Le Tour 2012

[Mark Blacknell]

The Tour de France starts tomorrow, and that will mark the beginning of three weeks of daily race-watching for me and many others. If you’re already a fan, I’m sure you already have a plan for watching. If you’re curious, I suggest checking out this link, which does a good job of describing how the Tour works, who’s riding, and how/when to watch. It’s definitely American-centric, but it’s a good way to see if pro cycling’s for you.

Also, for those of you looking for a way to watch it live online? Start with Steephill.tv or CyclingFans.com.

(And no, Lance is definitely not winning.)

Topic

[dasgeh]

Apparently, you can do Fantasy Tour de France: http://velogames.com/ or http://www.rcukfantasytourdefrance.com/

Also, are there any spots to watch live? Sports bars with brunch and the Tour? That would be a fun meet up…

[DaveK]

@dasgeh 23976 wrote:

Also, are there any spots to watch live? Sports bars with brunch and the Tour? That would be a fun meet up…

I’ve put out the question on Twitter to the #bikedc folks and no response. I’d imagine some of the place carrying the Euro or the World Cup wouldn’t mind some people in the morning cheering on snooty Frenchmen in lycra.

[eminva]

Will try to follow the action using transmissions of questionable legitimacy. I don’t have whatever-that-sports-network-is-called-now on my package. Would be very interested in brunch/tour meetups, although I will be out of town for part of the action.

Liz

[TwoWheelsDC]

@DaveK 23978 wrote:

I’ve put out the question on Twitter to the #bikedc folks and no response. I’d imagine some of the place carrying the Euro or the World Cup wouldn’t mind some people in the morning cheering on snooty Frenchmen in lycra.

I’m out of town until the 11th, but I’m down for a TdF meetup after that, since I’ll be off work the rest of that week. Maybe combine it with a ride of some sort?

[KLizotte]

This thread goes back to 2007 but lists a bunch of places, including Arlington and Penn Qtr:

http://www.yelp.com/topic/washington-where-can-one-watch-the-tour-de-france

From an article in LAST YEAR’S WashPost:

Meridian Pint is trying to make it easier to follow the Tour by replaying the day’s race every night at 8 on multiple TVs in its basement bar. (Owner John Andrade is an avid cyclist.) Most sports bars will be able to show highlights — they air nightly on Versus — so it can’t hurt to ask your bartender to switch away from “SportsCenter” or a baseball game, as long as it’s not the Nationals.

[dasgeh]

Since I rather find indoor things to do tomorrow than do my job, I did some research: The Tour is on VS. Tomorrow morning, live from 8am – 11:30, then 2 hour replays at noon and 2:30pm. I called Ireland’s Four Courts in Courthouse — they have VS, open at 10am and will put the Tour on for us.

I haven’t checked with hubby and kiddo, but I imagine we’d be up for it. Any joiners? Anyone with kids who like to distract a 20-month old? Would it be better to meet at 10am for the last 90 minutes of live coverage, or noon for the lunchtime replay?

[PotomacCyclist]

@eminva 23982 wrote:

Will try to follow the action using transmissions of questionable legitimacy. I don’t have whatever-that-sports-network-is-called-now on my package. Would be very interested in brunch/tour meetups, although I will be out of town for part of the action.

Liz

NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus)

[Megabeth]

O/T a bit: NBC Sports Network has been doing some great coverage this week of the Olympic Trials. Not too many schmatzy pieces, lots of great camera angles and some nail biting action.

[PotomacCyclist]

The problem with watching the Tour coverage is that it tends to make me want to go out and ride a century each day. Or bomb down mountains at 70 mph.

(Note: I have never bombed down any hill anywhere close to 70 mph. That’s not even possible in Arlington.)

[Mark Blacknell]

Sonoma (another enthusiast owner) typically does something for the Queen Stage. We’ll get something going in the area. Last year we tried to get something going over Paris-Roubaix, with limited success (to put it generously). Would love to see something come together this year.

~

Re: feeds – best not to overthink it, perhaps. For some of us in the US, live is a must. Thankfully, there’s http://tourdefrance.nbcsports.com/. It’s subscription, and it’s good to support cycling by making this model work. On the other hand, well, there’s the matter of US commentary (and that’s not even getting into Phil and Paul). There are (far) better commentators out there. Some people have been known to run that audio over NBCSports.com (nee UniversalSports.com) feeds.

[vvill]

I wonder if there’s any places near my work I can pop-out for lunch to watch the end of a stage… I only know soccer places. I have the DVR set up in any case. Last year I spent quite a bit of time replaying the stages (after avoiding spoilers during the day) while wearing my daughter in a carrier. Somehow the combination with the familiar sounds of the US commentators put her to sleep. Now she’s 1 and too big to do that so I don’t have an easy out to watch…

Previous years I’ve followed most stages live on the official site which does a good job of showing who’s in a breakaway, who’s dropped off the back, etc.

And of course, I’ll be supporting “Cuddles”.

[PotomacCyclist]

NBC Sports Network rebroadcasts each day’s coverage multiple times, though they don’t usually show the entire stage. They have a live morning broadcast. Then they repeat the coverage around 12 noon, 2:30 pm, and 8 pm. I think there’s another repeat after midnight too, but I’m not sure.

[elcee]

The best text feed is Live Update Guy (liveupdateguy.com), aka Charles Pelkey, formerly of Velonews.

[americancyclo]

I know CycleLife used to do viewing parties, and a big one with beer and food on the last stage, but I think they have smaller space now, so maybe not this year.

[Arlingtonrider]

Our happy hour on July 12 will also be a TdF viewing party for the 8 p.m. NBC recap/re-broadcast of one of the mointain stages. They have promised sound for us on the TVs, and there is a possibility that we might even be able to get a private room that seats 50 with a big screen TV.

Question – do we still want to start the happy hour at 5:30, or should we move it to 6:30?

Also, it would be very helpful for me to know (to the extent possible) how many are coming to this. All are invited, including spouses, friends and family, new cyclists or commuters, forum lurkers or non-forum cyclists, etc. I’ll add this info to my other post about the happy hour this evening.

[Author]

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