I was surfing though the channels the other day and landed on the bicycle race in France. Lance came in a close second place in that race, and it increased his chances of winning the whole ball of wax. Again.
But, here's the thing. The crowd was all over the track. In some places they had crowded the track so much so that there was only enough room for one cyclist to get though at a time. Forget about passing. And, some fans were dumping cups of liquid on the racers. Hopefully, it was just water, but who knows? Anyway, they needed better crowd control, but that's probably old news to veteran cycle race watchers.
It brings to mind the Olympic bicycle time trials that I was lucky enough to see in Houston a few years back. They peddled on the streets around Buffalo Bayou, and it was quite a thing to watch. And no, the crowd didn't interfere at all.
As the riders passed me they were all in a tight wad, and one of them yelled out "echelon, you guys!" And, shortly after that they drifted into two parallel lines with a passing lane in the middle. One of them, perhaps the guy who had yelled, began using the passing lane to pass to the front of the pack.
It ended eventually, and the riders all gathered around a spot near the finish line waiting for the official times and results. Some of them took off their shirts, and that was an amazing sight. From the waist down they looked like body builders with large, well defined leg muscles. But, from the waist up they just looked like average everyday Joes. So, all of their workout efforts had been concentrated on their legs with little regard to their upper bodies. That's perfectly understandable, but the results made them look almost cartoonish. Half Hulk, half Bruce Banner.
The crowding along the mountain stages is just another of the hundreds of traditions that accrue to a century old event of this nature. The riders don't necessarily like it, but they also understand that it's part of the "experience." There are even unwritten rules in the peloton for how to deal with spectator interference; Lance himself benefited from them last year when he was knocked down and Jan Ullrich waited for him to catch up.
Regarding the weird physiology of bigtime bike riders, you won't be surprised to learn that some professional riders lose signficant bone mass relatively early in their lives. Hopefully that's changing as they start to include more weight training, but there are some success factors in cycling that can cause one to not to pursue those load-bearing exercises that mitigate the bone loss.
Posted by: Eric | July 17, 2004 at 10:45 PM