Who is this Jackie Robinson guy? Is he a hot new hip-hop artist? I never heard of him before.
Even if someone really had not heard of Robinson before, the media and MLB made sure you knew by the end of the weekend. They pulled out their publicity mallet and beat you over the head for 72 hours with Robinson's story. How long will it be before they want a national holiday for Robinson?
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After watching Paris-Roubaix on Versus Sunday evening I am convinced they are unable to do one hour coverage of a bike race. Especially a race like Paris-Roubaix that is splintered apart and ever-evolving. Can good coverage be done in one hour? Yes, but Versus don't seem to know how. I sat on the couch, having avoided news reports of what took place, and was totally befuddled as to what was going on. Here's a recap...
Race preview
Ralf Grabsch enters the Arenberg Forest
The pack enters the Arenberg.
Look, its a big crash
The pack leaves Arenberg
Here's Boonen's Specialized bike.
It has rubbery things in the fork (oops, he didn't really use that bike)
A chase group of unknown riders has formed
O'Grady attacks.
Phil and Paul have no idea where he came from (Think how we feel watching this)
Here is CSC's Cervelo bike for Roubaix.
It has squarish tubes.
O'Grady has 40 seconds on the chasers.
Boonen is shown flying past riders at what seems to be 40mph
Strangely enough, he's not catching the chase group or O'Grady.
O'Grady wins.
A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words. When Versus does one-hour coverage of a race a picture is worth a thousand questions about what is taking place.
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Saturday I rode the trainer for a while. Yes, I moaned about the race being cancelled because of the weather, and then I hide insde. That's right. I may race in the light rain that we had but I don't have much use for going out to train in that weather. Normally, I will knock out an hour on the trainer with no problem but after twenty minutes I wanted to quit. Not sure what was going on but I had nothing in the legs. I rode for 1:15 but it was unpleasant.
Sunday morning it was time for Jeffco again. Marco came out of semi-retirement and Ted made a an appearance along with Patrice's usual attendance.
We mixed things up a little. Among the differences were taking Lonedell all the way to Tomahawk, going down Binning and up Lion's Den, up E. Swaller, down Franks, up Byrnes Mill and the western slope of Jim Weber before going up Antire.
Patrice brought his climbing legs and did quite well until he peeled off at High Ridge. Ted seemed to struggle until High Ridge but seemed to find a rhythm on the Byrnes Mill, Jim Weber, Antire trifecta.
As we were leaving the High Ridge Citgo, Ryan was pulling in and wanted us to join him down Franks, up Byrnes Mill etc. Basically doing the loop we had just done. Marco wasn't up for it and I needed to be back around noon. Ted though took Ryan up on the offer, so he must have been feeling better as time went on. I sure hope he knew how to get back to the car after he and Ryan parted ways.
The legs are a little sore today.
Even if someone really had not heard of Robinson before, the media and MLB made sure you knew by the end of the weekend. They pulled out their publicity mallet and beat you over the head for 72 hours with Robinson's story. How long will it be before they want a national holiday for Robinson?
-----------------
After watching Paris-Roubaix on Versus Sunday evening I am convinced they are unable to do one hour coverage of a bike race. Especially a race like Paris-Roubaix that is splintered apart and ever-evolving. Can good coverage be done in one hour? Yes, but Versus don't seem to know how. I sat on the couch, having avoided news reports of what took place, and was totally befuddled as to what was going on. Here's a recap...
Race preview
Ralf Grabsch enters the Arenberg Forest
The pack enters the Arenberg.
Look, its a big crash
The pack leaves Arenberg
Here's Boonen's Specialized bike.
It has rubbery things in the fork (oops, he didn't really use that bike)
A chase group of unknown riders has formed
O'Grady attacks.
Phil and Paul have no idea where he came from (Think how we feel watching this)
Here is CSC's Cervelo bike for Roubaix.
It has squarish tubes.
O'Grady has 40 seconds on the chasers.
Boonen is shown flying past riders at what seems to be 40mph
Strangely enough, he's not catching the chase group or O'Grady.
O'Grady wins.
A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words. When Versus does one-hour coverage of a race a picture is worth a thousand questions about what is taking place.
------------------
Saturday I rode the trainer for a while. Yes, I moaned about the race being cancelled because of the weather, and then I hide insde. That's right. I may race in the light rain that we had but I don't have much use for going out to train in that weather. Normally, I will knock out an hour on the trainer with no problem but after twenty minutes I wanted to quit. Not sure what was going on but I had nothing in the legs. I rode for 1:15 but it was unpleasant.
Sunday morning it was time for Jeffco again. Marco came out of semi-retirement and Ted made a an appearance along with Patrice's usual attendance.
We mixed things up a little. Among the differences were taking Lonedell all the way to Tomahawk, going down Binning and up Lion's Den, up E. Swaller, down Franks, up Byrnes Mill and the western slope of Jim Weber before going up Antire.
Patrice brought his climbing legs and did quite well until he peeled off at High Ridge. Ted seemed to struggle until High Ridge but seemed to find a rhythm on the Byrnes Mill, Jim Weber, Antire trifecta.
As we were leaving the High Ridge Citgo, Ryan was pulling in and wanted us to join him down Franks, up Byrnes Mill etc. Basically doing the loop we had just done. Marco wasn't up for it and I needed to be back around noon. Ted though took Ryan up on the offer, so he must have been feeling better as time went on. I sure hope he knew how to get back to the car after he and Ryan parted ways.
The legs are a little sore today.
1 Comments:
Yes, I struggled at first - us old guys need a warm up! But I found my rhythm later w/ you guys and felt fine doing Byrnes Mill, Allenton-Six Flags, and Wood w/ Ryan. He split off in Wildwood and I rolled back easy along Clayton and south on Geyer. It was a great workout and I wolfed down a huge sandwich at StL Bread Co. afterwards.
I'm not usually one to bemoan TV coverage of bike racing - I'm just happy to get what we do get - but I agree Paris-Roubaix coverage left me unfulfilled. Last year's coverage was much better.
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