2014 Tour De France

[Wyatt Earp]

Jissie.. tomorrow looks crazy.. and then they follow it up with 2 big mean climbs on Thursday. . Hells bells.

 

Tomorrow is going to finish off this tour. the efforts over the category 1 climbs is going to sap them.

The first 50 k's will total an ascent of almost a 100 meters, that's just the warmup .

[Bonus]

We drove over the Col de Peyresourde in April when it was still mostly covered in snow. It was hard work in a car! lol

[Gen]

 

 

Tomorrow is going to finish off this tour. the efforts over the category 1 climbs is going to sap them.

The first 50 k's will total an ascent of almost a 100 meters, that's just the warmup .

 

 

I would run away... no sorry ride away in a car in the opposite direction. . (Cause I don't run)

 

These guys are made of special stuff.

[dev null]

hmmmm we have to learn how to speak Spanish first. Don't forget.

 

Actually, I have been told by a Spanish friend when I did some work in Madrid in 2001 that the dialect in that part of Spain is very weird, and that he sometimes could not follow their Spanish. Make sure your Spanish is solid BTW. Some of them Spaniards don't understand much Ingles. Comprende?

[Wendy]

Oh none of them understand Ingles, that's why we have to learn the lingo and properly, but we will get there - with the language and a place.

[Bonus]

Actually, I have been told by a Spanish friend when I did some work in Madrid in 2001 that the dialect in that part of Spain is very weird, and that he sometimes could not follow their Spanish. Make sure your Spanish is solid BTW. Some of them Spaniards don't understand much Ingles. Comprende?

 

We have a very good friend in Zaragoza who's helping us find somewhere and is giving us advice etc.

 

According to him, the two most important points were 1) Don't expect to find a job - there are none and 2) You MUST speak Spanish to manage.

 

Its not that the Spanish refuse to speak English (like the French do) but that in the rural areas they just can't. But if you make an effort they will too :-)

[Wendy]

I seriously don't know how these Pro Cyclists do it. I cut my head open on the car door today (dof move) and Ive been woozy and headachy all day. Couldn't even get to gym never mind ride a bike. The accidents these guys have, they loose a limb and just jump back on and ride. A little cut like mine would go unnoticed.

[Bonus]

Did you cut yourself? I didn't notice ;-)

[dev null]

We have a very good friend in Zaragoza who's helping us find somewhere and is giving us advice etc.

 

According to him, the two most important points were 1) Don't expect to find a job - there are none and 2) You MUST speak Spanish to manage.

 

Its not that the Spanish refuse to speak English (like the French do) but that in the rural areas they just can't. But if you make an effort they will too :-)

 

You are very right. I worked with an IT guy and he had a dictionary app open on his desktop just so that he could tell me more or less what I needed to know. I on my part had to try to follow their Java code. All the method and variable names were in Spanish, as well as the comments. I walked into a shop, said this to the assistant: "Hablar Ingles?", and he responded with "Por Que?". I just went WTF and walked out the shop.

 

But they are friendly people and I am sure you will have a wonderful time. Try to get used to eating late though every night :-)

 

On a more cyclist related note: I admire how these professional cyclists learn to speak Italian, Spanish and French when they join the European teams from other places on the world map. I am hoping to get my boy to learn Spanish or French soon.

[Shebeen]

Interesting thing about the Flandis win that day, the peloton made no effort to hunt him down, and to top it all he was juiced up.

If they actually made an effort his dope would have let him down.

But then again he didn't attack on a monster of a day that tomorrow will be.

I think the general vibe was that they 'couldn't follow him' - it was lank superhuman, and well we all know how that ended.It must remain one of the weirdest tours ever, pereira was 30mins back in the first week and still won the tour in the end.

 

Anyway, it does just seem a like nibbles can handle whatever is thrown at him, but with three frenchies in striking distance it is probably the best opportunity to really throw some dice and make your name legend. I think they will die wondering, maybe because they're all just hanging on anyway.

[Bonus]

We did a recon trip in April and had a fantastic time. Very nice people. And very South African-like in their hospitality.

 

They do eat late - and over Easter there were children playing in the streets at midnight! It's a different world.

 

We used Google Translate on my IPAD and managed. But, like learning Afrikaans here, if you are surrounded by it all the time, you tend to pick it up easier than just learning it from a book etc.

[Bonus]

I think the general vibe was that they 'couldn't follow him' - it was lank superhuman, and well we all know how that ended.It must remain one of the weirdest tours ever, pereira was 30mins back in the first week and still won the tour in the end.

 

Anyway, it does just seem a like nibbles can handle whatever is thrown at him, but with three frenchies in striking distance it is probably the best opportunity to really throw some dice and make your name legend. I think they will die wondering, maybe because they're all just hanging on anyway.

 

Was that the year he announced a hip problem before the start of the tour?

[GaryvdM]

Has anyone noticed how funny the bikes spokes look in those photo finish shots?

 

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2014/1600/FIN_STD_IMG.jpg

 

The finish line cameras use strip scan photography. It does not take a complete image at one point in time like at normal camera, rather it takes a series of vertical strips of the finish line over a period of time. (This use to be done by moving film past a slit lense, but it is now done digitally.)

 

The spokes look bent because the rotation of the wheel is different at each point in time at which a strip of the photo was taken.

 

The other thing to note is that the aspect ratio is affect by the speed of the riders. In this picture, Kiryienka and Voeckler are narrower than Rodgers because they were going faster when they crossed the line.

 

This is also why you don't see the tarmac, because the camera is only taking a picture of the white paint of the finish line.

[Pure Savage]

The finish line cameras use strip scan photography. It does not take a complete image at one point in time like at normal camera, rather it takes a series of vertical strips of the finish line over a period of time. (This use to be done by moving film past a slit lense, but it is now done digitally.)

 

The spokes look bent because the rotation of the wheel is different at each point in time at which a strip of the photo was taken.

 

The other thing to note is that the aspect ratio is affect by the speed of the riders. In this picture, Kiryienka and Voeckler are narrower than Rodgers because they were going faster when they crossed the line.

 

This is also why you don't see the tarmac, because the camera is only taking a picture of the white paint of the finish line.

 

Thats pretty awesome! Why not use a go pro with a million pixels etc?

[GaryvdM]

Thats pretty awesome! Why not use a go pro with a million pixels etc?

 

For finish line photography, resolution (pixel count) is less important, frame rate is very important.

 

As far as I know, go pros can do 60fps. A good high speed camera can do 1 000fps, and these are expensive. Digital strip scan cameras do 10 000fps, and instead of giving you a video, give you a single image that is easy to get the result from.

 

Note that the frame rate of strip scan photography actually determines the horizontal resolution. The images that we get to see have been scaled horizontally so that the aspect ratios are approximately correct. The officials can see the unscaled images when it is very close, and so they tell who won even when there is only a fraction of a mm between two riders.

[Squier]

Should be a fun day... especially for the sprinters!

 

4600 metres of climbing on the shortest stage of this year's Tour. Even Dr Evil's eyes water when he thinks of a day like today.