Tour de Celeb: Louie’s cycling safety demo

[mjr]

People saying it's going to put people off. Take a look at this forum, how many threads are there with people having accidents? How many nooby clipless moment threads? That is part of cycling.

It's not part of cycling, it's part of getting it wrong. I keep telling you all not to crash and not to bother with clips but few of you listen(!)

The challenge is arbitrary and meaningless. A typical sportive, in other words. Now if they'd set them a challenge of an independent L2P or similar, it'd still be arbitrary but they might discover some things and see real life rather than marshalled roads full of other riders and their support crew. Celeb rediscovers real life by cycling - it'd be much more interesting TV.

 

[Slick]

It's not part of cycling, it's part of getting it wrong. I keep telling you all not to crash and not to bother with clips but few of you listen(!)

The challenge is arbitrary and meaningless. A typical sportive, in other words. Now if they'd set them a challenge of an independent L2P or similar, it'd still be arbitrary but they might discover some things and see real life rather than marshalled roads full of other riders and their support crew. Celeb rediscovers real life by cycling - it'd be much more interesting TV.

A bit of a paradox though. If they were to discover real life by cycling, nobody would be there to film it and nobody would want to watch it.

 

[mjr]

A bit of a paradox though. If they were to discover real life by cycling, nobody would be there to film it and nobody would want to watch it.

Drat! You've discovered my cunning plan to destroy Channel five's viewing figures

I think travelogues are quite popular actually. Both Tarrant and Portillo seem to do OK with railway ones.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

Caught the last episode last night, wow, what an eye opener. Really enjoyable.

 

[Leaway2]

Well done to them all for completing. I felt that the thin bloke (reality star!) should have done better.

 

[Dishy]

Iv still got last nights to catch up on but really enjoyed it so far. Makes me feel on the same level of them starting out as i still sturggle with clipless pedals and cant ride 1 handed!!

 

[TheJDog]

I can't believe that girl Angelica wasn't DQ'ed when her coach was pushing her bike up the hill when she was walking. The rest of them did really well. Surprisingly well, to me. I did the Etape in 2015 and by the end I wanted to die.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I too haven't watched last nights, hopefully tonight, but I honestly think they did very well so far, okay it was probably edited for effect, but to go from zero miles to 130Kish within 4 weeks is fantastic, I know I still couldn't do that kind of mileage.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I can't believe that girl Angelica wasn't DQ'ed when her coach was pushing her bike up the hill when she was walking. The rest of them did really well. Surprisingly well, to me. I did the Etape in 2015 and by the end I wanted to die.

Is it possible to be DQ'd from a sportive? (genuine question).

Anyway ... I can think of a rather high profile recent incident where a pro went up a hill without taking his bike himself and escaped sanction.

 

[TheJDog]

Is it possible to be DQ'd from a sportive? (genuine question).

Doubtful.

Anyway ... I can think of a rather high profile recent incident where a pro went up a hill without taking his bike himself and escaped sanction.

Technically the stage was finished by then.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Austin did make me chuckle at the end. "If I'd gone a couple of minutes quicker, we could have won". No you complete tit, if you'd listened to the coaches, and worked as a team player, and not tried to be such a 'look at me, and how great I am' knobber, you could have given Hugo your bike, then sorted his puncture out, and carried on on his bike, until you caught him up, then swapped back, and saved yourself over half an hour. Hoisted by his own petard or what?

 

[sheddy]

when is/was the race televised ? (I might try and watch the last one on the iplayer)

 

[mjr]

Makes me feel on the same level of them starting out as i still sturggle with clipless pedals and cant ride 1 handed!!

Don't fret about the clips (I've not used them in more than 10 years - I'm not racing, so no point IMO) but please get some training to get one-handed riding sorted out at least well enough to be able to signal and take good long looks behind.

Is it possible to be DQ'd from a sportive? (genuine question).

Theoretically, but does anyone know anyone who has ever been DQ'd for anything less than completely outrageous like peeing in someone's front garden? (Given that bike/kit rule infractions like TT bars usually result in DNS rather than DQ.)

I felt Louie's uphill cross-country shortcut was more likely to result in a DQ than Angelica's assisted walk.

you complete tit, if you'd listened to the coaches, and worked as a team player, and not tried to be such a 'look at me, and how great I am' knobber, you could have given Hugo your bike, then sorted his puncture out, and carried on on his bike, until you caught him up, then swapped back, and saved yourself over half an hour. Hoisted by his own petard or what?

Oh yes! It was a real shame that the programme didn't make more of that, perhaps by having one of the pros breaking the news to him. It also suggested that maybe a quick run through the basic self-help mechanicals like puncture patching would have been a good addition to the training - and WTF was up with Jodie's bike? Low limit screw out of position? Who set their bikes up? Themselves? Their bike shops back home? Show mechanics before the start?

when is/was the race televised ? (I might try and watch the last one on the iplayer)

Brief highlights appear on France TV during their main tour coverage (it's usually a few days before or after the pro stage over the same course) and there's various rider footage on youtube as well as the ASO highlights film:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIrQzfzkI1g


Did I miss it or did they not mention that the etape sportive was shortened to 122km and one mountain pass (the Ramaz) omitted?

 

[Dogtrousers]

I felt Louie's uphill cross-country shortcut was more likely to result in a DQ than Angelica's assisted walk.

Another one with a high-profile professional precedent (downhill though). Although not quite as recent as Froome's failure to carry his bike.

 

[Inertia]

Austin did make me chuckle at the end. "If I'd gone a couple of minutes quicker, we could have won". No you complete tit, if you'd listened to the coaches, and worked as a team player, and not tried to be such a 'look at me, and how great I am' knobber, you could have given Hugo your bike, then sorted his puncture out, and carried on on his bike, until you caught him up, then swapped back, and saved yourself over half an hour. Hoisted by his own petard or what?

I fairness I think he was joking about risking his life trying to beat Darren Gough. They were more than a couple of minutes behind and he said he could only have gone a couple of minutes faster at max which was not enough.

Was he with Hugo when he got the puncture? I missed that, but OTOH if had slowed himself to Hugos pace they wouldnt even have been close.