Tour de France

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seriously, who cares? they're all on drugs anyway.

i like when they pile up!

I like their tight spandex shorts. and all the nice views. it's calming to watch.

but I somehow can't believe that it's only about muscle strength and protein shakes

yes i like the pace and the scenery

but i find it very pointless, i dont see it as a race. theyre all taking breaks and stuff, its too massive. also when you see them spending quadrillions on ultraaerodynamic bikes that will basically shoot foreward by sheer physical composition...

when
will they win?
humanity must be closing in on the fastest ever bicycle time, please, let there be a winner once and for all

Only if Lance Armstrong competes in it! Here's to hoping he wins his eighth so he can tell the French media in no uncertain terms to ride a bike off a cliff! *snickers*

meh, 8 times is a stupid number. he should've kept it at 5 or maybe try to do 10. but he's old. he'll need a helluva drug for that :p

I'm shocked anna-banana. You're officially off my nice person list.

But seriously, you have to be a sports nut like me, or a cycling enthusiast to really appreciate it.

ooops hehe. don't get me wrong, I like some sports too- but mainly those that involve skill, not just muscle strength

Definately the best part of bicycle races...and always featured as the highlights on news coverage!

LL

I ticked yes as its my husbands obsession. I watch it sometimes with him but not often. I either wait for a blooper to happen or I start sleeping....

No they are not.

Back in the early days before WW2 the riders competed under influence of alcohol or morphine to dull the pain. Amphetamines were widly used after WW2. The drug use was so pervasive and so accepted that the Tour organizers printed this in their 1956 rider pamphlet: "drugs will not be provided".

The drugs were completely legal until mid 60s when they were banned after some riders rode themselves to death or were too messed up to ride safely. That's when the doping control was first implemented and when the illicit doping began.

More modern doping attempts date back to 70s. Throughout 70s, 80s and 90s the riders have been using testosterone, steroids, various hormones, and most notably EPO and straight blood doping which increase the red blood cell count and carry more oxygen to the muscles (kind of oposite of anemia). The drug tests were a hit and a miss and lots of guys got away with it. Most riders doping in that era were found out through direct evidence (syringes and whatnot) or because they admitted to doping after they retired, NOT because they tested positive!

Cue in a few years back when the drug tests got a lot better! For the past three years, every rider who displayed super-human abilities and was able to drop everyone else and climb solo, EVERY one of them ended up testing positive and was kicked out and banned from cycling for 2 years. We've had 3-4 such riders a year, out of a field of 180.

They can no longer get away with it. The drug tests are that good.

Every endurance sport has dopers. But they have no exposure in the media because the governing bodies aren't testing for performance enhancing substances. Everyone dopes, everyone looks away, and presto the sport has a clean reputation! Cycling is testing and catching the few cheats, and everyone assumes we are all dopers.

It is all about perception.

lolololol, I just find this thread so funny, your totaly clueless about the sport then (although I havent watched any of the tour this year) I guess it is hard for a non cyclist/racer to fully understand, and it is imposible to fully explan to a non cyclist I guess.
So I guess some people would just be better to say that they just dont understand it instead of acting like they understand the sport and what is wrong with it and everything.
and BTW I dont do protein shakes (I am not in the TDF also, so maybe that what I need to do) and muscle will not win you a race, it is mostly about tactics, team tactics, and skill, that is why the strongest guy does not just win all the time.

I don't care about any sport event, never understood the deal with them.

My feelings are even though Lance Armstrong is pumped up on drugs it is still a great effort to win the tor de france.

Here is a Goodies tour de France related clip, it shows some good tour de frace footage.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IUlIjjTtQU[/youtube]

Did you even read what I posted? I'm trying to educate here, and no one is listening.

These guys are being tested, literally, more than any other athletes in the World. They aren't just tested at the race. They are randomly tested year-round even in their private lives. Cyclists need to put together a calendar of everywhere they are going to be for the next 30 days and submit that to UCI. Men with French accents then show up at rider's homes, at the movies, at the shopping mall, and perform drug testing.

A few cheats are caught every year, clearly indicating that the tests are working as designed. The vast majority of riders are clean because in all the testing they've never tested positive.

For a moment there i could almost picture the annoying french (or any nationality) that pops up unexpectedly and asks for a urine sample. :p (-pictures a hand coming out of the urinary holding a plastic cup while the guy pees in the bathroom of the shopping mall- <.< )