2011 Tour De France

2011 Tour Stages to watch

Full TV schedule is here
http://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/tour-features/tv-schedule

Here is a list of a bunch of other ways to see it on the computer and TV. You may need to try a few to get it right for your computer and language wants and needs.
http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/#live

I have looked at each days race profile in the 2011 Tour and made some comments and predictions. If I could only watch an hour of the tour it would be the last climb up Alpe-d’Huez on July 22. Unless the race is totally won by then this will be the place to watch. I also really think the July 14th  12th stage will be the first chance to see who will be a contender or not. I have not been following pro racing much this year so I won’t comment much on who I think will win even though I bet it will be Contador. Contador and his dumb finger bang move on the podium bugs the crap out of me.  I hate Contador as a tour champ.  I like Andy Schleck and his brother Frank.  Kind of the Williams sisters of road racing.

July 3 Stage 2 short team time trial. Watch for teams that work together well, usually some great new bikes and gear, aero clothes and a crash. I think teams get to keep the 5th riders time so it is fun to see teams try not to drop their own riders off the back of the pace line from going to fast. This race tells who and what team is strong. It is so short this year many teams may just play it safe and ride a bit safer to prevent loosing someone to a crash.

Most all stages up to stage 12 are flat and will have breakaways that will likely get caught shortly before the finish. Sad for the guy out alone all day trying to win. Cool to see the teams with good sprinters catch the breakaways at the very end.

July 14 Stage 12 Live on Versus (Central time) 5:30 a.m. Versus: 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m.
Three big mountains with a mountain finish. Will get to see who is a real contender or not. Fun to see the top riders bunched together on the climb as the weaker riders get squirted out the back of the pack. No contender will likely try to get big time on the other contenders but we will see who is weak.

July 16 Stage 14 Long hard day lots of climbing. Contenders likely will not put in big time on others unless some one has a bad day meaning a they are a little ill, had poor food intake, let themselves get dehydrated etc can equal massive losses on a day like today. Not having bad days (that others could detect or capitalize on) was a big part of Armstrongs amazing feat of winning 7 in a row.   On this stage we may see a relative no name on go on an all day break away, suddenly become a tour contender and transform into a true pro in both attitude and confidence. Since this is the last day in Pyrenees I bet a lesser known Spanish rider perhaps from the Basque region will break away in an all day attempt.

July 21 Stage 18 Three big climbs with a long mountain top finish. May see a breakaway from a contender but more likely the top few riders will stay together and put more time on the rest of the field. Should be some great sparing. Especially on the last climb.

July 22 Stage 19 Live on Versus (Central time) 7:00 a.m. Versus: 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m.
This is a must watch stage. The final famous climb up 21 switchbacks along with the crowds up to the mountain top finish at Alpe-d’Huez is always very dramatic. This and the next days individual time trial are the last real chances to gain time. Look for the better climber contender to attack the whole way up to make up for any losses to come in the next day’s time trial.

July 23 stage 20 Individual time trial. Fun to watch because it is the last time to realistically gain time in the race and the most likely winner of the whole tour will be known today. Riders with the best overall time start last. I am pretty sure Lemond came back from a supposedly insurmountable 50? seconds down before a last time trial in the tour to win the time trial by 58 seconds and the whole tour by 8 seconds.

July 24 Stage 21 The final day most often ends with a sprint on the Champs-Élysées. A huge win for any sprinter.

Dropbox works

Experimenting with using dropbox to move files from my phone to other computers.  Seems to work well during my 3 minutes of time with it.  Pic's are in the back yard taken from my phone. 

Coke

I bought a couple of cases of Coke from Mexico this week.  Partly because it is made with sugar instead of corn syrup and partly because I love the look and feel of the thick classic Coke bottle.  These old Coke bottles make the modern bottles seem less cool. 

My favorite Stephen Hawking pic

Each drop is a million people killed

People have always been stupid/brave/creative

Top pic is of Max Shreyer in about 1901

Q taught me to use a seat belt years ago. Thanks.

On a side note.  I am really tired of the office guy blue shirt look. 

A photo

deer eating a bird

What a lazy dog

I am not you

Obama on Osama's death

I am finding it odd that it is considered new news that Osama was not armed when he was killed.  Obama  almost said Osama was executed during his announcement of the killing.  During his speech Obama made a statement with a tinny pause as if he thought to himself  "crap I should have said that differently."  I thought for sure it would be all over the news or at least the conspiracy peoples facebook pages.  Here is the quote: "Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."  Here is a link to the whole transcript of his speech.  

Dinkytown 4-21-11 bike death

In the morning of 4-21-11 a 25 year old woman died in an incident with a 18 wheel (or more) side dump semitruck and trailer while ridding a bike in Dinkytown.  The news reporting about this has continued to trouble me.  What troubles me is the wording on multiple sites that she died after "running into the truck."  As if the truck was just sitting there and she rode her bike into it which killed her.   What I gather from all I could read is that she and the truck were headed south on 15th past McDonalds (on their right) toward campus.  She was in the right lane and he was in the left lane (or left side of the lane if there was only one lane).  He "got to the intersection first" and turned right onto 4th in front of her.  If she was going straight through the intersection and he turned right in a way that made her "hit" him then he clearly cut her off.  She only ran into it because they were both going straight and he turned in front of her.  At worst I can imagine a sinereo were she may have seen the front of the truck turn/cut in front of her and been unaware that the rear end was tracking right for her.   Being more aware may have saved her life but the truck was clearly at  fault for cutting her off and running her over.   If another truck had been in place of the woman in the right lane as she was going straight through the intersection and this truck from the left lane cut in front of the truck going straight and hit it wouldn't the truck that turned right be at fault?   I am sick as shit of biased attitudes against cyclists.  The hate spewed in the comments sections of news stories is one thing but when the police and all of the media act like a truck cutting off a woman and killing her is "a woman rode her bike into a truck" it makes me want to puke.   

Man Freeclimbs 1700 foot tower

Good bye CRC coffee cafe

Hurl himself pulled my last two shots for an americano on Tuesday.  He is closing the doors today.  The great coffee, nonpretentious attitude of the shop, all the cycling publication he had available and the pleasant times I have had there will all be missed.  Pics are from people on the internets.  Thanks.