TV Coverage

You know the thing I don't like about watching the Tour on TV is that it looks too easy. I mean...I wake up around 7am, stumble over to the grab a cup of Peets (yah, I have the coffee maker all set to go with the auto start) and click on the tv with 80 or so k's to go and I see a break off the front and a team setting a gentle tempo at the front of the peleton. Usually, for the next hour and half the tv shows the guys in the break rolling around in a rotating pace line. Back in the peleton the TV shows the team setting tempo on the front, a few guys crashing and/or changing a wheel after a flat tire.

I know it's not that easy. In fact...I'm quite positive that it's really hard. So...here's what you don't see on TV. As the peleton hits the Zero K banner, the riders are usually planted on the bumper of Jean Marie's car. As he drops the white flag and his driver accelerates away..there are usually a bunch of crazy bike racers attacking at the same time. For a solid hour the riders constantly attack while the different teams chase until the right combination of non threatening riders gets away and the peleton settles into a nice tempo. You might ask, "why doesn't the team with the yellow jersey just go on the front and set tempo right from the start"?....well, because it's impossible to contain the entire peleton. So, until the right combination of riders gets away, the race is total madness. Throw in some twisty roads, a few short hard climbs and tired legs and you get a bike race.

Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up turn on the TV to see the front group of 15 climbers and GC riders all riding up the last climb with Tmobile, or USPS riding on the front. OK...so this looks a little harder since they're going up hill. In tomorrow's entry...I'll tell you what happens before the climb that the TV doesn't show. I'll also tell you about the call of nature on the bike.

Till then...