Best Tour de France Ever?

Primoz Roglic (Left) with 2020 TDF winner Tadj Pogacar

Amidst all the suffering this year that this pandemic has brought, with many of us stuck at home going stir crazy. Into those homes via TV and computer screens came a bike race, a bright spot in an otherwise over-shadowed year. A wonderful three weeks of distraction in the form of the Tour de France.

Earlier in the year when all this nonsense started, I was not even sure if there would be a 2020 Tour de France. It was pushed back from the usual first week in July start, to the last two days of August. With little racing before the Tour, I wondered if many riders would come to the race, unfit and under-prepared.

I could not have been more wrong, and it soon became apparent that we were in for some great racing. Looking back, I do not remember a single day that disappointed. Team Jumbo Visma soon established themselves as the dominant team, and their team leader, Primoz Roglic would be the man to beat in the GC.

I found it a nice change to see a team other than Ineos (Formally Team Sky.) at the front. I had also remembered Slovenian Roglic’s battles with his 21 year-old compatriot Tadj Pogacar, (Team UAE.) in last year’s Vuelta a Espana. It soon became clear that this would be another show-down between the two. They were closely matched, although Pogacar did not have the same team support that Roglic enjoyed.

Stage 15, Pogacar beats Roglic, with Richie Porte third.

The opening stages saw these two within 7 seconds of each other until Stage 7, a relatively flat stage when strong cross-winds split the Peloton, and Pogacar found himself in a chasing group, 1 min. 28 sec. down, and in 16th place in the GC.

Pogacar fought back and on Stage 9, was 48 seconds down, then 44 sec. and by Stage 16 just 40 sec, behind Roglic. However, the following day on the Queen Stage 17, that finished at the top of the Col de la Loze, 2304 meters above sea level, things changed again.

Team Bahrain McLaren set a blistering pace all day in an effort to set up their rider, Mikel Landa to move up on the General Classification. The result was that many of the race contenders were blown off the back of the peloton, including Mikel Landa. When the last Bahrain McLaren rider (Demiano Caruso.) peeled off Mikel Landa himself, blew up and went backwards. How embarrassing must that have been, after an entire day of extreme effort by the Bahrain McLaren Team?

Astana’s Angel Lopez jumped away to win the Stage, (Above.) with Roglic second, and Pogacar third. However, Pogacar lost another 17 seconds on Roglic for a total 57 second deficit. That could have been the end result for the race and most, including me, would have been satisfied. However, Tadj Pogacar had different ideas.

Stage 20. A 36-kilometer Time Trial with a steep uphill finish. The race of truth, as Time Trials are sometimes called. Man, against man, with no team to help. Pogacar set out at a blistering pace and maintained it even on the uphill finish. He was the fastest rider of the day taking 1 min. 56 sec, out of Roglic. He made up his 57 second deficit, plus added another 59 seconds.

Tom Dumoulin (Left) and Wout Van Art cannot believe Pogacar has beaten them both by well over a minute.

Not only that, he was the fastest that day, beating former World TT Champion Tom Dumoulin by 1 min. 21 sec. A spectacular performance by 21 year-old Tadj Pogacar. As well as taking the race winners Yellow Jersey, he won the Polka-Dot King of the Mountains Jersey, and the Best Young Rider, White Jersey. The last rider to win all three jerseys was a 24-year-old Eddy Merckx in 1969.

I should mention, Australian Richie Porte, rode the time-trial of his life to tie for second place with Tom Dumoulin. The ride moved him up to a Podium finish in third place, His best place ever in the Tour de France. So wonderful to see for such a great rider and all round nice Bloke, who has worked so tirelessly for other riders in previous Tours. Plus, he has had more than his share of bad luck, crashes, and broken bones.

Richie Porte finishing his Stage 20 TT ride.

Irishman Sam Bennett (Decunick-Quick-Step.) won the Green (Points.) Jersey, and won the final stage in Paris. I have been following the Tour de France since 1950, when I had to wait a week for the French print magazines to arrive in the mail. To recent years when I can now watch in as it happens on TV.

This has to be the best Tour I have ever seen. We all love it when the “under-dog” just will not let go and fights to the very end. Hats off to Primoz Roglic, he and his team did nothing wrong, he just got beat by a younger, and faster rider when it counted the most.

Thanks to the organizers and everyone involved in putting on this spectacular event under such adverse conditions. You have brought a lot of sunshine into an otherwise dismal year.

Pictures, videos, and full results on http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/ 

     To Share click "Share Article" below    

Tuggos in Top

I set out for a ride last Sunday at around 6:30 am. It is best to get out early at this time of year in South Carolina, as by 11:00 am it is brutally hot.

About six miles out I needed to make a left turn and checked behind me. I noticed what I can only describe as a huge orange “Blob” on a bike coming up behind me. I gave a hand signal and moved to the center of the road in readiness to make my turn.

The Blob followed and after I turned, he came by me, a young twenty-something man on a bike, wearing a fluorescent orange tee shirt. He was huge, at a guess well over six feet and at least 350 lbs., maybe even 450.

“Good morning,” I said.... Not so much as a peep from my morbidly obese fellow traveler. As he passed I saw why, he was wearing head phones. He had on a pair of baggy shorts, and his calves were shaped like huge upturned beer bottles.

He was riding in the highest gear he had, pedaling in slow motion but going 3 or 4 mph faster than me, I was happily spinning my medium gear. I wondered, do people who don’t know any better, think a bike is like a car that you shift up through the gears until you reach the highest gear, and then you leave it there.

I had no interest in upping my pace, I was planning to do at least 50 miles, and I doubted the orange blob was going that far. Sure enough, not long after he disappeared from sight, I spotted him again in the distance headed back on the opposite side. As we passed, I gave my usual smile and a wave. I was totally ignored as before.

The whole incident made me think back to the 1950s when I started riding. Back in the UK we used to call people like that “Tuggos.” Now I just call them POBs or “People on Bikes.” The term Tuggo usually applied to the younger male. An old Geezer on a bike, or a female, would not be a Tuggo.

The orange blob definitely fell into the category of Tuggo. Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking what this person was doing. He was out getting some exercise and at least trying to reduce his weight, but a Tuggo or a POB is one who hasn’t yet learned the little refinements, like position, gear choice, etc., that make cycling more of a pleasure.

When I started racing the smallest rear sprocket available was 14 teeth, so top gear was around 96 inches. The top gear, as it is today was reserved for downhill, and maybe a fast sprint finish with a tail wind. We would do most of our racing on about 81 or 86 inch gear.

This meant we pedaled a lot faster than today, and so usually trained on about 65 to 70 inches. Back in the 1950s there were a lot of Tuggos, people who used bikes as their only means of transport. Especially young people in their teens or twenties, most could not afford a car. I didn’t pass my driving test and own a car until I was almost 30 years old, which was pretty typical.

So, we would be out training in a group of maybe ten or so riders, during a warm summer evening. We would be in an orderly pace line, and spinning, or “Twiddling” as we called it, at about 100 rpm. All of a sudden, a Tuggo would come flying past us pushing his highest gear.

He was invariably out for the evening dressed in a suit and tie, which would be flying in the wind. Remember this was the 1950s and people dressed up if they went out socially. The average Tuggo was usually pretty fit as he rode a bike everywhere and was good for a short turn of speed especially as he was in a much higher gear.

We usually ignored them, apart from whoever was at the back of the pace line giving a warning shout of “Tuggo in Top,” as he came by. (Meaning in Top Gear.) We seldom gave chase, because that would just break up the pace line and anyway the Tuggo usually stopped at the next pub, if not we would pass him again on the next hill.

Fond memories of a far simpler times, and Tuggos in top.

Repost from August 2012

     To Share click "Share Article" below   

Gearing, back in the day

Wathcing the Tour de France recently, and thinking about the range of gears available to todays riders, had me remembering the equipment and of gearing back the early 1950s when I started racing. My first lightweight bike had a single chainwheel and a four-speed freewheel with 1/8-inch-wide chain and sprockets.

Then I upgraded to a five-speed freewheel with a double chainwheel, or “Double-Clanger” as we called them. Chain shifting was by a lever operated changer, pictured above. Some people refer to these front changers as “Suicide shifters,” but there was nothing dangerous about using them, no different than reaching down for a water bottle.

The 1/8-inch-wide chain had been pretty much standard from very early on in the development of the chain driven bicycle. The five-speed freewheel used a 3/32-inch-wide chain and sprockets, This would remain the standard width chain up until the late 1980s when rear gears went beyond six-speed.

I’m not sure when the 3/32 chain came into being, but I have the impression that it was fairly new in the early 1950s, because there were a number of people still using three and four speed 1/8” freewheels.

Typically, the number of sprocket teeth on a five speed were 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, the chainwheels where 47/50, there was also a 49/52 chainwheel available, that top amateurs and professional riders used..

The three teeth difference between the two chainwheels is about the same difference a one tooth on the rear freewheel. (See gear table left.)

The rear sprockets were usually at least two teeth difference, so the small one step gap on the chainrings gave the in-between gears.

I’m not sure what the thinking was behind this set up, I am guessing it just took a while for manufacturers and riders to experiment with a wider gap on the front chainrings.

Three and four speed freewheel with one tooth difference were popular in the UK for Time-Trialing, which is probably why some riders stayed with them.

The above ten-speed set up was more in line with what the European Pros were using. I'm sure for the Grand Tours the pros used even lower gears on the mountain stages, 14, 16, 18, 21, 25 would more likely be used.

However, there was a much smaller range of gears than is available today, 52 x 14 was the highest gear possible. (13 teeth top sprockets came much later.) Everyone from the pros on down trained and raced on much lower gears than people ride today. I usually raced on 79 to 84 inches and trained as low as 63 to 67 inches.

The lowest gear I ever used was around 50 inches. (47 x 25) and that enabled me to ride any hill I came across in England. The European pros in the Tour de France used about the same ratio and went over the same mountains they ride over today, plus back then many of these mountain roads were not paved.

When one realizes that Tour de France riders in the 1930s and before rode over these same mountains on a single fixed sprocket, people manage with what is available at the time. Greater strength was needed to climb, and one had to pedal faster or freewheel, downhill or on the flat.

Of course, no one rode at today’s speed, uphill or down, but I have seen many changes since the 1950s. Bikes and gears were less complicated back then, but then so too was life. Fond memories.

     To Share click "Share Article" below  

Who will history remember?

Once again, the Tour de France is on us. This year because of the pandemic and a shortened season there is no firm favorite, the race is wide open.

Even in a race where there are favorites and the end result is somewhat of a foregone conclusion, on any given day an outsider can win a stage, sometimes in spectacular fashion like a solo break away.

The art of a solo breakaway win is often all about timing, choosing the right psychological moment to attack. Often this comes as a chasing group catches another group or an individual.

Everyone in that chasing group gives a sigh of relief and eases up after many miles of chasing at flat out speeds.

At that precise moment someone else attacks and everyone goes, “Oh no, not again.” There is often hesitation as the riders wait for someone else to take the initiative and chase, and in that moment of hesitation a gap opens.

Whether the solo break is successful depends on things like, how far it is to the finish, or is the chasing group organized. However, the deciding factor often is the shear strength and courage of the man out in front, on his own.

My reason for outlining such great performances that can happen on any given day, is to point out that fifty years from now history will remember the top riders in the Tour de France, but these lesser riders, not so much.

Yet without such riders there would be no sport of cycle racing, there would be no Grand Tours. Out of the 150 or so riders who make up the field of a race like the tour de France, only ten or so are in with a chance of winning.

The rest are the team members who work tirelessly for those who will win, all the way down to the domestiques and water carriers. Among these are some good riders who are capable of pulling off a spectacular performance on any given day.

The same in any amateur race held throughout the season, there will be maybe five or maybe ten riders who will be in with a chance to win, and the rest make up the field.

Some are young riders who will be the champions of the future, some are past champions. Some are those who will never aspire to greatness but enjoy the challenge of just taking part. But without them there would be no race.

Then there are those who never race, but just ride for the joy of it, or commute to work on a bike each day. Without them and the money they spend on bikes and equipment there would be no bicycle industry, and therefore no cycle racing.

In fifty years, history may not remember all the riders who on a certain day performed above their standing, and it will certainly not remember today’s average Joe on a bike, but without either of these there would be no cycle racing, no Grand Tours like the Tour de France.

And without these theaters for the riders to perform in, there would be no great champions for history to remember.

     To Share click "Share Article" below 

Man Exploiting Man

Under capitalism man exploits man. Under socialism it is the exact opposite

That is a joke. Not original, but never-the-less I found it funny and when I posted it on a social media site, I thought it was fairly safe in that it pokes fun at both ends of the political spectrum.

But someone fired back,

“Um, no. I grew up under socialism. Had good education and access to health care at no extra cost.”

So, this person did not find this funny because it seems in their view under the socialism end of things no one exploits anyone.

I usually steer clear of politics for the simple reason I am a Brit living in the USA. I am not a citizen, I am a Green Card carrying, resident alien, with permanent residency. Under this arrangement I get all the same rights a US citizen gets.

They allow me to have a driver’s license and own and drive a car, to own a home and pay taxes like everyone else. The two things I cannot do are vote or do jury duty, I can manage quite well without those responsibilities, thank you very much.

But because I can’t vote I feel strongly that I should not voice political opinions and try to influence others who do vote.

However, it annoys me when left wing eco-nuts assume that the bicycle is exclusively theirs, and on the other hand, there are those who think because I ride a bicycle I must be a left wing eco-nut.

The commenter on my “joke” stated that they grew up under socialism with free health care, sounds a lot like growing up in the UK in the post war years. I grew up in that same period and here is my take on it just from what I observed, and experienced.

Before WWII there was a (Capitalist.) class system in the UK where a small percentage of the population had all the wealth. (Sound familiar.) Most of this wealth had been handed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. The rest of the population were subservient to the wealthy class and relied on them for a job and a living. And in many cases rented a home from a wealthy landlord.

This system, with all its faults, had made Great Britain a world leader. This is pretty remarkable when you consider that Great Britain is less than the size of California. But over the years they built ships, sailed all over the world, taking over countries, taking commodities and raw materials at a cost of next to nothing.

This made the wealthy even wealthier. Britain manufactured a great deal of the goods that were shipped and sold all over the world. Up until 1919 the world currency was based on the British Pound, not the US Dollar. As a kid five shillings, which was a quarter of a Pound, was called a “Dollar.” Because there were once four US Dollars to the Pound. Today the Pound is worth $1.31.

Under the class system anyone born into the working classes found it difficult to reach the top levels of management in a large company. The CEOs and captains of industry were all from the wealthy upper classes. The British education system pre-WWII was geared so that working class kids would be separated at age ten years old.

The bright kids would get a higher education and become the accountants and middle management in industry. The rest of the kids got a basic sducation and had the self-esteem beaten out of them, physically and by verbal put down. This made them subservient laborers who would do a menial job without question or become cannon fodder for the armies to go off and conquer more lands.

Everything changed when WWII ended. The men who came home from the war had the attitude, “We laid our life on the line for our country, now we want a piece of the pie.” Clement Attlee the leader of the Socialist Labor Party was voted into power with a huge majority.

The Labor Government took over ownership by Nationalization of the steel industry, coal mining, and the railroads. They also created National Health Care, with free medicine and health care for everyone.

Of course, nothing is free, it was to be paid for by increased taxes. The government owned the hospitals and they paid the doctors and dentists a flat rate according to the number of patients they had.

There is a standing joke in the US about the British and their bad teeth, which is a direct result of NH dentists giving poor care. What incentive is there to give good care, and do extras like clean or straighten people’s teeth when you will not get paid more?

The other thing that happened was, there grew this huge government bureaucracy to manage the health care system and before long there were more bureaucrats than doctors or nurses.

When the government took over the steel, coal, and railroad industries the trade unions in those industries flourished. Trade unions are good when they fight for worker’s rights and make sure they are not exploited or under paid. But if your boss is the government, and the government is a socialist government, they are on your side.

In the mid-1970s there was a Conservative government in power who were not sympathetic the coal miners’ union when they asked for more money. The coal miners went on strike, and without coal, no electricity. There was a huge stockpile of coal, but the railway union refused to move it.

The country went on a three-day work week, and eventually the conservative government had to resign. A labor government was elected, the coal miners got their raise in pay and went back to work. By 1978 it seemed that everyone was on strike for more money.

Truck drivers were on strike and I couldn’t get deliveries of oxyacetylene to build my frames, I would go home and there would be no TV ‘cos the TV workers were on strike. When hospital workers who do laundry etc., went on strike and people died because doctors could not operate on them, it was the end of the line for me. It was then I decided to move to the United States.

I think many UK citizens felt as I did, because it was soon after that Maggie Thatcher and her conservative party got back in power. She de-nationalized much of the nationalized industries, and even privatized some of the hospitals. When the Labor Party got back in power in later years it was a much-watered down socialism, more in line with the US Democrats.

With no intention to influence anyone, I am just telling of my own experiences of living under both ends of the spectrum. Going to school in the 1940s in an education system evolved though years of extreme capitalism. Then see my country go to the other end of extreme socialism. Finally experiencing the frustrations of trying to run a business, in an atmosphere where not only the government, but my fellow man was against me.

Yes capitalists exploit their fellow man, that can often be blatantly obvious, but don’t tell me that socialists don’t exploit their fellow man, when they go on strike and let people die or suffer financially so they can get a pay increase.

And when unions become so powerful, they can bring down a democratically elected government, I call that exploiting your fellow man? A person who fails to see the humor in that little joke at the top of the page, has lost the ability to laugh at themselves and their belief system.

     To Share click "Share Article" below