pace to cover the remaing 12 km on a  49.5 kph pace ! Most racers have difficulty handling this pace for 12 km , yet , here we have a man , having already ridden 250 km , setting out for the finish , as if the day was just starting ?

Sagan is reported to have had difficulty holding Cancellara's wheel on the Kwaermont , some say that he overcooked there ? During the flat , between the climbs , it appears he was unable to regain the motivation necessary to persevere in the " Red Zone " ? Had he managed to crest with Cancellara , would he have had the reserves to hold the wheel to the finish ? It is reported that Sagan has a stronger sprint than most , so couldd he have satisfied all those that were predicting his victory .

Throughout the commentary on German Eurosport , there were continous expectations of Sagan & Cancellara producing a result . Doubt any of the Commentators were expecting the ITT Performance that Cancellara  displayed ? Harmon , the English Commentator , ie reported to have uttered :

 "  'the only way you can beat Sagan....is to kill him'

 There are reports that the word " literally " , was in this comment ?

Sagan has emergad in recent times as an outstanding sprinter , with good acceleration in both long and short sprints , certainly able to get results without the Sprint Trains , that so many others rely upon . Having crested the Peterberg , yesterday , Peter waited for Roelands so as to conserve the advantage they had on the rest of the Peloton . As a result of their combined effort , they were able to preserve their Podium aspirations .

With lousy Broadband internet connection , i have to rely on German Eurosport , for the Cycling coverage , would enjoy more , if my German comprehension was better ? Recall being in Belgium near Brussels , in the early 2000s , on my way to the UK , at Sunday race . The weather whilst clear was at freezing point , with frost on the ground , didn't even bother to get the bike out of the car . Crowds at the start , around the Team Pullmans were well wrapped up and those along the course were inhabiting the refreshment stalls .

As i prefer to ride the race  route , rather than await the arrival of the race , this was amongst the only occasions that i have visited a " Classic / Monument of Cycling ". Racers are there just for the day and the team workers are flatout making sure that everything works , no time for socialising under the circumstances .

CANCELLARA : Rampant ?

Leige-Bastoyne_Leige : The Race ?

Eurosport is available to my neighbour , so that is how I saw the last 60km of the “ Luttich-Bastogne-Luttich “ today . Rarely go to the one day races since all those involved are so busy , you are interrupting them if you strike up a conversation . Certainly riding the route in it’s entirety would be out of the question since the distances are about my limit and usually point to point allowing little chance of a short cut when kicked off the course . 20km to the finish the race is compact and then Nibali makes a run for it ! There is a largish group with one thing , mostly , in common , they all have numbers ending with 1 ! My impression was that these were the team leaders , people like Cunego and Voekler , etc . As time passed and the kilos were eaten up by Nibali , these guys started pfaffing around , wasting time , looking at each other . So the distance disappeared and the deficit grew , finally Inglinsky decided to make a run . As the kilos dropped below 8km to go , Eurosport was still showing 43sec deficit , then the deficit disappeared and the race continued . All of a sudden we see a shot over the shoulder of Inglinsky of Nibali in the distance . He is not 43 sec behind , in fact in very little time he is up with Nibali , who sits up for a moment to see what is about to happen . Well that short pause obviously upset Vincenzo’s rhythm because as soon as Maxim stepped on the gas Vincenzo was unable to find the energy to contest the last kilometre ! Looking at Twitter I see a few tweets which caused me to wonder what was really going on at the “ meeting ” those other Racers were holding whilst first Nibali then Inglinsky were securing their Podium positions ? Jon Vaughters said : Congrats to Maxim Iglinsky. Can't say I saw that coming. He's been a good one day rider for a few years now tho. Garmin-Barracuda said : Congrats to the argyle -- @DanMartin86 5th @ryder_hesjedal 9th & @alex_howes covering attacks! #LBL Ryder Hesjedal said : Great work by the whole team today. We had a plan and everyone delivered perfectly! Great way to close out the Classics! Cervelo said : Great riding by @Ride_Argyle at #Liege! @DanMartin86 5th @ryder_hesjedal 9th & revelation @alex_howes once again animating the race! To have finished in these positions Dan and Ryder must have been involved in the “ parlay ” ? What are they and Jonathon discussing now ? Perfection for me would have been a group sprint and then ALL would have seen a far different result ! Tweet from Steep hill : 14 Big Photos of the attack, finish and podium of Liège-Bastogne-Liège; http://bit.ly/IJqSKl (Nibali not happy on the podium) Guess Vincenzo is asking himself what more he could have done ? He reminds me of Leisel , the Aussie Swimmer , who displayed sour grapes on the Athens 2004 Olympic Medal Podium ! Vincenzo you did good , better perhaps than you planned ! Remember Eric Zabel sitting up on the San Remo finish line , allowing Oscar Freire to take the win by a nose ?

Leige-Bastoyne_Leige : The Race ?

CRASS STUPIDITY

Box on wheels does not make the driver invulnerable nor confer priority over those on Push/pedal bikes , yet there are elements of the population that leave their brains at home when they get behind the wheel !

Friday through Sunday has been glorious weather here in the Tirol but it has been marred each day by what some may consider trivial but could have resulted in a hospital visit at the very least .

Austria has lovely country for cycling in if you can contend with the traffic on the Bundesstrasse , the main roads that are secondary to the Autobahn system . Tirol has the “ 171 “ running from Kufstein through Innsbruck to Imst and points west . Normally no difficulty to ride this route without interference and in some areas there are bike paths alongside for the mountain biker or touring bike but the Race bike thin tyres can be subject to puncture since these paths are not always clean and the surfaces are broken up in many cases .

Between where I currently stay in the Inntal and Worgl & Kufstein there are cycle paths which form part of the “ Stephansweg ( Pilgrims route ) “ and these one track roads were primarily there for the farmers use , not often you have two tractors needing to pass each other but over the years they have been asphalt surfaced and if you stick to the middle you will not risk breaking a wheel by hitting a rut or a trench badly refilled . In some places there are tracks either side of the drainage ditch/canal affording alternative routes and thus reducing the traffic hazards .

Not sure of the speed limits that apply on these one track roads but a newly installed bridge over a ditch/canal has a 30kph sign as there are some entry points from other tracks there also .

Friday after several hours on the road I was heading west out of Kundl on one of these tracks pushing hard as I was only 15 mins from home so burning the energy . In the past I have ridden alongside another rider who reported we were doing 47kph and wanted to know if we were going fast enough . He was coming from Kitzbuhel that day and was heading into the Zillertal and Gerlos before Mittersell and home . Passing a red car that poked it’s nose on to the track causing me to avoid a collision I piled on the pace once again but about a kilo down the track it was using the klaxon . Since the road surface was broken up at that point and we were approaching the bridge I stayed where I was and went through the bridge somewhat quicker than the posted speed but the driver must have been airborne as he chased me down the road .

Further along the road takes a right towards a “ chapel with a water trough “ and so he went straight ahead . While I passed the chapel in a straight line he poked out from the left once again trying to force his will against all decency . Further along the road has grass on either side so he drove his lhs wheels onto the grass then swerved across my line forcing me onto the grass on the right . I managed to stay upright but further up the road he reached across pushed the rhs door open and then swung his door open thus blocking the one track road then came to a halt . Again I hit the grass and stayed upright but continued up the road to a pedestrian that I had seen .

On asking him what he had seen he said that he saw the car force me off the road and then throw the doors open . When the car drove up the old man got out and started raving in German , in fact the pedestrian had to step in when he threw a punch . Then the bystander told me the driver was a “ Nachbar ( neighbour ) so he could not help me even though he thought “ the fool should not be driving “ ! With this it was obvious I was unlikely to get any further help and wished like “ Cycling silk “ and others that I wore a helmet camera .

Saturday was also warm and sunny and when I found myself in a narrow road with pedestrians either side I slowed somewhat but whilst I had right of way and was on my side of the road an impatient driver pulled over so that he was heading directly at me and accelerated scattering some of the pedestrians . His wing mirror caught my hand on the handlebars raising a bruise but he continued on and there was no point to try and chase him down . One time I had a similar problem in the west of Innsbruck and had to chase several kilos before I caught the idiot but even then I got no result .

Sunday dawned warmer and with a clear blue sky I headed up the climb to Seehof and Haus as I had done in the “ Boring Eurosport “ post . Many mountain bikers dawdling up the climb but no target to chase . Arriving in the Breitenbach roundabout I saw another race bike heading over the bridge but then saw him turn west towards Kramsack and I was not about to head that direction so soon . Just then another rider appeared heading towards Kundl which suited me better .

Talk about grabbing the tail of a Tiger , this guy was driving the bike and was not looking to take prisoners ! Charging down the road without any seeming effort since he was in the middle of the cassette on the big ring and there I was pumping hard to get into and then stay in his slipstream . Slowing to take some turns in the road and then to go through a covered bridge left little time to discover his destination but eventually we were on a farm track and I was able to pull alongside and see that he was on a Carbon Simplon and grab a few words and the destination he was heading towards . For me Kufstein was a regular short trip so this suited me admirably . Only when there were narrow lanes to contend with did he ease the pace and then only to let the traffic hazard pass . Eventually we exchanged a few words as we bowled along in the 40’s and then I even got to go point a few times . At one point I even got the camera out to take a shot which is not easy when going full bore .

Today’s bike was the black alloy “Specialised “ with 55 on 11 and that he remarked seemed to be hard work . Each time I got on point I was trying to pull the pedals up as well as use the TT position and it was only as we neared Kufstein that I felt he was easing off the pace .

After parting I continued on to Rosenheim in Germany which added another couple of hours to the trip . One point the road rises on a 13% climb and there were a few other shorter climbs to cause a drop in pace . On the outskirts of Rosenheim I saw a fast moving group so spun around to join for a few kilos . When we parted I realised how much of a head wind I was going to have to contend with on the roads back to Kufstein so crossed the river to take an alternative route which I had travelled during the “ Deutschland Tour “ some years ago . This part of Germany has some nice villages with doglegs through the centre of the village .

One such village has a climb that slows me to about 25kph and then runs under an arch and then descends on a winding road to the outskirts . Coming down this hill I had an open car overtake recklessly since I was over 50 kph and there was a car coming so I was even more unsettled when a motorbike swung around in front of me then applied the brakes causing me to swing left and take the corner faster than him and so he was in my trail once again . Passing out of the village he pulled alongside and started abusing me for passing him even though I was still on the bumper bar of the white car .

Eventually he pulled back as traffic was coming and then repeated the harassment and then had the gall to suggest I should be on the cycle path which had started whilst he was endangering me . After a while my attitude got to him and I had to warn him that should he persist the motorbike would be carrying three and a bike because I was not going to allow him to force me off the road . Message seemed to get through or the woman on the pillion had had enough and he was gone . These cycle paths are generally a good idea IF they start in town and run alongside the route through the various villages but can also be dangerous when the inhabitants are about with children or unleashed dogs .

Generally as I race down the cycle paths I come across two fully loaded “ pilgrims “ side by side so call out “ Helloo “ about 100m back and again 50m which causes them to look thus I know they are aware and “ Danke “ as I pass , rarely do they refuse to allow passing . Odd occasions I have had a gaggle of touring bikes coming towards me blocking the whole road and even though they see you arriving some will even wander further onto the wrong side of the road causing the likelihood of collision , defies the imagination as to what is the reason !

Cycling Etiquette was covered about a month or so ago but only had one comment which makes me wonder why others have not contributed their thoughts on this subject .

PLEASE THINK ABOUT A CONTRIBUTION ! You can also entertain others with “ How I met Skippy “!

　

　

　

CRASS STUPIDITY

PODIUM CAFE !

Want to be taken for a ride ? All you have to do is TRY to post a comment to a Podium Café article then you get to wander around “ SB Nation “ whilst the “ Ads and other BS “ assail you ! Since you have no interest in any of this material from the USA commercial & sporting world, you are left wondering if “ Podium Café “ is worth the time !

Normally after posting to any site I leave the tab open for a few days so that on “ refresh “ I get an update to see if there is any follow up that is needed . First posted comment took about 10 mins and around 20Mb and nothing thrown at me during the “ round the houses excursion “ was worth a look let alone the cost in effort !

Some of the articles are really interesting but following blogs is about participating rather than just clicking on and reading . Whilst I have a low opinion of Cyclingnews Forum contributions , there at least getting into add comment is simple and direct .

Yesterday I tried to post a tweet and because the B/band is so pathetic in the area of Austria I am currently resting I am beginning to wonder in which Century the providers are living ! Service is not their Forte ! After about two hours of repeated efforts I put in a link with no explanation to @spokesmen about Eurosport !

During the last days the Froome victory at the Vuelta has been virtually front page news and adding to the excitement surrounding the event . Usually Eurosport is aware of critical , newsworthy events and daily they opened in the past with a resume of the last minutes of the previous day’s stage . 1600hrs was the published start of broadcast which came and went whilst a few “ Unimportant snooker balls “ rolled into holes . Then the Ads appeared which pays for what we are offered BUT THEN straight to the live broadcast ! With commentary in German I no longer attempt to listen but this day was about a breakaway that stayed away . Past years I have seen split screen of happening events with other matters being shown at the same time , so what was the problem here I wonder ?

Without access to Eurosport TV I have to go to a bar and after a long ride , Kramsach to Brennero return with a lot of drizzle I was looking forward to seeing what had been described in writing at length . Well when you read my blog you will see I was so livid about the attitude of Eurosport I went for another ride to let off steam .

Will I be watching today ? NO WAY JOSE !

Fact is I doubt I will summon the interest to watch Eurosport for some time . WHO among you gives a “ continental “about “ Yokohama” ? I DON’T !

SAM STOSUR has done Oz proud by moving into the Semis at the US Tennis Open , let’s hope that she makes history with the WIN on Sunday !

PODIUM CAFE !

BORING EUROSPORT

SPLIT screen technology has been used by Eurosport for some time but did they think to use it today ? No way Jose !

1600hrs is the advertised start of the Vuelta that cycle race they advertise constantly as if it is something of a triumph for them to be able to broadcast to their viewers . As it was we were treated to a delay whilst Snooker ran over and the commercials were shown . So now we are late going to the " Live Feed " and thus the ONLY ACTION of the week , yesterday's final kilometre does not get shown !

Every other day you are treated to a repeat of the previous day's finish but WHO decided that Cobo v Froome of yesterday ," was as boring as watching paint dry "? Looking at the picture of today's etappe as i am watching in an Austrian  bar w/out sound we reached the 39.8km mark and i decided to go for another ride to pass the time until the action became interesting . ASK Thomas Rohrregger the distance from Kramsach to Breitenbach via Seehof and Haus and return and he will tell you it is a shade under 20km  but i was back in time to see Paulino 36secs ahead at the 13km mark .

After a ride beyond Innsbruck to Brennero and return there was still a few kilos in the legs  . Not only that my beer didn't go flat whilst i was away . David Harmon is on the british commentary but i am unsure who was the German not that i would hear them or understand much of what they say . Regretably Paulinho was left to solo to the last few kilometres so that he had little to offer when overhauled . The result of Gavassi sprinting to the finish was no reflection of the day's racing .

 

BORING EUROSPORT