[savoche]

chances are he is meek as well

You betcha! And the meek shall inherit the earth, so just stand back and let me through!

[robtcorl]

But you should go to Normandy. Americans are not unwelcome. Quite the contrary. They have not forgotten. Very much not forgotten.

Missourians should be very welcome there since we helped save France's wine industry back in 1870's.
Hermann Vineyards Save French Wine – Hermann Missouri

[robtcorl]

Missourians should be very welcome there since we helped save France's wine industry back in 1870's.

Shirley should be very grateful too.

[CharLac]

When it comes to music ancient is good. The crap they make these days...

I have a story to tell about that when I get back but for now, off to the land of cottages, beer, mosquitoes and a stress free existence...see ya'all Sunday evening

So we arrive at Bluesfest and there is a very loud rocker playing on the main stage (Tull will be on later) so we went off to seek one of the other two smaller stages. We found one which which thought was reggae. it was not. It was some sort of weird fusion rap crap. As soon as this guy started I suddenly noticed droves of us "older folk"getting up and walking away. Luckily, the other stage had Jim Crocce's son playing. Blues/ragtime is so much better....

---

Last edited by CharLac; 07-10-2018 at 04:45 AM.

[MarkJerling]

if the cheating is so wide spread

why the interest

21 days of cycling over roughly 3,500km. That's an average of 166km per day, at an average speed of around 40km/h, therefore around 4 to 4.5 hours of racing per day.
If you're a good cyclist, at club level, you may manage a few km sprint at around 40km/h. These guys are sprinting at 60km/h.

This is taking endurance sport to another level. It's the equivalent of running a fast marathon, every day, for three weeks. Its superhuman.

[MarkJerling]

Is bacon considered to be performance enhancing?
I heard that Mark has tested positive for shoe polish, can't verify it though.

Vicious rumours!

I test positive for bacon, shoe polish and chocolate!

[aslyfox]

21 days of cycling over roughly 3,500km. That's an average of 166km per day, at an average speed of around 40km/h, therefore around 4 to 4.5 hours of racing per day.
If you're a good cyclist, at club level, you may manage a few km sprint at around 40km/h. These guys are sprinting at 60km/h.

This is taking endurance sport to another level. It's the equivalent of running a fast marathon, every day, for three weeks. Its superhuman.

but if they are only able to do so by using " stuff " deemed illegal

is it their natural ability or the stuff

perhaps my feelings explains why I don't follow it

[MarkJerling]

I’ll give fifty bucks for it.

It's a Leica. I'd go $100.

[MarkJerling]

but if they are only able to do so by using " stuff " deemed illegal

is it their natural ability or the stuff

perhaps my feelings explains why I don't follow it

Some of them may be enhancing their red blood cell count. Or not - it's rumoured. There's a limit to where you can do that without your blood becoming a thick sludge. One technique that was used was to do a transfusion of the sportsman's own blood, but putting back a higher concentration of red blood cells than you take out. No chemical traces. But, these days they check blood counts and if the sportsman's blood count is substantially outside the norm, they'll get caught.

For the most part, it's a remarkable achievement, even if there may still be some cheating going on. 22 teams with 8 riders each = 176 riders. I don't believe they're all cheating. Not to the level Lance was anyhow.

[Racer X 69]

Whoa ... man, are you generous.

I was thinking of a fiver ... just that.

A lot less "zeros" to type that way ...

OK.

$5.99

US dollars.

[dbs]

The Tour de France has always been popular in Europe,America wants part of the "action" so Lance wins to keep the money rolling in,he just got greedy and believed in his own importance.

Dave

[MarkJerling]

The Tour de France has always been popular in Europe,America wants part of the "action" so Lance wins to keep the money rolling in,he just got greedy and believed in his own importance.

Dave

A good book on the Lance saga is Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh.

[dbs]

A good book on the Lance saga is Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh.

Hi Mark
I better check out the library then.

Dave

[clackers]

if the cheating is so wide spread

why the interest

There's still all the drama, skill and endurance that goes into these events. Just watched the team captain for Astana out of the whole race, only two days in, busted elbow.

They cover about 2200 miles in 21 days, and at the end the winner's margin may be one minute!

I mean, TV wrestling's enjoyable for the theatre alone, despite the scripted outcomes, and cycling or track and field's not like that, they're all on the juice together, but they have to genuinely beat each other.

If the sport had been entirely clean, perhaps he would still have won five Tours, and maybe Pantani and Ulrich (both known drug cheats) would have won an additional one. These guys were all supremely talented.

[clackers]

So, he was the only one dumb enough to be caught?

(Laughs)

Armstrong never tested positive for EPO, that only happens if you miss the vein or do it outside 10pm to 6am.

He was dobbed in by former team mates.

That's the downside of being a hubris-driven A-type personality, right? No friends.

I do like the line by, maybe David Letterman, that Armstrong had won seven prizes, 'eight if you count Sheryl Crow.'