TdF - rabid fans !

Harris said:

Unfortunately I'm becoming more and more convinced that Lance will be denied
his sixth title due to an encounter with a overly exuberant idiotic fan -
i.e., that clown this morning running alongside carrying the American flag.
Two scenarios: if the fan is French, our nation in righteous indignation
will once again ban the words 'French Fries' from our lexicon; if an
American, he must soon adapt to life as an expatriate.

I was actually more appalled by the twit who ran alongside Armstrong
before that, patting his back. One little push and Armstrong might have
been disqualified. It shows how vulnerable the riders are to the whims
of psycho-fans. Remember Eddie Merckx on Puy-de-Dome in '75? *shudder*

--
the black rose
GO LANCE GO!!!
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

In article <[email hidden]>,

Harris said:

Unfortunately I'm becoming more and more convinced that Lance will be denied
his sixth title due to an encounter with a overly exuberant idiotic fan -
i.e., that clown this morning running alongside carrying the American flag.
Two scenarios: if the fan is French, our nation in righteous indignation
will once again ban the words 'French Fries' from our lexicon; if an
American, he must soon adapt to life as an expatriate.

This is perfectly normal fan behaviour. They do it all the time, at
every tour, and to every rider. Yes, it's always scary, but so far it's
turned out the little kids with musettes are the only real danger 🙂.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Harris said:

Unfortunately I'm becoming more and more convinced that Lance will be denied
his sixth title due to an encounter with a overly exuberant idiotic fan -
i.e., that clown this morning running alongside carrying the American flag.
Two scenarios: if the fan is French, our nation in righteous indignation
will once again ban the words 'French Fries' from our lexicon; if an
American, he must soon adapt to life as an expatriate.

I'm with ya on the fans and the anxiety watching that stuff. It's
always been that way, but it pisses me off when the fans touch any of
the bikers, as happened today.

If only OLN would avoid showing these gomers, or at least avoiding
repeating the footage...

Hopefully the French media and the race organizers will do something,
maybe prohibit long poles and cut back on the # of ppl lining the
route - it's supposedly a much bigger crowd in the mtns than usual.
But I've reported on footage from the past where the "fans" actually
are completely blocking the path and bikers and motorcyclists are
stymied for a few seconds. So the riders are used to it, probably. At
least they're making wide finishes and using barriers in the last
kilometer.
-B

"Badger_South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hopefully the French media and the race organizers will do something,
maybe prohibit long poles and cut back on the # of ppl lining the
route - it's supposedly a much bigger crowd in the mtns than usual.
But I've reported on footage from the past where the "fans" actually
are completely blocking the path and bikers and motorcyclists are
stymied for a few seconds. So the riders are used to it, probably. At
least they're making wide finishes and using barriers in the last
kilometer.

Legally, I wonder if there's much that can be done. These are public roads,
mostly in (I'm guessing) unincorporated areas. From a legal point of view,
these are just cyclists going past you on a road you have every right to be
standing on, and last time I looked there was no law against making
non-aggressive casual physical contact with a passerby, even in France. And
if there were, it would up to the rider to press charges.

In other words, there's no legal obligation between a rider and a spectator
(as there would be in a venue that required admission), and no contract
between the spectators and the race organizers.

Maybe there are special laws or temporary regulations aside from simply
closing the roads to traffic?

I agree that for American sports fans, where athletes are TV stars and
sports are part of the entertainment industry, this sort of close contact
seems completely alien. Even at American races where the riders are equally
accessible, the fans are much more restrained (although I've seen some
pretty stupid fan stunts on the "Manayunk Wall" climb during the USPro
races). Maybe that's because here the riders aren't generally aren't
celebrities.

RichC

Quoted message said:

"Harris" [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Unfortunately I'm becoming more and more convinced that Lance will be denied
his sixth title due to an encounter with a overly exuberant idiotic fan -
i.e., that clown this morning running alongside carrying the American flag.
Two scenarios: if the fan is French, our nation in righteous indignation
will once again ban the words 'French Fries' from our lexicon; if an
American, he must soon adapt to life as an expatriate.

Lance wasn't the only rider that expressed anxiety about the fans today.
Virenque told VeloNews that today, as he was surrounded by Basque fans upset
with Mayo's performance, was the first time he was ever frightened on a bike.
Even though that's probably a typical Virenque overstatement, it was echoed
somewhat by a few other riders including Lance. Absent a deliberately malicious
attack though I don't think fan behavior is going to decide this or any other
Tour. Every rider in the race has to ride through the same crowds so, while fan
behavior may affect the entire peloton's times and maybe even cause a crash or
two along the way, poor crowd behavior doesn't "play favorites".
The above is just my opinion and others may disagree. They would be wrong of
course but they may still disagree. <g>

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Stiff arm or hat pin? d'ya think either of those are an option?
Perhaps the motorbike could run ahead with those cool attachments they used
to use on chariot hubs...the ones with blades....

"Rich Clark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Badger_South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hopefully the French media and the race organizers will do something,
maybe prohibit long poles and cut back on the # of ppl lining the
route - it's supposedly a much bigger crowd in the mtns than usual.
But I've reported on footage from the past where the "fans" actually
are completely blocking the path and bikers and motorcyclists are
stymied for a few seconds. So the riders are used to it, probably. At
least they're making wide finishes and using barriers in the last
kilometer.

Legally, I wonder if there's much that can be done. These are public

roads,

Quoted message said:

mostly in (I'm guessing) unincorporated areas. From a legal point of view,
these are just cyclists going past you on a road you have every right to

be

Quoted message said:

standing on, and last time I looked there was no law against making
non-aggressive casual physical contact with a passerby, even in France.

And

Quoted message said:

if there were, it would up to the rider to press charges.

In other words, there's no legal obligation between a rider and a

spectator

Quoted message said:

(as there would be in a venue that required admission), and no contract
between the spectators and the race organizers.

Maybe there are special laws or temporary regulations aside from simply
closing the roads to traffic?

I agree that for American sports fans, where athletes are TV stars and
sports are part of the entertainment industry, this sort of close contact
seems completely alien. Even at American races where the riders are

equally

Quoted message said:

accessible, the fans are much more restrained (although I've seen some
pretty stupid fan stunts on the "Manayunk Wall" climb during the USPro
races). Maybe that's because here the riders aren't generally aren't
celebrities.

RichC

"Hunrobe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The above is just my opinion and others may disagree. They would be wrong

of

Quoted message said:

course but they may still disagree. <g>

You want wrong? I'll give you wrong.
My tour predictions, now archived in Google forever, were
1st: Ullrich
2nd: Mayo
3rd: Hamilton

Thank goodness that betting pool at the bike club never got organized.

Quoted message said:

"Mike Kruger" [email hidden]

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

You want wrong? I'll give you wrong.
My tour predictions, now archived in Google forever, were
1st: Ullrich
2nd: Mayo
3rd: Hamilton

Did you specify *this* year's Tour? (Man, I gotta quit spending so much time
talking to defense lawyers and other assorted felons.) <g>

Regards,
Bob Hunt

it's just plain stupid to get in the way of fast-moving bodies, for whatever
reason. As a photographer, I have had to cover basketball & football games &
several times have had one or more huge body land on me along the sidelines. I
don't do that anymore.

The Tour has always been like this on the mountain stages, but certainly
yesterday, the twit running along with the big American flag, plus the twit
patting LA on the backside, plus the twits in orange all did a particularly
good display of being twits that could have had a rider off. Thing is, LA is
*not* being picked out for this treatment, it's what happens on the mountain
stages of the Tour to all the riders. I think it's something the riders have to
learn to deal with as part of the Tour.

Look at the twit who pulled of McEwan's bottle cage at the end of one of the
earlier stages - grabbing McEwan's bike whilst the rider was still on it in a
desparately stupid attempt to get a souvenir.

Last year I was on the Champs Elysee for the final stage. On the opposite side
of the road was a large group of Euskaltel fans - very loud and very drunk,
indeed acting a lot like English football (soccer to those on t'other side of
the pond) hooligans. I was not impressed by their behaviour one little bit.

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove fame & fortune
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Mimi Forsyth said:

it's just plain stupid to get in the way of fast-moving bodies, for
whatever reason.

While true, keep in mind that most of these "mass hysteria" cheering
sections are along narrow sections of VERY steep climbs, so the riders
aren't really going fast enough to injure the idiots (pity, really!). The
stupidity lies strictly in endangering the cyclists (and looking like fools
in the process, too, but that's a separate issue).

Bill "fools need rules, so why aren't there any?!?" S.

S o r n i said:

Bill "fools need rules, so why aren't there any?!?" S.

The question is really, Would fools follow the rules if there were any?
(The answer, of course, is "No."😉

--
the black rose
GO LANCE GO!!!
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

the black rose said:

S o r n i said:

Bill "fools need rules, so why aren't there any?!?" S.

The question is really, Would fools follow the rules if there were
any? (The answer, of course, is "No."😉

I guess I really meant "enforcement". The race organizers should take steps
to ensure that no rider is injured or outcome affected by miscreant doofi.

Bill "tradition be damned" S.

S o r n i said:

I guess I really meant "enforcement". The race organizers should take steps
to ensure that no rider is injured or outcome affected by miscreant doofi.

Can't disagree with you there. Liggett pointed out that the gendarmes
used to wear signs that said don't touch the riders, but they don't do
that anymore. One could be excessively paranoid and speculate it might
be because non-Frenchmen have been favored to win for bunch'o'years now,
but I'm not that paranoid. :-D

--
the black rose
GO LANCE GO!!!
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

S o r n i said:

I guess I really meant "enforcement". The race organizers should take steps
to ensure that no rider is injured or outcome affected by miscreant doofi.

Shoot 'em and haul out the bodies? They're realistically in the same
situation as a traffic cop in rush hour - the transgression has to be
really serious before they'll deal with the ensuing potential mayhem
of stopping an official's bike on a climb. Unlike the stops for wheel
changes, to be effective they would have to do it after the leaders
and before the peloton.

Maybe riot batons - smack the [censored] out of them and don't stop. Keep
the motion in to out, so the unconscious bodies are easy to drag to
the side...

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Harris said:

will once again ban the words 'French Fries' from our lexicon; if an

I'm hungry.
--
Rick Onanian

Curtis L. Russell said:

S o r n i said:

I guess I really meant "enforcement". The race organizers should
take steps to ensure that no rider is injured or outcome affected by
miscreant doofi.

Shoot 'em and haul out the bodies? They're realistically in the same
situation as a traffic cop in rush hour - the transgression has to be
really serious before they'll deal with the ensuing potential mayhem
of stopping an official's bike on a climb. Unlike the stops for wheel
changes, to be effective they would have to do it after the leaders
and before the peloton.

Maybe riot batons - smack the [censored] out of them and don't stop. Keep
the motion in to out, so the unconscious bodies are easy to drag to
the side...

While those are great suggestions (!), I really meant something more
"preventive" in nature (like, not allowing those manic chutes where the
fanatics are literally touching/buffeting/blocking the riders).

Bill "something like...I don't know, barrier tape?" S.

S o r n i said:

Bill "something like...I don't know, barrier tape?" S.

Yeah, I had an idea along those lines too, but then it occurred to me
how much work it would be and how much it would cost to string up
barrier tape on BOTH sides of the road for 10 klicks, so I didn't
suggest it. At least they do put up barricades on the last 2 km of the
stage. I can't even picture how much organization, work, and money goes
into an event that long and that big.

--
the black rose
GO LANCE GO!!!
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

Rick Onanian said:

Harris said:

will once again ban the words 'French Fries' from our lexicon; if an

I'm hungry.

MMM, CARBS!!!!!

-km, the anti-Atkins maniac

--
the black rose
GO LANCE GO!!!
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts