Tour Radio Ban
The banning of radios during stage 10 of this year’s Tour de France was idiotic. It would be the dumbest decision ever, but that one has to be the decision to force riders to use “Eddy Merckx-era” bicycles when contesting the hour record. Good thing the organizers and the UCI relented today or there most likely would have been a work stoppage. Of course, that would have bode well for me in Tour Golf.
You can debate till the cows come home about whether the riders have to read the race better without radios, whether it’s safer, whether it will produce more competitive racing. In the end, the radio ban is a nostalgic folly that serves no purpose. In today’s heyday of instant gratification, 24×7 information overload, it’s impossible to stop technological advances and ridiculous to try, let alone during the biggest and most important bike race of the year. And really, what’s the big deal? Teams will find another way to get the needed information to the riders (text messages, driving team cars through the middle of the peloton, tweets, smoke signals.) You can’t turn back the clock and return to what you might think was the height of pure cycling, no matter how much you try. Embrace the future UCI, it’s your friend.
And while the radios don’t necessarily have an effect on the masses (i.e., they don’t trickle down the way other technology has), they are as much a part of pro cycling today as are 11-speed groups, carbon fiber and doping. The stage really didn’t seem all that different, albeit at a slower speed than usual. A break went, the sprinters teams did their calculations to reel them in, and Cavendish won another sprint.
Besides where would we be without new technology? Take a look at that R&D haven the Coors Brewing Company. Not only did they introduce the first Vented Wide Mouth™ can (which essentially enables you to spill even more beer on yourself when you’re pounding away), but they’ve gone and out done themselves with the new Cold Activated Can and the Cold Activated Bottle, which turn certain parts blue when the beer is cold enough to drink. Do you really want to go back to having to feel the can with your hands in order to determine its drinkability? Now, if Coors could only work some of that magic on the actual beer, they might be one to something.
Missouri is US’s Most-Bike Friendly State . . .
First, the city of Columbia passes a Bicycle Harassment Law, and then Governor Jay Nixon, despite state Department of Economics requests to the contrary, decides not to pull the plug on $1.5 million enabling the Tour of Missouri to go on as scheduled in September. Maybe it’s time to consider moving to Missouri so I can ride in a bike loving state, although what the heck does anyone do in Missouri anyway? That’s not me being anti-Missouri. That’s born and bred New Yorker elitism coupled with pure ignorance on my part.
. . . And Wisconsin Is Not
John Frings is a cyclist whose day job happens to be as a photographer/cameraman for Fox6 in Milwaukee, WI. Just as any cyclist has, Frings has had his fair share of run-ins with the cyclists arch-nemesis, the road raged fueled driver. Frings decided to start filming his encounters and you can see many of his videos on his blog.
After some of the more dangerous encounters, Frings sends the tape to the police. One time the police department actually sent the motorist and summons. Imagine that happening out on 9W in Alpine, NJ. Actually, the Alpine, NJ Police seem more akin to the police in Brookfield, WI, who reviewed one tape and told Frings that he could have been given a summons for obstructing traffic. Eventually the Distract Attorney opined, also against Frings, saying that cyclists have no right to an active traffic lane unless they’re going the speed limit, despite state statutes to the contrary that state cyclists have the same rights to the road as cars and a law that states motorists must give riders a three-foot berth when passing.
It seems though that Wisconsin riders are in a no-win situation. According to Bob Mionske’s blog Legally Speaking, there is also a law stating that cyclists must give cars a three-foot berth when passing. Mionske cites the case of a woman who was doored and given a citation for passing too close to the car that doored her. That makes a lot of sense. As Mionske points out, Wisconsin cyclists can’t win. Giving three feet forces cyclists into the traffic lane, where police refuse to uphold the law and protect cyclists when drivers, disobeying the law, come dangerously close to the cyclists. Only in the heartland of America and, of course, Alpine, NJ.
My suggestion to Frings, perhaps it’s time for a move, to Missouri.
Tour Golf Update
The inevitable has happened, and I’ve taken a precipitous fall down the leader board in the Grand Tour Golf: 2009 Tour de France Edition. Given that radios were reinstated today due to the riders’ protest, thereby avoiding the stage neutralization I had predicted, I will take whoever Bob Roll choses today ensuring that while I can’t gain any distance on our leader, I won’t tumble another 166 points.
Here’s the standing as we head into the second weekend.
- Versus Combined: 29 points
- Bob Roll: 87
- Craig Hummer: 248
- Phil Liggett: 375
- Paul Sherwen: 400
- Viewfromtheback: 449
- Viewfromtheback’s computer: 992
Bonus: Coors Cold Activated Can Video
And that’s today’s view from the back.
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